30 January 2020

all the more.

  • leadership community at CCC...especially the questions/getting to know people around the table
  • yaya and emma's afternoon together
  • sweet emma letting zoe join in on the school work


  • leg warmers and sweatshirts and blankets to bundle up in
  • secret stash of chocolate chip cookies 
  • costa rican coffee all ground up!


  • a husband who serves and serves
  • sweet little one following after him


  • chicken noodle soup.  
  • friends that bring aforementioned soup 


  • offers of soup and elderberry syrup and dinner and anything
  • that we don't get sick all that much (#sicksucks)
  • beautiful reminders


  • a day of sweet blessings in tangible form (from janet...and yaya...and barbara)
  • our 2017 photo book is here!  yay for shutterfly's unlimited free pages sale (i know that was on the list last week...but i'm still thankful!  i'll always choose to be patient and pay $23 instead of 4-5 x's that amount)


23 January 2020

always more to be thankful for

  • fun times with little girls and the toy grocery cart
  • invitation for a two minute conversation with eli and nick (was more like 10 minutes...and i'm so proud of our son!)
  • dinner with the chambliss family and being introduced to looping louie


  • a neighborly honk and wave! 
  • when it's 8:30am and everyone is still sleeping (how is that possible?!?! i don't know. but i am SO grateful)
  • fun times with caroline at ollie's (and finding a journal for her at a good price)



  • CFA chicken noodle soup (and lunch with 5 incredible kids)
  • beams going up at CCC
  • high fives and fist bumps in toddler town (previously mentioned grocery cart is in the background!)

  • patiently waiting for the "free pages" sale on shutterfly...getting a photobook for about 1/4 of the price!
  • and the lovely katie katie callow notifying me of the free pages sale (yup...i say katie twice...she's just that great!)
  • truth:
  • rend collective tickets
  • a friend in pensacola to go see rend collective with!
  • terrible jokes. i love them. (for example: what's red and bad for your teeth? a brick.)

17 January 2020

This Is Us can wait for a bit...

I thought I was going to be watching the newest episode of This Is Us right about now.



But here I am writing a blog post. There's lots of back story...and honestly it doesn't even feel like it adds up to much of an actual story.  I won't be offended if you don't read this....no pressure (I won't know!).  Just feeling like I'm supposed to type some of this out...so as an act of "Living by the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit", here we go...


Where to start? Not even sure...

When we were serving on the Africa Mercy I had the incredible privilege of speaking/teaching/bringing a word to our crew in our worship gatherings about once every 4-5 weeks.  A short time after we got back from the ship, I was thinking about those talks that I thought were safely stored on a USB drive...I was thinking "maybe I'll have the chance to speak/teach/share on some of the same topics again someday and 98% of the work will already be done." (dianna's thinking "work smarter, not harder.") . And at some point I was thinking "some of those talks were good!  Maybe I can turn them into blog posts." (dianna is super good at humility sometimes)

Side note right here:  I am often surprised when I read things I've written - I just don't remember having written them (sometimes I wonder if my memory is messed up)... I don't feel capable of having written the Truth that is staring back at me.  It's a reminder that it's the Lord's doing and not mine...I just happen to get to be his fingers holding the pen or typing on the keys...(and it's quite wonderful to not remember and be encouraged and challenged all over again!)

Long story longer...

I plugged in the USB sometime near the end of 2017 to see what might be post-able and nothing comes up.  Nothing.  Not sure what in the world I did to that USB...but I could not and cannot access a thing that is on it.  I'm not even entirely sure what all is on it...but I know dozens of pages of sermons and such are...

Another side note:  if anyone happens to be reading this and has ANY CLUE as to how to fix this situation, please let me know...I still have the USB...tucked safely in my desk drawer.  I try it from time to time to see if the Lord has fixed it. So far He has not. 

SO THEN last week I found ONE of my talks on another USB.  I'm not even sure how it got on there...but it's there and I thought "maybe I'll make it into a blog post sometime."

That leads us to tonite.  Nick and the older 3 kids are at ultimate frisbee.  I put the 2 littlest to bed (we've got an extra toddler for a few weeks)...and my plan was to run on the treadmill, take a shower and then watch This Is Us.  Sounds like a pretty perfect Friday evening to me.

Part one (running on the treadmill) went well.
Part two (taking a shower) was where my plan derailed...or maybe it's railed just right.

As I was in the shower thinking about nothing in particular, the thought of posting the talk that I had found came to mind....and the conversation/thoughts between me and God went something like this:

(me) But I really just want to check out and watch This Is Us.

But are you going to live by My Spirit and keep in step with My Spirit?

(me) OK.  Definitely want to do that.  This Is Us can wait.

(me) BUT Nick took the keys that have the USB attached to the same key chain

Yet another side note: I wonder if having a USB on my key chain is really the best thing for the USB

(me) So maybe I'm off the hook.  Maybe it was just about being willing to postpone my Hulu watching dreams.

I go and check the hook where my keys aren't going to be since Nick took them....turns out he took his keys.  My keys and USB are definitely in the house. I'm not off the hook (neither are the keys! ba-duh-duh...that's the drum noise when there's a corny joke).

God says....You're willing, that's great, now do it. (I've heard that one before :))

I pull up the document...Our Good Abba Father...something is feeling super familiar about it all.  Maybe I've already posted this?  I clicked through a few blog labels/tags... Yup. There it is.  February of 2015.  Five years sure have flown by.


So then I was thinking I'm off the hook again!  If it's posted, I don't need to post it again....but the Holy Spirit was saying share the story of tonite...and I knew that sitting down to watch a TV show would be disobedient (not that it always is!  it sure isn't!) ...and as I've been typing, I am more certain than ever that someone needs to read that post from February of 2015...

here it is: Our Good Abba Father

so maybe the events of my evening have been for you - maybe you need to be reminded of who your Abba Father is. Maybe we all do.  So feel free to click on the link above and read some more or maybe you're supposed to just scroll to the bottom of that post and listen to the song...or save it for later...again, no pressure...I'm not going to know....

But I do know this: this Truth still stands:

Your Father God loves you and He is proud of you.  And the Truth is that your Abba Father God wants you to be able to relate to Him as Father...

We need a Father’s love – we need to know that we belong, that we are loved, that we are wanted…

So here I am.  Typing it all out. Just seeking to keep in step with The Spirit.
And, just so you know, you are worth postponing This Is Us.  Very worth it. 

16 January 2020

th-ank-ful

  • i like the cloudy/rainy days...i also like the sunshine after those cloudy/rainy days
  • sunday afternoon nap (always thankful for a nap)
  • incredible reminders/challenge through a street banner in chattanooga
  • time with the baka family
  • dinner with Francisco 
  • sweet sister moments


  • hearing from David Thomas
  • knowing that Right From the Start is working hard in our community 
  • emma's courage and willingness to do something she was scared of


  • synder's buffalo wing pretzel pieces 
  • a good night of sleeping.  it is such a gift. 
  • wonderful night away with emma!


09 January 2020

a list of responses to God's giving


  • CG discussion of Haggai...rich and full and real
  • all the chicken wings
  • "live in the spirit, keep in step with the spirit"
  • prayer prompts that come through fruit



  • responding to God's giving (Matthew 6:32ish)
  • sunshine and park time with the whites
  • when a project is easy to re-do, truly.
  • Sweet Little One's time with us (and how a balloon hat can provide the perfect cover for a foster child picture!!)(and remembering that i'm really not supposed to put names out there!)



  • scriptural validation for my lack of fashion and my simple cooking skillz (Matthew 6:25 msg!)
  • walking in the driveway with lauren - and zoe's cooperative nap
  • bundling back up under the covers
  • emma and marilyn iceskating...and the 2 of them looking for the baby in the king cake


  • the chance to meet t-man. getting to say yes to a one night (that ended up being 2) placement
  • friends who SEE me
  • being reminded of the significance of family...and that not everybody has it.
  • how God brought these words and this song into my Wednesday
  • caroline's time with annie
  • the way caroline enjoys zoe and captures so many moments in pictures
  • "it's a much better week" - words from someone i love very much
  • working on my thankful post outside (late breaking news/photo!)



02 January 2020

new year, still thankful.

  • having awesome wonderful easy going enjoyable family around for dayz
  • pockets of time to get the things done that must be done (and pockets of grace to let go of the rest)
  • the airbnb balloon making guy -- and the fact that he has done church bus routes for more than 40 years.  he LITERALLY brought thousands of kids to church.  


  • yaya's spaghetti casserole...and how it fed a whole table full of folks
  • talking about bouncy balls and 100 goals and fun memories
  • the right note at the right moment  


  • Sweet Little One is enjoying us so much more this go round
  • my kung fu fighting t-shirt!! 
  • reminders of discipleship and the importance of daily faithfulness/daily decisions



  • giving it another go (i did it once, surely i can do it again)
  • when little ones sleep in (and how anything past about 7:30 is sleeping in!)
  • yup:
  • slugs and bugs show on rightnow media.  
  • ringing in the new year with food and friends and fireworks that didn't hurt anyone
  • fran fluker's advice to CCC to look for things to be thankful for