Austin

Texas State Capitol

Once upon a time the Texas State Capitol building burnt, and the Texans erected their new dome six feet higher than the country's Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

"Passage" at the Blanton Art Muesuem

Butterflies, made from recycled aluminum cans, are transporting and escorting a plane skeleton.

Blanton Art Museum Piece

"Seepage" by El Anatsui at Blanton Art Museum

"Anatsui celebrates the beauty and possibility found in every day materials. After flattening the aluminum wrappers from local Nigerian-brand liquor bottles and folding their edges, the artist and his team of assistants use copper wire to tie the small strips of metal together. ... The work references the historical importance of alcohol in Africa, where it was an imported product exchanged by colonial traders for ivory, gold, and slaves."

Oak Trees at University of Texas

N. G. interrupted from his fried chicken and mashed potatoes sausage. (Yes, really.)

H.G. and me at Bangers (sausage and beer)

George Washington Carver Museum

Lonnie Johnson was a space engineer and all-around brain who became most famous for inventimg the Super Soak water gun.

Art-o-Mat at the Whole Foods Headquarters

A vintage cigarette vending machine has been re-purposed to dispense local art pieces.

H.G. looking chic at Anthropologie

My fabulous, amazing, spectacular find at Buffalo Exchange

Trader Joe's opened in Austin!

H.G. and I overlooking the Colorado River from Mt. Bonnell

Dusk in Austin

The blur over the trees on the right is a swarm the famed bats which emerge nightly from under the Congress Avenue Bridge.

Add to the Beauty

Sara Groves' song "Add to the Beauty" has been scrolling through my mind of late. When I saw the video below, I thought they made an excellent pairing. Enjoy.

We come with beautiful secrets.
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls.
We come to every new morning
With possibilities only we can hold -- that only we can hold.

Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are.

And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story.
I want to shine with the light
That's burning up inside.

It comes in small inspirations.
It brings redemption to life and work -- to our lives and work.
It comes in loving community. 
It comes in helping a soul find its worth.

This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful.
This is grace, an invitation.

"Add to the Beauty" by Sara Groves and Matt Bronlewee

Birthday Business

Hi Friends,

My birthday is one month from today, and my mother has begun asking about celebrations. These largely center around food in my family, but you may recall that a few years ago I decided to "donate" my birthday to a different organization every year. Here's how it works: no presents, no presumption, and no pressure! "No presents" indicates that I have more than enough "stuff". "No presumption" is included because I feel awkward assuming that people are going to be turning up beaming at my door, arms overflowing with gifts. "No pressure" summarizes that I am going to take advantage of social convention to let you know about causes I consider worth supporting but I don't expect you to contribute. Deal?

So...for 2013 I am participating in a fundraising walk with Zoe, an organization that works to rescue and restore children who have been sex trafficked in Thailand. I'm brand new to a relationship with this organization but have been invited to be a part of the Hope Rising team. Hope Rising is a burgeoning organization in Ventura that will provide a much needed role of training service providers and faith communities to work with survivors of human trafficking. Click here to go to my fundraising page and read more.

Thanks for your time!
Katie

August Adventures

Building Houses

And where does a wise man build his house?

When choosing our crafts for a recent Haiti trip and purchasing supplies, we estimated at about 50 children in attendance. Surprise! We had closer to 150 and soon scrambled for replacement craft ideas. One morning I partially revised our lesson to talk about the parable of the wise man and foolish man who respectively built their houses on rock and sand. We taught the children and translators the song (falling over at the end was a huge hit) and used one of our few remaining craft supplies to construct popsicle stick houses. Well, the children couldn't quite grasp that glue is not instantaneously adhesive, and the popsicle sticks were too large to fit on the curved plates. Plus, we only had a couple of bottles of glue and a handful of glue sticks, so we had to individually glue every child's house. There was confusion and consternation in the ranks! As I was dashing about spurting five dabs of glue onto strange geometric configurations, I doubted the wisdom of this particular theme. Maybe I should have spent more time and come up with a better idea? The craft seemed more frustrating than fun. Then a sweet boy walked over to me beaming and handed me his house. His roof was perfectly angled. He had drawn three windows and a door with a handle. Most importantly, he had the patience and wisdom to let his glue dry! He knew he had completed the assignment well and wanted to gift me with his creation. Friends, I left the church with that plate in my clutches, carefully crammed it into my carry-on, and carted it back to my room in Southern California where I took a picture to remind me of this verse:

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. 

Psalm 127:1

The generous builder on the previous day