Everyday Blessings...

    T his land is your land, this land is my land From the California to the New York island From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me As I went walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me that endless skyway And saw below me that golden valley This land was made for you and me I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts And all around me , a voice was sounding This land was made for you and me When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling In the wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting This land was made for you and me This land is your land and this land is my land From the California to the New York island From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me Blessings! Amy

The best week of the year and especially of the summer has come and gone again so very fast.  Having the blessing and privilege to be a teacher at CBH another summer is so special to us. A little bit of heaven on earth.  The fact is that our kids having been campers for many summers and then counselors and now teachers and camp photographers has been spiritually life changing and molding and beautiful. (Also, our oldest met his wife there so that is for sure a great blessing.) We are so thankful.  Choosing to send your kids to Christian camps and especially this one is a decision that we as parents will never regret and I will always and forever give praise to God for the opportunity. We had a special group of campers in our class this summer. They love each other well, and even though they struggle with the hard things of life, they have warrior hearts and I know that they will live for Him and bring other people to heaven with them. Below is part of a letter...

Hey! Yikes! It's been too long. This grandmother gig is a busy gig but I love it! Blogging has taken a bit of (or a big) backseat to the business of life and just living it.  We have been loving on two sweet little grand girls and helping to build the family business. God is good and our provider and sustainer. I give Him all the praise! We are about to start a project that I am so excited about. I have always wanted to find, fix up and live in an older home with sweet character and charm.  Those kind of houses have been impossible to find in the places we have moved and so it has never happened.  They are either not in a part of town we want to live in or they are so expensive that renovation just could not be in the cards financially. A few weeks ago we found a sweet little victorian house (we are calling it the New Orleans house) that I fell in love with at one step through the door and a view of the staircase.  It is smaller than we really need but we ...

If it's peace you seek. Look no further. Spring in Big Bend National Park.

Talking HARD to myself. I believe there are many kinds of terrible addictions. I KNOW that constantly having our faces in our phones is one of them. Jesus help us. We are raising generations of children that will not know how to have a face to face conversation. Why would they want to? It's a lot more work to be unselfish and talk to people face to face. Will our children even truly know much about their parents? Mom and Dad (and Grandparents) are always on their phones. Let's at least as a start make our phones off limits during meals. I pray earnestly for our grands that they never know this addiction. I know that is a big prayer but I will try to be a part of modeling this for them. I pray they always play and engage and love the people right in front of them. I pray that for all of us. POWERFUL short video below about where our attention is. LOVE THIS by Jefferson Bethke. Blessings! Amy

Good morning! Another new year is racing toward us. In some ways it seems this past year has spun and run at an amazing speed.  The Christmas holidays were a whirlwind of activity for us and flew by so quickly. I am usually sad to see all the colors of Christmas put away in tubs and boxes and closed up in the back of closets, but not this year. For some reason I could not get it all down fast enough and felt the need to "January clean" instead of spring clean. Maybe it's just a feeling of needing to simply life in tangible and spiritual ways.  Kind of getting down to the nitty gritty of what is important and what might be just fluff that needs to go away. As you see in the picture below though, I always leave this one touch of Christmas color cheer for all year long. It's just happy. My kind husband's favorite quote that we hear so very often. A great thought to start each day and the new year. Kind of infatuated with this new little coffee mug wall...

I kind of want to gush about how awesome this wonderful human is in the pic above. Last Sunday marked our 30th year of being married to each other. It's hard to put into words what being by each other's side through these years with all the ups and downs and fun and hard things has meant to me. He is unflinchingly positive and without reserve or shame a committed Jesus follower and lover of God. He works so very hard for our little family and is the person cheering us all on and encouraging us.  His favorite thing in life is to help people succeed in life, in work, relationships and with God. He is one of the best fathers in this world and his boys love and respect him. He inspires me to be healthy and less lazy and he has done SO many more loads of laundry and folding than I have in these 30 years. He loves the sun and sand between his toes. He will sit and watch Hallmark movies with me. He is a lover of breakfast foods especially for supper. He loves to exercise.  He is ...