Looking Back

I was so excited to get this package in the mail on Saturday. The last six months of my blog are chronicled on paper :)
In July, my daughter surprised me with the first book for my birthday, so I wrote the dedication to her.
I am a hands-on kinda girl. I'll never be a reader of books on a kindle or iphone, because I love the feel of the pages and the smell of the book itself.
Just wanted you to know I am thinking of blogging and looking back at my blog, even when it's quiet here on the blogfront.
Go to Sharedbook.com to create and order a book of your blog.

Cute and Confused

How did a nice dog like me get myself into this?

This pic of Duchess, the sweet, gentle pet belonging to my grandaughter seems to fit my mood tonight.
I took this fitness personality test in a health magazine tonight. Mostly, the results pointed to the fact that I am an introvert. So how did a nice, shy girl like me get herself into this?
Last night was the first night of our church-wide Bible study of Beth Moore's Believing God. We are running a nursery and a small children's program simultaneously, as well as a morning Sunday School class. All of this is being done by six women, me included. without going into too much detail, we had an amazing turnout and a few unexpected challenges. I got up this morning feeling just like Duchie.
What is this insistent calling that moves me out of my comfort zone into these stressful situations, when at heart I am a stay-at-home gal?
2010 was to be my year to change. I feel just like the pic- part of me on one step, part of me on another. Make up my mind already!

Sunset Over the Mall

Last year at this time we were in a deep freeze in northern Maine, my hubby had a bad cold and I was just beginning my blog. Today the temperature is in the 20's although they are plummeting tomorrow, all are healthy, and I just finished a delicious evening with the Gilmore Girls, now up to season 4.

Normally I spend the first of a new year setting goals, only to see half of them fall by the wayside in a few months. This year 2010 simply and quietly arrived for me. We were in New Mexico enjoying our family, shut off from the rest of the world and it was rather nice. No fanfare, no lofty goals or large regrets. I simply shifted into the new year.

I went to the gym today and picked up a schedule and a sign-up sheet, but I am trying to live with restraint, hoping if I pace myself, I'll last longer. Usually I push beyond my limits and my body with a few health problems can't take the strain.

I wrote a few things in my journal in December that I want to focus on this winter, but I am going to let them unfold .

Let me tell you about the photo above. I spent an afternoon shopping at the mall with my daughter and granddaughter. They were in the store making a final purchase while I plunked down in a chair to rest for a few minutes. I was facing one of the entrances to the mall and happened to see the sunset. Grabbing my phone I ran out the door and took a picture. Shortly after I took this one with my camera.
It was in the pause that my eyes were open to such beauty. I don't want to miss one sunset this year.

I See You

Transitioning from New Mexico to Maine begins my new year.

My husband and I drove the 5 hours to southern Maine to spend Christmas with our sons and their families.After the flurry of gifts, good food, hugs and kisses etc. we flew out the next day to spend a week with our daughter and her family. It was good just to be together.
Although this was my third trip to the southwest, its unique beauty continues to captivate me.

All too soon, it was time to leave. As we flew over New England, I pondered the changes in the countryside itself. The Psalm I had read that morning referred to the Lord on high as mighty. I thought of how different the perspective from the clouds than when I am right in the thick of my life. I pondered how I couldn't even see actual people from on high, yet God sees all. A phrase from the movie Avatar broke into my thoughts.

I See You.

I knew God was speaking those words to me. I see you. I really see you- your thoughts, your hopes and dreams, your hurts and disappointments, all that matters to you.

Those words remain in my heart. I read in Genesis today where Hagar called Him, "The God Who Sees Me."

This is the name of God for me this year of 2010- the God who sees me.

Good-Bye 2009 With Gratitude and a Sigh of Relief

Since I am away from my own laptop over the holidays, I will close out this year without a picture. I wrote in my journal this morning that 2009 was a year of testings. Then I picked up the book I have been reading by Amy Carmichael each morning and she was quoting Job 23:10-"When I am tested, I will come forth as gold."

At the onset of this year, I knew it was a year in which my thinking would need to shift. My word was "New Wineskins." I have found this to be true. I look at my life differently. I need time to ponder the hows of this before I write about it.

I am grateful for my family's health and blessings this year, when so many lost so much. I am grateful for God's word, my mainstay. I am grateful for my Yada Prayer Sisters, whom I don't know what I 'd do without. I am grateful for my home and my husband and the blog sisters who encouraged me over the past few months.

It is with a mixture of gratitude and a sigh of relief for new beginnings that I say Good-Bye 2009.

Corners of My Heart

Throughout the last few years, I have added things I love to little spaces and corners of my home. This dress form was one of my delightful discoveries at TJ Max. The scarf has a lot of meaning to me. God gave me a picture for the ladies' conference I spoke at in the spring and it had to do with a scarf for every woman. That's for another post.
The point is that my heart is filled with love for my home and it is sometimes hard to leave it for a length of time. But there is something else that holds a larger claim to my heart- my family. Thus bags are packed and all is nearly ready for hubby and I to leave for the holidays. So blogging sisters I will be taking a break until the New Year, unless an opportunity arises for a quick blog hello.
Have a blessed holiday season.

Smiling

Every year I tape the cards we receive over the archway leading from my kitchen. They used to fill this side and the other side facing the kitchen as well as the inner doorposts. I fear another handwritten tradition is slowly dying.
A great new tradition, however, is emerging. We got several picture cards of families this year. I do love opening these!
I am smiling this morning as I post this pic. A cozy fire is going as you can see, my art room has actually been used this season, along with a few of the supplies that you see hanging over the door. I am finishing up my last project today.
And I just taped up a bunch of new Christmas cards that came in the mail :)
Life is good.