{pretty, happy, funny, real} birthdays, office lunches, Texas small towns and more!

| a weekly capturing of contentment in everyday life |

A few photos to practice contentment this week

| pretty |

Friends' Daytrip to Hye, Texas

Our dear friends, Shaun & Katie, celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary last weekend by inviting us to join them for a deliciously delightful afternoon in charming Hye, Texas.  I spent the day regretting I'd ever said Texas wasn't beautiful because this day was prettier than most I've seen in my life.  The temperature, was perfect - with no humidity or bugs. The company, food and wine impeccable. The Hye Market is located in the historic Hye Post Office (still operating).  The food was good, but being surrounded by all the marvelous old wood and tin was even better.  And the winery! Totally charming, relaxed, hospitable.  We enjoyed live music and hours of sweet conversation.  Totally our kind of day.  (Thanks, friends. A long & blessed marriage to you!)

| happy |

I had a birthday

Hello, my name is Tamara.  I am 45 years old.  I want to go to Ireland before I die (or this summer, whichever comes first.) I am kind of happy to be this age, but not entirely sure.  I'll keep you posted.  

| fun(ny) |

 

Kendra has a birthday

This is my daughter Kendra, who for the last 20 years has celebrated her birthday the day after her momma.  We try to make it special and her own.  We told her we'd have a special dinner for her when she got home for spring break and asked if she'd like to invite a few friends.  

She said that, yes, she would.  They were more than happy to come and celebrate with us.  (see below for Kendra and some of her BFFs)

Party games included dollhouses, skateboarding and hanging out in the ENO we gave Kendra for her birthday.  And it was a delightful party, indeed.

Happy Birthday, Kendra! from Tamara Hill Murphy on Vimeo.

| real |

I left work just as Sixth Street was gearing up for SXSW. Providential timing?

Snapped this pic on my way out of the lobby of my office building my last day
(being admired, apparently, by a SXSW tourist)

This and a few photos of my kids were all I brought home from my desk: a hearty succulent I hardly ever watered, a Princess Buttercup bobble-head and my signature letter T.

My last day of working in downtown Austin

For two-and-a-half years I've worked at a digital marketing agency in downtown Austin.  I probably will always giggle when I say that because, honestly, it's not a place (city or company) I ever imagined working.  When I drove away Wednesday afternoon, I started crying instead.  Tears of pure gratitude.  Living in this city is expensive, and we landed here at a financially vulnerable time with four kids in the college years.  It took me awhile to find someone in Austin who would believe that I could do good work.  And, this company filled with mostly twenty-something, urban-savvy media geniuses welcomed my grey-hair, Bible-reading, Jesus-living momma type.

Before moving here, I wouldn't have guessed that some of my best friends in this city would be people with such different social, educational, religious and political backgrounds as myself. I told them that I could write a book from all the things they taught me (the stuff I'm able to repeat in polite society, anyway).  I told them that they had become so dear to me, and that I'd be praying for them.  And I will.

They sent me out with the same kind of hospitality in which they'd received me: free lunch, a couple of beers, breakfast tacos and Austin-famous doughnuts.  I hope I can be as kind to the people I meet in Connecticut as they have been to me. At the same time, I sincerely hope to not have to work the 9-to-5 life ever again.  I'd love to go out with this happy ending.

Have YOU captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |

{pretty, happy, funny, real} in a season of abundant celebrations, part 3

| a weekly capturing of contentment in everyday life | 

We've had a couple of quieter weeks since the last update - only an 18th birthday and a college graduation to celebrate! (I jest.  There was nothing *only* about either event!) After the graduation ceremony last weekend, Brian said "OK, that's all the celebrations until the wedding, right?"  I said "Right!" Pause. "Oh, wait. What about Christmas?" 

(Here's part 1 and part 2 recapping this season of milestone celebrations for our family.)

A few photos to practice contentment the past 2 weeks

| Natalie's 18th Birthday |

Natalie Turns 18

I've never met anyone who counts down the days to their birthday like our youngest child.  If we could bottle the commitment and focus she employs in the weeks leading up to December 8th, we would (maybe) be able to pay her upcoming college tuition.  It helps that a few of her good friends celebrate birthdays during the same week - turning it into a seven or ten day extravaganza.  Brian and I try to do our part and then get out of the way!  

And there was a tatoo event.  Parents of small children, listen up.  You get through another day telling your kid "You have to wait until you're such-and-such an age to do this or that."  Well the days tick by, and behold, they turn such-and-such an age.  Natalie was the first to take us up on the "Not until you're 18".  As the youngest of four,  being the first at anything is a well-accomplished goal.  We celebrated the tattoo with her.  I humbly share with you her explanation for the design in this post at her brave blog: Where I've been lately

| Rebekah's Graduation from UNT |

Bekah and her perfectly-fitting tribute to her marvelous parents, Bernie & Jodi Cummins

Rebekah's graduation from the University of North Texas

This girl finished her bachelor's degree a semester early (while planning a wedding) and graduated Summa Cum Laude with Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

We are proud of her - for the degree, of course - but also for the way she chose to be fully present to relationships and community while dating our son who lived 5 hours away in Houston for their entire college career (which means almost all of their dating years).  Over the celebration brunch, I told Bekah that when we first met her we liked her right away.  But it wasn't until their first semester of college -- she in Denton, TX and he in Houston -- that we realized she was THE ONE for Alex.  We watched them choose the suffering of distance from each other, while embracing the abundance of learning, community, and experience at their respective schools.  This was a hard decision, and we trust created a fortitude "muscle" that will serve them for the rest of their lives.  

And now we all celebrate the fact that the long-distance years are over!  

  

| Funny |

Graduation day outtakes 

Office Holiday Hijinks

This is the Team Gingerbread House Competition.  The above photo shows the winning team's entry.  The photo below is my team's entry. If you knew the reputation my team has in our office, this would not surprise you in the least.  My contribution was the magnetic poetry, of which I'm a teensy bit proud.

A few of the artistic types on our team, created a giant holiday mural which also reflects perfectly the general consensus on the place religion has in this month's holidays. Of course, I'd heard of Festivus, but never the 'FSM'.  The symbol and acronym represent the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and is a real-ish sort of thing (as real as satire, anyway.)  The adherents of FSM (also known as Pastafarianism) are gathered together by "a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools." 

Well, happy holidays to us all, I suppose.

| Real |

Making the annual friends and neighbors gifts: Holiday Potpurri

ADVENT Daybook 2015

Not having the opportunity to discover FSM, our family quietly marks the days of Advent with candles, Scripture, hymns and prayer. I've curated another series of Daybook posts, and am ever grateful to discover several others who have been encouraged by the series as well.  This means more to me than I can describe.  

May our humble searching for the One who has come and will certainly come again lead us past symbols, acronyms, and religious protest to the very present, ever-near Emmanuel.  Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas to you all, good friends.

Have YOU captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |

{pretty, happy, funny, real} daily bread

| a weekly capturing the contentment in everyday life |

I'm still not sleeping well, but Brian and I aren't fighting much at all any more.  We even like each other again and think we might make it to our 25th anniversary in November. Even though we don't know much of our future yet, there is a hope that it will be together.  As the Seder song teaches us to pray: "it would be enough". 

I am intending before the Father, Son and Spirit, before my tribe, and before you, dear reader, to take each glimpse of what and who and where our future becomes as a morsel of manna.  To receive it as enough, resist the urge to hoard up piles of glimpses and plans that will surely spoil just as that sweet bread did in the wilderness.  I will receive the daily provision of the Father as enough.  And trust that tomorrow there will be enough again. Because our Father is good and does not give his children stones when they ask for bread.  He gives enough in the right time.   

So we are not feasting on dreams and plans here, but we are fed with hope and little glimmers of ideas and sweet encouragement from God's people. 

I walked through a few puddles around the neighborhood today after last night's rain (blessed, blessed returning rain!) and it struck me as I pondered manna and long-awaited rainfall that this is probably the essence of Ordinary Time. We are fed with our daily bread. It's one of the first great lessons we learned and newlyweds, and it's been our theme for almost 25 years, thanks be to God.

It is good and it is enough.

Here's a few snapshots of contentment the past week.

| pretty |

gift eggs

Brian brought this goodness home from work on Tuesday.  A sweet woman dropped them off during Ladies' Bible Study.  Almost too pretty for breakfast -- but not quite.

| happy |

a few happy gifts during a disappointing week

While we get our bearings in the middle of some uncertainty, I'm so grateful for sweet gifts.  
1.  Friday night candle-lit Scrabble, antipasto and wine
2.  Saturday morning coffee on the patio at Thunderbird Cafe
3.  Reading nursery rhymes to my niece and nephew on Google hangout.  It was basically an excuse to look at Richard Scarry illustrations.

| funny |

office pranks

So I have this mug I purchased at Goodwill.  It sits on my desk and makes me happy with it's sunshiny yellow.  I was gone for a bit and came back to the scene of a coffee mug hostage crisis thanks to a couple of rather clever pranksters.  Honestly, I might have sat at my desk for a whole week or more without ever realizing that thing was actually hanging over my head. Well played, friends.  Well played.

| real|

Texas unfiltered

This is kind of funny, too.  On Saturday, with a whole day free, I got it in my head that we should drive to San Marcos to the mega, gigantic, infamous retail outlet complex I'd heard so much about.  Now, it's taken me four years to even consider this sort of endeavour, but on a recent trip through the Austin airport some kind soul welcomed us back home by stealing our extra-large, crammed-full-of-most-of-our-worldly-possesions suitcase.  We're not exactly closet wealthy, so a week's trip means the majority of our good clothing and personal items were in that suitcase.  Anyway, long story short, outlet shopping seemed a proper way to see the sights and replenish our wardrobes.  Long story shorter:  we drove in bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-35 for close to an hour in 100+-degree heat with the sputtering air conditioning in our secondary vehicle (since our daughter had our better vehicle on a road trip to visit her sister).  We crawled inch by inch through the chaotic parking lot of the outlet arcade finding no parking, no shade and, unbelievably unhappy people.  Well, we did the only natural thing to do in that sort of situation and headed right back out the exit to the nearest country route we could find.  We ended up discovering an off-off road thrift sale in a 75-year-old deaf man's yard.  His name was Ernie, and he told us he felt it was time to start letting go of his life-long habit of collecting old things.  We stood and sweated in his yard and his garage, looking through his things.  Then I took this picture, and we ran back to our air conditioning and sped on down the road.  This, my friends, is my kind of shopping day.  I'll have to figure out another way to clothe ourselves.  

Have you captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |