Amazed!

I am always truly amazed at how many metaphors for life the Lord shows me in my garden!

Yesterday I was watering since we have had no rain lately and unbelievable heat. I have a Rose of Sharon in the front and 2 on the side that are huge. I also have one that I transplanted a few years ago out by the road from a spot I needed to clear for something else. As big as the others are, it has amazed me that the transplanted one never gets bigger or produces more flowers than it did when it was moved. It's like it has remained where it was when it experienced the trauma of getting a new home!

As I marveled at this revelation, I was reminded that psychologists say the same is true for people. We have read and heard numerous times that people can become emotionally stranded at whatever age they experienced a severe emotional trauma in their lives and we really have witnessed this to be true in the lives of some people we have dealt with over the years. Many, who are now adults, have never progressed emotionally past a maturity level greater than their teen years. They were hurt as teens and continue to function with a teen, it's-all-about-me, mentality.

Of course, we know many people who have worked through their pain and have allowed the Lord to heal them so they can function as mature adults. It is not always the case that they remain stranded and no one is beyond the Lord's ability to change them! It does help, though, when we are forced to interact with someone who seems emotionally delayed, to find out a little bit about their story. Oftentimes their behaviour makes more sense once some of the missing pieces of information and pain are added to the mix.

Thank You, Lord, for continuing to remind me of truth and how to interact with others in an understanding way. Thank You for showing me, yet again, that sometimes jacked up outward behaviour is simply the manifestation of unhealed pain deep within another's heart! Please keep me ever mindful that there is often one more thing about someone that I have yet to know that may totally change the way I deal with them!

Date Night!

We had a rare date tonight, especially given that we are still in baseball mode! We had a lovely dinner at Bonefish Grill (LOVE those Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos) and then we did what any other 40-something-parents-of-5-children-who-eat-us-out-of-house-and-home would do on date night...we went to Costco! LOL!!

As we were wandering around, leisurely doing what is normally accomplished at break-neck speed before said children enter meltdown mode or load the cart with pleasure items that bust the bank, I noted a couple walking toward me and heard the man answer his cell phone. They were a 30-something couple by the looks of it and they were on their own. He informed the caller they were at Costco as she walked quietly by his side. She and I locked eyes and I heard myself say, "Another exciting night out, huh? Us, too!" She giggled and responded over her shoulder as we passed, "At least it's not a Saturday night!"

Amen, sister, amen!!

I take comfort in the fact that any time out alone with my man is time well spent, though...Costco or not!

Photos...

I was able to take some pictures while I was in Indiana and I thought I would share a couple. The first are of a building in Warsaw that houses Warsaw Cut Glass. I love the old brick!

A door hidden by ivy!

Next is an old post office built a looonnngggg time ago. If only the walls could talk!

A wagon full of posies...

A lovely old house with beautiful flowers...

And my 2 sleeping girls on the long trip home!

Bittersweet!

Fran is home with Jesus! Her body is whole, she is pain-free and she is in the presence of the One she surrendered her life to many years ago. Her family, while they rejoice over her home-going, finds themselves with a gaping hole and hearts broken in two!

Fran touched the hearts of all who knew her. It seems strange to admit that she became my friend on the internet, but the FIAR boards have allowed me to develop heart friends across the country! Fran was the kind of girl who always showed much care and compassion in all things and she made everyone feel special!

Our FIAR community is grieving, but we do not lose hope. We know that, for those of us who are in Christ, we have the promise of spending eternity with Jesus and Fran. In the meantime, we pray for Ed, their children and extended family as they celebrate a life well lived while trying to figure out a way to fill the void her passing has left!

I love you, Fran! You lived well, loved deeply and touched me at a heart level! Thank you, friend!

New Look!

I have changed up my blog as you can see and I love the new look. The barn is in Indiana and is almost around the corner from where we were staying on the lake. I saw it last year, but never got a chance to take a picture of it and so I made sure to carve out some time this year!

To me, it is the prettiest colour barn I have ever seen...understated elegance...if a barn can possess such a thing! I don't think I have ever seen another barn this colour, but if I had a barn I would want it to look just like this one! It is so serene looking to me and just makes me smile when I look at it!

We had a wonderful vacation and I came back ready to meet life, and all it holds, head on. I feel refreshed and rested and am so thankful to have everyone back under the same roof again!

I'll be writing again soon. I have many thoughts and emotions just below the surface and will need to write in order to put them to rest for now. Stay tuned...

Reflections!

^{Prov. 27:19} As water reflects a face,
so a man's heart reflects the man.

I am in Indiana at the lake! The skies are sunny and the humidity is non-existent! It is heavenly!

As I sat in the big arm chair by the window watching the sunrise and working on my Bible study, I found myself gazing out at the water and the perfect reflection of the pier in the water below as the sun made its appearance. The water was perfectly still and it was hard to tell where the real pier ended and the reflection began.

I contemplated the reality as I sat there that we are all reflecting something. We are either reflecting the glory of the Lord because of the intimacy of time spent with Him, or we are reflecting the cares of the world because of involvement in them minus the time with Him. That is where I found myself more times than I care to count this past year and I am so thankful that I again find myself driven to spend time with Him to survive as surely as I need air to breathe.

I couldn't wait to get up this morning and continue in Esther, seeing what nuggets He has for me for this day. Time spent with Him was essential and it was sweet!

Thank you, Papa, for continuing to woo me in spite of myself! Thank You for welcoming me back even though my visits have been sporadic as of late! Thank You for affirming Your love to me and for reminding me I am Your girl!!