the world could use more bob

in a conversation last week, vincent & i began extolling the virtues of bob ross to kyra. how we would come home from school and eagerly plop ourselves down to watch him paint a happy little cloud, or giggle while he "beat the devil" out of his brush, or whisper when his instructions were to be gentle....not to mention our open mouth astonishment at the end of 24 min when he had a glorious canvass filled with the beauty of nature!

all this led to bob being added to our netflix queue. we have devoured the dvd, but what i really wish i could capture sufficiently in words is what i see when i look around the room during the episode.

last night, we watched a couple seascape episodes with the girls & josh and mamie - happy birthday, josh! :) and as i looked around the room, i couldn't help but laugh to myself, particularly at us "grown ups"... absolutely frozen still, eyes glued to the screen, with various looks of concentration, awe & wonder. no one moved a muscle! we were all so drawn into his happy world, and his soothing voice... forget anti-anxiety pills. start prescribing an hour of bob ross every time you feel stressed and the world will make itself right again!

so...we decided that we want to have a 'bob ross painting party'! $20 a head to cover art supplies, and we can paint our own happy worlds, with prizes for the most bob ross like, and wine and laughter and tiny pigs-in-blanket appetizers! how fun would that be? who wants to come? :)

the time, it does fly....

oh my gosh. can you believe The Girls are TWO today?!

meg

my little nutmeg is finally coming home tomorrow! she's been gone since july 27th... a long time for a 10 year old! first a week to mimi's in KY, then a long journey to prince edward island (the east coast of canada, home of 'anne of green gables') to visit mark, tina, aly & zoe, and the rest of mark's family. she's the only mulder who got to see the twins this year... lucky duck!

anyway, my point is that i have missed her! yes, truthfully, the house is quieter without her, and there is less sibling squabbling, but there is also less laughing, less snuggling and less , well, meg! i am driving to pick her up tomorrow, and am even looking forward to her talking my ear off in the car. :)

i love my daughter.

life can be strange.

i was sitting outside starbucks, purse slung across my lap waiting for tenea, and beside me at the next table were two 30-something, hip, vaguely lebenese looking guys with laptops. they got up to leave and one of them said, "you have a nice purse." i only half heard him and kept my eyes scanning the parking lot. but he was insistent. "you have a nice purse." mildly confused, i nodded my agreement.

then he said, rather emphatically, "brown!"

"um... yep."

smiling - satisfied? - he repeated himself, "brown," and they walked off into the sunset.

my weirdest interaction all day. by a mile.

and on a completely different topic, today is our 16th anniversary! sixteenth. man alive. when you're just a kid getting married, your 16th anniversary feels like a millenia away... but it turns out it's not. not really.

i think that curtis and i are lucky. we really actually like each other after all these years. there are no elephants in the room, no land mines to creep around, no unforgiven hurts. plenty of hurts, to be sure, but none left festering unforgiven. i think in most ways we have an ordinary marriage; but because it's our marriage i can't helping thinking that in some ways it's a little bit extraordinary. :)

so here's to the next 16! as we head out on our new adventure of ekklesia & life, there's no one i would rather adventure with than you, curtis. ... at least 9 days out of 10... :) xoxo

God is good to me

got home from work at 2:30.

cleaned my room.

worked out.

made a cake (to reward myself for working out).

cleaned the kitchen.

cleaned the livingroom.

dusted.

folded the laundry.

kissed curtis good-bye when he left.

now it's just me - ALL ALONE, THANK YOU MERCIFUL HEAVENS - with nothing to do and no one to bug me. for hours and hours and hours.

this is how i know God is good.

ignore the caption

this picture puts a whole new image in my head when i meditate on my favorite verse of the Bible these days... "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;" (ps. 91:4)

:)

time keeps on slippin...

this summer has been crazy.

crazy busy, crazy strange, crazy changes... but also crazy kid free! my in-laws (grandparents & aunts) did all the major parenting for 2 weeks while we were in canada, the lovely tamar took the girls for a week of festivities, and now tomorrow morning they are off to a week at mimi & papa's, followed by meg's solo 10th bd trip with mimi & papa to prince edward island - yes, the home of 'anne of green gables' - to spend time with mark & his family for 10 days! then she gets home and it's back to school scurrying and off we go!

this whole "it takes a village" thing is really working out in my favor this summer... although truth be told, i already miss The Girls in advance of their departure. i don't want them to go. of course, the truth is that i have so much going on in the next week that it will be nice to do it all without feeling guilty about rushing in and out on them... but still. the times they are a changin'... they have changed, without my permission. it's the eternal parental lament, i suppose, but tonight is the first time i really feel it.

so i will kiss their brown noses in the morning and pray them out the door... missing them wildly in the moments that i miss them, and loving them wildly all the moments in between.

My Girls. i love you.