Symphony of Creation

I Heart Faces: "Hugs & Kisses"

Mountain Splendor

Some photos from my trip to Fraser, Colorado.

I'm Back from my Mountain Retreat...

...and it was AMAZING!  It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.

"God does not want to overwhelm us with His power. 

He wants to overwhelm us with His love." 

I don't even know what to say or where to begin.  To be in the mountains with hundreds of woman from all over the world, allowing Jesus to speak to our souls...wow!   The mountains were gorgeous. The teaching was rich, palatable & heart changing.  There were times of quiet introspection & times of boisterous fun.  The meals were filled with good food,  female chit-chat, and heart-to-heart sharing.  The schedule was on a need to know basis and they deliberately did not give us a written agenda.  Because as woman we sometimes become a little too caught up in our lists & schedules and they wanted to free us from that a little bit.  We also had several hours of free time every afternoon so we could do whatever we wanted.

"We have been wounded into believing terrible things about ourselves."

Stasi Eldredge led most of the sessions.  She talked about the core desires of a woman's heart, about the Great Romance that is Christianity.  She talked about the importance of the father-child relationship & mother-child relationship and the wounds we suffer when those relationships are not ideal.  She talked about the agreement we make with the enemy by believing lies about ourselves and the importance of breaking those agreements in order to heal and find freedom.  We spent a lot of time between sessions, just being quiet so we could let God show us our wounds, reveal the lies we've believed, and let Him tell us how He sees us.  We spend time in prayer; we sang praises to Him; we took communion.  The Spirit was moving among us!

"Agreeing with a lie separates us from the Truth."

The free times were spent in so many ways.  There was snow shoeing, tubing, hot-tubbing, napping, reading, jewelry making, coffee drinking, etc.  I spent the first afternoon wandering the campus and then reading my book.  The second day I wanted to go snowshoeing but they sold out before I got there.  Instead I made myself a bracelet and then I decided to brave the trail without snowshoes.  I was so glad I did!  As long as I stayed on the trail I was fine. However if I stepped off...I sank into the snow up to my waist!  I enjoyed the beauty of nature with my camera.

"We get our identity from our fathers.  

We get our self-worth from our mothers."

For me the retreat revealed how I have let the enemy talk me into believing that I am a boring, uninteresting person who has nothing worth offering others.  I was surprised how much pain was associated with this idea.  I was also surprised to discover how much healing has already taken place in me over the past 10 years and how blessed I truly am to have the parents I have.  So many of the women at this retreat had such deep pain associated with their parents...it really amplified the blessing my parents are.  They certainly aren't perfect and they have hurt me but there is no lasting sting...because of how God has worked in their lives and how often they tell me they love me and how quick they are to say they're sorry.

"Loving Jesus is the natural response to knowing Him."

  

"Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of Jesus."

One of the coolest things for me was the pictures Jesus showed me several times through out the weekend of He & I dancing together.  He is my father, my lover & my friend.  Experiencing Him is such a powerful, personal thing that is hard to explain to others later.  But there is no question that I did.  He spoke to me, He danced with me, He embraced me.  The praise & worship time of singing & communion was my favorite.  I felt so loved and so free!

I am so glad I went and I sincerely recommend this Captivating retreat to all the women reading this and I encourage the men to attend the Wild at Heart Boot Camp as well.  It is spiritually cleansing...so worth it! 

"The battle is fierce, the danger is real, and you are desperately needed."

A Mountain Retreat

So, tomorrow I'm headed out of town for a retreat in the mountains of Colorado.  Many of you may have read, or at least heard of, the book "Captivating" by John & Stasi Eldredge.  Well, I'm attending a 'Captivating Retreat'.  And frankly I'm kinda nervous.  The details of what the retreat actually entails are absent from the "event details" page and everything has been left pretty vague.  For a person who appreciates detailed plans as much as I do...well this in itself leaves me a little apprehensive.  But I'm also concerned because it has the potential to be a high-emotion experience, I won't know anyone there, and there will be no contact between me and and my family for 4 days!  It's going to be hard to not be able to call Russ up and tell him about my day.  It's going to be hard not to know what my girls are doing in my absence.  And to top it all off...Friday is my birthday and I won't be able to spend a single moment of it with any person I know.

On the other hand...I am excited!  I get to step away from my ordinary life for a few days and enjoy just being me.  Not "the wife", not "the mom", just me.  And I get the opportunity to meet a variety of woman from all over the country and potentially make new friends.  And most importantly, this is a chance for me to just spend some time listening to and enjoying my friend & my savior, Jesus, while taking in the sights of the Colorado Rockies!

I leave tomorrow morning with no idea what to really expect to come of the next few days but I will anticipate beauty, laughter, tears, and irreplaceable God-moments.  And while I know I'm going to miss my babies, I must trust that this time away is for a higher purpose and will be worth the minutes I miss at home.

Pray for me this weekend.  I'll see you when I get back!

I Heart Faces: "Oh So Silly"

I Heart Faces: "By the Book"

I absolutely LOVE books and am an avid reader.  When I saw this week's theme I was so excited.  But choosing a photo was not easy.  I settled on this photo of my daughter "reading" a book to my dad.  I love the expression on her face and the relationship you can see between them.  Hope you like it too.  :)

I Heart Faces: : "Family Fun"

I Heart Faces: "Best Face Photo of 2011"

Smile...it's a whole new year!

Christmas: Take Two (A.k.a. New Years Eve)

It has become a tradition over the last several years to celebrate Christmas with Russ' family at our house over the New Year's holiday weekend.  This year was no exception.  His parents, aunt, & sister's family all spent the weekend here, and we had a fun time celebrating Christmas again with them and ringing in the new year!

Books I read in 2011

• 61) 'A Heart for Home' by Lauraine Snelling 12/22
• 60) 'No Distance to Far' by Lauraine Snelling 12/20
• 59) 'Note of Peril' by Hannah Alexander 12/14
• 58) 'A Measure of Mercy' by Lauraine Snelling 12/6
• 57) 'Ereth's Birthday' by Avi 12/2
• 56) 'Freefall' by Kristen Heitzman 11/8
• 55) 'Recovering Charles' by Jason F. Wright 11/3
• 54) 'The Lightkeeper's Daughter' by Colleen Coble 10/20
• 53) 'Heaven is For Real' by Todd Burpo 10/13
• 52) 'The Blessed' by Ann H. Gabhart 10/12
• 51) 'Edge of Eternity' by Randy Alcorn 9/7
• 50) 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett 8/25
• 49) 'Falconer's Quest' by T. Davis Bunn & Isabella Bunn 8/22
• 48) 'Dancing with My Father' by Sally Clarkson 8/21
• 47) 'Flabbergasted' by Ray Blackston 8/2
• 46) 'Bittersweet' by Cathy Marie Hake 7/25
• 45) 'Candle in the Darkness' by Lynn Austin 6/24
• 44) 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen 6/12
• 43) 'The Falcon and the Sparrow' by M.L. Tyndall 6/7
• 42) 'Soul Surfer' by Bethany Hamilton 6/2
• 41) 'Sun Stand Still' by Steven Furtick 6/2
• 40) 'The Light Princess' by George Macdonald (audio) 6/1
• 39) 'The Last Battle' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 5/23
• 38) 'The Silver Chair' by C.S. Lewis (audio)
• 37) 'Health and Wholeness Through the Holy Communion' by Joseph Prince 5/10
• 36) 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 5/8
• 35) 'At the Scent of Water' by Linda Nichols 4/28
• 34) 'Prince Caspian' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 4/25
• 33) 'The Horse and His Boy' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 4/20
• 32) 'Here's the Story' by Maureen McCormick 4/18
• 31) 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 4/17
• 30) 'The Magician's Nephew' by C.S. Lewis (audio) 4/13
• 29) 'Elyon' by Ted Dekker and Kaci Hill 4/13
• 28) 'Lunatic' by Ted Dekker and Kaci Hill 4/11
• 27) 'Chaos' by Ted Dekker 4/8
• 26) 'Renegade' by Ted Dekker 4/6
• 25) 'Infidel' by Ted Dekker 4/2
• 24) 'Chosen' by Ted Dekker 3/31
• 23) 'Sinner' by Ted Dekker 3/26
• 22) 'Mostly Harmless' by Douglas Adams (audio) 3/25
• 21) 'So Long and Thanks for all the Fish" by Douglas Adams (audio) 3/18
• 20) 'Life, the Universe, and Everything' by Douglas Adams (audio) 3/16
• 19) 'Saint' by Ted Dekker 3/15
• 18) 'Showdown' by Ted Dekker 3/10
• 17) 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' by Douglas Adams (audio) 3/10
• 16) 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams (audio) 3/3
• 15) 'A Touch of Grace' by Lauraine Snelling 3/1
• 14) 'Hidden Gifts' by Rick Hamlin 2/26
• 13) 'Sophie's Dilemma' by Lauraine Snelling 2/21
• 12) 'Whirlwind' by Cathy Marie Hake 2/10
• 11) 'When God Winks at You' by SQuire Rushnell 2/7
• 10) 'Green' by Ted Dekker 2/2
• 9) 'The Chocolate War' by Robert Cormier 1/24
• 8) 'White' by Ted Dekker 1/20
• 7) 'Red' by Ted Dekker 1/18
• 6) 'Black' by Ted Dekker 1/16
• 5) 'A Constant Heart' by Siri Mitchell 1/12
• 4) 'The Return of the King' by J.R.R. Tolkien 1/11
• 3) 'The Two Towers' by J.R.R. Tolkien 1/8
• 2) 'The Fellowship of the Ring' by J.R.R. Tolkien 1/5
• 1) 'The Facts of Life and other lessons my Father taught me' by Lisa Whelchel 1/3