Celebrate Today : July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

a warm welcome....

we've been so thankful for the gift of being able to welcome lots of friends to town today....

wonderful to welcome Kara Noetzel (whom I knew when she was a student at Vanderbilt) and her sweet family to town as they are here to celebrate a family reunion...

click here to watch Anna pushing a stroller while on her unicycle...

Taylor loved Baby Ruthie!

This afternoon we got to pick up the Whites from the airport!! (the countdown has been going for days at our house for today to arrive...)

Hooray for the gift of such sweet friends in town....

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too. –Frederick Buechner

celebrating the 4th of July.....

Anacortes adventures

Is not life full of opportunities for learning love?

Every man and woman, every day, has a thousand of them….

And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better we can love. –Henry Drummond

“EMILY: "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?"

STAGE MANAGER: "No. Saints and poets maybe...they do some.”

― Thornton Wilder, Our Town

You come with beautiful secrets

You come with purposes written on your heart,

written on your soul

You come to every new morning

With possibilities only you can hold

Add to the beauty

Tell a better story

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful

- adapted from "Add to the Beauty" by Sara Groves

a trip to DC to visit family and friends

melting in the heat of DC...

The quote below refers to daisies but I think it could be about blueberries too!

(blueberry picking at the base of Mt. Si pictured above)

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

a favorite quote that I've posted before, but it bears repeating:

"Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.

Give Thanks. Love well.

Become the gift."

–Ann Voskamp

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.

Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.

Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

fun summer traditions:

Christmas in July

our little girl is growing up!!!

17th wedding anniversary....

a nautical mile: http://celebrate-2day.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-nautical-mile.html

For one human being to love another: that is…the work for which all other work is but preparation. – Rilke

Summer Days...

Anna and Taylor Petrie have become fast friends this summer. Anna had a fun day together with Taylor and her mom and sister over on Alki Beach today

striking a pose

Meanwhile, I took Taylor to the Colonnade for some practice time today. It is fun to watch him doing something he loves...

making it look easy...

http://youtu.be/Vy1DuLMlIoI

Monday, July 29, 2013

Lil' Chefs

two weeks of pasta making

and two different recipes for homemade tomato sauce...

Tuesday, July 23rd

Monday, July 29th

our friend Laura came over tonight to share in the fun of kids' cooking night. :)

Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden

I have a stack of papers to grade for my class at SPU and while I was chipping away at them today, Anna and Taylor were outside on the side of our house working on their fairy houses.

Thankful for summer days with no agenda with space for times like these....

tiny fences and leaves woven together...

I find this kind of thing quite magical for the fact that they can entertain themselves so well

AND that they are being super creative outside...

little seeds filled in bottlecaps for a feast...

creativity at its best

a magical little world....

Sunday, July 28, 2013

anniversary weekend

For one human being to love another: that is…the work for which all other work is but preparation.

– Rilke

so thankful to have some family time on a trail yesterday

our hike to Denny Creek was fabulous with the treat of playing in the water at our destination

We all were part of the polar bear club and we each took the plunge into the icy cold water.... I thought of our friend Sven who challenged us to try 100 things we had never done before one summer when we worked in Yosemite, and I just had to jump in after Anna, Taylor and Jason already had!

A great way to feel fully alive!