Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Hump-Day Hilarity: Jimmy Fallon Lip Sync



Yes, I realize it is 13 minutes long. But, Will Ferrell does "Let It Go" and Jimmy, with a surprise adorable guest, does his best Swayze with "Time of My Life". We just keep laughing.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Random Thoughts on A Snowy Friday...

1.  Yes, it is actually snowing. Not spewing ice pellets, or as I have come to call it, ever-so-affectionately, "Southern Spit". Actual snowflakes.  Which, for your edification, make a great surface for an impromptu game of broom hockey.

2.  Seeing gorgeously vibrant male cardinals hopping around in the snow makes us smile.  And, I like to take it as a sign that Spring will eventually come.

3.  I do wish that doing laundry burned significant amounts of calories.  Like the equivalent of say, a 5K.

4.  Yoga pants are the bomb.

5.  No, Barnard Academy has not closed this week.  And, the debates regarding such closings have gone like this.

Boy:  Mom, can we have a snow day? Can't we just have one day off?
Me:   Dude, your whole life is a snow day. 
Boy: But, MOOOOOMMMM...
Me: We work on snow days, dearest, so that when sunny days pop up this Spring, we can take a "Sun Day".  While the rest of your "traditionally-schooled" pals are indoors.
Boy:  (external eye roll, shoulders slumped--a defeated stance) 

6.  Baking double chocolate chip banana bread is a very effective method by which to heat a home.   






Sunday, February 15, 2015

I Want to Know What Love Is

Last summer, I had the delightful task of coordinating the wedding of a beautiful young woman (and her very fortunate bridegroom)--whose mama happens to be one of my dearest friends.  At her shower, I was given the slightly nerve-wracking privilege of sharing some marital wisdom and insight.  I decided to call upon some who know just a bit more than I in this area--Tim Keller, Elisabeth Elliot, and the apostle Paul.  Their words were--and are--a beautiful challenge and a magnificent reminder of what love is.  

Below is an excerpt of what I shared--minus the teary-eyes and "oh my heart" pauses.

"In Tim Keller’s insightful treatise on marriage (The Meaning of Marriage), he says 'That while marriage is many things, it is anything but sentimental.  Marriage is glorious and hard.  It’s a burning joy and strength, yet it is also blood, sweat, and tears--refined by defeats and polished by triumphs.'  And, yes, he goes on to say that some days, you will fall into bed, after a day of trying hard to understand one another, and proclaim, “This IS all a profound mystery!”.

But, it is a mystery worth solving.  

The Love chapter in I Corinthians 13 gives us insight into how to solve this profound mystery--love. Elisabeth Eliott's book, Let Me Be A Woman, gives specific and practical illumination to the words of Paul.  

'This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience--it looks for a way of being constructive.  You can’t, of course, be constructive if you don’t perceive weakness.  But when you recognize a place where a little construction or reinforcement is needed you can begin to build up, to encourage, to strengthen.  Don’t lose patience.  Building takes a long time and you have to put up with many delays and a lot of rubble in the process.

Love is not possessive--He is still Master of each of you, and it is first of all to Him that you answer.  Trust the God who gave him to you, believe Him to keep you both.

Love is not anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.  It doesn’t need to do either.  You have already impressed him.  You are enormously important to him.  There is no question about that.  Accept the fact and be at rest with him.

Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage.  A husband forsaking his comfortable chair when his wife walks into the room, jumping out of the car in the rain to open the door for her, preparing dinner when the day has been "busier" than she anticipated, caring for the children so that she might have a “grown-up” lunch with a friend--all of these things show that he cares about her.  She is pleased to be recognized in those ways, and he is pleased because she is pleased.  It’s another little tug on the cords that bind them together.

Love is not touchy.  Love is touched--that is, it is deeply sensitive to the feelings of another, sad when he is sad, hurt when he is hurt, glad when he is glad.  But love is not touchy.  Love gives the benefit of the doubt.

Love does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people.  On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.  Love keeps a clean slate.  This doesn’t mean, of course, that it’s possible to forget every offense.  “To forgive is human, to forget is divine.”  


Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything.  It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.'"






Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Hump-Day Hilarity: Some Timely Advice for Valentine's Day





"Your eyes look puffy, dear, are you feeling ill? Happy Anniversary, I bought you a treadmill..."


A bonus from our Kitchen Table:

Several years ago, when Lady Antebellum hit their platinum stride, "Just A Kiss" was a frequently-played favorite--on our Spotify Radio, too.  
(opening strains of "Just A Kiss" can be heard...)

He-who-is-taller-than-I:  (groan and external eye roll)  Not again!  Can we change the station please?

Ninja-who-was then-seven: (arising from his seat to turn UP the volume) Some day, you'll appreciate this song...when you know what LOVE is!

You just can't make this stuff up



Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Love Notes...






"And I will betroth you to me forever.  I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.  I will betroth you to me in faithfulness..."
 ~Hosea 2:19


Friday, February 6, 2015

As You Wish





This is my prize catch from last week's library visit.  It's just a book about one of my all-time favorite films, based upon one of my all-time favorite fairy tales--oh, and spearheaded by one of my all-time favorite director/producer-types.  I was a mere twenty pages into the trip down Westley Lane, when I delightfully declared to my Philosopher, "I will be buying this book.  Just so you know."  He has no objections as it's one of his favorite flicks, too.  So much so that he wrote a paper on it for an Honors English class in college--we're pretty sure Dr. Brian still has a copy.  

Do you remember the first time you encountered Westley, Buttercup and the R.O.U.S'?  I certainly do.  It was a Saturday afternoon, in mid-October.  1987.  We were celebrating my friend Angie's birthday.  Yes, I remember details like that.  Scary, eh?  Of course, we had no idea that this little romance-action-adventure-comedy film would become a cult classic.  We just thought that Westley was cute (and he was!), Inigo Montaya was a fabulous swordsman, and "as you wish" was the most swoon-worthy statement of the century.  Sigh.

And, years later, the flick is still a favorite.  We introduced it to the Ninja and "He-who-is-now-taller-than-I" several years ago.  They loved it.  Even "the kissing part".  Don't tell them I told you that.  

There are so many unforgettable lines and moments--from "Mawage--that bwessed institwuition" to "Probably he means no harm. He's really very short on charm."  Miracle Max and "I'm not a witch--I'm your wife".  And, how many times have we (okay, I) chanted, "Have fun storming the castle!" as my Philosopher leaves for work?  

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father, prepare to die.  Will "Princess" ever escape our vault of beloved motion picture classics?  Inconceivable.  












Sunday, February 1, 2015

Come, Thou Fount, of Every Blessing

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it mount of God's redeeming love.
Here I find my greatest treasure; hither by thy help I've come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, bought me with his precious blood.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee: prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above. 
~Robert Robinson (1735-1790)