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One year ago today I was writing this.  The final day of wearing my little black dress.  It feels so odd that it’s been a year since I hung up the LBD.  What.a.year.  Many of you have stuck with me through it all and for that I’m so grateful.  I’m thankful for all your support and for your care for our sweet orphans.  I’m most thankful to Jesus for being my Lord and Savior.

You’ve seen a lot from me in this last year but what you didn’t see was this picture below.  Yes, this picture is of me in the dress.  It was taken during the 100 days.  After I saw it my thought was “?!?!”.  What was I thinking?!  I look like a pirate.  A 12 year old pirate at that…and the shoes…let’s not even get started with picking this apart.  When I look at this picture it makes me laugh.  I had run out of steam, clothing, and creativity and was just ready to not be styling that dress! I almost decided against posting this picture because it’s so…wrong.  BUT I hope you get a good laugh out of this picture.  Every project needs at least one blooper right?! 😉

I’m so excited that today I have an UPDATE! $58,802.00 😀 😀 😀

I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I don’t think about my kids.  Those sweet children that are full of life.  They have so much potential if given the chance to bloom.  One life that is changed can have the most incredible ripple effect.  Today would you give $5?  Can we reach to get to the $59K mark?  Each donation makes a difference.  Warm Blankets opened 20 new homes (that’s 200 more kids)!  And they need A LOT of money to keep these homes open so that these children are taken care of.  Five bucks?  Just 5?  Because I guarantee you it will be worth it! 😀

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)

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Scanning the recipe I spotted this: softened butter.  My first thought was,  “oh, great”.  When baking I almost always forget to pull out the butter from where we keep the extra in the freezer.  Unfortunately the recipe said soften not melt.  So instead of heating it on the stove quickly I sliced the little brick of milky yellow and placed it in the sun.

And waited.

Because hard butter doesn’t mix well with the other ingredients.

Seems to be a picture for me.  There are areas in my life that are hard and need change.  God in his grace softens me gradually.  It happens as I sit with the Son.  In his light is where the darkness in my heart dissipates.  When I lose myself in Jesus and his glorious radiance I become perfectly soft and useable.  I can mix well with others after I’ve spent time alone with him.  It takes waiting on Jesus and his strength to accomplish in myself what I cannot.  Sometimes a little heat is just what I need.

1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Her piercing scream cut right through the sunshine as I whipped around to see what had happened.  There was my sweet mother stretched out on the concrete and my heart immediately went to my throat.  A thoughts flooded my brain.  Had she hit her head?  How bad was it?  Was she going to be O.K.?  Countless other things traversed my brain at a rapid rate while I pulled out my phone to call my dad who was nearby in the park.  In moments he was there with me trying to help her off of the slick wet floor.  She was unable to walk and her wrist was deformed into a position that made me feel sick.

It’s been a week now since my mum fell and broke her wrist and fractured her pelvis.  She’s going to be O.K. and for that I am immensely thankful.  Yet, I’ve been thinking a lot about how fragile life is.  Besides Jesus I love my parents more than anything.  They are my best friends and so dear to me.  The thought of losing them makes me shudder and feel horrible.  On that day that she fell though I was reminded once again that my hope must be in something else.  Someone else actually.  That someone is Jesus.  No matter what happens God still sits on the throne and he is good.  Even if he would have taken my mom to be with him last week he would still be good.  I’m grateful he didn’t ask me to walk through that right now.  Today please tell the people that you love how you feel about them.  Serve those around you with joy and enjoy the gifts all around you.  They are there.  Are you looking for them?

Today I am thankful for: great doctors/nurses, nice new hospital rooms, fresh cut garden flowers, the opportunity to watch the Olympics, my family, “my” kids in India, a personal relationship with Jesus.  I could go on and on because the grace of God is unending.

This is a special post for me.  I get to introduce you to my whole family!  My brother and his wife came for a visit and while they were here my amazing friend Christa took these family photos.  Thankfully it wasn’t chaos although coordinating clothing for ten people was a bit interesting… 😉  I love my family and I am so grateful to have them in my life.  Sometimes we’re crazy but we have fun. 🙂

In the group photo from left to right: Me, Drew (brother), Mel (sister-in-law), Dan (dad), Gay (mom), Keenan (nephew), Lucy (niece), Judah (nephew), Mike (brother-in-law), and Beka (sister).

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)

Sunday we took a drive up to Hood River.  On the way back we stopped at Crown Point to see a sweeping view of the gorge.  It was stunning.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!'” 1 Chronicles 16:31

My brother and sister in law have been in town this last week and as a result I’ve been seeing Portland in a new way.  We’ve had a great time going to the food carts, eating in the park, trying new things, taking drives in a old limo (really old), having family pictures done, and perusing the farmers market.  Just to mention a few things of course… 😉  Oh, and I had the chance to go in a double decker bus that had been transformed into a vintage dress shop.  Yes, it was adorable.  It’s been a week of Saturdays.  Completely a win win situation.  🙂

I miss my beautiful, amazing kids 100%.  I put that statement on Facebook and my incredible friends in India who work with the children said that, “they (the kids) tell us the feeling is mutual, in English and Telugu”.  Knowing that my kids miss me…that right there is priceless and it MADE.MY.MONTH.  Anyways it’s been a little while since I put up some photos of them and I thought you might like to see what delights my heart.  Also would you be willing to give just $5 today to feed one of them for a month? 🙂  We still haven’t gotten to the goal amount…

These tiny treasures of eloquent hymns and prayers were discovered by a friend of mine a few weeks ago while in an antique store.  Each one is over a hundred years old and I marvel that the words inside resonate with my heart.  It reminded me that truth is timeless and transcends culture.  What beauty there is in the fact that truth is always relevant.

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been doing any posts with pictures of my outfit it’s because I haven’t really added anything new to my wardrobe lately and I’ve been non creative with what I do have.  I get in a rut and stop shopping my closet.  Frankly I just feel…boring with what I have to offer on the blog style wise.  I tend to have go to pieces that I just wear over and over and neglect my other clothes that I’m sure would take a complaint to the fashion police if they could saying how they’ve been held against their will in my closet.  Yes, I just gave my clothing personalities.  I’m pretty sure that I can almost hear my summer clothing singing for joy that the sun has finally made an appearance.  I’m also pretty sure my winter clothes don’t mind going into hibernation. 😉  Hope your day is lovely!

There is golden sunlight filtering through the trees and lighting up the leaves as I sit here at my desk thinking about what to write.  It’s lovely.  I’m a bit “glowy” from being out in the warmth of the evening picking juicy raspberries, but a whole bowl full of plump little fruit makes the messy, wispy, haphazard hair pushed carelessly back from my face all worth it.  I enjoy those moments where I just stop, take a long deep thoughtful breath, and then experience my body relaxing.  I’m learning to take things in.  This past week at the beach I made sure to just grab my mind and focus it on the stunning beauty that makes me awed yet also giddy with delight.

I’ve never seen the ocean so flat as it was on that perfect Monday that we went down.  The waves were gentle and rolling.  It always astounds me the amount of water that stretches out to meet with the horizon.  Blue clasping blue.  As I wandered down the beach soaking it all in a small dark object scuttled right as I stepped left.  When I bent down to get a closer look I saw the tiniest crab I’ve ever seen.  It wasn’t any bigger than a quarter and I must have looked a little silly with my face inches from the sand mesmerized by this creature.  After taking far to many pictures of it and examining its pincers to see if they could actually hurt me I scooped it up in my hand.  We had a moment, that crab and I, and then he walked off sideways back onto the beach and I continued on my way grateful for moments captured.  What captured your attention last week?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!