My only political statement...

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Just a Little Something on my Mind...

Lately, a few things have kept coming up that have just reminded me how sad life can be sometimes. I mean, really, does anyone at all get out of life without being a victim of it at some point? I am usually one to totally avoid absolutes like that, but I am feeling pretty comfortable with this one. We have all had a broken heart in some way. We will all know devestation before it's all over, if we live long enough, and if we at all connect emotionally to life.

I know one suck part has got to be just waiting for the pain to end, whether it's a loss of a dream, loss of a relationship, your health, watching your child go through it, whatever. You wake up morning after morning, and finally just decide that this will be how it will be forever. Hope is not a thing that has any habitation inside you.
Another low... just feeling so alone in whatever it is. The lonely ache deep in your chest sucking the air out of you lungs. The lonely static in your brain leaving you staring out into space. And, the others in the world who have it so good, who have exactly what they want...what you want.

These thoughts are for you guys. You, who are lonely, and mourning the loss of a dream or ideal. You, my friend, just making do with what life has thrown your way. Getting it through your head that you are not special, as you were once told, you are just one more human coping with life. I know probably that people like me who can easily hide life's ache behind the American dream can really make your ass twitch. But just a reminder: We have all been there, or our day is coming. The absolute ugliness of life, the heavy beast that lays upon your heart, has been my companion too. It has been the companion of the beautiful, the rich, the powerful, the royal, the innocent, even those who are now surrounded by love.
For you, this little note of encouragement and recognition is my simple offering. Unfortunately, so often, healing, learning, growing, moving on, redemption, all of it, must be done by you and you alone. Thanks for living, breathing, walking, laughing, keeping on. Thanks for crying, screaming, singing out loud.
Life...that's what keeps the wordsmiths writing. And how interesting is that the fact that no one is special means also, that everyone is.

Porch Party 2008

The Thompsons are hosting the 2nd Annual Shadowbrook Porch Party for Halloween. Right now we are just getting ready, but what fun! Crafts with the kids, dreaming up costume ideas, making the invitation.

Lost that 2nd tooth too!

Riding Spook

Sunday I got to do one of my absolute favorite things in the world. I swear I was born to be on a horse. I never get tired of it. I don't think...Saturday I am going 17 miles in Bankhead, so we will see (and we will see how well I can walk afterwards too, ugh!). Thanks so much to my cousin Jonas who has been ever so generous to let me ride. It's worth the hour ride even with gas prices like they are any day.

Congrats to my Nana and her Zoe

Congratulations are in order for my precious Nana and her Shihzu, Zoe who just birthed a litter of 5 sweet puppies. Some poodle mixes and some yorkie mixes, they are just so cute! Props to my Nana for bringing all of her 3 animals on the job to live with her to live in an RV in Kentucky, and returning home 2 weeks later with 8 animals! Wow! Glad it wasn't me. Love you Nana!

Aphemera scrapbook

I took this really cool class from Virginia Tillery at Scrap, Etc a couple of weeks ago, and learned to scrapbook using Aphemera. Here's what happened:

My Little Brother

My little brother is not so little anymore! Just wanted to give you a shout out Matthew! I love and am so proud of YOU! Thanks for being a cool uncle, generous sweet brother, and overall wonderful human! Love you!

i heart Church (when church is a verb, and the nouns are real relationships)

Sometimes I think about what it means that in my family we are kindof revolutionaries (atleast in our area) in that we don't "go to church" (the noun), we just practice church (the verb). Atleast, we work towards it, and it looks different than most here in our beloved Bible belt. I don't think anything is wrong with either schools of thought. In fact, time and time again, the Lord has proved himself present in both circumstances. But for us, this way feels the most simple, most relational, and most like the examples of early churches established in the first century. I found a picture of an example of an early church meeting:


A home meeting in New Testament times. Since the meetings were interactive and took place in homes, participants probably sat in a circle instead of rows.
Isn't that cool? So, that's the goal for me. Check out the dear people I love who I call "church"...

service project

"breaking bread" together (one of our favorite things)

Just Got in! It's Late, but I have a certain crooner on my mind...

I just got in from the Michael Buble concert with my wonderful amazing friend of 16 years, Cassie...and I cannot blog about it fast enough. It was probably my favorite concert ever! He was so funny, so sexy, and, um, can kinda, ya know... SING! And
some of my favorite jazz songs too! What could be better?
I took the above picture with my phone, so it's not great, but here's a good one:

And, is it just me or doesn't he look an awful lot like one of my other all time fave faces, Joshua Jackson:

Oh well...That's enough of silly celebrity butterflies. I'm off to get in the bed with my real heartthrob! ;)

Dying to Decorate

I don't know if I have mentioned it lately, but I love to decorate! Love Love Love! But could someone please tell me why in the world it is that I can never decorate my own home?! I can work wonders in other's, but when it comes to mine, I just get stuck. Then there is the fact that I hate to spend money on myself. Okay, enough complaining. Here's my guest room:



What am I going to do with this room? Here's some thoughts of mine:








Also, Right now, I have no headboard, so I think that's gotta be an opportunity to get creative. Hmmm, let's see...

Rice Play Day

I got this idea on one of my favorite blogs, and the boys had an absolute blast playing with rice! It was less messy than sand would have been too (thank goodness for our porch). I just picked up a mega bag of rice from costco, took it home, and set the boys free to be creative. Their favorite pretend game with it was cooking dinner for Mommy. And, we still have plenty left over to play the game another day.