Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14 ESV
"...they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength"
These verses from Isaiah seem to have been written just for me these days. Every where I turn, I uncover them again and again...in prose, in prayer...and they are exactly what I have needed for this current I'm-weary-and-I'm-waiting season.
One afternoon this week, I was briefly lured into the backyard by a giant swallowtail flittering around the Easter garden flowers, where I was held captive by a bluejay perched in one of the sweetgum trees and the bountiful beautyberry bush. Briefly - long enough for a few quick photos before the heat, humidity, and a gimpy gait got the best of me.
Early in the week, while 5 year old Mason and 2 year old Austin were here for a few days, we met Kristin, 4 year old Gavin and 7 month old Addisyn at the local library for a children's program. The best part of the experience for me was watching Emily pull adult books about baseball off the shelf and show them to Austin and Addisyn. While Mason and Gavin learned how to make ice-cream in the children's section, Austin and Addisyn learned about Babe Ruth from Emily. "Auntie Em" takes her role to properly indoctrinate her niece and nephews into Gator Nation and Yankee Universe seriously.
It's been a stressful, emotional, roller-coaster kind of week. Some days I lived by the mantra "just do the next thing". Other days, like today, it was "just do ONE thing".
What about you? What has your week been like?
Photos: they speak for themselves this week, I think.
Taking a little break from watching the College World Series (It's Great. To Be. A Florida Gator) and working on a guest post for (in)courage. (I'll let y'all know next week when it's up.)
I do love those girls over at Dayspring's (in)courage, and I'm jumping-up-and-down thrilled to be able to write for them. If you're ever in need of a little encouragement from your sisters (which for me is daily), I highly recommend spending time reading and commenting and letting those beautiful sister hearts speak to yours.
Speaking of beautiful hearts, Shaun Groves new release 3rd World Symphony is ready to preview and pre-order, and I wasted no time doing both. I can't listen without thinking of my beautiful friend Ann and my family's adorable Compassion child, Diego, from Guatemala.
Jeff Goins, Writer, is one of my favorite new reads. His blog is a wealth of information for writers, bloggers, and other creative thinkers, and the guest post on his blog today, The Clean Water Crisis, reveals his beautiful heart of compassion, as well.
A few days before my birthday last week we drove to Gainesville to eat peanuts and slather on sunscreen and watch the 4th ranked Gators beat Georgia in baseball.
The weather Friday night was perfect - mild and breezy - even a little chilly at times...
...but Saturday afternoon in Florida's bright sunlight and 90-degree heat was brutal.
Before the game on Saturday, we stopped by the campus bookstore to purchase more must-have Gator paraphernalia. Did you know that you can buy packages of "official" eyeblack already printed with "Phil 4:13"? And yes - I bought a pack.
We also stopped by Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, also known as Florida Field and thanks to former coach Steve Spurrier - The Swamp.
Our seats for the baseball game were near the top behind home plate on the 1st base side of the field.
Perfect for capturing that walk-off Gator home run in the bottom of the 9th inning Saturday afternoon.
A couple of days before we left for Gainesville, we discovered this gator swimming in our pond.
We hoped he would move on while we were gone, but two weeks later, it's apparent that he likes Pollywog Creek as much as we do.
He's not a big gator. He's young, maybe 4 or 5 years old and about 5 feet in length, it's hard to tell. But a gator is a gator, and like all other gators, this guy has big teeth, a healthy appetite and a less-than-pleasant disposition.
I shot this short video yesterday as he moved from the bank of the pond back into the water...
We have had gators in the pond before, but never one as brazen as this one. He fails to retreat when approached and will actually follow me in the water as I walk around the pond. This gator definitely qualifies as a nuisance gator so we've called for a trapper to remove him.
Stay tuned in. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to post: Heeeeeeere goes the gator...
