Saturday, October 19, 2013

Apple Pickin' 2013

 It's the "How Tall This Fall?"


And the Apple Donuts...

 
 That keeps us coming back each year.


 We don't always follow the"rules"....


...but ALWAYS have a delightful time!

 
 This year the trees were still FULL of apples...


 ALL our favorites!


I made the suggestion on the way up the mountain...

 
 ...that we just hike the mountain and don't pick. 
(We can buy our apples before we leave.) 


 That way we don't have to lug that bucket around.


 Caroline promptly called me an "Apple Snob" 
and said she was picking her own apples...


 "It's called 'apple pickin', Mom!"  she chided.


 So we made the trip ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM for the "Pink Lady's"...


 ... And it was worth the trip.


 Once again it was a glorious day in the orchard with the ones I love the most.


 And I didn't have to carry one apple.


But I did eat one...with homemade caramel dip!  (My fave!)


Monday, October 14, 2013

Destin 2013


Beautiful moments.  This life is so full of them.  How often I bustle through and miss that which is most beautiful in a day.  He offers us gift after gift... 
beautiful moments that pile up.


We returned from the beach a week ago today.  The trip itself was a gift.... a gift God gave us through one of the sweetest women I know.... my MIL.


When we pulled out of the drive for this little getaway, I was troubled in my spirit and begged God to rescue me from my own worry and struggle. 


He reminded me of this little gift and I let the worry seep into His lap.



We soaked up the days with family and friends.  
We sat long, and laughed hard, and played light.


And I noticed. 


I noticed the waves of blessing.  The heaping pile of gifts.


It's really not about the destination.


It's about the living in between.


And He gives us this hope...


these little moments to remind us.


He doesn't want us living to "get through it"...


He wants us to live with fullness of life!


In His presence is fullness of joy!


At His right hand are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11)


He reminded me of this as I took a few days to put my toes in the sand.


He reminded me in the twinkle of her eye and the "squinchy" of her nose.


He reminded me in the glorious sunsets.... even though the forecast "promised" us a tropical storm.


He reminded me in the lives He has woven into mine...


through the family that I got when I married the man I love.


He reminded me in His promise that the waves can go no further than He allows.  (Mark 4:41)


He reminded me in the gift of two girls who know how to really love others.


He reminded me in quiet...


... in the gentle



... in the lively and loud.


"... so WALK in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and OVERFLOWING with gratitude."  Colossians 2:6,7

(Walking with Him is especially fun with your toes in the sand.)