by jeannie | Jan 14, 2012 | buildingaboat, God Sightings |
One day after much work and the exhausting staging process of preparing our home to sell, we were done. One of the first moments I had gotten to sit down, I was home alone, and I sat on our couch looking out at the pool and feeling very sad. Remembering all the memories, I was starting to think about our kids, how sad it was taking them away from this place, questioning whether we were doing the right thing, etc. As the tears were about to begin, the doorbell rang and I got up and answered it and saw a girl selling magazines. I was struggling b/c I wanted to be alone, but started talking to her and asked her if we could order some magazines but not have them come here since we were moving. She stated we could have them delivered to a women’s shelter. I agreed and got her some money. She started talking, saying, “You smiled at me. Everyone’s been so mean to me.” as I paid her, she said, “You’re such a blessing.” I responded, “You are a blessing too.” She turned her eyes to me, and smiled, and we ended up talking for a while. She told me about wanting to give up but how God had different plans for her. She was very poor and struggling. We had this incredibly intimate conversation about God, and as we hugged goodbye, she whispered in my ear, “God bless you.” I walked in and immediately felt this Godly passion return and a clear message in my spirit… “You need more of that… Not more...
by jeannie | Jan 14, 2012 | buildingaboat, God Sightings |
from journal 4/20/2011 a few weeks at the new house. Every day I feel it. The tension of the temporary. Being here only for a mist and making our lives count. There’s no one that’s immune, no one that doesn’t want their life to have meaning. We long for the beautiful, but settle for the false representations our culture presents us, only leaving us longing… This morning alone, I drive past some run down townhomes near my home, and see many people waiting for the bus. I see a quietness, stillness as most of them wait alone, not speaking and then I notice the property sign, “Hope” Properties. Every day I try to catch someone’s eye and smile, and wonder when I’ll just walk over and meet them. I continue driving toward my home and see a fence falling apart, and notice the truck across the street is full of wood meant for the house with a perfectly intact fence already. I watch a documentary trailer on Brazil that deeply moves me. I close my eyes and want to be there in the village, among the people, surrounded by trash, being light to disheartened, broken people, and making their world better… As I close the screen, I’m greeted with the iTunes latest unsettling ad for a popular musician and CD cover. I’m struck by the contrast of my worlds today. The sadness of people in need in a world that offers much. Plenty and not enough. The magnitude of the beauty of our human spirit met with spiritual atrophy. I sit in my pretty home with my pretty things...
by jimmy | Jan 12, 2012 | Blog, Uncategorized |
For many months we have been adjusting to our move into a new house. It has been both a blessing and the challenge of our lives… We are trying to show the kids how to love their friends in the midst of strife but sometimes it just takes action to get the point across. Jeannie and I will be a little more open to new adventures in 2012 and we embarked on one Monday night. I though I would share the story and how our blessings come in the strangest of ways. My commute to work takes me around 183 to I-35 each morning and on one of those days I felt that small still voice nudge me to a place that I have not been in 25 years. Not since my parents would take my sister and I there out on SPID in Corpus. Red Lobster! Yes, the same thought went through my head and Jeannie’s when I told her we needed to go have dinner there. Needless to say, I let it slide. But each day, I would see the familiar Red Lobster sign and knew something had to be done….but what? We decided we would do something we always heard about but never did. We would go have dinner and select a family to bless with their meal…anonymously. So we loaded up the kids and told them of our adventure. They were very excited. We were seated in the center of the restaurant after a long pause at the tank full of live lobster. I told myself we need to wait and let God show us...
by Hampton | Jan 2, 2012 | buildingaboat, photography, Uncategorized |
This year we went to Hondo to a place Jim’s family has and ‘camped’ in RVs, spending time with his parents and my brother and niece. We sat around campfires each morning and each night, went on numerous rides in the Kawasaki Mule, wrapped the treehouse with lights that Jim built, rode the zip line and had a great time. The picture above was taken after Libby created ‘art’ with fire and an old styrofoam cup. As I walked up to her, my intent was to tell her not to do what she was about to do… sticking her sparkler into the cup. But as I walked over, I loved how the only light on her, her face and the cup was from the sparkler, and stopped to grab a shot first. Not my finest parenting moment, but I did kindly ask her to stop once I snapped a shot. She and her sister continued making ‘sculptures’ all weekend with sticks in the campfire, melting plastic forks, cups, and styrofoam into shapes. On actual NY Eve, my brother showed up with his daughter, and I was so excited they joined. My brother below with Jim in the Mule, gearing up for zip lines. As we sent each kid down the zip line, we laughed for over an hour. Kelli fell out of the chair at least twice at the end of the ride, while Beck kept getting caught up in the chair trying to get out and Libby kept trying to go with her feet up and upside down. I’m amazed at how different and unique each child...
by jeannie | Jan 2, 2012 | buildingaboat, photography, Uncategorized |
This year we went to Hondo to a place Jim’s family has and ‘camped’ in RVs, spending time with his parents and my brother and niece. We sat around campfires each morning and each night, went on numerous rides in the Kawasaki Mule, wrapped the treehouse with lights that Jim built, rode the zip line and had a great time. The picture above was taken after Libby created ‘art’ with fire and an old styrofoam cup. As I walked up to her, my intent was to tell her not to do what she was about to do… sticking her sparkler into the cup. But as I walked over, I loved how the only light on her, her face and the cup was from the sparkler, and stopped to grab a shot first. Not my finest parenting moment, but I did kindly ask her to stop once I snapped a shot. She and her sister continued making ‘sculptures’ all weekend with sticks in the campfire, melting plastic forks, cups, and styrofoam into shapes. On actual NY Eve, my brother showed up with his daughter, and I was so excited they joined. My brother below with Jim in the Mule, gearing up for zip lines. As we sent each kid down the zip line, we laughed for over an hour. Kelli fell out of the chair at least twice at the end of the ride, while Beck kept getting caught up in the chair trying to get out and Libby kept trying to go with her feet up and upside down. I’m amazed at how different and unique each child...
by Hampton | Dec 7, 2011 | buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
a few days ago, we decided to make posters of Christmas words and decorate them. The kids did this while Christmas music played, and enjoyed the time. Today, I had to test a few things for a shoot I have in the morning, so I just asked the kids to step in… actually, I had to make them do it… but anyway, they did, and as chaotic as it was with these crazy kids, and with a little help from our friend, Jordan, there were a few fun shots. Merry Christmas to everyone, and I hope each of you are blessed with Joy, and Love, and Jesus this season. Can’t you see the hope in their...
by jeannie | Dec 7, 2011 | buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
a few days ago, we decided to make posters of Christmas words and decorate them. The kids did this while Christmas music played, and enjoyed the time. Today, I had to test a few things for a shoot I have in the morning, so I just asked the kids to step in… actually, I had to make them do it… but anyway, they did, and as chaotic as it was with these crazy kids, and with a little help from our friend, Jordan, there were a few fun shots. Merry Christmas to everyone, and I hope each of you are blessed with Joy, and Love, and Jesus this season. Can’t you see the hope in their...
by jeannie | Nov 4, 2011 | buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
If you have a sister, you can remember how you felt at one point about them when you were younger, and how you may have looked up to them, wished they would leave you alone, or how your life seemed to be measured somehow by who they were or were not. I watch my girls and see a lot of the same things, and how they seek some definition of who they are measured by the other one. It’s a constant thing I remind them of, their uniqueness and the intentionality of God for it. Some days they need their own space, and some days they don’t click at all, but most days, there’s an obvious bond that will never be broken. I watched this in multitudes after our move and as we all bonded together more and more just to feel normal. As with life, everyone had days that were hard. What I saw is each time, everyone dropped their differences immediately, and offered hope to the other. Watching Libby be there to comfort her little sister as she grieved her friends, old neighborhood and home will be a life memory I’ll never forget. The big sister who usually isn’t interested in hugs from Ella, her little sister, is suddenly wrapped around her speaking words of comfort and encouragement. As days come that make them sad or miss what they once knew, I get to see visions of Libby holding her little sister while she cries, our family holding hands and praying, and the bond gets stronger. Laughter and joy dominate us now, and it seems...
by Hampton | Sep 7, 2011 | buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
Time for school, for schedules and a great need for priority in our lives. It’s Young Life season again, kicking off Monday, September 12th. With collectively 28 College leaders mentoring our middle and high schoolers, NW Austin Murchison (and area private schools) and Anderson High Schools continue to be blessed with one of the greatest communities I’ve been a part of. Thankful for the intentional ministry, prayer, support of leaders, partnerships with local churches and a lot of devoted hearts for seeing Kingdom work here on earth. In NW Austin, we gear up for another powerful year of being part of the story God’s writing in NW Austin. Last summer, Jimmy and I were blessed to accompany NW Austin to Crooked Creek Ranch to watch some YL High Schoolers closest to our heart visit camp. As I watched them play, learn, and pursue Jesus, I kept remembering and seeing them as they were when I met them. Middle school. The were bold, amazing girls that have journeyed to where they are now. Beautiful young women. Watching the same class of boys grow into young men has been equally humbling to see how God’s using these kids to change and transform many of us. Some courageous, some still searching, but many are counting the cost, and beginning to agree with the Creator of their worth, and value and understanding their role in changing the world. Club starts on the 12th, but the relationships between leaders and kids has been ongoing. Here’s a shot I took while sitting in back of club at Crooked Creek Ranch in Frasier,...
by jeannie | Sep 7, 2011 | buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
Time for school, for schedules and a great need for priority in our lives. It’s Young Life season again, kicking off Monday, September 12th. With collectively 28 College leaders mentoring our middle and high schoolers, NW Austin Murchison (and area private schools) and Anderson High Schools continue to be blessed with one of the greatest communities I’ve been a part of. Thankful for the intentional ministry, prayer, support of leaders, partnerships with local churches and a lot of devoted hearts for seeing Kingdom work here on earth. In NW Austin, we gear up for another powerful year of being part of the story God’s writing in NW Austin. Last summer, Jimmy and I were blessed to accompany NW Austin to Crooked Creek Ranch to watch some YL High Schoolers closest to our heart visit camp. As I watched them play, learn, and pursue Jesus, I kept remembering and seeing them as they were when I met them. Middle school. The were bold, amazing girls that have journeyed to where they are now. Beautiful young women. Watching the same class of boys grow into young men has been equally humbling to see how God’s using these kids to change and transform many of us. Some courageous, some still searching, but many are counting the cost, and beginning to agree with the Creator of their worth, and value and understanding their role in changing the world. Club starts on the 12th, but the relationships between leaders and kids has been ongoing. Here’s a shot I took while sitting in back of club at Crooked Creek Ranch in Frasier,...
