These two photos are from the early evening soirée which had bubbled up from one of my 4am musings. YES! - my precious friends from Scotland are HERE and have been so since Wednesday, Sept. 7th! I will share a snippet of the incomparable JOYS in which I have reveled since their blessed arrival only days ago. There is often a slightly more fleshed out Gallery for you to muse over... via which if you're somewhat clever, you'll find a way to see even more photos, many taken by wonderful Stacey and her lovely artistic eye.
I sip tea. My heart murmurs and sighs. There had been a few coattail tuggings around my friends' presence here... to which I'd initially responded by clasping my territorial arms to my chest and saying as politely as possible, "Well, they flew 5000 miles to see me (me me me!)... and we're going to BE together as much as time and my funkomatic energy levels can manage." However that 4am musing Whom I call The Holy Spirit added, "Hey. You can loosen up a bit here. Find a very few ... ask Tony, Ali & Ruthie, would YOU enjoy a small gathering?" Yes. That is part of our depth of intimacy over the years; we ask, we "attune," I pray, we seek Godly agreement. I didn't want a raucous party of fifty. Small, quiet, intimate... some very close friends from St. Paul's and my Sunday Night Oikos Home Church. Our feasting danced far beyond the sumptuous delectables that adorned tables and laps.
The Moroccan-themed vacation home - my friends' holiday villa right on the lagoon - was bursting with Godly love. I didn't "do" this party. Jesus did. I had given it to Him from the start. With a sheer blessedness that defies my own controlling when I Let Go, The Lord's Grace arose and did so mightily!
Saturday, Sept. 10th... a celebration banquet amongst beloveds. At 4pm the first friends arrived, toting exotic IPAs and scrumptious food. Ruthie, Ali & Tony had set it all up and out "English Style" while I napped in the Master Bedroom. They worked; I recharged my energies. Whole Foods Novato had been giddily raided for the finest imported sheep milk cheeses, olives, fresh baguettes, Icelandic butter, organic Mexican chorizo, crudités with Toby's feta dip... and of course the homemade yums from our guests, from Kari's quiche to Stacey's fat & luscious farm stand strawberries. The dessert table winked with Dilettante truffles from Seattle (Chris & Alice!), double duty Oreos, Two-bite brownies, fresh organic fruit. Bevvies galore.
I mourn my bloated steroid face. Cheekbones Luboff has always been a source of Slavic pride for me. I don't look like myself today. I cried last night about that. And as the E-Ticket bliss of this heavenly visit slowly shifts to the awareness of their (sob!) departure on Wednesday, I look ahead to more doctors' appointments with more questions piling up. There are places between awakening each morning and saying, "O LORD! You have given me a new day!" with the left-brain need to know what in the billy blue blazes is going on. The earth and Heaven "balancing act" if you will shall continue without fear. I rebuke that dark side in the Name of Christ. And yes, it slithers in... sometimes so subtly I am caught off guard. I remember; this "life" of mine is not mine - it is GOD's. I am His. I breathe in that knowingness as often as my one strong lung can inhale His Grace.
Each day of this week is a Gift from God beyond compare, and to Him I give thanks and praise for the love that cascades all around me.
