Hey Beautiful, Peek-a-Boo!

let us keep smiling at the camera...

xoxo

skin love

photo: roost

it's funny that just when i've been mulling treating my body better

{maturing will do that to you}

i run across a blog post at one of my favorite blogs about natural, good-for-you skincare (and she has a gracious tata harper giveaway right now!)

tata harper's skincare line looks amazing

reviews from real women are consistently high

and i've been researching other good-for-you lines, too

"everything in moderation", yes

but if something good-for-me works-for-me

yes! i'll dump the chemicals

{and some of what i've read about skincare/cosmetics is quite unsettling}

so, do tell

what do you use for skincare?

the letting in of God

it would seem to me that the season upon us

LENT

could be compared to the word 

BREEZE

for it is the season {for believers in messiah}

for fasting or penitence in preparation for easter

to me, it is an opening of a window

a "letting in" of God

to clean the house of my soul

with the spirit of His presence

{you know He's a gentleman and doesn't like to barge in without invitation}

i cherish a fresh breeze

but often, in my lazy state, i choose to leave my windows closed

drapes drawn

the dust of my habits and hangups finding comfortable homes in the corners of my sealed heart...keeping Him at arm's length

the road to easter, however, beckons me to "come"

i silence the noise of my life

is that the soft whisper of my Savior outside my window?

follow me, my beloved

how embarrassed i am that i hesitate to open my window

He stands

waiting

{He never tires of the waiting...that patience never ceases to amaze me}

i slowly lift the sash...

{He still loves me. He always loves me.}

and smell violets.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

-m. twain

*photo: pinterest

hello!

SO

the other day i put on a nasal strip as a bandaid (by mistake) so i'm not really sure i should be in charge of a blog, but i'm back

{for this day, at least}

social media and i have been wrestling, that's for sure

i don't mind pinning to a virtual bulletin board - no harm, no foul 

instagram following feels creepy-stalkerish to me

facebook...well, there are so many rules set by my teenagers and rules shared by my college students that i log in there with shaking hands - petrified i might "like" something or someone via a pinky spasm

and while i love decorating with birds, i really don't live an exciting enough life to tweet

and you do know there's a whole new wave of depression hitting people, right? because we are comparing our "b roll" life to everyone else's highlight reel

who wants to invite that little cloud to the party?

and then there's breathless...

my little baby blog that i started when my "irl" (in real life) friends didn't know what blogs were

so here i sit thinking "if breathless is a house, here's what i want it to look like"

and since breathless is me {in virtual form}

i want to look like this house irl, too

refreshing 

inviting

simple

light 

natural 

comfortable

peaceful 

firmly founded 

so i'm back for now

opening doors and windows...keeping house

because it's always more fun with company!

you bring sunshine through my windows wondering where i've been

xoxo

{photos: google image; pinterest}

gone and back

there and gone already...


we spent the good part of july with wonderful friends in the alaskan bush


love that top photo with the shadow of our little plane on the tundra


took all photos with my iPhone...left my rebel at home (!) since we have to travel very light on these trips



and this one makes my heart swell everytime...


my men (and a young friend watching) walking the long path to the plane


we were leaving the first village and heading to the second


we've gone to this first village the last 3 years...meeting up with another family (native alaskans) to provide Bible School and basketball programming


it was our church's 10th year in the second village...elders got up during to church to sing us some of the first hymns they learned in English when they were children.  gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.  what an HONOR.  Jesus was so right...it's all about building relationships and trust with people...whether it's next door or far away.


what beautiful friendships God has given us!


 In other news, Shannon over at Vintage Restyled featured our home on her blog! I can't tell you how blessed I was by her invitation to share. Thanks, Shannon!

 

now home, we're all taking our antibiotics to get over respiratory junk


{we did go from 103 degrees to 40 overnight}


doing laundry...playing with the dogs...catching up with the neighbors


grateful for it all

western union

so americana

the union last fall of lauren bush (granddaughter & niece of presidents bush)

and david lauren (son of ralph lauren) 

i know i'm late to the ball

not sure how i missed such a beautiful event

these photos just sing "america" though

and like many americans who help others...lauren is also the mind behind feed

{a line i've loved since seeing it at PB long ago-you can buy this at nordstrom right now}

and even though this post is about a union...

it is independence day here in the land of spacious skies


and amber waves of grain


happy independence day, america!

*all photos google image

summer lovin'

this has to be my new all-time favorite picture of me and my little chickadees

and something about black and white just speaks to me...

do you know what i mean?

but then i look at the living, popping color 

and love that, too

mostly i'm happy for cameras which capture life

hold it by it's squirming, moving-at-warp-speed tail

and before releasing

give you a souvenir of sorts

a remembrance

CLICK

it's a beautiful sound