I picked up this beautiful little book right before we went on vacation because I had fallen in love with Shauna's first book Cold Tangerines . I was excited to read this book because it was dealing with change, transition, and finding God in that. All these things are relevant and real things in my life.

Shauna did an excellent job communicating in this book. I love that the book is written in sections, kinda like essay's. There were thoughts about the mishaps and pain in Shauna's life but also the wonder and the beauty of God in our everyday life. She encourages people to see the reality that life is a mix of sorrow and joy. Sometimes the sorrow seems to out wait the joy.

Pick up this book, its full of spiritual truth, great stories, and questions to ask yourself about who you are and what you are doing in your life.

Enjoy this book my friends!

Faithfulness in Change

I used to hate change. Well, honestly sometimes I still do. I am learning the depth and the beauty of change though and this time around its scary and exciting. More importantly it is what God is calling me to in this season.

I fight against control, I want to have things spelled out in an outline, to see what is in front of me, or at least to know how to get to what I want. This time I can't. All I know is that I have to move forward, even if it is one step at a time. Its frustrating, almost infuriating sometimes, the fear seems to rise up in front of me and I have to face it head on.

Every step I seem to move forward though, even if its only an inch at a time has been greeted by faithfulness in provision. Maybe is a kind word. A job interview. Or someone who has faced similar fears. God has always given us what we need for the next step. His heart is continually showing its goodness to me, his desire for goodness in my life is realized.

The steps this week have been filling cardboard boxes with books, clothes, all the things that make our house home. We have moved forward making plans. A bit of dreaming.

We have been greeted by faithfulness. And a Father who keeps showing us the heart of his love. Its a beautiful sight to behold. Maybe it had to happen through change.

Back!

After a week spent up north, where time is slower, the days chillier, and the food so delicious you never want to stop eating we have arrived home.

This week will hold lots of change, dreams to be dreamed, plans to be made. I am so excited. You have no idea!

I return to gratitude first, remembering the things I am grateful for.

Baby kisses from little nieces.

Returning to family memories and stories, locked inside precious trinkets.

Laughing until stomaches hurt about childhood mishaps.

God's faithfulness in provision.

Great Books! I read this beautiful book and started another book from my favorite author.

Headed North

Another Book Review

My love for writing often leads me down library rows with books stacked up to the ceiling, I love the smells of the books and the quietness as I carefully select the book I want to read. It was in a library that I found this treasure of a book by Anne Lamott. I've decided that I want to really grow my skills and love as a writer and found this book to be a great read for that.

Anne Lamott writes of her experience in writing in a witty way, she relates many of her writing experiences to everyday life. I found this to be inspirational. I love writing that captures the essence of life in the most ordinary circumstances. It takes a special person to be that aware of their surroundings and a creator to take these captures and paint them into a piece of writing people are interested to read. Anne Lamott is one of those special people. She writes of this, saying that "writing motivates you to look closely at life, as it lurches by and tramps around." If you have read Bird by Bird or are simply looking for another book to read, I not only recommend this book but also her book Traveling Mercies.

I know a good book when I have to have my journal and a pen close by to capture words from the book and pen them into my own journal to keep for my own. There were few times in my reading this book that I didn't have at least a few of Anne's words to pen into my journal. Many of the words that I borrowed from Anne spoke to the responsibility of a writers words, of the need to seek into your own shadows and write of life experiences. She writes, "you cannot write out of someone else's big dark space; you can only write out of your own."

Today as I gave back this small book full of wisdom and inspiration, I was a little bit sad. This is a book that I would love to have (and someday will) in my own library!

Being the Broken

When I was sorting through some books deciding which to get rid of (not very many!) I came across this book that V and I purchased earlier in the summer. The book is called Making Poverty Personal and is looking at the way that the Bible views those who are in poverty. I have only read the forward by Shane Claiborne and the introduction by the author Ash Barker and already my heart is broken.

Almost five years ago my heart began to break as I worked with people who had been devastated by hurricane Katrina. For the first time I saw what poverty looked like and realized that it wasn't always by choice that someone ended up in the situation that they were in. I learned of how fast one's circumstance can change and how little can be done to make things "better." From this time on I could feel God beginning a work in my heart. Little did I know that in a few years I would be teaching special education classes that had children from homes that were not in the best financial states. I felt the pain and joy of the children I worked with, gave many hugs and high fives, and in the end found that these children had changed my life.

Since then we moved to this new place and I began to wonder what opportunities God would plant in my life. I learned of my love for children and my heart for children who needed the love, support, and stability of a home and family. V and I began to talk of what it would look like to have foster children and a dream planted itself in my heart. Now as we talk of the changes that are about to take place in our lives, pack away our posessions, and rid ourselves of things we don't need I found myself distant from the dreams of offering healing to broken people. Then I randomly picked up this book.

Within three paragraphs I could feel my heart breaking again, an awareness of God speaking to me through the words penned by Shane. He writes in the forward "I have grown to love the kind of Christianity that is about loving people out of the hells of this world, not just trying to get them into heaven." Echoing words of my soul. Shane continues to write saying that "God is in the business of rescuing people from the hells they experience on earth, and God is asking us to love people out of those hells. God is asking us to taste the salt in the tears of the broken, to hunger for justice with the starving masses of our world, to groan with all creation in the birth of the kingdom of God. God is asking us to make poverty personal." Sometimes, in the midst of chaos, church politics, and the unknown future I forget about the hell I was redeemed from. I forget about the burning in my heart for the broken. And of the God whose heart of love for people is greater then my comprehension.

I wonder where this book will lead. I wait for the whispers of my rescuing Savior. And in the mean time focus on following His heart as I pack up our home.

A Quiet Place for the Soul

As soon as I arrive at my Mom's house there is always one place that I want to go. For some people this might be their room, Mom's kitchen, or to the family room to catch the latest sports scores. Not me. The one place I want to go is the barn.

I wander down the driveway, past the pond where there used to be a family of geese. Thank goodness they are gone. They used to try and make the walk from the house to the barn a living hell for me. I can already anticipate what the barn will be like. The sights, smells, and the sound of my horse's greeting me. As I round the corner I see them waiting for me already. Heads hanging over their stall guards, I hear whinnies and nickers, horse's awaiting someone to come and fill their buckets with grain.

As I run my fingers through the bay's forelock and kiss her soft nose I know I have come home. My fingers don't have to wait to be told, I immediately start scratching and rubbing this beast in front of me. The smell of hay and sawdust fill my nose, I welcome the smells, I am used to it enough that I don't consider horse's smelly.

When I am not around my own horse's or have my own barn to meander through I think about the experience of having horse's on your own property. There is nothing like it. It brings a sense of home for me, a rhythm to daily life, and being around these gentle giants brings peace to my soul. If you have had horses then you know exactly what I am talking about.

Knowing that this brings quiet to my soul in a chaotic world and V loves being in the country, we move forward into the future praying for this dream to come true.