Tuesday, January 31, 2012

pinterest

OK so I LOVE pinterest. Every day we have DEAR time at our house. (Drop Everything And Read) It lasts for around an hour right after lunch time. For the first twenty minutes of mine I make a cup of coffee, grab a seat down and enjoy pinterest. I LOVE this twenty minutes. It never fails I always come away with some great ideas that I find myself excited to try. This idea that I am about to share, it came from pinterest. Unfortunately I did not note who originally posted this idea :( - but whoever did - they are a creative genius!

The original idea was for a classroom - they took a poster board and divided it up - the top one said something like on task, then warning, then consequence (I think it was lose recess), and then finally talk to Mom or Dad ... this is officially the 'ought oh' slot :). And then the teacher took clothes pins and wrote each students name on them - and clipped it to whatever section applied to that child at that time :). Genius visual!!!!!!!!!!

I loved it, but I needed to tweak it to work for us this is what I did :

1)I colored a poster board like a stop light : green (on task), yellow (warning), and red (consequence).

2)I took two clothes pins for each child and wrote their name on each one. If they are on task AWESOME. A reminder to say "great job, thumbs up". If they have a warning I clip their name to that and then if they have a consequence I clip their name there.

3)Then I took index cards and on one side I wrote up a one or two word description of the rule they broke (for example "listen" or "argue") and then on the back I wrote a one or two word description for the consequence (for example "time out" or "sentences"), cut them into strips, punched a hole in the end and tied a piece of yarn.

4) Then when they are getting a warning I hang the word onto the child's clothespin before I clip it to the warning section.

5)Then if they get a consequence I move the child's name to the consequence section.

(the reason I have two clothespins for each child is they can get a warning and a consequence at the same time. If they have a warning for listening and then deserve a consequence then I move their name to consequence but then if they argue while handing out the consequence they now have a warning for arguiing)

One last thing I have seen several times on pinterest that we have started using in our family is the acronym THINK (before you speak).

T - is it true?
H - is it helpful?
I - is it inspiring?
N - is it necessary?
K - is it kind?

Monday, January 30, 2012

Some Days

Some days I am tempted to feel so small. Insignificant.

I mess up. A LOT.

Sometimes the same mistakes too.

Some days are hard and long and seem pointless.

Some days seem like every attempt to move forward on something is met with ten steps back.

But then God.

In one moment, He will draw my attention away from myself and what I see and know and think and once again remind me "It is NOT about you, but about and for and because of Me".

Sometimes, like today, that reminder comes in the form of something lovely, but small and seemingly insignificant. A bird chirping beautifully and cheerily perched precariously on a naked tree branch. If that bird, sitting that high off of the ground, without leaves and flowers and grass lying out before it to give it a physical reminder of His faithfulness and provision, if something that small can sing with all that it is, why can't I? Does it trust and have faith that His hand will indeed cause the seed to spring forth and the buds to bloom and open and thus providing food, shelter, beauty and security? Or does it not even give thought to what comes next and instead being so captivated by His glory, bursts forth in song praising its Creator with everything that it has?

Friday, January 27, 2012

Tender

5 minute Friday writing exercise from Gypsy Mama

Start

What would happen if we looked upon the heart and mind of others with the naked eye before, during, and after we spoke our words? Would our words fall gentle upon the tender flesh of their heart? Would it encompass their thoughts and perception of who they are through our eyes with soft caresses? Or it would it slice through the tender flesh of their heart like a knife? Squeezing and pushing and gruffly handling their minds?

Would I but softly utter words that encourage, inspire, love them. Love their tender hearts completely, encourage their growing minds moment by moment. Would the words that I speak be a thanks offering (learned from Ann Voskamp), would they fall around me with tender floating grace instead of dropping like a hammer. hard, ungrateful and full of complaint.

Stop

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Running

feet pounding
lungs heaving
muscles burning
sweat pouring

With the pace set, my feet travel ever forward in a quest to run as far as I can as fast as I can and hope that it is faster and further than yesterday.

The wind sweeping over my face, the sounds of the world awakening in my ear, I glance around and try to memorize in detail the sights that greet my eyes.

I run for the sheer joy and freedom of the ability to run. My thoughts tumble one over the other as I try to keep my feet from doing the same.

Hopes, dreams, aspirations - these are my companions occupying my heart and mind encouraging me to be more, do more, try more than I am right now.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Love This!

Last week, snuggled down together, we dug into Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates. I read this book aloud a few years ago and we fell in love, this time through it is like meeting an old friend over a cup of coffee. As I read I stumbled upon a treasure forgotten. Nestled within the first chapter are words that help me keep things in perspective. As the Momma sits down, draws an infant lamb close and remembers her first days holding her newborn son and she reminds herself of this...

"Such a short way could she go with him on that path that was his life; only a few years she would have his hand in hers. For a few more years he would walk beside her; then he would be a man going his way alone,..." (a portion of a paragraph from page 7)

With their entire lives stretching out before them, we walk such a short path overall with our children, they spend more of their life out from under our roofs, than they do underneath them. A poignant reminder as sometimes the days tend to run together and it seems unending.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Here & Now

Tonight I realized that my life is like an hour glass filling up with one grain of sand at a time. As the sand sifts from the huge pile at the top and drops to the gathering pile at the bottom, that grain of sand that trickles down particle by particle represents who I am. Because my life is lived moment by moment.

The grains of sand at the bottom, pooling around and piling up, those are my yesterdays. Those each mark 24 hours that are gone and never to be lived again. Sometimes this realization makes me giddy and relieved, there are LOTS of yesterdays that I would NEVER, ever like to re-live. Yet sometimes this realization causes the tears to flow unchecked and the grief of what might have been overwhelms me or the sudden realization that one chapter has now ended grieves me. But this pile is who I was.

Those grains of sand that are at the top and have yet to fall those are my tomorrows. And while tomorrow has my hopes pinned on it for who I would like to become, it has yet to unfold. This pile is who I will be.

I have to remind myself that I am not my yesterday or my tomorrow, I am my right now. That single grain of sand dropping down. Because truly all that I have is right now.

God revealed Himself as I AM. Fully present right now. God is eternal, He is not confined or defined by time. He is my past, my present, and my future. He is in the yesterdays because He is without beginning, and He is in the tomorrows because He is without end, but I experience Him fully in the now. So if I am wasting my now by shoveling through the past or by gazing and worrying about my tomorrows, then I fail to fully experience who He is. Right here. Right now.

Wherever you are, be all there. Jim Elliot

Saturday, January 21, 2012

for my grandmother at the loss of three of her friends this week...

The loss of a life that was so poignant and sweet
touched me and brought me to my knees.
As I look back over yesteryear
and wonder at the swiftly passing moments...
Where has the time gone?
How has someone who meant so much to me
now crossed over, passing from this life to the next?
You now see sights that I long to partake of,
if I could but ask
what do your eyes behold?
What do your ears hear?
Is it a sight too wondrous to speak of?
Sounds too amazing to utter?
Know that you will be missed
and that my heart will think of you often
each and every moment that passes here
with my reality still encompassed in flesh.
And know that I look forward with joyous anticipation
at our reunion in the very presence of our Creator.

My prayer...

I rise and greet this beautiful morning, conscious of your fresh mercy. May it saturate my life, my moments, my words, my thoughts, my heart. May it drip drop drizzle down into even the hardest to reach crevices of who I am. May it stick to me, thick and unshakable. SO much so that when I go to speak or serve or just to be, others that surround me and come into contact with me would be blessed by Your mercy that has clung to me. Through my words. Through my acts of service. Through my looks and my smile. Through my touch. For we are blessed but to be a blessing.

Because of Adonai's great compassion, steadfast love we are not consumed. His compassion, his mercy never, ever comes to an end. In fact it is new each and every single morning. Great is His faithfulness. (Lamentations 3 : 2 & 3 paraphrased)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Vivid

Five Minute Friday's from Gypsy Mama

Last week I noticed that a lot of people wrote Go and then Stop at the end to let the reader know when the five minutes began and they started writing and again when the time was up and they stopped. So I am going to do that this week...

Go

Sometimes days and weeks will pass me by that are largely out of focus, fuzzy and almost shapeless as they drift by. How I can ever offer thankfulness for those things that I cannot even name or describe? It did not occur to me this morning what was different about the joy I counted yesterday until I saw the word that Gypsy Mama had chosen.

Vivid.

Yesterday our household was up before the crack of dawn. WAY before the crack of dawn. As I creaked open the lock and nudged the door open, a clear, cold, crisp morning greeted me. As I called "Have a good day and I love you" to my husband my words hung but a moment in the still quiteness as wisps of white - I could almost see my words, my breath as I uttered them. A great reminder that indeed our words do hang there in the air after we speak them, long after we speak them. As I padded down the driveway to gather a few things, I took in the sight around me. Eyes hungrily devoured each site, the bare trees with the rising sun turning them to an auburn gold, the cars with little tufts of smoke coming from behind them as they sat idly in the driveways trying to become warm. Birds twitting from branch to branch, cattle lowing in the background. It was GORGEOUS. I took a deep breath. And that is when I smelled it. Firewood. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of firewood on a cold morning. It speaks of mornings of hot coffee and evenings of an old quilt on a comfy couch reading a great book. It speaks of toasty toes and sounds of crackling comfort.

I realized as I padded back up my driveway that I would have LOTS to count as thankfulness (A. Voskamp's idea to a 1000) and why? Why is this morning any different? Because of the way I vividly took in everything around me. The vivid sights, smells, touches, sounds - they speak of a Creator who creates vivid colors, vivid smells and senses made to revel in them.

Stop.

*wouldn't you know it :) the one morning I write go and stop a little one needed help to get to the potty - so I paused my writing and my time, but I could have taken more than the five minutes. I have to grab whatever snidbits of time I can when finding time to write, so this is the best I could do :) Happy Friday!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Reading List

I love to read almost as much, if not more than I love to write. Right now I am reading :

(to myself)
Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis
Just downloaded Organized Simplicity to my kindle for FREE :) so I am excited to dig into that
Proverbs
The Praying Family by Kim Butts

(to the kiddos)
My Father's Dragon
Mountain Born
Ralph S. Mouse

(what I tunes is reading to us via librivox)
Understood Betsy
Mother Carey's Chickens

What are you reading?

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

it is all fun and games

until the fuzz balls (from where????) that are grey (from what???) become super glued to the tip of my finger.

I am such a dork.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is a bittersweet day. I am so sad for what had to happen for us to be able to celebrate today as a national holiday, but SO thankful for the progress our country as a whole has made and I am again reminded to be prayerful for how far we have yet to go. I am incredibly thankful that Martin Luther King Jr. had the courage and tenacity to speak his dream from our nation's capital and I am incredibly sorry for the sacrifice he and his family were called to make.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Drifting

for the last few months my life has resembled a piece of driftwood bobbing up and down being knocked to and fro. SO much of 2010 and a good portion of 2011 had me reeling and constantly crying out "PLEASE give us mercy". There is so much that I cannot share about the journey that we have traveled - but know this - it was intense, it was hard, and I did not like it. And then all of a sudden the intensity stopped. Now instead of one good day a month, we have one or two bad ones a month. It does NOT make any sense to me at all. Life frustrates me, humbles me, and brings me up short. For all of the things I thought I knew, really I know nothing.

I have gotten a clearer view of me in the past two years than honestly I ever cared to see. But one thing that has shaped me more than any other. The intensity of what we went through focused me, hyper focused almost. And looking back I see a pattern in my life, life will be smooth, happy and awesome and then BAM. The storm hits and as it rages I cling to God, to His Word.

But as the clouds clear, the rain dries up I begin to drift along. I stop clinging.

And that is where I find myself today, the fifteenth day of a new year. Now that things are better my life is out of focus in some areas. I have Jewish heritage, was raised a Christian and have journeyed about as far as I could in the other direction from God on more than one occasion. From the time I was a little girl I had this "picture" of who God was. Formed mainly from snidbits of Sunday School lessons, experiences with the adults in my life, and whatever spots remained confusing, I simply made up as I went along. When I went off to college I was thrown for a loop. HUGELY thrown. This God that I had fixed in my mind was NOT doing what I thought He would or should be doing in certain situations. He let me hurt. He let me feel hunger and not enough. He let me see people for who they were and not who I wanted them to be. He let me fail over and over and over. He let me feel humiliation and shame from choices I made and things I did and/or said. He let me feel loss and rejection. Now of course I could not have reached adulthood and not have felt those things before, but this time it was different. This time there was no one else to blame it on but me. I had these dreams that I had clung to for as long as I could remember and one morning as I woke up I took a good look around I saw that these dreams lay tattered, broken at my feet. I was devastated. I was lost and felt untethered. To top it all off I had this idea of love that I had and I had been waiting for that boy to come along and when he did, he (the boy I was sure I would some day marry) threw it back in my face and laughed at me. Humiliated me. I hurt. My heart broke.

But God.

He was up to something.

As the years began to unfold and as the hurts and disappointments came He slowly drew me into His Word and deeper into Him. He began to show me a new way to dream and as He stitched my heart back together He brought into my life a man who would love me back with more love than I even thought possible. A man that accepts me, encourages me and stands by me. A man who does not laugh at me, but with me. And for a season it seemed that we would have our happily ever after.

And so I relaxed and began to drift.

But as our children began to arrive on the scene life was indeed taking us on a wild ride again. Extended family relationships fell apart and tore at my heart. I failed others. My husband began to travel with his job and I missed him. SO much. We had barely enough to make ends meet. More than a few weeks went by that I ate ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had babies at home and sleep was hard to come by. Things happened that scared me. Loving others is never easy and especially when you have clung to selfishness in your heart. Having a baby will cure you of that VERY quickly. All of a sudden life was not all about me anymore and I loved something more than I loved myself and that something was completely dependent on me. As the years passed I began to appreciate and love my husband more deeply. Then all of a sudden we moved, my husband stopped traveling and life settled down again. It was blissful and wonderful. There was hope for restoration of some relationships, there was enough to eat yummy things, there were new friendships and great books to read. I could take a deep breath and relax into life again. This time through the ups and downs of all of the bad days I had clung with a ferocity to God's presence, His Word, Him.

But as life began to relax so did I. And once again I began to drift.

Then one February morning in 2010 BAM. The bottom of life fell out and I was terrified this time it would never be the same. This time it had to do with one of our children. Although through the fear and through the unknown I found myself taking hope in the fact that I had a clearer picture of who God was. This time, although badly shaken, I began to remember what I had learned. I reminded myself daily that even if He let things happen to and around me that terrified, hurt, and confused me that He was there. Holding me close to Him through the duration. For a year and a half the days were hard, oppressive and full of unknowns and what ifs.

Then all of a sudden life calmed down and here I am this morning.

Drifting.

I have no idea what the future holds. I have no easy tie up to this post or answers to the questions that rage in my heart. But I do know this. I knew I had to sit down here this morning and write this. Write it for me, to remind me of His faithfulness. Write it for our children who will someday hopefully read this and also see His faithfulness. A week or so ago I wrote a journal entry about seeking God and not too long after that I read a post from the Simple Mom's blog. It was about the Japanese word Kaizen. And basically how if a drip drop of a water faucet is left alone long enough it will eventually fill a bucket. That is what I want my life to be this year. I want to be grounded, not drifting. I want to seek God moment by moment by moment. He is my anchor. My wind. My safety, my thrill, my purpose, my plan, my love, and my breath. He is my beginning, my middle and my end. He is my moments, my days, my weeks, and my years. And some day when it is all said and done I ache to hear "well done good and FAITHFUL servant" - I am beginning to realize that the faithful part happens drip drop at a time. Left alone the drip drop of striving to be faithful will eventually fill and define a lifetime. My life.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

I saw this on pinterest :)

"we'll be friends until we are old and senile & then we'll be new friends"

:) and this sign outside of a coffee shop

"unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten"

Friday, January 13, 2012

Awake

Awake! Do not sleep in fiction, awake to truth.
Awake O my soul.
Breathe in His compassion.
Drink deeply from His love.
Taste and see that He is good.
Awake O my soul.
With wide eyes filled with wonder take in what surrounds you.
Fresh from sleep, wide eyes to greet the day.
Get up and get dressed and give thanks.
Thank You for this breath.
Thank You for these warm pants and this warm shirt.
Thank You for the tennis shoes and warm shoes.
Thank You for the blankets I fold.
Thank You for the hot coffee I brew, smell and gingerly sip.
Thank You for the safety that I laid down in and awoke in.
Thank You for Your mercy that is new this morning.
Thank You for Your unfailing love.
Thank You for my sweet husband and my beautiful children and my silly dog.
Awake O my soul.
For the Lord has created a new day and He has gifted you with the rising of the sun and fresh mercies.
Thank You for the Psalmist who urges us to taste and see that You are good, that tells us of your great love and mercy, who beckons us to fall to our knees in wonder, with eyes wide open and give thanks.


Gypsy Mama Five Minute Fridays

Thursday, January 12, 2012

silly dog

We have a dog, Tanner, that we rescued from the pound shortly after moving here a number of years ago. He is the sweetest and strangest dog that I have ever met. He is a mutt really, but a cute one. He would prefer to do his doggie business on a puppy training mat than to go outside. It took me a couple of times of standing outside in the freezing cold for it click for me, but finally it did. And over the years we have meshed really well, as far as a doggie and his family go.

Until today.

Today Tanner took the cake (or in this case the cookies). My father in law sent home a plate of homemade peanut butter cookies (my husband's favorite) and we have really enjoyed every single crunchy, yummy bite. But obviously Tanner felt left out. Or had a hankering for some homemade peanut butter cookies. Or both. Because he snagged the plate off of the counter and managed to scarf down FIVE of them before I realized what was happening. Usually I only have to watch the bread and apples (because he will tear into a bag of bread or a bushel of apples in five seconds flat...like I said really, really sweet, but kinda strange) but obviously I will have to ammend that to bread, apples, and peanut butter cookies. I tried to explain to him that he will have quite the tummy ache later and laid out the dangers of choking after stuffing so much into your mouth and not bothering to chew thoroughly before swallowing. But I guess he was not interested in what I had to say because he went into his doggie cage, curled up in a ball and promptly fell asleep for his afternoon nap.

*sigh*

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

as the morning breaks

cold and quiet I tiptoe through the house. Seeking a few moments of quiet before the rest of the house stirs I light a candle, flip the coffee pot on and start to fill it with water. As I wait for the first piping hot cup of joe, I head into the living room, grab my binder and my Bible and plop down. As I flip through the binder, tidbits of my week so far flutter through my mind and I cringe. Here I am seeking to live a life that is full of joy and I think I spent more time complaining yesterday than I did giving thanks. And really what do I have to complain about? Yes some days are very hard, yes some days seem impossible, but collectively I have NOTHING absolutely nothing to complain about. I come to my list of verses that I am memorizing this year and the first one reminds me to rejoice in Adonai - to seek His strength. And yet day after day I attempt to eek out life in my own strength. No wonder I am fighting complaining at the end of the day. The verse does not say rejoice in yourself, it says to rejoice in Him. It does not say look to your own strength and seek your own face, it says to look Adonai.

And so today as we wake, stretch our muscles and our minds I am given another opportunity. Another chance to learn and live out Psalm 105 verses 3 and 4. More than I deserve, but I am SO thankful for it.

Monday, January 9, 2012

clear water

combined with the sun setting behind the bare winter trees makes for a gorgeous reflection to get lost in. It was as if I could slow time down and sit a while. To breathe in and out. To dream for a moment. Gone were the tense moments of forgotten lessons and dirty dishes still to be washed. Instead a world of hope beckoned.

Then as quickly and unexpectedly as the moments arrived, they were gone. Chased away by a noisy flock of geese startling me back to reality and off I rushed to get the next thing tackled. Before I went though I tucked that scene in my heart and tonight as the day winds down I can still see the vivid pink, purple and orange streaked across the sky. The absolute blissful silence, the damp cold ground and the curve and line of the branches. I can smell the smell of someone burning wood not too far away and still wish I had a cup of hot coffee to warm my hands as I stood and gazed at the beauty around me.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

snuggled close on the bed

we dived into another comical adventure of TumTum and Nutmeg. Hearing their giggles, sensing their rapt attention, feeling their warm bodies all squished up next to me kept me reading long past when it was time for lights out. I glanced up and met eyes so like mine it startled me for a moment. It was like looking in a mirror that erased twenty years off of my life. Turning my attention back to the book I read on about the hilarious General Marchmouse and his propensity to run head long into a situation without thought I glanced again at the grinning faces and had to resist the urge to pinch myself. I have the greatest job in the world. True the pay sucks and the hours are long and there is no sick time or vacation time and depressingly enough I do work myself out of a job :) - but all things considered, it is still amazingly awesome!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Words

I love to read them, speak them, listen to them and I love to write them. Occasionally they make sense, lots of times they do not. Usually they pour forth from me like an unchecked water faucet. Sometimes I am really proud of the words I speak (or in some cases refrained from speaking), other times I am ashamed and humiliated that that actually came out of my mouth.

Words have shaped my life much like water shapes rock as it runs over it. Some ruts are made from continual wear and tear, others are made from one sharp, hard blast, while yet others are drip dropped smooth. I have written my words in journals, on scraps of paper, in notebooks, on the back of napkins and on the sides of cups. Snidbits here and snapshots there. Most of it adds up to just that - a bunch of words that tell a piece mill story of an average life. But I want more. I want to write every day - write what I see, what I imagine, what I feel, what I dream of, what I am scared of, what I am thankful for, what I am learning to be thankful for.

So today, I loved driving to the store and seeing the sun set on the dry wintered grass, the ducks swimming in a neighbors pond, the bicyclists pumping their legs up a hill. I love the quiet of the morning and the craziness of the day. I love the cuddly bed times and the yummy candles. I do NOT like crabby moments that happen every day, sometimes more than I feel that they should. I love the first sip of hot coffee on a cold morning and the excited feeling I get when I realize today is a day that I get to run. I love the good days and am consistently struggling to learn to patiently appreciate the difficult days. I love to teach my children and learn from others. I love porches and rocking chairs. I love being able to encourage someone and HATE when I feel that I have failed at this. I love being able to say GOOD JOB and do NOT like that I have to say "that was awful, here is why, please try again". I love when I use words the right way and build others up, I absolutely hate when I do not use words in a godly way and instead I hurl them as if they were weapons. I hate that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you have really, really messed up but I LOVE that feeling after you have said "I am sorry" or "I forgive you". I LOVE chocolate and coffee and wish they were zero calories :). I do NOT like the first five minutes of most things except for a good book, a nap or a hot bath. I love to eat a good steak dinner with a fresh crispy salad and hot baked potato, but I do NOT like knowing that while I have plenty others do without. I love reading about others and how they are making a difference, touching lives and changing circumstances. I do not like feeling like I should be doing more and I am failing to make a difference. I like knowing that I am investing in my children who might in turn go out and touch countless other lives, I do not like knowing that I fail more than I succeed at this.

roar

Sometimes I roar about the things I should whisper about and whisper about the stuff I should roar about.

Sometimes my selfishness roars and my compassion whispers.

Sometimes my failures roar and my successes whisper.

Sometimes temptations roar and the Spirit whispers.

Sometimes I want to roar with the injustice I read about, but find myself whispering about it instead.

Sometimes I roar my opinion, when it would be much more powerful to first whisper a prayer.


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Choose Joy and Seek to Serve

"There’s only one address anyone lives at and it’s always a duplex: Joy and pain always co-habit every season of life. Accept them both and keep company with the joy while the pain does its necessary renovations." Ann Voskamp (A Holy Experience)

Today as I looked around in the midst of cleaning, teaching, packing and MESS I was tempted to lose my perspective and my calm. Honestly the last thing on my mind was going on a hunt to look for and count things to give thanks for, to find joy in. But then the dog had to go out and for that brief break in the backyard as I saw the wind whip across our yard crunching leaves and sweeping them up into an elaborate dance, I captured it in my mind, stored it in my heart. Absolute joy. The freshness of the wind, the innocence of the moment, the beauty of the sound. Tucking that away I ventured back inside to complete what we had to get done for the day and as I waited for one task to be finished my mind began to wonder. It hopped around from subject to subject until one captured it with an intensity of focus that made me sit up a little straighter and think a little harder. Do you know that there are 147 million orphans in our world right now? That there are that many children hungry and alone? The same God who gave me eyes to see and and an ability to delight in the leaves and wind, ears to hear and ability to delight in the sound of the crunch and sway of them, also gave me a responsibility to do something to ease the plight of others. I am not sure about other people, but for me it is easy to get caught up in my day to day life and forget that there is an entire world of both joy and pain surrounding me. I get so caught up in my life that I forget to look for the opportunity to serve others living theirs. I am pitifully selfish and fear I have wasted SO many opportunities to both keep company with the joy and seek to serve others.

First Post

I have a desire to carve out a small space to spill some ink on paper, or in this case, peck away at the keyboard to give voice to various thoughts that I have, so here I am creating a new blog.

Few things about me : I love to write, read, drink coffee, and run. I love music and ballet and find pinterest very, very addicting :). Some days I have lots and lots of ideas that seem to just explode out of me and then weeks will pass where it will be dryer than a desert. I will write as often as I am able to, hopefully at least once a week.

Until next time - may His arms hold you close.