my elephant

my mom gave me a card for my last birthday with this photo on it. she said the elephant reminded her of the dreams i have and in time will come forth. i believe this, and in the journey of seeing dreams unravel before me, i am learning how to live, to wait, and to love and enjoy the life and the incredible blessings that come in full every day. i do not always see these gifts each day, but in moments like this, where i can write and think, i look at yesterday and see the beauty that inhabited it.

i would love to be able to see this beauty in every moment.

trust

"when is the time to trust?

is it when all is calm,

when waves the victor's palm,

and life is one glad psalm

of joy and praise?

nay! but the time to trust

is when the waves beat high,

when the storm clouds fill the sky,

and prayer is one long cry,

o help and save!

when is the time to trust?

is it when friends are true?

is it when comforts woo,

and in all we say and do

we meet but praise?

nay! but the time to trust

is when we stand alone,

and summer birds have flown,

and every prop is gone,

all else but God.

when is the time to trust?

is it some future day,

when you have tried your way,

and learned to trust and pray

by bitter woe?

nay! but the time to trust,

is in moment's need,

poor, broken, bruised reed!

poor, troubled soul, make speed

to trust thy God.

when is the time to trust?

is it when hopes beat high,

when sunshine gilds the sky,

and joy and ecstasy

fill all the heart?

nay! but the time to trust

is when our joy is fled,

when sorrow bows the head,

and all is cold and dead,

all else but God."

-unknown

4th of july!

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

It's a relaxing one for me:) I am here in paradise haven, aka Rosemary Beach....my home away from home. I love this place. There is nothing like it. I am here with my pops. We are having a sweet time together. I adore my father. I am so very blessed and also know all too well how rare my relationship with him is. And me realizing this, I pray I never take it for granted.

Tonight we are cooking artichokes which we both have never cooked before. We will see how they turn out;)

Right now I am sitting at the cafe that lives directly under my family's loft. Yes, coffee is very convenient. It was bright and sunny all day and not as hot as July at the beach usually is. Right now the sky is turning a dark gray.....an evening storm would be very nice. I feel the wind that might very well be from this storm on my back right now.

I should go start the dinner cooking....

Have a wonderful freedom day everybody! Be a kid and get excited about watching the colorful fireworks!:)

content

content.

i want to write about you but how can one explain the simplicity.....the beauty of you? how can one describe the shear greatness of even the sound of this word? how can one explain this act of experiencing you and how this act is really no act at all but a moment in time...a heart smiling wide just because it can. you are not to be taken advantage of, for you are only but a gift. you are a gift in a world full of many possibilities, things to do and people to see and great heights to be reached. the funny thing is, you can only be cherished when all of these things are not held onto tightly, for they are apart of life but not life itself.

content.

you are the breath breathed throughout life......

"....but the natural heartstrings haven't been snapped, and the adamic flint hasn't been ground to powder, and the bosom has not throbbed with the lonely, surging sighs of gethsemane; and not having the real death marks of Calvary, there cannot be that soft, sweet, gentle, floating, victorious, overflowing, triumphant life that flows like a spring morning from an empty tomb."

-g.d.w

good morning

a long saturday morning.......

i woke up this morning, took a shower and got right back into my pajamas. i watered the garden, threw clothes into the washer, and made myself some coffee. i have been reading, blogging, and chatting with one of my lovely roommates. we are finding out we share the same romance with blogs.

i am listening to the brazilian music of stan getz and will say, unlike most AM's, this partly cloudy saturday morning has been rather picturesque.......

life shared

i must say how i am thankful for friends who are patient enough to listen to words vomit from my mouth. the most wonderful thing about vomiting to friends is that you are not alone to clean up the mess. not only do you clean up the mess together, the "listener" also does a little spilling themselves. this is what makes a friendship so beautiful. the vulnerability, the honesty, the bouncing back and forth with each other......you are not alone in your heartache. you are not alone in your excitement. you are not alone in the processing of life.

it takes two people to create life and it takes life to be shared.

cracked door

sometimes life is like this photo.

i took this in memphis at the peabody hotel. this is the hotel where ducks just chill and walk around in the lobby.

what i could see when i peaked thru the cracks of this door is what looked like a beautiful ballroom. i really wanted to just open the dang doors and experience the fullness of it's glory but the doors being locked pretty much hindered me from doing so. i was just happy that the crack was big enough to see the waxed floor, the glistening chandelier that hung in the middle of the room, and the arched window in the very back that allowed sunlight to stream thru.

these were glimpses. glimpses of the beauty in this room. life here on earth is exactly like this. would you agree? we experience beauty in many different ways, different times, and share the beauty that inhabits our souls with different people.

to me, beauty is the sky in all it's seasons. to me, beauty is the purple orchid, the red rose. to me, beauty is the visible but then beauty is also what we do not always see right then and there. beauty is the excitement of a new relationship forming. beauty is in the unconditional love for someone. beauty is in the simplicity of holding that someone's hand for the first time. beauty is holding that someone's hand you have lived with for years, been thru it all, and still find comfort and love in this simple act and maybe even get the same feelings as if it were for the first time. beauty is seeing my once angry and bitter grandfather turn to his family in the hospital room and smile a smile that speak to all of us more than words could ever speak...a smile that tells us he is in the presence of our heavenly Father....a smile that tells us how he has been forgiven and is asking for ours as well. beauty are longings fulfilled. beauty is in the sound of our pain and our joys.

beauty are the glimpses we see thru the cracked door of life here on earth......