From Gratitude to Adoration

"I'm thankful for my husband and my kids. I'm grateful that we're all healthy. I'm thankful for my house, my friends, my books…"

This was how I used to pray when I reflected on the good things in my life.

Then, a couple of years ago, I came across two sentences that changed the way I view the gifts generously dumped across each year of my life.

"Gratitude exclaims… 'How good of God to give me this.' Adoration says, 'What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!'" -C.S. Lewis

Moments of joy and things that are beautiful are just distant and brief coruscations (glimmers and sparkles) of the indescribably awesome Being who is behind it all.

Now, in addition to thanking God for things, I am drawn into awe and wonder over who He must be.

When I enjoy the simple goodness of watching my two-year-old swinging ("Higher, higher!") and singing every nursery rhyme she knows at the top of her lungs, I thank God for my healthy, second-born and I wonder in awe, "How good and playful must the Being be who thought up children and swings and songs?"

When my eyes close and my brow furrows in concentration to hear the subtleties within the richness of a new piece of orchestral music, I thank Him for music and I wonder in awe at the richness of the creativity of the Being behind it all.

When I walk home from the market, see storm clouds coming, and hear the sound of thunder rumbling deep and powerful like a growling cosmic dog, my pulse quickens as I realize this is just a glimmer of the most powerful of storms and the most powerful of storms is just a far-off coruscation of the power of God.

When, in the middle of a busy day, I tell my husband my back hurts from scrubbing black mold off the walls the day before and he massages the sore spots, I thank Him for Michael and wonder, "How tender and good must be the Being who thought up the tender, loving care of a good husband?"

This Thanksgiving, by all means, be thankful for all you have. Then, marvel at how all those things are but a brief glimmer of the good, good Father behind it all.

Halloween - A Mouse and a Butterfly

Last Halloween, when Grace was 20 months old and Cora was a newborn, we did absolutely nothing to celebrate because, well, Grace was 20 months old and Cora was a newborn. We were tired.

Since this is our last Halloween in the U.S. for a while, I decided to go for it. Only challenge: we're broke and trying to not accumulate new things like costumes that they only wear once. So, I somehow managed to piece together two costumes from things we had around the house and was thrilled with the result...

Here is Minnie Mouse and a butterfly dancing ring-around-the-rosy.

Here are two past Halloweens:
Halloween 2012
Halloween 2013

Recent Shots

Three recent photos.

One: My neighbor had her son's name tattooed on her back in Hebrew. This picture was taken in her living room with side light coming in a window. I think I was holding Grace and her son was tugging on my pant leg.

Two: I'm involved with a local nonprofit. They wanted a picture of their kids holding a "Thank You" sign to send out to major donors. To get genuine smiles out of these two, I had them say "poo poo pee pee" over and over.

And the best shot last: Grace and her cousin, Lilianna, opening a gift on Christmas morning. So sweet. So innocent.

Happiness Is

A twenty pound turkey transformed into turkey soup, turkey enchiladas, and turkey ka-prao. And a twenty pound baby to help us eat it all.

The anticipation of baby's first Christmas.

The anticipation of my first Christmas with a baby.

Weather chilly enough to light the gas fireplace every night.

Pulling out the good ol' crooked Christmas tree and leaving the bottom three feet bare to keep our tiny human from eating ornaments and hooks.

Reading the lyrics of Christmas songs out of an old, green hymnal and reveling in the forgotten third and fourth verses.

A full home. Michael, Jen, Jen's boyfriend, my law partner, and our intern all work from our home at different points during the week. It's much better than Grace and me alone rattling around in a big house.

Reading Anne of Green Gables for the billionth time.

Giving Thanks

Yesterday was filled with cooking and hosting and conversing, so today I write to give thanks for just a few of many good gifts including

Good music.

Good books.

Work that I enjoy and that allows me to be with my baby girl yet gives me something outside the home and meaningful to do to prevent me from going crazy.

A loving, faithful husband.

A happy, healthy baby who is developing so well. Specifically, I am grateful for each of her heartbeats from the first few we heard at the first ultrasound to the ones I recently felt under her tiny ribs as I laid her down to sleep.

Birdsong.

Variety in food. Cardamom, toasted almonds, pupusas, cumin, heirloom veggies, fresh baked bread, dim sum. I love food.

Mystery. Life would be so much blander if everything could be explained. Rather, there is so much that is inexplicable like giant, underground ant colonies; the beauty of fall trees; the migratory patterns of some species. It all so beautifully reflects the mystery of God himself -- although he has graciously revealed many of his attributes, in the end, he cannot be explained and his essence cannot be fully known.

Cars, the highway system, and passenger planes that get me quickly to those I love, and phone calls, Skype dates, Google hangouts, emails, Facebook messages & status updates, and blog posts for when I can't see them in person.

Happy Thanksgiving one day late!

Halloween

Last year, Grace was a pumpkin for Halloween.

This year, we decided to go along with her tongue always out, crazy hair look. Did we pull it off?

Prettier Pictures

In the back of my mind, I have always wanted a good photo editing program that's easy to use, but they're quite expensive so I never even thought to ask for one and was really quite content without one.

Through their connections with someone who works for Adobe, my brother and his wife were able to purchase Lightroom 2 for super cheap and they gave it to me yesterday for our family's belated Christmas celebration!

I took a few pictures of their precious two month old just a couple of hours before opening the gift. After I received it, I installed it on my netbook, received a little tutoring session from my big bro, ran a photo through a preset action called "Creative - Cold Tone," upped the saturation a little bit, and voila!, she looks like a snow angel from heaven.

Here's the already adorable original: 

Thanks Dan & Erica!

Halloween

You're never too young to wear a Halloween costume!

Mother's Day at My Place

I had no insightful Mother's Day post planned, but after looking at the pictures from my fun afternoon celebrating with my mother-in-law (and husband and father-in-law), I couldn't help just throwing them up here to share!

Michael with his mom.

Growing up, when Michael's mom asked him what he wanted for dinner, the answer was almost always one of two Thai dishes involving beef and broccoli served over noodles. For Mother's Day, Michael made her one of the dishes. Raad Naa score between Nila and Michael is now one million to one.

  

Milk tea in the freezer in an attempt to get it chilled quickly.

The veggies go in. We included chard, bok choy, snap peas, snap pea tendrils, and carrots from the garden. I love my garden. The broccoli and red bell peppers were from Costco. I love Costco.

The final product was not photogenic. You're just going to have to believe me when I say that it tasted better than it looks.

And the festivities aren't over yet! My mom lives 1,000 miles away in Denver, so I normally don't get to see her to celebrate. But, she will be in town later this week for my law school graduation! I am looking forward to spending lots of time with her, my dad, and my sister.

Valentine's Day

He bought me flowers, gave me a card, made me truffles, and took me too...

The waiter fastened plastic bibs around our necks and told us to roll up our sleeves. Fifteen minutes later, we were served knotted plastic bags of shrimp drowned in a spicy cajun sauce. (A bit reminiscent of goldfish from the pet store, come to think of it.) We ripped open our bags, obediently rolled up our sleeves, and went to town peeling and feasting on shrimp.

Just have to say that we only brought our point and shoot
and it was blinking "I AM OUT OF BATTERY," so these
pics are rushed, horrid, and pretty fun.

We had been planning on trying out The Boiling Crab for well over a year, but the 40+ minute drive followed by a 40+ minute wait was enough to postpone it. But, then the chain expanded closer to home, so we finally got to go. What a good Valentine's Day.

Deck the Halls

"Deck the Halls" is a generous title for this post considering our two bedroom apartment has but a single hall connecting the bedrooms, main room, and bathroom. But, nevertheless, a tree, stockings, and a few other knickknacks have gone up and it is looking pretty festive in here!

Since we have no fireplace, I did the next best thing by putting my aspen tree branch over our gas heather and hung the stockings off of it. That'll do.

Thaimerican Thanksgiving

The official day for giving thanks is almost a week past, but I've still got something to share that I am grateful for.

On Thanksgiving, I woke up weary and in need of some soul restoration. I felt burned out on school and burned out on life.

My sweet, sweet husband took on all of the Thanksgiving morning cleaning and cooking responsibilities, and I just curled up in a blanket with a cup of tea and prayed and read. Then, we spent the most wonderful afternoon and evening with my in-laws and four international students from the colleges where Michael works. All we did was eat, chat, play games, and laugh for hours.

One of the students, Catt, drinking Michael's Thai Tea with boba, all homemade! (Stay tuned for the recipe.)

The food. It was about 60% American and 40% Thai and therefore "Thaimerican." Gosh, I'm clever!

The fun.

The games.

That night, I went to bed with my stomach full and my soul restored. Thank you, Jesus.

Five Days in Colorado

My man and I got to spend an extended Fourth of July weekend in Colorado with family. The weekend was full of:


Nature,

After years of failed attempts, we finally made it on top of Harmonica Arch.

A moon rock.

My big bro and his pup.

I was trying to catch a shot of a lightning fork by using a super slow shutter speed, but I got these awesome clouds instead. I love Colorado thunderstorms.

Family,

I got to see almost twenty of my family members. Here's grandma and my cousins' dog, Baggins.

My happy parents.

And, of course, Food.

shish kabobs!

The best cheesecake ever!

And our dishware: urine collection cups. My mom brought them from her clinic. Hopefully they were unused!

A Warm February Day

My husband took me to a local garden to celebrate Valentine's Day two days early. I couldn't resist bringing my camera to take a few shots! You just saw the beautiful, serious photos. The handsome, not so serious photos are below:

Pine-ing Fir Yew?! You've got to be kidding.

That's a BIG pinecone!