L-O-V-E

Today has been one of those days where I have been in constant thought. To the point where the children would say my name over and over and then finally I'll hear them. A friend of mine and I have been emailing back and forth for the past couple weeks. And in one of these emails I asked the questions, "What is the Christians purpose while here on the earth?" It was kind of a spur of the moment question but one that has been in my mind constantly since I asked it. Is it to evangelize? Is it to worship God? I've heard someone say it was to give glory to God. Good answer but I don't think that goes far enough. Finally, as I was doing laundry (of all places!) it came to me. LOVE. Our purpose is to love. Our greatest commandment says to "love the Lord your God with all your heart..." and to "love your neighbor as yourself". It also says, " And now abideth faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13) We are to love. And if we love (God and others) all of these other things, evangelism, worship, glory to god, will come from that. This realization put me to some shame, I must admit. Do I love as Christ loved? Hardly. How does one get to the point of loving like Christ, though? Through reading the Word? Through prayer? Hmm....another question to study up on.

Running the race,

~A

The simple life

I love southern country living. It's taken me a little while to adjust but I've become very fond of this place I live. Southerners have their own little culture down here. I love the way everyone waves. It doesn't matter if you've ever met the person or not, when you drive by someone, you wave or you are considered incredibly rude. I love the way children refer to adults as Miss or Mister. The librarian in town is Miss Linda. The UPS lady is Miss Anita. The guy at the hardware store- Mister Matt. Many a time have I gone into our little town grocery store with the children and had some older man pick up a pack of M&M's give it to the children and tell Miss Susan (the lady who owns the place) to put it on his tab. And yes, everywhere has tabs. We have tabs at the grocery store, the hardware store, the farm supply store, the fabric store. :) You come in and pay it off every month or so. Kind of like credit without the card or interest. I love hearing the neighbors rooster in the morning. It's just a good life. John and I were born and raised city kids. I was very unsure when we first moved into the country but now I don't know think I could ever go back. The air smells too good out here.

More pics

Happy Thursday everyone! Thanks for taking a few seconds to check out some of my new pictures!


These flowers were great. As I get older I find myself loving these delicate beauties more and more. I shouldn't be surprised. My grandmother loved them, then my mom, and now I am taking up the torch.










Oops. My van and I have a love/hate relationship. If she gets me where I want to go- I love her. If not, then we don't get along very well. I wind up fuming and wishing we would just finance a van like every other American. All I wanted to do was get out for a little bit. In fact, I was headed to town to put some gas in her. I looked down and this is what I saw. I had to call John to come help me out. "Whosoever have food and rainment let them therewith be content. " - words to live by.

~A

Changes a comin'

Lot's of new and exciting things have been going on with us lately. God has really been speaking to us alot of things that are in our future. While we are not quite ready to talk about them openly yet we are still excited. I love the way God prepares you for things, ya know? For the past several months I've felt like something big was coming but wasn't really thinking too much of it and now it all makes sense. The other day I sat down and started thinking about the Holy Spirit and how thankful I am to have it. Imagine how hard it must have been before Jesus. I can't imagine my life without it. The other day I was on facebook and I came across a friend from high school who I hadn't talked to in years. As I was reading his information he had a quote about religion which went something like, " 'I ask why?' and they reply 'Faith' and I said 'Seriously?? Wow.'" The implied tone of that statement was that faith was lame. Later that night I thought about him and his statement. How sad. To have a life with no faith, not believing in God, not having the Holy Spirit. It makes me want to pray for him.

While I'm on here rambling I wanted to post a couple more pictures.

I love the patterns in nature God creates. It proves to me just how much of an artist God is. It amazes me as He was creating the whole world that He took the time to make even the inside of a flower so amazingly beautiful.









(Okay, so again, forgive the positioning of this picture. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it and John isn't here to help me. I promise I'll figure it out soon) Some of our friends from church had invited us over for the afternoon. As we were getting ready to leave I saw their chickens out in the back yard. Perfect picture opportunity! So I thought. Apparently their chickens are camera shy. As soon as they saw it they ran under the bushes. I attempted, in vain, to shoot some (pictures, not chickens) but finally gave up and decided to take a picture of this beautiful tree they had in their backyard. Our friends children were looking at me quite oddly the whole time I was chasing their chickens around the backyard but such is the life of a photographer!

Thanks for reading again. Sometimes I just don't have a lot to say but like to ramble anyway.

Running the race,
~A

Something I forgot

I thought of something else I wanted to post on here that I forgot to mention! I am trying (really hard!) to get better at photography. I love taking pictures. I just kind of stink at it. My friend, Jill, is doing this thing right now called "365" which is where she takes a picture a day for one year. And I thought to myself, "Hmm..I could do that. Maybe it would help me get better at photography." So, I am going to post them on here but realize that when I take pictures, I experiment a lot. Ok, that being said, here are some. Any comments would be appreciated!

Ok, so....this was the first one. Kind of armature, I know!

John liked this one. This is a little dowel thing that John carved a face into. It is a inside joke between us. But I'll never tell.....


Catching Lilly in one of her favorite activities.


This is Ebed. He lives in Indonesia. He likes to play marbles and to be outside. I am very grateful that God has allowed our paths to cross. Because while I may be helping him out, he is helping me so much more.

I love the contrast in this picture. I was feeling very bound this day. Lots of things were running through my mind and I felt very confined and those blasted pantyhose were not helping!

So, this would not be the kind of photography I would want to do. But we were trying to sell our camera on ebay and it was my picture of the day.

John had been working non-stop at the time of this picture. He would work late and then bring even more work home to do. This is a picture of one of the boxes of files he brought home. I was not a happy camper.

We are city folks trying to make it in the country. John had spent all afternoon chopping down a tree so that we could have firewood only to find out the next day that we couldn't use it. *sigh* but it made a nice picture.

Don't we all have those days where we just want to let loose?

*mental note: change picture BEFORE you upload it*
Valentine's day flowers. :)

I love this picture of Luke. He loves to be outside and explore. He loves to get his hands dirty and run around. I think he is the most amazing little boy I've ever known.


This is one of my favorite parts of our backyard. It's a swing thrown together and hung on a tree branch that have provided countless times of memories being made.
Who says you need a T.V.?

So, those are my photos thus far. Hopefully you can see I'm getting better. Thanks for reading, again. I would write more but I think this post is already too long! I promise I won't post so many pictures at one time again.

God Bless,
~A

Starting Out

Ahhh...so it's official. I am now a blogger. I'm not really sure if this is a good or bad thing. All I do know is that I have a lot of thoughts and it's nice to have somewhere to put them. So, the title of my blog is "Like a Mockingbird". What on earth does that mean?? Well, it comes from a song that I feel kind of says what I'd like this blog to be about. I want to dedicate this blog to the Lord just like I do all other areas of my life. The Bible tells us "whatever you do work as though you are working for the Lord" (my paraphrase). Here are the lyrics:

There are days I don't believe the words I say.
Like a life that I'm not living; a song that I'm not singing but to You.
There are times that I believe I'm satisfied.
Like an intimate connection despite this bad reception with You.
Cause I can't afford to pay for most of what I say
So it's a lucky thing that the Truth's public domain

And I am like a mockingbird
I got no new song to sing
And I am like an amplifier
I just tell you what I've heard
Like a mockingbird

So, yes, it's true that I need this more than You.
Like One whose name is many, have mercy please don't send me away.
And I'll do all I can to be a better woman
I'll clean up this act and be worse than when we started.

And I am like a mockingbird
I got no new song to sing
I am like an amplifier
I just tell you what I've heard
Like a mockingbird
(repeat)

Like a mockingbird

The Word hasn't changed. It's still touching people's hearts and changing lives. I am one who has been swept into this relationship with God. And, to this day, it is still the best choice of my life. My hope for this blog is not to ramble on about things that in twenty, fifty years won't matter. (Although, I'm sure I'll have my days) But, to have a place where I can say what God is challenging with and what He has challenged me with. To ask questions I don't understand. To post my convictions and maybe, just maybe, someone will be challenged. I don't claim to be a writer. I ramble and at times I'm confusing. But it all makes sense in my head, I promise! Thanks for reading.

Running the race,
~A