Peace for Every Circumstance

Posted by AR on September 20th, 2010 filed in A Present Peace
Comment now »

The weeks are full now. Many times they spill over with stressful moments though I truly know I am the one that adds to these. So often, I simply stop letting God do what He does best: be sovereign. I can’t explain why I think I can or even try to help Him do what He does perfectly, which is to be in control of all things at all times, but I do. Trying to hold back or prevent something from happening that God has ordained is maddening. That’s why a sunset drive to the lake in the evening always drains away my self-induced, self-inflicted anxious thoughts. I return home awestruck over His majesty, lifted up by the evidence of His greatness, and humbled by His abiding love for even me.

Fancy Colors

Posted by AR on September 18th, 2010 filed in Fun Stuff
Comment now »

Lots of color and kimono fabrics were the standard fare at the JapanFest in Atlanta this weekend. The event was held inside so I was fighting with “low light” situations. Being back in Atlanta for something like this was eye-opening. Guys were running around with expensive camera and flash units that had soft light attachments on them. “Interesting,” I thought. They were taking one photo after another. I wondered what in the world they were doing and suddenly it dawned on me: they were trying to sell their photos to the people they photographed!

I just stuck with the low light photography and had a great time. These little bits of shaped glass were made to hold chopsticks, but I limited what I purchased to food and that was an excellent choice. I’m still thinking about these little pieces of glass—the fun colors were tempting.

These are called “getas” in Japan. We just say flip-flops in the US, but I guess there is nothing very flippy or floppy about them.

Back to the subject of food: isn’t this little guy cute? I struggled to eat my bowl of noodles while he just dove right in. This next weekend several MKs (former misssionary kids, who were raised in Japan) are going to cook a huge Japanese dinner! All I have to do (I think) is show up, watch the activity, and take a few photos. I can’t wait!

Dinner and then dessert!

The shaved ice was the best. I can’t explain the texture or the flavor. It doesn’t look like anything too special in this photo but it was wonderful.

And then there is the story about the soda bottle with a marble in the cap. Mmmmm. You can’t drink it unless you dislodge the marble. So, I banged it with the palm of my hand and the marble didn’t move. Five minutes later after imposing brute force on the bottle, I almost gave up. But then I had a brilliant idea: turn the bottle upside and bang it down on the table! Amazingly it worked! The soda came out—all over me and everything else. =:) In the future, I think I will just stick with the canned Oolong tea.

Oh, PJ! What A Sweet Boy!

Posted by AR on September 17th, 2010 filed in Paw Prints
Comment now »

Talking about a relaxing moment! PJ loves hanging out on “his sun porch.” He’s the coolest cat.

Three Things

Posted by AR on September 16th, 2010 filed in Hiking Through Northeast Georgia
Comment now »

Three things I love: summer forest floors . . .

blue skies, and

long walks with the dogs!

Itsy Is Here . . .

Posted by AR on September 14th, 2010 filed in Living in Stephens County
Comment now »

I had a really difficult time trying to decide whether to post this photo or not! Spiders are a fact of life in the mountains. This one was out building a Web after a recent downpour at Toccoa Falls.

The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout.