Rooted in Him

I took this July 2011 at the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area

Imagine that you are a happy young sapling, atop a nice little promontory overlooking the sea. You are situated on a perfect grassy spot and you begin to spread your roots. It is a prime spot really, you can see for miles and as luck would have it, you are high above the sea and you will not have to worry about those nasty winter storms and their mighty crashing force.

You start to notice one day, after a few years, that you are listing slightly, instead of pointing directly upward you are now pointing a bit to the horizon. No worries, you just dig your roots down a little deeper and continue to enjoy your view.

Well, then, winter comes along and some of those nasty storms begin to concentrate on your prime little spot. You still feel secure atop your little hill and confident that everything will be swell. That is until the nice solid promontory you live upon starts to crumble beneath your roots. You see, the years of storms, of constant crashing waves, have weakened the structure on which you dwell. Now, all it took was a few nasty storms all in one season to bring you careening wildly downward, leaving you pointing directly into the sea. You are now hanging onto your hillside by only a few griping roots. You fear the worst. You are certain that your little roots will give way at any moment and send you crashing into the rocks below and swept out to sea.

However, those wonderful years you spent atop that promontory as a sapling turn out to be your saving grace. You dug your roots down deep into the crevices of the rock, past the sandy soil covering the grass which you enjoyed. Now those roots, being so deeply rooted are keeping you from your certain destruction. With your lifeline still clinging, your course abruptly changes, you start to grow directly upward again toward the life giving sun above you.  No more staring death in the face. No more listing toward the horizon. Your roots go deep and they have proven to withstand all the forces.

You grow up to be a beauty. Your roots are strong and holding. Your trunk, twisted and unsure at first, but then true and straight. Your branches are many, spread and covering. All of you is lifted and pointing above you. No longer do you look to the horizon or what is in front of you. No longer do you gaze down toward destruction. You have eyes only for the sun.
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When I saw this tree while on vacation to Newport, Oregon, I knew there was something wonderful going on with this tree. It was more than just the awesomeness of nature at work. I saw in it a parallel example of our human lives and God. We ARE the tree.

As a Christian, I am rooted into my faith in God, my belief in Jesus Christ and my trust of the Spirit. It is for me as it was for this tree, I've been rooted in God since I was a child. I've been a Christian since as long as I can even remember. However, there have been years of my life when instead of looking upward, I've "listed" and looked around me and toward my horizon. I was more concerned with what I was doing within my little world. My roots were still there, but at times I was blind to them. Storms, trials and hardships came as they inevitably do and it sure seemed at times that I was looking destruction right in the face.

I remember one time in particular that it was just a thread of a root holding me back from the precipice I was dangling over. Life for myself and those I loved around me could have turned out so very different, so much more sad and awful, had I not been rooted the way I was in my faith and belief. Since that defining time I have grown only straighter, with my eyes firmly heavenward, toward the Son that bought me for my Father.  So very like this amazing tree, which is still holding on.

I reflect sometimes how wonderful it is to be the child of the One who created all things. There's such reassurance in that knowledge, to know that the God of all things loves me and cares for me and wants me to KNOW Him. It is so very reassuring to know that He will pick me up when I am falling and set me to growing straight again.

And this is not all to say that life rooted in my faith and belief in God is going to be easy. No, indeed, as Christians we are not guarantied an easy life free of strife, storms, sadness or pain. There are numerous instances of personal pain and suffering in my own short lifetime already that I know this to be true. It is part of the world in which we live in, far from perfect.

We are only guarantied that God will be with us and that we will someday be with Him if we willfully choose to walk with Him and to be rooted into Him and His Word, if we choose to believe and accept His Son.

I, for one, am very thankful to be so firmly rooted in Him.

The fireball is 4!

Look at that adorable little face! 

My Owen just turned 4. It's been a much anticipated birthday for him. He's been counting down until the big day. He's put in his request for a certain kind of cake. He's told us what he wants for his special birthday dinner. He's made his guest list for his upcoming party, the one he told us that he needed to have. He's ready and the day is finally here!

Owen, so excited for his birthday cake!

I have thoroughly enjoyed being Owen's mother. This kid has been a ton of fun, as well as put the the work in the job of motherhood. Last year at this time I was reflecting upon my spitfire son, my warrior child, and he is still very much that. Owen is so full of life, so full of passion, full of fire.

I was flipping through Owen's baby book today and read the notations I made: "11 months old: Throwing toddler sized tantrums anytime your will is thwarted." And then, "20 months old: Still a tantrum thrower. It's been all out war these days, pitting your impressive will against the unbeatable one of mine. I always win, but it sure takes a ton to get the point across!"

Battles have been a commonplace between Owen and I for most of his little life. But therein is why I say life with him has been fun as well as a lot of work. I don't begrudge one single battle as I know that these little wars have been shaping my son, shaping his character, shaping his healthy outlook on life and what it means to be loved. These little wars were (and still are) necessary to teach Owen the important boundaries, the ones that would keep him safe, healthy and happy.

It's like this analogy I came up with a while back: Owen is like one of those tiny rubber bouncy balls. Let one of those things bounce around your kitchen and it will be bouncing all over the place; off the walls, floors, cabinets etc... and it's liable to brake something or land in a very dangerous place. Put that same tiny ball into a closed box and shake it up, allowing it to bounce at will. Nothing will be broken, no dangerous areas to land in and a perfectly happy little bouncy ball.

That's Owen for you with boundaries. Without clearly defined boundaries, he's liable to get into dangerous trouble. Define and teach him boundaries (as represented as the box) and you have a wildly happy boy, safe for the most part, able to be himself--a passionate little fireball.

These days, my little fireball is a joy to me. He is still as passionate as ever, although he has learned that I am like a benevolent ruler.  I love him dearly and show and tell him every way and every day. I am not afraid to correct him and I am not afraid to fight him.

It's my joy to watch him every day, whether it's as he's racing with his NASCARS toys, reenacting scenes from his favorite action movies, lightsaber fighting with his big brother, or slowing down with a good cartoon, his thumb and his blankie.

Owen, my boy, I still love being your mother! Happy 4th Birthday to you!

On the trail: the journey to a dress that fits

I just spent this past weekend whipping up a great pioneer costume for an acquaintance of mine from church. This was an interesting project and lots of fun. The costume was for a 10 year old girl. What made this project so interesting was the fact that this little girl is an atypical size, requiring not a child sized pattern, nor an adult sized pattern. The pattern had to be custom made to fit her body. To alter a patter to this degree required lots of measurement taking, a good grasp of sewing with a pattern, lots of numbers (math), and patience.

Before starting this project, I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult than it was. I haven't attempted sewing a dress using a pattern for over 10 years. I have used patterns before for smaller things like aprons, skirts and hats, but it always seemed like I couldn't understand them very well.

Having completed this project now, a process which took me only 4 days in all to complete, I realize that it was fairly easy for me. I suspect it's simply because I've been sewing long enough now to know what I'm doing. The patterns no longer confuse me and I can think out the whole sewing process in my head. Such a good feeling to know you have gotten proficient at something you love doing!

So here's a photo journey of the dressmaking process. In a previous session, I took extensive measurements of Stephanie to get her exact body shape in numbers. Then, using the adult pattern as a base, I marked up the pattern pieces to what I hoped would fit her with additional space to fit comfortably. I was having difficult time getting the proportions just right even with all my measurements. What I ended up having to do was get a child sized pattern for the same dress. I used the two patterns as the opposite extremes (one too large, other too small) and then marked up the perfect size in the middle more or less.

Here I am with Stephanie during the fitting of the mock-up dress I made out of muslin. I wanted to make sure all the changes I had made to the pattern would end up fitting properly.

It's a good thing I did this mock-up, sample dress. As you can see in this photo, the sleeves are way too long and too snug. The back of the dress, too, was too snug through the upper back, the shoulder seams straining to the point of ripping. Using a marker, I marked directly on this sample muslin dress the areas that I needed to add width, reduce width, shorten or lengthen.

Then it was time to go shopping for the fabric that we'd be using to make the final dress, bonnet and apron. Here I am with Stephanie's mom, Sarah, and the fabric they chose.

And finally, here's the results. Stephanie was one very happy and excited little girl in her new pioneer costume. I was very happy, too. This final dress fit her perfectly.

And now, I want to make one for myself.