Festive Decor at Church

We have a bit of festive-ness in our church sanctuary.
I love the berries, sparkles, twigs, and the light. 

I really love the Light.

A Bit of A Festive Adventure

A week or so ago I stood beside the composter, tore some grapevine off the fence, did some twisting....and listened to the birdies. 

And now we have centrepieces :)

So fun! 

Are you doing anything festive today? 

Sweet Light

The thing about looking to the mountains is that you no longer look down at the waves. You stop thinking and sinking....and the tide turns.  Random things, like a kind word, a sentence in a story,a blog post, a Bible verse, a song....  Moments that give proof that my heart and soul, the bits inside us that make us who we are, are still in there alive and well.


I'm thankful for a random decision that landed me in a chapel service with a great speaker this morning.  A speaker who spoke God's truth to a gym full of students and their teachers, right to the heart. I'm thankful for my small group(s), invitations for coffee, and quick trips into town.  I'm thankful for friends who see the image of God in me and remind me whose I am, when I feel a bit lost.

Simple.  Sweet.  Hope.
Thankful.

Bites of Reality

"Life sometimes gets so bogged down in the details, you forget you are living it."  -Jodi Picoult from My Sister's Keeper.  

I was caught off guard by this quote from my reading group's most recent selection. It reminded me of how life feels at times: sometimes you get so caught up in getting the notes right, that you forget to make music. Not exactly going through the motions but losing sight of the proverbial grand scheme of things; the length and breadth of life.  If life is like a motion picture, your favourite music is the sound track of your life.  You can get stuck on one scene where you just can't seem to get the right perspective, and you go over it and over it.

As I am on the eve of remaking a decision I made earlier this spring I realize how close these analogies hit to home

In loving the journey or being on the way somewhere, I have felt a bit lost this past year.  Not really knowing where I am going, or where I am, or if I even want to be where I am. I have always loved the thrill of adventure, and think I miss it. But I realized in the previous post, that I don't look to the horizon like I used to.  I haven't felt eager for adventure, having encountered some valleys.  Struggles that make me re-evaluate my route and traveling companions.

Today I realized that maybe I don't dream as much as I used to. You get bogged down by details that keep life from being lived, music from being made, stuck on replay.  I miss dreaming.  I love to imagine life and all its possibilities!

In the grand scheme of things?  I am incredibly blessed and feel a little self absorbed when I think about the things that get me so down. My family is healthy.  I have not recently lost a child or a spouse. I have great jobs. I do not lack anything materially. I HAVE experienced some intensely personal attacks which have taken a toll on my confidence, if I am honest. The silence on this blog often attests to that. Silence is easier than honesty. 


The answer does not lie inside my head or my heart.  I know I have to lift my eyes to the mountains. -Psalm 121

As I Wander

This past spring I wished I could see what was beyond this horizon.
And so I hopped on the tracks the other day to see what there was to see..

Turns out... it's not always what you might expect. I know that there are forests and a number of small towns down the line but within the first 100 feet there were 2 deer carcasses. They'd been there for a while already.   Yum. 

Isn't life just like that sometimes?

You wish to see what is beyond the horizon, you long, you dream, you imagine....you might even think about abandoning what's right in front of you to head off into the sunset...for something unknown.

While seeing that carnage will not curb my wanderlust, I think I might stick to wooded trails and creek for a while.

Keep Calm and Paddle On

This is the Sydenham River.  It's practically in my backyard.  We can take the canoe out of the garage, walk down the street, and be on the water in about 8 minutes.

It's not glamorous. But we paddle it almost every month,. I LOVE THAT!

Paddling it often means we see it at different times of the year, during different seasons, at different water levels, and in different currents.

This past Sunday it was running high and fast.  When it runs fast, paddling back up stream can be a bit tricky, especially in the turns where you can get swept away. I tend to dig in quick and deep when we are in a spot that needs some strong, fast paddling.   Our canoe is a bit tippy when it's not loaded and when I react too fast I throw it off balance.  Even though it goes against your better judgement in that situation...you have to calm down, stay in the middle of your seat, and calculate your stroke....and trust your paddling partner!!

Isn't life just like that sometimes?

PS - If I paddle by feelings, I will paddle like it's all up to me.
If I paddle by faith, I KNOW I will not be swept away....

Revisiting Colorado!

I totally forgot about this post....which never made it past the draft stage. I wanted to write the stories but haven't made the time.... It was soooo crazy that month. These are from our trip to Colorado... So here are the photos and we'll save the stories for another time.  Maybe some rainy day in March....

It is amazing how time flies and how much life is lived in the meantime. Time is fleeting and precious.  Too precious to be stuck in a moment...

I love the flora in Colorado. I'm amazed at the vivid colour inspite of the arid desert-like conditions. Isn't life just like that sometimes?

Bits of Summer

The first part of summer went really quickly. Such fun trips, such short moments in between at home. Good memories on the road together.   I love together!

Transitioning to Fall is never very gentle.

On the Way or In the Way....

I've had a few interesting experiences over the past few months and no time to write about them.  Sometimes life is like that.

I wish I was back on the road, on the way somewhere. I've been reading the road signs for directions but they're not always clear....so you keep referring to the map, thinking the signs would be a lot more helpful if you knew exactly where you were.  

Late in the Fall I had an opportunity get involved with a project but it fell through after preliminary meetings to get it off the ground.   I felt anxious about it, not peaceful, and was so relieved when my team had to pull out.   Why would I feel so much relief?  Do we find it hard to accept "no's" when we ask God for guidance.  It's as if we assume that good projects for good causes will always turn out for good, and that we do not consider the possibility that it's NOT be meant to be. The relief affirmed to me that pulling out was the right decision, it was not the right path to take at that particular time.  

So I feel ready to be on my way somewhere.  I wonder if we let our past experiences, of where we've been,  get in the way of where we could be going.   A great experience can often catapult you into a next great success, while a difficult time can hold you back.   A bad experience can make you close up shop and withdraw to place where it feels safe to be out of circulation for a while.

At the beginning of the month I had the opportunity to attend the Global Leadership Summit which was simulcast all over North America out of Chicago.   Great leaders sharing their expertise with more than 100,000 people.  People who share a desire to grow, to move, to change. So I suppose that's why we were there:To learn to travel more efficiently, to fine tune the navigation process, to relate better to our traveling companions, and to bring the destination into focus more clearly

I've been a bit frustrated by change. Why can't things stay the same? I suppose if things stayed the same, we'd never get out of Dodge, would we....  My experiences, good or bad, change the way I am. And so the direction of my path may change too.


Do I want to change, or do I just want to change the world?

Maybe, just maybe, if I am who I am, I will change the world, just by being in it. Not the whole world, just someone's world....and most days...that's enough.

Daisy

 This is Daisy.

She slept over for a few nights this past weekend.

My youngest likes it when Blixie's friends stay overnight....

....and then my oldest turned 20 and two handfuls of friends came over to celebrate...and my youngest likes it when those friends stay overnight too.  And the best part?   They like him too.

From This.....

 ....to this.

I know what it is to have plenty.  

Check....

I have wanted to go riding in the Rockies for as long as I can remember.

Even before I had heard of the words "bucket list"!!

I spent 4 or 5 high school and college summers guiding trails in PEI and there was lots of time to dream of Western type adventure. I always assumed that this ride would be in the Canadian Rockies, but I'm not fussy.

My horse's name was "Indian", and my beloved was on "Bruce".   We rode the trail system in The Garden of the Gods, in Manitou Springs, CO.  Really lovely.  A bit of history.  Once in a lifetime special.



And rather than post my whole holiday album on Facebook  I thought I'd share a few photos here and add a few stories.

Because I like stories.

We rode past this rock formation which was called "Sleeping Indian" and when viewed from the side....it really does look like an Indian laying on the ground asleep with his knees up. 

And boy are those rocks tall. 

A girl from the Island felt right at home with all this sandstone and red dirt!!

The Number of Our Days

This had been a roller coaster week, with different kinds of fun things, good news and also very tragic news. The remains of Tim Bosma were found this week after he went missing 8 days earlier.  In reading posts on the page created to help find him, I sensed a profound collective sadness and, in the days that followed, a collective outpouring of comfort.   Many people shared passages, quotes, photos, lyrics and words of comfort and strength.  Many people: family, friends and strangers alike, grieved with this family and sought comfort along with them.  Some  encountering a living faith for the first time as they read what was being shared.

And then life goes on, for however many days that God has ordained for us.  You keep doing laundry, you keep making lunches, you keep going to work,  and you make plans for the long weekend.

No one knows the number of their days.

So you have to make each one count.

We spent a lot of time together as a family this week working on a garden project.  Good, joy filled time, spent together.  While my bleeding heart plant keeps blooming. We are preparing to plant seeds; Seeds that will grow to become plants and bear fruit (and vegetables). I’m so glad that life is just like that!

We know God has a plan for us, and hope for a future.  And so we live with forward momentum, planting seeds, relying on God for what’s needed to grow, and then in His time and His way, the fruit grows.

And sometimes we just sit in the garden and look at the birds.

“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.” – Satchel Paige