CAPTIVATING
Our Lord is captivating! Wow! How awesome is our God!
The Captivating Retreat was incredible! The Lord spoke to the deep places of my heart and I am grateful! What a beautiful time of retreat! I went by myself and now I know why that was important. God wanted to spend time with me- without distraction and the temptation of people pleasing and people validation that I have sought in the past.
God is concerned with me. He thinks of me. And he wants to spend time with me- His Beloved! (He thinks of, loves, and wants to spend time with you too!)

Dennis and I are descending the Rockies as I type. I'll try to send pictures through the phone. Hopefully I'll connect the picture of Stasi Elderege to this entry!

My precious friends and Captivating Sisters: go in the presence of the Lord and rest!

A Memorial

Wow...I cannot believe that it is almost here! Our adventure through the Southwest is here!

A dear friend prayed for me this morning. It was so sweet to be reminded. Reminded of God's love for me, that He thinks of me, that He is in pursuit of my heart.

She asked that God would create "markers" for me throughout this trip, as reminders of what He is teaching me--of those sweetnesses between us. I thought of all the times in the old testament when the Israelites would put up a memorial to remind them that the Lord did...whatever He did at the time. Like in Genesis 28 when Jacob set up the stone as a pillar that would be God's house or in Joshua 4:

"So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, "What do these stones mean? tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." Joshua 4:5-7 NIV

I love her prayer! That the Lord would set up memorials for me, to remind me of what He has done--of Who He Is!

I hope to blog about our adventure through the Southwest in the coming days. To share with you these little remembrances of the Lord Who Loves Us!

Check back beginning April 25th and follow our adventure!

This Makes Me Laugh to the Point of Tears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp_Ju_vbPro

This is one of the funniest clips I have ever seen. Not really a Charlie Sheen fan, but the way he delievers these lines makes me laugh! Please click and enjoy! So funny!!!

Surrender

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIkQ7YVys_A
This is a link to a YouTube video of Mikeschair's release of "Let the Waters Rise." I've never been a real fan of music videos, but this song is incredible. The video might speak to you, but it is the song that resonates with my soul.

Of course you all know how much I love the sea so the images that this song depicts are beautiful to me. Take a look at some of the lyrics:

"There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If you want them to
I will follow you
I will follow you
I will follow you

I can swim in the deep
Cuz You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm
And in the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach

God, you know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand"

To me--this song sounds like the the most beautiful picture of surrender to God. It is a surrender that might be accompanied by pain; but it is also a surrender of complete trust, affection and love.

Getting Ready for a Road Trip!

Hello All! It has been a very long time since I have written. So much has happened since you last heard from me.

I received the book Waking the Dead by John Elderidge for Christmas. I can not say enough wonderful things about it. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I entered a lottery to be chosen to attend the Captivating Retreat in Fraser, CO this April. Captivating is the book written by John & Staci Elderidge.

I was accepted!

Well, Dennis and I have decided to make a whole road trip adventure out of this excursion. He will meet me out there and then we will road trip throughout the Southwest. We will be camping, hiking--enjoying nature and standing in awe of the LORD of creation.

I will be blogging throughout our trip. So check in--or sign up as a follower of this blog and you can travel along with us!

Tune in at the end of this month and join us on this adventure! We are very excited!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" Galatians 5:1.

Hey All,
I'm testing out my mobile blogging capabilities!

The Rescue

Just after I called Dennis to tell him I was on my way home something happened with "the boys".

Pumpkin was playing with a toy mouse near the refrigerator. Dennis noticed that all of sudden he started backing away from the fridge and then began crying. When he went over to get a better look he noticed that Pumpkin's claw was stuck in a metal piece on the side of the fridge.

Dennis sat down and held him so that he couldn't pull his claw back and injure himself. Pumpkin was hissing, squirming and biting, trying to get free.

Dennis did pull his claw free, but it had been frayed on the end.

Then the sweetest thing happened. Remy walked over to Dennis, stepped up on his legs and sniffed Pumpkin and then licked him.

I think it is so cute that Remy was concerned for his little brother.