This photo was taken from our backyard one evening this summer. Sometimes when the sun sets and the light cuts through the sky just right and that "glow" is in the air, it just stops me in my tracks. I think of Heaven, and my heart longs for all that I have not yet seen but can only imagine from the previews that we sometimes glimpse here...

I read this quote at the YMCA a few weeks ago. It struck a chord with me...

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, & self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway."

-Mother Theresa

Our family vaction took us to Niagra Falls this year. It was the first time that any of us have ever seen this national treasure. I was immediately struck by the power of the Falls, but I became mesmerized by the fact that the water never stops. It just keeps on flowing over the edge of the cliffs by tens of thousands of gallons every day. It never dries up and it never slows down. I find that amazing. Being there, feeling the power of the water, watching something that is so much bigger and has been here so much longer than anything I can fathom - it is humbling. I felt like I was viewing and experiencing one of God's masterpieces; one of His displays of creativity and power and perfection; a gift from Him to us. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have seen it from every angle possible, to have felt the mist on my face, and to have heard the deafening roar of the water crashing endlessly over the cliffs. Nature does, indeed, remind me of the power of my Creator and the place that He has for me in His world.











All my "boys" standing in BOTH the United States and Canada at the same time!