Project 366::Day 24...

{Photo} Project 366::Day 24 - learning to embrace 3:00am

Project 366::Day 22...

{Photos} Project 366:Day 22 - These two Hunter cousin cuties - the babies. By summer's end, there will be two new babies, but these two seem to be forging a friendship to weather soon-to-be-the-middle-child together.

Project 366::Day 20...

{Photos} Day 20 Project 366

Project 366::Day 19...

{Photos} Day 19 Project 366:: at the park by the river - I just love all that blue

Project 366::Day 18...

{Photos} Day 18 Project 366: prickly seed pod...yeah...some days are like that

Project 366::Day 17...

{Photos}Day 17, Project 366: liquid sunshine

Project 366::Day 16...

{Photos}Day 16, Project 366, Wash Day on Pollywog Creek, Jake gets a bath

A winter sabbath...

{Photo}Project 15/366 approaching dusk on a winter sabbath

{I LOVE} Sunday::to know His great mercy...

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...
(1 Peter 1:3-4 ESV)

{Photo} Day 14/366 {Not what you expected from me, I know} My denim jacket offered little protection from the cold as we stepped out of the warmth of the truck's cab and began wandering among the grave sites in this neglected rural cemetery. Many of Louis' family members, including his parents, are buried here, and the lack of attention the cemetery receives is sad and discouraging. The cold and frost-bitten ground only served to amplify the death represented in the disarray of tombstones and gravemarkers, but chiseled into the headstone of one of the graves were the words of life that those of us who know His great mercy can hope: "She has gone to a better land".

Linking with Diedra's beautiful Sunday community...

Week{ending}...

As I had determined to do from the beginning, I held my plans for this week loosely, and many of them slipped out - replaced by interruptions and detours. 

And that's okay. I'm not frustrated or discouraged. The overall goal for planning was to move forward and not idle or drift, and that was certainly accomplished - if not in the ways I'd planned.  

On this Saturday morning, I'm deeply satisfied with how the week unfolded and even with the plans we have for today that were not on my calendar for the week. 

What about your week? Are you satisfied with your accomplishments? Do you, like me, have new plans for the weekend you had not anticipated?  I really would love to know.

{Photo}Day 13/366 bringing in beauty

To not fear winter...

Just beyond all that lush green, there's fields of brittle-dry brown - almost as far as the eye can see.

I'm grateful for the winter grass seed Louis plants close to the house weeks before frost's first bite.

We're no longer grove owners, and there's nothing to fear about sub-tropical winters on Pollywog Creek, but that green winter grass makes me think of sowing and reaping and the passage in Proverbs that praises the woman who does not fear winter for she is prepared.

And I think of "sowing" as prayer and the "reaping" that could be the answer I want, but it isn't. The reaping is in the peace of knowing that I've "sowed" - that I've prepared for the future by leaving it with the only One who holds it.  

{Photos} Day 12/366 autumn leaves still fall on my backyard swing, and a long-tailed moth rests in the sun on the grandlittle's swing

Cultivating an eye...

It begins with a simple prayer - "Please show me your glory, Lord, right where I am."

I can be blind to the beauty around me. Sometimes all I see is dirt and trash and the frost-frozen leaves of the once green flame bush hanging brown like bats from barren limbs.

Like the man born blind - unless the Lord opens my eyes, I cannot see.

It's the only way I know to cultivate an eye for His mercies around me.

And it's a prayer He's never failed to answer.

He lets me see it in a thorny seed pod and the wise words of a dying friend.

And in a firey sunrise and the way new growth sprouts varigated leaves on a canvas of blazing pre-dawn bokeh.

Beth Moore once told the story of being thrilled to see moose outside the window of her Rocky Mountain cabin one morning. When others complained that they didn't see moose, Beth responded, "Did you ask Him to show you?"

God delights in showing us His glory, but if you are like me, you'll miss it if you don't ask.

Have you asked Him to show you? What did you see?

{Photos} Day 11/366 right outside my front door

Do I really mean it?

We didn't even sing that song - the one with the lyrics...

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

... but something in the pastor's message and in the worship leader's prayer made me think of them. 

And I was instantly convicted. 

I know the LORD is all I need, but is He really, truly all I want?  

One glance at my Pinterist boards answers that question.

Know what I mean?

{Photos 10/366} a foggy Tuesday morning sunrise and a neighbor across the fence

If there's love...

Frustrated with feeding more squirrels than birds, we'd been brainstorming ways to keep the squirrels away from the feeders when Louis lifted the latch and we walked through the open gate, and right there in Alden's backyard were two bird feeder cages that looked exactly like what we wanted.  

We didn't go to Alden's to see her bird feeders. We didn't know or remember that she had them. 

Eighty-seven years old and widowed, cancer's grip had weakened Alden's otherwise strong frame. She was scheduled to fly by air ambulance to her son's home in Kentucky the next day, and this would be our last chance to be with her this side of Heaven. 

I don't know why I'd never noticed the feeder cages before, but I didn't want Alden to leave without knowing if it kept the squirrels out. Do those feeder cages in your backyard work? I asked.

Alden's response had nothing to do with the squirrels. If there's food in them, she responded, and we all laughed. 

I tried again later. I wanted to know about the squirrels, but Alden's answer was the same, If there's food in the feeders they work...and Alden laughed, too.

Encouraged to take the cages with us when we left, Louis loaded them in the back of the truck, but he took more than the cages home with him that day and it had nothing to do with birds. 

Twice Alden said "If' there's food in them," Louis told our small group this weekend. I knew she was speaking directly to me, but it was a message for all of us. Like seed in the feeders, our lives will not attract others - our efforts to reach others for Jesus - won't work if we aren't filled with His love.  

Linking with the lovely Jennifer...

{Photos Day 9/366} my Pollywog Creek backyard, a green painted bunting in one of the feeder cages

With a brand new notebook...

Now that the holiday weeks of I-don't-have-a-clue-what-day-it-is are over and {Lord willing} there's a good possibility that a whole week {without a holiday} lays before me, I look forward to how I can work those goals - not as a to-do list, but a guide for growth. A framework - boundaries. 

I'll look for a new and interesting recipe, consider an artist or musician to research and a photography skill to practice, and wonder what I'll write to my grands in a Letter from Mimi's Backyard.

I know to expect challenges, interruptions, and the need to make adjustments and even embrace them, but I'm excited. It feels a bit like a new job or the first day of school with a brand new notebook.  

I better go sharpen my pencils.

{Photo} Day 8/366: red-bellied woodpecker at my sunflower seed feeder

{I LOVE} Sunday::to know God cares for you and me...

{Project 7/366}
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
(Matthew 6:26 ESV)

Linking with Diedra's beautiful Sunday community...

Week{ending}...

6/366

With outside temperatures in the upper sixties, I spent hours in my backyard yesterday soaking up sunshine in a make-shift "woman cave" - a lounge chair, a basket of cameras, a larger basket of books and journals, my iPod and coffee. My heart is set on a repeat today - Lord willing. 

The weather is a huge influence on my adherence to goals. Delightful days like yesterday demand that I drop all other plans and bask in the gift. Wouldn't you do the same? All was not lost, however. I made significant progress in Les Miserables, read a short Victor Hugo biography, and did five loads of laundry. Sounds like progress to me.

As idyllic as I may have made this week appear, it was not without life's distractions and diversions that included knee injections, a hard freeze, severe fatigue, and Casey in an auto accident on his way to work after a truck ran a red light and hit another truck that hit Casey. Casey was shaken and a bit sore, but otherwise okay. His car sure isn't. Writing a blog post was one of the only daily goals I may have met some days, and that's okay with me.  

Speaking of writing, have you entered this month's The Write Practice "Show Off" writing contest?  I hope so - many of Pollywog Creek's readers are excellent writers. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, January 10th, so you've got all weekend to work on it. 

I'm begging grace and patience if you've emailed, called or left a comment this past week that I did not respond to. Severe fatigue is a understatement. With barely enough energy to walk from one room to the next, I was in bed by 7 one night.  Some days I was too weary to talk so I ignored phone calls and have voice messages I only listened to yesterday. In a true emergency, I knew the person trying to reach me would call Louis or Emily if I didn't answer. Fortunately that never happened, but I did unintentionally worry a few friends. Please forgive me. I treasure your friendship, your comments and words of encouragement, but the rest has been good for me. The fatigue fog seems to be lifting a bit, so while watching the Gators play basketball today, I hope to respond to the comments and emails I've neglected this week. 

For now, my morning chores are behind me and it's warming up outside - time to gather my "woman cave" furnishings and find a lovely spot of sunshine.

I'd love to know what your day holds...and if you have an awesome main dish recipe you think I would like to prepare next week, I'd truly love for you to share it with me. 

{Photos} a visiting warbler

Every week...

5/366

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:21 ESV)

There's been a comfortable orderliness to this first week of the new year - it opened gloriously into a sabbath day of rest and reflection and gently unfolded with daily insights for not only the day laid open before me but for the days and weeks to come.

Even as I made thoughtful, prayerful plans of my own, I held tight to the thread spun throughout every day - that the LORD's plans are the ones that prevail. When the unexpected derailed my goals for the day, I could release them to calmly focus on the interruption and be satisfied that my accomplishments were in the Lord's hands, not mine.

My weekly goals were designed to both give me space to accomplish them while prioritizing some of the daily goals by enhancing them. Reading, writing and photography are some of my most important goals. Though I might not meet them daily, including them in my weekly goals will highlight their importance {to me}.

     {In Christ Alone} {Every Week}

• Read  ----> a classic
• Learn  ----> focus on an author, artist, musician, sculptor...
• Write  ----> letter(s) to family and friends
• Family ----> write a "Letter from Mimi's Backyard"
• Cook  ----> prepare one new recipe
• Photography ----> learn and practice a new skill or technique

How am I doing so far? 

I started reading Hugo's Les Miserables - thanks to my very smart and witty friend Mary. It's massive. I might be in it for a while. 

I also roasted a chicken using a mouth-watering recipe from the lovely and insightful Tonia. I had to adapt it a bit, but it was still wonderful. I'm making the broth today.  

That's it - but it's only Friday. I have the rest of the day and all day tomorrow, Lord willing. 

What about you? Have you met any of your goals for the week?

{Photo} Orchids inside, protected from the frost and freeze

Every day...

4/366

...the prudent gives thought to his steps.
(Proverbs 14:15 ESV)

Being prudent in this verse from Proverbs means two things to me: that it's important to plan and that planning takes time to pray and think through.

As I mentioned, without a plan or goals I drift aimlessly, but impulsive or hastily made plans are not wise either.  

My daughter recently accepted an opportunity to do something without giving it much thought. It was a great opportunity and I would have done the same thing, but when the stress of trying to make it work became overwhelming, she realized her over-commitment. Backing out disappointed others, creating more stress - a predicament I'm all too familiar with myself. 

As I have created goals for the coming year, I have tried to be prudent - to pray through them and think carefully about whether they are appropriate goals for me in this season. Even so, as I work through them, I have given myself permission to revise them. The point is to keep growing and moving forward - to live life to its fullest in the places the Lord leads me.

     {In Christ Alone} {Every Day}

• Create ----> write a poem, paint, sew, craft, play piano, garden, photograph, redecorate...
• Bring Beauty ----> to me, in the house, in the yard, or to others...
• Write ----> ghost writing assignments, to the grands, blog, works in progress...
• Read ----> poetry, biography, best-seller, essay...
• Photography ----> project 366... 
• Move ----> walk, stretch, bounce, range of motion...

The idea is to do something from the list of possible options in each category. It's not binding or exhaustive, and some of the weekly goals, that I will post tomorrow, enhance these categories to emphasize my priorities. 

I'd love to know what you think, and if you have similar goals for this new year. 

{Photos} winter arrived in a hard freeze to Pollywog Creek, flowers rescued before the freeze

So what's the plan...

3/366

I do have one, and Lord willing it will inspire me to keep growing in grace and moving forward creatively.

A few years ago, I wrote basic goals for the year on the inside of the cover to a journal and framed it with: {In Christ Alone} - {For all You've Done}.  It was a simple plan I loved in concept, but it wasn't the right season for me to own it and make it work. With a little tweaking, it's what I've adopted for 2012.

It doesn't include my daily devotional life - a years-in-the-making rhythm that's as much a part of every day as breathing, eating and morning coffee. 

It's also not a to-do list, but a map to help me navigate the days that I don't drift aimlessly. I hold it loosely - aware that at any moment God could change the course.

The goals are divided into two parts: {Every Day} and {Every Week} - not including Sunday. One day a week is for resting from creating {In Christ Alone} to feast in abundance {For all You've Done} - for ceasing from doing to worship and delight in all God's good gifts. Even my {I LOVE} Sunday posts are written on Saturday and scheduled for Sunday. I'm not a legalist about not working on the Sabbath, but trusting God that His ways are best. 

Tomorrow I'll share my {Every Day} goals and my {Every Week} goals on Friday.

Today I hope y'all will click on over to Joe Bunting's, The Write Practice, {a top 10 blog for writers}, and consider entering this month's story writing contest. Joe was awesome to work with last month - so much fun and truly helpful and encouraging. 

And I'm curious to know if you have a written "plan" for 2012, or even if you are still working on it. It might be the plan you had for 2011 that worked great - so why fix what wasn't broken, but I'd love to know what keeps you moving forward on the path God has laid out for you.

{Photos - yesterday's sunrise as I drove to an early morning appointment in Ft. Myers and Pollywog Creek before this morning's hard freeze}