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life{in}grace

live with more presence, passion, & purpose

Edie Wadsworth

Painted Patio Furniture: "Blue and Improved"

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Edited to add:  I recently did a link party for patio furniture and I thought it’d be fun to add it to Kelly’s party too.   Hope you enjoy the links.   Thanks for visiting!
Welcome to my 2nd Linky Party which I shall call ‘Painted Patio Furniture: Blue and Improved’.   This patio set that I rehab-ed today is almost 15 years old and has been painted 4 times.   Today the color of choice:  aqua.   I seem to be obsessed with blue lately as you can tell from this  post.  I am also excited to be joining ‘Metamorphosis Monday’ hosted by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch—a new blog to me!   Make sure and visit her site too.
This beautiful before-storm sky is a beautiful backdrop for my ‘before’ picture.
So, how does one solicit the appropriate help for such a project, you ask?  
All it takes is a little good food.   A little gourmet on Father’s Day.
And they come running. Or spraying.
And less than an hour and a half later:  voila!!!!  Blue and improved.  I give you: 
 Retro Patio
And these children enjoyed some pool time AFTER I read them the ‘pool rules’ which you can
read here.    ‘Hank’ is the 50 pound 7 month old golden retriever.
My patio is a plethora of colors……
as are my legs.
My trusty side-kick Nicholas aka Nick aka JohnnytheNightStalker  then began using the ‘dropcloths’ from our project to create this suburban cul-de-sac art creation.  He requested us to sit in as ‘props’.  And I’m a little bit scared to inform you that he’s starting a blog.  Consider yourself warned.
Now it’s your turn.  Please, pretty please, show us your patio.  If it’s fantastic, show us and we’ll oooooo and ahhhhhh and if it needs work, show us and we’ll tell you where we  bought our blue spray paint.  K?


Father’s Day Weekend

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I love holidays.   All of them.   And you can bet your bottom dollar that holidays will find us ‘hunkered down’ at the ranch (ie. suburban home on a cul de sac), cooking all manner of yummy treats, and taking full advantage of family time. Father’s Day is an especially fun one because it coincides with the US Open.   In summary, we have watched golf (ie.Tiger), consumed generous amounts of food, read some good books, and made every attempt not to leave the house.
And if you had this guy
with these particular forearms……hanging around your kitchen, you wouldn’t want to leave either.   (I admit that I share Pioneer Woman’s obsession with forearms)
My feeble attempts at family photos were met with much resistance.   
Even the dog resisted.
So I settled for a few candid shots of the backyard antics.  
 A little soccer.
A little Yoga.
And a whole
lot of
tomfoolery.
Father’s Day Menu (made by yours truly and kicken-nicken)
Grilled Filet
Corn on the Cob
Key Lime Pie (I’d tell but I’d have to kill you)
Happy Father’s Day, honey!
You are the key lime to my pie….
the HD to my TV…..
the avocado to my homeade salsa!
We love you and thank God for your presence in our lives!
We also would like to wish Grandpa Eddie a Happy Father’s Day!  We can’t wait to see you.
Reminder:  Tomorrow I hope to host a Linky Party on Painted Patio Furniture.  If it rained all weekend at your house (like it did at mine) just show us what you plan to do.  Painted planters or other garden ‘stuff’ is fair game.  I may not post the Linky party until later in the afternoon, so you’ll have plenty of time get those posts ready.

The Hidden God

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Repost from December 20, 2008.   And coming soon:  A guest post by Taylor Riden (from The Verity—that’s my son ya know),  and Painted Patio Furniture Linky Party on Monday June 22nd.   Get busy now!

Caiti (now 16) at age 4
I’ve been reading a lot about the topic Christless christianity and how our inborn sinful nature is always bent towards self. We are by nature self-centered, self-focused and our perspective is always self oriented and is always distorted. Man’s natural theology is, in Lutheran circles, called a theology of glory. The rich man and Lazarus would be a good example. The rich man seemingly had ‘it all’.   He wore the finest garments, drank the finest wine and ate gourmet food. Lazarus, in contrast, is a poor beggar who waits for the crumbs to fall from the rich man’s table. Based on just what you know on the surface, who is favored by God? We would often naturally conclude that the rich man must be favored by God.    And we would almost always, at least in our minds,  say  “Well, surely Lazarus has done something to deserve this”.

A theology of glory likes to ‘figure God out’ and likes to use logic to determine how things are between God and I.  Don’t we often think this about those who do not seem to have God’s favor in this life? “Well, God must be trying to teach them something.”   If we’re blessed and making moral improvement, we must be ‘right’ with God.  And if not,  the opposite must be true. But as you know, in death the rich man finds himself in hell and Lazarus is comforted in the bosom of Abraham.   So can I look at my circumstances in life and tell how it is between God and I? How does God show His favor to those He loves? And how can I know if I have His favor? God hides His glory behind the weakness of the cross. And he shows His favor to us through the death and resurrection of His own son for our redemption. And I know I have His favor because I receive the gifts He has given in faith and thanksgiving. I am favored by God because of Jesus. Thus, a theology of the cross……interprets everything in my life……the blessings, the suffering, every circumstance through the perfect suffering of Christ on my behalf.

God’s ways are hidden and paradoxical:

1. God hides His glory in the mundane elements of bread and wine. Jesus has withdrawn His visible presence from the earth. He is now the hidden God and we must depend on His word to know what He is about. So when God says “Take eat, this is my body”, He is hidden, in-with-and under the bread. We don’t ‘see’ Him there and it seems impossible to me that He is there. So I must trust His very own words and find comfort in His hidden presence in His Word and sacrements.

2. He hides His glory in the weakness of a baby. When He comes to earth, He does not come in glory but in the flesh. The very incarnation of Christ is so incredible to me. How can this be? It was scandalous then and seems scandalous now and so unlike how I would have chosen to reveal myself to the world. The smallness of God in a lowly manger on a lonely night greeted by mere animals and born of the travail and sweat of childbirth. This is God? Yes, this is the very essence of the truth of God. Humbled. Lowly. With His glory hidden. To bring to us our very salvation.

3. He hides Himself in our vocation. God achieves His means of serving and taking care of us through the hiddenness of others doing their vocation. So God hides himself in : a mother making dinner for her family; a father going to work everyday to provide; a doctor using his skills and knowledge to effect healing; a teacher teaching multiplication to her students; the garbage man collecting the trash. It all ‘looks’ and ‘seems’ so mundane…..but that is God at work in the world. Serving and taking care of His people.

So we must take heed to let the theologian of glory in all of us be crucified with Christ. We must accept God’s ways as mysterious and hidden; as not yet revealed. Whether our circumstances bring us joy or suffering, our posture to God should be one of repentance.   We must learn to view our lives through the lens of the cross.  For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2:3)    He will come in glory someday and we await that day with great anticipation. But until then, He has hidden Himself in things that might seem ordinary and even mysterious to us: words, water, bread and wine.

Luther said that Our Lord does not want to be found outside Christ….so he hides Himself in order to be found only in the grace and mercy of Christ. He seldom comes where we expect or look for Him: in victory and glory and glitz. He comes where we do not expect him: in suffering, in shame, in humility, as a baby, in His word, in the water of baptism, in the elements of the Lord’s Supper. God wants to be found in the words of the promise in Christ that give new life. If we find Him outside of Christ, we find Him in wrath.

The ‘hidden’ God is hidden in Christ….come to us in the flesh to bear our sin and be our Savior and who says “I am the way, the Truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through Me.”

Much of what goes on in modern Christianity seems very Christ-less; alot about ‘me’ instead of Christ ‘for me’. We are favored by God because of Christ alone.

I credit the rare and sound doctrinal teaching of Issues, Etc, its’ host Todd Wilken and an article he wrote on this subject,  and their many scholarly guests.  I can’t seem to find the segment where these ideas were presented but I think the guest was Pastor Bill Cwirla.  I listened to this segment just this morning on Children and Worship and it was quite enlightening.  Bookmark their site and listen ‘on demand’ while you do your morning chores! I’ve been listening to this internet radio show for 3 years now and there is nothing else like it. They cover current issues in the news, current trends in christianity and sound Biblical doctrinal teaching.   Maybe you could listen while you paint your patio furniture!! Just a thought.

Blog business and please don’t ‘rate my space’

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Edited to Add: I’m joining Kimba’s Garden Party with this post (Taylor’s Graduation Party) so visit Kimba to see lots of fun garden ideas. Also, I’m planning to host a ‘Painted Patio Furniture’ Party next Monday so be working on your projects. If you won’t have enough time to finish, just link up and show us your plans!

First item of business:   I started a Google Reader this weekend.  I know, I know,  that’s ‘s0 last year’, but I needed a quicker way to look at blogs and I wanted to re-evaluate my list.  In the process, I found a few new blogs (mostly design blogs) that I love like this one  and this one and this one, but I’m also eager for you to share a few of your favorite blogs with me, especially ones that I might not know about. Share links or names of sites in the comments that I MUST put in my new google reader. 
Second item of business:  Upon the urging of one of my blog readers (whom I can’t presently recall)  I uploaded my kitchen pics to HGTV’s Rate My Space.   I’m a naive soul to such activities and thought it’d be fun to have others (besides you, who are so supportive) critique my work.   Imagine my chagrin when I read,

“I love the cottage look but this just looks plain messy and busy to me.”

” I love the cabinet color and the floor, but there’s way too much clutter on the countertop. Why would you put lamps on the countertop? You are cluttering up your work space and lines by doing so.”

You can see the fodder here and I must add that most people were very kind and encouraging.   But I wanted to defend myself and say, “Hey, I’m not a professional here and I was really cooking dinner when my daughter snapped that photo of me in the new kitchen.   So, sorry that I cook with pots and pans and other ‘ real’ things on the counter.”   But I didn’t.  Because I guess I asked for it and with every criticism we receive, there’s usually a certain amount of truth in it. That may be why I’m sheepishly decluttering my countertops this morning and why I will very hesistantly upload any more photos to Rate My Space.   I’ll just take your word for it next time. 
Why is it that we let a little negativity creep into our heads and camp out there?   I love my kitchen and it works for our family.   And ‘clutter’ seems to me a small price to pay for the tremendous amount of food and love that flows from its’ countertops everyday!
Meeting Adjourned.   Have a blessed week! 
   

Why I’m not a feminist

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 Sometimes I try to quietly sneek into the kitchen and very carefully remove ingredients and pans so as not to alert the small children.   They love to ‘help’ and insist on stirring and pouring and seasoning until the symphony of,
 
“Can I help?”
“I wanna do that.”
“It’s my turn!”
“She won’t give me the spoon!”
It’s enough to have you fishing for the pizza delivery number.   But as I remind myself that it’s my job to teach them and as I envision them making their own greek goulash with caramelized onions one day,  I welcome the sous chefs gladly.   They scamper outside to snip some fresh herbs and then painstakingly cut the luscious mint and parsley with scissors, their minds and mouths working as hard as their fingers, with questions like “You like to cook, don’t you mommy?” and  “Do you really like eggplant?”

It’s moments like these that I am fully aware that they are watching me.

They are learning to live their lives by watching how I live mine.  It’s no small responsibility to bear.  This long circuitous journey that I have made through medical education, residency training and then a six year career in medical practice has finally brought me HOME.  Where I have struggled to find my way.   Where I am learning to ‘serve my neighbor’ in the most intimate but also seemingly mundane ways.   I entered this vocation ill-prepared and ill-advised on what it meant to be a full time homemaker.    And the questions that haunt me sometimes in the throws of laundry and dishes,  about whether I am using my gifts to their full potential,  are answered decidedly in those little eyes and hands helping me make dinner.   I am making a bold statement to them.

The vocation of motherhood is honorable;  instituted by God for the raising of children, for the domestication of men, and for the stabilization of society.  It is His design and I’ve learned that I am most ‘female’ and truly most fulfilled when I embrace and nurture this role as wife and mother.

 And that drove me to reread a few sections of a book that I read a few years ago called The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.   Friedan is crowned with having started the second wave of the feminist movement and was the first president of the National Organization for Women (that’s enough to make me skeptical).  I disagree with nearly every statement she makes in the book but in many ways, I’m glad I read it.   I understand the feminist movement a little more clearly and realize that I am a product of a generation of women who were told that they needed to find fulfillment outside the home.   Friedan compares housewifery to being in a ‘comfortable concentration camp’ and characterizes suburban housewives as chiefly unfulfilled, dependent women who have given up on intellectual interests and have no real impact on the major issues of society.   She makes a few valid points but for the most part I find her conclusions flawed and riddled with the biases of someone who is driven by an agenda.
She comes across to me similiar to the way  most feminists do; projecting her own misery and lack of fulfillment onto the whole of the female population and placing blame on men,  religious institutions and society as a whole.  She admonishes women to leave the

‘comfortable concentration camp’  to work and to be educated so that they may contribute so society in a meaningful way, thus finding true fulfillment.   She says, ”

A woman must create, out of her own needs and abilities, a new life plan, fitting in the love and children and home that have defined feminity in the past with the work toward a greater purpose that shapes the future”.p. 338

Well, speaking from experience, I have never felt that I was contributing more meaningfully to society than when I decided to put my own career on hold to be home with my children.  Any ‘ole Joe can refill Ralph’s prescription for hypertension, but I am the most uniquely qualified and gifted person to raise my own children and to love and serve my husband.   Noone else can do that with the same passion and care.   So, I want to stand up for all educated, professional women who have made an informed and conscious choice to give their lives in service to their families.   I applaud you.   What you do is important and powerful and instituted by God himself.   There is no higher calling.   There is no greater work.

Disclaimers:   I am not in any way admonishing that every female should do what I have done.  I am blessed with a husband who is able to provide for us financially, making it possible for me to enjoy this tremendous blessing.   If I need to enter the force again, I will do what is necessary for our family.    Nor am I casting judgement on women who have chosen different paths.   It has been my experience that in our society,  it’s the SAHM who feels a certain inferiority and who frequently questions her decision to stay home.   There are many creative ways to combine outside work with home responsibilities and I personally know many women who do a fantastic job of it.  When I was in the work force, I embraced the unique femininity that I brought to my vocation and tried above all else to keep my family first.   Similarly, just because a woman stays home is no guarantee that she’s  embracing her role and nurturing her family to her best ability.   We are all sinners in need of forgiveness and whether or not we stay home or join the workforce, we do so riddled with sin and selfishness.   We all need God’s grace to cover us and to give us true peace and joy!
 
I’ll conclude with a quote from Plato:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

I’m in love with the bust of DAVID

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This could well be my most prized antique store find EVER. I’ve had my eye on him for months. He was broken and poorly displayed with a raggedy-ole scarf tied around his neck, and with $20 still on the price tag. When my sister was here visiting last week, I had my daughter and my niece take it to the counter in two pieces—-hoping that the shock of carrying an unstable head to the counter would surely drive the price down. And it did.

For $6, the price of a 24-pack of diet pepsi, I now have my treasured bust of David. And my antique store friend told me about the best stuff —ever—-to glue him back together with. It’s called E-6000, I bought it from Walmart, and it works like a charm.

I haven’t decided yet exactly what I’m going to do with him. He reminds me of my Stevie, strong and warrior-like and described as ‘a man after God’s own heart’. David is undoubtedly my favorite Bible hero. He was a man riddled with besetting sins but from whose lineage of repentance and restoration came the Christ child. His life inspires me to repentance. To enjoy the fullness of the freedom that comes only through faith in Christ. And if you haven’t heard the beautiful song Hallelujah, written by Jeff Buckley, about the life of David, you must listen.

I’ve looked online for new ‘busts of David’ but there’s something so applicable about having a David that needs love and restoration. Kind of reminds me of myself. Go here to listen to this beautiful song. Move the cursor to ~1.10 to bypass a long introduction.

Thanks Rhoda for hosting this weekly party to show off our goodies. Visit here to see more unique finds.