BEAUTY

no matter how dark...no matter how ugly...i will keep putting beauty in.
it is, after all, what God does...no matter how nasty this world gets...God keeps putting beauty and life and light in...
so...Lord help me to keep putting beauty in...
it is the only prayer i can muster.

GLORIA 1996-2007

if you have spent any extended length of time with me for the last few months, you have heard me speak of an amazing little girl named, Gloria Strauss. this eleven year old girl from federal way, wa has been battling nueroblastoma for four years and her story can be found on the seattle times website: www.seattletimes.com. her witness, faith, and joy as she has walked through this journey of cancer has inspired me and thousands of other readers. gloria died this morning. it is her long awaited miracle...

do not miss gloria's story - go to www.seattletimes.com and scroll down to her sweet face and read the features, reporters notebook and listen to the prayers that were lifted up from her room in children's hospital...you will be blessed.

LAST OF THE SEASON

fall is forging ahead regardless of the fact that it canNOT possibly be fall...summer was too fast...we must have lost some days in the calendar.
but regardless of how fast i feel time has gone....it is moving....the low fog envelops us each morning...even now, it is hugging the foothills of the cascades, the storms are beginning...last night sending thunder and lightning to our door, the leaves are beginning to change...their last glorious act before falling to the ground.
the thing i am mourning the loss of today is the late summer blackberries....i LOVE them. this morning, i ventured outside in my pajamas to wade through the dewy grass and fog and fill a bowl with blackberries one last time...i got just enough to cover my cereal and they were delicious....and i will miss them, until next year.

SKORTS FOR GROWN UPS

ministering to the older generation is often a tremendous blessing...and sometimes a real pain.
one more mention of the skirt and someone gets hurt!

MYSPACE OF THE DEAD

i've gotten into a strange habit...whenever i see someone has died that is relatively young and dies of strange circumstance (like the college girl from seattle u who fell from a cliff while hiking in chile or the SAD story about the couple in portland that killed themselves and their five year old daughter due to the wife's cancer this weekend) i go to myspace and look at their page. it is so bizarre - to see the comments that say things like, "we miss you so much," "why did you do this..."
i feel as though it is reminding me of the hopelessness that is so pervasive that i - as a representative of God's love (as all Christians should be) - need to be fighting...or perhaps it is only morbid curiosity...most likely both.
apparently, i am not alone: www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/30/dying.on.the.web.ap/

GODDESS

this week a little girl in my church was on the internet...she called over her shoulder to ask her mother what "goddess" meant. her mother - trying to give her the short answer - simply said, "a female god." the little girl thought for a moment and said...."you mean like bethany?" exactly.

ISONIAZID

been taking the drugas for TB exposure for about a week now...so far, so good. i have yet to experience anything negative. it is a little weird to follow the diet guidelines, but i am just considering it sort of an extended fast from certain things. nine months is a long fast, but i am up to the challenge.
the good news is, once i am finished with the prescribed dose, i will not have to worry that the TB that is currently doormant in my body will ever come out and bother me. that is a great blessing - as is the fact that i can care for those who have full blown TB without fear of contamination...they wouldn't be giving me anything i do not already have.
anyway - things are going well so far...so thanks for the prayers...

LONG BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND

beau and i had a beautiful weekend....finished up our wall hanging project (you have to come to our house to check it out), went on an amazing hike up mt. sauk - 360 degree views of mt. ranier, mt. baker, mt. pilchuck, three fingers...the skagit river valley - awesome...had my parents spend the night and come to church on sunday, went to the island and got some qt with the fam and hung out in the sculpture garden and jackson beach....good times.

"if the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. if it were merely challenging that would be no problem. but i arise in the morning torn between a deisr to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. this makes it hard to plan the day." -e.b. white