not sharing

this past weekend Michael and i skipped away to Carmel and Monterey, just the two of us.
(we are skipping in these pix)
i didn't realize how much i missed him till we were away. i miss him being all mine. all of his humor, chuckles, words, silence, smiles, embraces, glances, dreams, french fries... they were all mine.
i needed that.
sometimes it is good not to share. i share him with the kids, work, more work, church, yard, people, projects... sometimes i want him all to myself.

Meet Simply Sara

i'd like to introduce you to Simply Sara. Sara is a delightful (blogging ) wife and mommy who desires to be "molded into the woman God has created her to be." She is sharing her birth story over at her blog. Join me in reading it, celebrating the day of her birth, and her life in Christ!

good fruit

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23

It is the fruit I labor (with God) to produce in my kids that is most DELICIOUS.

Look Up!

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that- and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison- you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

from Mere Christianity
C.S. Lewis

Pinch Me

for a St. Patrick's Day treat i brought back this Peppermint Cracker Candy (i replaced the chocolate with vanilla white chocolate. i replaced the candy canes with crushed spearmint candy).
it's DELICIOUS!It is BEAUTIFUL here in our neck of the hills. the hillsides are green, alive with wild flowers and lupin. i love spring, and watching my world come to life.

God Spilled His Bucket

yesterday was Michael's 35th birthday. we celebrated his favorite way, soaking up God's beautiful creation.
we took the long way to Yosemite, and drove along Hwy 140. Michael, who works as a Fine Art Digital Print Maker/Photographer, was told that it had been 20 years since the flowers had been this plentiful along Hwy 140.
these pictures (taken with our "little camera," Canon Powershot SD 880 IS) show just how brilliant the colors are!
look at this hill side! Michael commented that "God had spilled his paint bucket" on this hillside.
we continued on to beautiful Yosemite valley. there we rode bikes around the valley floor. as we rode i was reminded of riding bikes there with Michael 15 years ago, eying the families riding together, wondering if that would be our future. i was reminded of Mother's Day 2001, pulling Noah and Emilie around the same trails in the Radio Flyer wagon, wondering when little feet would be able to make the trek themselves. Now the little feet are big enough to ride with us!
it goes too fast.

after a picnic lunch and a bit more riding, we stopped to play in some caves. i don't know who enjoyed it more, the kids or Michael.
unfortunately, there was a sign that cautioned us we were entering a mountain lion habitat. it also gave instructions on what to do if you encounter a "m.l." so, i couldn't enjoy exploring the caves. i had to stand guard. i took two sticks and banged them together, creating a lot of noise, and scaring off the "m.l.'s" ( you might recall that this worked in the movie Parent Trap).

look at this cool heart tree. Yosemite has everything!
finally, for those of you who do not live in Ca. and have not had the opportunity to visit beautiful Yosemite National Park (or for those of you who live here,and have not visited), here is a short video sharing just a bit of the beauty.

birth story

i was scheduled nearly a year ago to speak for a MOPS group this week.
i'm not a public speaker. i think people can be confused by the fact that i love to sing and lead worship. i think they get confused because i am a public talker, uh huh, i tend to have lots of thoughts and opinions. just because i sing publicly and talk publicly doesn't mean speaking publicly comes naturally for me. it doesn't.

i figured with almost a year to prepare i'd have something inspiring and God-moving to say to these mommies. but as the week drew near i had nothing. at least i thought i had nothing.

the same friend who asked me a year ago to speak, encouraged me to share my testimony. i didn't want to. i wondered if my story of how i came to Christ was becoming a tired, worn out, over-told, old story.
there use to be a time i couldn't keep from sharing how God had rescued me, become the Father i longed for, and how i was now living in the embrace of His deep love.
but at some point i decided people were tired of hearing me.
in the past few years i have grown more and more reluctant to speak.
because of that i have held back on sharing my birth story.

my friend said to me that our stories, when we came into a relationship with Christ, are our birth stories. she commented on how we mommies love to get together and recount all the details of the birth's of our children. she said that God loves to tell the story of how we were born, again and again, but the only way He can do this is through us. isn't that a sweet thought.

so i shared, hoping the story of my birth would be used again for God's glory.

and it was.

join me in praying for a mommy who so needs the tenderness of God's fatherly love to penetrate her heart, and speak truth to her many questions.

He is a very good God.

What is your birth story?
i'd love to hear it!