Life On Lisburn

I can't put my finger on just when it happened, but somewhere along the way this December, I misplaced my Christmas cheer. All the Netflix and Hallmark movies, the Elf on the Shelf, the cookie baking, the Christmas story reading and the quests for the perfect gift have provided distraction - but something still feels off. I know feelings can be deceptive, but I maintain that there has to be some opportunity to find that missing Christmas cheer or at the very least to trick myself into finding it until it reappears in a genuine form. Over the recent weeks the hymns of Christmas have been a source of smiles and an uplifted heart.

Until yesterday's PA weather hit a sunny 64 degrees, I don't think I'd ever really made a connection between my Christmas cheer and the weather.  Then there's also the fact that Hope isn't home yet...but we'll put most of the 'blame' on the grey days we've had recently. But, sunny days are here.  The temp has dropped back down - but there's sunshine! I found myself chipper (even sitting in traffic).  The rascals and I are the only ones awake right now and I'm looking out on a sunny day and thinking back on the Zimbabwean blue skies at Christmastime. I have to admit, it's important for me to put the proper perspective on those blue skies.  While they made for great Christmas memories, they often meant significant stress for others.  To give some context, typically, the lack of grey skies meant that we were in the midst of another drought.  December in Zimbabwe means 'rainy season'.  If the rains hadn't started in September, c...

Y'all.  It snowed today.  And not in the typical early November in South Central PA kind of way - nope.  In a big way! We are sitting pretty looking out at 7 inches on the ground and listening with trepidation to the gentle cracking of branches under the weight of said snow and ice (minor freakout). No, but really.  Now this African raised girl is 100% team warm (read: I like summer) but I'm determined that I'm going to embrace all things this year! Enter Joy as part of team #yaysnow....this is a new experience for me and well whatever entity supervises and doles out tests to goals that are established sent me a doozy this go around.   When I decided I would set out to enjoy winter, I had no idea the challenges that would arrive early.  Things like a grouchy (with reason) hubby after taking 4.5 hours to get home from work in the snow (his commute is usually 20 minutes) yikes! Or getting stuck on the hill on my commute home (probably should have walked - ...

I'll be the first to admit that I love the idea of adventure a whole lot less than most of my family- I like my everyday adventure not the big, big, big travel writer kind of adventure, but I can do it - and this time once the vicious anxiety passed - has reminded me that there are things that are fun outside of the normalcy of everyday. Yesterday, I started my Salt Lake City adventure.  I despise goodbyes, don't really love being alone (think Golden Retriever "be my friend, be my friend", and to be honest, we've been surrounded by a lot of really hard and really crummy situations lately. The kind of stuff that makes you think about your own mortality and when an over-thinker and feeler like me spends too much time thinking and not enough time praying about it - well, it creates a lot of anxiety.  So yesterday I spent a lot of time with 1 Peter 5:7 (Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you) and Psalm 91:2 (You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, ...

Anna knocked my socks off yesterday when she informed me that she couldn’t remember the last time I spent time at play with her.  I was really quick to remind her that we had been to the park, we had friends over and we had been baking together. Apparently that wasn’t it at all.  When I asked her to clarify she said when we play together that means imaginations and creativity, not just doing things.   I have to admit, my heart is still reeling from this profound and clearly important revelation.  When I spend some time thinking about it- I’m not great at play.  I am great at doing things and going places and planning things but as a player I stink.  It’s so out of my comfort zone - oh and there’s about 800 other things I think I should be doing. Jeremy is a natural player.  He’s goofy and fun and naturally willing to fall on the floor and dream up a story for Barbie and Ken.  Me I think ‘oh wow- is there a Barbie Museum we can go to?’   Thank...

So a few posts back folks were asking if I would share the biscuit recipe I like.  Well, this is the one I've grown up with (sometimes without the sugar).  They're super easy to make and so delicious to eat!  INGREDIENTS 3 cups Flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature 1 to 1 1/8 cups cold milk (use whole milk for the most tender biscuits) Instructions Preheat your oven to 425°F and find an ungreased baking sheet.   Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Work the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers until it's crumbly.  This is the rascals favorite part.  They call it 'smooshing'.  Not to be confused with smooching (wink)   Add the milk slowly.  Momma's training was always to add it slowly while you mix because you can always add more but you can't easily remove it once it's there.  Side note - don't mix ...

Today was epic in all the ways that a rollercoaster ride boosts you off of your seat or the egg scrambler whisks you all around.  From a rushed morning to get Anna on the bus to sleepy boys that didn’t want to wake, the entire morning just felt, well, honestly like most of our mornings 😂. We managed to get everyone off to school, work, pre-school, grans house and work (mornings that start before 10 am are for the birds y’all, but hello life unless it’s summer - at least in Ellisland).   We got home and let me tell you there was fluent sass being spoken in our house. Maybe not sass - let’s call it spunk. Anna and D were jazzed to go trick or treating.  Now comes the fun part.  We needed to run to The pharmacy for a script and the drive through line was LONG (first world problems I know) but no biggie -improvise, adapt and overcome- I decided to run in with the three rascals.  Unbuckle everyone from their seats, popped Jamesey in the carrier on my back, laid my c...

I love gifts.  Big ones, small ones, silly ones, meaningful ones, random ones, occasion-marking ones, just because it’s Monday ones...I think you get my point.  You hand me a latte and it makes my day - you find me a paper clip shaped like a pineapple and it’s the most exciting thing because I love gifts.  Not because of the things themselves, but because of what it says.  A gift says ‘I was thinking about you’ and that in itself is a gift.   I know it might sound trite, maybe a little cliche but I truly believe this with every coffee-filled ounce of my being. Friendship is the greatest gift. Now, don’t misunderstand me or quote me out of context, I haven’t lost sight of or diminished the fact that my Faith is the supreme gift (bearing in mind that that relationship too, is a friendship).  But seriously, the opportunity to be heard and understood and journey in solidarity through the phases of life is a gift. Friendship is so unique. It’s one of the most so...

Thank you all for your prayers as Jamesey and I traveled to Philly for his annual evaluations.  The morning started off with a little rascal who didn't want to leave his covers behind for the cold, dark world that is a PA fall.  I found it somewhat amusing that this - one of the few mornings we really needed to get moving - was the morning he chose to stay in bed...but I get it.  He's not much for breakfast right out of the gate, so we hopped in the car (after my glasses had a close call as the fists of Jamesey closed around them in protest of the quick exit into the cold).  We had an uneventful drive, enjoyed the leaves changing color and better still there was a gorgeous sunrise to enjoy.  So let me lead off with the thankful points to frame the day. - We had a sunrise that was stunning. - Our barista was exceptionally friendly and made a phenomenal vanilla latte (yummmm) - Traffic was minimal and aside from one slightly nutso New Yorker all drivers were sa...

I'm not superstitious, I don't believe that rituals can influence outcomes, talismans seem far-fetched and yet...A few of you have asked about more detail on my starfish fascination.  I've always been enamored with the sea (well, summer and the sea).  But they've taken on another meaning for me, completely by shopping serendipity.  I had been sending Jeremy birthday suggestions via text message and Pinterest boards for a while, and it just happened to be leading up to Jamesey's arrival.  The night Jamesey was born, Jeremy gifted me a beautiful pair of earrings.  Over the first weeks, in that adjustment phase when new parents forget to shower, lose all creativity and original thought beyond survival of their young and themselves, I wore those earrings day in and day out.  Somewhere along the way they became linked to any and all things Jamesey.  I happened to be wearing them the day of our first extended hospital stay.  I wore them to our first app...

Wow - dear ones- I am overcome and overwhelmed by your amazing support and encouragement! My heart is uplifted, encouraged and filled by your support and suggestions.  Thank you! I look forward to sharing the future with you all.   As I was reading comments and support today, I was taken back to a few conversations that have happened along the way.  My very wise friend Brooke Dunbar and I were sharing a summer afternoon under the shade trees in our yard when I think the words "I want to write a blog" fell out of my mouth.  Bless her, she didn’t bat an eye and just said "well I think you should do it then." And that was the beginning of the end of my resistance until the perfect timing of Ashley’s  nudge last week.   My sister (Hope) and I share the tradition of writing our annual birthday bucket lists.  Hope has been one of the long lasting encouragers and I have no doubt that she’s saying ‘finally, you might actually finish out a year - lol’.  So...

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to connect with my sweet friend Ashley.  Y'all, said friend possesses the super-powers of creativity (majorly talented photographer -- take a look at her stunning work at Being the Siders   --she's the creative genius who gave me my favorite image from this summer -seen below), wisdom (so insightful) and affirmation (encouraging beyond words - such a gift).  She and I were chatting amidst a flurry of activity and I was bemoaning the fact that I've wanted to blog seriously for a while now (we're talking minimum of 8 years it's been on my yearly birthday bucket list) and that I haven't been acting on that desire because of fear.  Fear of being laughed off the internet, fear of vulnerability, fear of words (I know - that one is really hard to believe).  But really, the self-doubt has been strong with this girl asking what could I possibly say and who on this green (rainy, but green) earth would possibly want to read the iterati...

If you know me, you know about my love of all things pineapple.  But do you know I love starfish just as much? Jeremy gifted me a beautiful pair of starfish earrings on the eve of Jamesey's birthday and those starfish have become synonymous with hope.  I have worn them during major procedures for Jamesey, during significant appointments or times when I just needed an additional reminder that we have this hope... We all need hope.  We find it in different places and I'm thankful for Faith and the ways that it intersects with hope - especially when it's hard.  

Can you believe it's July? This summer has been breezing by, but thankfully we still have a few more weeks of summer.  I've heard that there are some schools going back August 1- yikes - cannot imagine! We've been doing the swimming thing, the extended year summer pre-school thing, the strep throat thing, the sassy three year-old thing, the corn-on-the-cob, the firefly chasing, the concert going thing and the epic playdates.  There have been copious numbers of band-aids applied, so much hair conditioner and sunscreen sprayed, ridiculous quantities of bubble solution dispersed, at least 30 watermelons consumed (yes, I realize that translates to almost one a day - watermelon industry you're welcome). We have dipped the dots, transferred the tattoos and lazed in hammocks -- it's been glorious! I admit though - there have been a few challenges.  My dad gifted Anna a knock-knock joke book for one - apparently I regaled him with this fine example of humor when I was a...

I've been revisiting some old favorite TV shows (not that there aren't new ones I love too) but sometimes a girl needs the shows that evoke memories of when life seemed easier.  I don't know about you, but I'm a connector.  I like to connect people to each other. I connect scents and flavors to memories.  I connect books and movies to what was going on in life at that time.  For example, the author Patrick McManus is firmly and deeply linked with Youngways Guesthouse in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and the weeks during which my dad was recovering from ACL surgery.  I can still hear the laughter rolling out of room six.  Or the Friends series finale - I only skipped one class in grad school and it was to watch that time in my tv life close in real time.  I still can't hear Hoobastanks 'The Reason' without also picturing Central Perk.  Yes, it's ridiculous.  But all that to say, I'm rewatching Private Practice and I love the naming criteria for each of t...