*Confession*  It's SUPER late; I'm horribly tired.  I'm sure there are a ridiculous amount of mistakes in this post, and I'll hopefully catch them tomorrow, but I just had to get these thoughts down before another moment passed.  It's a VERY long post, with a few photos scattered in there, so I completely understand if you want to read it in sections.  But, I do hope you'll read it.  I prayed over this one, and I know God's up to something.  *All my love.* One week ago, I packed up my necessities (though some may say I brought a few unnecessary things *ahem* straightener ) and loaded them into my girl Bethany's car.  The traffic was ca-razy.  Even her GPS was irritated.  But, we finally made it to the camp.  You can't tell from this picture, but the sunset and the moon looked incredible! Although my "camp high" has faded some, I still feel the same way I felt this past weekend, so very ....... y'all, I just stared at the s...

I went on a ladies' retreat this weekend with a bunch of gals from my church.  I'm tired, and I have other things that need taking care of right now, but here's a glimpse of how I feel about what I learned and experienced these last three days. Free and thankful.

The view on my way home this evening This one small area, in an otherwise cloudy sky, reminded me that in those dark days of life where the clouds just won't seem to clear, in those moments of uncertainty , of pain , of grief , there's often a break, however small , in the clouds, and we can see , if only for a moment, the sun.    If you are in one of those dark places right now, I'm praying that your clouds shift and sunlight is revealed, however slight it may be, and that it gives you hope .   Because hope is a powerful thing. "May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you."  Psalm 33:22 

Have you ever witnessed something so terrifying that you just couldn't turn away? I have. Guess what has chosen our balcony for a home. Guess what's hatched and is learning how to fly using our storage closet for a home base. Oh yes.  I'm not sure how many usually hatch from a nest, but I'd say there's a good 20-30 growing stronger in there.  It's ca-razy to watch them come out of that little corner one after the other.  This is just a small sampling of those little buggers. I'm basically terrified to go outside, but I constantly find myself stopping what I'm doing to head over to the sliding glass door to see what they're doing. It's crazy. It's actually neat in a Discovery-Channel kind of way. And it's slightly adorable to watch as they huddle together.  It's sweet to watch as one tries out its wings, and then see it head right back to the little group. Ok, it's also creepy. Soooo creepy. I asked Th...

**I started writing this post Monday.  It's now Thursday night, and I'm super exhausted.  If it makes you feel any better (those of you who were waiting patiently for another post--Hi Mom!  Hi Linda!), I was being productive with my time.  I finished two of the three books I mentioned previously--they.  were.  awesome.  Anywho, I need to finish this post because, y'all, I have other things floating around in my head that I'd like to write about, and I know myself.  If I gave up on this one, I wouldn't allow myself to start a new one.  So, I'm going to edit, and then I'm going to post it.  No big changes in this post. ** The church we belong to has gone through several changes in the last year.  None of them major, mind you.  But, as I'm sure you're aware, changes often make people uncomfortable, whether major or minor.  They used to make me cringe.  But God knew my change-fearing heart needed to let go.  So, H...