Things you will not find on my blog... a list!
1. Profanity!

Okay really that is all I wanted to say.
I have been blog scanning recently looking for blogs about cooking and photography to help me achieve more knowledge, and have come across so many with language not suitable for a lady!
I just want to say you will never, ever have to worry about that here!
I had that on my mind, now it is not.


I took my camera with me on my walk this morning.

It isn't especially easy to wrangle a dog and take good photos!


I feel like I took a lot of pictures today, but so many of them were just not how I imagined they would be.

I finally got to the point where this one looked like it was gonna be "the" picture of the day, but decided not to give up quite so easily!





I have been admiring this particular tree on my street for some days now.
I knew taking a picture this time of day was just not going to do it any justice but I did it anyway and then had the audacity to be disappointed.


It is just covered with delicate lavender flowers, and is quite breathtaking when the sun strikes it.



I decided that I would mess around with the colors and contrast for fun and came up with this.


Sigh!
At least it is visually interesting.

I must leave off quickly. I promised my middle child I would fix him homemade tomato soup for supper before he heads off for soccer practice!

later!

Now , where did I put that?

Somewhere last week I wrote a note to myself about something that I wanted to be sure and write to you about this week.

Somewhere is that note, but I know not where.

On Wednesdays we are studying in Revelation, I looked there but came up with nothing.
On Thursdays we are studying in the book of Joshua, but it isn't there!
On Sunday...Romans...nope not there either.
I checked my calendar, my notes section of my bible and about 15 other places!
Hmmmm what could it be?

Oh wait, maybe it was from Psalm 119 from the ladies retreat this weekend.

I am gonna go with that, simply because I underlined a few verses which did prick my heart.

I was sleep deprived and caffeine laden...I do remember that much.

verse 116
Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;
And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

That verse caught up on something deep within me.
I am not sure that I live my hope "out loud" enough.

I know, I know...those of you who hang out with me are already disagreeing with me.
However, I am talking about in those moments you don't see.
The moments when an opening is there and I miss it.
Moments when Christ could shine, but my human nature gets in the way.
I know you have them too, right??

I just want those times to be fewer.

I hope as we grow and mature in Christ we will seek to live with boldness our salvation, not only for ourselves, knowing how strongly it enriches our lives...but for others who are in need of the cleansing blood of Christ.

Verse 175
Let my soul live that it may praise You.

I guess that must be what I am supposed to say today!

Now, as for pictures, I am back to being on my own in that department.
I would love for any ideas or challenges from you if you have something on your mind for me to try to capture.

But as for today, here is a day lily coming up for spring!!


We transplanted 2 from our old yard to this spot in our new yard. How is it that we now how 3 coming up??? Don't ya just love that plants do that multiply thing.....at least someone around here can do math.
The blooms, if they happen, are a wonderful red!

I caught my dog running roughshod over one of my cilantro plants, so I put this garden stake near it to help protect it.

That is what is in the background.
The plant in the foreground is one of the cilantro "babies" that came up recently!
Oh, it is sooooo yummmy!
I am glad to have it being so prolific.
I gotta say, all of my herbs are making a mighty comeback after the hard winter. They are in no way contained and are in serious need of some intervention.
I will get my husband right on that.
Ha ha hahahaha!!!

We are going to be working on a backyard fruit and veggie garden in a few weeks as well as planting some trees.
Have you been around her long enough to know that "we" means I supervise and give opinion a lot and others do the bulk of the work. Not because I am lazy....I just don't enjoy it as others do.
Oh I promise I will do my fair share most of which I hope won't involve dirt or grubs!
Well, I must get!
I have tortillas to make before the bus arrives.

Last day of February!!

Hello busy Monday and the end of my Joy of Love challenge Month!

Today was the assignment: Future.
In some way show how you imagine the future will be for a loved one!

Sigh! I didn't want to even take this one on...but then, I walked into my daughters room to wake her this morning and found this!!!

I asked..."Is Barbie marrying Batman?"
giggle giggle giggle..."Yes Mom, she is!"

"Is that little tiger cub their pet?"
giggle giggle giggle..."Yes Mom, she is!"

Problem solved!!
I just know my little princess will meet and marry a batman someday!
There is no doubt in my mind that she will have pets of some sort, though I should hope it won't be tigers!

Oh, boy...gotta go. I have to finish supper and feed the fam!

My photos today...

Here in the South we participate in Leadership Training for Christ through our church youth group.
There are many categories where children from grades 3-12 can grown their skills and knowledge base. This year the book of the bible being covered is Revelation.

I choose to help with the Bible Quiz portion of the training for our congregation.
We work every week leading up to the conference which is held Easter weekend.
This is our 4th week now!
I got this cool new app for my cellphone...just for Bible Quiz!


The kids take a 12 minute, (timed) open book, 50 question test each week.

Then they also take a closed book test, which is timed at 8 minutes.
Nothing like a stopwatch to make that easy and accurate!!

That's it folks!
No telling what this week will bring, but I will be here...everyday!

Ladies Retreat

Tired

Picture of a bowl


Bed!

Off to work!

My JOY photo challenge today???

When do you love them best?

Okay...way easy!!!

I nonchalantly grabbed my camera this morning and positioned myself to take pictures of my husband.
He was not fooled and caught on quickly, but loves me and let me take a few shots after my explanation of the challenge.

He loves to be loved too!!

Every morning my precious husband gets ready for work and after giving a hearty good morning to each child heads out the door.
He is not heading any place that he "wants" to be, but goes because he knows for this family he needs to be there.
Work.
A place that takes up most of his life, for the support of our family.

I love him best...when he is loving us!










Of course...we love him walking back in too!!

3 unrelated items

Whoa, I need a nap!!
I don't suppose 4:30 in the afternoon is time to be thinking about that, huh?

I have 3 things to talk about today, including my JOY assignment.

I came across this funny site yesterday!

That is the new blanket Santa brought to Shelby for Christmas.
She likes to snuggle up on it and has even chosen it, over sleeping in her bed several cold nights.

It obviously ranks 2nd though to her favorite place on the stairs!
When she lays there she can see out the windows next to the front door and out into the backyard through the living room windows which are directly behind her.
That is one ugly blanket...what was Santa thinking??

This is a tree in our backyard and the woodpecker who is moving in!!

I shot that with my telephoto lens set as far out as it would go.


This next image is one I composed for my JOY daily challenge.
The topic for the day: Where!
Well, when my husband woke me up at 4:30 this morning snoring incessantly I began to think through this assignment.
I went through so many ideas trying to figure out how to show in a photo where I "first met my loved one".
Some thoughts led me to the file folder which holds all my kids ultrasound pictures. But that didn't feel quite right. I mean...for me, I "met" my babies.. at least emotionally, when I first learned I was pregnant.

I tried some shots with the sweet ultrasound images and a little stuffed lamb, which 10 years ago used to play Jesus Loves Me every single night to soothe someone to sleep!!
In order to reach the lamb I had to move a tiny little pink bible.
All of this somehow led me to began to think about when I first met Christ.

I was blessed enough to be able to meet Christ as a child going to bible class.
It was just a normal part of my growing up life...we went to church, period.
I was baptized in my teen years and have never looked back!
I then went to a christian college and got some education and learned even more about this mysterious Christ.
Then I had babies.
When you hold a baby and realize what God did for you in letting his son be born, in order to die...wow!
Somehow for me, that seems to be when I came that much closer to really meeting him.
Seeing him and his sacrifice for the first time with clarity.

It has been almost 14 years since I held my first sweet baby, smelling that heart wrenching scent which comes off of them in waves, somehow causing unexplained tears in my eyes.
In that time, I cannot tell you the number of times I have met Christ.
I hope to continue to find him daily!