hello Monday…spring break edition

hello romps in the mustard, an annual spring tradition the girls have with their cousin.  my sister takes the pictures and then we all shed a tear about how fast they grow from year to year.

hello looking through old photos, isn’t my grandma the most beautiful woman?  seriously, I could look at this all day and daydream about her life as a young woman.  I wish I could have known her then.

hello freshly picked oranges from my parents tree, and hello bags of oranges to take home for eating and juicing and general yumminess.

hello sibling time.

hello birthday boy.

goodbye money.

hello lunch, a trip to Cali doesn’t go by without a stop (or several here).

hello my hubby’s idea of taking pictures of me while I’m telling a fascinating story to my mom, about something terribly engaging I’m sure.  you can see my response…and worry, it’s just pretend anger. 

and hello to us in full spring break mode and loving it, we’ve got projects to do at home and new flooring to order (cue the hallelujah chorus!) and general fun and rest up our sleeves.

what are you saying hello to today?  and….is it spring break where you are?

(linking up with Lisa)

delighting in God: a journey

It was mile five on an unusually warm day. The sun was pouring down and as the sweat rolled our mouths were getting dry. My faithful four footed running companion and I were on a long run and we found ourselves surprised at this turn in the weather. It was unusually warm for February. It was dry, so dry. Where there were normally puddles and natural springs along the trail to quench his thirst, this day there was dust. He ran hard and fast, nose to the ground searching for water, longing for something to quench what must have been unrelenting thirst. Sadly, nothing could be found. We carried on, ever closer to home with no water in sight, but still looking and longing, tongue hanging out, nose sniffing and searching for one little drink. As we finished we found a puddle and he drank deep and long. This simple creature, my dog that runs faithfully by my side was longing for something to satisfy his deep need. Water was all that would sustain him and he was driven, even while still tethered to me, to look and search. I watch him and wonder if I do the same. Do I search for The Water? Do I run hard with my nose to the ground, looking, searching longing? When Jesus meets the woman at the well in the gospel of John, he invites her to drink from the living water, the water that becomes a spring everlasting. And I wonder at myself if I’m driven to find this well, this everlasting and unceasing spring.
I have been a pilgrim, and I did not know it. I have been journeying, searching for that water. I’ve been living in a desert, literally and figuratively for the last five years. On the journey I’ve learned that there is an inner well. Where sagebrush and tumbleweeds mark the landscape and mingle with scraggy juniper, on a desolate landscape I have encountered a spring. It seems barren and desolate but the seasons shift and always, if you search diligently, there is water. And even on the driest of days, though hidden, the well remains.
The refreshing spring is a secret source of joy and contentment, delight even. It’s not found in circumstances, it’s not found in the condition of my life or of my health. It’s not dependent on my pocketbook or the contents of my refrigerator. It’s an inner reserve, a hidden spring. Jesus states it clearly to the woman at the well.

I think the apostle Paul was on to something when he declared in Philippians that he had learned to be content whatever the circumstances. His secret was linked to the condition of his inner well, that spring within him. Paul knew it could only be found in Christ alone. In every situation he looked to Jesus and his strength, that inward turning allowed Paul to be at peace despite desert living. When it is dry and desolate I long to be like my four legged friend, always searching and digging for the water that only comes from God. God’s filling, his presence, his strength are available to me; my access to that is found as I delight in him.
I sense that this year will be a journey to delighting in God. It seems like a cliché to have the word delight as a banner word for the year, but that is where I am. And it seems like the end of March is a bit late to be sharing a word for the year, but I am a slow learner. It has taken time to learn what delight is and how it looks for me in my life right now; I know that I’ve only touched the tip of what this word means to me, of what God intends for me in it.
This year I will be a pilgrim, always journeying closer to Him.  I am diving head first into this word delight, exploring it’s meaning and valiantly trying to find out what it looks like to “delight myself in the Lord.”  I hope to come to the end of the year with a greater understanding of what God meant when he tells me to delight in him, and to fully realize how that impacts my life.

celebrate….it’s spring break!

We’ve been traveling here, there and everywhere. 

But now it’s spring break around these parts!  Doesn’t the weather reflect that?  We woke up to this….and now we’re off and away, hoping to find some more spring like weather. 

This is nice and all, and pretty…but, really?

In other news, I will have a nine year old come Sunday.  I don’t know how these things happen, really I don’t.  All I know is that right now my head can just rest on the top of his head, I’m sure by the end of the year that will change.  And that makes me kind of sad.  He’s growing up and older and much more man like these days.

Happy Spring Break to us, and hopefully to you too.  And hopefully, you’re weather is more springy than ours!

it’s not randomness

“We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance…We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.”

-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

 

Nothing in life is random, there's a purpose and a reason for everything that we encounter. That's the reason for this blog: to capture and remember the not so random occurrences, the rich events that make life what it is. 

Because if you look hard enough you’ll see that God really is in the details, orchestrating every event.  My heart’s desire is to put God’s perspective into everything that I encounter.  Is this hard?  Absolutely.  Can I find God in the midst of sick kids, fights with my husband, bounced checks and all the other mundane things of life?  There is no doubt about it that I can, if I look for him.  He’s there to be found, as long as I’m looking.

My life is one of a searcher, a pilgrim, a traveler who is ever moving closer to what God has intended for me.  I’m so glad you’re hear to join me on the ride!

And because they provide me with countless blogging topics I must show you my little family, I think they’re rather cute-don’t you?

hello

hello new week that leaves me wondering where last one went

hello slow progress as we turn our school room into a library

hello stitch witchery, the closest I may ever get to sewing.  no, I did not take home ec. in high school….I’m grateful for shortcuts and the fact that there is no such thing as pillow police to check my work

hello cuteness

hello us

hello waffles with berries for dinner

and hello to mimi and grampie coming for a visit so Zac and I can getaway this week, just us, four nights, oh yes…it’ll be good

what are you saying hi to this week?

(linking up with Lisa today)

wind

We must wait for God, long and meekly, in the wind and wet, in the thunder and lightning, in the cold and the dark.  Wait, and He will come.  He never comes to those who do not wait.

Frederick Faber

The wind seemed to laugh at the fact that it was just gloriously sunny and warm.  That was yesterday.  All was calm and hopeful.  We could hear spring singing just around the corner, slightly out of sight but coming closer.

And now the fierce wind has brought in even fiercer clouds.  Hail and rain and snow have pummeled down on the rooftops all within a five minutes span of time.

I watch the trees bend sideways, carrot shavings piling up beside me.  I hear the lanterns banging around on the back porch while soup simmers on the stove.  And I wonder at this remarkable change.  How quickly it all can turn.

And in it, in the midst of the storm, the neighborhood girls dance and laugh in the middle of the street.  They are not concerned that their hair is standing straight up in response to the wind, or that the pelting snow is piercing their cheeks already flushed red with cold.  They are impervious, they are flexible.  They laugh at change.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31: 25

And doesn’t life require that?  Even though she taunts us mercilessly, doesn’t change demand a bendable spirit?

But it is hard.  And we don’t like the new and we are afraid.  It’s cold and dark and different.  Whatever excuses we toss out at the storms of life, the changes of life still come. 

There are changes that are negative:  job loss, illness, death, divorce, bankruptcy.  But even in the goodness, there she is; change still comes:  marriage, childbirth, college, new homes, promotions, retirement.  The storms of change still come whether I like them or not.  If I’m prepared or caught unaware, she still waits for me.  Change walks in, runs hard after me.  I cannot escape her.  

And all that I can do is respond to bending to her whims.  To sing in the rain.  To laugh and dance, even though the neighbors think I’m crazy. 

What other choice is there?  To stay the same is to invite a death of sorts.  To live we must embrace the changes, the storms.  Even when we don’t feel like it.  And all at the same time we must keep our eyes on the One who allows changes to come.  There is a safe harbor in the midst of the storm.  And when the snow flies sideways and the hail pounds down and the wind roars I choose trust.  Just as I trust in the shelter of my home, I trust in the shelter of the Almighty.  Trust doesn’t need to know all the answers, trust doesn’t demand an explanation.  Trust is leaning on the only thing that is unchangeable, the everlasting arms.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91: 1-2

hello Monday

hello long bike rides and morning runs

hello daddy styled hair (with the vacuum cleaner, of course)

hello lunch date with my hunky husband

hello comfy thrift store chair, purchased for a major steal

hello school plays and silly girls who leave moms even sillier notes

hello messy up do to combat the extremely high winds we’ve been having

hello drooling dog, waiting to lick up my oatmeal remains

hello to giving new dreams permission to take shape and form, long dates and conversations with a husband will do that….and cause me to say “hello handsome, thank you for giving me permission to pursue new things that seem silly and scary all at the same time.”

hello gray roots and the pursuit to authenticity as I grow out hair that’s been long colored.  this is a strange journey, growing out my hair to whatever it’s natural color is…and I’m sure it’s more gray than anything at this point.  yes Mom, you read that right.  I am growing it out.  yes, I’m young:  barely 34.  but I found my first gray at 18 and it’s gone quickly since then.  and I’m tired of covering it up, tired of maintaining it, tired of dealing with it.  I might grow it all out and realize it makes me look a hundred and color it all over again.  or, I might like it.  it’ll be me, only better, a truer version of myself.  at least that’s what I think.  they’re kind of silver, and that’s pretty…right?

hello new week, and new month, and day light savings time….again.  I hate that lost hour of sleep.  so much so that once I might have adjusted my newborn son’s sleep schedule by 15 minutes each day to make up for it.  I may or may not still get teased about that from a certain male member of my household.  what’s a new mom to do?  he’s still young, nearly 9, but I think he’s going to turn out just fine.

 

hope that you all have a happy week!