out of the ashes

today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, when Christians round the world will try to purge their appetites of hard candy sweets and learn to crave, again, the bread of life.   it’s a day for giving things up.   but those ashes, they  speak symbol in so many ways, and...

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chasing after rest

yesterday i took a nap.   it was a spiritual experience.   slumping toward the end of a task-driven week, i found myself irritable and unable to focus – not unlike my 3 year-old, whose afternoon nap is often the deciding factor between a pleasant family dinner and an evening of gnashing...

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celebrating her …

“I only deepen the wound of a hurting world when I neglect to give thanks.” Ann Voskamp from One Thousand Gifts   she is joy personified.   she welcomes, breathless with excitement, each new moment of the day.   she  feasts on kisses, is free with her hugs.     she is  so...

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a bird’s eye view

photo credit here   there are places we can’t go – with our friends.   try as we may, empathic as we may be, there are footprints that can only be tread by the soul wearing the soles.   last week, on a day of blinding sun and spring breeze, a day when i could feel  the pulse of new...

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to know the tender

it’s the first day of school, or it’s a team-building exercise at work, or it’s some cheesy church function, and it’s time to get to know one another.  and the slip of paper before you asks:   if you were an animal, what animal would you be? [i’ll give you a second to think about it…]  ...

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the dirty work

photo © 2009 Nationaal Archief | more info (via: Wylio)   i stumbled (literally, over a Matchbox car – anyone who can relate?) into the kitchen this morning, only to be confronted with what long days full of too busy for housework can do.   if it’s true that cleanliness is next to...

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STRUT OUR STUFF …

thinking your wardrobe needs  a little update?   want your wee one to  rock a onesie with a mission? want to buy someone a birthday gift, knowing that the money you spend truly keeps on giving? then check out the awesome new products we have for sale in the new Banebow store! far from being...

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nice to meet you …

  owls perched in the corner of his room, watching. it had been decorated with browns and creams, with quilts hand-sewn, with pillows placed just so.  it waited for him. but he … he of the eyes piercing blue, of the Buzza family nose, of the sleeping arms outstretched in touchdown pose...

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new frills, same focus

photo © 2010 Taro the Shiba Inu | more info (via: Wylio)   after much ado, it feels as if we’re standing in front of a full-length mirror, checking out how we look in  our new digs … [a huge thank-you to Taylor McRae, whose mad design skills have us feeling as if we’re wearing skinny jeans …...

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the U-haul is loaded …

photo © 2009 Tim Patterson | more info (via: Wylio)   the day has finally come.  we’ve hung the drywall, caulked the windows, and painted the walls over at the new place … and on Monday,  we launch. excited doesn’t quite do justice to how we are feeling … we can’t wait to show you...

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to be as snow …

  photo © 2010 Billy Lindblom | more info (via: Wylio)   i’ve never seen eight inches of snow before …   Southern born and bred, i’m used to doing a snow dance for a mere  “wintry mix” of one or two inches, which is enough to keep all school buses below the Mason-Dixon...

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