Simple Moments

Moments held in a picture are moments held in the heart. Simple moments like this. Every day, "run of the mill moments"........

 And I'm captured by him...by her......by it all. All that this life holds. Blessings are not measured by greatness,or money spent or by things. Rather, it is measured by love and how much one heart can hold.

I breathe in deep, the smell of fresh cut grass.  The fragrance of life can take you back to places and times you thought were buried deep, but they soon rise to the surface. It's living this life that will bring a long lost smile. It's loving in this life that make simple moments worth while. That look that he gets, I could stare into those eyes all day. And I don't think he realizes it.....How much I love....how much I love him more than yesterday.

I grab my heart, hold onto my camera and snap quick. Because I know all too well Simple Moments are fleeting........Enjoy this life here on this side of heaven, even the simple every day, "run of the mill moments." It matters how you spend it here. It matters to the loved ones around you......It matters to strangers watching you...........

Pop, Ping!

How to preserve what is good.........

It's in the washing. Taking off the dirt of this life and remembering from whence you came......and not wanting to go back.

It's remembering to surround yourself with those that will add flavor to your life and not taint it.....

Life doesn't have to be bland. You can still have spice. I remember from whence I came and I cherish this new life so much more........more than words could ever describe!

Packed in jars, placed in boiling water til the seal is good and hot. Then once you take them out and place them on the counter.....You sit and wait to hear the pop,ping of the lid. It is then the seal takes place to preserve what is good.

Before this life can be preserved it must be washed of the dirt and the grime. Call upon His name and when you have turned away from all that is tainted.........The seal will take place. And just as I love to hear the pop, ping when my jars let me know they have sealed....I'd like to think the angels in heaven are waiting for each and every POP,PING!

He Was There All Along, Painting Pictures

I was just passing by, on my way through to the other room. I glanced out and saw this. I ran to get my camera just hoping I'd capture in the lens what I had captured with my eyes....I've been known to do this before. To drop what I'm doing, grab my camera and take off out the back door...I have many a sunset snapped in images. Colors poured out, dripping with His beauty. And I often wonder how He paints pictures like this?

And it's in seeing the created that I grow in faith. The colors of faith all wrapped up in a pretty ribbon of pinks and blues. I swear He does this just for me.

And I get wrapped up in the moment as the colors fill my lens and warms my soul. As the sun sets I can't help but think of all the sunsets I've missed. The ones I never thought twice about. He was there all along painting pictures......Painting them just for me.

Wisps of clouds out lined in silver, and if you look close enough up in the right hand corner you will see birds flying off into the sunset. I never seen them until I unloaded the pictures onto my computer. It couldn't of been more perfect. So instead of hoarding this gift all to myself......

I had to share. And I pray that you unwrap this painting with Thankful, praise to the One who paints them every night. And He paints them just for you.....So that you will take notice and not just pass on by. Don't just pass Him by. With every stroke of the brush He thinks of you.........me.

For all I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

If You Really Want Him To

Our home feels empty. We are less 4 of our 5 children. So my hands, they keep busy. Time will only drag sitting idle. And I'm never really one that wishes time away. But I must confess, Oh how I wish time would fly to have them all here with me again. All under the same roof. I remember noticing this a time or two before, how loud the silence can be.

I sit here in the still, dark, quiet of the night.....my children resting their heads 1200 miles away. And just to say that I miss them doesn't come close to how I feel.  Right now I'm thinking about how people have made comments like "I don't know how you do it?" I'd go crazy with 5 kids!" And I cringe because I remember them saying this in front of their children. What a message that must of sent to them..... Well right about now I'm going crazy with out 4 of my 5 kids! And I've learned over the years that God can work wonders in your heart if you let Him.....If you ask Him....If you really want Him to. "I don't have the patience to do what you do!" Please friend, hear me out, I have not arrived on the Best Mama of the world train. I'm still a work in progress. You see, I've  been asking Him to do wonders in my heart. I've been asking Him to give me the heart of a real Mama....The Mama He wants me to be. Children are a blessing in God's eyes....So shouldn't they be in yours?......in mine?

What I BELIEVE is that my heart is changing, growing into this wonder....This God Given Wonder. It's what makes people WONDER how I do what I do....How I love to do what I do! And my man could tell you that if God were to Bless us with another child I would love it........And I wouldn't care that you'd think I'm crazy. I'm who I am because of who God is in me. And I've seen time and time again where he has pushed out the selfishness and bitterness that this old heart would hold so tight to. I've seen where He has given me a love for people of all walks of life.......I've felt the love of teaching someone else's  kids in Sunday School and Homeschool Co-op. These are things that if you knew me years ago, I/you would never think I would be doing now.......

But I am. I'm living proof that God can change a life and heal a heart. That He can give you patience, strength and endurance to face what ever your facing. He can change your heart to love what you thought you never could. To do the impossible. If you ask Him, He will do wonders in your heart. If you really want Him to.....

And please hear my heart! I'm not telling you to have more kids. Only God can place that desire in your heart and only God should. What I am saying is that with God all things are possible and He can change your heart for anything in this life. He can change an unforgiving heart into a forgiving one, a hurt and broken one into a healed one, an impatient heart into a patient one. What ever your heart needs He can restore, He can make new! If you really want Him too......

What are we Building?

He likes to build with wood, but if you ask him, he will tell you "I don't want to be a carpenter, I just like to build things." And maybe I could of handled it differently.....He spent all afternoon in the shop building with his two little hands, the hands that use to be chubby and thick and rest so sweetly in the palm of my hand.

He needed a night stand to put his bible and his trucks on. That's what he told me. "Mama I need help bringing it back home." We get to the shop and there it sits all big as life, painted white, sharp nails poking straight through. Heavy to lift and as we try the corner fell apart. You see he uses what people throw away. Old scraps rotting in the sun and melting in the rain. I tell him, son this just won't do, we can't take this home! It's not safe with nails poking out. Your little sister could get hurt, you could get hurt!

"Mama, Yes we can!" And he frantically reaches for the hammer to pound the protruding nails back out. My voice gets louder......because he doesn't want to hear me. WE ARE NOT BRINGING IT HOME! I tell him to leave it there and he can work on it tomorrow. He climbs on the mule, Eyes all welled with tears. And half way home he blurts out... "I worked from 12:30 to 5:00 on that night stand!" Lips all quivering. So hurt that I rejected his creation....So hurt that he felt like I was rejecting him. I knew that's how he felt, I could feel it in my bones.

And I keep grasping for words.....The damage had already been done. The hurt and pain already pierced his heart.

He sits, face all red trying to plea his case. And me, I'm pleading mine. I scoop him up in my arms and tell him that I know he worked so very hard on it.....And that he did a good job with what little materials he had. "But you never go buy me the good stuff....so I can make it right."

And maybe it's not just the materials he needs.....Maybe it's time spent with his Mama. If I put down the every day , never gets done things and build with him. We would be building so much more than things out of wood..........

Now, by his bed is something that I had in my room. I never use it. Just sits there..... My little man has a place to put his things......

And I can't help but think I could of handled it differently..........

His Creation Speaks

To follow the road less traveled. To see the lightly trodden narrow path of the pilgrimage before me. To be called and set a part.......And The God of the heavens and the earth, He speaks........

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. Colossians 1:16

He speaks through His creation....The creation that is so complex,  it is impossible to not have a Creator.....impossible to just happen by chance. 


My little pilgrim following the path less traveled at such an early age. I love seeing her grow in wisdom...I love hearing her speak of His creation, My butterfly girl. She loves anything nature and is marveled at how intricate  the designs on a butterfly's wing. She spends hours watching birds and collecting things of this earth.......I wonder what He has planned for her?


I pray that what ever it is, she will continue to speak, she will be part of the created that will speak His name. 


And if we choose not to speak  His name he has said  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:40

Ribbon of Promise

If you look hard enough you can see it....The Ribbon of Promise. On a dark rainy morning this one was meant for me......

It seems every where I look I can still find something good...In all the darkness and the stormy weather....If I look hard enough I can see his Ribbon of Promise.

A reminder that the sun will come out again. A promise that He will be with me always....When the years seem unforgiving and the past creeps in, I'm never alone...He'll never leave me alone.......

When there are days I just can't seem to get it right, he picks me up and dusts me off. Shows me the sun yellow petal of a rose, just as it's opening into full bloom. If I look hard enough I can still find something good......

When the days remind me of my failures as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister. I look and he shows me berries ripening before my eyes and reminds me of the fruit that I bare and all is not lost......If I look hard enough I can still find something good.

To my dear sister in Christ, All the years that trail behind you, are not who you are today......You can't add them up and count them anymore......You see, you keep forgetting, you keep letting go of His promise.

"FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE." Hebrews 8:12


There is a time and a place for everything under the sun....There is a time for letting go and moving on....Let Him lead the way. He'll carry you out of any storm and if you look hard enough He'll show you 

Your very own Ribbon of Promise! And if I look hard enough I can still find something good!

A Path That You Can Take

It was a normal day. We were making our way back from Sam's club....and little man pipes up "Mama I remember the first time I met the devil." Surprised at what I heard I let him talk. "Hunter told me about him and I didn't want to believe him. I kept telling him I didn't believe." He pauses and I wait.......

"Mama, once someone goes there is there a way out?" Is there a path that you can take?" No son, your there forever......  "But Mama, what do you do there?" I cringe because what I have to tell him hurts my soul.....my soul aches for the ones who choose Hell over Heaven. I tell him....your tortured there.....always in torment. "Do you ever get a break?"  No, not one......the burning and the pain will be unbareable and it never ends. I'm wanting to talk about something else like, what are we going to have for dinner tonight? or Where are we going to plant the sunflowers? .......he keeps asking.....  I want him to stop.... but my soul is saying wait because patience is what I need now...He wants to know and I want to be the one to tell him.

 "Why does God send people there?" Oh son, God doesn't send anyone there. People choose to go there. "But can't God make them go to heaven, he has the power.....why doesn't he give them a second chance?"

And the questions are rolling out faster than I can answer them.....Son, God doesn't force any one to that safe saving place, He wants them to choose....they have free will. In the same way you can't force some one to love some one else. He doesn't want your forced love, He wants you to turn to Him because you need Him, because you want Him, Because you chose to love him. "Mama, I hate the devil!" Me too son........ "Mama if God loves everyone, do you think he could still love the devil if the devil repented?" And my automatic answer was, absolutely not! But then again, I am not God.........

And my little man's reflection in the rear view mirror is priceless. A look of relief because he chose love......but you could tell he was concerned for the ones who won't get a second chance. Son, that's why it's important to tell others about Jesus now. "I know Mama."  The car gets quiet...the questions are over. I thought I would feel relieved....but I don't. You see I wasn't gonna write about this conversation I had with little man.....My thoughts were, I didn't want to scare my readers away......

But this won't let me go.......  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6


What path do you choose for all eternity? 


There are no second chances, no paths leading out. And dear friend I'm not trying to scare you into making a decision....Although I sometimes wish I could. This is your decision.....He wants you to know Him because you want to....He wants you to fall in love because you chose to.....He gave a precious gift, and that gift was His son. He took our place......Like a soldier going off to war....He fought and died for you, for your soul. There is no other, there is no other way to heaven but through His son........

You Are My Sunshine

She is 1200 miles away on a mission trip of her own.... she makes time, finds the time to witness.......I think of her often, all day long and when the sun sets I see her sweet smile......My Beautiful Sunshine girl! I often wonder, it often comes to mind the way she is not afraid...doesn't hesitate......The way she lets her light shine. And it's been said that if you walk in the light you won't have to say anything to get people to notice something is different about you...about her.

I've seen it before, the way she gets when she realizes someone might be lost. The look in her eyes automatically  goes to concern. "Mama I don't think she knows Him." "I think she may be confused about how to get to heaven." I tell her this.....If the chance should ever come again...Just ask her, ask her if she knows the way..... "I will Mama."  And you know, I know she will. She won't let this go until God tells her it's ok to let go.

I've seen her press too hard on some before. When it was hard to keep from getting excited. When she just wanted them to see things her way. And now I'm watching my bold little girl grow in wisdom... I'm watching her become a young woman right before my eyes. The closer she gets to God, the more she knows to wait and listen.......To wait on the Lord for when the time is right.  And oh how I wish I were like her when I was all of 13. If I only had Him in my heart then......All those years I missed......All the time I wasted......

And now I get to walk this life with my Sunshine girl...I get to share these experiences with her...her God moments, the moments I missed. And strangely I'm reliving my wasted years through her. I'm seeing how things could of been......And part of me grieves for what I threw away.....I still grieve. But Forgiven is the path I walk now. He fills the darkest corners of my once tainted heart. And as the sun sets I smile because every time I see the sun .....I see my Sunshine girl!

And when she was little I always sang her to sleep with this song......

You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you.....Please don't take my Sunshine away....Sleep tight my Sweet Sunshine!

Fading Freedom

Remembering as a little girl in a small classroom filled with about 20 kids......right hand held over our hearts and in unison we would say:

"I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.........

The feelings of patriotism were being instilled at such a very young age. I knew at the age of seven that this pledge, the words that were being said must be pretty important........pretty important indeed, if we were all to stand every morning and face "Old Glory".

AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS...........

Today I don't believe the majority of our children realize the importance of this "Fading Freedom". And we as parents, are we telling them about Liberty?

ONE NATION UNDER GOD...........

Are we sharing with them, the meaning of being FREE? Do we share with them the story of Independence day?

INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!"


Or is it all just fireworks and hot dogs?  

As I read to them today, not only will I tell them about America's first ring of Freedom.......But how and why this Great Country was founded.......

ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!!!