7 Quick Takes: much joy during times of much sorrow

--- 1 ---

My sisters came to visit me in Austin!  Lots of people asked what we did with ourselves. We did do some fun things.  Mostly, though, we sat around and soaked in each others' presence.  My sister Kaley is the only sibling who hadn't yet visited me in Austin.  Her first few minutes here she sat in my front room and said "I haven't visited you in your own house for years.  Now I feel like I know you better."

Yes.  Come in and know me better, friend.

Only our grainy phone pictures, but I love this.  My sisters and me in my kitchen making soup on a plain old Saturday night.

Bliss.

--- 2 ---

This is not to say we ignored our great city.  We celebrated both Natalie and Kaley's birthdays with this checklist:  eat Tex-Mex, window shop (including Tamara's favorite store on the planet), buy candy, eat cupcakes.  Food played a major role in the day's celebration, I guess.

 I didn't take many pictures.  Here's one my cousin Natalie took of our girls' day on South Congress.

--- 3 ---

Please don't tell my niece it took me until Quick Take #3 to mention her.  She was, indeed, a highlight of the week.  She charmed all of us with her ready smile (sometimes more of a mischievous grin).  The girl is SIX MONTHS OLD and knows when we're pointing a camera at her!  She and Leo (our dog) kind of circled around each other at first, both wary of the Foreign Object in the room.  By the end of the week, though, they didn't like to be out of each other's presence.

May it be forever known that Uncle Brian and Aunt T first introduced our sweet Elise the existence of DOGS.  And Sesame Street.  (the classics, thank you very much).

In which, Ellie charms her cousin Alex.

--- 4 ---

Yes, it was fun having a baby in the house.  I'm grateful to several friends who made sure we had all the accoutrements needed for the modern baby.  I think it's probably good Alicia visited before her daughter becomes mobile.  Our house is not exactly baby-proof anymore.

For example....

--- 5 ---

Another favorite, ordinary being together moment: Saturday morning cartoons via the RocketGent's weekly curated offering of animated delight.  

Please notice that Ellie is paying more attention to Leo than the screen. 

--- 6 ---

I didn't mean to take up our whole conversation with stories about my sisters.  I guess there's other things going on in the world.  Like the devastation in the Philippines (which I can not even begin to wrap my head around).  Also, our dear friend Trey's funeral last week. My friend Margaret remembered the anniversary of her mother's passing on November 9. South Austin is mucking out from destructive flash floods.  Lord, please show mercy to your suffering children.

Christ have mercy... [from some of my online reading the past couple of weeks]

• On your suffering children living as strangers in a foreign land:  A Hospitality Not On My Own Terms by Cherith Fee Nordling at Missio Alliance

• On those without comforts of home, family, food:  Here's What Austin's Newest Housing for the Chronically Homeless Looks Like at KUT.org

• On those sitting in the presence of Grief and Death:  Still In the World at Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

--- 7 ---

I love the beauty of this story -- subverting injustice with beauty. The Center for Work for Faith and Work commissioned the video tale for their Conference Humanizing Work.

For all my Northeast friends, Phoenix will be on exhibit at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York starting January 31.  Each of the two 12-ton sculptures will hang over the nave in perpetual flight.  Go and see. Please!

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A beauty and grace-filled weekend for us all, dear ones.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!