Some Thoughts I've Been Trying To Work Out

Dispensational Christ & Culture

Texas Ranger's Fun

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Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Ranger's Ballpark - Arlington, TX

Friday April 27, 2012

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Over 47 000 fans.

Shared with wonderful friends.

The Ranger's lost :( 

But there were fireworks to follow :)

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Texas - Spring

----- Texas in the Spring -----

HOME

As another semester is coming to a close, my mind has become, once again, preoccupied with the packing up of our home and with the preparations of a move back to Alberta for the summer months. And to be honest, as excited as I am to be with family and friends there again, I am weary - weary of packing, weary of transition, weary of settling temporarily, anxious to have a place to more permanently call home.

HOME

This word has been on my mind a lot lately. 

What is home? Where is home?

In this transitional and temporary stage in our life, there are many places in our vocabulary that we describe as home. Home is here, in Texas, where we have been blessed to make memories, to build friendships, and to spend the majority of our life over these past two years. Home is Alberta where we spent our first year of marriage and have been blessed to escape for our summer months to work and enjoy family and friends. Home is Ontario where we have invested many wonderful weeks visiting more family and friends.

"Home is where your heart is." --- Pliny the Elder ---

"My home is not a place, it is people." --- Lois McMaster Bujold ---

"Where thou art, that is home." --- Emily Dickinson ---

But there are some things that all of these "homes" lack that my heart often longs after; there are things that another move is deepening a longing for: consistency, stability, permanence. When will I have such a place to call my home?

And then, in this longing, the Holy Spirit has been quietly reminding my heart:

THIS EARTHLY TENT IS A TEMPORARY HOME

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 

--- 2 Corinthians 5: 1 ---

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." 

--- Philippians 3: 20 ---

"They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them."

--- Hebrews 11: 16 ---

"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

--- John 14: 2,3 ---

"Life's a voyage that's homeward bound"

--- Herman Melville ---

Conclusion to the Summer Building Project

Ten months & a lot of fond building memories later, that family project 

(mentioned in previous posts here, here, & here) is completed...

And what sweetens it all is that it is...

Here are some finished-project pictures:

*Photo Credits go to Mandy

The Front Entry

The Front Entry Railing

The Kitchen

The Fireplace in the Main Area

The Den

One of the Bathrooms

The Main Area in the Basement

The Outside (taken back in October)

One Big Happy Family, Texas - Style

There is a reason that there has been a lack of activity on this blog over the last month. We were invaded (in the very best sense of that term, of course). For 2 1/2 weeks we had the privilege of hosting family on the little corner of Texas that we call home. They came in waves: Sarah & Sophia first; Mom & Mandy a week later; and Dad & Mitch a day later.

We shopped; we rodeoed; we visited with friends; we explored the school campus & the popular sights of the city; we got stuck in traffic (too many times :/); we missed the train; and we ate a little bit of chicken-fried steak, some cajun, a whole lot of BBQ, some fresh salsa, and Tex-Mex too. (Notice the attention given to food in that list. Everything's bigger in Texas, including us, as Sophia put it (referring to all the eating we were doing).) We taught them how to say yee-haw and y'all and by the end I think we were plain ol' successful at tuckerin' them all out.

Reunion with the Thomas clan.

Birthday Boys!

Look!

One of the many turtles that entertained us for a good while.

Sophia took the entertainment to another level.

Texas Wildlife

Trying on a little bit of "cowgirl" @ Justin Boots. 

Fried Pickles @ Razoo's Cafe...fried everything down here!

Stockyards Rodeo

Main-street, Grapevine

"What will you trade me for this nickel I made into a cowboy hat?"

Happy family...even though we missed the "real" train...

Caught in the Act of Spring-ing

Every year budding trees seem to catch me by surprise...it almost seems to happen overnight. This time I think I caught one of the first trees on campus trying to break out into spring. :)

I was reminding Mike last night as we were eating dinner outside that this could possibly be the last February we will ever do this. It's probably the last February where we will witness trees budding too. But we'll enjoy it while we can!