TreeHaus

Still the Kitchen

2012-01-25T13:30:00.000+01:00

At least the kitchen is not in shambles anymore.. But we still really don't have a place to prepare meals.. The cupboards are drying from a second coat of paint this very moment.. Its always this point in the project that I give up trying to be creative and just really want it to be finished.. Here are my inspiration photos to keep me going...

I don't know if 'eclectic minimalist' is a style but I do love the look of worn-in reclaimed wood, clean surfaces and a kitchen that is both 'lived-in' and lovely.

The Kitchen.

2012-01-19T18:45:00.000+01:00

Our Kitchen at the moment is in absolute shambles.. I mean wrecking ball status.. So Im browsing through dreamy images of cooking spaces so that my overly active OCD perfectionism will be satisfied with what our place of edible preparation will be turned into, *sometime* in the near future...

2012-01-18T16:13:00.000+01:00

“ You have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw—but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realize that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported … All the things that have deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself—you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘Here at last is the thing I was made for.’ We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want … which we shall still desire on our deathbeds … Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand. C.S. Lewis (viawisdomforthemasses)

"New" car...

2012-01-17T21:04:00.000+01:00

Its's Raining Today

2012-01-07T23:53:00.000+01:00

Best Christmas Gift..

2012-01-07T23:50:00.000+01:00

Leeps bought me this amazing worn wash basin for Christmas.. Oh the possibilities.. The size of it makes for a perfect statement of ragged and well-used loveliness.. Its currently the centerpiece of the living room...

A Growing To-Do List.

2012-01-06T16:26:00.000+01:00

I have so many things on my To-Do list to continue making progress on the house.. I find I keep putting things off so naturally the list grows longer..

choose paint for kitchen
paint all cabinet doors
find inspiration for the dining room
discover the most efficient way to organize and *keep* organized open shelving for storage
create something unique for the master bedroom
make curtains 7 windows
tone down the whimsey and amp up the class
plan for a laundry room re-do
paint Alipio's office
organize Alipio's massive book collection
find an efficient way to get rid of ugly wall texture
sand and paint dining room table
organize closet
paint armoire
organize all craft/sewing and art supplies
make an epic mantle for the fireplace
make a room divider to hide the ugly air-conditioner
paint hallway linen cupboards and replace hardware

There really is too much to even type out.. But these things will all wait.. In the mean time.. Im going to have a relaxing weekend with my husband.. And do projects for leisure and enjoyment..

The Simple Life..

2012-01-02T21:58:00.000+01:00

Its a new year..

2012-01-01T19:54:00.000+01:00

I am still working on the house.. So apologies for no recent before and after renovation photos.. But I will continue to post photography as of late... It helps keep me inspired.

Its a New Year..

2011-12-31T14:46:00.000+01:00

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

-Philippians 3:13-14

I Know this New Year the Lord has many things to teach me, many things to bless me with, many things to reveal to me and many things for me to put my hand to.. I pray for a fruitful new beginning..

Roadtrip..

2011-12-31T14:30:00.000+01:00

Oh Brazilians..

2011-12-31T14:28:00.000+01:00

We went on a road trip to Paraguay extremely last minute... The friends we went with are dear, sweet darlings from church and aim only to please and bless.. We stopped off at the most beautiful vineyard and ranch of their Italian friends..

Fresh made grape juice was divine..

And everything around the farm was a picture..

BBC's top 100 Books

2011-12-26T13:15:00.000+01:00

"With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat, even when it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get Rhett back. She knew she could. There had never been a man she couldn't get, once she set her mind upon him...

I'll think of it tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back.

After all, tomorrow is another day."

-Scarlett O'Harah

"Gone With The Wind"

Currently, my side project has been making my way through the BBC's list of top 100 books... A compilation of "must reads."

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Since it is difficult to try and buy books in English here I haven't started on the list with any particular order, but rather just with the books on the list I already own. I am currently reading 'Jane Eyere' and the writing is beautiful..

The hottest Christmas I've ever had.

2011-12-25T19:57:00.000+01:00

Even in the tropical rain.. Christmas was searing.

2011-12-25T19:54:00.000+01:00

Alipio made dinner.. Such a good hub.

Before... and After...

2011-12-22T19:51:00.000+01:00

Before

Used all the original furniture that came with the house..

After

2011-12-22T17:45:00.000+01:00

2011-12-22T17:42:00.000+01:00

Before:

After:

2011-12-21T11:24:00.000+01:00

Starting to arrange things in the front room.. My favorite part.. Mixing old with new.

2011-12-21T11:23:00.000+01:00

Things are finally getting to the fun point after sanding and painting.. I have been walking around the property trying to find and salvage pieces that were otherwise going to the burn pile..
I think today was successful..
wall size chalk board
round salvaged wood
iron bistro table frame
worn-wood school chair
vintage twin bed frames
wood easle

Not sure what I will use everything for yet.. But good potential I think..

2011-12-14T20:12:00.000+01:00

I have been using my dryer since we moved in.. But it was so sun shiny outside.. I decided to give my line a try...

I so enjoy taking crisp clothes off a line, rather than out of a dryer..

Much classier..

2011-12-08T20:44:00.000+01:00

This week I have been cooking experiments non-stop..

Creative venture for the week.. Cover all the old worn throw pillows that were inherited with this house... This is the first one done.. A monogram burlap, simple statement..

2011-12-03T00:38:00.000+01:00

The monkeys always send a scout out across the open field first to see if the coast is clear. Then you see them prance across in droves...

2011-12-03T00:14:00.000+01:00

Boiling hot or pounding Rain..

2011-12-02T23:54:00.000+01:00

One of my new favorite things to make... Sauteed red onion. Chopped pumpkin and brussel sprouts.. A bit of olive oil, some curry powder and fresh herbs.. Healthy and fast.

Having to be creative with the dishes I make for supper here.. Gluten and dairy free specialties are hard to find but the fresh produce is wonderful...

2011-12-02T23:51:00.000+01:00

By the door step every night...

First little adventures in Brazil...

2011-11-17T13:18:00.000+01:00

2011-02-03T23:02:00.000+01:00

Longing for inspiration...

2011-01-26T18:13:00.000+01:00

Apartment Photos For my Dear Monica

2010-12-14T23:13:00.000+01:00

2010-11-28T00:42:00.000+01:00

2010-11-28T00:28:00.000+01:00

2010-11-27T23:16:00.001+01:00

2010-11-25T19:40:00.002+01:00

More wedding photos to come...

2010-10-02T22:05:00.002+02:00

2010-09-28T03:56:00.000+02:00

2010-09-28T03:50:00.000+02:00

"The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want..."

2010-09-25T00:53:00.002+02:00

2010-08-08T20:25:00.000+02:00

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longs-suffering, with joy...
-Colossians 1:10-11

2010-08-08T18:32:00.000+02:00

Going on a road trip with my hubby tonight...
A couple day adventure... mmm.. love

2010-08-07T22:57:00.002+02:00

2010-08-07T21:22:00.000+02:00

List of things that occupy my time lately:

1.Reading Colossions daily... Loving it
2.Rearranging my furniture..(this is pretty much daily as well)
3.Loving my incredible husband..
4.thrifting at Goodwill...
5.Watching 80's movies and laughing with my hubby..
6.reviewing as many image-heavy blogs as possible.. (Im loving some of the inspiration of talented people Im finding..)
7.Trying to track down some 600 Polaroid film (If any of you know of any good stock of where I can buy some let me know..)
8.Learning how to be a good wife..

2010-08-07T20:20:00.000+02:00

2010-08-07T19:32:00.002+02:00

2010-07-19T18:24:00.000+02:00

We went to Haiti earlier this year... completely fell in love with all these beautiful Hatian babies...

2010-07-16T00:24:00.001+02:00

2010-07-14T20:41:00.002+02:00

2010-07-02T04:09:00.002+02:00

Well, What can I say... I haven't blogged in a year almost... To try and catch up with just words on a computer screen would surely take away from the potency and the reality of just what kind of severe change my life and I have gone through...

I am back living in the states since last fall.. I met the love of my life in Hungary early last year.. We had our first kiss in France.. He proposed to me where we had our first date on a cliff over looking the ocean in the south of Portugal... We were married this last June on the 55th anniversary of my grandparents... My husband and I are currently living in southern California... Enjoying life to the fullest.. In all its newness and possibilities of more change...

I shall try to fill you all in with coming pictures of the last year...

My time home...

2009-07-31T01:47:00.005+02:00

Back in the home land... twas lovely..

Washington D.C. - 4 Days

Idaho Falls - 24 Days

Seattle - 3 Days

New York City- 3 Days

Back in Prague... Leaving tomorrow evening for Portugal until Hungary at the end of August...

Thank you for your prayers and support.. It was so lovely to see all of you at home.. I am missing you so.. Love love love to you all...

Spain..

2009-06-15T14:43:00.003+02:00

France...

2009-06-11T12:21:00.004+02:00

Graduation and Dove Awards.

2009-05-26T10:03:00.000+02:00

Portugal..

2009-05-26T09:54:00.000+02:00

England.

2009-05-26T08:52:00.001+02:00

England...

2009-05-26T08:49:00.000+02:00

Life is nothing but a sincere conversation one has with the rest of the paths we contact. There are few precious things I feel I hold onto while tasting this life and what God has given me as the book of both to read and write. I find we are all the same inside, everywhere I go, we all have the same hope of something better, something more. We all have the same dream of impacting something for the whole of the greater good. However, there stems a difference in those who hope for change and those who see themselves being a part of the change. There requires an action, a response of personal sacrifice, of time, energy, faithfulness, diligence perhaps vigilance. The things in this life that truly matter to people, in the end are of no value, no eternal worth. When scripture says not to be conformed to this world it meant not to look at the world and see how well one is doing in not being like the rest, but rather look at God and see how far we fall short. To truly know God, is to experience Him. Most of us ask for Him to fill us, to bless us, give us His joy for this day, to take hold and grasp on to His mercies that are new every morning. When really the most crucial thing we should be requesting of a Holy God is to empty us of ourselves. We need to yield. Giving something to God does not mean we are going to be empty... It means He will fill it with eternal riches, that shall never perish. His faithfulness is more firm than the ground we walk upon and someday all that we value around us will be no more.

Verses that have been seeping into my heart as of late...

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory..."

-2 Corinthians 4:16

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work..."

-2 Corinthians 9:8

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving..."

- Colossians 2:8

"You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore..."

-Psalm 16:11

I have learned that truly in His presence the fullness of joy is a cup that is precious and overflowing with no earthly rubbish, but a divine heavenly goodness that only our Father can make with His hands...

I am currently in Belgium and leaving for France.. I will be traveling for the next few weeks.. I am coming to the States for a time this summer and am eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you. I have been praying for you all often and am anticipating sweet conversation and nostalgic reminiscing when we meet again...

I thank you for your prayers and support and love.. I couldn't ask for anything more..

I love you all..

Thank the Lord for today..

Blessings

2009-03-15T20:15:00.001+01:00

A perfect day...

2009-03-07T18:58:00.001+01:00

Another beautiful Hungarian weekend In Budapest... with my loverlies...

2009-02-21T23:46:00.005+01:00

We had an adventurous day of exploration, coffee and photos...

Slept at our darling Hungarian friend's flat... with a spectacular balcony overlooking the vast night lights of Buda...

Cait and I took a train To Budapest for the weekend...

2009-02-21T23:36:00.003+01:00

Last weekend was incredible.. With some of my favorite girls... Coffee and laughter... the essentials...

2009-02-13T14:23:00.000+01:00

Back In Hungary... Love and missing..

2009-01-25T23:54:00.003+01:00

My favorite mess and seeping shine...

I started my new Journal TOdAY!!!... New journal from

my daddy that he bought for me in Italia!...

Love him...

a new journal means all new adventures to record..

wish me luck in filling it with precious sentiments of this darling life...

2009-01-23T01:26:00.001+01:00

the walk home.

good night.

2009-01-23T00:45:00.007+01:00

This was my day today in pictures....

good morning art work.

my afternoon in the perfect cafe.

dinner.

Inspiration...

2009-01-22T02:08:00.004+01:00

My work as of Late....

A collective tangibility between the things of my mind and my inspiring collection of trinkets...

2009-01-22T02:03:00.000+01:00

Creepy old man statue in downtown Praha...

Wishing...

2009-01-13T20:37:00.003+01:00

All my darlings.. I miss and love you.. I have been thinking a lot about home lately... And all the things I miss.... I hope you are all well and continue in loveliness... I shall continue my prayers of thanks for knowing you all...

Who could ask for anything more...

2009-01-12T22:21:00.000+01:00

2009-01-11T21:00:00.000+01:00

2009-01-11T20:07:00.001+01:00

2009-01-11T19:38:00.000+01:00

While I was walking on the pier... the swans were following me...

A day for pictures...

2009-01-11T19:23:00.004+01:00

Took a day just for photos... It was lovely... solo adventure...

For MAGGIE...

2009-01-07T01:46:00.002+01:00

This is the memory box I made today.. The envelope is from a sweet little Ninny that lives in the Village.. The paper on the top right corner is a train ticket from Praha to Budapest.. The photograph is a postcard from a dear friend... two ticket stubs under the envelope are Hungarian metro tickets... stamps from the U.s.... fabric from Austria.. dried sunflower from small Hungarian village.. Button from Ireland.. Wee...

Maggie this was made from the inspiration you gave me!!!.

Mustard...

2009-01-07T01:34:00.002+01:00

For You Monica!!!. My mustard scarf that isn't really mustard at all in this photo.. not sure what happened.. Love U.

Greetings from 2009 here in Prague...

2009-01-05T16:02:00.002+01:00

Here in Prague for a couple more weeks until I travel back to Budapest, Hungary to live with my friend for a few weeks before I then travel to the small Hungarian village of Vajta, for the second semester....

So now that 2009 is here...

I am going to hug more.

I am going to laugh more.

I am going to compliment people more.

I am going to make a masterpiece.

I am going to study more languages.

I am going to travel to places unseen.

I am going to have more adventures.

I am going to take more photographs.

I am going to write more stories.

I am going to tell the people I love, "I love you" more.

I am going to be broken.

I am going to be healed.

I am going to enjoy the present more.

I am going to be a better listener.

I am going to be more gracious.

I am going to fall more in love with God.

AND then some...

2009-01-02T11:30:00.002+01:00

My Oasis Inside my Small Domain In the middle of Praha...

The New shoes.. Christmas Present FROm My favorite LitTle Brother... love love...

2009-01-02T11:21:00.003+01:00

RInging In thE new YeaR...

PRAHA... 700,000 PEOPle.. each year for NewYEARsCELebrATion...

SINCE I HAVE BEEN SO INCREDIBLY TERRIBLE ABOUT UPDATING EVERYTHING SINCE MY LIFE HAS BEEN INSANELY HECTIC.. IM GOING TO FILL YOU ALL IN WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE LAST FEW MONTHS...

HERE WE ARE...

2009-01-01T23:48:00.001+01:00

AFter Italia.. We made The LONG drive back to Czech.... (BEST road trip EVER...)

2009-01-01T23:17:00.003+01:00

All Of us together went on a GOndoLA ride through bEAUTIful Venice...

These Lovely Italians...

2009-01-01T22:14:00.003+01:00

NOw We are IN VENICE!!!. I love ITALIA!

Went to all the amazing sights in Salzburg where the SOund OF MusIC was filmed.. (above)

2009-01-01T16:55:00.003+01:00

Me and me papa.. old town Salzburg.. Christmas eve...

Salzburg... On Christmas Eve...

beautiful Memories..

and my lovely.. darling familia...

2009-01-01T16:46:00.001+01:00

On the Way to Salzburg AustRia...

2009-01-01T13:42:00.006+01:00

The day before Christmas eve..

Lovely VIenna Austria..

The joker wouldn't let go of my dad...

First couple days with the family In PRAHA... lovely lovely...

My Baby brother... Chance.. love him..

2009-01-01T13:35:00.001+01:00

GRADUAtion!... sad but wonderful....

2009-01-01T13:22:00.004+01:00

I cut my knee shaving in the sink.. thought the band aid went perfectly with the dress...

The Annual Dove awards.... (The college has a ceremony giving out absurd awards..)

2009-01-01T13:17:00.001+01:00

The Extraordinary HUNGARIAN Christmas parties...

2009-01-01T12:59:00.003+01:00

Irish pubs are as fun as they sound...

The Irish SEA...

For Thanksgiving went to Ireland.... absolutely.. splendid....

2009-01-01T12:43:00.003+01:00

It snowed when we were at GLoria Jeans in the Middle Of HERO Square....

More Gallivanting In BUDAPEST....

The parliament building on the Dan yoob....

2009-01-01T12:22:00.003+01:00

Noah and Joel and I went to Budapest 6 weekends in a row.... mostly to escape the rest of the college... but had an absolutely marvelous time in the process...

Had some incredible... truly incredible memories in Budapest with the dearest friends..

love to you all...

2008-12-31T17:00:00.003+01:00

I am still here.. living in a world that I can't keep up with and when the world slows, I am going too fast... The semester in Hungary was brilliant.. Very stretching and growth is necessary, for growth one must endure the change, and to accept change we all must take steps... I am back in Prague for the time being until the beginning of February.. Just spent an incredible Christmas with my family in between Austria and Italy... lovely...

I am still missing you all.. I pray for you often, and think of you always.. This sojourn of mine, I have no words for it... God's hand is ever upon me and has sustained me thus far.. I thank Him for you..

waiting to catch my breath...

2008-09-06T23:05:00.003+02:00

"Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try.. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace. You may say Im a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one."

Life is life and idle thought slips into every corner of my mind, and a consistent stimulation of "newness" and unfamiliarity has been the stroke of every experience as of late... I find myself holding my breath... waiting to breathe.. There is a thin filmy-layer of surrealism on everyday, every happening and every situation, which they in turn deposit themselves securely for being in the future, to be found as fond memories. Regardless of experiences, adventures, stories, traveling to far off lands, meeting the world face-to-face and falling in love with all of the above... Our heart will eternally be attached to roots where it once grew. Where the first touch of nourishment and fulfillment was at hand. A breathless replenishing... A strong base of understanding, a spring bored of hope, and starry eyes for dreaming of the unknown... Then we get to know the "unknown" and its as if we haven't left, yet have said a permanent farewell to all... There is a flux of mind, heart and every emotion attached to either... Being consumed by emotions we never knew we had and learning to grasp things that quickly fade... Then we realize that just because we are by ourselves does not mean we are alone... God longs to be near us and loves us far too much to leave us alone... Rather than focus on the closing chapters of my life I pray for God to take advantage of my vulnerability... For Him to be in my thoughts, the words of my mouth... To give me a servant's heart and to be in the work of my hands... He is the fresh breath that I have been waiting to breathe in...

I am back in Hungary at the seminary college.. School starts on Monday and the semester will be lovely...

I miss all of you dearly.. and love you with all of my heart... I thank the Lord for giving me those whom I love to miss, and setting promises in my heart for when our paths cross again... Sweet sweet dreams and breathe in His blessing...

2008-09-06T19:04:00.006+02:00

Had a beautiful weekend in Berlin... Walked alot... Drank far too many espressos... went to the Opera... and met beautiful Germans...

2008-08-27T23:06:00.003+02:00

Had a night of Jazz and Cuban cigars....

lovely...

2008-08-23T12:36:00.002+02:00

Spent a hot day of sight-seeing, good food, way too much walking and running to catch trains...

2008-08-23T12:33:00.001+02:00

Took a train to Carlstine for the day...

2008-08-21T23:31:00.002+02:00

Roadtrip to Austria, stayed in Millstat for a week then traveled to Salzburg for the day... beautiful.... Now back in lovely Prague... Meghan and I...

2008-08-21T21:49:00.002+02:00

Life is a living contrast and the more we go on living it the more opposition we feel... At times the only elements that find me are souvenir memories and token dreams.. When things aren't going "as we planned" or the severeness of reality hits an already beaten path a natural "I want to give up" mentality settles and seeps into our every thought... When the days are longer and filled with more strife we look back on a better time ceasing to remember it's own coupling of struggle but being able to breathe in every potent sweetness that the air of our lives once had... And in the future we will look back at the current never remembering the tears but actually complimenting the highlights into a fantasy that never was... Philippians 3:13 "I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." The answer 'to press on' is simple enough in theory, yet when our hearts deceive us by dwelling in a good that has already come to an end it tends to make us dizzy with frivolous desires of giving in and accepting a relentless defeat, rather than pressing on to obtain a blind promise and quickly slipping hope... And then it happens, just when we think that brokeness is irreparable, God is faithful and the dawn always comes... The taste of morning.. And the first flower in spring always makes a long winter worth enduring..

2008-08-09T21:50:00.002+02:00

Lyrics from Mr. Joe Purdy- "Oh the weather ain't so fine today, but darling its just right for me. Because I've been thinking of you, got these far away blues. Oh the water's mad, its been fighting with the wind, but I've been thinking of you, got these far away blues. So please don't take me the wrong way, things are fine and the people are great, but I've been thinking of you, got these far away blues..." It's peculiar the things one starts to miss when one is far away from our own common average and ordinary pedestrian... Sometimes when I listen to certain music, or smell familiar scents, reread already worn-in poetry, I begin to miss overlooked and neglected delights... I begin to miss the consistent bustle that always takes place in my Grammie's kitchen while she cooks and sings... I begin to miss the smell of my mums sugar cookies, and the rambling logic of my father on the latest politics, I miss sleeping in a bed with pillows that smell like home, and living a life I knew how to administer.. It's an endearing submission and sweet surrender when we bequeath our wholeness to the Lord... We give up a comfort and security of familiarity and the surroundings of where cherished memories were born... Saying farewell to these things at the time tend to be easy, simply for the fact of the airy lure that uncharted territory has about it.. And when reminders of the past come about the heart is torn between an ill-sadness for no longer breathing in such moments and a sincere gratitude with deepest humility for being able to hold such moments in the first place...

I miss you all and miss holding moments with you.. but the moments we have shared I shall hold in my heart. And also in my heart I shall hold a hope for future moments to come and memories yet to be made...

Sweet dreams to you all and prayers of thanks for your own sweetness..

Roadtripping to Austria in the morning for the week.. Prayers for safe travel. love.

2008-08-09T21:44:00.001+02:00

Dinner and toast on the ocean...

LOVE AND SOME VERSES...

2008-08-09T15:11:00.000+02:00

Oh its a long road home...

2008-08-08T19:52:00.003+02:00

And here again I sit... There are moments in my life where an energy bubbles over and spills out over every surrounding and everything is delightfully messy with gushing bliss... A palpable love... Then I find myself pondering how these moments and feelings come about and the only answer to it all is God.. I have this newly found security in the Lord that we give up dreams to live dreams... And man looks at appearance, while the Lord looks at our hearts... Carl Jung- "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." Giving up the "go to a four-year university, marry a doctor, live in a house with a white picket fence" mentality is not a natural thing for the human heart to give up but when we let the human heart be held by the hands who made it, a mentality of elite impossibilities are made realities... Anatole France- "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." 1. A palpable love 2. A jubilant faith... A jubilant faith and hope in the Lord that makes the desires of our hearts match those of His own. To not live the dreams that we have selfishly planned for ourselves but rather live dreams that are selflessly laid out for us to become a reality through Him... I look back and realize I haven't made any of my own dreams really come true... I use to dream about lavish living spaces with matching linens, careers that show status and a wall full of framed certificates showing a well educated individual... Now instead of dreaming I walk hand-in-hand with The being who knows me better than I and making dreams that I would have dreamt, wishes that I would have wished, come true... I live in the most complete blessing... In His will... There is a sweet simplicity around it... W.T. Purkiser- "Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving"... 1. A palpable love 2. A jubilant faith 3. Thankfulness... I am eternally swimming in thanks for having a God who wants to hold my heart in His hands.. Who wants to lay out my dreams for me to live.. Who wants me to experience a reality written in His sweetest language... So I will continue to sit here in this European nation, Hungarian country, in a castle, sitting on intricate woodwork, leaning against marble walls... After a week of traveling to distances unknown, staying with missionary strangers, swimming in the Adriatic Sea, white-water rafting through the wilderness of Croatia, driving through Bosnia, meeting delightful people, getting lost too many times to count, having interesting experiences at the European beaches, laughing about everything, singing along to the best "road-trip mix" I have ever heard and having a candle-lit dinner with lovely friends on the ocean.... Truly truly I say to you... "Lovely is the life I lead"

Grace and Peace to you all... I pray for all of you to experience a perpetual, palpable love and gushing bliss... Know that I miss you all and love you dearly... Thank you for being my family, friends, confidants, my soul mates, my brothers and sisters, kindred spirits, supporters, patrons... my angels...

love love and love to you forever and abundantly...