Grace

Each believer is the miraculous result of God's intervention in his or her life, a sign that points heavenward to the incomparable wonder of his irresistible grace. That grace will never fail the believer, for his destiny has been established by him who prayed, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory."

~ Dr. Stuart Sacks, Hebrews through a Hebrew's Eyes

I would add: every person is welcome to become a believer and walk into the unchangeable and powerful grace of God.

Seriously. Missing Them.

Missing

these fine little men.

nephews

The McGary Gang have been in Texas for the past month or so and I'm in heaven (if not also a little worn out). A few cherished memories:

• evening walks with the boys, answering their non-stop "why" questions
• making morning mugs (this drink of choice is appropriate at any time of the day)
• watching How To Tame Your Dragon at least 12 times in the last two weeks
• playing in the sprinkler to their loud delight. I strategically man the hose, so as to not get completely soaked
• gentle nuzzles from Jev-bug
• Smelty Caleb catching my eye and drawing me in with his charm. He's a real charm bucket
• beefy laughs and squeals from Jev-bug as he does his "Cheerio walk" each evening
• horseback rides on Caspian and teaching the boys "whoa" and "walk on"
• reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible and watching their rapt attention
• crazy, loud playtimes with the Turkeydogs and watching friendships develop. I now see how some best-friend-ships do sprout at a young age
• dinner picnics at the barn in the back of the truck
• just living day to day life with these little (big) boys and savoring every moment 

Fall reset

It's the beginning of Fall and almost the turn of another year for me. To celebrate, I'm resetting:

• Bible reading / study before Facebook
• Study of Psalms throughout this Fall
• Facebook only once a day
• Lift weights for 30 min every day or 1 hour every other day (thanks, Jesse!)
• Walk Darcy 5x a week
• Read a technology related article every work day
• Read a technology and / or business related blog every day
• Ride twice a week for dressage practice (one dressage ride and one trail ride counts)
• Cook one new recipe a week

Feel free to ask me how this is going in a month or so.

Engaging people, part 2

On the back of this earlier post, here are some questions to take conversations deeper within the context of close friends and community:

• What is your greatest source of joy, right now, in this season of your life. 
• What is this season of your life - can you define it?
• What is the greatest challenge(s) for you right now? 
• Do you have any thing(s) that you know you are "supposed to be about", or would like to accomplish, or know God has placed upon you to do in the next year?
• Is there any way we (as sisters/friends/family) can help in facing your challenges and accomplishing what you have set before you? 

My sister, Eryn, gets credit for these questions. I think they are brilliant, in that they cover the here and now, but also promote looking ahead, which I don't think we do enough of.