Don't miss this blog. If you haven't heard of Mila's Daydreams just go. Now. Seriously. This is the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. Guaranteed smiles. Mila's momma has been staging fairy tale style background scenes and snapping shots of her sweet sleeping baby within them. Priceless.
(photo from Mila's Daydreams as outlined in her usage terms)
"Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity."
"Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be – and becoming that person."
– St Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower
"Faith is only faith when it's all you're hanging onto."
That is what my friend Brenda told me so many years ago. I wonder if she knows how many times I have revisited those words in the years since? I have never been a surprise kind of gal, preferring ample time to wrap my head around news – good or bad. I like to know what's coming. I felt I could do anything if I could just understand the purpose for it all. Or I used to.
These days I tend to think it is a blessing that God does not ask us to understand, because I suspect the big picture is so very big that there is no way we could understand. We can't begin to see all the ways the threads of our lives intertwine with others'. And we don't have to. We just have to know that they do, that in God's great economy there is no waste. Nothing is here by accident and none of it happens just because.
It is easy to embrace that idea when good things are coming our way. It is harder to remember that only good things come our way, some disguised as bitter pain, but every bit of it necessary and intended for our ultimate good. Days like that call for praise music turned up loud enough to drown out those doubts and catch yourself saying Amen once more.
So be it.
We praise anyway.
"But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away
And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm."
-Casting Crowns
It's Fence Friday on Flickr. Taken in our backyard of all places. I love that.
Found locally. They reminded me of Gram. They are here now.
One reader has been having a really hard time getting the com-box to work for her. If anyone is having a problem shoot me a note 'k? Not that I am sure I can fix it. I will give it the old college try though.
Aw c'mon, you'd have said it too. ; )
Rumor has had it that a wild turkey or two had been spotted out back. Until now I had been unable to verify the reports because by the time I got the camera loaded and ready to the window they had ambled off across the road.
Not this time. This pair hung out under the fruittrees for several minutes until…
..one of the local killer birds caught a glimpse. And he was on it pronto. I have long heard that a hawk could take out a chicken, but all those years we free ranged our hens none ever attempted, though many circled. The only thing I have seen a hawk actually fly off with was a snake, for which I was exceedingly grateful. It surprised me that it would hone in on the other birds with such vigor and speed since they were all the same size. But that it did, swooping low under the branches prepped for attack.
The pair of what we now think are some sort of pheasant rather than turkeys (being without wattles and sporting a ring neck instead) scurried deep into the underbrush and haven't been seen since.
The bird of prey left empty handed. For which I am once again exceedingly grateful. I get the whole circle of life deal. I just don't want to have to see it in action.
We just learned our good friends have suffered the loss of their baby through an intrauterine death half way through this pregnancy. Please join us in prayer for this family which has always made such an impression on us with their devotion to God and His will.
"For the Lord is close to the broken hearted." Ps. 34:18
To say that the little girls adore their big sisters would be an understatement. The feeling is quite mutual. When we moved we got two 'girl rooms' and each big girl decided to take a baby girl, though very often all four of them end up huddled up into one of the rooms watching silly You Tube videos and talking til they can barely stay awake. But oh those babies love every minute and oh those big girls love it even more. They are like real life dolls who giggle and shower them with appreciative kisses in return for all that attention.
There is a lot of nail polishing and hair do-ing that goes on upstairs, particularly when little girls get frustrated or tired. They very often will scoop one up as distraction and after they sit quietly for brushing and rolling or lotioning and painting of tiny fingers the upset is smoothed away and forgotten. Then there is a lot of "Go show Mom!"
This was one of those days. Tess, beside herself, because Moira transformed her into their current favorite thing – Irish dancer.
(original photos courtesy of Moira)
While I sometimes remind the big girls that our babies are not aspiring to become Toddlers in Tiaras mostly I say nothing. It really isn't about the 'before' and 'after'. It is about the 'during'. It is a show of that warm glow of devotion between both the bitty girl and her beloved big sister, in a happy place in life where there is no sibling rivalry but only the certainty of the bond between them.
Wish you were here!
Starry Sky Journal 