September

September is a beautiful month. I love it! My dear friends Pat and Linda celebrate their birthdays, as does my gorgeous MOM. Happy Birthday Mom!

I love the newness of so many things in September...a new season, a new school year...the scent and sight of harvest.

Here are some of my September moments. I want to savour every one!



Nessa made Pat's Birthday cakes...Grandma B's recipe and Nessas special frosting...YUM.

Josh and I worked hard on our shed after the help getting the foundation done. He's a handy guy, just like his Grandad.

I don't WANT to fill it with junk! I want to have a party in it!

The September light is exquisite.

Here's a busy boy and his Great Grandad...he's just WAY to busy to hold still for a photo!

Name Game...stop reading if you won't play nice

OK...this is a good one people...play along and don't blow me off. (I'm in no mood for hurt feelings, what with the insomnia and all). And it's silly...but a harmless kinda' fun!

This is called "The Name Game"

Rules:
Read mine,
Copy and paste the whole thing into comments,
Replace my answers with yours,
Post your results here AND in your own blog to tag others.

Oh, come on, just do it! (Karyn, Dawn, Tanya, Nessa...this means you!)

Name Game

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet,current car) Buffy Venture

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Ginga' Snap

3. YOUR FLY GIRL NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
A- Tra (uh...what's a fly girl? a stewardess? pest control?...anybody...? )

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Horse (yawn)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born), Patricia Lac La Biche (Don't ask for the literal translation...though it IS kind of Diva-ish, no?)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Tra -Ar (may the farce be with you)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Periwinkle Rooibos

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Billy-Earl (technically William, but that thar's not'cher tipickal Red neck name...and we all knows NASCAR stands fer' Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks)

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume, favorite candy) Sung Kit-Kat (hmmmm...personally I think Kit-Kat Sung would look better in lights...oh Lordy, let's not go there)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Patricia Earl (if I've ever had a restraining order against you, please erase this one from your memory)

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Moodie Manhattan

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Cosmos (said in a breathy voice)

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Watermelon Sockie (Holy Fruit fly, Batman!)

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Smoothie Birch

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Mixed Media,Thunder and Lighning Tour (cue amazing guitar lick and pyrotechnics!)



There ya' have it! That wasn't so hard!

Wayne's World

So meeting one of my new favorite authors was quite a surprise. Wayne Jabobsen, of The God Journey was in town and stayed with friends last night so we could have dinner, hang out and talk about our journeys.
I have read one of his books co-authored and written under a pseudonym, and have read, and am currently digesting, The Shack, which he helped write, edit, and has published.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I thought I knew God, and understood the trinity, and was on close terms with Jesus. Then I saw Him through new eyes in the pages of this book's story and my preconceptions have been rearranged. I recognize the truth in what I am beginning to see. I am having a hard time realizing how much more He is. I am also having a hard time admitting that most of what I have been taught is through the lenses of an Old Testament understanding. I am also discovering how religious practice has dictated my response to Him. And all I can say is "I did not know".

For instance, chew on this....as we were talking about the cross last night, Wayne asked, "If you did something to some guy, and really hurt him, and he said that the only way he could ever accept you as a friend was if someone paid...and then he went home and beat the tar out of his son with a baseball bat, then came and said that it was OK now, and you could be friends, would you ever WANT to be friends with someone like that?"
NO! Yet that is basically my understanding of the cross...someone innocent had to pay for my shortcomings. But as we talked, Wayne presented another analogy about the cross, which was never for God; it was all for ME.

His analogy is this; We have a terminal blood disease (sin), and the only cure is chemo, which will also absolutely kill us (the law). So Jesus, being God, and being Love, takes our diseased blood into His healthy body and transfuses His healthy blood to us. The disease kills Him, but when He has died, we are left with the antibodies for all time, for everyone who suffers from this disease. He provides both a cure for the disease, (sin) and relief from the deadly "cure", (the law). That is love, that is His sacrifice.

Our God is not one who ever needed us to sacrifice for Him, unlike every other god and religion. He desired to sacrifice for us. Our sacrifice is worthless to Him. His message to us in the Old Testament is this: Sin kills, and the law will cover it up but will never cure us, and will never make us feel remotely clean. The law is as deadly as the disease of sin.

But surely we have to qualify, by our righteous acts, for this gift of relief from sin, and for it's cure?

We qualify when we give ourselves to Him, in Love and of our free will.

This immediately makes perfect sense to me. It is the Gospels.

There was a lot more, all of which I will be attempting to assimilate over the next few months... and years. Meanwhile, check out his blog, linked above and in the Lifestream link on the right hand side of the blog.

Portland...

I'm still dreaming about the pizza we had a year ago, in downtown Portland,


It was chewy and crisp at the same time, with luscious thick and tasty pesto topping and home made, real berry soda pop to sip with...

It was cooked in wood fired ovens that heated the historic, enviro-friendly Eco-Trust building the HotLips is situated in in the Pearl District. I promise you, I would make a trip to Portland just to eat that pizza again! On foot! *


Oh, and to go to Powell's Books of course, THE WORLDS LARGEST BOOK STORE!! Two reasons to visit Portland!! Go, I tell you, it's worth it!


* OK, maybe not on foot...after all, how many books could I carry home? That's why I love road trips....in a van!!

Look at Liam grow!

He is from good farm stock after all.
Have your ever seen such a brilliant smile?

Busy, busy at the Hutchy farm.

Dweller by a Dark Stream:

Have a look at Bruce Cockburn's beautiful lyrics...(that's a silent "ck" folks)

he sings:

" It could have been me put the thorns in your crown
Rooted as I am in a violent ground
How many times have I turned your promise down
Still you pour out your love…Pour out your love

I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you’ve done…Jesus, thank-you joyous Son

You entered a life like ours to give us back our own
You wanted us like you, as choosers not clones
You offered up your flesh and death was overthrown
Now salvation is ours…Salvation is ours

I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you’ve done…Jesus, thank-you joyous Son

So I’m walking this prison camp world
I long for a glimpse of the new world unfurled
The chrysalis cracking and moistened wings uncurl
Like in the vision John saw…The vision John saw

I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you’ve done…Jesus, thank-you joyous Son"

(photo by Josh)

In The Shack, Papa is "particularly fond" of Bruce...I can see why!