beauty in the desert

I know most of you don't know me well.

And I apologize to those of you who live in the desert.

But I have always declared pretty adamantly that I do not like the desert.

I prefer the ocean or mountains.

I am not a desert girl.

And my husband knows that.

So when he sat me down a few weeks ago and said,

"I want to propose something" coupled with, "I just

wish you liked the desert more."

I instantly thought uh.."Where are you going with this?"

You see my husband is an amazing business man

and he is always looking at things from a business,

practical perspective. 

He also grew up on a farm.

He likes the open range.

And he spends his free time looking things up.

Things about the economy, properties,

investments, things for the future.

He's a forward thinking kind of guy.

And whenever he travels for work he typically

comes home saying he'd love to live there, or buy there.

I used to think we were moving, all the time.

I'd get all emotionally worked up about this place that

it looked like we'd be soon calling home.

But then I realized most of the time he's just kind of thinking out loud.

Only this time, his thoughts turned into reality rather quickly.

But don't worry my local friends, we're not moving.

It's just a getaway kind of thing.

And this possibility led us on an adventure

 to Arizona and the Grand Canyon this past

Memorial Day Weekend.

Again I must say I went into this sort of apprehensively.

Still saying I'm not a desert girl.

But I said I'd keep an open mind.

And I told him, I'd be taking pictures along the way.

A way of helping myself find beauty in the desert.

He asked me to trust him, to trust that this idea he had,

this location was so peaceful and such a good opportunity

that he felt led to move forward on it.

And so to we set off on our very impromptu

Arizona road trip...

My six year old eternal optimist gets out

for our pit stop and says, "I love how hot and

windy it is at the same time."

We traveled along the old route 66.

I've never, ever done this.

And though I told my husband I had

radiator springs visions dancing in my head.

It was kind of fun.

Kind of an adventure.

And super fun stopping in the old historic towns.

The thrift stores.  Let's just say I can't

wait to go back.  Because they don't

charge an arm and a leg like they do here in LA.

And slowly but surely, I was seeing the beauty.

This was our last stop before the grand canyon.  There's many a story here that I will

save for another day. But my kids posed like this and asked for a picture.  I just

had to give it that old saloon look.

In the restaurant she was horrified this cowboy wouldn't stop singing to her.

He truly wasn't getting a clue.  And then she got mad at me

for documenting it, but I just had to. 

And then when we hit the dirt roads, on the way

to the property there were free roaming cows everywhere.

And I was like a giddy city girl getting out to take pictures.

I know the locals must have thought I was crazy.

And finally, we arrived

to the little house on the desert prairie.

I'm standing on the porch taking this picture of

my family.  That's how remote it is.

Nestled on forty acres and surrounded by federally

protected land that will never be developed.

I could understand the peaceful feeling my

husband was talking about.

And how this was something too good to pass up.

And so, I am going to learn to savor the peace

and open space, the golden light, the rustic,

and the wild of the desert.

Because this little 600 square foot prairie house 

is our new little project.

It will snow in the winter and it's about an hour drive

from all kinds of different places like lakes

and the mountains.  

It all happened really so fast.

But it had been a long standing dream

of my husband's to do something like this.

The house officially closed escrow yesterday.

And I'm officially deeming it the desert prairie house.

If you follow me on pinterest, you'll understand

why that folder tentatively called 'future?' 

has been very active lately.

Because there are lots of DIY ideas floating

around and projects I can't wait to

get up there and dig into to transform

this place into a peaceful retreat.

My husband has plans for guy trips with ATV's

and me, well girl trips with scrapbooking or

pinterest parties.  A girl can dream right.

Only one hang up, the closest Trader Joe's

is 90 minutes away.  OH the shame.

I will be bringing up a cooler of my

own food.

But other than that, I'm getting

excited, and learning to embrace

the beauty of the desert.

hope heals

Whatever I can say right now to tell you to watch this video
to glean wisdom from this young woman's story.
I feel it isn't enough.  I can't do it justice.

click image to be taken to the video

I can tell you that we have many, many mutual friends.
We attended the same church.
And though before this part of her journey began we had not met,
her story and her family's faith through it touched me so deeply.

I came alongside so many praying for her and her family.

Her mother's writings through that time were so beautiful
and painful and raw and awe inspiring.

Katherine Arnold Wolf wasn't supposed to be alive.

And if it weren't for her six month old baby boy,
the surgeon said he most likely would not have tried to save her.

Plus, her husband Jay was in law school.
He was set to take the bar exam I believe that very day.
His chosen profession also had people advising against the risk of a lawsuit.
Other doctors admitted by the look of things they would not have tried.

It looked that bad.

That hopeless.

But her story of recovery and survival is against all odds.

It's a miracle and the Lord's hand is seen all throughout it.

It still is.

And her life is a testimony to how Hope Heals.

I've since met Katherine and can tell you she is every bit as sweet and kind
and caring and full of life as I had read and heard.  I love that she hasn't lost her spirit
through it all.

Katherine's story of courage and hope and optimism
through continued struggles and life altering changes is still awe inspiring.

You just must take the time to watch the unfolding of her story.
It's better than me trying to explain it all.

What Katherine doesn't know is during my deepest struggles
with lupus, which I know is absolutely nothing compared to
what she was going through.  It was her story of fighting
through something so extreme that would inspire me and help me push through.

And I think her journey has touched many in this way.
Because we all have struggles.  We all have trials.
We all have days where it feels too much.
But we can learn from Katherine's tenacity, her faith, her determination.
And the healing power of hope.

insta friday - whew

This week began fresh off the heels of the whirlwind Washington DC trip.

A trip where we left at seven in the morning to return around 11:00 at night

every

single

day.

It was both fun and exhausting and this year for Mother's Day 

all this momma wanted to do was stay in bed 

and do very, very little but rest.

So the tradition of breakfast in bed was a start.

And the sweet little gift, from my sweet husband

who took my girls out shopping while I was away.

And my middle one who cut the orchid to place with my breakfast.

My first reaction was ooh, oh, don't cut the orchid.

But my husband smartly hushed me.

And that cut orchid is still living in that glass of water

by my bedside.  I honestly would have never thought

to do that.  She has an eye for beauty I tell you.

This week I have very much been moving to the

next thing I need to do.  And feeling all the while

that I'm still not recuperated from the trip.

My bedtimes have been as early as the kids.

And somehow we've made it to Friday.

But here is a look at some of our full week's of activities.

Monday began with a lab at sea field trip off the Channel Islands 

in Oxnard where they pull things up from the depths of the sea

for the kids to touch, see and learn.

My favorite part is on the real camera.

They showed us plankton under a microscope.

The stuff living in the sea water we don't see.

There were dance classes.

 And the end of the year brunch for my

Community Bible Study.

I recycled some of my willow of wonder

booth things for our centerpiece.

I knew it would be down to the wire and it was.

I was gluing this garden of grace banner in the

wee hours of the morning Tuesday.

Each lady added a tag with a favorite scripture to hang

 from our garden of grace tree.

 It's always a bittersweet ending.  At this point

we've traveled through a book in the bible over

the course of nine months together.  Sharing our

hearts, our lives and our love of the Lord.

And then we say goodbye, and the groups

are reassigned in the new year.  And it starts again.

This year in particular was an amazing group.

The Lord put me right where I needed to be.

A stop at Trader Joe's stopped me in my tracks

with the sight and smell of these beautiful peonies.

A worker there saw me trying to photograph my

girls amongst the flowers and offered to take one 

of me in there too.  So there you go. 

And on to the playoffs this week for baseball.

I'm so proud of how hard my son has worked

and how diligent and dedicated he is to baseball.

He thrives here and channels every bit of his

determination in a good way.

Gymnastics is the same for the girls.

And this one hour respite for me is a little

bit of bliss.  

Sitting and chatting with some really great moms.

 Not pictured, cause well I forgot, is my small group

of women I get to meet with.  We're starting a

book study this summer on the Bridge of San Luis Rey.

That was Wednesday night.  I am honestly so blessed

to have this as another touch point of grown up connection.

This week I realized gosh it has been SO LONG

since I read a novel.

Truly.

Life turned into parenting books and Christian

books.  Which are all good and I love them.

But I didn't give myself any breathing room to 

read a novel, to dissect its deeper meaning.

To savor the words and the symbolism.

And we're doing that this summer.

So yea, for being a grown up again.

But this scene of childhood, 

well it's a bit of bliss to me too.

You too? 

I think I'll forever be caught between

my grown up and childhood loves.

And I think that's ok.

And here's the orchid plant.  Just making me

smile as we go about our homeschool day.

 And I know typically pictures of food, especially

food like brussels sprouts really aren't too pretty.

But I just had to document this last night.

My eleven year old son kept exclaiming, "these

are so good."  He has come full circle from

being an amazing eater to a really picky eater.

So hearing this, well it was just one of those

mom moments where I was like, 'yes.'

Success.

 That, and two of the three were so excited that

I made them salads for dinner.  

I was having a pinch me moment.

My kids are growing up.  

They truly are. 

And I'm just so looking forward to this.

Lots of little plans for our summer.

I'll be sharing them soon.