Blue Like Jazz

Partly modern-day Francis Schaeffer, with F.S.'s down to earth/you don't have to be a university graduate to understand/I'm being completely honest with you attitude; partly G.K. Chesterson's paradoxes and isn't life fun!?!?!?!!! style; and partly C.S. Lewis' practical christianity, Blue Like Jazz is a fresh perspective on life and everything that comes with it. I am not saying that Donald Miller can write like the afforementioned gentleman, but an intangible something that makes up their passion for God and the gospel of Jesus Christ comes through in his brutally honest words. Definately not your typical Christian self-help book, or a hokey "three-step plan,"
he stays away from lists and typical Christian plots to sell Christianity. Neither is he like such wonderful modern Christian authors such as John Piper. He's just Donald Miller, who I can only describe as jazz.

"Donald Miller writes like a good improv solo-smooth, sweet, surprising, uplifting, and full of soul and fury and joy." Brian McLaren
(what he said)

a sample: "Author's Note- I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theatre in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxaphone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he didn't open his eyes.
After that I liked jazz music.
Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."

p.s. very good for dinner conversations, but don't hand the book to anyone younger than thirteen. if you read it, which i highly recommend, don't be put off when you read the chapter about him not liking going to church. parts of the book are his spiritual journey, and later he gets over his church allergies.
r. the b.o.

A Wedding

I love weddings! The hustle and bustle, the general aura of awkward efficiency and somewhat organized chaos, but most of all the pervading sense of happiness. I have never been anywhere near a wedding that I have not been involved in up to my fingertips. Even though this time around I don't even know what the happy couple look like, but I'm almost as involved in the commotion as if I was the bride's sister. Guiding those from out of town who can't find the church; babysitting some of the small children, who were not raised P.B. and therefore cannot sit still for any length of time; unobtrusively interjecting myself into the mother-of-the-bride's conversations to jog her memory with this or that; fetching these people here, and those people there; I love it all.
Someone, no one in particular, but someone, needs to get married, and soon.
Wedding bells are ringing, now we need someone to step up to the alter.
Not that we would say that it was obliging of them, and just what we wanted. Oh no, we would congratulate them, and wish them well, but secretly, we would be thinking of how appropriate their timing was, and how totally gratifying to our wishes they are. Oh yes...

My Third Post Today

I found this picture in beehive smugmug photos with the caption "What we could do with thought bubbles. Being bored, I decided to do as hinted. Unfortunately, I can't come up with anything funny. So your job is to email me, ebrown@pdionline.net, with any ideas you have.

By-the-by

Is a non-P.B. like me allowed to TROG? If so, what's the web address?

Wake up you sleepyheads..

Rub your eyes, get out of bed,
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead!
She's gone where the goblins go,
below, below, below, yo ho!
Let's open up and sing,
and ring the bells out.
Ding dong, the merry-o
Sing it high,
sing it low,
let them know the Wicked Witch is dead!

Come out, come out,
wherever you are,

Hey! Where did the world of blogdom go?!?!?! Is school preventing you from whiling (sp?) a few moments away on the web? Can't you spare a few seconds to tell us you are too busy to write? Chances are you won't even notice this post until you wake up from your education enduced sleep. Darn.

Not very nice....

Why are we not informed of something great. The Lewisville meeting was either moved or misannounced because we have come two weeks early and now the chance of coming down again is slight if any. Well, its not very cool just because that is a pretty big deal to us country folk. Well, we are in Texas this weekend and we hope to see those we will miss by not attending the meeting. Life's life.

hey y'all. um i guess this is my first post on here. and its just to say i somehow kind of erased my blog so my new one is www.liveittothefullest.blogspot.com kind of long but its all i could think of. i love your latest post btw ithilien. =)

Music

She had not played in a long time, so she hesitated a long moment. Slowly, with a feeling of reliving old times and the old happiness, she touched the instrument. Placing her fingers in the keys, and very, very softly, and very, very shyly, as if meeting a stranger, she played a note. Under her fingers she felt the instrument coming alive, warm and vibrating beneath her hands. It spoke to her, whispering, an inexplicable murmur that pulled her unresisting into itself. Once more, as she had done innumerable times before her world changed, she played a scale, smoothly, unhesitatingly, growing stronger and stronger. Unbidden to her mind rose the lilting song. "Your song," it whispered to her. "Play it, make me come alive again with the joys of the world before it was broken, and you let me fall, and your heart shattered." Lightly but firmly, her fingers pressed the keys, the music rising from her heart. Her lips were pursed, but her eyes glowed again with that forgotten joy as her fingers flew, filling the Forgotten Corners of Everywhere. It sang to her, and the love woke again in her heart. She played children's songs, the great works of the masters, and the melodies of creation. She played and played again, and then it seemed to her that the sun rose and fell, and the moon began to rise and the very stars to sing in counterpoint before she lifted her fingers or breathed again. And she knew joy, for the glory of her redemption had risen in her again, and her Savior sang to her through the music of her heart.

EIGHT MONTHS

... till Harmony Hill!!!

Let it Be Know

Let it be know that the Giles Boys are planning on coming down to the dedication meeting. Hope to see everyone there. The Giles Parents will stay on at the Giles Ranch(?) to feed animals and do chores. Oh the sweet blessed morn'n when the Lord works his wonderful days like pieces of a unsolvable puzzle fitting piece into piece. (if you can't tell, I am overflowing with excitement)

Sorry for any spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors. Haste really hinders one who is not very good at them.

Aunt Helen

(Click on photos to enlarge)



Aunt Helen came to stay with us a couple of nights, and we've had a ball. We went to church, had tea, ate enchiladas, sang a bit, looked at old pictures, laughed, and mostly talked about how much we both love all of you.


She is, at this moment, on her way from our house to Rachel's, in Mississippi. Please say a prayer for her.


We took her to the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, which she just loved. We've spent many days there with people we love over the years. It's one of the most beautiful places on this earth to spend a leisurely day just strolling and quietly visiting. So beautiful, actually, that it made her cry.




Wish you all could have been with us!





"Do not climb on trees."

I'm telling.

all photos by The Shieldmaiden, except for the one she's in

Let it Be Known

To all and sundry:

I now have my own blog! And coloured is not spelled incorrectly. If that spelling is good enough for Tolkien, Lewis, Chesterton, Sayers, Macdonald, and the rest, its good enough for me. Advertising myself feels very awkward, so I shall close.

canarycoloured.blogspot.com

My Weekend...

...was much better than I thought it would be. Someone I respect very much told me I should go to our church's college retreat. Well, I went, and this very wise person was right. I have only felt that much at home at Harmony Hill. I won't bore you with details, but I will say two things. I had forgotten what silence was, and though I love my family dearly, it was wonderful to sit for an hour or two together without seeing anyone or hearing any sounds except the wind or the rooster crowing. Silence gives you time to realize what your brain has been trying to tell you amid the chaos of daily life. I also learned that wonderful men of God can have tattoos and still be such wonderful men of God so that you don't even think about the tattoos. Though I still wouldn't recommend them.