More Summer Highlights

Adorn lake trip!

luhh diss.

Cell group lovin.

The essence of the fair.

Sissy visit. We rode the tandem to Avila!

Sally Loo's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God bless this place.

Your always in my heart dear summer.. but don't worry, this isn't goodbye quite yet.

Now this is the good stuff. Such a fun and fulfilling weekend.

My God is faithful. My God if faithful. My God is sooo faithful. He is love, and his love in my life is gently sweeping out the fear in my heart.

"Come and see what God has done,

his awesome deeds for mankind!

He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him."

(Psalm 66)

For I Know You are Faithful my God

"You Spirit inside me holds me close 

In Your wonderful presence, I let go 

I cleanse my hands, You burn my heart 

I cry out for love, You set me apart."

Because Summer is so Sweet

"Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!"

-Psalm 66:5

Baby boy.

Ventura County Fair-bear!

When did my brother grow up? haha. I feel like disney has made movies about this.

Hume

ICE CREAM MAN!!!

The good life.

Penny (my niece) has always been a blast, but the older she gets, the more fun we are having. She is becoming my tiny best friend. She has probably been the best part of this summer. We have had endless sleepovers and now that shes older we stay up late talking, do facials, and do plenty of makeovers.

Girly tunes is a must for a makeover.

Gypsies

I am (for real) blessed.

Kinfolk

OK! I have found my soul mates. This is everything I love most. This little movement (Kinfolk) literally captures like 90% of all my everyday dreams and passions. This was a lot of my vision even for freedom house last year. Their website, blog and magazine are wonderful. They have this to say for themselves: "Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love. Every element of Kinfolk – the features, photography, and general aesthetics – are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends."

Also, this couple (who just so happens to work for kinfolk) has a dreamy blog as well. They seem like such genuine people who live their lives in a really meaningful way.

Lastly....... this entry from kinfolk's blog is juts tooooo perfect for life. tooooooooooooooo perfect.

Invitation

"Beauty rests in the minutia.

Pause a while; Knock on detail's door.

Kick off your shoes, drink some tea, and uncurl those toes of yours.

Recline a while in a world you didn't know existed.

Awe and wonder await you all snug by the fireplace.

Welcome home ol' chap!"

As always.... Being sick, and just resting at home is accompanied by heaps of inspiration. This has easily been the best week of summer so far. Family time, rest, art, music, journaling, praying, sunshine... etc. Rest, pause, stillness ... these are seemingly the resounding themes of this week. On that note, I leave you, dear reader, with this:

Come Rest A While

(Lucy Maud Montgomery)

"Come, rest awhile, and let us idly stray In glimmering valleys, cool and far away. Come from the greedy mart, the troubled street, And listen to the music, faint and sweet, That echoes ever to a listening ear, Unheard by those who will not pause to hear­ The wayward chimes of memory's pensive bells, Wind-blown o'er misty hills and curtained dells. One step aside and dewy buds unclose The sweetness of the violet and the rose; Song and romance still linger in the green, Emblossomed ways by you so seldom seen, And near at hand, would you but see them, lie All lovely things beloved in days gone by. You have forgotten what it is to smile In your too busy life­come, rest awhile."

What Would I Have Done

"What would I have done
If it wasn't for Your love
The love that tore the veil inside my heart
What would I have become
If it wasn't for Your blood
The blood You gave for all on the cross."

Recipe

There is more beauty surrounding us everyday than we realize. This beauty is not hidden, nor is it only through the eyes of a child that it is visible. This beauty, rather, merely takes a dash of pausing, and a sprinkle of slowing down to be discovered.