December Photo Project 2013

Yes, November has been a 365 bust.
But hope is on the way!
This will be my fifth year to participate in the December Photo Project. It is one of my favorite December events!

My December calendar is already full. I already am making preparations, for gifts and for cards and for events. For basketball games and for one last trip for training and for wrapping up the year.

But even more than all of that, the next four weeks remind me, force me, to look back at the beginning, and to look with anticipation to that time when God promised,

I am going to send my Messenger- The Promised One.

The One you have been waiting for. 

The Rescuer.

He is coming. So, get ready!...

now the time had come for the best part of God's Plan. 

God himself was going to come. Not to punish His people- but to rescue them. 

God was getting ready to wipe away every tear from every eye.

And the true party was just about to begin...

(from "Get Ready!," The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones)

For me, the DPP is part of that getting ready- looking at the world through a lens, yes, but also through the lens of He who came to save. Thanks View From the Prairie Box for helping that to happen!

317/365

Cooler weather means they are ready to Just Dance.
I am ready to hibernate.

315/365

tired to the bone.
blessed to the core.

Charlotte

We were only together for about 6 hours, but it will fill me up until we can do it again. We met up with Tom and Ashley and Harper and Corbin at the Imaginon Library in Charlotte. What an amazing place for kids! And their adults!

And just in case you might not know, or maybe you have some doubts... yes! the grandparenting gig is every bit as good as everyone might say...

For my family who might want to see my boys close up (oh! and their mom and dad and auntie too!), here's a link to the photos...

Charlotte November 2013

314/365

a most unexpected and a most wonderful gift!

313/365

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 
Acts 17:24-25

"If we believe in that God, how can we dare keep Him in one place?"
- Pastor Giotis Kantartzis, pastor, First Greek Evangelical Church, Athens, Greece at the 2013 Mission to the World Global Missions Conference

(photo: two of my Northern Mexico teammates in a traditional Mexican dance while at the conference)

312/365

where even the gutters are full of fall color.

3 gifts from the window

Fall, and color, and mountains, and sun, and the delight of being in a new place.

311/365

when with Mexicans,
eat Mexican.

309/365

first game of the season.
and for two girls, first game ever.

3 gifts acorn small

and that does not include the plethora of live oak acorns that are littering our driveway and lawn right now.
well, ok, so maybe we aren't counting those acorns so much as gifts...

308/365

how easy it can be to miss the most amazing wonders of creation.

3 gifts gathered, given, good

One photo, three gifts:

gathered apples and pears, ok- yes, from the grocery store but hey- only 99 cents a pound!

given- to my family and dinner guests.

good- oh so good!

307/365

Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
watching and waiting,
looking above,
filled with His goodness,
lost in His love.
- Blessed Assurance by Franny Crosby (1873)

3 gifts that start with N

1. Numbers 6:24- a frequent Sunday benediction and my decades old prayer for my people.

2. Ninety Nine Celtic Elite- even after about 15 years of watching my kids play, I still consider it a joy and a gift.

3. another "n" but without a photo-
the nicest day and weather, a breeze and sunshine on my face.

306/365

"Assurance"

Almighty God,
I am loved with everlasting love,
clothed in eternal righteousness,
my peace flowing like a river,
my comforts many and large,
my joy and triumph unutterable,
my soul lively with a knowledge of salvation,
my sense of justification unclouded.

I scarce have anything to pray for:

Jesus smiles upon my soul as a ray of heaven
and my supplications are swallowed up in praise.

How sweet and glorious is the doctrine of election
when based upon thy Word
and wrought inwardly within the soul!

- from The Valley of Vision, A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions edited by Arthur Bennett

3 Gifts Worn

My Mexican embroidered shirt- I love this blouse!
because it is pretty. And because it is a piece of the Mexican culture that I am privileged to share.

Flip-flops- on my feet, on the second day in November, standing on very green grass.
That is a gift.

My favorite fall and winter Saturday shirt- long sleeves, cotton, feels just right on a cool morning.

And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:14

take the Joy Dare?

305/365

"So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
- Luke 14:21-24

We were challenged and exhorted by MTW missionary to Chile, John Rug, on including the specially challenged in our churches. Reminded of how Jesus' miracles show us his heart of compassion for the "least of these," we must ask ourselves, do we "act in accord with the miracles to the extent we reach out and minimize the effects of disabilities?"
Are we being Jesus' disciples?

John can do that in a way few others can- he is blind. I'm thankful for his faithfulness to the Gospel and his heart of compassion as well.

304/365

Dang.
Should've given the princess, the Power Ranger, and the cutest boy zombie ever the entire bowl...

303/365

Completely ok with the fact that it didn't all get eaten at church...
:-)

3 Gifts Eaten

How we behold determines if we hold joy. Behold glory and be held by God.
- Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience, "Why November Statistically the Hardest Month- and how to beat it," November 1, 2013

The Joy Dare challenges us to photo or record 3 gifts a day.
I accept.

November 1- 3 Gifts Eaten

1. Cranberry Nut bars- the delicious treat, yes. But even more, the dear lady who shared the recipe. This weekend, especially, missing those volleyball moms.

2. fresh salad- that I didn't eat at all, but that my girls made cooperatively even when I was to be away for the evening.

3. Fresh limes- enough said. Oh how I love fresh limes!