some things of note that occurred this week (in no particular order):

• a huge turkey waddled across the road in front of me.
• thunder shook my house at night.
• i found out that the road closure which forced me to re-route my drive to and from work never actually happened, so i've been going "the back way" for two weeks for no reason.
• my sister and her family came for a visit. ♥
• i saw a swan, a great blue heron, a bald eagle, a bluebird, a sparrow, and a hawk...all in the same day.
• my daughter cleaned her room without being asked. !
• a deer snorted and pawed the ground in my general direction...like a bull. i have never thought a deer was about to kill me before. it was an interesting experience...and one i don't want to repeat.
• while i was walking, an f-15 flew over, escorting a small plane to a local airport..loud.
• i found a HUGE four leaf clover...and i didn't pick it. i want to see how big it will get.
• i wrote a really boring blog post.
• on friday (today), i thought it was thrusday all day..until around 7:30 pm..then i had the greatest evening ever. well maybe not ever, but it was a good one.
• there was a cloud that looked just like a scorpion hovering above the sun at sunset.
• i was blessed to wake up every day and to serve a faithful God who loves me with an everlasting love.

Colossians 3:15

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

this is what makes me smile:

little girls + flowers. 

have you ever stood on the edge of a 2 foot drop off, and imagined that the weeds you saw below you were really trees, the drop was actually a 100 ft cliff, and instead of a man made lake, you were looking down at the ocean?
if not, you should give it a whirl. it's pretty cool to feel like a giant. :)

the picture doesn't do the moment justice, but here it is, none the less.

"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice!" Psalm 97:1

so, i have a bit of a temper. there have been times in my life when i have let my ill temper get the best of me. anger clouds my judgement and my actions become most uncivil. i have a pile of scraps of paper and post-it notes with various bible verses and other words of wisdom scrawled on them. i think half the book of proverbs is filled with words that implore us to be slow to anger, have self-control, and to just chilllllll out. you would think all those verses calling people like me foolish, senseless, and evil would be enough to set me straight. i cannot tell you how many times i've repeated "in your anger, do not sin"...through clenched teeth.
when i am not feeling angry, i don't understand it myself. what in the world could possibly cause me to feel so full of AAARRGGGH that i just blow off all of those great reminders of being peaceable, gentle, and calm?
anyway, the taming of the temper is one thing i am really working on right now.
yesterday i got kind of upset..not really at any one thing, but just some things that have built up over time, and i felt like having a freak out.  instead, i went for a walk. this is not unusual...i often take a walk to try to blow off some steam, but yesterday i took a different route and just after i'd turned around to head home, i came across this:

it gave me a giggle..cleaning up my trash on a walk with Jesus, down a road maintained by the Lamb of God.
heheh good stuff.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:3-8

with apologies to Ed McCurdy, "last night, i had the strangest dream.."
it was really stormy, and huge claps of thunder kept interrupting my dream cycle, so it was like one big dream, in vignettes..

in the first part, han and i were getting off a plane, carrying satchels, and wearing long flowy skirts. the wind was blowing, it was sunny but sort of hazy, and we were walking down the plane's stairs, directly onto a tarmac. i don't know where we were going to or coming from, but we were happy, and i felt fulfilled.
next, we were at my father's house. it was new, and huge. there were two ENORMOUS trees in the front yard, and one was dead. i was standing on the front porch, watching my father as he was making plans to cut the tree down.

at this point, i think i woke up completely, and when i fell back to sleep i was dreaming that i was at a picnic with some friends, at the place where we went when i was very young to have our church picnics. there were a bunch of kids splashing around in the stream where i used to catch water skippers..i remembered how cold the water was. my friend was telling me that her husband wouldn't be joining us because he was at home enjoying his newest pastime...taking a dust bath. like a chinchilla.

back at my father's house, the huge dead tree was cut down, except for the massive trunk...i suddenly thought, "we should carve a house out of that!!" so i ran to where my dad was standing with an axe in front of the trunk, and started to tell him my idea. he just kinda nodded at the tree..and suddenly there was a door in the trunk, and i could see that someone had already made it into an awesome little cottage.
inside the trunk house there were three levels that kind of spiraled up toward the ceiling, which was made of what looked like moss or something..on the inside and the outside. there was one stairway in the middle, really more of a ladder, which you could use to climb up to any of the levels if you didn't want to walk through the rooms that made up the spiral. it was freaking awesome. it sort of reminded me of something you'd find in the shire, except that it had a washer and dryer on the lowest level, and i'm pretty sure that hobbits hand wash their clothing. haha.

i explored this awesome little cottage some more, and upon exiting, my father handed me a big, wooden skeleton key.

insert incredibly loud, house-shaking thunder...
i was disappointed to have been so rudely excused from that dream. i totally wanted to move in and make it my home. i tried to fall back to sleep quickly, but that was one whopper of a storm, so i reminded myself how much i love thunderstorms and i'm pretty sure that i eventually fell back to sleep with a smile on my face. :)

unfortunately, the last part of the dream that i remember was not pleasant at all..i won't go into details because it disturbs me, but it involved one of my sisters becoming angry about the tree house, and trying to throw herself down the stairs. :/

what impresses me most about this odd little collection of dreamlets is that, aside from the last part, i remember feeling very peaceful and happy. normally, i guess i have feelings in my dreams, but i don't always feel so vividly. the other thing that is very interesting to me is the trunk cottage. i kind of consider myself to be a bit of a vagabond..not to the extent that i would be if money was no object and hannah didn't like her school so much..but a wanderer and explorer in spirit if not in flesh. though i have often daydreamed about having a little farm or cabin somewhere, it's never been one of the pressing urges guiding my life. i kind of like the idea of being able to pick up and go. i guess i could be happy either way..but have always felt kind of drawn to the idea of moving around and seeing "the world"...... but i am jabbering here.
the thing about the dream is that i had a house. and i was super excited about it. i think there's some obvious symbolism in the house being made of a huge tree that literally had roots. also about my father preparing a place for me that exceeded anything i could have dreamed up on my own.
when i was thinking back about this dream during the day, it brought to mind when Jesus said,
"in my Father's house are many dwellings, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2
i've always loved this passage of scripture when Jesus told the disciples that He was leaving, but only for a little while, so that He could get a place ready for us...♥.."and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am , you may be also." John 14:3

i had a really good idea for a blog post a few hours ago...
then i ran around outside for a while and got really tired and accidentally fell asleep for a few hours.
now, i have a crick in my neck from sleeping unexpectedly in an unusual position, my clothes that were in the dryer are wrinkled beyond un-wrinkling without rewashing (i sooo don't iron), my hair is in the same state as my clothing because it was wet when i fell asleep, and i can only remember that my awesome writing idea started out with a thought i had while applying 7 band-aids to different spots on my feet.
new seasons=new shoes=blisters. a life lesson. heheh. there were going to be thoughts on the process of blisters eventually becoming seasoned areas that can "take the pressure" over time..there was going to be a reminder that Jesus is the balm to our aching, bloody feet, and where we are too weak to walk alone, we can remember that He walks before us.   it was good, i'm telling you. heheh
as it is, i am thankful for my wonky, spontaneous nap. it was oddly refreshing in its unplanned-ness. sometimes i get caught up too much in needing to know things. what's going on, when and how it's going to happen..etc. for someone who is so not-so-great at making plans, i surely like to be in on them. you know, get a glimpse of that elusive "big picture." ...so my nap changed my plans? it's cool. i can roll with it.
i am actually kind of a pro at rolling with it. hahahaa.
and when i am NOT feeling like a pro at rolling with it, or that rolling with it is even OKAY...there's this:
"for i am confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

and this is what makes me smile:
chicks.