the little things

You know in the movie Bambi when Thumper says that his mom taught him "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all"? Well, that's why it's been a little quiet around here lately...

But, I've been trying to focus on the positives, the blessings, the things that make me smile, the little things. So here are a few, some accompanied with less that stellar photographs.

::I went for a run today and actually lasted 20 minutes. That's huge for me. I learned that Thousand Foot Krutch is great music to run to. Thanks Adam, for putting that on my iPod.

::On Friday evening, Mark decided he wanted to make an art gallery. He put some classical music in his CD player, pulled out his water colors and painted the 'Monkey Lisa'. How can you not smile at that?

::I got to make a new friend an iced latte. Like I said, it's the little things that make me happy.

::This verse... "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7 There is so much here, but the two things that I really needed to focus on this week were my need to humble myself before the Lord in regards to all that I've got going on in my heart, and that He cares for me. He really and truly cares for me! And you!

::It might be little, but it's so nice to have a pool in the backyard to cool off in when it's 103 degrees outside. UGH!

::I get to go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and buy yummy dark chocolate covered almonds and drink free coffee.

first day of school

Can you tell which one wasn't too happy to be heading off to school this morning?

speaking of change...

Sometimes when we change things, they don't end up looking the way we thought they would.

change

So I've learned something about myself the last couple months.

I love change... that I can control.

Like changing the background on my blog way too often. :)

I've always said that I thrive on change. I've always loved to move, explore new places, meet new people, etc. I realized that all the times I've done that in the past, it's been because I chose to be doing that at that time. This time, it was chosen for me. It was most definitely not what I wanted right now and not what I thought was best.

I'm so thankful for the last several weeks of the Lord softening my heart and continually putting me at peace and bringing me things to remind me that He knows best and that He is in control of the change. This has been a difficult season for sure, but I've grown much closer to Him and I wouldn't change that for anything.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,

plans to prosper you and not to harm you..."

Jeremiah 29:11

He knows best, and while it isn't always easy or enjoyable, His intentions are not to harm me, and there is so much comfort in that.

baptism and blessings

One of the things that I was not looking forward to about leaving Fort Collins and moving to CA was how congested everything here is. I loved the wide open spaces that were so easily accessible to me in FC.

Well, of course God knows that. He knows my heart and it's desires. So guess what's just minutes from my house? WIDE OPEN SPACES. And after driving about half and hour, we came to a beautiful area called the Putah Creek.

We had our picnic lunch and then walked down the trail

to this...

It was so peaceful. The water was pretty cold, but the kids had a great time playing and getting really dirty.

It was such a great spot that Adam asked Ron to baptize him right there. I ended up not getting any pictures because I was taking video the whole time, but here's Adam and his dog, before getting dunked.

I'm so thankful for the blessing of that day. The peace and quiet. The wide open spaces and feeling like we were away from everything. And getting to watch my husband baptize my oldest child.

• Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

• to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Here's Tatum. She couldn't stand not being in the water with Ron and jumped right in.

center

This morning in church we sang a song by Chris Tomlin and Charlie Hall called "Center". I've sung the chorus over and over in my head all day, and have thought about how this has been my overwhelming desire lately, I just couldn't quite put words to my feelings. I've spent too much of my life making it all about me and then wondering why I'm not experiencing the relationship with the Lord that I want to be experiencing and know that I can be experiencing.

By God's grace, He has been slowly but surely chipping away at me, so there is more room for Him. Even though it's been painful, I'm so thankful for it.

Here is the chorus of the song. I changed a few of the words to personalize and make it my prayer to Him.

Christ, be the center of my life
Be the place I fix my eyes
Be the center of my life

prayer request

With a lump in my throat from looking at this picture, I'm asking you to pray that our house in Colorado would sell.

There is a showing tomorrow (Saturday) and my cry to the Lord is that this is it. That these are the people that He knows are supposed to be in this home.

This house was a wonderful home for us for five years and holds so many dear memories but, it's time for us to make new memories in a new place.

It would lift such a burden off our shoulders to have this house sold. It would be the confirmation that we really need right now that we did the right thing by moving here. It's been a bit of a roller coaster week, with many opportunities to rely on the Lord and keep our focus on Him and not ourselves, and it would just be such a sweet ending to the week to have an offer on the house.

Thank you so much for praying with me. May the Lord's will be done!