turning Christmas pages {207-212}

{via pinterest}

it's less than a week to Christmas.

i'm having a hard time believing that Christmas is really this close. i'm one of those people who peaks ahead on every new calender, pressing my finger to the 25th of December like a little child and whispers

how many more days are left?

the blessings that flock among these days are more than i can ever begin to comprehend, more than i could ever share in one place at one time. this season seems to be wallpapered with eucharisteo, from head to toe with grace.

but as always, i'm going to raise grateful fingers to heaven, and count...

• 207. this first year of being a family of six. Kyle home for Christmas from the US Army, laughter shared and memories exchanged until our sides split. 

• 208. live pine in the living room. imperfect just like we are. 

• 209. the overflow of love from sisters across the nation found in my mailbox over the past week. books and notes of love, reminders that we're connected, that we're a sisterhood here. 

{via pinterest}

• 210. our first sprinkling of snow. short-lived, but it was here. 

• 211. the sacrifice of a Father to share His Son with the world. the sacred blended with the earthy, Holiness clad in flesh. 

• 212. warm quilts and fluffy pillows and White Christmas. there are some traditions that i will never cease to adore. 

i love Christmas. but to me, there's more to Christmas than just the story found in the second chapter of Luke, more than we see or comprehend with our mortal minds. there's a big picture, a book with more than one page.

so i'm doing Christmas differently this year on my blog.

i'm unfurling those forgotten pages, showing the other sides of this time of year when Love came down and virgin arms cradled Emmanuel against her breast.

to read the first part of this sacred saga, visit here: the first-page :: havah.

because there is more than first glace can reveal. that's the mystery of my Jesus.

there is more. 

He is more. 

and i ache to drown in this mystery.

{linking my blessings with Ann}

autumn's blur {142-151}

{via pinterest}

this week has been one of those confusing bits of time.

those times when all the days run together and it's hard to decipher where you even fall in the stretch of Sunday to Saturday. these are the times when things can seem very blurry, dizzying in their confusion. it's not that things have been awful or easily forgettable.

it's just been a blur.

 i think i'm still in a place of rest, of recovery, from my crazy beach wedding adventure. it's been a week now since my plane touched down on the tarmac and i left the Southern warmth. i returned to find that the Midwestern world kept turning without me, and fall came in a blink.

it's refreshing to inhale the cold. it's something about being home. about wool and peppermint hot chocolate.

about my lists continuing to grow, leaps and bounds of blessings that swell over me like a rush of autumn leaves.

• 142. His love. forever and always, no matter what i do. i'm His daughter, the one for which He died. this never-changing glory. 

• 143. tears of life. of joy. there is something powerful in knowing that tears are not only for brokenness, but for when light overflows into sparkling drops down your face. 

• 144. the miracle that is my precious Granny. she is holding on...for just a bit longer...giving me a chance to see her in the coming days before she slips from earth to Home. 

• 145. peppermint hot chocolate and chicken pot pies in October. an early blessing and whisper of winter's promise

• 146. so much closeness of family. we're all here, all close. this corner of the world is ours to share. 

{via pinterest}

• 147. carving pumpkins with little voices and hands. sparking eyes and rounded lips as they see their own work glowing in candlelight. 

• 148. music. again, the mystery of notes and melody captivates me. 

• 149. seeing my novel start to come together. pinboards and blog posts, cementing my imagination together. only seven days left until i begin, and i am no longer afraid. 

• 150. giggles with my little sister. both adults but still refusing to grow up. 

• 151. fairy tales. Prince Charming and enchanted roses. knowing that there is an eventual happily ever after for those who belong to Him. 

another scrap of ecletic blessings to fill my Monday. these streaks of watercolour on a week that threatened to bleed together all over again. 

but i held out for the colours. the cold will not freeze my soul, will not dim my eyes. 

this fade is the start 

of so many blessings. 

{linking with Ann and my fellow blessing-chasers today}

seasons // time

{via pinterest}

this is a morning for musings.

a morning for acoustic guitars and indie lyrics that soothe the soul with a caress. 

i feel like i'm sinking more and more into Ecclesiastes

there is a time...a time...

what is this time? 

i know this is the time for new beginnings. the time where earth must die for newness to be born. 

autumn is the fade. winter is the rest. 

unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear much fruit.

i think we forget that. we focus on the brightness and rejoice. but when the fade comes, prelude to the rest, we groan. 

but there is beauty in the fade. beauty in the rest. 

the sun is not going away. it never leaves us. it just takes a moment to slip behind the clouds. the light does not go out, it merely changes for a time.

only for a time. 

do we forget this passing of time? winter is not forever. 

it is not a White Witch curse.  

{via pinterest}

it comes and goes. 

it has a time. 

this is why i cannot curse or begrudge any season. each one is a cloak of beauty for this earth in which we dwell, a sign of Love's fingers. 

He died for life. 

a step from Throne to earth. a Life given for life to be made new. there is a time for everything.

He did not stay below the earth. He rose. He returned. He lives still. 

this glorious conundrum that is my Jesus. 

this season is passing. 

this time of autumn is caressing, this time of winter is swift aproaching.

curse not. 

only love. 

there is a time for everything...

Never Obliviate {Spoilers}

"...and you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end." ~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


I don't even know where to begin right now.

I'm still emotionally overwhelmed. I am full of magic.

I know that I don't normally do "play-by-play" posts, but I think for this, I will make an exception.

Arriving at the theater at 10pm put my friends and I right in the center of a madhouse of costumed fans. The fandom was intense and beautiful.

There was a Malfoy lookalike...same blonde hair, same facial shape, same wardrobe, and same excessive attractiveness...along with Lucius, Bellatrix, Dobby, and a small Death Eater.

There was an enormous Hagrid, a devilishly handsome Sirius, a witty and outlandish Rita Skeeter, three plumply pink and cat-laden Umbridges, and numerous escapees from Azkaban Prison. There was even a pig-nosed Tonks look-a-like with hot purple hair and long beautiful robes.

And there are photographs galore to prove it, which will be coming soon.

Amid my party, there were two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff, five Gryffindors, and a Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw mix, as well as my Bellatrix'd costumed self...but I count myself among the Gryffindors, for that is my house and my home.

After two hours of laughing, photographing, and general all-around giddiness, we went our separate ways into our respective theaters. The previews seemed to drag forever. Even the sneak peak at The Dark Knight Rising seemed to do nothing but annoy as our hearts began to beat faster with anticipation.

Finally, the theater went dark.

The grey stone WB logo appeared on the screen.

Tears began to trickle their way down my face.

Barely fifteen minutes had passed before I, my friends, and the rest of the fully sold out theater were sobbing as though our hearts would break.

Professor Minerva McGonagal raised her wand and the war began. My heart began to throb.

Snape gasped out "you have your mother's eyes." I sobbed.

Ron and Hermoine shared a kiss fourteen years in the making. There are no words for the way my heart leapt.

Fred's pale form lay still and dead on the Hogworts commonroom floor. I wailed.

The bodies of Lupin and Tonks lay together without a breath, fingers barely brushing, blood on their faces. That is "til death do us part."

The battle was waged. Lives were lost.

Snape cradled the slain form of Lily Potter to his chest and wailed in anguish. I joined with him.

The doe Patronus leapt, and the ghostly forms of Sirius, Lily, James, and Lupin gave Harry the courage to do what must be done.

Bellatrix was slain by a gleeful Molly Weasley. I cheered.

A now exceptionally-attractive Neville severed the serpent's head. I could not speak for weeping.

Voldemort was defeated and scattered to the wind. I raised my hands and cried with joy.

The credits rolled. I screamed and cheered and clapped until my eyes, throat, and hands were sore.

My emotions are beyond my comprehension.

The end of an era.

Seven books.

Eight movies.

Fourteen years.

Three Kleenexes.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for my magical childhood...

...and for my continuous magical adulthood.

For I will never Obliviate. 


I will never forget.

When I am 80 years old, I will be sitting in my rocking chair reading Harry Potter. And my family will laugh and say, "still?"

And I will say...

..."Always."

"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Remember that." ~Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone


"Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." ~J.K. Rowling

Coffee

This morning, I had my first cup of coffee in a very long time. It was like getting reacquainted with an old friend.

I don't know exactly what is it about a cup of steaming java, but there's something so soothing and familiar about the feeling of the ceramic cup in your hand.

...the fragrant steam floating up from the mug, brushing its warm fingers against your nose.

...the sharp, smooth flavor of that first, perfect sip.

It's comforting, at any season of life.

There are so many "coffee-flavored" aspects of life. Perfectly simple, and yet essential. Somehow, they end up filed under "forgotten wonder," and their existence fades into a misty sort of consciousness until they eventually disappear altogether.

It's the simple, seemingly insignificant things -- beautiful things that we tend to overlook until we realize that they've disappeared and we want them back in our lives again...

...that little ray of sunlight that breaks through the window each morning to dance on the pillow and whisper secrets in your eyes.

...the sweet kiss of a lover, barely a brush against your check.

...the reassuring hug of your best friend that speaks volumes without a single word being spoken.

...the breath of ocean-scented wind as it sweeps your hair like a velvet curtain over your eyes and caresses your sun-tanned shoulders.

...the words of God, locked away in the secret corners of our mind that bring life when we feel like we're fading away.

So maybe it's time to re-evaluate our lives...

It's time to inhale the scent of steaming coffee, blink away the fog...and live again.

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis