Women's Retreat Homework:

Living Proof. Let's be honest... not everyone feels like living proof. At least we don't feel like "living proof" every moment of every day. But the good news is that God is NOT FINISHED working on you. We may not be able to say too confidently that we are "living proof" in this life- but some day, we will say it loud, standing confidently before the Lord.
Jesus is in the business of redeeming lives. This is what He loves to do. So go ahead and dream for a moment. What would a proved/proofed YOU look like? How do you look differently now? What steps and changes need to happen to get you to that place?

if i were a bird...

"if I had the wings of a bird, I would fly away to my place of rest and be at peace."

this is one translation of a favorite scripture. what about you?

outside...

that's it... simple. so go with it.

i am waiting for...

all of us are waiting for something whether close to the present, far in the future, or past this mortal life. What are you waiting for?

stream of consciousness...

this is somewhat like brainstorming. Write down the first thought that comes to your mind and then just free-flowing write whatever comes after. Here's my attempt:

I feel like there's so much going on in my brain. It's hard for me to collect my thoughts and sometimes I wonder if I actually have a brain. That reminds me of the wizard of Oz... "if I only had a brain..." and if the scarecrow didn't have a brain then how did he sing and dance around the set? And if the tin man didn't have a heart he would be dead... duh. That's kind of a stupid movie. And it wasn't actually much like the book. I hated the movie when I first watched it. I think I was with Steve's wife or ex-wife... I forget her name now. The witch scared me with her giant balls of fire. I hated that she was green. And of course there was the tornado which terrified me and the storm shelter with it's wimpy, flimsy door... now we live in tornado alley and it doesn't give me much comfort to have a storm shelter in the backyard. Essentially it's a 7x7 concrete bunker with a rusty door, spiders, and a little 8 inch hole at the top for an oxygen supply. So what if a tornado comes, we're stuck inside, and a tree falls on the door and lands right on top of our oxygen? Or we are screaming and no one can hear us? I think we can get cell phone service down there... I need to cancel my T-mobile cell phone and get the cheaper account. Should we go with Boost Mobile or iWireless? Boost Mobile definitely has an incredible deal. But I want a cool phone... one that I can text and check email on. Man, our breezeway is a dump. I can't wait to have it finished so we can put the family room out there... and then landscape the yard. Those dogs are a pain in the ass.

Writing Prompts continued...

Hey friends- Sorry it has been a while. I will keep the writing prompts going again. Thanks for all of you who ask for it and keep my blog in mind. Happy writing!

Writing Prompt 1: Write in detail about your childhood home. Try to use your 5 senses to write about what it looked like, felt like, sounds you heard, tastes you experiences, scents you remember. If you had more than one childhood home, write about the one that immediately comes to mind- good or bad.

Writing Prompt 2: Write about your first memory of rejection. Describe how you felt and thoughts you remember having or promises/vows you made to yourself at that time. If you could live that moment over again, what would you do differently?

God is in Cancun

we arrived in Cancun around 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Being here 3 or 4 times, we basically know our way around so we took a cheap bus into downtown and walked several blocks to our favorite hostel. A lady named Edith (pronounced "e-DEETH") cleans the rooms and keeps the kitchen stocked and clean. We visited there several years ago when the children were little. The brightly colored rooms, hammocks, and $20/night bill made for a good stop on the way to our 5-star resort. Mostly, we want to give our children a good look at "real" life in Mexico. Even in Cancun, people live in poverty. As an honest resort host observed, room service and all-inclusive gluttony is not real life, it is "fake." The majority of the world is poor and lives in distress. Our family had our share of real life when the techno bar next door kicked on their all-night party. No lie. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. The drums vibrated the block walls, the strobe light flashed through the glassless windows. Around 1 am (somehow we had fallen asleep), I awoke in fear. The DJ was playing a "song" with a steady heartbeat rhythm, low groans, and screams. I felt like I was listening to a haunted soundtrack. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. I prayed for peace and safety. I prayed for the Lord to surround our room with angels of protection- to give us a miracle of sleep and joy. Gladly, our children were sleeping soundly.
At 3 am, Eric and I awoke at the same time, both of us laughing hysterically from odd, hilarious dreams. I was dreaming about some girl named Peg Pigswith... and something about a flock of geese (for some reason that was hilarious at 1 in the morning). Eric was dreaming about a marching band (I'm guessing the techno beat had something to do with that) and some girl trying to talk to the drum major through her trumpet mute. We shared our dreams and laughed together for a good half hour. At 5 am, the boys woke up frustrated with the loud music (seriously guys, it was like trying to sleep in the same room as someone beating on a full drum set!). We made up ridiculous stories about the music- maybe there was a guy stomping in the room above us. Or maybe Edith's washing machine was banging and she was just singing really loud. They giggled and giggled. It was good to laugh together. So the Lord gave us a miracle. He turned an extremely frustrating experience into fun and joy. We were tired but we were together.

Yesterday we spent the morning hunting for shark's teeth (I think we found around thirty so far) and headed down the beach to Cancun Palace. For sitting through a 90-minute timeshare presentation, they gave us a family all-inclusive pass to their resort (free drinks! free buffet all day!), and passes to 6 other expeditions. Tomorrow we will tour Tulum (ancient ruins), Thursday is Wet 'n Wild water resort, Friday is Isla Mujeres (Woman Island- hmmm...), next week is a speed boat Jungle Tour and Zip Line. It has rained the last few days but only for minutes at a time and then the sun returns. Yesterday a full rainbow stretched over the Caribbean Sea. I have never seen anything so beautiful... the ocean is azure, the sands pure white, the people bronze and kind. We are grateful, so grateful for the blessing of this place. It is good to be in the Lord's beautiful land. It is good to relax. It is good to be family.