Beauty in the Broken

I love love and I love kindness and I wish the churches would emphasize kindness to everybody.-- Rowan LeCompte

I love stained glass windows. Always have. One of my most prized possessions is a stained glass piece my father made. I remember selecting glass with him, our family room taken over for a season by a ping pong table repurposed for his "art", i remember him teaching me to cut, the smell of the melting came (lead). I love the concept of broken pieces coming together and becoming something beautiful when light shines through them. Love love love that.

Easter morning I heard an interview with Rowan LeCompte whose work have been on display in the stained glass windows of the Washington National Cathedral for more than half a century. This interview has stuck with me. I can't shake the sound of his voice, the way he experiences life, what is there and what is missing. It made me feel deeply, joy, beauty and sadness. If you have 9 minutes check it out here.

Where nature may heal...

This weekend we went to the beach.
For a girl who has always lived within an hour of the beach, that seems like the most ordinary statement.
But, in fact, this would be a better expression of our experience.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. - John Muir

When we arrived to the beach house, to the wall of windows facing the grass, sand and water,even the Adirondack chair on the bluff, I was stunned by the beauty of it. Near speechless for quite some time. I decided, in that moment, to turn off what has become routine for me- noise, problem solving, routine and technology and just to BE in the moment, each moment of our time there. It was so healing and restorative to my soul that words seem trite- so i'll share some pictures and encourage each of you to get away to some place soon where nature may heal.

Riley on the path
the beauty, complexity and individuality of our children's faces
JOY! Riley and Abby
diamonds and Kiehl, Riley and Abby

Guest writer

So, haven't blogged for a while... rough few weeks emotionally dealing with "stuff" and losses at work and oh yeah, Holy Week and Easter had me pretty busy. I did pull together a guest post on a friends blog. The post is about my kids growing up and includes a ridiculous picture of me if that's interesting to you, check it out here.

the end of an era...

Last week Molly was in Anaheim for 5 days competing at the USA cheer nationals. Here's a clip of their competition. The team placed fourth in the nation in their division.
This ends Molly's 10 years of cheering. Hard to believe.