On Walking: In His Grace, Waiting for Glory

After Little Man left, I woke up every day for five days straight, went out my front door, and I walked.
I walked out "my demons" as they say {whoever "they" are}.
I walked through the pressures and stresses and anxieties and questions.
I walked until I felt I could find a way to make it through the day.

And.....it worked.

Burdens and inner conflicts slowly slipped away as oxygen filled my lungs and endorphins fired in my brain.

Mostly though, step by step, my spirit communed with the Father, consuming my heart into the heart of Jesus more and more each day.

Over the past four weeks, I have continued to walk, not always every day, but many days because my body cannot take the weight of this burden He has called me to carry.

I walk and sing and pray and cry.
Sometimes the crying looks like big, old, monster tears streaming down my face
{Hope I haven't scared the neighbors too bad yet}.

Most days, though, the crying is deeper, guttural, almost primal, albeit silent.
There are no words just Abba and Spirit and Jesus until there is a sliver of breakthrough and hope for that day.

From there, the choice to put one step forward in front of the other is just that: a choice.
Armed with His courage and His truth and His strength, life goes on.
Somehow, it goes on.
Even on the days when you wish the world could stop and give you time to catch up.

There...right there...smack in the middle of those scary, heart-wrenching moments is where Grace appears. Not just grace for me, but for all of those broken and rejected and abused and fighting to just keep their heads above water....right there is grace for them too.

And maybe that "them" is you......today......in this season.

Breath grace.
Deep.
Let's do it together.
Seriously.
{inhale slowly from the diaphragm and exhale...}

Repeat as necessary.

And then....

Wait for the glory.

It is coming.
I promise.
He said so.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield,

The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will He withhold

From those who walk uprightly.

Psalm 84:11

Snippets of the Crazy-Slow

I think I have written a thousand, a hundred, okay....maybe a dozen....yes at least a dozen blog posts in my mind over the past six weeks.

Sometimes they were just snippets of a thought.
Other times they had some meaty length to it.
All of them were amazing...she says so humbly...or at least in "my" mind's eye.
But alas, none of them made it to paper...or even screen....so maybe they were just to feed my soul in the interim of waiting to pour out my heart here....to you.

Life has been busy and slow.
But I have said that here already.
I just wish that I could expound more on what that feels like, what that IS in my heart and soul.
Maybe I will soon...or maybe not...
For now, I think I will just share what that conglomeration of this fast slow motion looks like.

1) My Granny fell and broke her neck six weeks ago yesterday. Her neck has been healing beautifully and the brace is now off. She is, as you can imagine, having a lot of pain there as her body learns to hold that weight on its own again. She had a trache for awhile which miraculously came out on its own about 2 weeks ago and the hole, or stoma, as the medical professionals call it is completely healed up. She has been from hospital to rehab to hospital and now back to rehab again. Each change has been filled with its own ups and downs and scares and joys along the way. Granny suffers from dementia so currently our family {mom, sister, aunts and cousins} rotate being with her around the clock. As she is back in rehab, we know that we are on the home stretch...at least that is how we pray since she has been IN rehab and BACK to hospital once already. If you are the praying kind, would you please pray for her recovery, the infections her body is fighting, and for our family for strength to continue with grace in this long journey?? Thank you.

2) I got a new part time job of which I am currently in Week 3. I have translated for Haitian students and families via our local Board of Education off and on for the past 10 years or so. Last year, all the translators had to re-interview and come "on staff" officially. In the interview process, I was asked if I was interested in tutoring to which I promptly said, "Yes!" So I am not officially a tutor IN an ESOL {English as a Second Language} class room for 90 minutes a day. Two thirds of the class are Haitian kids. I am working at a middle school so the kids are lovely and moody and frustratingly beautiful. I feel like this job is a gift to me and seriously, there are some that I am ready to bring home with me. {And I really don't say stuff like that....their stories/hearts are just wrecking me...}

3) We are OFFICIALLY foster parents!! Yay! and WHOA! This process has been long and arduous and I am not even talking about the paper work. I do not think going in that I was preparing for the emotional and mental onslaught that would ravage my being.

Will the first child living in my home really NOT be my own biological baby? 

Am I really ready for this? 

Can my physical body handle what investing into these lives will mean? 

Can my heart? 

These, along with a hundred practical questions racked my brain to no end. I wanted to quit MORE times than I wanted to move forward and something, Someone bigger than me kept propelling us forward one painful step at a time. I have been forced to face my own fears and judgements and life choices, and I am sure this is NOT the end...which scares me honestly, but did I mention my heart is now wrecked beyond repair? In the good ways...the ways that you know that this is right and good and part of the crazy-grand-scheme-of-things.

4) And finally....this one is hard and exciting to say all at the same time. The Lord is healing me. Really and truly. Heart and soul, of course, but specifically in body. About four years ago, I began having unexplained pains that over the course of the following year and half increased in frequency and intensity. With a possible diagnosis of fibromyalgia but unable to take the prescribed course of medicine given to those who suffer with this unseen illness, we made some radical life changes and left South Africa and moved back to the United States. While my physical issues were not the primary reason for us making that life change, they were the catalyst that propelled us forward. For the past two and a half years since then, I have fought a daily battle of balance in my life, trying to find the right amount of work-to-rest ratio. To say it has been hard would be an understatement, and just when I was ready to accept that maybe this is just the journey of learning that God wanted me to go through to learned more about His grace, the Lord sent someone to remind me of His promises to me {more on that story later} and He is really healing me. It is a slow heal, like synapses and muscles coming together in harmony again, but I am getting stronger every day. There are still good days and bad days and I continue to work to believe that He IS still JUST as faithful on the bad days...but I needed to say it nonetheless....thank you, Jesus, for this healing.
{P.S. THIS was actually on my God-sized dream list!!}

There is more...of life and potential changes on the horizon and buzzing around in my heart of things still to come....but I feel like this is all I can share for now.

I am excited to be living His plan in this season, in spite of the HARD parts too...
He is going deep and wide in the caverns of my heart and soul,
 and I feel SUCH an assurance that I will never be the same.

Unwrapped :: Open-Handed Love

Most days it sounds more like the booming bass of an African drum than the steady ticking of a reliable timepiece.

Thirty-four years of tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock....resounding louder and louder as each day passes.

I have always believed that God has a plan, His own timing for our lives.
Sometimes it just seems CRAZY slow.

I try to focus on the positive, 

but it is hard when little things derail me,

Especially the knowledge that so many friends my age are attending middle school concerts or at the very least kindergarden ones.

My friend, Holley, says we are all on a one lane track, not competing against each other, measuring mile markers at the same checkpoints.

I love that.
It reminds me not to focus on that "I'm getting behind!" feeling.

Which I do.

A LOT.

Yet. The pounding, booming pulses in my head reminding me that I am getting older every day. That my body is not what it used to be. That my curves have not yet held life and time is slowly but surely moving to the point on the scale where the hours are not on my side anymore.

I think that is what I appreciate about my friend, Emily.

I work for her.
She is a Mary Kay director, and I assist her a couple of afternoons a week -- office work, graphic design, babysitting, car pooling, getting dinner prepped, basically whatever she needs during those hours.

Her kids have crawled their way into my heart. 

Jake Ray is 6, almost 7.

Olivia will be 3 in two weeks.

There is play and laughter.
Negotiation and discipline.
Imagination and discovery.
Games and tears.

They know me well now...enough to push the boundaries to see how far they can go...we have our "moments" together.

But they love me.
And I love them.
Very much.

You see, Emily and her husband, Wayne had to wait a long time for these two gifts, so they do not take parenting lightly, and the most beautiful thing, they do not hold it selfishly.

She lets them love me and have a relationship with me
And not just me
But others too
Whom they both love JUST as freely.

Today
as I danced with them in front of the spotlights in the yard, making monster shadows on the house as their parents put up Christmas decorations, I felt thankful to be given this gift from two grown ups who themselves know the deep anguish in waiting in a world that is seemingly leaving you behind.

And I want to remember this open-handed holding in which they love their kids
Inviting others into the joy.

This is how I unwrap the gift of today...

When You Just Cannot Make Sense of it All

Maybe you just lost someone.
Someone you loved with all of your heart.
Someone who meant the world.
Someone whose presence the world is now oh-so-empty without.

Maybe the dream that you have longed for
The one you imagined as a little girl
The one that would make life just perfect
Has all but broken your blooded hands
As the doors have slammed over and over again.

Maybe you just feel desperate
The walls are closing in
The bills are piling up
Your health and mind are not what they should be, what they used to be
You wonder if healing and breakthrough will ever come

The kids have destroyed the house, the car, the yard, the neighborhood.
The man you loved, and to whom you gave half your life, walked out the door
The woman who pledged I'll-keep-your-secrets-and-you-keep-mine friendship just broke your heart
The believers, the brothers and sisters of His body, turned their back on you in your hour of need.

When life is just so hard
And you wonder how to make sense of it all.

Cry.
Cry hard and deep and long and good.

Run.
Run fast and strong.
Beat your chest.
Raise your fist to the sky.
Shout up at the heavens
and scream, "Why?"
Fall into a puddle.
and cry some more.

Sit with your grief
Your questions
Your anger
Your heartbreak
Feel them deep
Deep into your soul
In the place where deep cries out to fathomless deep

Embrace your sorrow
Your should-have-beens
Your wish-it-could-haves
Your want-it-back-that-way

And cry.
Cry some more.

Let yourself mourn.
Give space to be broken
Let go of perfect
Release the noisy pressure of "Its-time-to-let-go!!" pounding in your head
Breathe deep again.

Grieve hard and strong and long, if needed.
Throw out the timelines.
Forget the try-hards.
Abandon should-bes.

Let yourself be human
Real.
Raw.
Afraid.
Honest.
Broken.

Scream into the pillow
Or punch it.
Let the rage run its course.

Walk out into the crisp cold night.
Let the tears come
Draw ragged breaths over and over again
Let your soul mourn.

Cry again.
A lot.
Until you think there are no tears left to cry
And then ...
Cry some more.

And day-by-day
As you let the anger and hurt and disappointment and frustration out,

Breathe in grace and truth and love and mercy

Let it wash over you

Let the contours of your soul find rest

A 

little

more

each 

day.

Exhale hurt.

Inhale grace.

Exhale heartache.

Inhale joy.

Exhale injustice.

Inhale mercy.

Exhale brokenness.

Inhale healing.

And one day...

you will begin to see

that the grace....

....outweighs the sorrow.

May it be well with your soul

As you plumb the gaping depths of your brokenness.

May the warrior be the child

As you crawl into the arms of the Father.

May your scars remind you that you are real

As you see the miraculous signs of healing.

May you be patient with your heart in the process.

May you find refuge in the shelter of His wings.

May you know how desperately you are loved.

May you feel Him wipe every tear from your eye.

Also linking with Jennifer, Mary Beth, Ann, and Duane 
and the encouraging communities they have created here on the web.
So thankful for places like these to share our words...

I Am.....

I Am 

I am whimsy and prose 

I wonder why people don't SEE into each other more 

I hear animals talk
 I see fairies in my forest 

I want babies to call my own 

I am whimsy and prose 

I pretend I am a prima ballerina 

I feel the smell of the Caribbean sun 

I touch the mountains of Hispaniola 

I worry about what the future holds 

I cry for heart breaks and sorrows deeply felt 

I am whimsy and prose 

I understand people are my most valuable possession 

I say Dream Big and Be the Best Version of YOU 

I dream about living an artful life 

I try to give of my whole heart in all that I do 

I hope to show Jesus every day 

I am whimsy and prose

A fun little template filling in the blanks of who I am.....

Want to try it too? It only takes minutes....and the website generates the poem for you that you can post anywhere. I would love to hear your I Am words..... Please come share it with me if you decide to do it...you can even post it in the comments below!

Everyday Sacredness

After moving almost two months ago, 

I think I MAY finally be getting my bearings.

Maybe.

This pattern of feeling out of place and needing to grab at order to try to realign my little life, finds its way into my world more often than I can count.

As a college student moving each year into the dorms, I had to immediately tidy all of my belongings before decor and beauty found their way into my room. 

Whenever I travel and I know that I will be sleeping more than 1 or 2 nights in one place, I MUST unpack all of my possessions to feel AT HOME at once in this space that will house me for even a short while. 

Even on my honeymoon.... 

{I know...my husband truly loves me!} 

The length of the location shift juxtaposed with the amount of worldly goods to be organized is directly indicative to how long the unsettled demons of anxiety will vie for life in my newly transformed season. And sometimes the inner madness is a direct reflection of the lack of control over the natural chaos that change of any kind leaves in its wake.

Simply stated.

I find it hard to focus on the big things if the little things are out of order.

"The little foxes destroy the vines," is another way I have heard it put.

So as I continue to settle into this new {AMAZING} gift of a home, I organize my mountain of review books longing to be read, awaiting the moment when they will find human connection. I prioritize each one from publisher and date received, and while I am a fiction reader by nature, 

I requested this one non-fiction book last year,

Finding Our Way Again,

which I never finished.

I picked it up yesterday, and in the revelation on the pages, reminders to see Jesus in everything leapt into my heart. I have been counting my gifts, taking the Joy Dare, although I have not recorded them here in quite few weeks, I have logged them faithfully, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, catching up with the day-to-day prompts, causing me to look back and remember, to be thankful.

And Brian McLaren's words take me back to the reason I began counting this year in the first place...

"We need an everyday sacredness."

"Spiritual practices could be called life practices...because they help us practice being alive...They develop not just character but also aliveness, alertness, wakefulness, and humanity."

"Spiritual practices are about life, about training ourselves to become the kinds of people who have eyes and actually see, and who have ears and actually hear, and so experience...not just survival, but LIFE...tuning our radios to the frequency of the Holy, turning up the volume, and then daring to sing along."

So through Project 365 and The Joy Dare springs a desire to not only be present in the moments but also to revel in the goodness and the grace of the One who made it all possible.

Do you crave order in chaos?

How do you handle the the outward and inward pandemonium that life inevitably brings?

Just a few of the 250+ graces since I last recorded them here....

The Joy Dare 2012

256. "Are you a nature photographer?"

270. The "hidden" couch bed - a nice chill place for the weekend

282. My husband's surprisingly persistent calls, 

knowing I was having a bad day

303. Walking with Arno because he always shares things 

with me during that time

317. Pretty, fresh paint on the walls

349. The letter that home study is about to begin

376. The glee on Macy's face as she plays on the playground

392. My love's excitement to see me when I walk in the door late at night

403. Spending the day at the beach with my love

416. Being inspired @ 3rd Friday in the artist world

426. Olivia's protective nature over me

442. "Am I listening to the Voice of Fear or the Voice of Love?"

460. Trying to fool Kasi for her birthday 

and knowing she was figuring out stuff

470. A spontaneous shot of long estranged grandparents laughing together

482. Date night with my bokkie

493. The smell of the new fabric softener on everything

500. The beauty of reaching the half point of counting 1000 gifts!

And MORE PROJECT 365 :: Day 162 - 169

Day 162 :: My current fireplace decor

{A little bit of Africa, Dayspring, and Pier One} 

Day 163 :: Morris "helping" Arno drive 

on the way back from the vet 

 Day 164 :: Enjoying the evening on my front porch

Day 165 :: Patches really loves her Daddy.

She even squeezes in his lap while he play Playstation. 

Day 166 :: Summer Fun with Jake Ray 

Day 167 :: What I Wore :: Sister's brown tank dress w/decorative empire 

waistline beading {Thanks, Kasi!} and 

cute new sandals I got on sale at Christmas time

#FirstTimeOutOfTheHouse 

 Day 168 :: Catching the light on our stairwell

Day 169 :: A Father's Day for just the two of us

{and the kitties, of course!}

I'm on a journey, chronicling my life with a picture a day for a year. I hope to discover the world around me in my day-to-day life in a uniquely different way as well as learn more about my DSLR to better capture those precious moments. 

Life in a Holding Pattern

I have never been in labor.
Never grown new life in my womb.
Never known the aches and pains of my body's expansion.

But from what I've learned from listening and observing, the last trimester is often the hardest.

First trimester symptoms return, the weight of the extra poundage begins to take its toll, swelling seems to be a part of every day life, and sleeping -- fahggettaboutit.

But beyond the physical symptoms, the psychological change of longing for this little life to COME SOON and being TERRIFIED of taking care of that precious bundle for the REST OF ITS LIFE looms heavy upon a mother's heart.

I think maybe I am there.
In the psychological holding pattern

BUT...

With no guarantee of when it will happen or how old the child will be or if we can handle it and will they like us.

Sometimes I feel like I am living someone else's life complete with a new home and fenced in back yard. Add in filling bedrooms with beds and dressers and child-lock proofing potentially hazardous places around the home, and I wonder sometimes who I am.

I have lived so long in this couple phase of life that in spite of longing to multiply the family for the past four years, now that the reality is closer either via foster care and/or adoption, I find myself more terrified of the unknown than I expected.

So on Mother's Day as I lounged on the beach watching my love fly his kite as he trains for kite boarding in the ocean one day, rejoicing with him in the moment he finally found HIS holding pattern with the kite, I looked around me.

I saw a beach gear laden mom alone with her two toddlers struggling to walk back to her car with a tearful 2-year-old lagging behind and a 5-year-old forging ahead. I observed a middle aged dad giving up his afternoon to play with the kids on the beach so his wife could relax. All around me I witnessed the ebb and flow of family life.

And there I sat alone.

And instead of feeling sorry for myself, I basked in the moment. The time that I had to myself to sit, to read, to close my eyes and feel the wind on my face, to take a Sunday afternoon just watching my love enjoy his new hobby and we could just be....

Because while I will love the next season....the one right now where it is just the two of us, young and carefree, is fleeting...

Yeah...this is definitely a weird transitional season...
but in spite of it all....I am thankful.

What are you thankful for in your current season, even if you are waiting or hoping for the next thing? What do you do to combat that TRANSITIONAL nervousness/fear?  How do you overcome the "holding pattern" syndrome?  I would love to hear your advice and/or feedback.

In The Shadows

I have a fascination with shadow and light.

I try to capture the essence of what each moment means to me,

the beauty that I see there.

Sometimes I get it right, and other times, the picture cannot hold a candle to the reality of the now that I feel.

I have spent a few years living life amongst the shadows.

At first the shadow was small, apparent, yet not overpowering, but the longer it lingered, it seemed to loom larger until another shadow appeared, making the first seem insignificant. These two shadows vyed for the light, each taking more, in a battle to win the duel. And still yet another appeared, and then another, threatening to choke every shard of light from my life.

The war waged on, and I fought and fought to stand in the light, to hold my ground, to hang on so that I could fight again tomorrow.

And then one day, it was too much, and in spite of the warrior heart beating loud and true in my soul, I retreated into the corner of the shadows, sobbing and gasping for reprieve from these insurmountable foes.

The shadows are a scary place. Lonely, abandoned, heartbreaking....most people do not enter into your shadows with you. Sometimes they just cannot and other times like a scared, trapped, little animal we hiss and scratch at them until they just simply go away.

For me, shadow or light, it did not seem to matter, I still felt alone -- alone in my fight or alone in my misery.

And now, the shadows are still there, looming around me. Every day is a fight, sometimes hour by hour, just to push my face into the light and to SEE His goodness, to glimpse His grace.

And then there are days when I just fall down with exhaustion and anger. "Why does living in peace and joy and grace seem to be so daggone hard?"

So I pull into the shadows, for just a little while, but I have learned, am still learning....

The light calls to you, even while you are in the darkest of shadows.

The Scripture says it this way....

Deep calls unto deep...

Psalm 42:7

As a young girl, my artistic soul was always moved by these words, but only now through a bit of heartache and pain, do I truly understand the psalmist's heartcry to the Father. My whole being resonates with these words because I know that the deep is the one in a dark place crying out to the deepest part of the Father's heart.

Like mine does.

In the shadows.

I do not know what shadow is overpowering your life today. Maybe you are feeling the loss of something once held or never known. Maybe you feel you have never experienced your life truly in the light of day. May I encourage you to find your hope in Him? Not because it is a cliche or because it is easy. Not because I have it all figured out or know all the answers, but because the light is calling out to you. If you really listen, you will even hear it calling you BY NAME. I promise.

Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God!

Psalm 42:5-6

Read the entire Psalm here.

I promise the encouragement and REAL understanding

from the psalmist there will blow you away!

And just one more thing....please know ::

You are not alone.

Wherever you find yourself.

In the fight or in the shadows.

I would love to hear your heart on this in the comments or in an email {lindseyfoj (at) gmail (dot) com}.

Linking up with Imperfect Prose on Thursdays with Emily at CanvasChild.com.

Five Minute (Good) Friday {And Then Some}: Light

I almost didn't write today.

I have been "away" for about a week now, a bit heart sore, as my South African friends would say.

Heart sore about the way life is...or isn't.

The things that I am longing for, knowing that I need to be thankful for what I have but just tired of daily having to search and to look and to see His mercies and grace, when the big things that I have so desperately prayed for and waited for and yearned for, for SO long seem to always be JUST out of reach.

So I just hibernated, nursing my physical body as well as my ailing soul....and slowly have been making my way back into the world of words and wisdom and light and love.

And then I remembered, yesterday, I think, what this week was all about.
My memories of all the stories and Scriptures came flooding into my heart.

Emily Freeman said, "...anything we do on earth that brings any kind of delight or fullness was made possible by death, because first comes love," and it reminded that in the midst of all of this is His love for me...

Even when I sit in the car in the parking lot of my doctor's office, crying angry, unrepentant tears to my sister.
Even when I feel the change come again this month, blood red, and I feel my heart plummet with the sorrow.
Even when my head spins, my body aches, and my heart rages with a ridiculous virus.
Even when I know that I am different than I used to be, that I cannot do what I used to do, that I cannot be that girl that I was before, that people look at me differently...

Even then.....the death of me is good and perfect and lovely because His love came first through His death to show me that love.

And for a moment, though I feel that I am in a pit, there is a light, at the end of the tunnel, and I realize that it hasn't disappeared, like I thought it did. We just took a little bend in the road, a pause to surrender again or anew. I'm not sure which really, but He is here.

And in the distance light, I see a momentary glimpse of my future where I am stronger, helping others, and I can see He is molding me, breaking me, filling me again and again because I want to be like Him. I asked, after all.

And so in death, I focus on the Light, remembering not only the price He paid for my sins, but also for my future to be sealed with promises yet unseen, and I will not back down until He says it is finished, even if some days, I just have to cry for a little while.

Writing for Five Minute Friday {and then some}

today with Lisa-Jo and other Five Minute Friday word mavericks,

where we take a prompt {Today :: Light}

and just right freely without editing or over-thinking.

Join me??

Project 365 :: Week 11 & The Revelation in Counting

Closing in on 80 days into this new year, I find daily that there are new discoveries of His heart for me and new elements of His character developing inside of me. Little did I know that the discipline of taking at least one picture a day as well as counting three gifts from my day-to-day life would launch me into a lifestyle of leaning in, drawing close, letting go, and learning to fly.

As the revelations unfold, I will share more, but needless to say, He is amazing me in how He speaks even through, and especially in, the seemingly mundane, habitual moments.

Here's a little glimpse into this week's unearthings....

Day 71 :: Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Day 72 :: Basking in the Sunshine

Day 73 :: Enjoying Spring

Day 74 :: Goddaughter, Macy Hope, walking on Sunshine

Day 75 :: Beautiful Sunset

Day 76 :: Friday night at FNF learning about the tongue

Day 77 :: Celebrating my pal, Jamie, as she and Grant prepare to welcome

their little lady bug in just a few weeks!

The Joy Dare

1000 gifts in 2012

214) The way the wind sounds when you close your eyes and just soak it in

215) The way the leaf floated at the top of the bucket of water --> random loveliness

216) Filling the pages of my 1000 gifts book (untapped potential)

217) Golden Double Stuff Oreoes

218) The smell of spring --> it is captivating me!

219) How excited my kitties were to spend time outside in the beautiful weather

3 Gifts Found In Silence

220) Time with my friend Alison at her house where they do not own a TV

221) Just sitting together with my love, in comfortable silence, each with our own thoughts

222) The stillness of the quiet house, when I am the last one awake

223) Jake: "But Mommy, Miss Lindsey is here and I haven't seen her in FOREVER!"

224) Listening to goddaughter Macy with her new words and sounds --> so cute!

225) Spending time with my best friend

3 Hard Eucharisteos

226) Finding His mercies in only one hour of sleep

227) Learning to trust Him in the tension of the waiting

228) The beauty of spring only came because of the persistence of the seeds through the cold winter

229) Those buds that have lay dormant for weeks, seeming, like they were going to bloom but now finally ARE in bloom!

230) Working with Wendy & Kasi to hang things to decorate around her new apartment

231) Celebrating with a friend at her baby shower -- She's waited a long time for this!

3 Gifts Red

232) Walking with Arno in his bright red slippers

233) Hot Tamales...Mhmmmm...!!

234) "DON'T WORRY. BE HOPPY." bag with the red lily pad gifted to me from Cheryl

Won't you join me? Take The Joy Dare!

Here is a list of ideas to daily help you

to SEE in the midst of the busy days...