You are walking a long and hurtful path. You know loss. You know grief. You know loneliness.

Your courage and heart continue to amaze me. I stand in awe of you … at times taking for granted the darkness you have seen … but so in awe of the Light you are shining into those dark places {read John 1:1-9 … go ahead, read it!}.

Tay … precious Tay … you. are. beautiful.

You were made for so much more than this.  You are. so much more than this.

If all else in this world fades and let’s you down … always remember … you are treasured … you are sacred … because you are His.

You are beautiful.

And I love you … always and forever … no. matter. what!

Beautiful
:: MercyMe ::

The days will come when you don’t have the strength
When all you hear is you’re not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they’d see too much

:: chorus ::
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You’re beautiful

I’m praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you’ve held inside so long
They are nothing in the shadow of the cross

:: chorus ::

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You’re the one He madly loves
Enough to die

You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
In His eyes

:: chorus ::

You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His …

I’ll explain anyway … :)

I a-s’more you … instead of I adore you. Get it now? And the treat bag is filled with s’more goodies! Clever, huh?

I enlisted the help of uber-designer extraordinaire, Nellie, per usual she didn’t disappoint! Lucky readers, guess what she’s offering up on her blog today? Free vday downloads!

nellie’s blog
nellie’s etsy shop
link to custom listing
link to free vday download

Here’s the scoop … (in) courage is throwing the biggest party ever … all over the world! And you’re invited to attend … right in my home! The basic idea is to have a community conference right where you live, no travel involved. Well … unless you’re one of my Wisconsin peeps and wanna come down with the ol’ Bible study gang!! Just sayin’ …

Okay, off track there … got a little excited!

Anyway, I don’t have all the exact details yet, but if you’re a reader of my blog and live close by, I’d love if you stepped out in faith with me and sign up to attend! If you have any questions, just shoot me a note!

I have some links at the bottom of the page that will give you more information, as well as a link to sign up for my particular meetup. And please … take a few minutes to watch the videos put together for this special event! I think the first one will bless you regardless if you sign up to attend or not.


(in) RL website
q&a for conference
registration {register first}
sign up for my gathering {then sign up}

~ a five year old’s ruptured ear drum
~ cat pee in curtains
~ using face toner to remove eye makeup
~ using hair gel as face moisturizer
~ rotting roof that needs repair {in numerous places}
~ mold in the hvac system
~ having the house hepa-vacc’ed
~ unexpectedly making dinner for 15 that are homeless
~ an eight year old with a hurting heart
~ never. enough. sleep
~ living and sleeping with industrial machines and fans so loud we can’t hear each other talk
~ mental stresses too detailed to mention
~ dogs eating cat poop and dragging it through the house
~ said dog’s lunch doesn’t sit well and I’m cleaning her mess off the carpet
~ nine year old in tears thinking “Bob” {the water dragon} died.  thankful for false alarm
~ ten workers in the house sterilizing it and the air
~ consoling a teen in tears, in the middle of the kitchen with crazy literally swirling around us

And then I remember . . .

1.  A place to find joy amidst my sorrow.
6.  A husband who asks for prayer.
12.  Happy texts from daughters thankful for homemade french onion soup.
20.  Sweet notes written to the tooth fairy.
25.  Peace for today.
32.  Courage to stand up for, and share our trials.
33.  Walking in on daughters saying prayers aloud.
45.  Blessing others and filling them with wakeful joy.
53.  Taking time to slow down and listen to a hurting child.
54.  Charlie Brown band-aids stuck to my sheets.
62.  Signs revealed when we need to touch His hem.
70.  Trusting my {writing} voice.

Are you making Joy a habit?

You can find me over here today talking about intentions and joy … hope to see you there!

Checking in to let you know I’m still here!  Just busy plugging away on the 31 Days of Faith ebook.  I’m not sure why I thought it’d be as easy as copying and pasting … cuz it’s most definitely not!

Also, when I wrote the 31 Days series, I hadn’t a clue I’d be turning it into an ebook, therefore it’s not written as a “book,” it’s written as a blog and pretty much “reads” as a blog.  So that means I’m busy editing and do a bit of re-writing.  I’ve also realized I’m way too inspired by way too many songs, quotes, images, illustrations … and they’re currently proving a bit tricky to squeeze into an ebook.  You know copyright laws and all of that!  Oh! not to mention a certain 11 minute video that needs to be tamed and turned to text!

The good news in my busyness … I’m including 3 bonus chapters and a study guide!  The cover should be ready soon and I hope to unveil it next week!

My thoughts are pretty much consumed in this project right now, along with you know, life, laundry, kids, errands, schoolwork and the such!  Which means light posting on the blog for just a wee bit longer.

I promise it’ll be worth it though!

{did I use too many of these !!! in this post?}

Piper was set to have a “marathon” sleepover this weekend.  Her friend {and her friend’s sister} would be sleeping over both Friday and Saturday nights.  But when I met up with the girl’s mom {also a new friend of mine} for the transfer of weekend necessities, she told me they were surprising the girls {and their family, they have 6 kids}, with a weekend trip to the beach.  They’d just closed on their new beach house the day before.  So that meant only one night sleepover.

Only she didn’t want me to tell the girls because she was going to surprise them the next day.  My heart pretty much immediately broke for Piper, as this sleepover weekend was all she’d talked about last week!

Anyway, come Saturday morning, I covered Piper in my prayers and started thinking of some other fun things we could do that day.  A couple hours later, whaddaya know? I get a call from my friend with a crazy idea!  She invited the girls and I to go with for the weekend.  She knew I didn’t have anything else going on and said they had plenty of room.

Yes!  Yes, we’d love to go!  And when we finally told the girls, they were all ecstatic!

With my four, her six, two other friends, and 3 adults … there were 15 of us in 3 cars headed to Isle of Palms, SC!

The beach house was beautiful and well … right on the beach!  I’d never stayed on a coastal beach before … just tropical.  So this was something different for us and we all had a great time!  I even got an adult night out to dinner while all the teens stayed home with the younger kids.

Anyway.  I was worried and hurting for what I knew would be Piper’s hurting heart.  I prayed for her Saturday morning and literally a couple hours later, an unexpected blessing came our way.  It’s one small way {if you choose to look at it that way} to see that God is in the detail business.  He cares about our hurts and worries.

Ann is once again counting 1000 gifts in a years time.  She’s calling it the Joy Dare and has invited all of us to join her.  I’m in!  And so are my girls.

This year especially, I want to be uber-aware … I want my girls to be uber-aware of every detail, every blessing, every gift that comes their way.  How better to understand and recognize that God is on our side, is with us always, and cares about the smallest of details?

And this feature just may have put a little spark in my heart to get Hunter’s party {yes, from last April!} up on the blog!

They put together little skits, threw in some random singing, screaming, eyeballing {you’ll see}, swinging, itching, and a little fighting shoving.  The highlights are Piper’s crazy intertwined throughout, and Wynter’s commitment to her song while dodging pushing Piper on the swing, amidst Piper’s crazy.  I also did quite enjoy Wynter’s big finish!

Little Hunt makes a couple of appearances, but is mostly being bossed directed by her demanding older sisters.

Note: You may need to watch it twice for full effect.  And I’m thinking 3D glasses would’ve been handy for those scary moments Piper almost takes out the computer with her feet.

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While in Exuma last January, the girls and I had fun making our little sandmen on the beach.  It seemed fitting to repost it while we’re here.  Enjoy!