To Live Fully

 I am reading One Thousand Gifts by ANN Voskamp.  I am embracing living more purposefully and fully but how???  Then too how do I live more fully for Christ in the second half of my life?  These questions that have been floating around in my head and slowly...I am seeing God answer these questions.  On Sunday, our pastor shared about FAITH and that living by faith does NOT change from generation to generation.  All generations have seen miracles and continue to experience God's grace.  Faith IS: the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, the foundation for our convictions and treating the WORD of God as fact.  So when we live by Faith in God by the WORD of GOD (the BIBLE) we will live more fully and purposeful.  I know this but something resonated and I heard it more clearly.  Then as I was reading I hear this from Ann; "The whole of the life~even the hard~ is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole."  I don't want to miss the whole.  From Ann's book again:   "Something always comes to fill the empty places.  And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me."  That's what I am pondering today as Mason and I enjoyed a 4 mile walk on the beach this morning.

A lovely place to sit and be still with God.

A great way to think about each day! Another gift!

Our beautiful beach!  Mason & I walked from the Newport Pier to the Balboa Pier and back!

This precious grandbaby...loves to go for walks with grandma or anything else I want to do!  

What a gift!

Something pretty that caught my eye!  When we "LIVE SLOW" we stop to take it all in!

 

Mason and I heading back to get some pizza and shaved ice!! Yum!

From one pier to the other...great exercise, beautiful surroundings and a great way to spend a morning!

Yummy Shaved Ice!!

A Little Fun Last Night!

 

My son, Dustin and I had dinner last night at the beach. We walked Miloh and took some photos of the sunset. He has his camera and I have mine.  We used to share my camera.  He now has his own better camera!  He shares my love of photography. He is talented.  I can't wait to see what he does with it!  He photographs differently than I do.  He has his style and I have mine.  It was fun shooting photos and exploring the beach with my son.

I love seeing the sun set and the many colors it reflects.  God is very creative and gives us so much to enjoy!  I love the silhouette photos.  I'd never tried that before.  I loved it once again.  Thanks Dustin for sharing in it with me!  I love you!

Feeling a Little Caprese Lately!

I get these cravings sometimes and lately it's been all things caprese.  I love tomatoes, basil and mozzarella with a side of balsamic and vinegar.  Recently I had a Caprese Panini which had the typical tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese and they added pesto.  Yummy!!  So I made myself one at home recently and it was pretty good.  Yesterday, Mason and I caught up with the hubby for lunch.  There is a new restaurant called Elbows.  We'd heard good things about it.  It's all macaroni and cheese meals.  Guess what they had???  Caprese macaroni and cheese.  I tried it....it was calling my name!  It was good and very rich!!  Hubby had the hamburger macaroni and cheese which reminded me of a good version of Hamburger Helper.  Other choices were jalapeno mac, hotwings mac, swiss mac, truffle mac, spinach & artichoke mac, lobster mac and cajun mac to name a few!  Overall, the original tasted the best!  Nothing better than some plain ol' mac and cheese.  Although I think I'll make it at home from now on!   $24.95 for a mac and cheese lunch was a bit much!  So what are you craving??  

P.S.  I always crave me some good ol' red licorice!!  Mason loves it too!  :)

Happy Anniversary to ME!!

 I married the most handsome boy I knew 33 years ago and here we are!!  I love seeing all of our wedding dresses from this era.  Long sleeves and high necklines even in summer!  

Dwight has been my rock, my encourager and there beside me loving me each and every step of the way!  It's been a crazy 33 years but ones I wouldn't want to live without.  We created three beautiful children who have blessed our days more than we know and have given us so much to be thankful for!

 

This was last year...I love my children with all of my heart and am so proud of who they are!

Here we are today!  The whole family with another little one on the way!

We are off to San Diego where we honeymooned.  It's one of our favorite places to visit!