back in june...

...we added an "Uncle Sean" to our little Corbin family.






But then, we had to say goodbye to Aunt Kelly and Uncle Sean.


Until last weekend!!
Their happy return was celebrated with a feast of Moussaka...

a friday evening of cheese cake, whipped cream and warm Irish coffee,
A sunny but cold Saturday was spent in a warm(er) tent, with bread bowls of stew, hot apple cider, and delightful Irish music.


my favorite of the bands, Scythian, actually impressed us more with their gypsy and Jewish flavored fiddling than the true Irish stuff.

We had to say good-bye again, but Christmas isn't too far away.

Introducing...

...Maya's baby brother or sister.
Due to arrive April 7th, 2008.
Yes, that's the head on the right. And all the way to left, you can kind of see little legs!

I've been posting, they've just been hidden for a couple of months...
So, if you'd like to read more, go here. There all there now!

theoretically...

...I'm not so into these visitor counting things. It's not why I blog. It's been years since I even looked at a visitor counter.
But this one just looks so cool.
You can see the whole world!


Create your own visitor map!

Maybe, just maybe...we'll see a blue dot somewhere besides West Michigan.
So far, I think it's just me on the map :)

don't expect consistency here.

I guess I'm either entirely absent or an out-of-control-blogger.

But I've just not really been able to form coherent thoughts for a while.

At least not about anything I can openly 'converse' about here.

It seems that I'm always overwhelmed by how blessed I am...how eerily perfect my life continues to be...
...and then how full of complexity, disappointment, heaviness and sadness the world is...how painfully permanent and far-reaching the ripples of brokenness reach.

Worry is becoming a new virtue for me. I don't think it's always been such a natural gift, but lately I've been embracing it. Staying up at night trying to compose letters to people I love...people within my circle of worry, waking from bizarre dreams where I'm trying to solve the problems around me..trying to explain my action and inaction to different people...trying to bring reconciliation.

I'm considering the possibility that maybe worry isn't the answer here. It just seems to be a new and developing talent in my life.

our new house

This was our first day as new home-owners. Maya showed her approval by taking her longest walk ever...all the way across the house (before this day, she was pretty content with 5 or 6 steps). It isn't so empty any more (or so terribly sterile looking), but...she still loves to run around in it.
I'll post more updated pictures soon. It's starting to look a little more like 'us.'

five years after our own August wedding...

...we took our daughter on a very long car ride and celebrated the marriage of our friends Dave and Lauren in Springfield, Ohio.
It was a beautiful wedding. Full of hope, truth, love, honesty. And surrounded with intricate and bright stained glass windows, delicious food enjoyed at an art museum reception complete with some of our dearest friends.

Maya was pleased by the great power she seemed to hold over her new friends. Not one of them could refuse her constant pointing to be taken in a new direction, to see one more picture...especially when she tilted her head to one side, begged with her big blue eyes and wrinkled up nose, and her sweet little voice said 'peas'.



No one could refuse, but especially not our beloved Mandy.

the end.

of summer, that is.

At least the summer that means, no early mornings, no lesson planning, no responsibility...
well. I guess that sort of summer never really came this year. I actually had some of the earliest mornings ever, lots of reading and studying and writing, great responsibility...no beach lounging, novel reading days for me this year.

But I feel like I should be mourning the loss of something as teachers' meetings commence tomorrow at 8:00AM.

Back to school I go...

cinnamon.

I forgot...

...to post these way back in June. My mom and sister Lynn both posted more great pictures and thoughts from this weekend celebrating my parents 40 YEAR marriage!


We rented this lodge near Traverse City and spent the weekend cooking, eating, cleaning up, swimming, talking by the fire, visiting Traverse City, and running after small children.
As always, it was chaos. But the kind of chaos we subject ourselves to by choice...and only out of deep love.

driving

The most dreaded part of my summer has instead become a glorious time of ...
independence,
inspiration,
reflection,
prayer,
learning French (I've actually finished a course on tape for the first time in my life---I've borrowed them from libraries at least 4 times now),
soaking up some opera, some Cole Porter, and Leonard Bernstein,
NPR,
long conversations with my Mandy,
misty mornings,
warm afternoon sunlight,
a Madeline L'Engle interview on tape,
Angela's Ashes audiobook...

Next up...A Wrinkle In Time (a long ago read, and sadly, forgotten book by my new favorite author).

If only my car didn't require so much gas...

...I think I could really learn to like driving.

(So..I probably should have spent the last hour studying for my mid-term ...instead of blogging. I wish I could find a way to safely do THAT while driving!)

Sometimes...

...looking around, it seems like an inordinate number of things are out of place in life. That brokenness and disappointment are everywhere. That the glimmers of hope for which I desperately grasp are being relentlessly
torn apart,
clouded,
and revealed to be less than I imagined.

But sometimes,
hope
is impossible to miss. It is overwhelming and delightful. One piece of the shadow can disappear and the light pouring in is suddenly and blissfully blinding.


One of the more persistent shadows just disappeared.
It's not my news to share yet.
(If you checked all my friend links, you might find it)

But I'm jittery and silly with happiness.

picture green grass,...

...leaves on the trees,
and a white volkswagen in the driveway.



It's almost final.
My stubborn, negotiating husband (along with the expertise of our amazing realtor, Noel Berg) got us a really good deal.

Come visit us soon.

some indi afterthoughts

More pictures are here, but
I just uploaded my camera again and found a few more images from our week in Indianapolis...

This shady tree-covered sidewalk was our favorite stretch on our walks...

Our night time view...(we actually didn't see it until our last night there when we realized we'd kept the curtains closed every evening from 8:00pm till morning--so that one particular member of our family would go to sleep and STAY asleep all night)

I wish my abilty to feel things for other people held some
practical purpose.

It seems so meaningless to ache with hurt when it can't fix anything.

I wish my ability to carefully construct the world around me into a sepia toned, nostalgic, warm and fuzzy dream world could actually mend the brokenness that seems to lurking in too many corners right now.

This selfish craving of my own personal warmth and security in knowing the people I love are fulfilled, happy, loved...
...doesn't mean that they are fulfilled, happy, loved.

And all of my imaginative, artistic, naive wishing doesn't really hold any power to alter reality or hide the truth that life is not...sepia toned.

If it could somehow, magically (miraculously?) restore some of the hope, truth, depth into some of the broken things around me...would I be willing to give up the comfort (and appearance) of my own 'fairytale-ish' life?

my swirling thoughts turned to prayer

In God's loving presence I unwind the past day,

starting from now and looking back, moment by moment.
I gather in all the goodness and light, in gratitude.
I attend to the shadows and what they say to me, seeking healing, courage, forgiveness.

Lord, grant me the grace to be free from the excesses of this life.
Let me not get caught up with the desire for wealth.
Keep my heart and mind free to love and serve you.

(words from Sacred Space.)