Category Archives: general

Another Year Ends & Then Begins

This isn’t the first time I’ve used this blog title, but it’s a good line from a good song (wonderland by mike garrigan, in his collapsis days). The bridge is: “And I’m going to hang on till the end / And all that could mean / Another year ends and then begins / It’s all just a dream / Still I’m going to love you where I stand / If I stand at all / Still I’m going to do the best I can.” It’s one of those songs that comes to me a lot, in the inaudible soundtrack that scores my life.

Today marks the end of my 31 day challenge of daily blogging. The kick in the pants has been good for me, and I hope to keep writing more here. Better yet, I resolve to.

Today also marks the end of a year, and a decade (I know, some people have big feelings about that and consider decades run from 1-10, but I am going to go with the majority on this one.) It’s been a long year, and a hard one, but the decade has been so short, so full. Time is a funny thing: the seconds press forward with regimented regularity, but the pace can vary from a crawl to a sprint.

New years bring new hopes, which is why people are so prone to resolutions. I hope, too. I could fills pages and volumes and shelves of libraries full of hopes. Mostly, I am resolving to do the best I can, and to be satisfied with that. To long, but to rest.

A Very Merry Christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
| John Lennon |

Links

Links that have caught my eye this week:

+ Our friend Jon Black sent us an awesome early Christmas present of some Christmas music he created with other friends. He said we could share with our friends, too, so I am going to highly recommend you download this. I have enjoyed it immensely.

+ USA Today ran a piece about multi-site churches in their weekend edition. I liked seeing the contrast between Tim Keller, who has held out against video messages, and the rest of the movement.

+ How children best learn to read is a well researched and hotly debated topic. How they acquire basic math skills is not so much. I enjoyed this story in the New York Times about current neuroscience research regarding math.

+ The 2000-2009 Photoshop of Horrors Hall of Shame. As a parent of two young girls, these sorts of things make me livid.

+ Noughtyisms: some words coined this decade collected by the Guardian. The list is more than a little cheeky and may not be appropriate for young readers. One of my favorites: nom de womb.

This December Posting Challenge…

… is kicking my tail. I don’t even know who reads this anymore and what the benevolent readers want to hear about. I haven’t finished a book yet this month (lame) so I can’t review any. Too much work, not enough focus and energy to read.

What do you like reading? Theological and philosophical musings? Anecdotes? Quotes? Reviews?

One Week Ago…

Marked nine years of blogging for me. I started in my teens in college, using what was then a relatively new website (blogger) to publish thoughts that really no one cared about. One of my first posts was a lament about missing an intramural soccer game, wondering if any other women would show up, hoping the coed Dandy Lions would not have to forfeit. COMPELLING STUFF. I am not sure that my voice has developed all that much, but I’m glad y’all have found me and stuck around.

Taking the Challenge

I have participated several times in the December Photo Project and had fun sharing and exploring others’ photos during December. (Try it!) I have neglected this blog so much that I am taking a different approach this year: the 31-Day Challenge. So do not be alarmed that my feed suddenly is active after a long season of dormancy… maybe it will be a good jump start into the new year.

15 Books That Stick

I have been tagged a bunch of times on Facebook for the 15 books that stick with you meme, where you quickly come up with 15 books that you will always remember (in less than 15 minutes.) Here’s my list (in no particular order):

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Koninsburg
Gilead/Home by Marilynne Robinson
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life by Bob Lupton
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Chronicle of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Second Coming by Walker Percy
The Time Trilogy by Madeline L’Engle

Tag me on facebook or leave a comment if you do one, I’d love to see it!

KSP Giveaways

It’s been a good year so far for Kristen Stewart Photography, and for that I am very thankful. To beat the heat and thank my customers I am doing three giveaways in the next few weeks. The first one ends tomorrow. If you are local to Birmingham or Raleigh, or willing to travel there, you should enter! Get the details on the blog or facebook page.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Watch over thy child, Kate, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be, keeping her unspotted from the world. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her up if she fall; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ + +

Five seems like such a milestone and this birthday seems so emotional for me, but one thing I am certain of is that I am blessed to be Kate’s mom. It is amazing to me that many of you kind readers were around when she was born, praying for us, guessing when she’d make her debut, checking in for news. Thank you for your prayers for Kate, then and now. May she be a woman known for wisdom and compassion, may she bless others with her kindness and love, and may she always rest in the knowledge that she belongs to Jesus.

Breaking the Silence

Praying for Elizabeth, Sloan and Henry today.

As I think of all the ways that those whom I love suffer, all I can pray is help our unbelief, help us to know that this pain is not the way it’s supposed to be.

Tweets of the Week

+ Got a resume earlier from someone wanting a summer photography internship. I guess I am flattered! 2:16 PM Feb 23rd from web
+ @iwestminster I would prefer “green” or simple burial. No embalming. Pine box. 9:53 AM Feb 24th from web
+ Remembering my sinfulness and mortality… Also reflecting on Rite I, it’s been a while old friend! 11:28 AM Feb 25th from TwitterFon
+ Never a dull moment 4,573: Lexi just locked Kate and I out for five minutes, during which time she had an accident. 1:09 PM Feb 26th from web
+ Found the girls some gently used nightgowns today. They are so delighted with them. 7:27 PM Feb 27th from web
+ Just posted a newborn preview on my blog: http://tr.im/kspblog Now to prep for brunch and eat a truffle to celebrate tweet #500. 11:13 PM Feb 27th from web
+ Everyone’s headed home from book club and brunch, we had a great time discussing My Antonia. Next month, Mrs. Dalloway! 1:44 PM Feb 28th from web
+ Just left grocery. Pretty empty. Does no one know about the snow or have they realized the folly of buying milk and bread at such times? 5:43 PM Feb 28th from TwitterFon
+ I tweet, but I don’t text. At all. My phone doesn’t get them right, and I have never fixed it. 11:18 PM Feb 28th from web

Tweets of the Week

+ Made cranberry orange muffins with the girls, hopefully that will put me in a really productive and positive mood. 12:50 PM Feb 16th from web
+ “I would but cannot rest / in God’s most holy will / I know what he appoints is best / and murmur at it still.” 12:10 AM Feb 17th from web
+ Listening to my kids sing “The Christian’s Hope Can Never Fail.” 1:23 PM Feb 18th from web
+ Laughed until I cried telling a story of my own ridiculousness in parenting at CG tonight. Wish I could blog that one. 11:29 PM Feb 18th from web
+ Thinking about the books that got me hooked on reading as a kid. (The Great Brain, The Mixed Up Files…) What are some of yours? 12:18 PM Feb 19th from web
+ Ping-Ponged around the city geographically and culturally this afternoon, K & L rocked some princess dresses all over the place. 7:47 PM Feb 19th from web
+ My iPhone got in rock education mode and played beatles, stones, romantics and U2 in a row. The preschool set appreciated them all in turn. 2:41 PM Feb 21st from TwitterFon
+ Just cut hair for the first time in my life. Fixing Kate’s self cut from Tues. Luckily, nail scissors were the only thing she could reach. 7:37 PM Feb 21st from web
+ [cont] Never tried cutting hair b4 b/c I am a lefty & got a needs improvement in scissors in Kgarten. Should have just went to @lizrwells! 7:39 PM Feb 21st from web
+ Took the girls to see Bolt at the dollar theatre. Kate was so freaked out she sobbed all the way home. Parenting fail. 3:17 PM yesterday from TwitterFon