A Walk in the Woods

It was such a beautiful day yesterday!  I haven't had the chance to get up to Green Mountain in a long time, so it was great to have some time to do that yesterday morning.  Mackenzie was home for her spring break last week, so she went back to school Sunday.  Anna managed to get a trip to the beach with her friend Kerry for her spring break this week and she left on Sunday, too.  So Jack and I are getting a preview of being 'empty nesters' this week.  So far it's ok... but I know I'll be looking forward to Anna getting home soon.  It's a little too quiet! :)  Anyways, I'm working this week, so no beach trips for me.  But I had a nice day off yesterday and I just thought I'd share some thoughts from my walk in the woods.  It seems like most any time I am able to get away to the mountain, it's a place where God speaks to me, and I was very much in need of that yesterday...  here are some thoughts and scriptures that came to mind along the way...

 

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.   -- Jeremiah 6:16

Whenever I come around this corner to the start of this well-worn path around the lake, it's kinda like that moment when you first arrive at the ocean and just exhale...  it really is a place of rest for my soul.

 

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” -- Isaiah 30:21

The picture above and the next few that follow were taken from a path that I didn't know existed until yesterday.  After crossing the covered bridge, the usual path winds off to the left, but I saw what looked to be a less used path going off to the right.  So I decided to give it a try.  I didn't really expect it to go anywhere, but it turns out that it runs right along the water for quite a ways until it meets back up with the 'real' trail.  I was tempted to turn back to my old familiar path - I hadn't planned on charting any new courses, but then I realized that this is probably a good metaphor for my life.  I get very comfortable and often look for 'rest' in the well-worn paths of my heart and mind and life...  but there are times that call for those paths to be challenged and rerouted.  It isn't an easy thing to follow the new paths - but sometimes that is where God is calling you to.

 Mandy enjoyed the new path! :)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 

-- 2 Corinthians 5:17

This may be a little hard to see, but there was all this 'new life' everywhere I went, and then I passed this branch with the old, dead leaves still hanging on, waiting to be discarded.  It just made me think of the verse above.  And again, the metaphor -- I don't always feel the 'new life' I've been given, but it is real and it is new every morning in Christ.  I hope it can be as new and vibrant and real as these brand new green leaves. 

Speaking of new - have you seen my dog lately?  If you knew her 'before' (and I need to find a picture!) you know she's been a bit overwieght.  But look at her now!  4 months of being on medication for a thyroid condition (isn't it funny how your pets take on your diseases?)  and she has lost 30 pounds!  No kidding...  she was 74 pounds last fall and just weighed in at the vet at 44 last Friday! She's half the dog she used to be! ha! But she's feeling so much better.   Hmmm... maybe I need to up my thyroid dosage a bit and lose a few nagging pounds of my own!  ;-)

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  --  Isaiah 43:19

It's funny, the verse earlier, from Jeremiah, asks us to look for the ancient path and walk in it.  This one from Isaiah asks us to look at the new way that the Lord is making.  A contradiction?   Not really.  The ancient path keeps us grounded and gives us our bearings, while the new ways are a necessary part of growth and change.  I took the picture below from another less traveled path that ran off the main trail. Again, it took me through the woods and down by the water.  It was a pretty view.  :)  This time, though, I tried to make my own way along the water where there really wasn't much of a path at all...  I ended up having to turn back and was thankful to get back on the old familiar trail.  I do believe God will always make a way for us - it's up to us to perceive it and follow it and take care not to fall too far off the path. 

 I love the way the sunlight came out in this picture.

 I was wondering what might live in that hole. :)

I sat down for a moment here - one of my favorite places on the mountain - and the song, "You are Holy" just popped into my head.  So I sat there and sang that to God.  It felt like such a holy moment.

 OK, so wandering off the main path kind-of became an obsession for this walk - so right after my holy moment, the next path took me by the Whiskey Distillery.  I'll let you, the reader, interpret that moment any way you like.  haha....

I saw this sign at the end of my walk today and had to laugh.  It was referring to a new little garden they have up there - apparently they don't want people wandering off the trail in there! :)

 There's nothing all that 'natural' about this in the woods and it's a little weird, but I do like the idea of angels up on Green Mountain. :)

 If you can open up this picture and actually read the 'Legend of the Dogwood,' it's really cool.  I don't think I've ever heard it before.  If you can't read it here, maybe you can google it.  ;-)

Stalker Cat!  No kidding, it made a beeline for Mandy when we first arrived and was there at the end waiting for us.  Weird cat.

 I like this sign. :)

The Flying Nun. 

(Those of you who are old like me will understand that.)

And this has nothing to do with Green Mountain.  But when I got home, my Kwanzan Cherry Trees in the front yard looked SO pretty that I just had to take a picture! :)

Changes

Wow… was my last post really February 1^st?  Well, I guess it was about that time almost a month ago that I was having lunch with Misty and Tracy.  Misty and I talked for a few minutes after lunch and I was, honestly, complaining about the state of my life.  She said something to me…  asked me a question, actually.  She said, “What’s that saying about the definition of crazy?”  And it hit me…  “Oh, you mean, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?’”  Uh, yeah, that’s the saying.  I’ve heard it many times, but I think this time God had in mind for it to actually mean something in my life.

The very next day, Anna had been asked to serve by babysitting at a bible study for some women meeting at my friend Selwyn’s house.  They are all women that she has gotten to know through her husband’s work at a men’s addiction recovery program called The Way.  They are spouses, girlfriends, moms, etc.  Some of them have been through their own battles with addiction and recovery.  All of them are really neat women.  As I dropped Anna off and left, I was hit with the overwhelming urge to stay and be a part of this group – but it would mean giving up the time I was spending singing with our group at church on Wed. nights – a time that has been very important to me.  Lifesaving, actually.  But the pull on my spirit was so clearly from His Spirit about this bible study.  And Misty’s words came back to mind…  insanity… doing the same thing…  Was I ready for a change?  Am I EVER ready for change?  I think I’ve said enough times before that it isn’t something I do very well.  Could that be why I’ve felt so stuck for such a long time and why I found myself complaining (again) just the day before? 

So I decided to jump on that opportunity that the Spirit was nudging me towards and talk to Selwyn about joining the bible study.  So the next week I didn’t just drop Anna off, I stayed as well.  It was great!  J   So that’s been one of the changes that have happened in February.

On that same Wednesday (it was an eventful day!), I saw a post on Facebook that Angel’s Island Coffee was looking for some part-time help.  Well, I’ve been contemplating a part-time job for probably 2 years now.  And avoiding the thought.  And thinking about it some more.  And getting overwhelmed thinking just how that would work.  And not knowing how to come up with a resume for someone who hasn’t worked in 20 years.  And just generally ‘chasing cars in my head’ (as the song goes) and never really believing that the job thing would work out. 

But I was in this “stop the insanity” mode.  So I walked.  And I prayed.  And I came home and picked up the phone and had a good talk with Angel about the job.  The next day she called me back and offered it to me! So yeah, now I’m a barista! J  And I’m exhausted – but that’s not really a complaint.  It’s just a side-effect of change.  My world has also been tossed upside down.  But again, not a complaint.  It’s really just nice to begin to feel like some of the ‘insanity’ of my life in a rut is beginning to turn a corner.   (And this is a picture of me off to my first day of work!)

Along with all that, I’ve been out of town 2 weekends in a row to Gatlinburg, TN for gymnastics and for Winterfest with the teens at church.  Good times – but hard to be gone so much!   Then speaking of change, there’s been a mess brewing at church over women’s roles that I don’t even think I have the energy to go into here.  It’s just all so heartbreaking to me.  So there may be more change to come.  My friend Lisa writes about it today as a guest on the blog, In a Mirror Dimly.  Here’s a link to her post: 

http://inamirrordimly.com/2012/02/24/women-in-ministry-series-all-invited-to-talk/   

I’m still trying to figure out how to link to their “Women In Ministry” series.  Guess I’m still more technologically challenged than I’d like to admit.

So to wrap up… I’m thankful for a little ‘push’ from Misty a few weeks ago.  I miss singing on Wed. nights (a lot!!!), but I’m so encouraged by my new group of friends at the bible study.  I miss late nights and quiet mornings, but I really like my new job.  I’ve seen more sunrises in the past 3 weeks than I have in a long time – but one morning the sun was rising behind me as I started up the mountain and as I went down the other side, there was mist laying low over the city that wasn’t quite awake yet and it was just glorious.  Really.  J  I have dish-pan hands, I’ve spilled at least one large coffee all over everywhere in the middle of a rush, I’ve slipped and tossed a big scoop of ice cream across the floor (that was kinda funny) and made at least one customer come back through the drive-thru for the whip cream I forgot to put on her coffee (a big oops!) – but I’ve also been told by a self-prescribed picky customer that the latte I made for her was really good and I’m told that I’m catching on to things pretty quickly.  So that makes me happy.  J  

Maybe there really is something to putting yourself into places where change is required.  It’s definitely requiring more faith and trust in God.  I know that’s a good thing.  And it’s got my mind busy and wrapped around things that are taking me forward – and that’s a good thing.

It’s been a busy, busy month.  And this has been a very long post. Ha. I imagine it will be like this for a little while.  At least until I adjust to all the change…  J

PS…  come and see me at Angels! (yes, in the early morning hours) …even if you don’t like coffee, there’s A LOT to choose from!  But try my white chocolate mocha and I might make a coffee drinker out of you! J

Gymnastics Season is Here Again...

Well, it's February 1st and I'm pretty glad January is gone, though I'm not trying to wish time away, especially since it seems to be going faster and faster these days.  I kind-of feel like I need to start my year over today in terms of resolutions - ha.  I have kept up with my reading through the New Testament, but my fitness goals have certainly not progressed!   I'm not really enjoying this season of Biggest Loser just yet since it keeps reminding me that "there are no excuses."  Yeah, well, this is my blog post about traveling for gymnastics being my excuse! ;-)   We are in the thick of competition season for gymnastics and have been to 2 meets in the last month.  One to Knoxville and one to Charleston, SC.  That was this past weekend and aside from all the driving, it was a fun weekend.  We had the chance to stay with my sister and visit with her family.  Considering that this time last year I was spending a lot of time going back and forth to Columbia to take care of my sister, I'm really, really thankful that she is 100% better now and we just got to have a fun weekend together! :)

Thought I'd share a few pictures of Anna from the meet...  she placed 3rd on Vault and 4th on Beam - funny how those have become her best events - the total opposite of last year.  Go figure.  Oh!!  And the big news of today (at least in our little world) is that Anna came home from gym last night and had finally been able to do a giant on the Uneven Bars!  I don't really know how to properly communicate how big of a deal that is to anyone who doesn't live in the world of gymnastics, but for Anna it is a HUGE accomplishment that, as she said last night, "she has been looking forward to being able to do since she was 9 years old."  So, yay...  I really hope that is going to help her get back up to where she wants to be in competition on her Bar routines.  :)

Anyways...  pictures:

Anna probably wouldn't want me to put this up, but here's her Beam routine - other than the one fall, I think it's pretty awesome! :)

Once Upon a Time...

I read this today on one of my favorite blogs:

"You know, the more I write my life out, the more I become convinced that the church doesn't need more argue-ers, more fighters, more convince-ers. No, we need better story-tellers. Better lovers. Better truth-live-ers.

It's true that the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better. I'm learning to simply let the ones guarding the table bluster and pontificate because really, it's okay. I'm not in charge of anything.

But I can tell a good story of how God came near in my life and how everything He touches gives beauty and joy and love and grace. How everything good in life is a glimpse, just a glimpse, of all that is intended."

-- from Sarah at  http://www.emergingmummy.com/

This past Sunday night at 'teen time,' our youth minister, Rodney, asked the kids to take a few minutes and write out their dreams on some slips of paper.  We collected them all and then took some time to pray for each one of them.  It got me thinking...  I don't consider myself much of a 'dreamer.'  And don't often see moments in my life as 'dreams come true' kind-of moments.  But just this past Sunday morning was actually a 'dream come true' moment for me. 

I have been dreaming, I guess you could say, for the last year about starting a class just for our senior high girls at church.  It was a dream born out of needs that some of the girls were starting to express about wanting a place where they could talk about and get answers to questions about things that they deal with, specifically, as young women growing in their faith and wanting to draw closer to God.  But to be honest, I didn't know if I was the right person to meet that need...

But then my friend Lisa and I started to talk and this dream began to take shape and gain some momentum and all the fears and reasons why I shouldn't be doing this began to take a back seat and God just kept whispering...  "This is the way; walk in it."  (Is 30:21)

So this past Sunday morning, our dream came true as we welcomed 12 of our senior high girls into the 'class' we are calling "Once Upon a Time."   And the reason that I love the above quote from Sarah at EmergingMummy is that this class is going to be all about 'telling our stories.'  We're looking at the stories of women in the gospels and the stories of their lives as they encountered Jesus.  And we're looking at the stories that God is writing in each of our lives.  Hopefully each of these girls will see that they have a story worth telling and one that could change the world...

The first women that we looked at this past Sunday were the 4 that appear in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.  These 4 women and their stories were perhaps what actually got me started thinking about all of this to begin with.  Honestly, if God was going to highlight some women from Jesus' ancestry, these would not have been the 4 that I would have picked.  But they were God's choice and I think it says a lot about God's character.  These women had broken and messed up lives and relationships for many different reasons - some of it was not their choice - some of it was. But God, in His infinite mercy and endless desire to see lives redeemed, used each of them to carry on the royal line that would lead to the birth of Jesus.  God was not deterred by their difficult circumstances or even by their sinful choices...  He was still willing to write HIS story through each of their lives.  And since I feel like I so easily could be one of these women - in many ways I've been where they've been - it gives me a whole lot of hope that God is still writing HIS story in my life... and I'm forever grateful.

Resolutions

Another year come and gone.   It's been an eventful one, for sure.  Mackenzie graduated high school and started college.  Anna escaped (haha) middle school and started high school.  Jack went through 2 job changes - one from the buy-out of the defense contract he was working on (this was a change he was NOT happy about) and then a job-change by choice (which he IS happy about).  And me?  Well, I realize I've been avoiding any kind of change in the midst of all of that. :) 

But now it seems that it has come time for a new year and some new resolutions.  I find that lately when anyone I haven't talked to for a while asks what I've been up to, I mostly talk about everyone else... so one of my resolutions for this year is to have something at least moderatley interesting to say that I've done myself.  Not sure what that is going to look like just yet, but I'm going to commit it to prayer and look for where God is leading.

Just thought this cartoon was really funny -- and I resolve NOT to make it true for me! haha...

Here are a few other things on my mind:
* I plan to train for and finally run the Cotton Row 10K this year.  (my body seems ready to cooperate with me on this - I hope that continues!)

* Less escaping and more praying...

* Read thru the New Testament this year...  (didn't do that last year as planned, and it is much needed!)

* Daily consider this verse and how I can put it into practice, especially at home where I am, sadly, most selfish:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4

* And one more verse to pray over daily:
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
I John 2:17
I believe this verse to be true, but my heart fights with it - I don't grasp it emotionally and I struggle so much with holding on to my own desires over trusting God with His desires for me.  But I am certain that His way is so much better... my prayer will be to feel and trust it deep in my heart.

Oh... and I resolve for Alabama to beat LSU this time and win the National Championship! 
Roll Tide Roll!  :)

So that's it for now... Happy New Year everyone! :)

Catching Up...

On Monday, I should have been celebrating my 24th Wedding Anniversary with Jack, but we spent the day in my mom's hometown of Vernon, AL instead.  My uncle, Emmett Sanford, died this past week and we were there for the funeral.  It was a sad day for everyone.  My uncle was a wonderful man, very giving and generous, wise, funny and outgoing.  He loved to tell stories and was very hospitable.  In these last few years, he and my Aunt Kay (I'm named after her) lived in Destin, FL and we were fortunate on a few occasions to have the opportunity to go and visit them and stay at their condo on the beach.  It's been a couple of years since we have visited because our vacation times just haven't lined up right so that we could go, but I had just realized that this next spring was probably going to work and I really wanted to go see them...  I'm sad now that I won't have that chance.

You realize at times like this how easy it is to get distant from people.  After my grandparents on my mom's side died, that whole side of the family didn't get together as often and we all just drifted into doing things with our own growing families.  I guess that is sort-of a natural thing that happens, but until this past Monday, I hadn't seen some of my cousins in probably 25 years!  Some of that was because we lived in Boston for so long and missed some family events along the way, but still, that seems crazy now.  So I guess one good thing that came out of all of this is that I got to reconnect a bit with my cousins that I grew up with and always spent at least a week out of the summer with every year.  It was really good to see them...

And I enjoyed getting to show Mackenzie and Anna around Vernon where my mom and Aunt Kay grew up.  I have so many good memories of this tiny town in western Alabama.  Playing "shoestore" with my cousin Lori and making movies together. (that was back in the days of reel-to-reel film!)  Earning money doing chores so we could ride into town to the "dime store" and buy candy.  Making mud pies in the back yard and then covering ourselves head to toe in mud!  Telling my younger brother and sister scary ghost stories and rigging a balloon with a sheet over it in their room to scare them in the middle of the night.  (we were mean - ha)  Of course, that backfired when my brother started crying, ran to my grandmother, and threw up along the way!  We were in so much trouble when she realized what we had done... we got to stay up with him and take care of him the rest of the night! 

Anyways, it was fun back in the day... and all my mom's family lived within a block or two of each other... some are still there! So I took a few pictures that I thought I'd post...

This was my grandparent's house where my mom grew up.  It looks SO tiny now!!  Actually, everything looked so much smaller, including the 'big hill' than ran down the back of this house to Aunt Kay and Uncle Emmett's house.  We rode up and down that hill on our bikes so many times and thought it was SO scary! :)

Just down the hill behind my grandparents' house was Aunt Kay and Uncle Emmett's first house.  That big tree right next to it is a chestnut tree and I stepped on one of the chestnutt burrs barefooted - ouch!  I still vividly remember laying on a bed with my aunt pulling pieces of that thing out of my heel... 

And this is the house that my Aunt and Uncle built right next door to their old house.  Back in the day, it was VERY fancy, especially for small town Vernon. :) 

So that's my trip down memory lane.   The best news from all of this is that my Aunt Kay is recovering and it seems that she is going to be all right.  She has been moved from the hospital in Destin up to a hospital near Vernon and closer to family that can be with her and take care of her.  I hope to get to see her in the next week or so.

It seems like just about every year my wedding anniversary gets 'sidelined' by something else... I believe this was one of the reasons I said, "I'll never get married at Christmas time..."   Yeah, right.  But we did get to go out to dinner with my sister and her husband last night at The Melting Pot, so I think I'll count that as our Anniversary Dinner!  :)  And the neat thing about this anniversary is that it marks the point where we've been married now as long as we haven't been married.  We got married at 24, so we've doubled that now.  :)  I can actually remember thinking a long time ago that it would be funny when we got to that point...  and I'm thankful that we've made it this far.  :)

Just a clarification about the picture.  It was 'tacky sweater night' at The Melting Pot, which meant you got a great discount on your dinner if you were brave (desperate?) enough to wear a tacky Christmas sweater!!  SO, that's what we did.  :)  And believe it or not, these both belong to Mackenzie - ha!