Oak Mountain with Hannah Banana

This post is going to be long and you're just going to have to deal with it. So there.

A few months ago, I asked what it was about sunsets that was so moving. I asked if the emotional response was a natural change that happens as you move into old age....where i find my old bones these days! :)

Well, lo and behold, the amazing bible study that I'm in right now (Beth Moore's Beloved Disciple study) addressed this exact topic in one of my homework days this week and she NAILED IT. So, I hope Beth is okay with it, but I'm about to share my favorite thoughts from this day's reading. Hang with me. This thought has snatched me up from the wonder of it all.

The verse of the day was:
"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21

Bar none, the words I pray most often are 'God, show yourself to me. Reveal yourself.'

From the homework: 'Show myself." The original word, emphanizo, means to let oneself be intimately known and understood. So, Christ promises to reveal himself to us when we obey his commands, but as we studied the scriptures on what this meant, the 'revealing' often times was displayed through nature. Paraphrased: Psalm 19: 1- the heavens and skies declare his glory. Acts 14:17- He did not leave without leaving His testimony- He showed us His kindness by giving us rain and crops and food and He fills our hearts with joy. Romans 1:20- since creation, God's invisible qualities have been clearly seen... visible to the eye.

Sometimes, Beth says, our soul craves a display of His glory. 
YES.
We crave to be overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Don't we? Don't we find ourselves in the middle of a sunset, or on a fall hike through the woods, or on the beach at daybreak and we just think,
'I can't speak. This is holy. My soul is overwhelmed. My eyes FEAST on His glory."

GOD'S REVELATION. Amen and Amen. I am ravenous for it in the moment.

Beth again: "I believe John 14:21 implies that the more we obey and love God, the more vividly we may see, experience, and enjoy demonstrations of His love.... We are often unable to recognize the demonstration until we obey the wooing of the Spirit in repentance and sprout the firstfruits of love. Like you, I have always been loved by God, but I have been more aware of the demonstrations of His love (what we might call favor) when I've been loving and obedient.... The eyes of the Spirit within us see these manifestations or ways He makes Himself known and understood. Christ perpetually surrounds us with means through which He can show us His worth, His providence, and His presence. Don't miss it!"

I am overwhelmed by this. Glory revealed. Invisible God making Himself visible. A gift to His beloved. There is a reason there are no words. This pure display of who He is leaves us speechless, right? And insatiable for more of it. For heavens sake- make me mute if it means my eyes can look on His glory. O-ver-whlemed by Him today.

A bit over a month ago, we met Hannah Banana for a hike at Oak Mountain. Let your eyes feast...

"Its all a matter of keeping my eyes open. Beauty and grace are preformed whether or not we sense them. The least we can do is try to be there so that creation need not play to an empty house."

-Annie Dillard

"We must not go to nature to construct theology. She will fail us every time. Rather we go to nature once we have our theology and let her fill the words awe, glory, beauty, terror with meaning."

-C.S. Lewis

I'm so very thankful for Hannah. Hannah's faith speaks loud and clear. Not by her preaching Jesus, but by the way she lives in JOY and the way she is ALL IN and not afraid of anything. She is rooted, grounded in her Savior and she takes that God-produced overflow of Joy into the world and she LIVES. 

Hannah is one of God's many visible manifestations in my life. His grace and goodness with skin on. She has taught me to LIVE BIG and not take one minute for granted. All is Grace. Let's open our eyes and not miss any of it. 

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A Party of Thanks

Lordy. I have so many words to put into this post, but these jokers keep getting longer and longer so I'm trying to decide how to give you a brief summary of this day but allow you to leave the blog like I left the party… both feet still on the dance floor whilst being pulled into the car! :)

The Overstreet's were Mom and Dad's college best friends. Both Dad and Raymond's medical practices ended up in Columbus so their friendship continued. Mom and Karen both spit out babies around the same time, so Barry and I were naturally best friends with the Overstreet kids. Their extended family was our extended family. You get the idea. 

When the Overstreet's throw a party, they throw it well. They are always over the top- not in a fancy way, but in a more fun than you possibly could've imagined kind of way! They decided to have a 'Hatfield and McCoy's' themed Thanksgiving party. When I say over the top, I mean that there were horse draw carriage rides, hay rides, baby goats, hay bailers, horse back riding, shooting contest, hymn singing, bluegrass band and dancing. This party was LEGIT. 

Everyone was instructed to dress in 1890's garb, which mostly meant we all put on the most tan, drab thing we could find! I got to the party, and there stood Blair, my best friend, in bright red lipstick, corset, and fire red dress. She was a burlesque beauty for sore eyes and everything about her get up made me happy! That's Blair, being the red hot smokin' standout that she's always been! I loved it! 

I'm pretty sure London and the twins thought this was the best thing that had ever happened to them. They were all in for the hay rides and baby goats!

I don't want to make you jealous, but I got to hang out with Charley Rhea all night long. It was nothing short of awesome. 

Good gravy, these people. Also, notice London's socks. I have a weird thing about socks. I don't like white socks. What fun is that?! Neither Lu nor I own 1 single pair of white socks. The mildest flavor we had was neon green! I know that sounds really immature and silly for me to have an aversion to white toe toppers, but I kind of love it! A little hint of SPUNKY for my baby girl! I don't think they sported neon green socks in the 1890's tho….

So much fun!

The girls were on a hay ride but Caden and Charley were close by for the baby goat's dinner time so they got to feed them! These little dudes eat like they've never tasted food before! It took all of 25 seconds for them to suck down their bottles! They were loud and not at all polite about it! :) I was shocked over the intensity of their grubbing! Yowza!

Karen Overstreet and Sally. Isn't this a cute picture? Such fun, fun ladies!  Both of them are a total blast! Karen is the most exciting person you've ever been around and she tells big hand motion stories that are so dramatic and fabulous! :) I wish you all knew them both!

Look at these two grumpers. I guarantee they are both having a blast, you just can't tell from the look on their faces! :)

I spy a Christmas card in the making! 

The lovely, wonderful, delightful Overstreets! 

Thank you, Raymond and KO, for hosting a fabulous party! I missed photos of all the night time festivities due to a dying phone battery, but trust me, there was much square dancing, belly laughs, and moments caught still, thinking 'never, ever forget this happy." I left with a heart full of gratitude for friends we've loved for forever, for watching this little clan of ours grow and grow with beautiful children, and for family to share every second of our lives with! We are immeasurably blessed!

Family and Friends Vaca at the Rhea Estate!

I love my tiny house. It's so small and it only takes a minute to clean it up and we can't hoard a bunch of things because there is no room for it! :) However, one of  my favorite thing about my parents house is that you can shove a million people in it for the weekend and no one feels cramped or put out! We went to Columbus a few weekends ago and added NINE extra folks to the mix… and everyone was happy as a lark! FANTASTIC! 

Our long time best friends, the Overstreets, were having an 1890's themed thanksgiving party at their farm, so we all headed home to be a part of the celebration. Mom and Dad's college best friends, the Fletcher's came too! What a total delight to see them again! That post is coming up next, but before we enjoy the festivities, I want to emotionally usher you into the #FreeTux movement. 

This is Tux. Do you see the sadness in his eyes?  His downtrodden gaze? Poor dog has his nose in the corner of the wall. At the back door because that's his 'rightful place' and tied up. (Okay, so Lizzy and my naked kid tied him up but we'll gloss over that.) So horribly mistreated. 

I coaxed him out into the comfortableness of the living quarters and look at this sweet pup. Almost asleep on my tummy! #FreeTux!!! 

(To be realistic, ever since I started this movement, Tux now roams around the whole house like a king, living his days in the lap of luxury! Sometimes all anyone needs is a spirited cheerleader! THE VICTORY IS OURS, TUX!!)

Then this happened and I almost died. Gah Lee. Andaddy reading Uncle Remus bedtime stories to my 3 favorite small people. I think I literally had heart shapes floating out of the top of my head because I  was so in love with this scene!

At dinner the first night, I said, "Say something funny Dad. Go!' and, oh boy, he did not disappoint! Charley Rhea and I were cracking up all weekend long! We revisited the time that he caught Charley sneaking ice cream in the kitchen and he chastised her with this…"That'll make your butt break outta your britches, Charley." SOLID GOLD. 

Charley's favorite past time is looking through mom and dad's old photo albums. We found this picture of Dad at his childhood kitchen table with the science experiment that won him first place in the state science fair. (Well done, Dad!)

Dad looked proudly at his picture and said, "I was on the road to greatness…." Hahaha!

The story gets EVEN BETTER at this point but it needs to stay in the fam.. forever! Dad is THE funniest when he wants to be! I love him so much!

Booper and Chuck loving life in the Grove during college. Check out mom!! HOT STUFF, LADY!!

I snuck away for a while to grab a non-jogging-stroller run and it was fabulous! Plus, Columbus greeted me with this view! Gorgeous! I was overwhelmingly thankful for this alone time and chance to see some new, beautiful scenery!

This is why I should blog more promptly. I have no clue what morning this is, but it doesn't really matter. The three kid-o's and i headed out for some early morning exploration. Check out THIS view! Even better than the running view!!

It was cold and the new horses were frisky! We caught them racing down the field! Look at lil mini in the back! The pony is the cutest thing ever! We are all so taken by him! :)

Oh this boy. I love this shot of him!

We explored through Mom and Dad's old barn. It's run down, but I love everything about it. It's funny how seeing something again can flood your memory with 20 years worth of events! I have so many memories from playing down here as kids! It's beautiful, right? 

Lunch at Profitt's with the Fletchers. Life long best friends! Isn't this great!

The time change happened during the weekend so normal lunch time was pushed back an hour. Then we waited FOREVER to go eat! If you've spent any time around me, you know that when I get hungry, we need to focus on the food sitch quick. I get ILL when I'm hungry! Charley tends to follow the same path so we were the two grumpiest girls you've ever been around! We were SO FOUL!! Our poor company was probably miserable with us! :)

Darling! I loved loved loved listening to all of Sally's stories and adventures! What an amazing life and amazing woman! 

Taking a spin with Dad! Sally seems like a vintage, red convertible, top down type of gal to me! 

I love my momma and daddy. Shaking my head at all the emotions behind that sentence! 

Doc never gets a break from doctoring! Giving Liz a little check up!

Part two of our weekend to come! Thank you so much, mom and dad for housing all of us hooligans! We are so grateful for the way you generously open your home to us all the time! It's great fun being home!

Baby Girl the Tennis Star

One Saturday, I fell ill to my usual 'let's-get-out-of-the-house-itis' disease, so we popped on over to Walmart and grabbed a few cans of tennis balls. We scouted out some unlocked courts and had our very first tennis lesson. I was not expecting.... well, anything really. We've never played before, but after a few fouled attempts, we started making some pretty consistent contact! I believe the first unsuccessful attempts were because the instructor was tossing balls, videoing, and playing 'goober encouraging mom' all at the same time! Once i put the camera down, she started smacking it! 

Not even close. Runners pose, hit the ball with her hand, and both eyes squeezed shut. I love this so much! 

Still a miss, but both eyes open, good form, and looking just like a mini version of her momma as a kid! :)

I was having so many emotions! I couldn't stop smiling over how cute my babe looked, but it also made me crazy happy remembering being her age and out on the court with mom and dad! It was a flood of memories of my folks and it made these few minutes RICH with goodness. 

Looking better! 

She had an absolute BLAST out there. Grinned like a monkey the whole time! 

CONTACT, FOLKS!!! Cue the complete freak out by Mom, sweet London coming over for a bear hug and thanking me for cheering her on (seriously? come on. sweetest kid alive), then me putting the camera down and home girl slamming it for the next 20 minutes. I was so crazy proud of her! 

A few days later, after school, peanut jumped in the car and immediately said, "Mom, can we please please pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease go play tennis right this second?" So off we went, in high heels no less, to satisfy the tennis monster I may have created. I'll take it.