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!)

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.)

 

 

Eighteen Gifts

Still rockin that 80's hair.  What in the world???

1.  He never fails to take out the trash.

2.  He is really good at stopping to smell the roses.  He "slows" me and opens my eyes to things I would otherwise miss.

3.  He has strong, manly hands.

4.  He's a good daddy, a fun daddy, a daddy who listens, a daddy who nurtures, a daddy who recognizes the wonder of this world and opens their eyes to His beauty.

5.  He likes country music.

Callaway Gardens and some high-waisted shorts.  Yeah-baby!

 6.  He likes to work hard and get sweaty.  He has a good work ethic, is honest and loyal.

7.  He talks to me...really talks.  He enjoys telling me about his day.

8.  If I ask him to do a "honey-do", he writes it down and does it.  I rarely remind him.  (From what I hear, that's a great gift!)

9.  He regularly and verbally recognizes God's blessings.  

10.  He is spontaneous.

I used to fish with him.

11.  He's smart and he knows alot of stuff, like how things work and the rules of the game.  If I have a question about something, he usually knows the answer.... but he's not a "know it all."

12.  He is not really "judgmental" ...and he likes all kinds of people.

13.  He genuinely enjoys whatever I cook for him and expresses his appreciation.  (Thanks Nana!)

14.  If he is sorry, he says it... to me and the girls.

15.  He is very child-like in a grown up sort of way... and he still gets excited "like a kid" about life's adventures.

CHEESE-y!

16.  He really loves the Lord, reads His word, and trusts Him to keep His promises, watch over us and sustain us.

17.  He makes me feel special.

18.  He's cute.

Happy 18th Anniversary, Sweetheart.

YOU are the sweetest of God's gifts to me.

Willing to Bend

It was one of those sweet moments.  I was on the way home from the grocery store.  This week has been heavy with the one year anniversary of the passing a dear friend's son and the beginning of treatment for our dear friends' daughter who faces a road of unknowns and waiting.

He reminded me as I just sat and hoped.... 

He is close.  

He is aware.  

He understands.

I surely do not know how anyone faces this life without Him.  How sweet to sit at His feet and leave our burdens there.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7qLNDGTm-E

Humble and human, willing to bend You are
Fashioned of flesh and the fire of life, You are
Not too proud to wear our skin
to know this weary world we’re in
Humble, humble Jesus
Humble in sorrow, You gladly carried Your cross
Never refusing Your life to the weakest of us
Not too proud to bear our sin
to feel this brokenness we’re in
Humble, humble Jesus
We bow our knees
We must decrease
You must increase
We lift You high
Humble in greatness, born in the likeness of man
Name above all names, holding our world in Your hands
Not too proud to dwell with us, to live in us, to die for us
Humble, humble Jesus
We lift You high
We lift You high

Audrey Assad (My fave!)

"Humble"

from Fortunate Fall