Best-Loved Cinema

Between pre-adolescence and middle adulthood, I'm sure I've written numerous personal favorite lists.  

These activities have helped me become reacquainted with my evolving self and have helped me keep collections organized.  As a young teen, I remember relishing in this self-discovery.  Everything felt so new and exciting.  I'd spend hours sitting in my bedroom to pore over Seventeen, Vogue and Mademoiselle.  Boy, I was very much influenced by both beneficial and not-so-beneficial content.

In addition to magazines, my parents, my peers and television helped to shape my interests.  Well, today I wanted to write a list of films that I've enjoyed over the years.  Not exhaustive, but certainly close.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

• A Raisin in the Sun 
• Barefoot in the Park 
• Crooklyn 
• Dan in Real Life 
• Father of the Bride I 
• Father of the Bride II 
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? 
• Home Alone 
• Le Prénom 
• Little Women 
• Midnight in Paris
• Please Don't Eat the Daisies 
• Rear Window 
• Return to Me 
• Sabrina 
• The American President 
• The Christmas Story 
• The Intern 
• The More the Merrier 
• The Odd Couple 
• The Pelican Brief 
• The Philadelphia Story 
• The Karate Kid
• The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry 
• The Sound of Music
• War Room 
• You've Got Mail 

In reviewing this list, I can conclude a couple of things: I must be a legitimate romantic 😊 and it feels good to mark an unfolding history through cinematic favorites.

Encouragement for your day:  

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. - John 10:28

The Joy of Housekeeping

A small bedroom for guests, also used to fold laundry
and have quiet time.

I currently work a 9 to 5 job at an awesome church in our city, yet can sometimes feel that these hours at work consume most of me during the week.  It is therefore very helpful to drive home to a sweet and nurturing environment after a full day in a fast-paced office.

Our family is a multi-generational one: my husband and I, my in-laws, and our youngest daughter all living together and dancing around each other.  Naturally, we experience blessings and challenges with this dynamic (our oldest adult daughter is now married and moved out and our youngest comes and goes, so we're not quite empty nesters 😂).  In the midst of our day-to-day, some things are downright funny, but my heart's desire is to gratefully see God's perspective for the people I do life with and to learn to love them as He loves me.

Regardless of what's at hand, an orderly home is one practical way to lessen anxiety and stress.  I recommend some of these ladies for inspiration: Toni Hammersley, Clean Mama, and the FlyLady.  This is not about perfection, but simply about the joy of managing His goodness in our lives to the best of our abilities.

Affirmations of Abba to His Daughter

Come, sit here with me.  Repeat after me, beloved: I believe in the way I was made.  A masterpiece, a poemia.

I believe in the way I was made.  A masterpiece, a poemia.

I am strong.

I am strong.

I am smart.

I am smart.

I am beautifully, fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am beautifully, fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am fearless.

I am fearless.

I can do all things through Him that gives me strength.

I can do all things through Him that gives me strength.

I am brave.

I am brave.

I am courageous.

I am courageous.

I always try my best.

I always try my best.

I am clothed with strength and dignity.

I am clothed with strength and dignity.

I am vigorous with my work.

I am vigorous with my work.

I am resourceful.

I am resourceful.

I have a God-given authority on this Earth.

I have a God-given authority on this Earth.

I can exercise my authority.

I can exercise my authority.

I lack nothing.

I lack nothing.

I am Abba's treasure.

I am Abba's treasure.

I don't have to be perfect.

I don't have to be perfect.

I give generously.

I give generously.

I love my hair.

I love my hair 😊.

I am kind & compassionate.

I am kind & compassionate.

I am loved.

I am loved.

And I love & cherish others.

And I love & cherish others.

I am loved.

I am loved.

I am loved.  So unconditionally loved.

I am loved.  So unconditionally loved.

I am confident.

I am confident.

I put my faith and my trust in my Father.

I put my faith and my trust in my Father.

I am a sweet fragrance.

I am a sweet fragrance.

I am the apple of my Abba's eye.

I am the apple of my Abba's eye.

I forgive.

I forgive.

Seventy times seven.

Seventy times seven.

If I fall, I will get back up.

If I fall, I will get back up.

I have hope in God, my Father.

I have hope in God, my Father.

I love people.

I love people.

I love myself.

I love myself.

I love my silly self.

I love my silly self.

Love never fails.

Love never fails.

My Father's love for me never fails.

My Father's love for me never fails.

I am blessed.

I am blessed.

I can dream without limits.

I can dream without limits.

I have promises that no man can block.

I have promises that no man can block.

I love you, daughter.

I love you, too, Abba.

*Adapted from The Scene.

A Diligent Gardener

Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence. - Ephesians 1:4b | The Passion Translation

Made in His image.  A royal priesthood.  This was His doing before the foundations were laid.  Who are we to believe different?  I think one of the issues can lie within this world's tainted reflection; we stare at it long and hard and we begin to think we are marked by it, so we conform to a false image of self.  We interact with life events and they attach themselves to us, because we don't know better to refuse them, and we become what we are not.  What we were never supposed to be.  I am unloveable because this happened...I am rejectable because that happened.  The lies seep in and take root in our personalities.  How absurd when you pause to think about it.  That our identities have become shaped by lies?  That was not how the story began.

So, to know our true self, we must know our Creator first.  We must decide to lay down what we believed and begin with Him.  What do you say because I'm not sure that I know anymore?  He says we are made in delightful, unabashed love: ..."For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children..." I've not found enough words created by man to describe this love.  I believe in its transforming power.  I believe we've only scratched the surface of experiencing its depth.  Oh, what it can do!  Let us be known by Him, by the love of the Father.  Let us be known by it!  And let this cleansing love uproot the muck and mire that has stayed far too long.  Where's the garbage pail?  We must diligently plant the right things and then water this soil for an overflowing harvest to be shared and distributed.
How can we exuberantly live and give from depleted soil?  Sowing is a deliberate practice that often requires an honest shift in priorities.  We do have the time, dear ones.  As our bodies live off of physical food, so our hearts and minds must drink and feed off of His love.  No time to diet here.  We are the beloved. 

The Curated Cottage: Aug 2019

 1. Orange Citrus Tree  2. The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis  3. Tortoise Flatware  4. Blue Striped Kitchen Towel  5. 12" Steel Skillet  6. Mercury Glass Candle in Sea Salt  7. Caldrea Dish Soap in Basil Blue Sage

Cottage Dreams

via Houzz

I wish I could remember who created this charming room; I found it through Houzz, but don't recall making note of its designer.  Looking at it again, I'd really like to see the rest of the home.  If additional photos do exist.  I vaguely remember additional angles.

***Update: this is a London home designed by Lisette Voûte 😊.***

What began to stir me in this image is the use of a buttery sofa grounded with deep wood finishes.  Giving further enchantment is the sprinkling of warm light throughout.  And directly across are festive rows of bright-colored spines housed in white built-ins.

In my own expression at home, I tend to think of how I'd like a space to feel first.  I suppose it's more intuitive now as I've grown older.  I value comfort and beauty simultaneously.  Highly value.  The why isn't so important.  I do try and honor timeless principles and even formulas if they're tried and true.  But, I don't want to sit in a classified box.  I used to feel that I needed to define my aesthetic with a label.  Are you more bohemian?  More of a traditionalist?  A minimalist?  In trying to fit into these labels, I evidently became frustrated.  Now, I'd safely say that I'm a happy blend of influences and experiences.  As we continually grow as beings, so can our individual expressions of art.  With "a wink and a smile", our Creator gives us true freedom to be who He created.  We can assuredly steward these wonderful gifts of imagination into our homes.

In His Good Hands

This morning's thought..sometimes I'd like an easy fix to my pain.  I'd like for God to rip out the internal infection, hurriedly mend me back up and send me on my way with a lively thumbs up.  Yet, I know that even a skilled, caring surgeon won't do that with a patient who has been traumatized.  There are some surgeries requiring extra tender care.  Patient care.  Where the right tools are first laid in order of use.  Where the first incision is masterfully cut to uncover the ravaged wound beneath.  And before the body is sewn back up, the infection must be meticulously taken out by the Skilled Surgeon.  Drawn out too fast and the patient could suffer more trauma.  Therefore, confidence, patience and care are needed.  This also calls for patience from the patient.  Cooperation in staying still and trusting the Surgeon to be the Expert.   

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

- W. Shakespeare

My Favorite Books, an Ever-Expanding List

Eating and reading are two pleasures combined admirably. - C.S. Lewis

In alphabetical order, by title:

1. Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. Martha's Vineyard, Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch
4. Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
5. The Lifegiving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson
6. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
7. The Royal Path of Life by Thomas Louis Haines and Levi W. Yaggy