yes sur!

if you ever get the chance... drive through big sur. pacific coast highway. highway 1.

it's beautiful.
stop-every-five-minutes-because-you-can't-resist-taking-yet-another-picture beautiful.

p.b.

pebble beach, that is.

because h and i are such big golfers ;) we decided to detour through pebble beach.  a good call, i must say. 

beautiful scenery, several opportunities to 'rock jump' (something that dates back to my childhood), a paparazzi experience (not as exciting as you'd think when it's a group of middle-aged ladies), and a delicious lunch. 

monterey monterey!

try typing that several times fast!

florida has not gotten the memo that it's supposed to be getting cooler, but i'm trying to be a little more forgiving this year.  so i jumped over to the west coast to get my fix!

first stop: monterey & carmel

i could definitely live there. as long as i had one of the brightly colored storybook houses.

(side note: these jellyfish are completely real, completely enormous, & just hanging out in the bay! no aquarium needed... you'd have to pay me a lot to get in that water!)

good stuff

h. and i came across this series from the church we went to when we were in denver and have been following it for the past few weeks.  it's great!

 

it has focused on understanding GOD's STORY, from the beginning. 

    "when we understand God's story, we understand our part in it" and only then can we see what God is up to in our lives.

 

 

in their words, "what is God's story is leading to and what is the role you play?" ... "know the story that God is telling, throughout scripture, from beginning to end"

the series is called "The Way Back"

you can listen here:

online video

podcast

did you hear?

mr. david crowder, due to his love of Baylor football (yes folks, we may not be the best team in the nation but we have lots of die hard fans!), recorded a new song just for us, the fans.  i'm sure the football team is included too ;)

after seeing the baylor "rise up" commercials, "it just made something in the heart swell" he said... and voila, a song!

and even better, it's available for a free download to all us fans!

rise up

sic 'em!

a page in the life of…

I love books. I love them now. I love them always.

I loved them when I was a toddler and would fall asleep covered in them. I loved them when I was in elementary school and would win gobs of pizza (i remember reading dozens more than my classmates!). I loved them when I was in college and, much to the dismay of any practical thinker, decided to major in Literature … so that I could keep reading. I can give you a list of authors whose books I literally read over and over and over.

I normally don't read more than one book at a time, though. Why would I?

Well, right now I am. Three, actually. Unintentionally, yes. But it does make sense. They each fill a specific need, if you will, and represent some of what makes me, me.

So here I give you 'me'. As I am right now. In books.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by mary ann shaffer & annie barrows

Recommended to me by my good friend Deeann, it's such a good read. My kind of book. Not completely mindless, but doesn't require lots of thought. Deliciously entertaining. Extremely creative with some hilarious characters. A touch of intellectual humor. I got caught up in reading it last night and was shocked when I finally looked at the time.

 

 

John Adams by david mccullough

I read 1776 by the same author and loved it! Historically accurate (thanks to a thick stack of references in the back) but engaging. This man can tell an interesting story. When I finished 1776, I hurriedly went online and looked to see what else he'd written. John Adams seemed like a good next book, as it followed 1776 nicely. I enjoy history and this time period is fascinating. This book is quite long (yes, 750) and not quite as flowing as 1776- apparently Mr. John did a lot- but I'm still happy to be doing some learning  :)

Revelation as Drama by james l. blevins

So so interesting. Blevins argues the possibility that the book of Revelation was written in dramatic form in order to allow for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ during a time when speaking openly about such controversial subject matter meant persecution of some kind. Early Christians often used code to communicate. John, using the popular medium of drama and the ephesian theater, wrote the book of Revelation to give believers ability to speak about their relationship with God and experiences they had.

Blevins goes into detail on the different symbols used throughout the Bible (numbers, colors, animals…) and meanings of words (ie: revelation comes from the greek word apocalypsis, which means to decode, uncover, or reveal) in a manner that is enlightening and fascinating, and useful on more than one occasion.

The Story of the Starfish

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a boy going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went.

As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the boy continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the him he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The boy looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

food for thought

musings on God and things learned through the journey with God.

a really interesting, thought provoking blog from a friend of mine:  

click here to read


it's good. definitely check it out.

for all you baylor folks out there... let's DTR

i don't normally look at any of the baylor facebook photos. i went through their recent welcome week album yesterday and came across this funny little conversation... and the poor freshman caught in the middle...

poppy

that's not actually what i call my dad, nor have i every actually even thought of it before.
but it seemed like the right name for this post about my dad's visit. and there's no real reason why.

what follows is the randomest assortment of photos probably ever compiled.

the final in a series of 'sun-in-the-face' photos

san fran.3

san fran.2

sweet girl

keilani, the daughter of a friend of mine, is in my sunday school class. she is 4 years old and quite a character, a bright and energetic little girl

a couple of weeks ago, she came to sunday school with a box full of "special muffins" made especially for her friends and teachers.  she "invented" the recipe and made them for us "all by herself"

it was a proud little girl that handed me my muffin! and how tall she stood as she explained her recipe

   ......    strawberry cake mix and pumpkin pie filling, decorated with large candy sharks

san fran. muir woods