10 months

this is just about as good as it gets

as far as trying to get a picture with him lately.

he smiles and looks at you right until you hold the camera up.

oh well, what can you do.

i'm learning that you can't make a baby do much.

even if you're wanting him to smile and wave to the sweetest person ever.

thank goodness there's more to life than pretty christmas cards.

gigi

Gigi [my mom's "grandmother name"] has been planning a beach trip for some time now.

She's one of those really thoughtful people

who happen to really wait until the last minute

to act on her thoughtfulness.

To me, those two things seem like complete opposites.

To her, it makes total sense.

This beach trip was a different story.

The most ahead planned trip that I've ever seen her do.

She booked it knowing that it would be a good time for all of us.

Scott & I still have a few months of being in the States.

Sarah is out of class.

And Dad. Well, he's just Dowe. Hunky dory about life.

Little did we know, this trip would come in perfect sync with our circumstances.

It's really a celebration.

A celebration of life. Days and more days that we don't deserve.

Yesterdays and the day before's that we count as blessings to have had.

It's pretty crazy what shocking news can do to you.

Scream out fear.

Make you hold tight to anything.

Cry out.

Shut down.

Wonder why.

But then it can make you rethink life.

That's what happened for me when we heard that Mom had cancer [the pink is for you, Mom. Just in case you haven't already had enough of it].

Makes you wonder.

What is life?

Is today the last day?

Or is tomorrow?

How long will I have with her?

[possibly my favorite of them]

God works those things out. Transforms us in the process.

Those questions that pull you closer to Him or drive you further away.

I want to know Christ and because He is all and in all.

Then what is this about?

You find yourself repeating what is true.

[and planting your roots deep, deep down into His truth]

All I know is that He is renewing me and my family through this season.And today we rejoice in that Mom is cancer free. 8 months later.

What a timely little beach trip.

It's a celebration, really.

dimples

they're pretty much God's gift to moms.

practicality

[forgot to add this one yesterday]

Practicality:

[involves the actual doing or experiencing of something rather than just a theory or idea of it]

This is a term that I know very well from my husband.

But I love when it doesn't just have to be in him.

It can be found in me too.

Reading through 2 Corinthians.

Chapter 4.

Ah, the picture of being treasures in jars of clay.

Don't we all take a deep breath at that visual ... like thank You that I'm supposed to have holes and cracks in my jar and that it's about what is flowing out of the inner parts.

And then I get to those 4 words in verse 16.

"... renewed day by day."

Lots of times I think, Okay God, how do I become this? How can you mold me like that? And then lots of times I buy into that lie of "that's just not my personality" or "I don't feel like doing or being that way".

Then as I enter into His Presence, and press into His thoughts, what do I find?

That I am being renewed.

I know this because I'm actually looking forward to a conference that Scott and I are going to today for 4 days. Might be lame to you. But let me tell you, this is remarkable. That I would actually be wanting to move forward with this process [of moving to East Asia] rather than become resistant.

He is renewing me.

I am beginning [I repeat, beginning] to see what I have been whispering to my Father.

"What are you making?" or "How come I don't have handles?"

Isaiah 45:9

Wow.

How could I ask my Maker why he's formed me the way that He has?

How could I ask my Lord why He's chosen this path for me?

So as I read through 2 Corinthians 4,

I saw that verse practically playing out in my life.

Because he is equipping me. Renewing me.

Because I'm looking forward.

Not looking down for oh my gosh where is the next step because I can't see that my foot has a place for it, but looking straight to Him knowing that He has a secure place for that next step because ...

I know that He knows what He is making.

He knows why I don't have handles.