Go. Be. Do.

My pick from all the things I saw while shopping in Nashville has found a new home on a wall where I will see it many times a day.  Love the metal artwork...love the concept.  Bring on 2014!

Just then an expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. “You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28 2013...the year of surprises.  Some good.  Some not so much. I have always been one who believes there is a reason for everything.  The blessings and curses of this imperfect world on my life have purpose.  I have good reason to believe such...The KJV says it most poetically... "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1 The timing of God is a fascinating mystery to me.  I refer to it as a mystery because my finite brain will never grasp the awesomeness of it this side of Heav...

  Cousins...    Such a fun time we had in Nashville with my sister, bro-in-law, nieces, and nephew!  It was a beautiful morning, so after breakfast we took the shuttle over to the Parthenon . Still becoming friends with my new camera.  Sometimes it's frustrating to know what I want to capture and how I want to capture it, but not know for sure how to do that just yet. Although it was a nice day, one of my many challenges in the winter is taking photos outside when I am cold. Shivering and camera focusing do not work well together.  I found one I liked well enough to post here.    

Roadtripped it to Nashville to spend the day with family.   Spied a treasure in the window of an antique store.  It's mine now. :)   Tried to get into two recommended restaurants, but both had 2+ hours wait. Found the Back Alley Diner less than a block away from where we were downtown via a "local" app, and walked right in, was seated immediately, and enjoyed the best food in the entire city. Including bacon wrapped, whipped cream cheese stuffed, jalepenos...a.maz.ing!

    Anyone else see E.T. hiding in this bucket of randomness?             Had fun exploring the warehouse from behind the camera lens today. The more I practice the better I will become...I hope.

I love Christmas lights.  Multi-colored.  Non-LED.  Yes, there is a huge difference between the old and newer light strands, as I have become well aware of this year.  Oh, how well I know. Every year it seems that the urge to decorate hits a little earlier.  We travel to Indiana for Thanksgiving, so my home is not required to look the part for Thanksgiving.  I know the voices are many about giving Thanksgiving its rightful position as a holiday inbetween October 31st and December 25th.  I pull out my ceramic serving plate on which the boys' handprints are turkeys, place it on the bar, cover it with goodies to share, and feel at peace in my heart that I have paid homage to T-Day.  If there happens to be stockings hung by the fireplace and a tree in the corner of the room at the same time, I do not think the plate minds sharing the space.  Just sayin'. This fall was a little different than my norm.  While I should have been toting an...

    When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, just as they had been told.  Luke 2:15-20 Daily... Find Jesus. Share His Gospel with others. Be amazed at His works. Treasure in our hearts all we hear/see of Him. Return glory and praise to God.

   It was a merry Christmas Eve for me.  An unspeakable joy has surrounded me all the day long.  I cannot put into words, just yet, all that has been going on inside this mind of mine lately.  Not that I do not want to, but rather, the words just will not come.  Whenever they do, I know it will be from God, in His time.  No one is more ready than I am for that post to come to pass.  It is going to be good; because He is good...no matter what.  Until then, I will wish you a Merry Christmas and eat another piece of pie (and do my 100 push-ups so I do not feel guilty about the pie).

Had a little visitor in the classroom today...    Hope it finds its way out...we are now officially on Christmas vacation...for a few days.  Our theory...why vacation on cold, icky days when we can enjoy the time off later when it's nice outside or when we go somewhere where it's nice outside.  Merry Christmas Eve!

For an IG photo challenge, I was to capture a photo of a star for day 22.  My favorite star came from the white elephant gift I was blessed to take home last year from our Sunday School Christmas party.  Love the homemade clear bead and safety pin Christmas tree no one stole from me, especially the star on top...    An otherwise awesome day, spent with family and church family celebrating Christmas together, Tim and I wrapped up our evening playing his new game, Clash Alley...I was Raphael and I lost.   

The only thing making if feel like Christmas today was wearing my favorite Christmas socks.  I think our thermometer topped out at 73° today.  Warm, windy, with intermittent rain.  This is Winter Solstice 2013 in GA...not bad, not bad at all.  I will take any warm weather day in the winter that comes my way and embrace it lovingly!    As for how I spent the first day of winter...after a morning cleaning house, laundry, and dishes...I went to see my therapist  hair stylist for a long, overdue haircut.  Met a friend to browse through the Dollar Tree with me because I needed more gift tags and ribbon.  Made it out of the store for with only 12 items...not bad since I haven't been there in about a year. This is where it gets really good... My workout for the day...stacking this:                    Cool down...a walk in the woods...looking for mistletoe, but discovering Christmas tree futur...

One 10 year old is going to be happy on Christmas Day! Shhh!!! Please, don't tell him...or the surprise will be lost. Thanks!    A selfie of the wrapping elves...   

10 years old today...

For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song. Isaiah 51:3

As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person. Proverbs 27:19

Had to make a Peace on Earth to go with the Joy to the World. :) The Fam ♥

Look at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. Job 35:5

Tonight, as I finished up a task off my to do list, all I could think about was the Blue Bell ice cream I had purchased a few hours earlier while grocery shopping {another item that I marked off my list today. :)} As I scooped it into my bowl, I saw the candy canes...then the Hershey Kisses...and this is what came to be. My own version of my favorite Christmas season treat. A reward. For having a great post-op appointment. For getting back to the Y, full routine and all. For finishing up the Christmas decorating. It was tasty.

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.   Luke 2:9-11 I was inspired by a photo on Instagram to make our own Joy to the World banner for the classroom.  I love it!  A great reminder of the Good News of Christmas for everyone.

For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow you to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus.  Romans 15:4-5  A rainy day spent in a quaint part of town with a friend...and a hot cocoa, so pretty, I had to take a picture. Catching up with my friend, Jackie, was so wonderful today! We met back in 1990 at Bible Memory Camp.  I remember that year...I was a senior and she was a freshman.  I am not really for sure how much we got to know each other that year, but as time went on and we both continued serving with BMC, our paths crossed time and again.  We both traveled all summer long with BMC, differing summers, but it was around that time that our friendship fell into the "lifetime" category. Jackie is an amazing woman.  So intelligent, studio...

"For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."  Deuteronomy 20:4 A very important day for me today.  My post-op appointment was this morning.  My doctor was very excited to tell me that I passed my pathology lab with flying colors...meaning that clear margins surrounded the lump removed during surgery.  It was confirmed that I am indeed free of any known breast cancer. Another important issue discussed were restrictions.  As of this morning, I was free to do anything that does not hurt me. Although tempted to celebrate with a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake, I went to the Y instead... And it was sweeter than that milkshake could have ever been.

Time to dust off the camera for the December Photo Project . {but today's dpp shot was captured with my phone :)} Out of all of our Christmas trees this one is my favorite...