a season for every activity under heaven...

I never did get to posting this - life just kinda got in the way I guess.

Here's my pictures from going back to Nebraska for my Grandma's memorial.

All of them were taken with my phone so they're not great, but you can get the idea.

We stayed with my mom's mom before going to the memorial.

Here's my Grandma Wing's garden...

...and her with her cat, Mindy.

The trees outside her house...

Here's the graveyard by Pibel Camp that we burried my Grandma Dunning's ashes...

Dad hugging my grandpa...

My aunt bought these, red roses were my grandma's favorite.

The camp is on the other side of the lake there.

The morning of grandma's memorial, it was really foggy on the lake. I walked down there before we had breakfast. It was a pretty powerful experience for me. I'm pretty sentimental about places and things. I was baptized down in that lake when I was nine...

Right there to the right of the dock is where my grandpa baptized me and my brother about 16 years ago...

Here's our little photo montage to grandma and her family...

I was able to read that letter I wrote to her for the service. Even though I wasn't extremely close to my grandma, being the crier that I am, I couldn't hold back my tears at such an occasion. A lot of people came up to me and told me how touching my letter was. My dad told me that it was his favorite part of the service, which really meant a who lot to me, especially coming from him.

Mostly, the experience just reminded me of the importance of legacy.

It made me wonder what legacy I'm leaving behind right now...

and what legacy I want to be leaving behind...

Grandma

I'm leaving for Nebraska on Thursday to go to my Grandma's memorial service. My aunt is having each of her grandchildren read one of her favorite verses.

I'm reading 1 Corinthians 15:13-23:

"For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back."

I also have to write a short letter to her and read it out loud.

Here's is what I've got:

Dear Grandma,

I want to thank you for being a part of my life. I love that I have memories of you being around when I was growing up.
I loved being your only grand-daughter.

I'll always remember - Danny and I were never at a loss for laughter when you and Dad were together. He always had a knack for testing your patience... I hope you know it was because he truly does love you.

I can now look in every room of my house and point out numerous things that belonged to you and Grandpa. I will always be reminded of you when I open up my dresser... wear your dresses... or wear your wedding rings on my finger.

But all that aside - thank you for being a part of the family that helped lead me to knowing & loving Jesus... Thank you.

Someday I'll see His face too...
just like you do now.

Aunt Deedee & Grandma

My dad is the cute blonde boy!

thoughts on a thursday

I don't usually write blogs with questions for my readers in them. Probably because I'm an introvert and I don't think anyone reads this... But, I'm going to try something new this time!

I'm realizing the thing I miss the most when having a full time job is the time and motivation to be creative when I'm home. Most days I'm just so tired that all I want to do is lay down on my couch and watch my inticing television... It seems like I should want to go home and go crazy with all the fun things in my office! Unfortunately, that just hasn't been the case... please tell me I'm not the only one!?

(However, being informed of Pintrest has slightly helped me to get inspired!
Because I tend to just be overwhelmed when seeing that many awesome things, I need to narrow down which things I want to pursue and which I need to put on the back bunner.)

I'm also tired of making jewelry...!
I know, right?
I haven't felt inspired for months now.
I'm tired of all the stuff I've made and just can't seem to get past that and find something new to get excited about.
Any ideas, friends?

I also don't want to be a hermit and not have time to spend with other people.
It's already really hard for me to give up my free time because, to put it bluntly... I'm selfish.
Yeah, that's the ugly truth about it.
I really need to constantly pray for the desire to give of myself because it doesn't come natually for me.
There are those few ladies in my life that it's a complete joy to spend time with and that's never really hard for me.

But I have friends that are on my mind a lot that I know I should hang out with... and I just don't.
It takes initiative and persistence because they aren't usually asking me to hang out either.
Because they're busy and maybe a little selfish with their time too?

I also have this problem:
I want to be really close to every one of my friends.
I want to be able to spend quality time with them every week.
I feel like I'm leaving people out if I don't.
I feel like I'm failing.
I think that's a triat of one of the strength I have?

So I'm stuck in this tention...
of wanting to invest in people...
and wanting time to myself.

It's only with God's hand in my life that I can give up my own selfish desires and give of myself.

How are you at sacrificing things you'd rather do for things you should do?

verses for sept/oct

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” -Galatian 5:13-14

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:5

sedona / flagstaff

We went up to Sedona with the Muellers again this weekend! I forgot my camera so the photos are from my phone and mostly of leaves, but that's what I was loving about being there! We weren't there long but it was a nice to have a change of scenery.

(Even though I just got back from Prescott last weekend!)

I'm just praying my body will catch up from not having any down time two weekends in a row! I'll sorta have this weekend to recoup before I head off to Nebraska the following weekend! Why is the end of the year so busy??

The first set of photos are from our little trek to Red Rock State Park. It's so beautiful there!

leaves!

love these trees!

two peas in a pod...

..............................................

These ones are from our afternoon in Flagstaff:

I had no idea this was here! Yay Weatherfords!

Mmmm....

Me & my honey