Seashells in October

Due to Halloween this week, I have written some lyrics to recap our Hartin summer (for the full effect, pull up the song on YouTube!)

Stress Busters (Sung to the tune of the Ghostbuster's Theme Song)

If you're packin' up and you're movin' south
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)
From city to country with heart in mouth
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)

You've got frantic jobs and a five month move
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)
Got snakes in the coop and you've lost your groove
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)

You're missin' your friends and it's harvest time
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)
If your internet can't get off the dime
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)

I ain't afraid of no stress
I ain't afraid of no stress
Bronchitis, surgeries, hospital stays
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)
Like game nights with friends and beach get-a-ways
Oh whatcha really need? (stress busters)
I ain't afraid of no stress
I ain't afraid of no stress
Give me outdoor walks and starry skies
Whatcha really need? (stress busters)
I need Jay's big hugs and Grandmama's pies
We really need stress busters
Bustin' makes me feel good
I ain't afraid of no stress.

It's a good thing my livelihood doesn't depend on my ability to write songs!!!  This summer was certainly hectic with our move from the Ham (Birmingham) to the Gump (Montgomery).  We are SO grateful to be settling into our new home now.  The weather is beautiful these days in Prattville, with sunshine, cool temperatures, and changing leaves.  Although sometimes summer is not quite willing to depart, it seems that autumn is here to stay!  I have been learning about country life, or at least what is country life to me.  I have grown up in the suburbs of larger cities, either in a subdivision or apartment complex with neighbors on all sides.  Now we're a few miles outside of a small town where everything is more spread out.  Perhaps it's the best of both worlds, but time will tell! It is a relief that the grass has hit a growth stunt for now, because we have a lot of it.  But I have really enjoyed having a yard where I can walk out my front door and be in the wonderful outdoors.  We have frantically been picking field peas to freeze for the winter.  It is a process that requires all hands on deck, and we have also had the help of wonderful friends to assist in the effort!  The best part is having access to a machine that does the shelling, which allows us to process a much greater number of peas (my grandparents did not have the luxury of a pea shelling machine when they were growing up!).  Now we have gallons and gallons to enjoy and share, and it really doesn't get much better than a bowl of hot field peas with cornbread :-)  I'm just saying!  My grandma is already calling me a country girl, haha.

My family had a wonderful opportunity to sneak away to the beach for a long weekend in late summer. We had a blast being together and mostly had the beach to ourselves!  Here are some snap shots....

The view from our room!

This message was on the wall in our bathroom...yes please!

Another sign that we are aging...we will go to any length to avoid sunburn, even floppy hats :-)

One of my mom's favorite beach activities has always been searching for seashells. So on this trip, we helped her look.  Jay, my brother Mark, and I walked up and down the shores of Alabama in search of seashells.  I noticed quickly that my preference in seashells has changed since I was a little girl!  When I was younger and helped Mom in the seashell hunt, I was always looking for the perfect shells.  The shells that were whole and unblemished.  Now at age 29, I realized that I kept gravitating to the broken shells.  I collected a good many broken shells, some of them being large pieces of what must have been huge, magnificent shells of all colors under the ocean.  I wondered about why I kept picking up the broken ones, and why they were appealing to me.  My conclusion was that I could relate more to the broken shells now than I could as a kid.

These broken shells had a story.  Who knows how far they had traveled to this beach, or what creatures occupied them, or what predators had broken them, or how many times the ocean current had pounded them, or how many other people had walked by them.  These broken shells reminded me of real life, and of real people.  Real, broken, imperfect people who have experienced the toll of life.  Those broken shells reminded me, of me!  I could relate better to the broken ones than the perfect ones.  And the truth is that there is a beauty in brokenness.  I have seen this beauty countless times in the stories of people from everywhere, whether refugees I have assisted, or in the stories of human trafficking survivors, or in the stories of my classmates & colleagues, or in the lives of my family and friends.  We don't have the ability to experience perfect lives in this world.  But I believe that beauty can rise from brokenness because Jesus Christ redeems and makes people new.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the perfect and whole shells!  They are a reminder to me that God will make everything whole again one day.  As long as I live, however, I imagine I will always relate most to the broken shells :-)

~ LJH

New Beginning

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way" (Dickens, Tale of Two Cities)

It always seems that the hardest part to write is the beginning!  Jay and I have talked about starting a family blog ever since we got married, and it only took about 2 years to write something!  I decided to start with the opening words of a writer much more talented than me, and I hope he wouldn't mind :-)

As we begin our new adventure in Montgomery, those opening lines from Dickens came immediately to mind.  Often, the world around us is one paradox after another.  Wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair.  The best and the worst, simultaneously!  From our perspective, moving for a new job and planting our family in a new place looks like we have both "everything before us" and "nothing before us!"  As we near the end of the 20s in age, it is easy to feel as if we have our whole lives and many dreams ahead of us.  And yet, life is but a breath!  We are fragile humans, and our home is not in this world.  Every corner of the earth is experiencing death and despair at this very moment.  Many people are feeling joy, and a lot more are burdened with pain.  Paradoxes, indeed!

We turned in our apartment keys in Birmingham two days ago.  As we drove south, I could not help but reflect on our time in the Magic City.  I remember driving from my parents' home in the suburbs of Atlanta (Powder Springs) to B'ham in the summer of 2007 to begin law school.  With only a handful of contacts in B'ham and with law school a foreign concept to me, I was nervous to say the least.  Now in 2013, while driving away from B'ham, I rode the highway remembering all that happened during my time there.  I met my husband the first week of law school, although we would not start dating until a couple of years later.  Law school became less of a foreign concept, and Jay and I graduated and passed the bar exam after our 3 years of study, prayers, blood, sweat, and tears!!  We found treasured friendships.  We found a wonderful church home.  We took many walks through the B'ham Botanical Gardens, and on one of those walks, Jay knelt at the Friendship Bell and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.  We got married on a rainy and glorious Saturday in March, and we have enjoyed 2 amazing years of marriage.  We added 2 cats to our family (Poppins and Penny).  We saw the births of precious nieces and nephews during our time in B'ham!  We saw our friends marry and become parents. I traveled to Eastern Europe for the first time, which was an incredible experience and a tremendous building block for my career.  We started our legal careers, and I opened a law firm!

During that drive a couple of days ago, my mind replayed more memories than I could ever hope to write.  But the one part that stands out from the rest is the people.  Our best memories are those we experienced with others!  With each other, with our family, with our friends, and with those we tried to serve.  Driving away from B'ham that night, I knew that I was leaving a part of my heart with our loved ones there.

As we grow at our new home, may we carry with us the Light of Christ and Hope for the world.  And just as Moses asked of the Lord, may God's Presence go with us! (Exodus 33)

~ LJH