Here Comes the Sun

I was thinking about the things I always thought that ideally I would want to be defined by, at least by the end of my life, but hopefully, NOW...and continually in heightening waves of growth. Here they are: To be a joyful person, radiant with a sunshiney outlook and inner optimism that encourages and places hope within all that I come to meet. This radiance would infiltrate my entire persona. I want to be a person who truly gets out there and LIVES life, which means I really need to quit worrying so much about what people may or may not be thinking about me ( because they are most likely NOT thinking about me, haha).
I want to explore, get dirty, travel, and meet and love people truly. I want to stop being so materialistic and simplify all aspects of my life. We can really live very fruitfully with very little, surprisingly.
I want to accumulate experiences rather than THINGS!! I want to make my dreams come true that I have placed on a far up shelf to gather dust.
I want to be healthy and fit and love my body in all of its imperfection...
I want to be loyal to my husband, and romantic, in love, inspiring, the best friend he will ever have, and completely passionate for him until the day I die! I want to be a big kid, and ride bikes and roller skate, and have fun with my children and not take life so seriously!
I want to leave a trail of dust behind me when I die that tells the world that I was here, and I LIVED life. I want to be happy!
I can only fulfill all of this by placing Jesus first, and this I will do whole-heartedly. He's the best thing I could ever have in my life, and the wellspring of goodness.
Choose life TODAY. I am.

Sweet Home, OR.

Day Trip

The other day we decided we were in dire need of a small adventure, so we headed out the door with a big picnic lunch full of snacks, gassed our car up, and went for it. Where we ended up, we didn't really care, we just wanted to find a place that was green and warm, and maybe had fields of flowers to gaze at. We drove through Sisters, Oregon, and beyond the McKenzie Pass headed towards Sweet Home and Salem. It was a long time before we reached beauty (green forests, mossy trees, trickling water falls off the road, and lovely streams and lakes. We finally came to a stop in a small town called Sweet Home, which we found almost 70 degrees (20 degrees warmer almost than Bend was upon departing), and quite charming despite it's decline structurally. You can see everywhere in the US the recession's fingerprints, unfortunately. So many beautiful properties are for sale, and not being cared for or repaired.
We went to this lovely park which had an ancient covered bridge on its property. I am pretty obsessed with covered bridges, and my husband appeases me by stopping at them to take pictures:) He's so sweet to me! Anyhow, it was such a fun little adventure, I just love going place with my family. My husband is the best traveling companion!
The End:)

It's The First Day of Spring!

Hello Spring, I like you. I like you because your weather is so much kinder than Winter. So much hope in the crocuses poking their purple heads out of the hard soil, and the yellow dandelions waving their smooth petals in the breeze. I like you because the baby birds are hatching in their nests upon every branch and under every eave and calling out excitedly to the blue skies where their mothers fly drowsily searching for worms.
I like you, dear Spring, because you make my heart think of Easter and new birth, and awakening from long slumbers in the darkness to run through green grassy fields with wildflowers and joy. I like the way you smell after a fresh, light rain. I like the way your light reflects everything golden-hued and how rainbows appear in the sky, and as I wake in my bed, your sunlight's fingers run through my hair.
This is the time when I take long drives just to see the colors on the ground, and the birds in flight, and to get a lemonade from some tiny store I have never been to before. It's when the children and I buy lots of eggs to dye vivid happy colors, and we celebrate Jesus and His triumphant life risen from the tomb. It is Spring, and my mind sprouts with poetry and a full heart. So thankful for the changing of seasons, how they keep me on my feet and ready for action.

I love this picture of us, haha!

Fun with the Delerys on Ben's Birthday:)