linked: hope

Saturday evening I sat out in the setting sun and picked at a sea of never ending weeds. My hands were caked with dirt and the stain of green, so much so that I was surprised at how sore and tender they were the day after. In the middle of my dirty work, the neighbor's sprinklers spurted to life. Because I live in a wind tunnel, I watched the water catch wind and mist everything in my yard. Normally I do not mind this (free water) but this time it happened to water exactly where I needed to be weeding. 

So I sat and waited.

When the sprinklers finished their cycle, I looked up to witness every flower, blade, and leaf dusted with a million, glittering, circles of light. Their delicate glimmering caused me to smile. I imagined this is what pixie dust must look like...

Pulling weeds has always been a teacher for me in the area of my own personal "weed pulling". For example, pulling weeds has taught me that if I fail to pull a personal weed up by its roots, it will always grow back in the soil of my heart. (Such a hard truth, especially in the areas of hurt, anger, and bitterness.)

So here is what impressed me on this day:

As I look back at the moment, I now see that that this is what Hope looks like when I find myself in the dirty work of pulling my life's weeds. There I am, entrenched in the soil, bent over, hot from the sun,  caked with mud, wondering (and whining) if there will ever come a day when I do not have to pull weeds. (Please, don't you just wish you could pull a weed once and then never have to come back again?) In the middle of my labor and toil, suddenly Hope arrives in the form of a million points of Light. Awash with beauty, completely unexpected. It comes in the form of an answered prayer, a encouragement from a friend, a song on the radio, a miraculous provision. All simple reminders from God that I am loved, watched over, and never abandoned to the eternal dirty work of pulling weeds. This is Hope that sustains me.

I believe there is no place of dirt and darkness that Hope cannot invade. No weed-like burden that Hope cannot relieve. Yes, there is an amount of toil that we experience in this life, the pulling of weeds, or the dirtying of our hands in the messes that seem to show up like weeds. But Hope is the eternal flame that God places in our hearts to whisper to us that, though we may have earthly pain and struggles, unanswered questions, our lives are not without purpose and meaning.

We are loved.

We are loved.

We are loved.

Praying that whatever back-breaking, weed-pulling situation you find yourself in, you will, today, experience Hope in the middle of it. That you will look up and see a million points of Light dusting your situation with the promise that you are loved, watched over, and never abandoned to the eternal dirty work of pulling weeds. Praying that this will sustain you as only real Hope can.

******

Today is a link up day with two of my blogging friends, Michelle and Stacey. Michelle chose the theme for this week, which was "Hope". I have to say, this was hard. I took these pictures above without the intention of capturing "hope". It wasn't until I uploaded that they spoke to my work of "pulling weeds". I "hope" it makes sense to y'all. :)

I am eager to see how the gals interpreted this theme this week!

For Michelle's July 7th post, click here.

For Stacey's July 7th post, click here.

linked: sun (and popsicles)

Happiness is: holding your very own orange popsicle. 

Wait. Better yet, happiness is: the summer sun, kissing your very own popsicle.

Happiness is also: having a friend who will hold your purple popsicle 

while you retrieve a bowl of pretzels.

Happiness is: summer + sun + friendship + popsicles. 

This week I had the honor of choosing the linked up theme with my linky friends Michelle and Stacey. I made a quick decision to honor the start of summer with the theme of "sun" and then I proceeded to spend a week and a half of not capturing it. What was I thinking? What I was not thinking was that "sun" is kind of an ambiguous theme and so I every time I set out to capture it I came home with a "sun fail". Then Michelle announced that her pictures were ready and blog post was written (teacher's pet) and I was beginning to wonder how I was going to pull off this assignment. There was a moment when I considered emailing the gals to tell them that I had failed to complete the task that I had assigned. (What a geek.)

So with some major resolve, I brought my camera with me to Bean's art class/swim time and attempted my sun thing one. more. time.

And then...........some magic happened: the popsicles came out.

And the sun arrived to kiss them all and christen them as the true beginning of summer.

And I snapped away.

And I exhaled in relief.

And now I can say that happiness is: completing my linked up "sun" assignment with seconds to spare.

Now go and visit Michelle's June 16th blog post for her sun goodness. (click here)
And Stacey's June 16th blog post too. (click here)

I am eager to see how they interpreted the "sun" theme!

linked: in the backyard

There is a girl in the backyard...

...who is waiting for Summer to arrive. 

She waits with her new summer shorts on...

...ready to feel the warmth of Summer's rays on her winter skin. 

She longs for the days of no shoes...

...to know the freedom of her bare feet, in the backyard.

There is also a girl in the backyard who is t-i-r-e-d from the school year...

...ready for sleep-in days and no homework, no daily schedule to wear out her little self. 

Yes, there is a girl in the backyard who is patiently waiting for Summer to arrive.

Oh how I hate to break it to her, but her first full weekend of summer vacation looms before her with dark clouds, rain showers and cold temperatures. She thinks she lives in sunny California but I may have to tell her otherwise because this is the most depressing start to summer vacation we have had in a long time. (Yes, I am full-on whining.) Geez, we were all just looking forward to wearing our shorts, and bare feet, feeling the kiss of the summer sun on our skin. I guess we will just have to look back upon these pictures from this past week to get our fill of sun because these are the ones I took on one of our only sunny moments we experienced in the past few days. The weather has indeed been maddening this past week. (Rainy day recess on the last week of school?? Why yes.)

My blog link up partners, Stacey and Michelle, suggested a theme of "in the backyard" for our link up post this week. I am so glad I took advantage of the sun we had and captured Bean out roaming. The pictures from my posts this past week are all from this same day. (I would like to point out that I was not lazy this week with my picture taking, I was simply needing to be efficient with my time as I finish this last long week of full time work. And I was doing a dance with the weather.)

So go check out Michelle and Stacey's take on the theme and leave them some comment love.
For Michelle's June 2 post, click here.
For Stacey's June 2 post, click here.

And if you are in a sunny part of the world this weekend, think of me wearing my winter clothes, curled up on the couch in front of a fire. I know that sounds pretty nice right now, but it's JUNE...in California...and we Cali people can be such wimps when it comes to "extreme" weather. :)

linked: hair

So my blog linking partner, Michelle, made the decision this week to link up with a post that would feature hair. Hair.
The funny thing about this, and she doesn't know it, is that just days before she threw out that theme I had just taken a bunch of photos of Bean doing her own version of a Vidal Sassoon commercial. I was actually attempting to practice nailing a focus point when my aperture is wide open (which is hard at an fstop of 1.2) and so I asked her to give me a little motion. She gave me her Vidal hair flips and swishes.

The following photos are what I captured, wide open at 1.2, in full motion, in focus...and not.
I love all of them.

I realize that I may have dated myself by referencing a Vidal Sassoon commercial. I am a child of the 80's people. I was raised on Vidal Sasson commercials. A trip to YouTube will showcase several of the many commercials I grew up watching. Click here, for one of my favorites.  Wait for the last few seconds of the clip and watch the sassy flip. We used to practice that in the mirror. I think my Bean has perfected it. What do you think?

I think yes. It also helps that she has enough hair to go around for three other people. She inherited my thick head of hair. The head of hair that I loathed throughout my entire adolescence. The head of hair that the stylist could not even get a comb through on my very first visit. The head of hair that I washed every day and tried to style and would wind up in a frizzy mess. I cried most mornings during my high school years. (High school years were not my best hair years--add to it was the fact that it was the 80's and hair was just not attractive on anyone.) Let's just say that Vidal needed to make a personal visit, one that would have relieved me from most of my adolescent trauma.

But, I am so prepared for Bean's youth and hair issues. I have lived through it all (even a perm!) and I can now say that our hair is best left unwashed for a span of two to three days. We do not need a volume or body boosting shampoo. We do best to wash it at night, or air dry it.  And a good flat iron is our best friend, or a good frizz control oil to make soft waves.

Do they even still sell Vidal Sassoon?

I could go on and on about hair care for thick hair-headed people (not thick-headed people, but thick hair-headed people), but now it is time for you to go and visit Michelle and Stacey, my fun blog linkup partners, and see what hair biz they've styled up.

For Michelle's May 19th hair post, click here.
For Stacey's May 19th hair post, click here.

And if you have any good hair tips, product recommendations, please...don't be shy...inform me. I still need a little help.

linked: from the car

5/13 Post edit: So for the last two days Blogger has been not working and so any attempts to post and link, etc. were met with an "error" message. This original post below was lost and so I had to go back in and rewrite write the portion of it that had been saved. Such a PAIN. Anyway, here we go again...

(And Friday's post will be up tomorrow. We're flexible right?)

After fifteen years of marriage I can still say that one of my favorite places to be is alone in the car with my hubby. Sans kids. With music of our choice. Or a perhaps a little driving in that beautiful, glorious silence.

It is a rarity, one that we did not appreciate until we no longer had it. That first day we drove home with our son from the hospital with him fastened securely in the infant car seat, we entered a completely new world of the driving environment: one that is filled with kid noise, kid's music, passing of snacks, refereeing of squabbles, fielding questions, and fishing for lost sippy cups, dropped pacifiers, and blankies. Like I said, one cannot learn to appreciate what one has until it is reduced to a scarcity.

On Mother's Day I had a couple of hours of that glorious car space with just my boyfriend.

And it just so happened that my blogging link-up partners, Stacey and Michelle and I had just decided that our "linked" assignment this week would be "from the car."

There could not have been a more perfect time to pull out my camera.

I am anxious to see what "from the car" moments Stacey and Michelle captured this past week.

Head on over to their May 12th blog posts and view with me!

For Michelle's post, click here.

For Stacey's,  post click here.

Happy Friday,
T

R.F.U.D.

Last fall Bean was obsessed with a certain song. And frankly, I secretly loved could not stand to listen to it. We took a big break from it for several months and kind of forgot about it.  Then, when I was going through these umbrella photos, I found myself humming along to them.

So to begin this Random Friday Umbrella Day, I would like to unapologetically bring this song back into the our minds and introduce you to Bean's debut umbrella montage--with her singing Miley's "Party in the USA"...




(You can thank me later when you find yourself humming this tune all day in your head.)

Here's my bit of Friday randomness:

My son had the "6th grade talk" this past week in school. It was all good, no surprises, nothing that we had not already shared with him. But it brought back those memories of coming home with the little educational pamphlets and being highly embarrassed at the anatomical drawings included in them. With this sort of stuff I try to be really natural and relaxed, talk like this is every day conversation material in our house because I want them to never be ashamed or feel isolated in their thoughts over their changing bodies.

So when he plopped into the car he pulled out the pamphlet and told me all about it without me having to ask him. I gave him a smile and asked him if it was embarrassing to discuss this stuff in class. He said that it was (the boys just nervously laughed through it all) and then with a total huff and roll of his eyes he told me he was frustrated because he thought it was highly unfair that the drawings of the naked, puberty-evolving girls were not as detailed as the drawings of the naked, puberty-evolving boys.

I swiped the papers out of his hands to inspect the drawings. I am not sure what more he wanted from the girl drawings?! They were pretty anatomically and scientifically detailed.  And then I went silent and handed the pictures back to him and told him that they were detailed enough and wondered if I should shred them when we got home?

I am telling you friends, this puberty stuff is fun. I may present this calm front to my children about the whole thing, but inside I am freaking out.

Ok, so enough puberty talk.  Let us move on with this post!

On Wednesday I mentioned that I was going to be doing another Random Friday Umbrella Day (RFUD) post and invited anyone to join me just for fun. Immediately after the post I had a couple of friends email their umbrella pictures!

My friend, Hilmari, and I have known each other for years and used to live on the same street in our old town. Several years ago she moved back to her home country of South Africa with her Mississippi-bred hubby. I miss her terribly. She does not have a blog (still trying to get her on Facebook) but wanted to participate in RFUD so it was a delight when she emailed me pictures of her kids...

I love those green plastic half-shell umbrellas! When I was a kid, I used to bring mine into the sprinklers and sit underneath the protection of it and listen to the pounding of the water spray.

I have never met Hilmari's smallest child. Makes me desire all the more to get on a plane, camera in hand, and travel to South Africa! Thanks for sharing Hilmari! Love and miss you!


So I would love to have you join me on this RFUD! If you would like to participate then leave me a comment with a link to your post (or flickr pic!) and I will post edit a list below as the day goes on. I will leave this post up all weekend.

Go visit my fellow RFUD'ers....

1. Christine at These Stones. (Hi Christine!)
2. Stacey at sdanddoublee (Fellow Party in the USA fan)








Thanks for joining me!
xoxo
t

It's all natural

Over the course of blogging for two and a half years I have found myself pleasantly surprised at the amount of friends I have made via the blogging world. I had no idea that this would happen when I first started, and yet some of these friends have become quite dear to me even though we have never met. I know it seems kind of weird if you have never experienced this, to make friends over the internet without ever having met them, but it all happened so naturally and has been a sweet gift for me during this past year. They are always encouraging, always humoring me, and often offering prayers of support.

It feels nice to not be alone on this journey.  

Two of those friends, Michelle and Stacey, have joined me today in a fun little blogging experience that many bloggers find themselves doing when they have made blogging friends. We have teamed up for a little photo assignment in which we post our chosen photos for the theme and then link to each other's blogs.

We chatted via email and threw out various ideas and then we made Stacey be the decision maker. (She thanked us for this role.)

Today's theme was: "natural"
As in, we had to take a picture of something that was not man-made. Super simple, the ideas were limitless.
So when we were at the beach over the weekend Bean and I came upon these little tracks leading into the tide. They made us smile, naturally. :)

Ok, so here is where I am encouraging you to head on over to Michelle's blog and take a look at her interpretation of "natural" on her May 3rd post.
Then head over to Stacey's blog and see her "natural" take on the same day.
I know that both of them will offer up a unique take on our theme.
When you do visit, share some comment love with them and let them know that you came from my blog.

I am super excited that you get to "meet" them. They are fabulous photogs and I am honored to call them friends. (Oh, and when you visit Michelle's blog, I want it to be known that I love her dog Lanie. She is one of the reasons I now find myself wanting a dog.)

And lastly...
I caught Bean making her own steps along side the lonely trail of bird tracks. A visual reminder to me that friends who just "happen to find you" in your journey and travel along side you are friendships that are made of nothing artificial. They are natural, God inspired, God-made, organic...and highly cherished.