A Happy Sky

I love how birds migrate through Tennessee. I have even learned to recognize the intense rumbling noise when a huge flock of them have arrived. I was out walking one very dreary day last week...and I heard it. I literally ran home to get my camera because I have yet to capture these birds. Sadly, and as usual, most of the flock had already vanished by the time I had a camera to capture them. However, I did capture a few fun shots and gave the sky some much needed life. One of these days I am going to have my camera at the exact time I walk into a clouds of black....literally, because there are so many! I may get pooped on-ha! (that would not be unlikely with a huge mass of birds around)...but it will be worth it!

I Miss New Mexico

I came across some old pictures today while I was cleaning out my hideously gigantic files (ugh...so much fun, I must say...but it must be done every now and again). I was overjoyed to find some great pictures in the process though. I even found some that I took at the very beginning of my interest and experimentation with digital photography. It was fun to see those!

But the ones of New Mexico made me stop dead in my, for the most part, quite tedious task. I let out a deep sigh and went, "Oh man...oh my goodness...it is beautiful there!

Here you go:

See what I mean? Geez...it's so awesome! These were taken the week before I got married. Most of our wedding party and my family went up to Tent Rocks to take in some good ol' New Mexican air...or lack of air, considering the elevation.

Fun Little Fact: You start at about 5,731 feet and end at about 6,300 feet.

Great hike...and beautiful, simply beautiful!

Finding Peace in a Most Unusual & Difficult Summer

I usually post very little in the summer because I take a break from most of my art and business to rejuvenate and spend time with my hubby. However, due to unusual circumstances, I was unable to post a single thing! My apologies.

My husband and I were greatly looking forward to canoe trips, days at the lake, hiking through the woods and enjoying the outdoors to it's fullest this summer. But we made it the lake once and actually stayed inside 95% of the time! My husband got sick right off the bat. It turned into a severe case of pneumonia, and he was sick for 6 weeks. Immediately after he recovered, I got sick and have had bronchitis for 4 weeks now. On top of that, I had two adverse reactions to medicines I had to take, one of which put me in the emergency room, and the other left me unable to walk for several days. We also walked along-side several of our dear friends and family through tragedy and far more difficult circumstances than our own. In addition, we hosted people in our home for over 3 months, had lots of unexpected medical bills, two car breakdowns (one that I am so thankful turned out as well as it did because it could have been extremely dangerous!) and obviously, a lot more unexpected bills to pay repairs...repairs that ended up costing more than the car is even worth. Once again, everything we had saved was gone in a matter of weeks (I guess that is the point of savings, but still). Needless to say, it was the most unusual summer we have ever had. We did experienced some really great highlights through all that as well (posts to follow...), but it was quite a challenging summer.

For several weeks, I was honestly angry at God. I, for one, was so tired of having ongoing health issues again. But I also felt completely overwhelmed by how difficult life can be. When I was a child, I was sheltered from carrying this weight all the time...and I am incredibly grateful! As an adult, however, I am unable to get over just how broken our world is. Fortunately, through much honest prayer and tears with God, He has taught me a great deal about His peace through all of this.

I received an excellent devotional for my birthday, called Jesus Calling, Enjoying Peace In His Presence, and it was a true answer to prayer. I would highly recommend it!!! It has helped me deeply embrace Jesus as our only hope...and it is meant to be so. Although He does not promise to take away our difficulties (and actually tells us to expect them!), He promises His constant companionship through them. He promises His love, peace, strength, and rest...if we find it in Him alone. He also promises He will work everything out for our good (somehow, even though we can't see it usually), and He promises ultimately, that in the end, we will have an eternity of renewed, restored, and unbroken life with Him.

Here are two excerpts from "Jesus Calling", by Sarah Young that spoke perfectly to my heart this week:

"Anticipate coming face to face with impossibilities: situtaions totally beyond your ability to handle. This awareness of your inadequacy is not something you should try to evade. It is precisely where I want you- the best place to encounter Me in My glory and power. When you see armies of problems marching toward you, cry out to Me! Allow Me to fight for you. Watch Me working on your behalf, as you rest in the shadow of My Almighty presence."
"Come to Me when you are weak and weary...I do not despize your weakness, My child. Actually, it draws Me closer to you, because weakness stirs up My compassion- My yearning to help. Accept yourself in your weariness, knowing that I understand how difficult your journey has been. Do no compare yourself with others, who seems to skip along their life-paths with ease....I have gifted you with fragility, providing opportunities for your spirit to blossom in My Presense....Rather than struggling to disguide or deny your weakness, allow Me to bless you richly through it."

God has completely dissolved my bitterness and has richly blessed me through this unusual summer. He has renewed my trust and reliance upon Him, and He has helped me be at rest in Him, as my Peace. 

The best representation of summer to me is Queen Anne's Lace. I was smiling ear to ear when I saw my first queen anne's of the summer! This picture also, named as such, sums up my summer perfectly...

"At Rest", Queen Anne's Lace, Tennessee 2010

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." - Isaiah 26:3

New "Favorite Friday's" Series

So I've been wanting to do a series of some of my favorite things for a long time now. I think that I have come up with a plan to get me to actually do it, on top of all my other projects. I decided to start a special weekly post called, "Favorite Fridays". Playing off the alliteration may be cheesy, but hey, I think it will be a lot of fun! The more I thought about it, every category I wanted to feature actually started with the letter "f"...family, friends, fun, food, flowers, photos (or at least sounded like it started with "f": ). Anyways, you get the picture. So to add even more alliteration, I thought, why not throw that in too!?! Obviously, not everything featured on "Favorite Fridays" will start with an "f", but I am going to attempt to see how long I can keep it up...just for the fun of it.

This past week, my sister-in-law's were visiting (insert lots of smiles here....I was sooo happy and I love them so much! ), and one of them pointed out a picture she really liked. I like this picture a lot too, but to be honest, I kind of forgot about it. It is a fairly old picture, one I took over 4 years ago. Nonetheless, the picture brought back several great memories and I wanted to feature it for my first "Favorite Friday's" post.

"Out For an Adventure", New Mexico 2004

New Mexico is easily one of my favorite places in the whole world. It is still home to me, even though its been several years since I lived there. I miss those mountains and that beautiful blue sky and all the wildly puffy clouds. I miss the views...and how you can see for miles and miles and miles.

Thanks Makayla for reminding me about this very special picture and as a result, all the warm memories it brought up.

I am itching for an adventure now... : )

To the Clouds

It is an incredibly dreary day today, so I wanted to post some of these bright and wonderful skies to brighten things up a bit. I also read this verse in my devotions this morning, and it couldn't be more fitting. 

"For Your loving kindness is great to the heavens 

and Your truth to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; 

Let Your glory by above all the earth."

Psalm. 57:10