Why I Love Home Depot...

Alright, my extended vacation on another blog is over and I'm ready to come back to blogger. (I will still continue to post about living in the rhythms of the Christian seasons and faith formation on the StoryFormed blog though. Stop by every once and a while...)

So I entitled this entry "Why I Love Home Depot" and the responses to this could be unending. I love the exhilaration of walking through the door and thinking about all the things I could do to my house! I love the paint section - especially all the color sample cards. My children love this section too and I have tons of the color cards in my purse to prove it!

I love the garden center - especially when they build a fountain or two and have a cool bench to sit on. I think I could bring a good book and my lunch there someday and be sooooo happy. I also love looking at all the kitchen cabinets and sinks that I could buy when I win the lottery. But today, I have to say "I Love Home Depot" because they taught my husband his flooring techniques.(example above of those great flooring skills!!!)

You may know that David once worked at Home Depot...in the flooring department, by the way. And you may also know that we are in the middle of remodeling our master bathroom. It was kind of my idea, but I love that my husband likes to take my ideas and "make it so" (for you Star Trek fans!)

(above, you can see the original wall paper. why was wallpaper ever popular??)

So he is upstairs right now laying down the flooring in our bathroom and it looks amazing!! Had I been put in charge of it, well....let's just say there would have been a lot of tears and some tiles flung into the wall. We would be walking on the underlying particle board for the rest of our lives!

However, thanks to Home Depot (and A LOT of puzzle games while he was growing up), David is quite the proficient floor guy! And are we glad or what?? We are living proof of the Home Depot slogan (as Luc says it), "you can do...we can do it"!!!

(David laughing at me for even photographing this. It may be because it is late or perhaps because I painted in a very small enclosed room for a good portion of the afternoon...)

A Little Detour

For anyone who follows this blog, most of my writing for the next 40 something days (during the season of Lent) will be found HERE

Join me, if you like. There should also be a link to the right called StoryFormed.

-Tara

Hope

I believe it is called dramatic irony. You know, in literature when the weather seems to mimic the moods or intentions of the characters and/or plot line. I have felt this often this winter season - the environment around me seems to be screaming lessons into my heart and life.

I am beginning to feel better; recovering from my "off-ness" with a lovely upped dosage of thyroid medication. It is amazing that this little tiny gland in our bodies can affect so much. Reminds me of Paul's writing about the "lesser parts" of the body. Ahhh...but that is for a different day!

Today, I am feeling hopeful! As I walk and drive around our area right now, it looks like we are in the dead of winter. From a distance, branches on the trees are bare. Their scrawny arms outstretched, pleading for sunshine and warm weather.

However, on closer examination, there are small bumps forming along the twigs and at their tips. Small formations that are a slightly different color from the branch are beginning to appear. Buds are forming and new life is conquering this winter deadness.


This brings me hope. I look forward to the bursts of color that these buds hold now only in promise. I look forward to the new movements of God churning in me and how they will burst forth. Yes...I love new growth....I love buds....because they make me hopeful!

waiting

God of bottomless emptiness -
enter this place, this non-place

Hover over this watery abyss and speak into it.

Call forth what You see in Your mind's eye
and make it so.

Here I am - this chaotic universe
waiting for Your invasion

Form me, give me substance
for without You I exist only as dust

And I will wait - for creating worlds
does not seem to set You in a rush

Winter Storms

"You lead me beside still waters.  You restore my soul."

These words I write sitting on a log at the beach.  The hightide waves are very gently, very quietly kissing the shore.  Not a soul is here...not even the birds.  I think about how different this is from a few days ago when the waves were so turbulent, the fog so low and the wind bitter cold.

The beach shows evidence of stom and chaos.  Driftwood in the form of huge logs and branches clutters the surface of the sand.  Debris and garbage are caught in the gnarled pockets of roots and wood.  Out in the water a large system of upside down tree root gives evidence of a tumultuous landslide that stripped this massive entity from the earth and sent it tumbling to its death in the sea.

 

The tide is high so there is little room to walk, nor are there signs of life.  The usual sand dollars and shells covered by the rippling water.  Only sand and debris...

 

 

Yet the waters are quiet.  A morning haze is dissipating to reveal a rare blue sky.  And the junk on the beach gives me a reminder of the cleansing effects of winter storms.  There is a kindness in its severity - to remove the unhealthy, breaking apart, to make room for new growth.  The storms reshape the land and the beach and get it ready for spring.

  

I am this beach - being reformed by the severity of Love.  God cuts away the junk and pounds His waves at the shores of my heart.  He brings bitterness and fog.  And yet, today He grants a reprieve.  He leads me to still waters and exposes the debris.  Debris which should be a badge of shame but to which He says, "This is My doing.  It is good." 

So I will give in to the process of the wind and waves and brace myself for more storms ahead.  After all, winter is still upon me.  I know there will be much garbage to look at and haul away.  But I take heart, for the purging and cutting process is part of the Love of winter.  

(However...I really look forward to spring!)

Calling

Alright, so it's been quite a while since I posted (or at least it feels that way).  I have been feeling "off" lately and haven't been able to figure it out.  At first I thought the answer was Vitamin D - you know the many, many days of cloud cover here in the Seattle area can lead to wear and tear on those vitamin receptors.  Then I thought maybe I'm depressed...once again, many days of gray skies can do that to a person.  Maybe I just need a vacation.  I do dream of something tropical, warm and sandy.

So in this last week I got some lab results back about my thyroid (which is off) AND I went to go see an accupuncturist.  I cannot believe that I'm going to pay someone to stick me with needles!!!  I am really hoping that this week some doctors can help me get to the physical root of the problem.  I could use a few extra units of energy!!

However, I also think that there is movement on God's part calling to deep places in my heart.  I find Him churning in me the questions of who and what I trust in (other than Him).  I find Him challenging my habits of busyness in good "Christian" ways as avoidance of coming to Him in conversation.  I think He is weaning me from a "pleasurable" spirituality to something...well, I don't know what yet.  He seems to be questioning every "road map" my logic has contrived and is asking me to follow His Spirit into uncharted (for me) lands.  It is hard and I'm exhausted and yet perhaps that is exactly where He wants me - unable to do anything on my own and having to wait upon Him and His transforming power.

So I answer that calling with waiting.  Waiting for the Spirit to provide the transformation/energy/insight/guidance/mercy needed.

The Sixteen Days of Christmas??

Wow, it has been a long time since I've written anything. We were traveling for 16 days and returned home on the 2nd quite exhausted and anticipating sleeping in our own beds. So here is my attempt at our family's personal "holiday song" - with some thank you's and explanations....

During the 16 days of Christmas, my calendar said to me,

Get on 1 super delayed flight (before the airport shuts down)

2 trips to the airport (once to arrive, another time to pick up our luggage!)

3 birthday celebrations (Jesus, Tami and Uncle Rick)

4 photo shoots (Lentzs, Jacobs, Andersons, Renee)

5 cousin sleepovers (thank you Abi, Sam, Destinee, Katie and Corbin)

6 lovely lunches (you know who you are!)

7 morning coffees (gotta love Starbucks gift cards!)

8 dinners full of conversation (food for thought)

9 pounds heavier!!

10 trips to the mall (UGGGG!!)

11 perogy lovers fighting for their share (thanks to mom for great eats on Christmas Eve)

12 stations at the prayer garden (thank You, God, for a few moments of quiet!)

13 minutes in the pool (Mikaela was brave enough to get in to her waist)

14 people to bring in the New Year (including very noisy children)

15 family members for a last yummy dinner (all Malouf's minus one)

16 snow free days!!

All in all, we had a great time. There were still more people we would have like to have seen and the kids had a difficult time understanding why we had to go back to Washington. We arrived home with more luggage than we left with, having to put on a few extra layers, and a huge sigh of relief to have made it all in one piece (or actually many pieces, but everything and everyone was TOGETHER!!)