oh my little emma.

someday i hope you know that i tried to teach you to dance.

to dance the dance of life.

to whirl and twirl and sing and laugh and throw your arms open to the world with abandon and just let the joy of living sweep over you till the crazy whirl of it all sent you spinning and tumbling down in a hilarious heap on the ground.

sometimes in my dreams i see this picture.

i hear the wavelets lapping on the sand and the dry rustle of grass in the small breeze.

i smell the tangy scent of salt water and the strong nose-crinkling odor of sea creatures hiding on the beach in their snug little holes.

i see the thousand blue-greens of the ocean and the paler blue of the arching sky.

i feel the kiss of the wind, the warmth of the sun, the tingle of the sand between my toes, the stretch of my eyes to the horizon.

i taste the spray when the breakers roll in, taste the sweat on my lips, taste the deliciousness of this perfect spot in the universe.

some people love mountains...fields...flowers...deserts...hills....

me, i love the sea.

this is my perfect place.

i am the picture-taker in our family.

to get a picture with me in it, i have to hand the camera to someone and say, "please take a picture of me and so-and-so..."

so here is a rare picture of me and my little girl emma, starting to decorate our little christmas tree yesterday morning. it was very sunny out, hence the squints.

i love tropical christmases...nothing prettier than a palm or pine tree with twinkly lights.

in other news, we are thrilled that our daughter and her husband will welcome a third child to their family this coming february. grandchild #10!!!! emma will no longer be the baby of the family!

last night when we went to bed, we noticed little lights in the darkness. fireflies! in our room! what an amazing thing- this living close to nature. it has its ups and downs (rats, for instance) but fireflies in one's bedroom is definitely a positive thing. 

all night long, every time i opened my sleepy eyes, there they were, blinking and blinking their tiny lights. made me think. an insignificant, fly-like insect with the power to create light. what a Creator we have! (i'd post a picture but i was too tired to take one, and they don't blink in the daytime heeheehee.. well, maybe they do but you can't see them...)

body language tells so much. here, merry faye, my 11-year-old granddaughter, is on the soccer field as #3, getting ready to "dig". she's a digger.




i loved watching her play. not a star, but a digger. not too much self-confidence yet, for her body is gangly and growing and she doesn't really know her own strength, but a good player. her team came in third out of 12 entries...i am so proud of her.





much to be learned from team sports...cooperation, commiseration, celebration...

the salt covenant.

a Biblical ceremony where each person brings a few grains of salt and adds them to one container, so that all are mixed and inseparable.

it's meaningful.

we did it at church last night- to symbolize unity and inseparability. each of us part of the whole. together.

as our church enters this new phase of life, it's important to really be connected. one blessing of the smaller sanctuary is that we get to talk to each other more.

we connect more.

we are closer.

covenant...where no matter what you do, you cannot get out of the relationship.

forever together, just like that urn of salt grains.

we are salt. we are light.

and we must keep our saltiness- the world needs our flavor!

how's this for a blueprint...a plan...

take a stone, scratch on a wall, and presto...the plan for a window.

except that this won't work. it's too vague. no exact measurements. can't really be interpreted.

sometimes life throws us stone-scratched designs on rough walls.

somehow, we have to find a skilled translator to actually put this into a workable plan.

thank You, Father, for being our translator. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, who teaches and interprets.

thank You for blueprints.

the amazing Dr. Gaba brings new life once again to little girlie's teeth...cherrylyn this time, with assistance from emma, who is now "part of the team"!

i love my little brown girl.

once in a while she still wants to be pink. and asks for a new brown mommy. sigh.

hopefully one day she will understand that skin color difference does not make me love her less, or make her less beautiful than a "PINK" person.

oh, this skin color issue is a tough one.

just out of curiosity, i wonder what would happen if a brown mommy adopted a "pink" baby.

i wonder...

i've linked up to ann voskamps "aholyexperience"...



consciously beginning to be grateful.

today i'm grateful - which is beyond thankful- for my husband...that's he's home, that he babysits occasionally and plays hide-and-seek gloriously with our little muffin- and that he loves me, ancient and decrepit as i am. ;)

grateful.

it's the simple things in life that are satisfying.

a simple meal- rice and fish.

a simple table...scarred and battered...

fresh cold water to drink...

and a banana leaf to eat off- with fingers!

it's the simple things.