keep it simple

Yes ... it is really only 59 days away! With SO much to do! As I am being told by everyone, "Plans do change!" I was hoping to get my invites out before Christmas (ha!), but we could not secure our venue until this last weekend. And when you go the DIY route, things take a that little bit longer and require some creative sessions to get the ball rolling. After the invites are out, FOOD will be our next big milestone...that will not be DIY!!

Isn't that how life always goes though? Once you have accomplished one thing, you are on to the next? We wait until we finish "this" thing to get to "that", then once we finish "that" thing we want to go over "there"!! Life is a continual work in progress ... WE are continual works in progress. I sometimes forget that, and do not value what I am going through, wishing that I would have done it better to begin with. But where, oh where, does it say, "Thou shalt be perfect"?!

Especially, pulling wedding stuff together, maybe I have never anticipated perfection (as that's not even my style) but yet I expect that the deadlines I give for myself need to be met. I can start to look like my own slave driver! Though, there are so many "good" things to-do out there, lists and plans of this and that, and {heart} embellishments that can be added to nearly everything, and ... etc ... etc ... There is a day I am breathing in today that I need to focus on enjoying. A faith that is in fact, simpler than I make it ...

The Lord protects those of childlike faith ...let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. Psalm 116:6-7

crazy rest

WOW!! It's been a whirlwind as of late ... getting engaged, planning a wedding for February, finding a new house and starting to move, Christmas ... but, oh-so-much fun!!!

There is something about having a real peace that resonates true joy. For anyone that has known the personal struggles I have personally been through, what Matt and I have been through, our family ... it really does seem unexplainable that at this point to be where we are today ... a point of peace. Not that what has been faced has been something so terrible, but moreso, challenging. The gift of God's beautiful timing has given us an opportunity to see His blessing in in our lives. Our four years together has nurtured, strengthened, and now blossomed into one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever been a part of. To have full support of our Heavenly Father and our families has relieved this weight, my heart is so incredibly light, overjoyed, amazed.

... and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus... Philippians 4:7

I know I've mentioned this particular passage has been a 'go-to' for me through many of my life's places already and yet again, it has spoken so clearly to me lately. God has given me His peace to embrace, a point of not so much understanding the "HOW" but breathing the "NOW". It has produced peace just to breathe ...

pic pix: woods surrounding Lake Minnetonka, AB, Nov.2010

going to the chapel ....

and we're GONNA GET MARRIED!!!

I love you Darling xo

pic pix: earlier tonight ... can't believe the look on my face!! 23.Nov.2010

love is ...

Love is encouragment - I was overwhelmed today ... a lot on my plate at work, a lot going on emotionally within. The only way I can describe my emotions was as if I had reactional tsunamis occurring a few times through the day when I least expected them. It wasn't until m'Love talked with me and processed through the realities instead of the expectations and pressures I sometimes put on myself, that I was able to feel a peace, an "ok-ness". He encouraged me and loved me regardless of how my mood was.

Love is graciousness - Amidst a storm of an emotion earlier in the day, I happened to be on the phone with my Dad. It really is true when you're told the people that you are most comfortable with are the ones that get to see ALL of your colors! Even though I could've handled myself allot better, and we were both frustrated, I knew that in asking for his forgiveness, when he said he would ... he really meant it. That in and of itself is a blessing of love I could never have asked for more of.

Love is listening - I had the chance to just talk with one of my cherished of friends when I got home. In the course of our conversation, I began to unravel thoughts and spots my mind had been wandering for the past while. Most of it had nothing to do with the day that I had just been through, but either way, I know she would have listened still with the same intent. It's one thing to think a thought to yourself, and it's another to feel the freedom to share it in safe company knowing that you will reap the benefit of their input and/or support behind you regardless of what you say.

Love is really a wonderful gift ... if it's between the love of my life, family, or friends, its a blessing that is incredibly and benevolently showered over me. I love all y'all!

pic pix: Chester Lake 'Heart', 14.Aug.10

woot woot!

After not being able to post pictures on Blogger for the last 2 weeks, I have finally figured out a way to temporarily fix the problem (?) so that I may get still get my words out there! It's when you are not able to do something~eat chocolate, write your blog, drink coffee, speak your mind~you realize how much you enjoy those very things. As I am in the middle of a cleanse right now, chocolate, cheese, and coffee happen to be those pined for food items, when normally I do not crave them as much (... well, maybe!). So, though food I may be without, I've at least got my 'voice' back today!!

pic pix: words of "Love" carved in a tree, Mesa, AZ May.2010

metamorphosis

As a wee one, my mom read my brother and I Eric Carle's - The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Everytime she would get to the word "cocoon", we would laugh in hysterics! Not really even sure why, except that it sounded funny. Then, as I got a little bit older (7 or 8) and learnt the words "photosynthesis" and "metamorphosis"... and me, being smarter than the teacher, thought I would add them to a story I wrote (which, by the way, had nothing to do with either of the subjects!). If I could only find it now ... though I think I threw it out because I was so embarrassed!

Lately, I've thought a lot about change, transformation, and how we really go through a continual alterations in our lives. Unlike the caterpillar, that undergoes one major evolving process in it's entire existence, we, as humans, get to experience every stage over and over ... metamorphosis.

"My mind, thoughts, and emotions have been a tingly tumult as of late ... the biggest result of my current life changes. Facing life as you don't know it, trying to jive within my own life's "groove", feeling like the new shoes I'm now walking in will never fit comfortably ... it's all exciting and the best decisions (house-move & job-move) I could make for myself right now ... "


I wrote this in my journal the other week, shadowed with much stirred emotion. Things are temporal, and reshaping happens all the time, and usually, I welcome it ... anticipating the opportunity to get a refreshed traction. This time I felt trapped in a cocoon - no way out, set perspective, stuck. Then ... I read this:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

I have been transformed, renewed, and blessed by God just by seeking His will! No, not all my disruptions feel at peace, but yet, I can be sure that He will be here as I break out of this cocoon I've been in and as I go through my metamorphosis.

pic pix: butterfly in Kananaskis, AB Sept.09

original

One essential ingredient for being an original in the day of copies is courageous vision.

Charles Swindoll

Ever get a wind of excitement? Surge of energy? Ideas don't stop flowing?!? It's not a daily occurrence for me, but when it ever does happen ... it's usually right in the middle of the night!! True as blue, I woke up slightly tired this morning because of it. How do you stop expressive creativity? Even work innovations (work blog/newsletter, new commands in CAD, efficient ways to do this&that) have been forming and shaping in my mind lately. It's SUCH a refreshment, a feeling of "doing what I'm supposed to be", satisfaction because of the smallest details ... its originality ... it's being natural.

pic pix: windmills following creation's example, PEI, May.2010