two... ripe

Some of the best trees take YEARS to provide enjoyable fruit.

Today... my bowl is filled with the juicy delights.

I have sown.  I have watered.  I have waited.... now...
I rest and enjoy....

Today....

I feast.

Thanking God and remembering today.

Charli is TWO...

A feisty big girl trapped in a one year old body...

Her size a reminder of where she has come from.

I am cautious to pause and recount.

I take time to notice and give thanks...

Just like Spring... SHE IS THRIVING.

The fragrance of her life is everywhere... most of the time this is a wonderful thing.

SO full of life... already such an adventurer...

Learning about her environment... content to sit "in it" and discover...

Fear pacified by silly sweetness... she touches... feels... wonders... 

She sees in ways that stretch her momma.

She has fallen in love with love... 

She embraces her names of affection.

I can honestly say... she lives out of a triple portion...

I see it in her.

She does not carry the burden of three... 

But, walks in multiple abundance...

Blossoms sewed in tears...

Now reaping one of the best harvests I have ever known...

His light so brightly revealed in her...

Radiance like I have never known...

I earnestly cry prayers of thanksgiving.

Remembering her brothers today...

Trees of life... blooming much too short from my view...

Stories casting beautiful riches all over the soil of my land...

Raining tears of beauty...

Watering the once hardened clay of my heart.

The day feels big...

I am a living example that some of the best fruit can come from even the smallest packages of seeds.

Light surrounds this little song...

And so today... I sing extra loud...

Songs of deep lament...

And songs of the greatest joy...

The baby birds have made the mama bird sing a new song...

So I sing...

Happy Day of birth and rebirth to the seen and unseen...

Instead of cake...

I feast on some of the richest fruit I have ever tasted... 

Finally ripe after years of waiting.

Celebrating life with thankfulness.

  

pestering...

Today...
A few minutes of calm before the storm...
Walking...
I LOVE outside...
Enjoying morning's song and spring's gifts...

All too soon I feel it...

Tiny in size... largely disruptive...

Shufflin' around... hitting different parts of my tootsie...

Something so small and yet so irritating!

Laziness... hindering me from taking off the walking aid...

If only I would stop.... remove the stone.

Instead of removing the obstacle... I walk on.

I let it steal focus.

Enjoyment turns to irritation.

Soon enough I am unable to see all the beauty around...

I allow and assist in the robbery.

Freedom... always issued... 

He offers help for the distraction...

He offers wisdom...

He offers strength...

All too often choosing laziness... I willingly house that which steals...

I walk on in distraction. 

Why do I continue to make space for pestering pebbles?

Hanging on to them like precious gems...

Why?

These hands... small but FULLY knowing and equipped...

I must CHOOSE to remove all hindrances... past... present... NOW...

Even the smallest stones can produce LARGE shifting of the mind and heart...

I must set my gaze on The Author of Truth... His eyes alone...fully seeing.

   

Out of His love... He invites me out of laziness...  

The more action my orange sneaks get... the more I run into contact with those little pests...

It's like someone is walking near strategically placing them in my path to trip me up.

Pebbles... not to be ignored... but removed...

One by one.

I got a lot of miles left to walk... 

Asking Him to ALWAYS walk at my side.

Accepting the gentle reminder to remove even the tiniest hindrances...

I still have many hills to climb... desiring wonder over wavering.

Callouses... they are sure to come....

NO TO BLISTERS that need not be!

stuck

Growth always bring good... right?

Been learning a lot from my smallest lately.  It's like she is giving me a virtual crash course on life.
You can't but enjoy these kind of lectures.  You just have to laugh and learn.
Seeing more and more of me in her... it adds smiles to my face and heart.

She has become quite the explorer... trying new things... testing her world out...

She is GROWING.

A few days ago I found her in quite the predicament...

Hearing her squawk from the other room I opened the door to find her in Superman position.

Seeking to test out powers she didn't quite posses.

She was stuck.

Thick legs dangling in the rungs... 

Done with rest and ready for adventuring...

This is me... I grow a little...

I think I am ready for "big girl" world... 

I move my legs before their time only to find them stuck in what was supposed to provide the safe.

Extra thankful for grace in the learning...  

For eyes ALWAYS seeing... 

He invites courage and exploration...

His heart... smiling at my childish curiosity...

Tenderly maneuvering my legs back into freedom...

Wanting to teach Charli what I must learn myself...

The value of not returning to practices that bind... even ones housed in safety...

Though funny... I don't want Him to keep finding me like His.

Waiting for my legs to catch up with my heart and mind today...

Excited about being ready for my "big girl" spaces.

NO to being STUCK!

wide open

"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it."
Psalm 81:10

Our God...
He is SO big...
I am so small...
He invites me to co-labor...
The learning curve... enough to wreck my brain and heart.
Fighting the lie that I am too premature to partner.

One thing I know for certain...
My heart for Him.
I do not always understand His ways... but by His grace I always desire Him.

Like a child that has finally and truly tasted...

I have come to peace with the throne He has seated me on...

His presence so rich... it stirs starvation in me...

I cannot explain it... 

Surrounded by a sea of "less is more."

His affection... different from the earthly... eat and then full...

With spiritual feasting... I leave thankful but always hungry for more.

No substitutes bring the life that I hunger for... 

These eyes big and alert to the artificial...

I stink up my nose to the Modified substances trying to fill voids...  

Fighting temptations to reach for nibbles of lesser things... like contracts... moves... even family-togetherness...

Sweet to the taste... falling short of the filling... 

So much to learn... loving the travel less than the arriving...

Journeying reveals neediness.

So until my next meal... I giggle and learn from the tiny princess who has been outwardly neediest... Once repulsed by food now driven by insatiable hunger...

I mimic what brings joy-filled smiles to my world... knowing it does the same for The King...

Mouth wide opened in faith waiting to be filled.

He does... 

My hunger and expectation grows...

Temptations... still there but less appealing...

He is my ONLY SOURCE...

I open wider... arms following suit.

With the Psalmist I sing...

Mouth wide... molars peeking...

"With my mouth I will make known  your faithfulness to all generations."

Psalm 89:1

He is ALWAYS FAITHFUL to fill mouths opened to HIM.

Wide open and hungry...

I must be filled...

Like a momma bird... I share my portion with my smalls...

Ridgegate's got a lot of hungry mouths to feed.

orchestra of love

Settling back in...
More of the same... hoping for the different.
Trying to remember my anchor... I ask the smalls to help...
We pray...we play... we look for joy.

This Princess Warrior offers her best gift... a Maestro of love...

She uses her arms to play music for my heart...

All day today she has given herself fully to me.

It's as if she has made an agreement with the Lord to lavish...

We sit in the sunshine... rays burning bright... sweat fills her baby head... still she presses into me...

Offering her immense light and warmth...

I watch and wonder... 

I receive her climbing affection...

My eyes.... too often expressing something other than enjoyment...  This moment... by grace... I choose differently...

I enjoy.  Not for her sake alone... but for mine.

Just like she needs me... I need.  

She rests in me... I take her in... 

She ministers... healing flows on us both...

Praising God for her concert of love... 

Most of her very life used to unravel the tight in me... now an agent of mending and restoration... 

She smiles hope... 

Her song.... a testimony of goodness...

When life feels heavy she provides constant reminders of His miraculous provisions on my behalf...

Her story calls out... "REMEMBER."

Yes... remember... 

When I cannot see in current situations... I see in the arms of the small.

As I participate in the symphony of life... I take my cue from my smallest small... 

I sing my encore of remembering in every season...

"How Great Thou Art."

surprises

I love surprises.
It runs in my family line.
I get it from my momma... she got it from hers and my smalls get it from me.
I love to be the agent and receiver of such blessings.

This weekend the Lord blessed our home with surprise company.
The very man God used to draw out my song came and sang his over our House of Hope...

Singing that used to occur side by side... now serenaded over my princess...

Hands and instruments... ministering to my weary soul...

Rich songs... life songs... Spirit-alive songs... 

Songs led by a brother... and his princess...

Attentive... we bring our hearts.

Divine interactions pour like oil...

One fruit blessing the next.

Songs shared and hands of love carrying impartation...

Surprise gifts abound...

God is so good.

Always.

Aware of my struggle.

He knows I fight for my name.  He sings over me...  "The battle is mine."  

He knows my heart and collects my tears.  

Always seeing He sends in the troops... not just any troops... but story-friends.  Friends that draw out my weapon and sing battle songs at my side.

Extra thankful for the element of surprise... 

For friends willing to bring their song into my life...

Family that encourages my own song...

And... for A God that never grows tired of seeing me and romancing my heart.

bounty

Sabbath rest...
A day to remember that we should enter each day with great expectations...

No longer called slaves but sons.

He delights in us and marks us with beloved names...

A day for replenishing our baskets with blooms of beauty... 

Story seeds bearing fruit... adding to the testimony of the greatness we expect from such a Good Daddy.

Sabbath blessings,

The Hopefuls.