Am I Climbing?

This postcard hangs on my refrigerator. I purchased it in Seattle at the this store!
It asks me a very important question each time I look at it, and that is why it is hanging where I see it many times a day!
You see, I am a not a mountain climber by nature...literally and figuratively. I don't long to tie up my boots, strap a heavy pack to my back, and hit the trail. No, I am the "stay in camp" gal. You looking for someone to have a steaming pot of stew cooking over the fire for when you return from a long day of hiking....I am the one for you!!
I like smooth trails...literally and figuratively. I like a smooth life too. It seems easier and more predictable that way. Nothing out of the ordinary catches me by surprise...I've got it all under control...at least I like to tell myself that!
But guess what happens when life's trail gets bumpy, or a huge tree falls down right in my easy path? I whine, I weep, I grumble...literally!

As I go down the path of life, I find that as long as it is easy, I am fall into a comfortable, lethargic pattern of just barely living. The day in and day out of doing and doing and.....
It is when I am forced to strap on my pack and tie up my shoes for a hard climb, that I find that God has something planned for me, that I am going to need "the gear" for!

He has never promised that my trail is going to be smooth, but He has promised to fill me with His strength...and enough to get me to the top of the mountain! He has never said that there wouldn't ever be massive oaks of discouragement, illness, fatigue, pain, misunderstandings, unkindness....but He has on many occasions, picked me up, and carried me over what is obstructing my path.

In the past year, I have faced my own mountains. Some have been exciting, yet overwhelming in nature...some have been painful and frightening! I ask myself everyday if I am climbing them with the excitement of what lies ahead, or am I grumbling, because it is hard? Sometimes, that just depends on the day....but my prayer is always that I will find endurance to climb!

I don't want to be a whiny valley dweller, when I can climb to the top and watch eagles soar!
So excuse me while I go find my hiking boots.....I've got a mountain to climb!

Baby # 11

Thank You, Joe and Tara for the honor of being there for Grant's arrival! He is such a gift from God, and my experience as one of your Doulas, was very rewarding!

Giving a Legacy

Duane's grandparents, Leroy and Helen Seward, just celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. We honored them with a family celebration last Friday evening.
We are deeply grateful for the legacy of commitment and love that they are intentionally giving us...their grandchildren.
In a society where "sticking with it" is rare, it is refreshing to find two people who have weathered life for 60 years...and still love to laugh together and be with each other.
May that be said of Duane and I in 42 years!

The Story Behind the Name

Welcome to my new blog, dear faithful. readers! It is with warm regard that I return to blogging; I have missed you! That may seem foreign to some of you, and yet others simply understand the need to write. So once again, thank you for missing me...the feeling is mutual!

Early this Summer, I began to feel a strong desire to change the name of my blog (I like change, just ask those close to me how often I move my furninture!) I was coming upon my second year of blogging, and when I began this journey, the name, Facing Grace, appropriatly described where I was in life. But a lot has changed in two years.I like to think that is a very good thing!

I look at this blog as an extention of myself...my ministry; my testimony to how God works in my life. I began to ask God to help me come up with a new name and to mold me even more into a vessel that He can use.
I began searching the internet, blogs, websites, for ideas for a new name. I poured over books, magazines, cookbooks. I read poetry...scripture...road signs...nothing clicked. I even sat with my feet crossed, eyes closed and hummed deeply....nothing! (ok, that's a joke)
The creative side of me felt very defeated. I knew what I wanted my new blog to be about, but coming up with a name was not happening!

Then came the day! It happened when I least expected it. I was sitting off to the side of the room, listening to my Friend (and Doula Teacher), Kyndal, share with a room full of expectant couples, about the process of birth. She was explaining the them about the pain of labor...and she said, "You have to just be there and surrender to what is going on".
I immediately thought, "Well, my goodness, that is so close to what all of life is about! And that is precisely where I am in my life!" I have to constantly surrender to what I am dealing with or going through. So on the way home from Childbirth class, I let that thought take up residence in my head. I began to wonder and ponder how I could incorporate that word into the name of my blog. It didn't come to me immediately, but one afternoon in my kitchen, I was listening to a CD and the song, "I Surrender All" started playing. As I was singing along, I came to the part in the first verse that says, "....I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence DAILY live...." and I stopped dead in my tracks!

The following is what rambled through my newly renovated thought closet, "Daily live....that means that EVERYDAY I wake up and choose to SURRENDER to Him and His plans for me. EVERYDAY He gives me new mercies...and what does He give me those new mercies for EVERY MORNING? For the day ahead. For the things that I am going to go through and deal with. He wants me to JUST BE THERE and SURRENDER to what He is going to bring me EVERYDAY. He is going to chart my course; the best path for me, and He is going to BE THERE WITH ME and I am so alright with that!!"

I sat down at my table and wrote the name, "Everyday Surrender" on a yellow legal pad. That was it, it clicked!

So, it is with great excitement about my journey, that I begin blogging again. God is up to some big things in our family's life!
In addition to the normalcy of life, our kids are getting older by the minute and starting school for another year...Duane is busy with work and ministry for guys in our church....I am knee deep in training and reading for my Doula certification, attending births, Women's Mentoring Ministry Startup....life is busy. But we are finding delight in His ways! He is abundant in His mercies and His love never fails!

Welcome back!!

P.S. I am adding more to the side of my blog for recipes, favorite websites...