My Year in 10 Images - 2011

So, I was curious what 2011 would look like if I captured it in 10 images.  Here goes:

John and Bethany went to Uganda to distribute shoes for the Uganda Children's Project. 

We got a puppy.  Pepper joined our family in January.

I got to host the BFF's for a "weekend in Asia" which was fun both in the planning and the experiencing.  The theme centered around the cool ethnic places in my neighborhood.  We made bentos, explored Japanese photo sticker booths and took a private yoga class.

Chase and Bethany shared an apartment together in Lewisville.  Bethany brought her puppy Mia over before she went to work at the sushi restaurant each day--which was cool because it meant we got to see her a lot. 

Chase spent the summer as a counselor at Sky Ranch--and got a mohawk.  Crazy kid. He worked as a bartender at Razoo's while in the last three semesters of wrapping up his communications degree.

I started doing yoga daily at 6AM which transformed my practice. I also spent the year drawing cartoons as illustrations for the blog--which was equal parts fun and challenge.

The Texas summer was one of the hottest on record and Mrs. Squirrel  moved to cooler quarters at the bottom of our tree. We left gifts of almonds for her each day.

Bryn married Chase's best friend, Jason. Not only was it a great time with friends and family, but I got to hear Chase's toast and see Bethany's decor skills.  We have such a cool family!  (That's Jason, Bryn and my Father-in-Law in the photo)

There were losses that were difficult to process:  Casey, Kevin, Toby and downsizing at my day job.   Pearl's funeral was a celebration of the family she inspired and loved. It resulted in a great family reunion in Oklahoma. 

Poker nights with the Knights--John's softball team who I adore--happened when there was no softball.   And oddly it is the little things like that that shape your life. 

We have symbology for pauses

There is a musical symbol for a rest. Sentences have commas.

When it comes to pauses, we have symbology.

Why? Because rests give meaning to the content. Run on sentences are hard to understand. And music without separation is simply noise.

I think this is true in life too.

We need items on our calendar that are simply rests. And they should be as non-negotiable as they are in sentences and music.

I was wrong...

I have long considered the Snuggie an object of ridicule.  After all, nothing says you've given up on any hope of an active lifestyle than actually "wearing" a blanket. In fact, I had given away a few as a punch line gifts. That is until this Christmas.

John gave me one and IT IS FANTASTIC!

The Snuggie is so warm and so cozy that I don't know how I ever lived without it.  And the pocket on the front? Genius.

So Snuggies of the world, I humbly apologize for the snort of derision I offered each time I saw you on television. I was wrong about you.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I love this photo that Kelsey Payne snapped of John and I at the ArtLoveMagic Christmas party. I never cease to be amazed at the joyful creativity of the artists in this group.

Kelsey made it look and feel like Christmas!

We can't do this on our own...

The simple fact is that we can't do this on our own.

Our world is hurting, painful, broken.  And we can't fix it by ourselves.  We need a savior.

This is the promise and beauty of Christmas. That a child came into the world not only to show us how to live, but to break the curse so that we would have the freedom to do so.

It is why Jesus' words about the reason for his coming are so powerful:

He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

We could not bring peace to the world on our own. Peace has been given to us.

Minimizing the wardrobe

The idea of minimalist living appeals to me. Not because I'm an ascetic, but because uncluttered homes, schedules and lives create space.  Breathing room.

There is beauty in simplicity.

I was researching minimalist wardrobes and ran across this post. While many of the articles were prescriptive to the point of uselessness, this one was a helpful guide on how to pull it off in a way that is customizable.  http://www.minimalistbeauty.com/chic-minimalism-for-your-wardrobe

The great thing is that in simplifying my closet, I've freed up both space and the time spent deciding what to wear each day now that there are less choices. So, thanks Dawn Michele for the inspiration!

The Shoe Dilemma

Yoga has completely messed up my ability to wear professional shoes. It makes you so ultra-aware of your balance that cramming your toes into a pointed confined space and standing at an angle completely sucks.

So I wear Sketchers. Occasionally boots. But, today I wore wedges--the kind that look good with slacks. And they were KILLING MY FEET.  I was miserable all day.  Well, all day until 3pm when I remembered I HAD FILA TOE SHOES IN MY CAR.

Never has anything felt so amazing on my feet as those toe shoes did this afternoon. I felt like leaping over an ottoman Dick Van Dyke style. 

It was awesome. 

And tonight...well tonight, I went through my closet and got rid of the last of my heels. (Except for one dressy pair that I might wear on a date sometime for two hours...tops.) 

I commit from this day forward to always make my feet very happy! 

Our Pepper

Our Pepper is a year old and she is such a fun part of our family.

I adore how she is part of the routine and that she loves to simply be near us.  Whether she is sleeping at our feed or sitting on the loveseat leaning into us, she is always near.

What a joy.

Best gift, ever.

Occasionally...

Sometimes I'm just in desperate need of the wildly exaggerated or improbable.

Of whimsy.

Mystery. 

Of something that isn't even the least bit predictable. 

Yes.  We all could use a little more unexpectedly wonderful. 

Sometimes it comes down to who you want to be

If you live long enough, you will be blindsided by pain.

It may be a debilitating illness...
Emotional or sexual abuse...
Rejection by someone you deeply love...
Financial crisis...
Death...

I know people living in situations so complex and so outside of the bounds of belief that none of the counseling books even scratch the surface.

And yet, at the end of the day the people choose who they want to be. They either let the pain fuel who they are becoming, or they get stuck and the pain becomes the definition of who they are.

The problem with pain is that it feels unique to you. And if you share it with others they never quite "get" exactly what you are experiencing...no matter how many details you include or the words you use. And yet, pain is universal....and rarely heals without connection to others.

Don't get stuck. Walk through the process. And let those who love you try to help...even when the efforts are bumbling and don't take the pain away.

Change your mantra

I heard Elizabeth Gilbert speaking on television the other day.  She gave some amazing advice.

Change your mantra.

A mantra is a statement that is frequently repeated.  In yoga, it is a phrase that is focused on during meditation. It can be scripture. A single word. Anything that brings your mind back to a single point of focus.

Elizabeth's point was that we all have mantras--single ideas that we focus on over and over.  The important thing is to make sure our mantra is a good one.

So what's yours? Do you need to change it?

Do we really believe in a "good" God?

In a conversation once, I had someone tell me that he was pretty sure that God was a mean SOB.

Sadly, I understood what he meant. Our fear of not being worthy of love...our fear of punishment...our fear of failure often gets displaced onto our deity.

We miss the big themes of the Bible. There is story after story of God reaching out in relationship to imperfect humans, and loving them in their humanity. The Gospels are reports of God coming down and living as man in the form of Jesus. Humble. Healing. And after being treated horribly...forgiving.

We often miss the point.

What would our world look like if we believed that God was friendly? Would we stop our worry, striving, mental chess moves and all of the things we think are necessary to survive and embrace relationship with that God?  Would we trust Him?

Love is a force that people understand outside of religion, doctrine and creed. It is intimate and personal. If "God is love," then the very presence and action of love is His presence and action.  And the thing is that we recognize love in all of its forms...warmth, kindness, goodness, time, care, sacrifice, humility, adoration...

Yet we've been fooled by things disguised as love that didn't deliver. And that has made us wary. So, somehow it feels safer to embrace a set of objective rules that we can follow or a set of tenets to believe which will ensure that our deity will have to love us. (Which if you really think about it is crazy. We're talking about a God big enough to make the earth, time, space and all of us.)

What if we simply embraced a God who loves us? One who knows about all of our flaws, sins, insecurities and battles...and yet...adores us.  Not adores us if we do x,y, and z, but actually adores us. Opening ourselves to that love without reservation is terrifying. Rules are easier.