small fire

It got so cold so quickly around these parts.
A lovely fall one day, full-on winter the next, it seemed.

Isn't life just like that sometimes?
(and all the Manitobans said, "amen.")

But really, life, isn't it like that sometimes?

You're just walking through a season of beauty and warmth - you feel it all around you....

And suddenly - so very suddenly, it all gets cold.
And you find yourself in winter.
Not the winter that will go away by tomorrow, and you'll see grass again.  The one where the coldness gets colder and the showers are always flakes and pile and pile and pile.


But the warmth isn't all gone.


There's a small fire - a glimmer of grace, a feeling of love.  It pours down from heaven and this you hope will pile up and overflow.

And as you wait, it does overflow.

Truth and mercy.
Grace and goodness.


And it's still winter, but
the Light of love has come
and isn't going anywhere.


So all that's left to do is praise.

november 26

an average tuesday in most homes, but in our home we had a birthday to mark!

my beloved husband is (as he told the children) 10,047 today. (wink!)  unfortunately as busy days go, it wasn't the most magical of birthdays, but we tried to squeeze in a little celebrating.

here in these moments as he reads Narnia to the kids, i can take the opportunity to remember.

remembering is good for the soul.
good for a marriage.

my husband is God's gift to me.
we talk about that a lot in premarriage counselling.  if i believe it, which i do, how should i receive it...him?  i like presents, but a gift from God Himself? that's got to be the best!

my husband is not perfect.
but that's not what i'm here to talk about....

he is faithful and loving, truthful and kind.
and he loves me.
and he shows how much he loves me in a variety of ways.
he is an example to me of how to love.

he's not the same guy i fell in love with 19 years ago, though he has the same smile and same twinkle in his eye... i have had the privilege of court side seats to watch God at work in him.  the work isn't finished and hasn't always come quickly, but God is at work - isn't that what we hope for in ourselves?  he has grown to share more and more of himself.  just last week i learned something new!  he sets goals for himself ~usually secret goals~ and i only notice after he's met it.  growing and learning at 10,047? amazing!

i am not the same woman i was in 1994, either.  praise God!  my husband has been one of the primary chisels God has used to shape me to become more like Himself.  sometimes it's been through encouraging words.  he is my biggest fan and cheerleader!  sometimes it's been through learning to accept that i can't change him....hello humility, where have you been all my life?

overall, i'm just so thankful.
i'm thankful when he takes me to my favourite places, i'm thankful when he's in a bad mood for 2 days straight.  he is my gift and we fit together.

and if i ever stop being thankful for him, please tell me to get over myself and remind me to appreciate my gift.

tune in

it's a new day, a new week.

i got the kids off to school safely - everyone in these parts seem to still be getting used to the new snow...myself included!

i sit here with my coffee near by, as usual, wondering what to do with the day.  i'm looking at the week wondering how it will all turn out.

i feel pretty refreshed (now that i've some of said coffee) and fairly energized, but i feel compelled to sit still for a few moments.

"coincidentally," i came across this beautiful rendition of Come Thou Fount:


Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love


Lord, at the start of this new day, this new week, would You tune my heart to Your grace - how I need it!  As a musician tightens loose strings to tune their instrument, would You have Your way with my heart strings, even if it stretches me.  May I be an instrument of Your grace.  You are the never ending fountain of blessing in my life, let me be on the hunt for all the ways You love me.  Give me the strength to stand firm on You, the solid foundation that will never be shaken.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

A day doesn't go by, Lord, that I don't find a new way to need Your grace, it seems.  Bind my heart to Yours, beat by beat.  Help me to catch myself each time I feel like I'm about to wander; Remind me who You are.  Take my heart, give me the courage to be the woman You are calling me to be this day.  I love You and give You all praise and glory.

"And the LORD replied, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" Exodus 33:14

a moment

in a flash, a memory...

driving down the road the other day, i reached for my starbucks and gave it a little shake.  just a little coffee left.  thankful, i tilt the cup waaaay back to get every last drop.

in that moment, as though looking through a photo album, i see three babies.  my babies.  each them with a sippy cup, angled just so, head thrown back enjoying the last sips of milk.

(i always feel like i'm drinking from a sippy cup when i have coffee out...)

double fisting the sippers

everyone will say it, but man, time flies.

those days felt so long, but the years truly are, as they say, short.

i kept those sippy cups around for a few years after my youngest outgrew them (much sooner than the other two, as these things go).  i told myself it was a good thing to have on hand for when baby-friends came to visit.

i think we can be honest and agree, i just didn't want to stop seeing them in my cupboard!

ages and stages, this too shall pass, cherish every moment....


take from this what you will.

i took a few moments to look through old pictures and remember with a smile.  i looked at my kids and wondered what i will miss the most about the stage they're in now.

and then i decided to be here now, present and alert.

and i chose to say Thank You.