The State of the Blog 2015

latte art by Tandem Creperie and Coffeehouse in TR

The Islands || the Sea
In which I address the weight of both pain and blessings in the world around. My intent is to create space for the heavy issues without having to compose an essay about an entire topic, to graciously honor the good (there is so much good) and to tangibly tie in the title and purpose of this blog with increased regularity.

Watch. Listen. Read.
In which I summarize a few of the shows and movies, articles and books, songs and playlists I am currently enjoying. I tried to post monthly in 2014 which was wonderful to review at the end of the year since I too often forget the books I've read. I will continue periodically sharing my media consumption here.

A Letter to...
In which I compose public letters to loved ones. This series was born out of my 30 for 30 birthday project that challenged me to write each of my siblings a letter over the span of a year. I will continue this goal until completion.

Narrative Series
In which I reflect a memory too rich for a photograph. Although I only wrote two last year, writing these memoir posts refreshed me in ways I cannot describe and reminded me why I started this blog.
A few of my motherhood observations could fit in this series but I've kept them separate thus far.

for your consideration
In which I share the wisdom of another; because some quotes are too good not to share.

Along with these, I post random DIY projects, Loy family adventure recaps and motherhood observations. In 2015, you can anticipate a few memory keeping posts, too many Little Loy #2 (nn Huckleberry) pictures, before/after Treetops renovation posts and weekly pictures of August (& Huckleberry, eventually) as I tackle the 52 Project.

Happy New Year, friends. Let's boogie.

for your consideration || 08

Our lives are full of brokenness; broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter except returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives.

- Father Henri Nouwen


[I thought this apropos regarding yesterday's post.]

for your consideration || 07

What if you’d once thrown out the demons of selfishness? 

Or you speak in the tongues of grace-love? 

Or when you were pierced with the fangs of rejection and malice 

and you forgave while you had that snake in your hand … 

and forgiveness inoculated you from the hurt….

- Ann Voskamp

for your consideration || 06

A welcoming home is where real life happens. It's where personalities are nurtured, where growth is stimulated, where people feel free not only to be themselves but also to develop their best selves. That caring, nurturing quality - not the absence of noise or strife - is what makes a home a refuge.

- Emilie Barnes

Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home 

for your consideration || 05

"She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would ring them out like the rain."

- Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

for your consideration || 04

When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. 

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

for your consideration || 03

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

– Marianne Williamson

for your consideration || 02

I still believe in the power of the priesthood, where sinful men are helped by sinful men. I believe in an authority that stoops to wash a poor man's feet. I believe in a banquet where sinners learn to love, eating in company with their God. I believe in parents who teach their children the beauty that is life. I believe in the words that God has left for men, words that can fashion hope from darkness and turn bitter loneliness into love. And I believe in man, fashioned in mystery by God. I believe in the beauty of his mind, the force of his emotions, the fire and loyalty of his love. I know his weakness, his cowardice, his treachery, his hate. But I believe in him and his thirst for acceptance and love.

Most of all I believe in God and the power of His victory in Christ. I believe in a Resurrection that rescued man from death. I believe in an Easter that opened man to hope. I believe in a joy that no threat of man can take away. I believe in a peace that I know in fleeting moments and seek with boldness born of God. I believe in a life that lingers after this, a life that God has fashioned for His friends.

I believe in understanding, in forgiveness, in mercy, in faith. I believe in man's love for woman, and hers for him, and in the fervor of this exchange I hear the voice of God. I believe in friendship and its power to turn selfishness to love. I believe in eternity and the hope that it affords. 

Fr James Kavanagh

A Modern Priest Looks at his Outdated Church 

for your consideration || 01

In speaking of this desire . . . I feel a certain shyness. I'm almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take revenge on it by calling it names like nostalgia and Romanticism and adolescence, the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that, when, and every intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves, the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell. 

-C.S. Lewis