If life gives you lemons...

...then by all means...take pictures of them!

It's one of those times in life where I am going about my business...doing what I need to do each day...moving things from today's list to tomorrow's because I didn't get to it...

We're going to games and to school and to work.

I'm going to the grocery store and to the bank and the book store. I'm meeting friends for coffee and feeding chickens and doing laundry.

And all the while...I feel distant. Removed. On auto-pilot. And I can't seem to shake it.

So...this morning I opened up my prayer journal and wrote. And wrote. And wrote. Until finally I decided to just sit and be quiet. I figured I do enough talking...maybe it's time to listen. So I closed my journal...put down my pen...leaned back in my comfy chair...and got quiet.

And then clear as a bell I hear in my heart...read Zephaniah 3:17.

17 The LORD your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing."

Do you write in your bible? I do. I write all over it. I write in pen. I write in pencil. I use highlighters. I write prayers and notes and people's names and dates. So this morning, as I turned to Zephaniah 3:17 in my bible I was reminded that God has brought me here before. On several occasions, according to the dates I have scribbled in the margins! I even have a note that I memorized it in 2007. But...I had since forgotten it. Leave it to God to bring it back to me at just the right time. I needed to know that He will save me. I needed to know that he delights in me. (There's that word, "delight" again...man, he loves us so much!) I needed to now that He will quiet me...and not like "Shush up! Be quiet!"...but more like a soothing, "Shhh...it's OK. I'm right here. You're going to be OK." And then as if all of that isn't enough, he's going to rejoice over me with singing? Really? Wow. And even after I've been such a pill this week?

Yes. Even after I've been such a pill this week. And if I'm honest, I'm still being a bit of a pill! But I'm working on it. I'm thinking on it. I'm figuring things out and giving them to God. I'm doing the best that I can. And that's all He asks.

Wednesday in the Word.

{Aunt Lisa's Dogwood in the rain}

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Matthew 28:16-20

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Once again, Jesus reminds me that never will he leave me nor forsake me. He will be with me until the "very end of the age". Did you get that? Until the very end. That is always. It's forever. But...sometimes I don't believe it. Because sometimes I don't feel Him. Sometimes I'm convinced I'm flailing around on this crazy planet all by myself. Alone. And I wonder if maybe the "end of the age" came and went and somehow I got forgotten.

But what I've learned is that in those times, when I can't seem to find Him...it's not Him that's missing. It's me that has strayed. He's always there. It's just that sometimes I'm looking in the wrong direction. And finding Him again is as simple as turning around toward that still small voice...only to find Him standing there, waiting for me to see.

Brainstorming.

I'm the type of person that loves to brainstorm. I always have been. I can sit and hash out ideas with someone else for hours until all of a sudden we have this huge thing...this huge idea...that we usually don't even know what to DO with! I have designed businesses...projects...restaurants. I've created so many things....all in my head!

And I will say, some of them have come to fruition. But many of them have not. And that's OK...that's what brainstorming is all about...the process. I love the process. It feeds my need for creativity...for something new...for a dream. And then when one of these crazy hair-brained ideas becomes something real? So amazing!!

Anyway...all of that being said, I need to brainstorm with you folks today. And since we're not able to meet at a groovy coffee house and sip lattes and scribble on napkins and hash out ideas...I'm going to make a Poll instead. (Wouldn't it totally be more fun the other way? Sometimes the world of blogging can be so lonely...)

So here's the skinny...I am considering developing my photographs into frameable 5x7's...possibly 8x10's...to sell in my Etsy shop. And I have some ideas...and some thoughts...but it's always better to talk it over with friends to see if I'm on a good track. This is where you come in! I need your creative...and honest...opinions. So if you would be so kind as to vote on my Poll I would greatly appreciate it.

And how about this...if you DO vote in the Poll, leave me a comment. Leaving me a comment will enter you into a drawing to receive something pretty in the mail. Probably something in the form of a...oh...I don't know...maybe a photograph?

So I guess I should go create the Poll, huh? Why do I always do things backwards? Wait...don't answer that. Just give me a minute and the Poll will be up.

It is definitely Monday!

Fresh stock in the shop today!

Friendly reminder...fresh photos in my shop today! Any orders placed today will be mailed out Monday...and will include a little bit extra in celebration of Easter!

{and don't forget to check out the photo assignment in the next post...it was a fun one!}

photo assignment: composition and perspective

Recently, some blogging friends, Camilla and Carolyn, started a fun blog, C&C Photography where they will post weekly photography challenges. This week's challenge was: composition and perspective. And I have to say...this was a fun one! I really enjoyed this challenge...and I really liked my subject...the old biscuit cutters I got at the yard sale last weekend for 50 cents!

So...here you go. Biscuit cutters...as I see them.

#1: As the eye sees it...

#2: bird's eye view...

#3: up close...

#4: off center...

#5: out of focus...

...and one extra...because I liked it...

And I just have to tell you this story...

Yesterday afternoon I looked out the window and realized the lighting would be great for this project. So I went into the kitchen to have myself a little photo challenge! As I was setting things up for the challenge...laying out the unbleached, muslin towel...laying out the old, rusty biscuit cutters...my husband watched with a puzzled look on his face. But after I took my first shot and looked at the screen on the back of my camera with him peering over my shoulder he said, "You definitely have an eye for this because I wasn't seeing it. Then I saw that picture and thought 'hey, those things are cool!'."

I'm thinking that was the best compliment ever.

He did it for us...

It's Good Friday.

Not a good day for Jesus all those years ago.

But definitely a good day for us.

Thank you Jesus for doing it for me.

Thank you that even if I were the only one on the whole earth,

you still would have died on that cross...for me.

You still would have endured the mocking...the ridicule...

the beatings, oh...the beatings.

Beaten beyond recognition.

Beaten more than a body should have been able to endure.

But you are God. And you endured it.

And endured it.

And then some.

For me.

And I am grateful.

I love you.

Thank you for doing it for me.
xo

John 19:28-30

28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

read at your own risk...you've been warned.

{what's in your hutch? if you go to flickr you can read notes...because I'm sure you have nothing better to do, right? yeah...}

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It's one of those days. I'm cluttered. Scattered. Jumbled. Finding it difficult to put one thought in front of the other. I get like this when I've got too much in my mind. Making a list sounds necessary right about now. A long list. Like on butcher paper stuck to my fridge with a magnet. And with check boxes next to each item so I can check them off as they're done. Yeah. That's what I'll do. A list.

One thing that's been bothering me is my piles. Oh. Um. OK, wait. That didn't come out right. Not that kind of piles. I mean piles of paper...you know, mail, bills, report cards...those piles. Goodness...no wonder I'm a cluttered mess! The places my mind goes sometimes!

Anyway...I think I've come to the conclusion lately that I am not going to fight my piling, listing, misplacing ways anymore. I just can't. It takes more energy to fight it than it does to just go with it and make it work for me. You know? Seriously. I am not super woman. I don't care what magazine articles or blog articles or Dr. whoever says...I can't do it all. And really? I don't want to do it all. I want to do some things. Lots of things, actually. And I want to do those things well. But the other stuff? Well...I don't know what to tell you. I guess someone else will have to take it on. Because there are just certain areas that I need to let some things go.

Like the fact that my house, old and small as it is, will never, ever, ever, be spacious and airy and spotless clean. Ever. It just won't. And I need to just know this...accept this...and move on. Enough stressing over it. Enough beating myself up about it. Enough. I need to just do the best that I can with what I have. And I need to be content with that. It is what it is. Nothing more and nothing less. Deal with it. Work with it. Be grateful for it. Move on.

Or the fact that I pile things up. I just do. I always have. So I may as well work it to my advantage somehow. I mean, really...maybe it can be a good thing. At least I'll know that whatever it is I need will be in that pile. I won't have to guess which drawer I put it in...or which cabinet...or which file box. Seriously. Because every time I try to get organized in a way that works for someone else...I LOSE THINGS. And that's not good either.

So. Yeah. Today I'm at the point where I just need to accept some things. And stop fighting some things. Mainly my self. Aren't we our own worst enemies? I am finding that I'm really hard on myself. I really need to ease up on me. I need to stop comparing myself to others. And weighing my value as a woman...or as a wife and a mother...based on what others are capable of. I am me. I have always been me. And any time I try to be like someone else, it back fires. And then I have to start all over becoming me. And I have to say...it is really, really tiresome. It's much easier to be me. And to strive to be the best me I can be.

That being said...I'm going to go make that list. Anything you need to let go of today? Do it girl...