"Thus says the LORD, who created the heavens 

and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it and 

spirit to those who walk in it.

'I am the LORD, that is my name.

The former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.'"

--Isaiah 42:5 and 8-9

Creator God

who breathed life into

creation

and

created beings

You are worthy of my 

worship 

for Who You are.

Creator God

Who is ever forever the Artist of my days--

carving new paths for me to journey on

rainbow relationships to be discovered

fresh growth places for my soul to awaken to

I welcome Your artistic movement within

I trust Your wise brush strokes

as the canvas unfolds.

When "hello" is the Beginning of "goodbye"

We opened Eden this past weekend.

She was waiting for us in all her glory

a broken water pipe just to remind us

that some things never change.

Regardless of how carefully we close up in the fall,

winter still seems to do a number on the pipes

of this charming little haven.

But we're used to it by now

It's all part of the fun and adventure and memory making.

This particular cottage season will be one of

drinking deeply the beauty of this place

of relishing each moment

of basking in rest and adventure and food and relationships

It will be a season marked with a strong taste of

bittersweet.

We put Eden up for sale this weekend):

Fifteen years of memories fill this tiny summer "home".

For 3 families

it has been fifteen years of our children growing up together

and we as adults growing...well...growing up too in many ways.

Eden was a gift beyond anything we had every imagined when we purchased her!

She will always be known as this holy sanctuary

where heaven and earth met...

even with burst water pipes!!

Last year we began to talk seriously about the possibility of selling

A lot has changed, specifically in the past 5 years

with my sister and her family moving 5 hours away

and my brother and his family

and our family

all rapidly changing

as our children grow older

get married, and go off to university and
make memories of their own.

It will not be an easy "goodbye"

for any of us.

But as much as we are all deeply in love with our Eden

we all feel that it's "time."

So our "hello" to Eden this spring

is the beginning of "goodbye"

We laughed and talked and ate and worked

with gusto and the knowledge that we are making

farewell memories.

My tired hubby and Zoe...just home from Haiti and not cottage opening!

Having fun in the leaves!!  Aaron and Anderson

Chris and

Charmaine busy raking leaves

Time out for a story!! :)

Mikaela and Emma painting sun catchers

Ashley and Rachel washing dishes...I think:)

Touching up the trim...Randy and Chris

Yummy fruit for waffles

Preparing for Flower Planting

More painting...my hubby:)

   

Oh Eden...
how we are going to miss you...

But not yet!!
Our season has just begun!       

He's Home!!!!!!!!!

There's nothing like having my hubby home

safe and sound from another God-sized

adventure in Haiti.

Now off to Eden to open for the season:)

Reflections of Mother's Day

I am always surprised when occasions catch me off guard.  

I tend to prepare myself fairly well I think

But this year the tides of emotion washed in and out

and I wasn't ready.

Mother's Day is bittersweet for me.

I am full

with the joy and blessing and gifts I experience

in being a mother.

Yet there is a sad and at times painful reality

that my own Mother is absent from my life.

For whatever reason,

this past week I found myself panicked at times.

On Tuesday I suddenly HAD to send a card

to my sister who lives out of province.

And it HAD to be handmade

with a picture of her and our Mother.

When I took it to the postal outlet he asked the value.

Uh..."it's sentimental value", I responded.

My "sentimental valued" card

required 2 day delivery service

which could have purchased a small bouquet of flowers as well...

But it didn't matter.

It HAD to get there for Mother's Day.

There were other moments of "panic"

in which I felt that I HAD to fulfill some thought that came to mind.

Strange,

but I just let it be.

My Mom and me

A rose and card in memory of my Mother

For some reason I did not feel the need to write on it

In the midst of the bitter was the sweet.

I adore my children

and have the added privilege this year of a daughter-in-law.

My husband is on a Mission Trip to Haiti
yet he and Ashley had planned ahead
and this was what greeted me Sunday morning.

 Phone calls and emails from Haiti,
hugs "delivered" from my son,
as well as phone "I-love-you's",
an "invitation" to sit with my daughter in church,
flowers at church for all the Haiti "widows" and mom,
a nap,
texts from my sister remembering our Mother,
dinner with Ashley
and her company as I watched
the Leafs beat Boston!!!!!!!!
What more could a Mother ask for????!!!!  ha,ha

Mother's Day will always hold this tension for me.
And I do have to choose where my thoughts will dwell.
I can't live in the "I wish..." era.
There's too much of "what is" that is
beautiful and satisfying and blessed.
Instead,
I acknowledge and remember my Mother of too few years
and I rejoice and give thanks
that I have been given this incredible journey
called Motherhood.

Arrival in Haiti!!!!!

 My hubby and team have arrived safely in Haiti.  

Looks like they are having no problems blogging this year, so I will post the link to their blog.

Let the adventure begin!!

 http://highviewtohaiti.blogspot.ca

Toronto 4 Boston 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Dad

Nephew Nick

Brother Randy

The Party Team!!!!  Yep...I have face paint and a sticker on my forehead:)

Lovers In A Dangerous Time

Something Like

 "I saw...in the middle of the fire,

something like gleaming amber.

And in the middle of it was

something like four living creatures...

In the middle of the living creatures there was

something like torches moving to and fro.

As I looked beside the living creatures, I saw...

something like a wheel within a wheel.

Over the heads of the living creatures there was

something like a dome, shining crystal...

and above the dome there was 

something like a throne."

Ezekiel 1:4-26

O my God

You are

something like the highest mountain

a grandeur of breathtaking proportions

Powerful One

You are

something like the vast ocean

an expanse I cannot measure

Creative One

You are

something like a radiant sunrise

painting brush strokes of beauty

Wise One

You are

something like the changing seasons

knowing  our souls need all manner of weather

Merciful One

You are

like a refreshing rain in an endless drought

allowing us to drink in Your tenderness

Loving One

You are

like the warmth and majesty of a roaring campfire

wrapping heat around shivering bodies

inviting us near

yet with reverence and awe

O my God

I worship You

The Crucible

"Crucible:  

A place or set of circumstances

where people or things

are subjected to forces that test them

and often make them change."

Encarta World English Dictionary (North American Edition)

This is where I have been these past weeks.

In the Crucible.

I can't say it has been enjoyable by any stretch

but it has been oh soooooo good for my soul.

I have come to realize that I often take up residence in the Crucible.

I allow myself to get into circumstances

namely caregiving

which tests me severely

and leads me into unhealthy living.

But I never change.

I continue to repeat the same scenario.

This time is different.

Thankfully.

I have been walking a path of soulful examination--

discovering more of why I do what I do

how I get "caught" in this trap

of over extending my limits

and what is the way to

a healthier way of living.

Ruth Haley Barton in her book

"Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership"

says this:

"...it is important for us to embrace spiritual transformation

as a process that is full of mystery...

God is the one who initiates and guides the process

and brings it to fruition.

The soul-full leader is appropriately humbled

by this realization and also relieved to not have to bear

the heavy weight of responsibility for changing herself or others.

The soul-full leader is faithful to the one thing he can do--

create the conditions that set us up for an encounter with God

in the places where we need it most."

I am encountering God in the places where I need Him most

It's a freeing place to be

 

 

The Blessings of Rain--A Prayer

I am continuing to be a part of Rachel Hackenberg"s Friday Prayer Writings. 

Today she has mentioned that a chilly spring rain is saturating Pennsylvania .  She asks her fellow prayer writers, "How is the weather where you are?" 

I smile because we have had a mixture of precipitation these past 24 hours--sleet, ice pellets, freezing rain and rain.  Most everything this morning is still covered in ice including many a car!!  I am aware as well, that there is a danger in this freezing rain.  Our street is blocked due to a large limb covering the entire two lanes of traffic.  A police car sits outside my house as there are live power lines down because of this. Elsewhere similar situations exist.

But I am being challenged more and more to have my heart awakened to the blessings of God even amidst danger, struggle, turmoil.

Rachel's verse to prompt our prayer speaks of the blessings of rain--

"I will send down the showers in their season;

they shall be showers of blessing.

The trees of the field shall yield their fruit;

and the earth shall yield its increase.

They shall be secure in their soil;

and they shall know that I am the LORD."

--Ezekiel 34:26b-27

Lord of the weather

I acknowledge the supremacy of Your power

in the world around me

Grateful I am

for protection through the night

here in my small corner of this planet

It is often in times like these

that I am reminded 

of Your Lordship

Not that You

drown us in frozen rain

icing trees

and downing power lines

No...

I don't believe that is Your way

But You are God

And I am aware of my smallness

A very wise posture for me

 

 

Feast of Hope

A room transformed.

Brown classroom tables covered with

 linens, china, silverplate

dancing candle flames and bright spring blooms

And food...

a smorgasbord of salads, meats, breads and stews

Oh, and some chocolate too:)

It was our last class in the Theology of Suffering Course.

We spent our time together feasting

and sharing symbols of hope

and our individual Prose of Hope.

We ate with the silverware that was my mother's..

 my symbol of hope.

I expressed the longevity of the journey

to move from a place of only mourning her death

to being able to celebrate her life

It seemed only fitting to feast

with her silverware.

And my Prose of Hope?

Never would I have thought

in those first weeks

that I could ever arrive at a place called hope

My soul has seemed stuck

for a long time

I'm free now

What a gift God has given me through the teachings

of this professor

and the shared community of those who journeyed

this course with me

Prose of Hope

God of quiet mystery

You hold me fast in Your Sovereign grip

Suffering's harsh winds once threatened to unmoor me...

the dismantling of my soul trailing my footsteps

This fighting quest--to reconcile God-forsakenness with

Emmanuel "God-with-us" proved futile--

until now--

The healing of the breach is not for today

Today I live and breathe

suspended

between the holy truth of who You are

and the inescapable reality of my broken, post-Eden dwelling

Strange though it sounds, there is a restful calm within this tension

a laying down of arms

a moving away from the battle zone

Though my soul lives unmended

I am at peace

I am free to invite others to journey suffering's mysterious way

Together we will learn what it means to walk this earth in the shadow of You--

my God of quiet mystery

"For now we see in a mirror dimly,

but then face to face;

now I know in part, but then I shall know fully

just as I also have been fully known."

1 Corinthians 13:12