Look Mom! It's a Thing!

Have you ever been sleep deprived? Been so tired that you don't make sense to anyone....not even yourself? OH yes, but does it stop at just that? No way!! Not only do you make absolutely NO sense at all, but every word that happens to escape your lips is HILARIOUS! What state of mind is this? Deliriium? Hysteria? Simple, everyday fatigue? Well, this is the state I was in today while Mom & I were driving, then hiking to Sol Duc Falls.
The 0.8 mile (one way) trail is very well marked and a super easy hike with only mild ups & downs. We noticed several interesting plants, some rocks shaped like 'fish', some green & white ?stuff? (maybe a fungus?) with little round-ish orange beads on them. THEN....
Whoah! "Mom! Look! It's a thing!!" Is that the funniest exclamation you've ever heard? Yeah, me either, but at the time we both laughed until we nearly wet our pants. (A little personal, sorry. LOL) Must have been the delirium in full effect. If you checked out the photo above, that was the "thing" we found to be so incredibly amusing. It's times like these that shape our mundane activities and regular ol' days into GREAT days! FUN days!



Then, of course, Mom had to get REALLY SILLY and scamper out onto the rocks just above the falls. Knowing from experience how slippery those stones are when they're wet, I'm yelling, "MOM!! Be careful! Don't go down there!" I'm thinking, ummmm, isn't this a little backward? Isn't the Mom supposed to be telling the child to be careful & not go there? Well, I look up and there she is....saying, "Neener Neener!"

Silly Mommy! I'm just THRILLED to see her having so much fun. Too many of these precious moments have been robbed from her over a span of about 40 years by 3 separate yet somehow melded creatures whom I do not care to mention at this moment. I will never be able to wrap my mind around the dark intentions inside these men. What good person can understand a soul who sets out to tear another down SO far that they no longer feel as if they are worth even a warm smile or a tender hug? Evil, simple as that...and what fellowship has Light with evil? None! None! None!

I will say that she IS healing. Travelling down this broken road, realizing what a beautiful creation that she truly is. Becoming a tiny bit more confident every single day that God has a purpose for her incredibly gentle soul and that it is up to her to take advantage of the resources at her fingertips to help her protect her soul. I pray daily for the ability to assist when I'm needed and to watch from the shadows when the situation calls for it. She is MOST special! I look forward with great anticipation to the next chapter in our lives when, if God wills it, we may spend quality time together without any hinderance from the evil ones.

At the end of this day......we partook in a little heaven on earth!!


"Resist the Devil and he will flee from you"
Christ gave us MOST sound instructions!

Sticks and Stones

James 1:26
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

Yes, yes, we all know the saying..."Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." True? It is all relative. Even though the poison others spew at us does not physically mame us....they do indeed create pain. Worse pain than physical? My opinion...much worse. I will not claim to be a person of marble who never feels physical discomfort, on the contrary, my pain threshold is not nearly as high as many many others I have encountered. Mental pain, however, I consider myself to be at the 'proficient' level when it comes to dealing with this type of abuse. I must ask myself....how much of this form of evil have I caused others to endure? Have I ever intentionally tossed a word or two into the pot for someone else to discover? Regretfully, I must confess that I have. More times than I care to even admit.
Now that I am a Christian, have I changed this quality in myself? Have I allowed God to transform me into His daughter? Do I conform to the world by partaking in this behavior? I'm afraid that at times, I do. This is no longer intentional, mind you, like it was when I was younger...but whether it is intended to cause pain or not, people may still be harmed by poisonous words. It sometimes requires me being on the receiving end of this before I really begin to take great care prior to openning my mouth.

James 3:6
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.


James 3:8
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.


Once the poison comes out, it is too late. To attempt to back-track and remove the words is futile. Their hidden (or open) intentions are exposed and the damage is done. We may claim that no malice was intended (whether fact or fiction) but the hard reality is that the pain is real, intentional or not. We may be able to patch the damages for a period of time, however, that's all we can ever really do: PATCH work. The deeper we love the 'poisoner', the deeper the pain we feel.

Being a Christian has assisted me tremendously in overcoming both my role as 'poisoner' and as the lowly 'poisonee'. The latter is much more difficult for me to face, but I continue to allow God's love to fill my soul. The more of God's love I have inside of me, the less space there will be for poison. One day, I pray that I will be SO completely FULL with the love of my Lord that NOTHING else will fit!! With the self esteem that ONLY GOD can create in me, I will not be forced to endure this poison...the poison that hurts MUCH worse than sticks and stones ever could.
ONLY WITH GOD can this be accomplished.
He is my everything.

Memories

So, I was looking through some old photos at my Nana's house and came across some wonderfully funny shots of myself, Kory, Randy, my Mom, Dad, Nana & cousins. I shared them on facebook. The response just makes me chuckle. I can't spy a pic, newer or older, of my Dad without shedding at least one little tear. :( I miss him so much. He was such a zealous man with regard to his beliefs. I only wish that I could make as heavy an impression on others as my Dad did. I know that I DO make an impression...but people actually loved Dad. I'm pretty sure that is NOT what they're thinking when they leave my presence.



I know that if I was making the impact God expects me to, then life would be quite different for me. God has/had His reasons for giving each of us the gift of Christ and I should be grateful enough to behave appropriately, but do I? Am I checking myself daily? Moment by moment? I need to be CERTAIN that I need not be frightened if Christ chooses today...or NOW to return! I need my confidence in the Lord to return to me like a flood! I fall so short of who I ought to be that I frequently tell myself how UNworthy I am of Christ's love, then I find myself caught up in the snare of comparing myself to others, "Well, no one really is worthy," and "If that person (whomever it may be) is safe, then surely I am too." and such. But who is it that I need to compare myself to? It is Christ and no one else. I do not....MUST not compare myself to any human, for we are ALL in need of His gift & should behave in a manner that tells EVERYONE about it! People should know without a doubt that when they meet me, I belong to the Lord and am proud of it! If I knew that someone was writing my eulogy....would I act differently?

All of that came out of the fact that I miss my Dad & no one ever had to wonder where he was coming from, you knew without a doubt that he loved Jesus and intended to live his life to prove that.

Fun in the sun at Salt Creek

Peace...

Beauty...

Friendship...

Ye shall find rest unto your soul...

After a seemingly endless & difficult night at work I was desperately in need of a little recreation, sooooo, I took my Mom to Salt Creek Park. It's on Highway 112 just a little ways out of Port Angeles. We parked close to the beach and ventured out across the vast expanse of sand to the enormous sea stack, and onto the rocks at 'Tongue Point'. We spied hundreds of marvelous tide pools along this rocky protrusion into the Pacific. Each tide pool is like it's own miniature world with sea anemones, star fish, hermit crabs, tiny 'bottom sucker' fish (idk what species they actually are?), several types of sea weed, mussels, & numerous other living creatures! The seagulls are continually on the prowl, searching this 'buffet' for their next coarse. The fresh coastal breeze came in with the tide, cleansing our senses as we gazed in awe at the waves crashing onto the rocky shore. We marvelled at God's wonderful creation as we thanked Him for giving our souls rest.
A Beautiful Day indeed.

few more drawings

Animals

Portraits of people

Drawings

Just thought I'd share a few of the portraits I've drawn in the past few years.

Sleep Deprived

So.....I worked last night from 7pm to 7am, then I went home, packed some stuff & drove to Spokane to visit Mom & Nanna. I have travelled that road SO many times in my youth...but I never appreciated the magnificence of it. It is truly amazing to see what God created with simply a word. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to explore the many wonders He placed here for all to see. How can anyone deny our powerful Creator?

A very special post...

WOW! I'm actually going to write a little note on my blog.
I was searching for information on the petroglyphs at Cape Alva when I came across this blog, "The Adventures of the Hikemasters". I am becoming quite fond of hiking, so I had to check it out. Once I did, I was hooked and I began to 'follow' their blog. (This terminology really cracks me up, I mean, who actually thought up 'blogging' and being 'followers' anyway? lol)
Well, I absolutely love reading about the hikes that the Taylor-Lentz family takes. They give me marvelous ideas for places to go and I have made mental notes of numerous sites I'd like to see. I have posted a link to a very special post I found while wandering through their hiking blogs. It's amazing that I can just adore people I have never even met. It would be so wonderful to live the life they are living....travelling across different countries, making all of world their home.
I can't claim to have the greatest writing abilities, but I have taken some marvelous hikes and would love to share them with my friends! I could call each person and tell my story to each one individually, or I can just be a follower and BLOG about it haha!
I simply need to motivate myself to begin writing so I can post my own content rather than go on and on about someone elses blog! lol

The Adventures of the Hikemasters: Maile - In Memoriam

Another test

I'm e-mailing my own blog? I think....

--
II Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved to God, a workman that need not be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

Testing

I'm not completely certain how this works or if I am willing to spill my guts about everything that's happening in my life for all the world to see, so I'm considering things and will possibly get back to....myself regarding 'blogging'.