God's painting

though not intentional, i seem to have taken a nice long break from blogging.  surprisingly, i have not missed it.  yet, i shall try to return.

i was just walking back upstairs into our office building.  (NMSI's offices are the entire second floor of an office building and one large suite downstairs.  we are able to rent out the other downstairs suites to various places, including a coffee/ten thousand villages shop, a hearing clinic, a church and others.)  i took the stairs, since it's better for me and i can avoid our terrifying elevator.  both of our stairwells have a large picture window high up on the second story.  one of these windows is blocked by a tree, but the other one faces south towards the beautiful open sky.

i love looking through this window.  the "picture" changes every time.  sometimes it is clear crystal blue.  other times it has pretty wispy clouds or dark, powerful clouds.  other times the picture is deep blue and full of stars.  i know that all i have to do is step outside and i can take in the view of the sky as a whole.  but outside also comes with trees and power lines and traffic.  inside the stairwell, i get a quiet beautiful glimpse of something glorious.  a painting created by the most amazing creator.

and God knows that i'm limited.  that sometime He must give me His glory in small, yet gorgeous bites.  it's why He "never gives us more than we can handle."  and somehow, looking through the picture window, i get a daily dose of how good God is and how much He cares for me to paint such a beautiful blue canvas for me to enjoy.

the three-legged, peg-legged sheep

a long time ago i used to sit at my grandparent's house at christmastime, completely entranced by grandma's nativity.  to be honest i think i have always had a love of nativities, relishing in the role of setting up my families and having my own tiny glow-in-the-dark set by my bed year round.  it was like playing with dolls with the added awe of being close to something holy.  through the years i have collected quite a few nativities of my own.  i'm even trying to win a new one from this blog this week.

this beauty in my living room

this one on my tree

this one i found in Myanmar this year

and this one, that was my grandma's too, just not the one from grandma's.

back to grandma's house.  her nativity was old.  and chipped.  and fragile. and she let me play with it whenever i wanted.  i'm sure she accepted the fact that with 17 grandchildren and, at the time, over 30 great-grandchildren (i was the youngest of the grandchildren, but the great-grands were the ones my age) her things were just going to be played with.  oh, i was ever so careful with them, but i was a child, so chips and dings happened.  there was just something so special about her little cardboard stable and holy family.

a few years later, that nativity was given to me.  and i cherish it.

torn stable. only two wisemen and a mismatched set to say the least.  i borrowed the camel and donkey from the brown set from earlier to fill out the stable.  the shepherd, maybe he's another set's joseph, but here he is an unpainted shepherd.  and then little mary & joseph, bowing, in awe of baby Jesus in his cotton lined stall.

and yet my favorite part of this nativity?  the three-legged, peg-legged sheep.  i know there are no stories about him in the Bible.  but he's a very important part of my christmas.  if you look closely you'll see him there at the feet of Jesus.

he would have been thrown out years ago by any sensible person. he's missing one leg.  the other is only a wire. another leg is badly cracked.  he's chipped and he's ugly but he has become more dear to me in every passing year.

it dawned on me a few years back.  i am the three-legged, peg-legged sheep!  broken, cracked and ugly i dare throw myself at the feet of Jesus.  and i welcomed in to worship.  if you notice the other two sheep, they are proud looking, heads up or turned away.  but this sheep's head is bowed.  i'm sure the original maker intended this sheep to be eating grass and that's why his head is low.  but i see a broken, hurting sheep bowed before a Savior.  One who will bring him ultimate healing.

so every christmas i'm reminded by the three-legged, peg-legged sheep how deeply loved i am by God that He would send His Son to the world, to help broken, awkward and ugly sheep like myself.  and how welcome i always am at His feet.

Merry Christmas Friends

calm christmas

my new background was entitled "calm christmas."  i couldn't think of anything i would want more.  i'm trying to sit here calmly for a few moments, not thinking about the 2 pies i need to make tonight or all the errands i need to run for the children's celebration tomorrow.  i'm taking a few minutes to slowly eat my blueberries and not think about how we are going to get the pinatas made in time or what games i can come up with at the last minute for tomorrow.

i'm not thinking about my surgery on friday and how i'm going to be healing still on christmas day.  i'm not thinking about how i'm going to have to tell my nieces and nephews that i can't play around with them like normal because i have to protect my nose and i will even have to be careful about which way i hold them on my lap.

no, i'm thinking about calm this christmas, just for a few minutes until...

wait...

never mind.

i can hear the children coming.

time to go back to my happy flurry of activity.

it was fun while it lasted, right??

wordless wednesday

we've got dinner on the brain

almost wordless wednesday

a few pictures of late:

wonder kitchen woman - "the fate of dinner lies in her hands"

silly times in COAT kids

and this beautiful sweetness is my newest nephew - i'm in love.  that adorable little faux hawk is 100% natural!  7 more days till i get to hold him!

"it's a morton salt day, God"

that's what i found myself praying just a few minutes ago.  oh i could write tale after tale of how wonderful these kids are and how good it has been going.

but today is a morton salt day.  my momma used to collect morton salt collectables and still has a few.  morton's picture was always of an adorable little girl under an umbrella holding a spilling container of salt.  their slogan?  "when it rains, it pours."  now, while it's been cloudy all day, there has been no actual rain. but oh how it's poured.

my kids are getting to the point where they are realizing that this move is permanent, they have to do their homeschooling with me instead of mom, and the novelty has just plum wore off.  one of the kids is showing anger that they have never really shown before.  one bursts into tears at the least little thing.

and in my house, there seems to be sorrow after sorrow as well.  roommates deeply hurting.  roommates believing satan's lies.

so i feel a good bit helpless in both cases.  i want to cry, but don't know whose shoulder wouldn't break under the weight of one more thing.

so as i was walking today, i just prayed, "it's a morton salt day, God."  He knew what i meant.  and He's here.  He'll be present as i scramble to get dinner on the table for my housemates for our "family" dinner.  He'll be there as i process and plan for tomorrow, hoping for a better day, but finding a way to trust if it isn't.

pray for my hurting kids.  pray for my hurting roommates.  pray for me, please.  pray for stuff that i don't even know how to articulate.  we're having some morton salt days - and i could use the strength from your prayers to help myself and others remember that Jesus is here, scooping up the mess of salt and rain that are falling down.

wordless wednesday