YouTube

It's official...I am entering the world of YouTube... mostly to share video with friends and family far away. Here's the first experiment with my new EeePC webcam:

Take a Closer Look!

Everybody scroll down and click on the picture of my sister's family now that I've fixed the link to enlarge it....it's worth an up-close look (: Have a great day!

Sam's Two Cents

Last night my husband was talking with our son, who recently announced that he was no longer as interested in reading as he used to be. They were discussing the importance of knowledge when Samuel said seriously, "That's interesting because Albert Einstein said 'Imagnination is more important than knowledge.' " We couldn't argue with that one. I think he's doing just fine.

Thankful Thursday: Beautiful Souls

Note: I know it's not Thursday, but I wanted to post this older post from my other blog today...thanks for being patient while I slip these in :)

Over the years I have been blessed with many dear friends, but a few seem to have made a really special place for themselves in my heart. As I have grown, changed, moved and moved again, different people have come and gone, leaving lasting impressions with their unique presence in my life. Some of those old friends are far away now, some new friends are near, but they each have something special that I cherish and appreciate about them...something that makes me particularly aware of God's hand in putting them my life. These are the beautiful people who have made me realize lately just how very connected we are and how much we need each other.

I have a friend who is a writer at heart...we've been friends since our late teens. She's seen my best...and my worst through those akward "trying to grow-up years." We live in different states now, far apart. We both have families and our own little worlds. But still, when I'm feeling my most inspired as a writer, she is the one I write to. She is the one who shares those "Anne-ish" qualities that sometimes haunt me, and drive me into the dreamy world of words and stories and the ability to be mesmerized by a certain hue in the sunset or the glistening of sunshine in a drop of dew. She's a kindred.

I have another old friend who recently came back into my world. She is sensitive in the truest way and I have come to cherish and honor her as a growing person whom I can trust and admire on the journey. Let me just share this quote from author Wayne Teasdale, "Sensitivity is...an attribute of presence to others. It is the ability to be fully there for others, without any agendas. This sensitive presence is able to respond through deep listening--real listening with the heart to both what is said and left unspoken...Sensitivity, which is definitely a divine quality, is a form of selfless affection that is free of sentimentality. It is love transformed by divine union or enlightenment." I am blessed to have a friend whom I trust with my heart, someone who is an example of a person growing in the ability to truly see.

Neighbors can make your life sweeter or really test your character! My next door neighbor is one of the sweetest variety. She is thoughtful and kind and generous. I am thankful for dear new friends and God's way of putting people in our lives just when we need each other. That's so cool! I look forward to seeing our friendship grow!

First posted December 23, 2006 on A Path to My Woods

If Sophie Was President

I know my friend Kelli over at Searching Souls will especially appreciate this one. Sophie brought home this paper from school last week from their observation of Presidents Day. The question at the bottom reads, "If you were president, what is one thing you would change?" Her answer: "For in China pepole to have more kids."

It Will Grow

"When something is greening inside us, might it not be best to shelter the tender growth? Too much windy talk about what is going on or too much conscious sunlight can blast or kill the development of what is young and emerging...Spring is an ache. Buds swell on their branches. Bulbs cannot stay in their casings...The Spring of the soul hums and aches. Birthing is full of pain, full of fear, full of exquisite excitement. It must be carefully attended. It must also be left well enough alone. Whatever has the dynamism to develop cannot be stopped. It will grow. It will grow." ~Gunilla Norris, A Mystic Garden.

First posted April 12, 2007 on A Path to My Woods

Good Bye Little Hamster

We lost our little Charlie Thomas this week. He really was the sweetest and best hamster I have ever known. He brought our children so much joy in the 2 1/2 years we had him. We'll really miss the little guy.

New Arrivals!!

My twin sister and her family have had an exciting month. Just about a week ago they moved in three precious children they are adopting, and then yesterday morning their new family of eight was blessed once again to welcome a little baby sister!! I am very excited to meet all of our new neices and nephews!! Just take a look at this sweet family!

Congratulations Sarah and Tony and family!!!

Thankful Thursday: Everything.

Rumi, Pay Homage

If God said,
"Rumi, pay homage to everything
that has helped you
enter my
arms,"

there would not be one experience of my life,
not one thought, not one feeling,
not any act, I
would not
bow
to.

~Rumi~
(translation by Daniel Ladinsky,
Love Poems from God)

I thought this would be a good way to resurrect my Thankful Thursday posts. My children often sum up their prayers, whether at the dinner table or family time, with the words, "God, thank you for everything." A simple prayer, but I can't think of a better one. Simplicity, contentment, gratitude...finding grace in every moment, recognizing the Divine in it all.

Why Woods?

I love woods. I'm not exactly sure what the attraction is. Perhaps it's the innate mystery within those trees or just my love for nature and solitude, I just love woods. The draw is magnetic, alluring. I haven't been in the woods for a few years now...not since our first child was born and not by myself since I met my husband. Sometimes I really miss that quiet alone time in the woods with a notebook and Creator that I revelled in during my single-years in college. I always felt content and at peace...no questions, just beauty and poetry.Have you ever been lost in the woods...or just a bit disoriented? I remember a mountainside in Colorado, hiking with a friend. We weren't far from camp but far enough to be a little worried when we couldn't find our way back. It is easy to get turned around surrounded by a forest of trees. And it's more than a little scary when you can't find your way home. And as much a you love the woods...home sounds sooo good (and so far away.) We made it home, but not without many wrong turns and probably a few backtracks. (reminds me of Pooh, Piglet and Rabbit trying to find their way back out of the woods after trying to lose Tigger)Life is like that sometimes. I can feel very happy and contented in the beautiful woods, but after awhile I'm ready to go home. (Kind of like Alice, growing tired of nonsense after her adventures in wonderland, ready to go home, to embrace something sensible, to grow-up.) Here I am walking through my woods, happy and content with this comfortable place I love, but suddenly I begin to feel a little disoriented as unfamiliar sights come into view. And questions begin to rise...where am I really, what is the truth? The truth...it's like that ever illusive home that we all long for. And this journey, the woods I love. And all of a sudden we just want to know the way home. Because this journey is so much more beautiful when we know the way back home. So here is my journey...where I've been(walking in circles), my current steps and hopefully a little insite into where this path is leading...one post at a time.

First posted on A Path to My Woods, November 9, 2005

Acceptance

"Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist."

-Natalie Goldberg

I have been thinking about acceptance lately...about embracing all of life, good and bad, as simply life--my life, my portion. Not to say we cannot strive to grow, only that growth comes through these things, not by fighting them. We accept change as a natural part of life--flowing constantly, moving--changing. Can I accept my life as it is, and grow in the midst of this, my portion? Small hardships come and go. My life has brought it's share of disappointments and struggles. But in the journey I have grown to a place of acceptance--this is my life, my path...what will I learn...how will I grow? The question-- I can say to someone, "Embrace all of life as a beautiful opportunity to grow," but what if I was in their circumstance? What about tragic divorce? debilitating injury? financial bankruptcy? losing a loved one? Would I still be able to find the underlying joy? Would I still accept in peace and grow in spirit through it all, recognizing God's purposes for me? I must believe it is true that we will be given no more than we can handle. And I honor those who are growing through burdens that my knees would probably buckle under. What are your thoughts on Acceptance?

First posted on A Path to My Woods, Jan. 25, 2007

"Wisdom consists in doing the next thing that you have to do...doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it. And the delight is the sense of the sacred." ~Helen Luke~ I believe this and I'm growing in my practice of it, however yet still imperfect! I've thought recently about the weight at the other side of divine acceptance...some call it divine discontent. These are the weights balancing each side of the well known Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. What I want is to know when discontent is the Divine pushing you out of your comfort zone into something new and when it is rather your own restless soul searching for peace outside of yourself. Let me go further with that thought. I believe what St. Augustine put beautifully: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you" Both divine acceptance and divine discontent are wrapped up in this very truth. Okay, that's as far as I'll go for now. What do you think about divine acceptance and divine discontent? First posted February 28, 2007 on A Path to My Woods

Shhhh...

Wait. It's still cold outside. Where I live the snow was a heavy wet blanket yesterday. Today it has mostly melted away, but Spring is only just on the verge of breaking through. It is cold and wet. The ground is still holding most of it's treasures below the surface. As I read A Mystic Garden by Gunilla Norris, every word resonates with the Winter outside and the Winter within. The cold numbing wind, the saturated ground just waking from months of frozen hardness. I'm anxious....anxious for sunshine, flowers,dirt on my hands, children swinging, trees waving green arms against a dreamy blue summer sky. I am anxious for my garden. But I'm waiting...still...inside...waiting for what is dormant, what seems lifeless, to spring into my sight.

"With or without your hard work

God is always moving

in your life.

Wait on the Holy,

wait and receive the gifts that come."

~Gunilla Norris~

First posted April 12, 2007 on A Path to My Woods

Quick Note :)

If you find some of the material I post in the next few weeks familiar, it is because you have been to my other blog on Xanga. I no longer blog there but wanted to pull some of my old posts from there over here and blend my blogging life together! So hopefully you'll enjoy reading some of the old along with the new. Blessings! ~R

Thankful Thursday: Remembering

Today I'm thankful for memory...the ability to look back over my shoulder and say "Ohhh...now I get it." True, some memories would seem to be better forgotten, but I can't ultimately feel anything stonger than thankfulness. Why? Because I've chosen the path of listening...learning from what life experiences have to teach me. So when tinges of remorse or humiliation attempt to dampen certain memories of my past, I lift my head again and listen, and remember the joy of growing in spirit.

Like a Hungry Bear

Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down
lift your heart toward heaven
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising,
But no one can keep you from lifting
your heart toward heaven--only you.
It is in the middle of misery that
so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good came of this,
is not yet listening.

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes~

Love

What would learning do without love? It would puff up. And love without learning? It would go astray.
-St. Bernard
"Love through me, Love of God,
Make me like Thy clear air
Through which unhindered, colors pass
As though it were not there.

Powers of the love of Good,
Depths of the heart Divine,
O Love that faileth not, break forth,
And flood this world of Thine"

~Amy Charmichael~

Valentine's Day

I admit it. I've never been a big Valentine's Day person. Holidays in general are fun, yes. But I really detest the commercialism of it all. I'll stop there. My dear friend Stephanie loves Valentine's Day. It's her very favorite holiday. She makes the cutest Valentines with her kids and makes the sweetest treats. I take water bottles to my kid's Valentine party at school. I like Valentine's Day as much as any day. My husband usually comes home with flowers and a hug and we give the kids a little candy. Everything was different this year. I'm typing this post on my Valentine's Day gift. This year my husband got me a blush pink Asus EeePC...the cutest laptop I have ever seen...so I can fulfill my dream of sitting under a tree or in a little coffee shop enjoying some solitary writing time.
Baaah consumerism. Yay for Steph, who knows what V-Day is all about. And love, love, love to my hubby who scored big points this year, not just for the laptop but for knowing that I like to write sitting on a blanket under trees.

Baby, Puppy, and alot of Snow

Just thought I'd post this picture so everyone could see how big Oliver and Ruby are getting. :)

Fashion Design

a few fabric scraps, free

some cute buttons, $1.97

a sewing machine + a little creativity, 2-hours of mommy time

a really happy and proud 6-year-old
wearing a Sophie Original, Priceless:

Fragility

It's been one of those months around here that just takes your wind and knocks you off your feet for a while. I don't have the gusto to write much at the moment but I'm trying regain my new year's determination. January started out with a flood of fresh optimism. For me this year marks the end of a decade and the beginning of a broad new life. Luke and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in May...10 years of crazy change and challenges and growth...moving a thousand miles from home, learning how to navigate married life, adding four kids, among other things. I'm starting to think it takes at least 10 years of adulthood to just start figuring out "who you are." In that sense, growing older is a beautiful experience.

Mid-January we recieved an email from a very dear friend. Paul and Ros Carey lived here Owosso in the first years of our marriage. They were here for Samuel's birth, and when we bought our first house. We celebrated their wedding with them and the birth of their firstborn, Nathalie. They were our closest friends in those years and such a blessing in our lives. Paul and Luke had been friends since college...one of those few friends in life whom he considered a kindred spirit. They were like brothers. Ros and I quickly became close friends. Several years ago they moved to be near Paul's family, then recently they relocated to Ros' native Australia. Like us, Paul and Ros have four small children. They had always hoped to go back to Australia and were so happy to be there.

Ros emailed to let us know that Paul had had a severe asthma attack and died. He was 33 years old. I could say a lot about all my reflections and feelings in the following weeks, but I'd rather share Ros' words which we all have heard and maybe even said...words that we believe but mostly don't think about in our everyday lives: "hug those you love... there really may not be a tomorrow..." I know this has been a really difficult experience for Ros and her family to go through, full of mixed emotions and so many memories. A deep loss and an opportunity to grow. I admire her greatly.

Take some time to check out Ros' blog: Living Upside Down
And this video commemorating Paul's life: Paul Carey

Love to all~
Ruthie