300 days of beauty, day 47 [Easter]

 

He is risen!

300 days of beauty, day 46 [birthday trip]

I have a fabulous brother. I would venture to say few people are as lucky as I am. We've been through a lot and have forged a friendship I wouldn't trade for anything.

On Easter Sunday night we're headed to the Pacific Northwest for my birthday trip that he has sweetly and generously planned for me. More details to come, but as a flashback, last year this trip was a complete mystery to me.

I won't take my umbrella because my cousin said I would look like a tourist...I did not need an umbrella last year!

Ahhh, sweet memories. More to come in a couple of days!

300 days of beauty, days 42-45 [spring?]

So, the first week of spring...70 degrees on Monday, and then the rest of the week looked like this...

300 days of beauty, day 41 [bee blessed!]

As I mentioned, we've had a rough couple of months. We've been walking through grief, and walking along with my children as they grieve has been heart-wrenching. My son has struggled the most, but I've seen him forge his own path, his own personal way of engaging with his heartache. He showed me this picture that he took with my camera:

The teacher and friend he loved so much would sign all of her cards and letters with this phrase "Bee Blessed!" She loved the Lord. She loved bees. And she encouraged all of her students to write letters to her over the summers. She always wrote back--every letter, every time. D saved her letters and they are treasured.

As D processed through his grief, he grabbed our large bucket of marbles and constructed the phrase that reminded him of the teacher he loved so much. He did it privately, took my camera on his own, but later wanted to share what he had made. He had a smile on his face, even though it was touched with some bittersweet.

I'm not sure if beauty can truly shine without the presence of darkness and shadows. Can we appreciate spring without experiencing the barrenness of winter? Even though this picture doesn't "shout" spring, as I was flipping through pictures, I thought of our friend, Robin, who now experiences new life and "spring" fully. I also thought of bees and how every time we watch honeybees from our window, we can remember Robin--spring is coming!

Bee blessed!

300 days of beauty, day 40 [He will sustain]

#TRUTH

Artwork created by:

Cobblestone Road Hand Lettering 

300 days of beauty, day 39 [He is near]

 #TRUTH

Artwork created by:
Cobblestone Road Hand Lettering

300 days of beauty, day 38 [perseverance]

 

I've continued my training for a half-marathon. It has required discipline and mental fortitude that I have not tapped since I trained for my black belt test. There is beauty in the work, the aches, the pain, and the exhaustion. Last Friday I completed an eight-mile run, a very slow eight miles I might add. I have never run a distance of that length. I have hiked more, but that is different. I was so tired at the end of this run, while I was cooling down and hydrating, I was eating a banana and I bit into the the peel without realizing it. My hands could hardly continue to peel the banana.

The end of the run is still the best--like getting to take snow boots off at the end of a day of skiing.

300 days of beauty, day 37 [the holidays]

We've had a rough couple of weeks. We said goodbye to someone very beloved, especially by our kids. A teacher and friend and lovely lovely woman who deeply impacted their lives over the last five years went home to be with the Lord. We are heartbroken. I hate so much how this feels. I know how this journey goes. It can neither be erased nor sped up. 

I have lost many people I have loved dearly. My kids were younger then, they could not grasp the grief. Now, they are older. Harder than dealing with my own sadness is walking alongside D, Cece, and Belle as they cope with the sickness and death of someone they love so much. We've had many tears and conversations, each one difficult, but good.

I feel worn. I long for heaven. I get so tired of goodbyes.

When I knew her last days on this earth were near, I grabbed The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis and read the last chapter. For whatever reason, I had never finished The Chonicles of Narnia, but while in Tennessee this last fall we listened to the Reader's Theatre version of all seven books. I don't know what I expected from The Last Battle, but it was different than I thought. I was sobbing at the end. Reading it again, this last chapter penned by C.S. Lewis comforted my hurting heart even amidst the tears I could not corral.

[spoiler alert: Many of the beloved Narnia characters stand before Aslan, wondering if they must return to their world]

"The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

The holidays. I love the wording, the feeling of hope and expectation. Some day.

I hate the loss we experience here. I'm angry. Sometimes it feels as if I can bear no more. But my term isn't over. And that's okay. Separation is temporary for those who hope in Christ. The longing and ache for those we've lost serves us well--to remind us that we are not created for this world. We live in the "Shadow-lands" and some day we will live out the "Great Story... in which every chapter is better than the one before."

"For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come."  

~Hebrews 13:14

the view as we traveled home from the celebration of life service

[The beautiful, soul encouraging artwork pictured at the top of this post was created by my lovely friend, Jenn, through her business Cobblestone Road Hand Lettering.]