la coiffure

fred made me do it.

love one another deeply,
from the heart.

1 peter 1:22

ahhh, to be around
jess’s table on
a wednesday morning.

her cheeriest door

who knew it was as simple
as naming it ‘local’?

the institutional genius
of fairway strikes again;
they solved the bread aisle debacle.

too good to be true?

just wait until you’re there.

you can almost hear
the angels singing
as you peruse the brioche.

ps -
gospel in life ch 2 last night
with fellowship group,
righteous vs. self-righteous.

considering the immense
love of Christ leads to
grateful, restful joy.

thank you, friends, for another
eager and gentle night together.

specialthanks to judy {piano}
and amy & nate {sm group leading}

bernhard
grace l
grace c
hisaya
judy
joyce
cory
henrycarolinebetsynathan {for worship & the first part}
shannon
john
amy
nate
joy
nick
carter
ang
keely
christina

on following christ

francis chan on philippians 1:27-31

thanks, cindy, for this &
for leading us this morning.

in defense of my train of thought

okay,
okay,

re: the scads of
sound-of-music
quotes
we’ve heard since our
mountaintopchristmascard…

can i at least tell you what
i was thinking?

our last family christmas card
was this snap from 72nd & riverside
circa. december 2007:

photocredit: our sweet juliaeagan
photo asst. {holding our coats}: megsie

so after our watermelon-y picnic
on the mountaintop,
before we hopped on the ski lift
to head back down for some alpineslide fun,

daddy was about to take a picture
of our fam and in onesplitsecond,
i thought,
‘hey, same spots as the last one!’

so we tried to remember who was in
what order & this is what we came up with:

so, yes,
the hill may be alive
with the sound of cates-es,

but it originated on
the grittybeautifulasphalt streets
we love dearly.

rpc, wbs & csny

always the hilight of our week,
fellowship group.

‘…the Holy Spirit uses [the scriptures] to form Christ in us.
we are not interested in knowing more
but in becoming more.’

eugene peterson, eat this book


bicycle + pencil skirt [does not equal] love;
lesson learned.

still a beautiful morning for womens bible society &
praying about how to spread God’s word
throughout nyc.

city seminary, baby.

mazel tov

n’s first bar mitzvah today;
mazel tov, adam.

cory walks him to
the synagogue
through the
first snow of 2012.

the morning’s labors were
cheerfully spent toiling at the
cates/morgan snowball factory.

three girls playing horses +
c lounging,
a gentle saturday morning.

glory + gratitude

to Thee our morning song of praise,
to Thee our evening prayer we raise;
Thy glory suppliant we adore
for ever and for evermore.

-ambrose

i’m pinch-me-i’m-dreaming grateful
for our new bedroom;

the space
to think,
to create,
to play,
two! windows-to-the-outside-world,

i’m stunned at the luxury.

ps -
did i mention there’s a permanent spot
for my sewing machine on my desk
in our room?!

ridiculously grateful.

now,
to improve my sewing skills…

a mighty + complete work

may the LORD teach you
how precious Christ is
and what a mighty + complete work
He has done for our salvation.

may the LORD teach you
all your need for the Holy Spirit,
to
renew,
sanctify +
quicken your souls.

-j c ryle,
‘the duties of parents’

our wise chess teacher,
imploring b to remember that chess is
‘a war, betsy, a war!’

[in his wonderful turkish accent;
i find myself calling it a
beeship in solidarity with r]

secret maternal smile:
she worked her
queen + knight into some
sittingpretty positions.

{black king is in the lowerleft,
h8 spot}

‘checkmate’ sounds the same
in turkish & english.

on love + compassion

for as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

as a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

psalm 103:11-13

the words of encouragement
from sunday morning’s service
9:15a
ethical cultural society
64th + cpw

jess, amy + regan

j’s apple-ish handiwork

shall we settle?

a record-setting
fourteen infant baptisms
on sunday morning,
strong work, david.

hooray for ichiro [lin]

may the God of all grace
saturate your heart
through and through, lovey*.

snuggled in between these two,
listening to tim’s ridiculouslygood
sermon on marriage,
what a morning.

i can’t believe you’re
twelve.

iloveyousomuch,njc.

ellie, our jedi-in-training

[i bet they never thought of
this move]

blackjack with daddy

it was a mere twenty degrees
on sunday,
crisp+freezing.

cory’s weekday turf

11 madison,
home-away-from-home

cory + caroline
crossing 23rd toward me
with bookshelf materials in hand,

and look at the bldg to the right.

one of our favorites.

see the name?

‘the caroline’

[one of] the way[s] to my
husband’s heart;
chicken-falling-off-the-bone
chicken-in-the-dutch-oven-for-4-hrs
scrumptious chicken + veg

a special day, mlk day.

thankyou, boys!

bedroom shelves,
breathe in, breathe out.

ps – knock off this
mirror for my bedroom?
yesplease.

via vivian

*remind me to ask j for
the words he prayed over
sweet i – they were stunning.

he thinks he said:

‘this is ichiro takahashi lin.

david asked me to baptize him because he can’t
pronounce his name.

ichiro is first son in his generation on both sides of the family,
which is why we named him ichiro, which in Japanese means “first son.”

ichiro takahashi lin,

i baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, Spirit.

may God’s grace dwell upon you richly.
may you grow in knowledge, love, wisdom and fear of the Lord.

and may you come to know and
experience the grace of Jesus Christ our savior, God’s true “first
son.’

amen & amen.

good q.

am i looking at anyone else
with any kind of envy?

am i giving in to any of even
the first motions
of lust, of gluttony?

am i spending my time on urgent things
rather than important things?

am i being
driven
by
Christ’s beauty

or by fears,
need for approval,
love of comfort + ease,
hunger for acclaim,
the ‘fear of man’?

-tim
‘disciplines of spirituality’

top shelf, baby.

i pay top dollar for
the finest painters
in the biz.

ps -
a winter’s evening playlist?
charles trenet on pandora

that gentle, humble heart

come to Me
all you who are
weary
and
heavy burdened
and
I
will give you
rest.

take my yoke upon you
and
learn
from
Me

for I am
gentle.

and
humble.

in heart.

and you.will.find.
rest
for your
souls.

-jesus

thanksbetoGod +
happy saturday night.

kissesmillionsofkisses to henry in rhode island,
kisseshugs to the whole hinzman fam.
mamacates loves you. xo

on psalm 28

i loved seeing caroline @ fg last night,
with bernhard, nick + cory
to one side
and
jeff + nate
to the other,

surrounded by godly men
pondering + discussing
God’s Word.

a blessing, to be sure.

may His words penetrate your heart
quickly
deeply +
exclusively, sweetheart.

ps -
fg dessert?
apple/pear sharlotka
thankyou, smitten kitchen.

nary a crumb left on the cakestand.

pps – ricky g + stephen m + jd =
‘life’s too short’

nobody makes fun of tim allen
on my watch and gets away with it.
-j depp

ppps -
five sentence email responses.

of settling + runwayshows.

my fav face of j’s,
right after i robbered her,
ouch.

playmobil robber-man,
an exciting addition to settlers.

know the houserule j+a taught us?

at the end of the game,
the losers have to say,
‘all hail the Lord of Catan’
3x
in the winner’s honor.

ez was the announcer,
lyd, c + b were the models,
fashionshow, baby.

even ama got in on the
grand finale.

 

bible study

bible study with em

meanwhile, henry cooked dinner
for all of the girls to eat
after study.

bananas a la henry =
fancystyle.

what God said:
moses, go to egypt.
moses, i made you.

what the people said:
eh, i’m scared.
i can’t do this.

and a fun bit of sewing
at the end.

lovely.

 

on frozen ‘gifts’

twelfth night party
w/ elders + pastors + wives

white elephant gift exchange
with 50 numbers in the pot?

love it.

thanks, missy + bruce.

on back-pocket-bibles

Holy Lord, we are guilty of pride + unbelief,
of failure to find your mind in your Word,
of neglect to seek you in our daily lives.

our violations and shortcomings present our
consciences with a long list of accusations,
but they will not stand!
for we lay them all now on Christ,
our sacrifice + advocate.

Lord, subdue our weakness and selfishness,
granting us grace to live above them.
let us not be mastered by them,
but have you rule over us in liberty + power.

we praise + thank you for your wisdom and love.
deliver us from every evil habit,
everything that dims the brightness of
your
grace
in
us,
everything that prevents us from taking
our deepest delight in you.
amen.

-prayer of confession
5pm service
8 january 2012
scott c led us in worship

the girls, honor and i
were sitting behind the
boys, ezra + nate
for worship and
i was thinking how much
i love those men in front of me,
esp cory’s broad shoulders
and the bible in his back pocket.

ps -
nathan got to go with
carrie, em + kwes to
a shakespeare comedy show
last night and it apparently
was hilarious.

[we prodded n to recount
most of it to us over a
late-night bowl of cereal,
brilliantly funny stuff]

and c was still cracking up
at the gym this morning,
hours later.

love it.

pps -
as we prepare to move into
redeemer’s new building,
150w83,
we will miss first baptist.
and
ethical culture.
and
all of the places that
have hosted us in the past;

thankyou.

go, joe!