What did you see today?

For most of the years we were raising a family, Louis was a citrus farmer.


He delighted in spending many long days outdoors, in orange groves and cypress hammocks and on long and winding country roads.


"What did you see today, daddy?" The boys begged to know before Louis could even get out of his boots.


They were spellbound by Louis' stories of tractors and backhoes...


...and alligators and wild turkeys and rattlesnakes and bobcats...


...and they lived for the opportunity to "go to work with daddy" and the possibility of experiencing a creature encounter themselves.


I miss those days of wonder - of listening to Louis' stories and seeing the world through the eyes of my children and finding joy in the adventures of life.


More than once last week, Gavin, who is not quite three, talked about seeing angels. Lots of them. Everywhere. He was serious.

"See the angels?" He pointed Mason toward the cloudless blue sky. "They are all over!"

Maybe I should have been asking the children, "What did you see today?"

"For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.." ~ Psalm 91:11

Lovely days...

...yellow days


...and gray days



...and rainy days


He has made everything beautiful in its time...



How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
~ Psalm 84:1-2

It's a beautiful day...

for washing feet...

for cleaning house with my beautiful daughter

...for eating, studying and praying with our lifegroup

...and for loving on those little boys that call me "mimi"

The gala...

Our fancy-schmancy gala evening last week was perfectly delightful - beautiful music, lovely people, elegant dining and inspiring stories, but I could not wait to get out of my shoes.

The trip from Pollywog Creek to the gala venue was not so delightful. Despite detailed directions from google maps, we got lost in Tampa's rush-hour traffic. We were most grateful to pull into a Doubletree Hotel that not only gave us proper directions, but kindly allowed us to change out of our travel clothes into our fancy-schmancy gala clothes while we were there.

Leaving Tampa for Winter Haven later that evening, we got lost once again. It was a long night with multiple detours and an unexpected visit with my adorable nine day old grandnephew during his late-night fussy time. When all was said and done, it was 2 o'clock in the morning before we could call it a night.

One of the sweetest things about the gala was the opportunity to talk with Rebecca St. James again. We actually ran into her first at the reception before dinner, where we re-introduced ourselves. It had been over three years since our interview with her. After dinner and the program had concluded, we caught up with her again where she graciously recorded a short message of encouragement to the girls in our rural community. I can't wait to share it with the other CPC board members tonight and to see how God is going to use Rebecca's message to encourage and inspire girls to stay sexually pure and strong in their faith.

Rebecca's movie Sarah's Choice will be available on DVD next week. You can watch the trailer here.

Photos: An early evening walk around the pond, Rebecca St. James recording the message, and Rebecca with Emily.

Joy...

Emily and I had a discussion recently about the dichotomy that is our life here on Pollywog Creek - simple, unassuming, ordinary small-town life versus celebrity interviews and gatherings with dignitaries.

One afternoon Emily met the vice president, changed her clothes in a grocery store bathroom and raced home to babysit for a friend.

And so it goes.

Today I wore my holey jeans and the worn out flip-flips I bought two years ago at Target. The same holey jeans and flip-flops I wear three or four days a week. We cleaned toilets and washed feet. Tomorrow we're off to a fancy-schmancy gala.

Is it okay to admit that I'm much more comfortable in my holey jeans in the obscurity that is our rural home?

Saturday I took photos of the sugarcane fields and the mill and refinery as we drove along the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. It was not a picture-perfect day, but even under the clouds and through the car window, the dark soil, the bright green fields, and the mill smoke stacks were irresistible attractions.


Speaking of irresistible. How about that Lion King, Diego and baby skeleton? Are they not just too, too cute?


We were in the local drivers license office yesterday when a young man in his twenties came in and requested an ID card.

He was obviously surprised and annoyed when the worker behind the counter told him he needed documentation.

"I don't know who you are," she told him.

"I'm Pedro Rodriquez." Not his real name, but close.

"Okay." She stared at him, and he left.

I read a sign on the counter:

"Everyone who comes into this office brings joy. Some bring joy when they come in. Some bring joy when they leave."

Not hard to figure out which "joy bringer" was Pedro, but it sure made me think about which one was me.

Mélange...

...a mixture often of incongruous elements



I think I should have a mélange post once a month, don't you? It's a nice way to tie up loose ends, so to speak. An excuse to post random, unrelated photos from recent weeks and ramble on about this and that.



Tomorrow is our 33rd wedding anniversary. (By the time I get this written and posted it will probably be tomorrow...which means our anniversary is actually today and not tomorrow.)



We chose October 29th for our small wedding ceremony to coincide with the Florida-Auburn football game scheduled for the following day and my daddy's October 31st birthday. Louis was a student at the University of Florida and we were too poor to go on a honeymoon, so we married on the 29th, took my parents and our brothers and their wives to the Florida-Auburn game on the 30th and celebrated my daddy's birthday on the 31st. Florida won the football game, we are still married (by the grace of God), and if daddy were alive, we'd be celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday.



Emily and I spent the best part of today in the city for a little shopping, lunch, and hair cuts. Some time ago I heard a message on giving that encouraged the practice of rounding down spending and rounding up giving. I love it. Today was an opportunity for us to do both.

One of my favorite ways to round up giving is to tip generously. I'm not boasting, really. It is such a little thing, but a huge joy I don't want to miss. It is immensely delightful to trust the Lord and see who He puts in our path.



Earlier this week I read a fabulous housekeeping tip that is so easy and yet very beneficial. Each time you go into a room in your house, do just one thing to tidy up and improve the room's appearance before leaving.

There is not a single room in my small house that I do not enter several times a day. If I were to develop the habit suggested in that tip, my house would be much cleaner.



I had a terrible case of insomnia last night (Tuesday). Despite a desperate need for a good night's sleep, I simply could not turn off my mind and found myself wallowing in "poor me's."

After hours of tossing and turning and getting out of bed to check e-mails, I was miserable. I begged God to help me fall asleep and decided that if I couldn't turn my mind off, I would at least redirect my thoughts.



Two o'clock in the morning I determined to stop feeling sorry for myself and be grateful.

I mentally assembled a list of all the things for which I am thankful, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

Glorious...

We did drive to the beach after church yesterday, but most of the afternoon was spent volunteering with church-sponsored games at a pumpkin festival a few blocks inland from the water. We had the most fun watching the little ones who, with much determination and perseverence, attempted the bean-bag toss and golf game that Emily and I were assigned to run.

It was a stunningly beautiful day. The temperature reached well into the 80's, but a cool front ushered in drier, less humid air that combined with the sea breeze to create the most delightful weather.

When the festival activities were over, we walked down to the beach but discovered it to be much too crowded for our liking. It was, afterall, a perfect beach day. With too many hours before sunset and no desire to join the crowds at water's edge, we headed off the island.

Disappointed? A little, but Lord willing, we will have many more opportunities to do that frolicking in the sand we had anticipated.

We do still live in a bit of paradise, don't you think?

Even though record-breaking high's are forecast for what seems like forever, the mornings are still cool enough for an early walk, and the sunlight breaking through the fog and branches of the the tall pine trees, illuminating the foxtails...

and the dew-speckled spider webs and flowering clumps of moss....

...is just as glorious as the beach, I think.

That wasn't how I saw it at first, as I walked out into the cool morning air. Confusion and discouragement had been disturbing my sleep and occassionally my thoughts in recent days, and the misty fog that descended on Pollywog Creek seemed to match my melancholic mood.

"I could really use some encouragement this morning, Lord. And wisdom. And hope."

It was then that I noticed. The streaks of light that fog could not hold back, that overcame the darkness and illuminated the path. Glorious. And I knew at that moment that He had heard.

Looks just like summer...

...doesn't it?

Tomorrow after church we will be delighting in our typical summery fall weather by frolicking in the sand at the beach.

Sad, I know. But someone has to do it.

Distracted...

A delightful taste of fall arrived on Pollywog Creek this weekend, bringing with it the simple pleasures of socks and sweatshirts and hot buttered cornbread with steaming bowls of spicy chili. Cool breezes pushed the heavy, stale summer out open doors and windows, and we slept warm and cozy under soft blankets as the chilly night air settled in. It was nearly perfect, and just as the last few morsels of chili were heartily consumed, our little taste of fall began to give way to summer's insistent return.

Despite the brevity of those delicious days, I am most grateful for every minute. Emily showed Gavin how to chase his shadow, and I spent hours under the trees by the pond chasing energetic warblers and an elusive tufted titmouse with my camera.

Warm tropical breezes are blowing in from the east this morning as I bask in the fallish remnants from my back porch. I'm attempting to study and write, but I'm struggling to remain focused when white puffy clouds are floating across cerulean skies, and butterflies are flittering about, and a small swarm of yellow jackets are drinking from the sapsucker drilled holes in the sweetgum tree, and cardinals and blue jays are fussing at each other in the pine trees and thickets by the creek.

The words in my books will surely remain, but those wonders? Those fleeting glimpses of God's glory?

Did you notice...

UPDATE - I didn't realize I had published this until Robin and Allie commented. I honestly didn't mean to post just a title and photos, but I wasn't sure what I was going to write and meant to save this in drafts. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I guess I'll just leave him there! Happy weekend, y'all!!!

Summer and not-summer...

Emily says we have two seasons here in southwest Florida: summer and not-summer. I am beyond ready for some not-summer, and I'm almost afraid to say it out loud, but the forecast high for Sunday is......79. 79. No 90's, not even any 80's, but 79. Lord willing.

Now, I do realize that if we are to delight in a sunny 79 then it most likely means that many of my dear sweet friends up yonder, who have been posting delightful photographs of stunning fall foliage and cozy sweatshirts and knitting wool sweaters as they snuggle together before a lovely fire while I sweat bullets and turn up the air-conditioning, will be turning on their heaters and possibly spending a cold and dreary day indoors while we throw open the doors and windows and light our cinnamon apple candles and pretend we actually have fall...but y'all can share with us this one day, can't you?

Blue Monday...

Though I've appreciated the freedom to blog without obligation, I've missed participating in a photo challenge since taking an extended break from the Saturday photo hunt. When I read Jean Stockdale's blog today (particularly this post), I thought of these photos I took during October last year and couldn't resist joining in today's Blue Monday fun hosted by Smiling Sally.

An early morning fog at a retreat center near Lake Wales (where I was speaking at a women's retreat over the weekend) cast a lovely blue ethereal haze over the lake. I can't believe it has been a whole year since that delightful weekend with some of the sweetest ladies I've ever met.

Stirring up...

"The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things." Oswald Chambers
Photos of the muscovy ducks skimming across our pond are some of the few I took this week. We're having a heat wave here on Pollywog Creek, and with record high-lows combined with high humidity and heat indexes over a hundred, I'm not inclined to spend much time outdoors.

Despite a lack of photography and outdoor activities, I've certainly not been bored. It's been one of those weeks, with spurts of chaos along a steady stream of the less significant stuff of life. A feverish baby and a nighttime trip to the store for tylenol. Potty-training preschoolers, a little one with a stomach virus and the extra loads of laundry that accompany them both. A doctor visit to discuss surgery - for Louis, not me. Difficult professors, bird feeder stealing squirrels and a week of sleepless nights with a restless grandson. Friends and family with heartaches and pain, and praying for wisdom and encouragement. No. I've not been bored.

Wednesday morning I arrived at the home of my widow friend as planned, with just enough time to help her shower, change her bed linens and drive her into town for an appointment. I had not planned on bringing my 2 1/2 year old grandson Gavin with me, but there he was none-the-less. It was just one of those things that couldn't be helped, and with no time for me to make different arrangements, Gavin needed to be on his very best behavior, and I lovingly told him so.

With a handful of toy cars I found in the bottom of his diaper bag, Gavin played quietly by himself on the living room rug for almost an hour. I checked on him frequently. "What a good, good boy you are," I reminded him often, looking into his big blue eyes and planting a kiss on the top of his head. I expected him to be good, or at least that's what I told him, and thankfully he lived up to my expectations.

Gavin is like most of us, I think. We tend to live up (or down) to who we know or think we are, and also like Gavin, we sometimes need frequent reminders.



"I am who God says I am." Beth Moore
Emily calls it "the wave" - those seasons when we read or hear the same verse or thought in scripture, in sermons, and in our private study. I'm on a Hebrews 10:24 wave.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works...

On a preschool level, Gavin demonstrated a way that works. When I reminded him that he was good, he believed me and was "stirred up" to do the "good work" of a busy little boy to obey his mimi. When I remind you and you remind me, and we believe that we are who God says we are in Christ, then we are "stirred up" to the "love and good works" for which those who love the Lord have been gifted and equipped.

First Friday::October 2009::"We're not here for the_________"

"We're not here for the food." I reminded my friend as we surveyed the menu board on the wall.

It wasn't that the cafe's offerings were bad, it's just that we would have chosen a different restaurant if we had been expecting finer cuisine. We weren't there for the food.

"It's true for most things, don't you think?" She responded. It should be.

We're not here - I'm not here - right here, in this place, at this time - for the what? The money? The praise of men? Material prosperity? Future retirement? Life of ease? Perfect health? Personal satisfaction? Me?

Have I not been chosen for more?

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I Peter 2:9 (emphasis mine)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

"After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God." O. Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, October 2

Book Review :: A Slow Burn, by Mary DeMuth

"In a town that thrived on spicy news, she'd kept the spice capped. And for what? So she could sprinkle it on her friend like a weapon?" p.230

A Slow Burn is the newly released book 2 in the Defiance Texas Trilogy by Mary DeMuth. The opportunity to read A Slow Burn for review was one that I cautiously accepted the last day it was offered. I'm a bit skeptical about Christian fiction. I know that there are wonderful exceptions(I've read them), but I've also read too many mass-produced, poorly-written, sappy and predictable Christian novels. I was thrilled to discover that A Slow Burn is none of the above.

It is not light reading for the faint of heart, however, but for those who are willing to live with the complicated characters of Defiance, Texas, as they question a God who would allow them to stumble and crawl through the most painful and messy darkness. It is for those who can see past the pain and sin and misery to the light and hope and redemption on the horizon. Edgy, but discreet, Mary's well-crafted stories are compelling, mysterious and unpredictable. A Slow Burn is the story of hopelessness overcome by long-suffering and sacrificial love.

Though many will not recognize themselves in the citizens of Defiance to who readers are introduced or in the experiences where we are taken, we can surely catch a glimpse of something in our own lives that resonates with the suffering, the fear, the regret, the shame, or the grief, and the desperate need of mercy and grace and forgiveness for us and for those whose lives we intersect. A Slow Burn forces us to face sin and sorrow in us and others, reveal truth in love, and move forward in Christ's redeeming love.

The murder of Emory's thirteen year old daughter Daisy remains unsolved, and difficult relationships are yet to be resolved, but A Slow Burn comes to a satisfying conclusion, and a respite in which to anticipate book 3 in the Defiance Texas Trilogy.

About Mary DeMuth

An accomplished writer, Mary’s parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture, Building the Christian Family You Never Had, and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God. Her real-to-life novels inspire people to turn trials into triumphs: Watching the Tree Limbs (2007 Christy Award finalist, ACFW Book of the Year 2nd Place) and Wishing on Dandelions (2007 Retailer’s Choice Award finalist).

Mary is a frequent speaker at women’s retreats and parenting seminars, addressing audiences in both Europe and the United States. National media regularly seek her candid ability to connect with listeners. Her radio appearances include FamilyLife Today, Moody Midday Connection, and U.S.A. Radio network. She has articles published in Marriage Partnership, In Touch, and HomeLife.

Mary and her husband Patrick live in Texas with their three children.

Learn more about Mary at http://marydemuth.com/.

"...this cornbread is the bread of God. More than daily bread, it's his grace. Not just sustenance, but perfect flavor, too. Isn't that just like God? He gives us what we need, then surprises us with flavor." p. 67

A list of bloggers participating in A Slow Burn Blog Tour:
Admissions of a Suburban Philosopher
All are welcome here
A Musing Mom Speaks
A Sandy Path Book Reviews
A Writer’s Journey
Adventures of the Duncan Six
AP Free Writing 101
Arkansas Dreams
Aspire2 Blog
Awesome God…Ordinary Girl
Be Your Best Mom
Beams of Light Ministries
Bell Whistle Moon
Blog Tour Spot
Bluebonnet in the Snow
Book Nook Club
Caregiving and Beyond
Carla’s Writing Cafe
Carly Bird’s Home
Carma’s Window
Cheaper by the Half Dozen
Cindy’s Stamping and Reviews
CommuniKate
Critty Joy
Declaring His Marvelous Work
Drive Home Productions
Edgewise
Elizabeth Bussey
Faith…Creativity…Life
Fiction for the Restless Reader
Fictionary
Five Bazillion and One
Fresh Brewed Writer
Gatorskunz and Mudcats
Heading Home
His Reading List
i don’t believe in grammar
J’s Spot
Joy in the Journey
Karen R. Evans
Kristin Early
L’Chaim
Latte with Me
Literary Fangirl Book Reviews
Merrie Destefano
Mocha with Linda
Moments with MarLo
Musings by Lynn
Musings of Edwina
My Alabaster Box
My Life Message
Net’s Book Notes
Niki Nowell
One Desert Rose
Paper Bridges
Passionate for the Glory of God
Pollywog Creek
Ranunculus Turtle
Real Hurts, Real Hope
Refresh My Soul
Restore
Scraps and Snippets
Sheila Deeth
Sherri Woodbridge
Snapshot’s Photoblog
Surviving the Chaos
The 160-acre Woods
The Gospel Writer
The Harrison Kaleidoscope
The Heart of Writing
The Stubborn Servant
The View from Here
This That and The Other
To Be Beautiful
Unreasonable Grace
Walking Daily
WhadUsay
Where Romance Meets Therapy
Word Vessel
Write 2 Ignite
Write on the Knows
Writer’s Wanderings
Writing to the heart of the matter

Photos: The North Texas sky ablaze in the setting sun, May 2009; Early morning light creeps across a frost-burnt Pollywog Creek field, February 2009

Goodbye September...

I bid you farewell. You were warm and sunny and lovely...

...but I'll shed no tears at your departure.

Photos: (Click to enlarge) a late September dawn and dusk on Pollywog Creek.