go, go now

and see this movie!

http://www.u23dmovie.com/

we saw it last night, and it is AMAZING. from the moment it started 'til it ended 80 minutes and 15 earth-shattering songs later, i was grinning from ear to ear. (all the while wearing goofy 3d glasses, i might add.) you couldn't get any closer to bono, the edge, larry, and adam if you were a psychotic stalker...which this experience might just entice you to be. if you want to know what it feels like to be the world's greatest rock stars, looking out over a crowd of tens of thousands, look no further.

if ever i had my doubts before (though i'm pretty sure i didn't), i don't anymore: U2 is the greatest band ever. their songs speak truth in a way that is SO powerful. and they use their power for good.

the years shall run like rabbits

joshua and i awoke together to the beauty of this, one of my very favorite poems, being read on the radio this morning:

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

-As I Walked Out One Evening
by W. H. Auden

happy leap day, everyone!

of influenza & eclipses

well, i managed to catch it...the respiratory flu from hell. i've had it for almost a full week now. i know, i know, you're asking, "em, why on earth would you want to catch that?" funny you should ask. maybe because i was beginning to take the simple things like, say, breathing for granted. maybe because i wanted to test my new husband's mad nursing skills. maybe because i thought it was my chance to win the local snoring competition with what josh has dubbed my sickie "death rattle". whatever the case, i'm beginning to think i might actually survive it... if i don't accidentally hack up my lungs, that is.

in the haze of an otherwise fever-filled week, there was a full lunar eclipse last night. we had a perfect view of it from our deck. while watching "tommy boy" together for the first time, josh and i ran outside every ten minutes or so to check the progress, and were able to watch the moon disappear. what must people have thought before there was a scientific explanation for what we witnessed?

i really love the moon. my first published poem, written when i was about 4, was about the moon. i've often thought that if i weren't a christian, i'd be a moon worshipper. it's even cooler though to think that the same god who created the moon created me too.

that blurry amoeba of light in the sky (no, not josh) is the almost fully eclipsed moon.

sharing germs

my funny valentine

how i do love joshua, my "billy soy" (silly boy)!

nice tan there, paco!

coffee makes him CRAAAZY!

the little-known 5th teletubby: joshy woshy

the "GQ" series

josh joyce

happy valentine's day!

catherine

continuing on in the family portraits...

this is catherine, my big sister, or my "cc", as i call her. i won't tell you her middle name, where the cc comes from, because i don't think she really cares for it too much. (sorry, mom. i like mine.) we are the closest in age of all the siblings, and therefore, have probably spent the most time together.

when i was a wee thing, catherine was my self-appointed second mom. if i got cheeky and anyone threatened to discipline me, teenage catherine would jump between, warning "OH NO YOU DON'T!" she has undoubtedly saved me from many a sore butt. for that, i'd like to take a moment to formally thank her... THANK YOU! heehee.

she has a very strong sense of justice, but also a gift for mediation--common to the middle child in a family. she is extremely nurturing and defends those whom she loves fiercely, like a lionness. i can always count on her to be my most honest critic, as well as my most loyal advocate.

the two of us share an, umm, "extreme cleaning & organizing" gene. it's handed down to us by a looong line of germans before us. we really can't help it. we also share a love for words and books, which i wrote about earlier in the post about our mom. again, do NOT challenge this woman to a "friendly" game of scrabble. i repeat...do NOT.

with a little prompting, my usually conservative sister can be convinced to do some ridiculous things. (of course, it probably helps that she's married to one of the most hilarious men on earth.) once we walked her family's two dogs around their golf community in the freezing rain...skipping merrily and wearing shower caps. LMAO! there are photos documenting this, for those of you who might require proof. unfortunately (or fortunately, as catherine might be thinking), i do not have digital files of said photos.

catherine loves jesus, and has strived to rear my two nephews, jacob and sam, to be godly men. they are some of my favorite boys, and i will write about them another time. ;o)

i love you, cc.

p.s. i stand corrected. she tells me she likes her middle name, carlene (after our grandpa, carl); she just dislikes the way southerners say it: "caar-laaaane". well, ah'll be.... :o)

jessica

from left to right: elizabeth, em, & jessica

it's hard not to lump the three of us smoyer sisters into one big bundle of mercy and mischief: the three amigas, the three musketeers, the three piratesses...YARRRR! (i should mention here that there is a fourth smoyer sister as well, suzy. we're sad because she lives far away.) but this one's for you, jess!

jessica (or jess, jessie, or sicca, depending on whom you're talking to) is the second eldest of the smoyer siblings, after josh and before keith and adam. this, by definition, means that she is a survivor, much stronger than her tiny frame and delicate beauty suggest. she survived three rough-housing brothers, and from what i hear, even managed to subdue them with her sheer force of will sometimes! can we say small but mighty? :o)

jess is mighty of heart as well. she loves people in tangible ways. she and her husband, gus, have opened their home and their lives to be shared by a succession of folks whom god has brought their way. that's right--they have a commune! (did i mention that jess can garden?) when mama d needed a place to stay while recovering from her accident, jess and gus remodeled a room for her in their home, and selflessly took on the role of nurse/companions for many months.

one of the qualities that i love most about jessica is that she strives to be real and open...real in her pursuit of god and his word, real in her struggles, real in her conversations with others, real in whatever circumstance she finds herself. it is always refreshing and challenging to have a one-on-one conversation with jess. and, like jesus, she accepts and loves you for exactly where you are, while still wanting the best for you.

i could really go on & on. just one more thing though...last but not least, she is one SASSY, sexy mama! and she can DANCE... i'm talking belly dancing here, people! if you ever need to get your party on, jess is a sure bet for hilarious good times. whew...she makes me laugh.

i couldn't love you any more if you were my own flesh & blood, jess.