A Bird's Eye View

Friday, January 7, 2011

He's crazy, and I love him.

Our wedding website is now up!
www.weddingwire.com/hudsonandrobin

Thursday, December 2, 2010

What Good Is One Glove Without The Other?

Hudson proposed, and I said yes! For your viewing pleasure I have uploaded a picture of our rings made from Birch and Tropical Walnut from Africa. Wonderfully simple and warm.

Also, a video of how he proposed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj-1HVg8mjU

I like this new feeling of security in our relationship...it is just right. I'm glad God asks us to join in a covenant that is reflective of his covenant with us. I am excited to learn more about God's love through our married life.

I am still daily going through this little process of shock: Am I really engaged? Yes, I'm Engaged. AH! ENGAGED! I wonder if I'll ever get used to it.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I Remember You...

This morning it was dark and rainy, and after driving with Neutral Milk Hotel playing through my speakers, I got to work feeling like I had had a good conversation with an old friend. I long for familiarity in my life. Familiar things like the sherbet orange gecko who, without fail, greets me by the front door when I come home at night. Or Sunday morning coupon-cutting dates with Hudson at the nearest waffle-house. Consistency keeps us sane in an ever-morphing world. Just think about how much people still talk about weather. The seasons are the same, and they always come, but if the weather falls out of it's typical rhythm, we are quick to complain - we have certain expectations, you know.

The reason I bring this up is because I hope you can find peace in those little consistencies. That gecko at my door really does make me smile every night - what simple things bring you back to reality? I think we were designed this way - to find great joy and comfort in something we've seen or felt before. It creates a pattern in our otherwise chaotic lives - little anchor points that remind us another day has been completed.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

You Are A Soul

Creation of Light, John Martin

"You don't have a soul, You are a soul, you have a body." - C.S. Lewis. This was a quote posted on my boyfriend's status recently. I really like it. Really, our bodies just give us something to look at while we're interacting. True relationships are built soul to soul. I sometimes wonder why God even created bodies for us, he could've just breathed a bunch of spirits to walk upon the earth. And this may sound weird, but recently I have been picturing people without bodies when I talk to them. Yes, that is what my reflection of this quote has come to. But, it helps me see everyone differently and keeps me focused the inner soul and not what I'm looking at. I picture a really abstract wisps of light and color - actually more like contour lines that are flaming, ah! which I won't go into (cause I only think Haley would be interested in my visual interpretations) - but it reminds me that I have come in contact with something other than just another one of those bodies walking over this earth that isn't me. I'm talking with something that isn't confined to form or mass, but fully spiritual that is going to keep burning past its body's death. Think what you may about my methods, but I just thank God I can imagine things that cannot be seen with my eyes.

And really, I think God created us with minds that can imagine supernatural images, because they do exist. God has just created things that we can't see, but our souls often feel them, and sometimes our minds can see them. I mean, if I was created in the image of God, I was also made to think in ways that are beyond the materials of this world. As an artist, I know that God has given me more than paint and charcoal to create, cause he used more than just the physical when he created us. Just like I have paints and those paints are various colors that I mix to make an art piece, God uses some un-named medium with its various categories (colors) that he mixes to make a personality, a character, a passion. I can't wait to learn the names of things that I can't see, or that I have no knowledge of. Really...God is working with mediums that we can't even name! Love it.

Hope I didn't lose you at the end there...I wish there was someone on the carpet next to me who could just bask in this mystery with me right now. Those are my favorite kind of conversations.

Monday, August 16, 2010

"I watch it so I can start conversations"

I was watching The Book of Eli, an apocalyptic movie that just hit my Netflix new release list. It was hard to watch, and in fact I only made it past the first few scenes. After the first woman was raped, I couldn't imagine watching two full hours of similar occurrences. I started asking, "What was the purpose of this movie again?" If I was placed in the time of Judges, I'm sure reality would have been similar to this movie, and I bet critics will try to align The Book of Eli with the same purpose of the Old Testament. However, I think you would have to be very creative to convince me they were parallel. The Old Testament is a collection of many accounts of man's journey through disobedience, judgment, and redemption. Does the Book Of Eli have that same purpose? I think it would be a stretch, because The Book Of Eli only cycles through man's disobedience, one painful scene after the other. I'm guessing this film on it's own could not support a redemptive conclusion.

When you watch a film that's purpose is to show you reality with no limits (by "no limits" I mean uncensored language, scenes, content) - like The Book Of Eli, Crash, or Requiem for a Dream, we continue watching because we're astonished that the people can act so cruelly or fall so hard. We're so shocked that there is some reality to it. We just can't believe someone would make a movie about this! So we keep watching. These movies make our stomachs knot, our hearts ache, and sometimes we're caught thinking like the criminals. And I think we sometimes explain to ourselves - well if I watch these actors having sex, killing people, snorting drugs, hitting their kids, then I can appreciate how much better my situation is - or it will make me never try those sins -or I can reach people with this good conversation starter - or it will help me understand the struggles of this generation. Well, I would beg to say the the gravity of entertaining our minds with these kind of scenes is much more destructive than your conversations afterward will be redemptive. You don't have to sink yourself deeper in the mud to appreciate God's cleansing. I think we too often justify our harsh words, our filthy movies, and are dirty music with the claim of it being "honest." We proudly defend this entertainment claiming it's true to reality - and that anyone willing to admit that reality sucks has guts. But I think we tend to dwell on the wrong reality. There is a reality that says our world is fallen and imperfect, but we are called to live in the reality to come, God's reality.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Here is a sampling of my most recent photos from my photo blog. I share the blog with my best friend and artist, Haley Manning. Check it out sometime!