Glad to be here

We arrived back home late last night from our 2.5 week vacation back in the South.  It is no exaggeration to say we cherished every moment with our family, friends, home climate and culture.  We are so thankful for having the opportunity to fly across the country and spend that kind of time.

I feel very refreshed, which is good, because I came back to a place and time for figuring some stuff out.  It's good to come back with a cleared head.  For now, with school officially out, I plan to just putz around my house putting things back in order post-vaca.  I have the tremendous privilege of planning for my dear sweet friends who are coming to visit starting the 4th of July.   We are so excited to have all four of this precious family under our Oregon roof for a few days!

And now it's time for me to walk my pup.  I think he's emotionally spent from our going and coming, but it sure is good to see him again.  I so enjoyed feeling the sun on my bare shoulders back in the South, but the prospect of walking on dewey ground with sunlight spilling through the massive evergreens with my dog at my side, even while wearing a sweater (sigh) doesn't sound too bad, either.  ;>

Under the curse?

 Once upon a time, I found grace.

It was God's grace, coming from the one who defines the word.

Thrilled as I was to have a word to describe what I always knew in my heart, 

I talked of it everywhere I went.

Understanding even a tiny bit about grace changed everything.

It changed too much according to the theys, the thems, and those.

They said, 'grace has it's limits, girl'

'you're still under the curse'

That's what they said, when I asked if maybe we worried about things that didn't matter anymore?

They said, 'you're still under the curse'.

Really?

How much sense does that make?

How much sense does that make in 

the light of dark, holy blood

spilled by an exsanguinated savior,

by whom sin and death were wrestled to hell,

and the veil was torn

from top to bottom,

and the sky went dark

and the only Good that ever walked

was buried behind stone. 

Until He wasn't anymore,

because,
then He was alive, because He was
victorious, so
now He is alive!

Where in all that is there still room
to live under the curse?

How is it even possible?

And to say that we are still under the curse is to
accuse Jesus of ailing from
the foulest impotence...

it is to say,
He cannot save us at all.

Do not believe it.
If He saves you from anything,
He saves you from everything.
There is no curse for you, beloved.
You are justified, now be
sanctified.

Hard Eucharisteo

sometimes life is a pile of salt washed drift wood

and there is no order

or sense in it

and it's a mess

and sometimes you are like a tree

weathered, worn and broken

planted by still waters....

not so much

and sometimes, with sun obscure

you are standing in the grey

and there's not much left to do

but embrace the wood

of another kind of tree

sometimes that's just how it is

Counting with the community of the grateful:

~  understanding that knowing the truth and hurting is better than being the fool

~  finishing the little orange book

~  the admonition, blessing and encouragement we received from it

~  not knowing much, but knowing Him, and how that really is enough

~  the pain that comes from the loss of something that brought great joy

~  watching how one who is loved well, loves well

~  the healing that brings, like a balm on a burn

~  sending off dear ones

~  the adventurous journey ahead of them

~  the emptiness the leaving causes only because of the fullness their presence meant

~  how life was good with them

~  how they are gifts

~  how it's hard, but we are thankful, because who are we to say, 'it's bad', so

~  we count it as good

In Defense of the Blog

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You know how there are times you feel the need to put the proverbial stake in the ground?  Maybe you've gone round about a thing for quite awhile, not sure where all the puzzle pieces will land, and then a dawning of understanding breaks through your thickness?

Where social media is concerned, I've done my fair share of digging in the heels.  Like most folks, I'm ever evolving in the way I think, the way my opinions line up with the greater values that shape who I really am.  For me, it all evolves from who I am in Christ, and so much more importantly, who He is in the world.  So, yes, my thoughts and opinions do change over time.   As the years come, hopefully, I gain better understanding of who He is and why that matters.

Still now, for what I think is good reason, I choose to stand on the anti-social side of the lines of social media.  I do not Facebook.  I do not Tweet.  I do not Pin.  I have a hard time checking my email and voice messages, and my phone is, decidedly, not smart.  But this is not about the moral wrongness of any of those things (indeed a case can be made, and has, that checking email and responding in a timely fashion is good and moral etiquette!).  This is not about how these social outlets curtail real relationship, either.  I do have my suspicions, but I don't really know if they are right.  I simply haven't mastered, well enough, the art of face-to-face, hand-in-hand, or head-on-shoulder communication.  I think I'd better not add any other variables until I become more astute and skilled in the old tradition of conversation.

A blog is different.  I've heard them (blogs) labeled ego-centric and agenda driven.  Indeed, some are.  I imagine as many blogs fall into that category as do the humans that might write them.  Interestingly, joining the blogging world has resulted in the opposite for me.  My ego-centricity has been greatly challenged as my world has broadened beyond the tight circle of like-minded thinkers I tend to associate with.  In reading blogs (especially getting acquainted over time with their authors), I do not get a quick snippet of one self-centered opinion.  Blog posts are not text messages.

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The blogs I read are well thought out and written articles, written by one, yes, but meant for the edification of many.  Certainly there is plenty of twaddle in the blogging world, just as there is in paper publishing.  All blogs are not created equal.  As with anything, it is something to approach with discernment.

I know some who 'don't read blogs'.  These abstainers group them in the same category as all other social media, thereby declaring them a waste of time.  Being largely absent from the social-media crowd, I , too, struggled with what place reading and writing blogs should have in my life.  As one who expresses best in black and white, I was drawn to the opportunity to write in a way that was not previously available to me.  As one who is fascinated by people and their thoughts, perceptions, and life experiences, I reveled in the easy access to such things.  Yet, as one who has been reluctantly dragged into post-modernism, all electronic communication seemed suspicious to me.  It was easier to paint it all with a broad brush as wasteful and indulgent.  Perhaps too easy.

Up to this point, some form of the word 'I' has been used at least 27 times in this post.  Ego-centric?  A one-sided conversation?  Is there an obvious agenda?  I'm going to deny the egocentrism.  :)  As far as the one-sided conversation, it doesn't have to be that way.  That's why most blogs have a comment section.  As far as the agenda, well, yes, I admit I had an agenda or purpose of matter that I wished to write about here.  I suppose, in that way, all of our communication is agenda driven, is it not?  There are choices we make daily about which agendas we pursue and which ones we entertain from others.

My agenda here, in this post, was to describe my own personal journey regarding the reading and writing of blogs.  Yes, I hope to make a case for good blogging.  It is only my opinion here, and it does not tell the full story, but perhaps it will result in dialogue and better understanding nonetheless.

And yet, perhaps it will fall numbly on the mind for you, dear reader, but fear not.... there are worse things you could've wasted your time on than my writing.  :)

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I'm moving...

along.... out.... and on.

I'm moving.  No, I'm not changing my address.  Not that.  Not yet.  Nonetheless, my character is entering into the next act.  She's moving on.

She got used to the holding pattern that sometimes happens in one's life.  There were times she fought against it, tired of the waiting and wanting the certain.  And there were times of surrender, when she gave up her own vision.... the right to write her own story, and she trusted a better Writer.  There were times of great freedom when her trusting made any shackles of worldly fashion weak and useless.  She danced in this rain of grace, following, as she learned to read it, the Writer's story.

And then she doubted.  Were His leadings no more than her own fleshly whims?  There were some who would say, 'yes', and there were many others who didn't care enough to weigh in at all.  She had fully expected harmony.  She didn't want conflict and doubt, she wasn't writing that into her story.... but then she remembered how she had decided to trust the better Writer.

And so, the shackles fail once again to bind her, failing under the tension of truth and grace.  In the safety of His story, that is sometimes dangerous... she moves on.

How the Writer has blessed:

a good report for a woman loved:  the margins are clear!

waking early to daylight

feeling ready to get up

sleep having done its job

the way a chicken cooks in a pot

eating artichokes with our fingers

unwrapping them like presents

the voice of my god-daughter on the line

being inspired, over and over, by the faithfulness of a friend

a good report for another beloved:  no cancer!

hearing my boy and girl sing solos

his deep, growing up voice

hers sweet and lilting and in tune

a place for resting, reading, teaching, thinking, praying

made with sun and well- watered trees

just outside my back door

this Sarah Bessey post

being inspired to make more of the days rhythms

the sacred echo of this

finding my way


and more, where words aren't necessary:

Ahhhhhh.........

Garage Sale Weekend is now behind us.  MUCH has left this household for good.  Windows have been washed, floors mopped, furniture polished.  Order restored and then some.  It's a good feeling.  No, it's a GREAT feeling.
I am not one to function at optimal capacity in the midst of disorder.  Even if the disorder is relegated to the closets and drawers, it mocks me from those pent up places.  I hear it call my name and it becomes the itch I can't quite reach.  I don't like this about myself.  It's a weakness, really.  Life is messy, and we need to learn to not be distracted by that fact.

In my frenzy to declutter, simplify, and restore order I learned some things:

1.  We have too much stuff.

2.  Garage sales don't make you money.

3.  They do make you crazy.

4.  They are a great reminder of how awful it is to have too much stuff.

5.  Simplicity (which in my mind includes organization) is a lifestyle, not a once a year or so event.

6.  I don't want to waste one fleeting moment with my children (this reminder came as I wept over little, tiny clothes they used to wear and the remembering that goes with the sorting and weeding and the realization of number 7......).

7.  Time flies.

8.  I love that we still play with toys in our house.

9.  I need a system to stay balanced.... I'm a system-needer.

10.  It needs to be simple (read:  NOT flylady)

11.  Less is more.... in a BIG way.

So, there it is.  I totally recommend this kind of deep cleaning/purging.  There is a lot more I learned from it, but some of it's personal and I won't bore you.  Suffice it to say... it's worth it and makes for some cheap, but highly effective therapy!  :)

And now getting on with giving thanks:

~the canopy of green surrounding the back of the house filling with bird and other creatures

~the ultra muzzle for a pup too anxious to protect his peeps

~having what I need and knowing where it's at

~God stoking a fire

~toaster

~free musicals

~my precious and words-can't-describe-how-awesome husband

~how the Lord leads us and makes us of one mind

~how he submits and I submit and we submit to Him and to each other, and...

~how nobody but the Lord taught us how to do that, and

~how that is a gift I do not take for granted

~being called into something bigger than we can figure out

~knowing we can trust Him

Cleaning House

Tsh Oxenreider does a good job of saying what needs to be said, without saying too much.  I have tried to read 'get your life in order' type books before and I usually stop reading before I am half-way through because I get bored and restless.  Organized Simplicity has been different (thank You, LORD!... and thank you, Tsh!).

She starts you off by prompting you through some questions and evaluations to help you write out a purpose statement for your family.  Everything you do and own should reflect that purpose statement. 

It's so simple, and yet the common sense of this book is strangely... uncommon.

After she speaks to subjects like scheduling and finances, she moves you into the fun stuff.  Cleaning your house.... with a garage sale in your future.  I giggled when I read her reason for why she thinks you should do a garage sale:  to learn your lesson about over-consuming and hoarding, and spending outside of your purpose.  Garage sales hurt.  I might rather visit the gyno or dentist than do another garage sale.  Yes, it is an effective means of lesson learning.

So, I am moving room by room.  Per Tsh's instructions, I am taking out everything from a room except the rugs and furniture.  I then clean the room from top to bottom including windows, walls, vents, etc.  I only put back in the room what is useful or beautiful and what lines up with our family purpose statement. 

Here are some before pics of our family room:

Here's how much junk was stored in that room:

Here's what it looked like after the cleaning before putting what we kept back:

And here's the after:

Though this first room went quickly, the music room and school room took the weekend.  There were lots of papers, books, and odds and ends that needed sorting through.  Lots of stuff is making its way into either the garbage, recycle, or sell room (my guest bedroom is converted into the garage-sale-prep room for now.  :)

Having these two major areas behind me, I am ready to press forward into utility rooms, closets and pantry, kids rooms, and play room. 

Our garage sale is this weekend.  I've got LOTS of work to do between now and Friday.   When I walk into the two main rooms I've already done, I feel such a sense of accomplishment.... I feel lighter and more free.

  Something else I learned, and this is HUGE: By physically touching each and everything I own, I feel the weight of it's value.  Often the thing falls short of what I would hope for something I kept so long, or spent money on.  Sometimes I rejoice and am thankful to re-discover an amazing resource or tool that I have had all along and was under-utilizing.  All the while, through the whole process, I am keeping our family's purpose statement front-and-center in my mind.

So that's what's up with the west-coast Liechtys!

and now, counting with my grateful friends:

~ a Sunday walk with my love and our pup, down tree-lined streets and falling petals,  for pizza and root beer

~ the feeling of being tucked in bed with a good book at the end of a busy weekend

~ the scent of honeysuckle in the air

~ kitchen creativity with two funny girls

~ SG and Hannah sewing their re-purposed creations for their Etsy business

~ a friend bringing flowers

~ a friend showing mercy

~ Alex bringing SG ladybug earrings for her new pierced ears after the two of them released 1500 ladybugs into the garden

~ watching SG's focus and determination in her softball games

~ Samuel entering another Lego contest... never daunted by not winning in the past

~ good books, math manipulatives, science tools, art supplies, great music, pencils, paper

~ the feeling and knowledge of what it is to become more myself