What an honor!

Erin just tipped me off to a precious gift this morning. One of my blog posts *blushes* has been listed in the "Emerging Women Best of 2008" - thank you Sonja! I am so honored.

Emerging Women - Best of 2008

Merry Christmas from the Turners!

MMMMMMM.... Can you smell that? Our home is full of fragrance and warmth. Today's menu included Maple Sausage and Cranberry Bread French Toast for brunch. And on the dinner menu this evening we are offering Prime Rib, Coconut Shrimp, Baked Potatoes, Roasted Cauliflower and Splenda Coconut Chess Pie.

Hope your day is merry, merry! Wish you were here!

I want you Art!!

thank you andrea!

Art Attack - PLAY!!

Kel has an Art Attack challenge up using the word play - this is about as creative as I can get today - but it's two times I have had so much fun with my kids - Jacob always is a prompt for play in our house - here he's taken two old couch cushions and a headband of his sister's and made himself a funny hat. Alinea is in our tent - which we set up in the meeting room at our church so that I could host a sleep over for her and some friends. We had a great night - the highlight was having nerf gun wars as we set up the chairs as barricades and ran for cover.

Word for 2008 - Complete

Each year I ask God for a word for the year. 2007 was "centered", 2008 was "complete" - I have been praying about what 2009 might be.

I was reading through my posts on my anonymous blog about "complete" and a post that I wrote on a recovery anniversary popped up - and it had this Psalm in it - I hadn't made the connection to "complete" when I wrote it originally, but today it just jumped out at me. In our small group we've spent this past year talking about different Psalms and this one is one of my favorites - especially in the hands of Eugene Peterson. I just love these verses, they are very 12 steps:

Psalm 18:20-24
GOD made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to GOD's ways;
I don't take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.
GOD rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

This past year I have felt very "put back together" - it is the first time I've truly felt comfortable in my own skin. I can't wait to hear what 2009's word will be.

To my daughter at 15

I am so relieved not to be at this place in parenting Alinea just yet, so I am saving this here until then. I have read Gordon's blog for years and his writing touches me deeply. I can't imagine having a father pour words like these into a daughters soul.

My favorite part is:

Now, my young woman. Now have come the days of your choosing. You are both discovering and deciding what kind of woman you will be. You are deciding what of your life will be hidden and what you will show. Choose carefully, for what shames you now may serve you one day. And what serves you now may one day make you ashamed. Many girls will lose themselves in this time. They may find themselves again someday, but many years will be lost.

Read the whole piece here: Real Live Preacher - To My daughter at 15

Myth & Divine Therapy

I was up far too early this morning, but it gave me time to catch up with some of my dearest blogger friends. They have given me much to ponder.

My Anj, my dear Friend Anj - she is such a deep well has me thinking about the myth that creeps into our lives and exists as an overarching story we believe in without really ever understanding it is a myth. I had never considered this idea before, so I have lots to unpack here.

And my bestest Hope, she of the northern sky, so very far away I don't know that we'll ever have a chance to meet, but she knows me like the back of my hand - she spoke today of Divine Therapy - spending time in silence, being present to God. I have so much to do today that I realized that if I don't take that time I will never get it all done.

Falling like rain

Some days there are just well-timed gifts waiting to be opened. A few days ago I was at the thrift store and was peeking through the books. Tucked in and amongst the childrens books was Good Goats by the Linns. I have had that book in my Amazon wish list for over a year - it was like a tiny little Christmas present from God.

Today I was clearing out my inbox and found this - from back in July - from the StoryPeople:

There are days I drop words of comfort
on myself like falling rain &
remember it is enough to be taken care of by myself.

It was exactly what I needed to read today. Today I can comfort myself with words. Thank you!

Merry Christmas from the Turners!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh Come Oh Come

 

I took this picture in one of my favorite places on earth. St. Saviour's Church in Bar Harbor, Maine. It is a Tiffany stained glass - one of very few left in the world. I felt like I was standing in one of the famous art museums of the world. Keith and I had the place to ourselves and we spent hours there. We stumbled upon it, not knowing the beauty it held within its walls.

It is where I would choose as my happy place. This image transports me back there. I know it's so anglo - and that Jesus & Mary looked nothing like this - but it is oh so breath-taking. The rapture on her face, the knowing look of the child. It is my most favorite Madonna & Child in the world and I share it with you this advent season.

The Beautiful Good

I Have Turned My Face to the Roots

Obviously or consciously, we are all pilgrims, searching this world over for the Lost Thing---that which the early Desert Fathers called philokalia, the 'Beautiful-Good.' In all the Celtic affairs, soul-yearning seems as much the stuff of life as breathing. In our time it is a more haphazard affair, for we are constantly grasping at the moon. The cure is a kind of open secret, a turning around, a shifting of the gaze from what is far to what is near, to the stillness of beginnings, to the simple secret place where the soul gathers its nourishment: a knowing of the roots. A knowing of the roots. This is a quality of Traditional People---those drum beaters and dancers and firelight storytellers who chose to dwell outside the walls of the empire.

Source: Michael Green, December, 2008, Celtic Blessings Calendar
As always via inward/outward