New Lullaby

New on the list of "to-learn" for when I sing babies to sleep!

It Is Well With My Soul

This hymn is a favourite of mine, mainly because of what it says. The lyrics are very beautiful and full of meaning as to the right attitude towards life. In all things we should rest in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father watches over us and that

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Incongruent House Part 4

...and here's the fourth post of pictures that show how awesome our family life is! Last, but not least.

My Mum enjoys a cuppa before going to bed... or two, or three. I guess she's quite fond of it!

Nina and Rhonda conspiring about something or other... 

My Mum likes to mix my similar socks on purpose. That day I was reading with these socks on and my Dad came to me to tell me something. Instead, he glanced at my socks, then at all the hair clips on my bedpost, picked up two favourite ones and clipped them on my feet. Voilà.

Here's Xoc trying to help me out with my History lessons... (you really can't leave your place for more than five minutes!)

Here I found Rhonda and Blackberry misbehaving.

Ninin pretending to be studious with Daniel's jumper on. 

This must be my favourite. WHO leaves a brick of orange juice in the bathroom?!

Well, hopefully you've enjoyed the series and have had a couple of chuckles. Personally, I'm happy that I have these pictures so that I can laugh on my own for a little bit every time I see them. 

Peace

“Peace … which passeth all understanding.” 

Philippians 4:7

Jehovah, how many are they that trouble me, many they that rise up against me! (...) But thou, Jehovah, art a shield about me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head. With my voice will I call to Jehovah, and he will answer me from the hill of his holiness. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for Jehovah sustaineth me.

Psalm 3:1,3-5

Does all trouble find your heart so resting on God as your Father, that when it is multiplied, it leaves your spirit at rest, your sleep sweet, lying down sleeping, and rising as if all was peace around you, because you know God is, and disposes of all things? Is He thus between you and your troubles and troublers? And if He is, what can reach you?

 Pilgrim Portions, selected from the Writings, Hymns, Letters, etc., of J. N. Darby

What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who against us?

Romans 8:31 

Incongruent House Part 3

My sister made these for New Year's Eve, and afterwards no one wanted to eat them because they were too cute! Poor Pingus.

I think I've already mentioned my predilection for socks... :P

Xoc looking at me very innocently. No, his intentions towards the chocolate biscuits aren't obvious...

One day I found my brother's boat shoes like this. I wonder how he took them off...?

For some reason or other someone placed the glue stick in order to keep the wooden blinds from moving, I suppose! 

I cannot help but laugh every time I see this picture. Very sense! Much intelligent.

Part of my family being goofy after discovering that I was trying to take a picture of just how big the lake was...

One more post to come!

December 1st

Written on Sunday 1st December 2013:

December is a month I love... it's finally cold, it makes time at home precious and cozy, and yet, when you go out, you get to use hats and scarves!

At the same time you look forward to a new year coming up soon, you can look back to the beautiful one you've lived, yet another blessed one to add to your life, lived and walked with the Lord.

It is such a combination of quiet and awed thankfulness and bubbly excitement! I can imagine my eyes shining with the feeling of both. How perfect life is! 

How do you feel about December?

Incongruent House Part 2

As promised, here are several more pictures that show a glimpse of what it is like to live with my family.

This little stowaway hid in my hood for some time before I realized he was there!

One Saturday morning I entered my Mum's bedroom and saw this scene unfold before my eyes on my parents' bed: the valiant Porridge mounting on his elegant steed Xoc confronting the dangerous Iupi.

Just another normal, everyday lunch...

"Colze" means "elbow" in Catalan.  My Mum thought it hilarious to place her elbow on it to show what it meant, just in case someone might miss the meaning. :P

I don't remember when I did this... maybe a couple of years ago when we were studying Analysis for Math. The thing is that it looked so pretty and I had had such fun doing it that I took a picture of it once I finished it. 

One early Autumn day I went out for an afternoon walk. Xoc insisted on coming with me, so I couldn't say "no". What choice does one have when Xoc looks at you with those melting brown eyes?

There are still two more posts coming up, so stay tuned!

Incongruent House Part 1

Now that the wedding pictures are finished and sent, I have had more time to dedicate to personal projects and obligations. One of these has been getting my external HD Passport in order (I am very picky about everything having its own spot and everything being classified).

When I came to classify all the photography accumulated throughout seven years I found several pictures that just about show what kind of a family we are: a bunch of crazy, chaotic (some soon-to-be) engineers. As the saying runs, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will leave you to judge for yourself. [grin]

However, as I have lots of pictures, I will post them by parts.

One day I entered my bedroom just to find my rabbit Ninin trying my summer shoes on.

The paper reads "How NOT to fall asleep in the middle of reading a book". 

Making good use of our whiteboard during Saturdays...

Fashionable mandarin...

Elephant mandarin, my Dad's specialty.

Hum... not sure what happened there. He lost his face among the teddy bears.

Leopard socks... my Mum knows my predilection for sock that are out-of-the-normal-ish. 

More to come soon! :D

Memories

I've just found the pictures I took of the design I painted on my school bag when I went back to public school. It seems like yesterday, but it was really five years ago... wow.

I wish I could design things like this again!

Perseverance For Food

Talk about having patience, eh?

Expresiones Colombianas

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity of leafing through an old traveling notebook. I had left it in Romania back in August due to luggage limitations, and while I was there in October I took the chance to look through all the chaotic lists, cluttered ideas and random phrases scattered on the pages throughout it. Need I say I re-lived past situations and laughed over funny memories? I found some treasures in there and tore several pieces of papers so that I could take them back home with me.

One of these treasures was a list of Colombian expressions I wrote down during my stay in Colombia. The ladies and the girls I spent my time with during my trip there used idioms I had never heard of before, or idioms that I had only heard from my Colombian friends. I started writing down the ones I didn't know, and one day I had Raquel sit down with me over a cup of tinto and define them for me. I ended up writing a small dictionary of Colombian idioms, a small sample of which I leave you here.

• BACANO: palabra que indica que algo es divertido, que gusta, que "mola".
• CHÉVERE: ver bacano.
• CHINAMENTA: conjunto de chinas.
• CHINO/CHINA: muchacho o muchacha.
• CHUSCO: de buen parecer.
• ¡GUÁCALAS!: expresión de asco ante una cosa desagradable.
• HECHO UN OCHO: caótico, confuso.
• ¡PREPÁRESE UN TINTO!: expresión de aviso de que lo que sucederá a continuación será impresionante o impactante
• SACAR LA PIEDRA: hacer enfadar, dar rabia.
• SARDINA: muchacha adolescente.
• SALIR CON UN CHORRO DE BABAS: hacer el ridículo cuando algo sale mal.

I pray that someday I will be able to go back and continue discovering expressions...

Aaawww

There's a polar bear running towards me! *x*

My Brother Loves Me...

...and because my hair is curly, and quite the picture when I get up, he came to me one day and said,  

"Look, Anna! This is you at 7 a.m.!"

Rima XVI

Si al mecer las azules campanillas

de tu balcón

Crees que suspirando pasa el viento

murmurador,

Sabe que oculto entre las verdes hojas

suspiro yo.

Si al resonar confuso a tus espaldas

vago rumor

Crees que por tu nombre te ha llamado

lejana voz,

Sabe que entre las sombras que te cercan

te llamo yo.

Si te turba medroso en la alta noche

tu corazón

Al sentir en tus labios un aliento

abrasador,

Sabe que, aunque invisible, al lado tuyo

respiro yo.

- Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

For Your Enjoyment

Easy listening music has always been a favourite of mine - it doesn't have words, you can play it in low volume, you don't have to pay attention to it, and yet it makes your work easier by creating a pleasant and cheerful atmosphere.

For your enjoyment, I shall present you with a few of my favourites:

This is just a quick selection... I have so many folders and collections I could not choose one song from each! Hope you like 'em.

Where God Is

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

Deuteronomy 4:39

Where is God? Unbelievers sometimes ask it contemptuously, while believers ask it when overwhelmed by tragedy, trial and sorrow. Where is God? Let the Bible tell you.

God is above His people:  "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."

Psalm 91:1-4

Beneath His people: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them."

Deuteronomy 33:27

Before His people: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."

Exodus 13:21

Behind His people: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left"

 Isaiah 30:21

Around His people: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Psalm 34:7

With His people: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Isaiah 41:10

"(...) and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Matthew 28:20

And within His people: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

John 14:23

Be assured that whatever your circumstance God is above, beneath, before, behind, around, with, and within you.

-W. Ross Rainey

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,

God will take care of you. -Civilla D. Martin

For a very long time this November 25th's Daily Reading (I have no idea from what year... 2008-2009 or so, I think) has been kept in my Bible as a reminder of the Lord's care for us and His presence in a believer's life. As an added thought, I penned down back then Acts 17:28, the first part of which says, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." I read this small piece of paper about a week ago again, and was so very encouraged by it that I told myself I should share it.

I hope it may also be of use and encouragement to any reader that happens to be visiting!

Typerwriter Symphony Orchestra

Yesssssss! I should learn how to play the typerwriter!

Brand Logos and Watermarks

Yay, peoples, I've finally finished designing my brand! [hugesmile]

This is how it's gonna look for now. I am satisfied with the results, but I'm sure that in time I will change it when I get a more definite idea of what I want.

Tell me what you think about it. I used the colours I wanted - red, black and white (grey included in the last two [grin]). I wanted the name to be in two circles, although at first I wanted it to be in between them and not touching both. I liked the result of the second when I tried it.

I wanted the text to be classy and elegant, but clean and simple, so I went for caps, distinguishing between capitalized and normal in the text with large or small caps. Then, I tried different combinations of the theme colours for the circles, and this one (top) is the one that satisfied me most, even though red for the outside and white for the inside also worked very well when I tried it on a dark background. 

Then I started to play with colours and backgrounds for the watermarks. In the first sample I did (right), I really liked the black on white, extremely disliked the grey on red and the red on grey, and wasn't sure about the white on black.

For the second sample (left), I tried to get out of the theme colours - I really like the pink on black, the dark blue on grey and the orange on white. Not sure how I feel about the white on red.

It seems like I can't get an idea for a good colour for the red background. Any suggestions?

Seashells and Thoughts

On Friday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and drove to the beach for a walk with my dear Aunt, who is visiting us from England. While there I had time to think, and once home I wrote down the summary of my thoughts.

Excerpt from my book:

I used that opportunity to check for seashells for a project I have in mind. It is quite difficult and discouraging during this time of the year because I need a very specific type, size and shape of seashell, and there aren't that many around (perhaps I found three that met the conditions). (...) 

As I was searching among the piles and groups of shells, I saw several broken ones to which I didn't glance a second time. I was alone, a bit behind the rest of the group, so I had time to think. As I searched and checked for good samples, I realized that during my long "career" as a seashell collector, I had always discarded those shells which were broken or had some imperfection (unless that added to its "interestingness", which was seldom). Immediately I thought of that verse in Isaiah 42:3, the first part of which runs, 

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench."

I was so thankful that moment for the Lord's mercy, for God's love and care towards me in spite of my brokenness and utter imperfection! If He were to follow that other attitude, who would yet live? For "there is none that doeth good, no, not one"! (Psalm 14:3, second part). But praises be to the Father who loved us enough as to send His only Son, who, "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14). We may be broken, full of flaws and sin, but through our Lord's sacrifice we are made perfect!

What love!!! 

I just thought I would share that part of my journal with you... [smile].

Holland's Definitely Got Talent

Magnificent!