Tuesday, December 20, 2011

totes adorbs!

the cute factor in this video is off the charts!

happy birthday Jesus, and merry christmas y'all!

Friday, December 9, 2011

music is a memory

As D-day quickly approaches [44 days, holla!] I am getting my ducks in a row: Things to have on hand for the birthday. Ordering the birth pool liner. Ice cream bucket for the placenta. Say it with me in a spanish accent, PLAAACENTA. Drag out that A. Cheking off the list of midwife requested items: washcloths, towels, coconut water, witch hazel and jumbo jet 747 sized pads. But I've added my own important item thing on the list:
Birth play list! MUSIC!

I had a playlist prepared for Rue's birth, but when shove came to push [ha] all I wanted to listen to was Brian and Jenn Johnson's cd "Love Came Down". That sucker was on repeat for nearly 24 hours. Straight. I didn't want to listen to anything else. Afterwards, I was tempted to throw the cd into a bucket of gasoline and light a match. It was a gorgeous cd, tainted with crazy wonderful painful memories. I couldn't listen to it after [for a long time] without being lurched back to that place, and just turning it off.

Then tonight, it came on my iTunes and all I could do was smile as I remembered my 24 hour labor! It was a beautiful cd for me again! That makes me think I am more ready for this birth that I ever thought.

Isn't it amazing how music [and scent!] can contain such sensory memories and bring us right back to a specific moment in time?

OK, off I go to start compiling my song list. Any recommendations?



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

paint speaks

I told a friend 'I am painting little miss's bureau tonight' and she asked me 'what color?' and I responded, 'I  don't know yet, I am making custom colors as I go' and she called me quite the 'arteeest'.
Flattering, but I kind of shied away from it. Why? Well, I didn't actually have a 'plan' of what I was going to create. For a perfectionist like moi, sometimes no plan is the best plan. Because if I know exactly what it is I want and can't active it, I am disappointed in myself *creatively*. I am my worst critic. So, instead, I make a point to throw out a plan and listen to the paint.  Paint speaks, and I strive to listen. When I dive into a project and just let my heart be open, and my options wide, I am able to create outside of my box. Go with the flow and throw fear out. Because there's nothing that white primer and 60 grit sand paper can't fit. That's how God feels to me. He speaks, and I try my best to listen with earnest. And I respond, and sometimes what happens in my heart is beautiful and inspiring. Sometimes I mess up and overdo it, and try too hard to make [or be] something perfect, or something that I have seen before. And that's when God steps in with the white out and we start over. He doesn't want us to be someone else, or do something that has been previously created and perfected. He wants to create something new in us, through us. Many beautiful scriptures describe being a new creation:
Ephesians 4:24 -And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Isaiah 65:17 - Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, not will they come to mind.

See, white out. And the running theme, 'create something new'.

I love God. I don't think I say that enough on this little blog. But seriously, I do.  It so inspiring to serve a Creator that loves to create something new in me, every day. So friends, let's throw out fear of failure and mistakes and just let God create something new in us. Primer and sandpaper is always there.