they're heeeerrrre...

Last week they were budding....
this week they have arrived!!

The crepe myrtle trees are bloomin' all over the bloomin' city right now!
These are shots of the tree right out in front of my office window...

pretty in pink...

...and still more buds waiting to burst forth into
glorious pinkness!

I love the frilly edges of the dainty petals!

* * * * *

Thanks, God, for such beauty this day!

love, sweet love....

I was munching on some blueberries today, enjoying my day's supply of vitamins and antioxidants.... and look what I found!!!!

I do LOVE blueberries...
...and I think they LOVE me, too!!

(and tell me, how can that NOT make you smile?!)

celebrate the Sabbath...with baptism...

What a great way to spend the Sabbath! I was honored to spend today with friends and to join with them in the celebration of baptism! My friends' two oldest boys --ages 9 and 7-- and their two cousins from back east, and one adult friend of my friends all were baptized today!


There were about 30 or so friends and family members who gathered at the beach for the baptisms.... we started it off with an explanation of what baptism is-- symbolically joining Christ in His death and resurrection and bublically proclaiming to the world (and all those near us at the beach!) of one's decision to follow Christ, prayer, and then each of those being baptized waded into the water.

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ~Romans 6:3-4

Each one proclaimed his or her decision for Christ and was baptised there in the ocean... buried with Christ and risen to a new life.

(no, the bird was not baptised!)

After the baptisms, we all played at the beach for an hour or so and then went to a friend's house for bbq'd ribs and chocolate cake! What joy to celebrate life in Christ on the Sabbath!

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ~Galatians 3:26-27

a lizard's big heart...

Yesterday, a friend found me on Facebook, and we became "friends" once again. She had recently taken a little photo journey to a botanical gardens in Quail Canyon near Encinitas, CA and had posted some of her photos on her profile.

As I looked through her beautiful floral photos, I came across the one below and just had to share it with you...

That's one big-hearted lizard!!!

(Isn't this the BEST photo?!?!)

**big thanks to Diane for letting me use her photo!!

here they come...

If you were one of my readers one year (and one day) ago, you would have read my post about the glorious view out my office window. Gorgeous pink blossoms on the tree right in front of my office.

This year the tree is a little behind schedule, but.... here... they... come...

...anticipation....
...anticipa-a-tion...
(think of the old Heinz ketchup commercial tune!)
They're making me wait...
They're keeping me wa-a-a-iting!
...but they're coming!!

What says "CALIFORNIA" better than a blue sky and a palm-tree-lined street?!

Here's to a California evening yesterday... (yes, that IS the hood of my car, and yes, I took this on my cell phone camera while driving!)

And this was the sun setting as I arrived at my Bible study group...
Lovely, don't you think?

Thank You, God, for yellows and blues...

and crazy Dr. Seuss-looking trees!

Thank You, God, for another day of life in You...

cell phone vs Bible...

One thing you should all know about me is that I AM that most-dreaded of emailers-- the "chain email breaker"!! Yes, I admit it. If you send me a forwarded email, I WILL delete it without passing it along. (especially if the sender included all of the previous forwarded emails in the body and all of the addresses to whom it had been sent --shame on you!! help protect your friends and their friends --use the BCC, folks!)

No, I'm not terrified--or even nervous, for that matter--about the 'bad luck' I may receive as a result.

And no, I don't believe I will be tremendously blessed or lucky within a certain number of minutes/days/weeks/months/years if I forward it.

Nor do I believe I am "ashamed of Jesus" if I don't pass a God-oriented email along to all of my address book.

The above disclaimer aside, I did receive one that made me pause and consider. Even though I did not forward it, I thought it was worth sharing with my blog readers...

Cell phone vs Bible
Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone? What if....

• we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
• we flipped through it several times a day?
• we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
• we used it to receive messages from the text?
• we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
• we gave it to kids as gifts?
• we used it when we traveled?
• we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible? Oh, and one more thing--unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill! [Praise God!!] ...And no dropped calls!

Though these are all simple little comparisons, they did make me pause and consider... and to also pose the question: Which would I miss more? ...something to think about...

fitting in...

I ran across this photo one day, and for some reason I was struck by it...
Yes, it's definitely cute. And fun.

But, it also reminds me what I feel like sometimes... like I'm trying to fit in, trying to find a place where I belong.

No matter how I hard I try to be like the others, I'm still a cat...not a raccoon. I can put on a mask... but it doesn't change who I am.

This applies to our Christian life-- we are not of this world. We will never completely fit in here. We will never be completely at home here.

It also applies to my own life and how I see myself. Sometimes I feel so out of place, so not-belonging... and I want to wear a mask to fit in. I want to belong. I want to be a raccoon and fit in nicely with the other raccoons. But, I'm not a raccoon. God has made me unique...in just the way He wants me to be. He has made me just as it pleased Him... and I must remember and delight in who He has made me to be!

"For You created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well. "
~Psalm 139:13-14

I will praise Him... for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well. Thank You, Father, for creating me as I am and for loving me as You have made me!

celebrate the Sabbath...with a little humor...

This may be a bit unorthodox, as we don't normally think of the Sabbath being a humorous day or concept. But, I do believe our amazing God has a good sense of humor (let's remember the platypus and the anglerfish!), so I couldn't resist sharing this little "funny" today...

Sabbath -

a weekly festival having its origin

in the fact that God made the world in six days

and was arrested on the seventh.

~Ambrose Bierce

take a walk in the woods...

...something to think about today...

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day,
he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer.
But if he spends his days as a speculator,
shearing off those woods

and making the earth bald before her time,
he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
~Henry David Thoreau

...and while you're taking that walk in the woods,

don't forget to give praises to the One Who made them...

the green leafy boughs above your head

the brown earth beneath your feet...

the clean earthy smell of nature...

the sounds of birds in the trees...

mmmmm... Creation!

Thank You, God! You are good to us!