Jamie

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Jamie’s Thoughts

Time for a post

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

I just realized it’s been a week since my last post. So much for the three blog goal… oops.

I have several posts running around in my head, but I haven’t sat down to sort through them. Now, it’s late, and my brain is beginning to shut down, and I don’t have the energy to write one. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more energy to write.

In the meantime, I’ve been very inspired to write more by the book I’m reading. Writing Down the Bones was sent to me by my good friend. It’s an inspiring book filled with snippets on ways to help your writing. I’ll get into it more in a more focused post, but the biggest advice is just write. Though it hasn’t shown up on the blog, I have been writing pretty furiously in my journal.

Stay tuned for more insights.

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Reminiscing

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

I have a new favorite pastime. I finally got around to fulfilling part of realistic goal #6 and put pictures on my digital picture frame. Why didn’t I do this sooner? I love it. I usually take a few minutes each morning and sit with my coffee and watch each picture slowly flash by.

Watching the pictures is a reminder of how I’m really beginning to love photography and how I want to learn more about it. I love my camera and I love to experiment with it and learn new settings and fancy photography lingo like aperture. With digital photography, I often take MANY pictures… too many to scrapbook. A digital frame is a great way to display these pics.

The other thing I’ve realized is that I love to reminisce as I watch each picture. For a few brief minutes I’m transported back to those fun moments. I watch the transformation of our new home as carpet is ripped out, new floor is put in, fresh paint is applied to the wall, and a gaping hole in my dining room wall is transformed into a sliding glass door. It reminds me to stop obsessing over the household chores that have yet to be done and instead remember all the hard work that has gone into it.

One of my favorite house photos is the one from New Year’s Eve, when Drew and I took a break from house chores and relaxed in front of the TV with champagne. There was cardboard covering the windows, a bare subfloor underfoot, and our modest loveseat and recliner plopped in front of the TV, which sat on the bare subfloor. Ah… memories…

I also love looking at the pictures from New Year’s Eve Day, when we took our annual trip to St. Mark’s Lighthouse where Drew proposed. Again, I’m transported. Back to the beautiful beachside,

fun kite flying near alligator infested waters,

and revisiting the exact site where he proposed, where we shared a sweet, romantic kiss.

Er… sort of.

Reminiscing with these photos is a good way to keep my attitude in check. I am blessed. Too often I forget that as I get caught up in a workaday world where often my goal is simply to make it through the day. I have a loving, devoted husband who tells me he loves me about 80 times a day and who makes me laugh like no one else. I have an amazing house that God literally dropped in our laps that we’re slowly transforming into the home I’ve always dreamed of. I have fun memories of vacations and road trips, including random Sunday drives where we end up on a bridge on the Ochlockonee River.

Life is good.

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Tags: Photography, Ponderings

Uplifting of souls

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

I am becoming better at managing my morning time (yay me!). This morning, I not only did my full yoga routine, journaled, and ate a good breakfast of poached eggs and toast, I also took a walk and even read my Bible. (This is something I am sad to say I’ve been lax in lately.) Now granted, I had an extra hour this morning, as I was heading into work a bit late, but hey, I’ll take my victories when I can.

I pulled out my hefty Key Word Study Bible and opened to 1 Chronicles, where I’ve been reading off and on about David. I read chapter 15, where the ark is being brought back to Jerusalem. There’s a section of “Asaiah descendent of dude whose name I can’t begin to pronounce” that I skimmed through. (I’m glad those sections are there for historians and Bible scholars, but I don’t need to take in all those details every time I read.) I got to a verse that made me smile:

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.

I Chronicles 15:16

I love when musicians are singled out in Scripture. Reminds me of how important they are.

I went on to read a bit more, and it lists the musicians and what they were in charge of. There are some words that I suppose were left in the original language because they weren’t sure how to translate them; alamoth and sheminith. The only footnote offered is, “probably a musical term.” Really. Gee thanks. Now I’m really curious what these words mean.

As I read further, I arrived at Kenaniah, the head Levite. He apparently was left with the task of singing, “because he was skillful at it” (v. 22). This verse made me smile too.

I am a bit of nerd when it comes to Bible Study, and I love learning the original meaning of the Greek and Hebrew. My Key Word Study Bible has a bit of a dictionary in the back with the original words and then a definition. Often you can pull way more out of the definition than you can from whatever word they used to translate. So bear with me while I share my nerdy original Hebrew tidbit.

I looked up the word singing. I expected to see some definition about the physical act of lifting one’s voice in song, specifically in praise of God, or something like that. The Hebrew word is Massa. Here is the definition I found.

To carry, lift up. Burden, load; desire, longing.

It goes on to talk about the physical act of carrying burdens, on the backs of donkeys, etc. But then the last part says

In a figurative sense, massa describes the uplifting of souls; that is, the desire of hearts. Translated ‘singing’ in 1 Chronicles 15:22,27.

Interesting.

Not a single mention of the physical act of singing. I am kinda floored that the definition has all to do with lifting up of souls. But I suppose that’s what singing does. It lifts people up (cue Josh Groban’s You Lift Me Up) and encourages them. It uplifts and inspires.

It kinda puts pressure on me as a vocalist. I’m not just singing, I’m uplifting souls. In a way, I’ve done this though. One of the things I always say yes to if my schedule allows is singing at funerals. I know that God has gifted me with a voice for a reason, and I know that singing at funerals is a way to offer back my gift. I have stood at simple graveside services and sung Amazing Grace and been told how much that meant to those grieving. In those moments, I am uplifting souls.

Thanks for the reminder, God.

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Tags: singing, Spiritual insights, Worship

How we spent our rainy Saturday (& part of Sunday)

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Recently, my church said goodbye to one of our beloved pastors. He and his wife were blessed with a new opportunity at a new church many miles away. We were happy for them, but sad to see them go. Not only was he my pastor, he was my boss while I worked at the Coffee Pub a couple years ago. While Drew and I attended a goodbye party at the church for him and his wife, I eyed part of the Coffee Pub menu propped up against a wall. Apparently the church had held onto it after the Pub closed. Drew made a comment that it would look cool in our dining room, and we should ask if they were planning on taking it. The wife immediately said, “No. We don’t have the room.” Our pastor had a different answer. With excited eyes and a big smile, he told us how he wanted to frame part of it and put it on his wall. I figured he had first dibs on it, and we walked away without it.

Weeks later, I received a message from someone who had heard from someone else who had heard from our pastor. The wife had won, I guess, and they ended up not taking the menu. He had given it to someone who had then given it to someone else who then gave it to me. Drew and I contemplated where to put it in the dining room. I had a vision of creating a cafe, coffee house sort of feel in the dining room. Drew was lovingly supportive of me wanting to surround myself with my addiction, um, I mean beverage of choice.

This weekend, I had a creative burst, and decided to create some other artwork that could complement the menu that we now had in our possession. I ran to Michael’s and picked up some canvas. Inspired by some amateur paintings I had done a few months prior,

I decided to give it another go. I bought some extra paint as well.

Drew reminded me of a brilliant, creative idea I had apparently had (?) of using coffee rings as art. See the previous post to see how I accomplished this. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

In addition to this, I bought two smaller pieces of canvas to create some simplistic type of “latte art” that I’ve seen in various department stores. When I expressed an interest in buying some of those, Drew commented that we could make some of our own. He was thinking of using photoshop and doctoring up some pictures, which we may do as well. But until then, I figured a simplistic painting of my own would be cute.

I did two, and although they’re not perfect, the imperfections are what makes it mine.