Live life!

Today was a great day! Nothing particular happened, it was just a good day with God and a good day of reflecting and hearing and seeking Him. It was a good day of self reflection and visioning. It was a good day!

SO often we are so focused on a particular event or upcoming date... looking for the next thing that we don't live the days we have.

I went and saw the movie The Way today, and I HIGHLY recommend it! On the movie, one character makes the remark, "You don't choose a life, you live one."

We must quit focusing on choosing the particular life we want to life and get busy living the life we have.

I love you all and hope you take time to LIVE today!

KNOW Him

Ok, so I told you it would happen and sure anough, it has- I missed another day of posting a blog yesterday. I did take a picture while I was at a birthday party last night in LA, but when I got home, I was tired and after talking to my "Daddy," I crashed. So, here is the picture I took last night of some city lights overlooking LA.

And while I am on birthdays, for today's picture, can I point out that this huge balloon that I got on September 21st for my birthday is STILL floating and strong?!?!?! WOW!!! Impressive, eh? :)

I pray you all are well! I am! Life is good, and I am grateful for the daily growth in my life. It is not always pretty or comfortable to grow in the plans God has for your life or for Him to point out the things that you need to work on, but OH how great it is to KNOW Him!!! I live to know Him and make Him known!!!

Red Light, Green Light

I was on my way home from watching a soccer game and thinking about how I hadn't taken any pics today. So I took one of the light as it turned green. (Then I dropped the phone and took my foot off the brake as to not get honked at :)

A couple of weeks or so ago, a lady I deeply admire (Ms. Nancy Sykes) wrote on another friend's facebook wall about a Word she had heard that God does not give green lights, but only yellow and red lights. He expects us always to be moving forward and He will give us yellow and red lights if we head in the wrong direction or too fast.

So, let's keep on keepin' on!

Oops

So, yesterday, I straight up forgot to post :( Until my sister woke me up with a text this morning asking why I hadn't posted :)

So, what do I do? I broke the year of posting... so, we can make it 365 days of posting, knowing that yes, there will likely come a few more days like this. So, once the year is over, for each day I missed, I will continue to post for that many more days.

Sometimes we all need a fresh start! And a bath ;)

All my life, as long as I live

"I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." Psalm 104:33

Beauty

Ok ladies, this one is for you. I have been reading John and Stasi Eldredge's book, Captivating. (I HIGHLY recommend it if you haven't read it!) It is a great book, and today I just want to remind you that you are ALL beautiful! Yes, even you! You are beautiful and the world needs you. You have beauty to offer.

Today I looked up and took note of some of the beauty God has put around me. Here is a shot as the sun went down while I was at a park watching a soccer practice. In case I didn't make anyone jealous by the beautiful palm trees all around me, I am blessed to be surrounded by mountains as well ;)

Laugh

I LOVE to laugh. Like I realllly enjoy laughing! I'm sure everyone else does, too, but I still feel really strongly about it :) So here is a pic from my daily calendar which gives a humorous quote daily.

This quote is all so true. It seems things are going well in people's lives, or everything is going wrong at once. Oh the joys of mountains and valleys. Both are amazing in their own ways, and without the valleys, we would never know the joy or appreciate the mountains.

God bless you all! Find something to laught at- laughter is good for the soul!

FOG

When I was in Bible school, a speaker came through and spoke of the "FOG" and gave out stickers that said something about living in the FOG. FOG was an acronym for Favor Of God. Tonight as I walked what felt like 5 miles in the dark to my car by myself, I noticed the misty fog settled around. I was pondering calling a friend just so I would have someone on the phone to "walk" with me to my car, but I realized I already had Someone walking with me. Now, God wants us to use wisdom, and I don't recommend any of you ladies to walk late at night to your car in the dark by yourself, but I do pray that you all find yourselves walking in the FOG.

Writing

I just had a conversation tonight about how I used to love to write, but somewhat lost my love of writing for pleasure sake when I was in college. Well... I've been writing a lot lately... not necessary for pleasure's sake, but just have a lot to write... so much so, that I bought this pen on September 29, and it is already out of ink... HOW did that happen?

Random thoughts from my life...

Current Reads

That's all...

Sunny Southern California

I don't have much to say today, but I am posting to keep the post going. Here is a picture I took today. I realize that most of my friends and family are not blessed to be in sunny SoCal, and palm trees are foreign and exciting to them, as they were to me. I am trying to remember to value the beautiful palm trees and mountains which were so special when I came, but I have become so used to.

Good enough for now...

So I went all day and never really had a "picture opportunity" to speak of. So, here is a picture of the mirror on the passenger side of my car:

Yes, that is black duct tape you see. I know, GHETTO! Or redneck, whichever you prefer.

Either way, it isn't permanent, it's good enough for now to hold it on, but a great friend is going to fix it soon.

So why am I blogging about this? Well, this mirror is kind of reflective about how I feel with a lot of other areas in my life right now. They are good enough for the moment, but few things seem very permanent or long term... I don't have a place to live and have been staying with my Pastor's family for almost six weeks- good enough for now, but not long term... the people and financial resources needed to run a ministry... are almost non existent in my ministry right now... etc... I am not complaining, just contemplating things... I thank God for what is good enough for right now, but I look forward and pray for more permanent situations :)

Homework and an Umbrella

So... most of my day was spent on homework... and most of what is left of it will be as well. Unfortunately, this is my view a LOT of the time:


Today I did go to Panera and did homework there for quite a while just for a change of scenery and to get out of the house.

Also when I was out I did a couple of errands. A lot of you have probably heard the faith saying that if you are going to pray for rain you should have an umbrella ready in expectation.

Well... today I saw a shirt... I'm not married, nor engaged, don't get excited... but when I saw this shirt, I really liked it. It is cute, I like the color, and I believe one day I will be able to wear it and it will be true.

So, as I pray for my future husband... today I decided to buy an umbrella :)

And to be contradictory, here is a funny quote for the day:

"Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?" -Groucho Marx

Day 1 of 365

Alright, so, in an attempt to avoid productivity for a few minutes yesterday, I wrote out 101 items on my bucket list. One was to maintain a blog for a year, so I'm gonna start that one... today :)

In addition, I wanted to take a picture every day for a year, so I will also start that one today :)

And to make it easier, I am going to combine the two efforts into a picture blog :)

All of these ideas are very inspired by a beautiful friend who lives too far away, the one and only, Kara Blain.

So, today I was blessed to spend time with my new twin Godbabies and their awesome big brother and family! Here is the dynamic duo as they are snuggling:

And here is their handsome big brother:


I am SO blessed to have them in my life! Never would have guessed the significance of my relationship with their family when I met them in Tulsa in 2007!!! But OH SO grateful for it!!!