Be the glue

This morning between devotions and prayer, I sat in my recliner, sipping coffee, and just let my mind wander.

The day. The week. Colin and the kids. Eventually, my thoughts came to an uncle that is no longer with us. It’s not unusual. I think of Michael often. There was no particular direction of this memory’s lane. …just enjoying a little stroll while there was a quiet minute.

I remembered his eulogy and how I wanted to recount every little detail that I knew about him. His house and his things are in a very slow process of being settled. We’re in no hurry but we are moving forward, and on, at the pace that we need to.

Everything is maintained and in an almost perfect order. We treasure, protect, and still enjoy his lingerings. I’ve even adopted his garden. Mostly because I couldn’t bear to see it torn down or the thought of it falling apart. While it may come across in text like I am looking back in sorrow, it was more reminiscence of Joy. What a beautiful creature he was. He was not just a relative, but our neighbor, our friend, and in many ways, our glue.

As I thought of ways that our family continues to guard and celebrate him or his things, I was reminded of the verse John 14:15.

If you love me keep my commands.

Isn't it funny how we find it so easy to 'keep' things of people that we love and yet we sometimes struggle to embrace the things of God as deeply., even though we profess our love for him.

keep his commands

What about his things?

Maybe our possessions.

How might we honor Him by SHOWING HONOR to his people instead? How can we love and respect those we are still beside, instead of asking to be loved by, pushing an agenda, or trying to convince on our behalf. Could we look for ways to respect each other and bring unity, despite our differences?

Being devoted. Continuing to put each other before ourselves. (Romans 12:10) -As He commanded.

After all, it’s only for a little while… (1 Peter 5:10, Ecclesiastes 1,2)

And without love, everything else is nothing. (1 Corinthians 13)

 Be the glue.

In The Garden

I've been trying to get in the habit of reading a devotion in the afternoons and spending a few minutes outside each day. Ya know, 'getting rid of the day' before settling into the night. It's amazing how quickly we can take on responsibility and pressure that doesn't belong to us. And it's equally amazing how only a few little minutes can reset the tone.

Long gone are the days that 'I need a drink' to unwind. -I mean I probably need to unwind more often, but for the most part, I've been sober for almost three years now. (Minus very few exceptions.) The new habit didn't necessarily coincide with exchanging the old but multiple adjustments allowed for one thing to completely replace another- or perhaps what I hoped the other would provide.

Last year, I started tinkering in my uncle's garden. I've never been a gardener before. But it seemed a shame to let something so beautiful sit unused just because he wasn't with us anymore. Especially, when he loved it so. -LOVED US so, and being able to provide for us, through it.

This year, it's been calling my name, and I couldn't wait to get started. Having this place so close to home is easier to find my way to. I can't tell you the peace I feel simply being near it. A new significance already seems to be blooming. -What a way to honor him, by making something of it.

And as my mind wanders over the details that I'm sharing, I can't help but notice that you have to look at your past and where you've come from, to see where you are and how it lines up to the path to your future. There is a connectedness in progress and in becoming.

I sat on a bench in the garden tonight and read the devotion below. I originally intended to share the pictures with a short caption, but again the connection evolves... into something else.

The truth is, I see a lot of similarities in my uncle's garden and our Fathers. Out of his great love for us, he hath provided and promises us his own kind of rest under that provision. In a sense, HIS realm is your garden. We may have to choose to leave one thing in order to accept another. But even the smallest change on our end can produce something so unexpected and so gradually in the making that you might not notice. --And then all at once you do.

Again there is honor in believing that he is able to do just what he promises. You may produce something as a result of your time there with him but somehow all the while it is YOU that does the growing.
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“THEY will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” ‭(‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬) -Thank you Father.

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I supposed you can save the pictures below for tomorrow. Will you find another 15 minutes?

Certainly, you could spend your quiet time anyway that you feel led to but if you need a little direction, try this: Go somewhere outside. Read a devotion or passage of scripture. Then set a timer and put the phone away. Do nothing. You can take a picture before or after if you'd like but it can't be part of the timed session. Do no other task. If you pray during this time, I would even limit that to only thanking God for the things that he's taking care of. 

Blessings to you!

Another send off

My first thought when I saw this picture was 'Holy crap, Michael [on the right] is in a pair of pleated pants.' 

My second thought is that this must be what heaven looks like right about now. Two fellas catching up. [As T.A., the man on the left, joined Michael in heaven this week.]

Then in reading 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 and 1 Corinthians 15:46-49, it made me smile a little more. These two men are not only at peace or made new-- They are now even MORE beautiful and whole, than we've seen. -Now also free of the burden of an earthly physical body and simply able to be the love and light that they were created to be. -And brighter! I know that it's a sight to see! <3 Shine on friends. Shine on!

--

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NLT

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.[a] 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:46-49 NIV

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. [Even better! -Emphasis mine.]

A Bedtime Story | D.C.

Note to the reader: I go out of town for conferences and training with my jobs. With younger children, I don't always call home. It sounds like a great idea and of course we all miss each other but the little ones always seemed more upset. Then Colin was stuck with angry children that were hard to settle down. So now, depending on what they're doing, I let Colin call me when or if it's good for them. Thankfully, they're getting older and so this isn't as much of an issue for us.

But to get around it, I came up with this idea instead. I LOVE to take pictures and I usually don't print the ones I take. Since I have a blog, I post pictures of things I see that think they'd like and they can use it like a bed time story when it's time for bed.  Then I get to save them!

It's really hard to do on short trips like this one. It's easier when you're alone on your trip. If you're with others, you might want to reserve this activity for trips that are 3 days or longer. (That way you can visit with them and work on this too.) This is also a great way to use up that layover time! Sophie told me that she likes this better than any of the loot that I bring home from the conferences. :)

If you don't have a blog, they are free and there are ways to make them 'less public'. If you don't want to try a blog, I would NOT recommend email. The pictures may jumble and the message may be too big. Try typing it up in a word doc, then making it a PDF and emailing it as an attachment. :D



****Now, to the Fam!

Hello Lovies!!

So here's the first day. Paula and I are finally off work. Of COURSE we had to take a picture. As it turns out it was "National Woman Road Warrior Day" so we had to make this picture fancier than normal. After all, we are women traveling on the road!

I couldn't get into Snapchat to see if there was any kind of warrior filter (like the puppy dog faces) and so I eventually gave up and searched for another ap. I found ArtEffect instead. Oh my goodness, I love it. We kind of look like warriors in this picture, don't we? It's the winner!

So then we drove for a while...

[A couple of hours later]

We're here! Here's a peek at my room!

There's also a little writing spot with a couch. 

That's where I'll be putting this together.

This hotel has a rooftop restaurant. -Super Cool!

Hey Look- it's the Washington Monument way over there!

I had fish tacos and Caprese salad! mmmm

The next day we walked to our conference.... [Digital Summit]

It turns out the Fire Dept is at the bottom of our hotel.

Here's a pretty cool playground that I thought you'd like.

Look Jaxie. I haven't seen any combine harvesters here but check out these cranes.

There is a lot of construction taking place around here.

Our conference is at the Arena Stage at the Meade Center. It's a crazy cool place.

They do a lot of shows here. I'd love to come back and see one.

The inside of the building is neat too!

Here's a hallway...

The Ceiling

This is where I sat for one of the sessions while we listened to a speaker.

That black row down the center is a bunch of large river rocks. No, I didn't get one to paint. :)

Sophie, this part is just for you. I know you'd want to do this when you saw the stage. 

So I did it for you since you weren't here!

We walked through town some more on the way to dinner.

Here is a beautiful old church.

Oh look, A TRAIN!! 

I couldn't tell if the train is permanently in this place or just parked 

but I had to grab a shot just for you!

-This one is farther away, so that you can see how high it is. Pretty cool, huh?

The Washington Monument

The Capitol Building

"The City"

This is just the sidewalk. I thought the trees looked really cool. So, I took a picture. 

They don't look as cool this way. 

oops- got a shot of my foot.
"I was here."

Here is a bunch of people getting a professional picture taken outside of the Trump Hotel. Yes, the guy who's running for President. I almost yelled "You're Fired" when we walked by... hoping to make them laugh but I decided to behave.

The City is a fun place to look around.

This picture isn't great but it shows details around the windows. Maybe you can zoom in.
I just love looking at the buildings.

Here's a revolving door.

It spins in a circle and people pop in and out of it to enter and exit the building.

And just for you Ethan, here's a picture of the White House. :)

Here's a bad picture of one of those double-decker tour buses that we used last time we came up.
(Note to other readers, night tours on the top of that thing are pretty cool way to see the monuments.)

Then we ate at a place right around the corner from the White House called "Old Ebbitt Grill".

The food was amazing! (Reader: put it on your list if you haven't been.)

And look boys- There's all kinds of dead animals on the walls!

Sophie, they even had these girlie chandeliers too!

I had hanger steak for dinner and It was so, so, SO good.

The meal-- well, the whole place kind of reminded me of Uncle Michael (well except the dead animal part). There is a lot of art on the walls and the ambiance (or way the room feels) just seemed like him... One of his favorite wines was on the menu, which they don't serve in Gloucester. Then I found a few orange tomatoes on my plate like he used to grow. He would always save a few for me. I don't always see things that make me think of him so much but he loved the city and art. I even thought I smelled his cologne earlier... It just felt like he was here. That made it extra special. Kind of like if you were here too!

This trip was shorter than some of the others. So, I won't have much more to show you.
Besides, I need to sign off and get home so I can squish you. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Remember that fun app that I used earlier, well look. I used it on a picture of you guys too!

This picture is the original.

Then here are only a few of the art effects in the ap! (Scroll down)

Cool, huh?! YES, we can install it on your ipods...

I'm sure that like this picture, you guys are all in my bed now too! So you give Daddy some extra kisses for that! Steal your snuggles while ya can, cuz this big ole' booty will be all up in that pile soon to --interrupt!

And finally, I saw this verse today: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. - 2 Corinthians 13:14

Fellowship kind of means friendship and hanging out. Just like I was hanging out with Paula tonight while we were at dinner. It might even include how, if good ole' Uncle Michael really was hanging out with me on this trip... After all, you know, how much you like hanging out with your friends too, right? Think about why that is...? Is any of that different than when you and I hang out?

Anyway, we can mull over some of those similarities and differences after I am back home. So think about it and see if you have questions. :)

The good news is, just like you and I are family, we are also part of God's family and he loves you (us all) and wants to hang out with us too. I pray we all get a little closer together! Sweet dreams my loves. See you soon!