I had a wonderful weekend with my handsome husband! I feel loved, refreshed, happy, inspired and content... Here are a few of the highlights..
On Saturday, we visited with my in-laws, and Amanda got to stay for a two-night grand-parent-spoil-me time. Les and I then did some shopping for things we've been needing/wanting around the house. Later that evening, Les took me to the movies. We saw 'Shall We Dance'. It was a wonderful movie, and oh-so-romantic to see in Les' arms. (Thanks to Donna for blogging about it earlier...I believe Les got the idea from me reading your words:) On the way there, it was a snow-globe world...big fluffy snowflakes fell around us and crunched under our feet...so romantic:)
On Sunday we slept late and lingered over breakfast. Then I did some housework and Les built a new piece of furniture for the living room. He's so good at these things! Then I had the fun of decorating it:) Afterward, we went out for supper at Kelseys and I got to enjoy some shrimp and, more importantly, my precious man. Then Les took me to the Carolyn Arends' concert and we met some friends.
The concert was awesome! I love Carolyn's music...the lyrics, the interesting instrumentals, and the feel of it. But I think the best part for me was how much Les enjoyed it. We had awesome seats in the second row where we had the perfect view of Carolyn and her lead guitar/mandolin/violin/bazouki player (Spencer Capier...what a talented guy...and with his own albumn coming out soon). I think my favourite new song that Carolyn performed last night was 'Not a Tame Lion'...it echoed C.S. Lewis' line from Narnia about the lion, asking if he was safe....'of course not, he's a lion, but he's good.' (Here's a link to the lyrics and Carolyn's thoughts on writing the song...http://www.carolynarends.com/utg/natl.html)
Seeing that concert woke up some personal interests in me...some of the things I haven't had much time for since becoming a wife and a mother (which was the fulfillment of my biggest desires, so I am in no way complaining:). I guess it's because I recognize so much of myself in Carolyn's songs, but I'm going to think about how I can put some of those things back on the burner, even if it's on a really slow simmer...(I know I have a husband who would be oh-so supportive of that:)
Here's a link to an interview with Carolyn that was released last week by Christianity Today (http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2004/carolynarends-1004.html).
Here's a quote from it that struck me big about why her new album is 'Under the Gaze'...
"One enduring theme in my music is the idea that you can't compartmentalize life.
All of it belongs to God, and what we do with it is our gift back to God. There
is no detail that he's outside of. I have to keep remembering to see all of life
that way and not create these little compartments, the things I think God is
privy to and the things he's not—or the things that should matter and the things
that don't. It all matters; it's all sacred.
For some people, depending
on their perception of God, the word gaze feels like "scrutiny" or "glare." But
I think of it as a really warm image, like gazing into someone's eyes, or a
lover's gaze—though I'm not casting my relationship with God in those romantic
colors. But it's just this idea that he wants to watch over us, all the time,
forever. That's the kind of affection he has for us, and, to me, that's just a
massive idea. And so I finally sat down and wrote that song, and it almost
instantly felt to me like, Okay, this is what this album is. It's all under his
gaze.
And that thought gave me a green light to explore anything I want
on the record, because it is all sacred. It gave me freedom to go a lot of
different places—even musically. So if I want to go bluegrassy over here, I can.
If I want to be springy piano-ey over there, I can. It's all part of it. It's
all sacred."
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