Looked Like

Back in the year 1900, our farmhouse looked like this...


I say "our" in that we've lived here for 20 years, it's home. as renters though. not owners.
It had already celebrated 96 birthdays when this picture was taken.
The front porch was added shortly thereafter.

I recently heard firsthand from the man who had spoken with Anna Hershey herself.
Anna lived in our circa 1804 farmhouse in the 1860's and remembered Civil War Soldiers stopping here for bread. 
Her great-grandfather was Daniel Boone.

So if you stop by, you can stay in our Daniel Boone room.

He slept here!!!

Maybe.
Like I told my friend Kristy on fb, I've moved quickly from hoping for authentification of this house's history... to inventing it. :)



Jared's 18th birthday present looked like...



Skydiving. The Farmer and his genetically-compelled-to-want-to-son loved their first solo jumps.
First. Which means there's a next. Because they both said it was that much fun.



Philadelphia and George Washington's 281st Birthday back in February looked like this...






Benjamin's 16th Birthday and party looked like this...



Another one of my babies is legally allowed to operate a vehicle.
Ben's party included a clay bird shoot... someone called 911 about all of the gunfire.
So we even had the cops, yes plural, showing up.
(We have the best hick parties.)
And it's hard to get a mother/son birthday photo without her talking.




A new paint job and some travel mementos in our downstairs bathroom looks like this...



Postcard from a D.C. museum, and a pic of Jared and Ben's 2nd Presidential Inauguration with George Bush in 2005.
Jacob's rock collection from Pike's Peak last summer.
Maps and brochures. Coke bottle from Jerusalem, 1988. My heart still pounds just remembering. :)
Ben's snapshot from Australia back in 2008.
Our keychain collection for our special travel memories tree at Christmas.


A mom's recent "game on" looked like this...

When your son tells you that he wants to get a tattoo like this guy's shirt (it really IS a shirt,)
you enthusiastically agree. and say, come on! let's get a snapshot!


Sarah's abstract/realistic self portrait from art class looked like this...




Living with many boys and finding a way to keep a mom's tools where she needs them looks like...

Pink paint. It's been working. :)



Great times with friends, including Jared, looked like this...




Fun snail mail looked like this...
 


My grandparents wedding picture looks like this...

I love old photos.



Cooperation yesterday for Last Day of School pictures looked like this...


Next year at this time, I will be the young mother of a high school graduate. 
The neighborhood around here on Xanga looks like...
it's changing. and fast.

And with so many people moving in different directions,
I need some advice. pretty please.
I am wanting to continue to keep in touch. I love you guys! You all have been a great group of friends!
But here's me, finding it harder to keep up,
partly because instead of hanging over the backyard fence together,
I am needing to actually drive to other communities.

What do you use to organize everything on one page? I need to do that.
And what are the benefits of buying a domain name through say bluehost vs. setting up on blogger or wordpress?
I am so not techy. not at all. at all. I like my crockpot, easy to understand. simple, with an off, lo, and high knob. sigh.
So any recs, experiences and wisdom would be greatly appreciated. :) thanks.



A quick snapshot of the kids in Fredericksburg, Va looks like this...

Immediately after which the alarmed tour guide said stop! get down!
ooops.It's our first day of summer vacation.
So it's looking like...
a great day!


Happy Friday to you all!

[this moment]

[this moment]

inspired by soulemama.
This was my week.
hard. but held.

How was yours?




In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God  in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones  He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was  satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I  live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by  darkness slain
Then bursting  forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands  in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is  mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no  fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me  home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

I will stand, I will stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other  ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I stand.

[this moment]

[this moment]

inspired by soulemama.


They fight. And are best friends too.

No matter how many times I find them like this, heads together, laughing and reading,
it still takes my breath away.


What takes your breath away?


Enjoy your weekend, friends!

December 1, 1990

 

This is the picture that I had uploaded for last week, the February Friday loVe theme as inspired by Amber.

Only today is Thursday. Of another week.
It's almost March and we are now Fridayless in February of this year.
Because I am good at stating the obvious, I'll say that I'm running behind. :)

December 1, 1990 looked like this...

I'm startled when I do the math with this photo and date.
I still think that the 1990's are about ten years ago. :)
I remember hearing a thousand words spoken when I first looked at this picture a couple of decades back.
And... it still speaks.
Right now it's screaming that we were but children! ;) ha.
The abundance of words became paragraphs. months.
Paragraphs became chapters. years. And now there are volumes.
Filled with more breathtaking good and more way beyond hard
than I ever dreamed that girl and that boy were saying "I do!" to. 

And the words of a song that friends sang during our wedding service
echo through it all...

sometimes we knew it in the moment. sometimes totally not.
thankfully... truth is not dependent on our perception.
but rather clarity for our perception is dependent on truth.


Oh Lord, You Have Been Good
You Have Been Faithful to All Generations
Oh Lord, Your Steadfast Love
And Tender Mercy Have Been Our Salvation

For By Your Hand We Have Been Fed
And By Your Spirit We Have Been Led
Oh Lord

For By Your Hand We Have Been Fed
And By Your Spirit We Have Been Led
Oh Lord, Almighty God
Father Unchanging, Upright and Holy
Oh Lord, You Have Been Good

You Have Been Good
You Have Been Faithful, You Have Been Good

"God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him...
He gave me a fresh start. Now I’m alert to God’s ways; I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways He works.
God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes."
Psalm 18:20-24 The Message



Oh Lord, You Have Been Good
With all that is now extremely outdated about our wedding...
some of the other songs that were a part of it too, here and here.will never be.
at least in our heads.
hearts.
both.

What song is especially meaningful to you right now?

[friday loVe ~ HIS voice]

I cried in TJMax a few weeks ago.

As much as I love that store... and as emotional as I might get over an exciting bargain, :)
it wasn't about the place or a price.

It was over something that never ceases to amaze and surprise me.

And it's one of those "never ceases to amaze and surprise me" things that I hope stays just that way.
Always amazing and surprising. Despite the frequency.
Leaving me with widened eyes, allbeit perhaps at times... tearful ones.
Like a little girl on Christmas. With a treat. When it is truly better than she dreamed it would be.
And she sparkles with indescribable pleasure.

Like THAT. everytime.

Dear friends of ours had invited us over for the evening.
It was the one year anniversary of their daughter's death.

As with alot of things that life brings...
each story and person unique,
there's not a magic-one-size-fits-all-formula with details on what exactly to do... or not,
on the anniversary of something like that.
For them as grieving parents... for those of us as friends. 

I had been wishing all week prior, that I could think of something meaningful to share with them.
A little remembrance. a significant token. a something.
The kind of something that I never find when I'm looking for it.
It doesn't work that way for me. I find special presents when I don't need them.

So I found myself driving into town at the last minute, to get a pink and white balloon bouquet.
Balloons were not the answer to my mental search for ideas. They weren't the something.
But they were a something, and the kids could have fun with them.
On my way to the party store, I made what then felt like an impulsive decision to stop by TJMax.
Maybe. Just maybe. I would find that... something.
I went to the back of the store and started walking past the aisle ends, glancing down each one.
dishes. kitchen tools. pet paraphernalia. gifty stationery things.
It's strange. Looking for something when you don't even know what it is.
I felt like I was wasting my time.
I came to the home decor aisle... and... I heard it. very. clearly.
That soul whisper. His voice.

It's here. In this aisle.
And sillyslowlearning me, believing that it was Him. truly. He had spoken.
and yet, I still entertained the next thought, that it was my idea.
So I argued back in my head. no it's not. not this aisle. this is mostly large home decor items.

I remember hesitating, and then walking down that aisle to the other end anyway.
I had even thought...see? nothing. I knew that. There's nothing here. 
I started browsing through the display of faux succulents, imagining how awesome they would look in my house.
And it was then... that I saw it.

The something. the gift that I had wanted so much to find...
A single, white, silk lily bloom in a little glass vase.

I was stunned. awestruck. my tears were the words that my lips couldn't say.
feeling gratefulness for His voice.
overwhelmed with His compassion. His grace. His l o v e.

for me. for our dear friends. for each of us.


friday loVe ~ HIS


You see, the precious baby girl who is missed so very much is...
Lilly Jane.


He loves y o u.
loves y o u.
y o u.
 

friday loVe picture ~ inspired by amber

[loVe picture friday, inspired by grace to be]

It's Amber's fun idea, as she posted here last week saying;
"i thought with valentines day coming up it would be fun to post some sort of "loVe picture" every friday for the month~ wanna join?
all you have to do is take a picture each week of something you love then post it on friday!"
But I am actually camera-less right now.
Ben borrowed my little point and shoot for his digital media class and has it at school most of the time. So I opened some old folders, found a few scanned photos from my 35mm days... and here's one of them. 

This week's loVe picture.



It was December 2004.
And we had just found out that our newest little person was a BOY!
We thought that our fourth baby would also be our last,
so even though we hadn't found out the gender with any of the others,
we decided this time to find out together as a family.

Way special. For all of us. Still. I love looking at this picture. :)

curious, did you or not, find out what you were having?
and was it announced... or a secret?


HaPpy Friday everyone!
and if you haven't already, jump in. i want to see YOUR loVe picture too.