Monday, March 22, 2010

Go look...NOW!

This weekend, I took Zeppelin on a 1 mile hike, to the "Top of the World" outside of Maryville, TN (in the outskirts of the Smokey Mountains). I went with two of my friends, Grace and Josh. We had a great time and Zeppelin loved all the new smells and things to look at. Josh is an amazing photographer and took pictures along the way. Zeppelin was WORN out by the time I got home, and Josh was sweet enough to take some ADORABLE pictures of Zeppelin. Enjoy!

www.flickr.com/photos/jw_photo/sets/72157621907893335

and...I took a few of these lol! I'm a budding photographer!

Monday, March 15, 2010

With Heart Headed Home

I have recently began reading Max Lucado's book "Come Thirsty." It is a great book about how we should be drenching ourselves in the Word, Christian fellowship, etc. There is a beautiful story in there that really put things in perspective for me. Thought I would share it with you guys.

"Search the faces of the cap Haitian orphanage for Carinette. Study the 57 dark-skinned, bright-eyed, curly haired Creole-speaking, fun loving children for a unique 7 year old firl. She appears no different from the others. Eats the same rice and beans. Plays on the same grassless palyground. Sleeps beneath the tin roof as do the other girls, hearing the nearly nightly pounding of the Haitian rain. But though she appears the same, don't be fooled. She livves in a different world - a world called home-to-be.
See the slender girl wearing the pink shirt? The girl with the long nose and bushy hair and a handful of photos. Ask to see them; Carinette will let you. Fail to ask, she'll show you anyway. The photos bear the images of her future family. She's been adopted...(her adoptive parents) brought her pictures, a teddy bear, granola bars, and cookies. Carientte shared the goodies, asked the director to guard her bear, but she keeps the pictures. They remind her of her home-to-be. Within a month, two at the most, she'll be there. She knows the day is coming. Every opening of the gate jumps her heart. Any day now her father will appear. He promised he'd be back. He came once to claim her. He'll come again to carry her home. Till then she lives with a heart headed home.
Shouldn't we all? Carinette's situation mirrors ours. Our Father paid us a visit too. Have we not been claimed? Adopted?...God searched you out. Before you knew you needed adopting he'd already filed the patpers and selected the wallpaper for your room. Abandon you to a fatherless world? No way. Those privy to God's family Bible can read your name. He wrote it there. What's more, he covered the adoption fees. Neither you nor Carinette can pay your way out of the orphanage. we don't finance our adoption, but we do accepth it. Carinette could tell the prospective parents to get lost. But she hasn't. In the same way, you could tell God to get lost. But you wouldn't dare, would you? The moment we accept his offer we go from orphans to heirs...Heaven knows no stepchildren or grandchildren. You and Christ share the same will...Oh but we forget. Don't we grow accustomed to hard bunks and tin plates. Seldom do we peer over the fence into the world to come. and how long has it been since you showed someone your pictures?...Adopted, but not transported. We have a new family, but not our Heavenly house. We know our father's name, but we haven't seen His face. He has claimed us, but has yet to come for us.
So here we are. caught between what is and what will be. No longer orphans, not yet home. What do we do in the meantime? Indeed, it can be just that - a mean time. Time made mean with chemotherapyy, drivers driving with more beer than brains in their bodies, and backstabbers who make life on earth fell like a time share in Afghanistan. How do we live in the meantime? How do we keep our hearts headed home? Paul weighs in with some suggestions.
And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also graon to be released from pain and suffering. we, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we earegly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently (Romans 8:23-25)."

I pray that I will live with a heart headed home. Love you all!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Home is Where Your Heart Is

Moved into a new place over a month and a half ago. It's a one bedroom townhouse with....a bigger kitchen and washer and dryer connections! I just finally got around to putting up pics.
Bakers Rack in the kitchen
BIG kitchen (at least compared to the old one)

Entertainment Corner
Desk/Scrapbook area

Couch (need more decorations)


Dinning room

Beautiful picture in the hallway
Downstairs bathroom

Stairs(there is a baby gate at the bottom.
Do we have a baby? Yes, and his name is Zeppelin)

Bookshelf at the top of the stairs

Bedroom

I LOVE the new bedroom furniture!

On the dresser to remind us "All you need is LOVE"

Those are candle holders I made

New decorations in the bedroom

I painted all these!

Bed and new artwork

Messing around with the accent color on my camera