Well, I think its been waaaaay too long since my last post. And, my last one wasn't even that interesting. Sorry, to my couple of followers. I want to take today to tell you about this weekend.

This last weekend Aaron and I dropped our daughter off in Oklahoma City with her Papa. We had the opportunity to be at opening night of a play at Deer Creek High School for a very special young man. Aaron and I have known Hunter for a great portion of his life. We are truly blessed to call his mom and dad our dear friends! It's crazy to think that in just a couple of weeks he will be 15! Life is just a vapor, right? I dare think about the day Elliana will be that age and we will have friends coming to be witness to her life as a young adult too. It's coming too quickly. Instead of lamenting it away, though, I want to share with you (brag a little) about my smarty-pants little girl! Here are 20 things that she can do!

1. She can count to 20 (skipping 15 and 18, I'm not sure why yet)

2. She can say the 23rd Psalm up to verse 5 by memory

3. She quote John 3:16

4. She can jump and run and gallop

5. She can say her ABCs

6. She can almost ride a trike by herself

7. She can say more words than I can count!!! (anyone that has been around her could tell you that)

8. She can tell you what she likes and doesn't like

9. She speaks in sentences and has conversations

10. She can sing zacchaeus, this little light of mine, jesus loves me, jesus loves the little children, he's got the whole world in his hands, the itsy bitsy spider, and many more little songs like those...

11. She makes up some pretty cute songs about her cousin, Zoe and her friends Cora, Andrew, Tucker, and Carsen.

12. She can sing some beautiful hymns-There's Just Something About that Name, Jesus Lord to Me, Worthy of Worship, I Love You, Lord...

13. She tries to sing the song we found her name in-Elliana. She calls it "baby woman".

14. She helps me with laundry and cooking

15. She can work 18 piece puzzles and some with more than that if I help ;)

16. She knows A LOT of names and remembers them! (it truly amazes me!)

17. She uses a pincer grasp with a writing utensel and actually started this when she was under a year old! Crazy! (important to teachers)

18. She can lace cards with string and stack just about everything, including my spices in the kitchen

19. She loves everything that moves, that also means she loves beatles, worms, slugs, ants, ladybugs, butterflys, geese, etc.

20. She is a persistant and intense little girl who loves the world so much differently than I do!

She melts her daddy's and my hearts every morning when she says "A Morning, A Morning!"

She is so smart and so intuitive about so many things, more than I have time to mention or read about. I'm so thankful for my daughter. She is everything I asked for and so much more! Aren't our children always that way!? She is a blessing that I am glad to have live in my house. She isn't mine, she's God's. I like it that way! I want to do my best with her everyday to show God that I'm so thankful for how He has blessed me!

See Super Easy T Shirt Scarf and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

I hope this link posts correctly! I love this project! I'm going to do this as soon as my sewing machine is up and running again. I also recently bought a scarf that I know I could make, just so I could make a template from it. I'm going to make some to give to my friends and family members and for our youth ministry girls! I know they would totally enjoy making them and wearing them.

This isn't anything earth shattering today, but I thought this is something fun that someone might get some fun out of! :)

Having a great day! Being and doing,

Cory Lynne

Scanning the night sky for wish granting, falling stars in August (the Perseid meteor shower) has been a tradition for my family for years and years. My momma used to take my sister and me (yes, proper grammar would say me here, not I) outside to be entertained for free by the starry show put on by the Host of hosts. It was one of the only times in the year that my momma would stay up late, this late at least. I could tell she was genuinely excited about the time we would spend together watching the yearly shower. When I was young, I thought that the meteor shower was my chance for the year to stock up on some wishes! How vain!

Well, we'd get out blankets and pillows, pop plenty of popcorn and trek outdoors into the summer night's heat to our grassy mattress. It was really the neighbor's backyard we would lay in, but they didn't mind. It was a huge open field that was just ripe for laying in or, during daylight hours, playing an impromptu game of baseball. Nevertheless, we would pick out the same spot every year to relax and just watch quietly until the silence would be broken by an exclamation! Someone had caught a glimpse of the first one! I don't really know why we were so quiet. Maybe it was because we were focusing really hard on catching the flashes of light streaking across the sky. Or maybe it was because we were just truly humbled and awestruck by witnessing such a sight. Either way, it was always one important event I always anticipated; and I still do.

God allows us to see this amazing show every summer's end. It's sort of like the finale to a firework show. But, His show is timed out even better than one at the Magic Kingdom! His symphony orchestra is playing in the heavens along with every burst and flash! I know that it's never been just for me or anyone else for that matter. He does everything for His glory, and He should! I just feel privileged to see this production every year. What an incredible God I have! He lets everyone and anyone see what He choreographed eons ago in a show that I saw tonight! The best part is that the display is free. You don't have to sneak in to see it. Just look up!

The same goes for salvation: He gives us all access to real life through His Son, Jesus. He wants you to know Him. Just ask, receive, and turn away from your old ways. Anyway.

This show is still playing the next few nights right in your own backyard. Catch it, if you get the chance! It's worth it, I promise!

bubbly beauty

Tonight was the perfect ending to a sunshiny day. Every night (well most every), I give Elli Kate a sudsy, slippery bubble bath. A true girly girl knows how to enjoy a bubble bath even at her age, and Elli Kate is no exception. She LOVES her Johnson & Johnson, all over soap, bubble bath! It's such a fun time for mommy too! Just the anticipation of getting in the bath tub makes her bounce all over the bathroom while I try and skin her clothes off her wiggly, wiry, year-and-a-half-old busy body. "Ahhhh, mommy", she says as I finally slip her in the warm water. Immediately she assumes the belly down "swimming" position. Kicking her feet and alternating her arms in turtle fashion is her version of swimming. The bubbles have now traveled to the head of the tub, where her hands are now. She scoops up some of the iridescent fluff and says, "Oooo, Mommy, pretty bubbles." And they are. The lights in our bathroom make the bubbles sparkle in her hands. I have to admit, they are simply beautiful. Simply. Beautiful! I know, but she doesn't remember that bubbles don't last very long in a bathtub with a little girl kicking them. She can enjoy them while they last, though. Who am I to tell her to preserve the bubbles. They are eventually going to pop and the water is going to get cold, but she can have a great time with them while they last. And, in the meantime, I can give her a nice cleansing bath.

I can't help but think this is how a little bit of life is. Our beauty is fading. My beauty is fading. I can recognize that everyday when I glance in that piece of glass that tends to follow me everywhere. I see it in the bathroom, the lady's room at any restaurant, in my car, and even in my purse. We know it better by the name of Mirror. We are made so fresh and beautiful the day we arrive here on the planet and then too quickly our outer beauty starts to fade. Like the bubbles in the bathtub, we know they will soon disappear, but we think the longer they last the more beautiful they are. Well, sometimes. But, I know the water cleanses and is the most important part the bath in the end. So, in life, I know that the cleansing that happens to my heart will be the most important part of me in the end. The beauty that lasts is inside my heart, Proverbs 31:31 says. So, I'll let the Lord and His Word cleanse and renew me, while I enjoy the fading beauty of this life. In the end (when all the bubbles are gone), I'll still be beautiful because of what I've allowed Him to to in me everyday. Thanks for the life lesson, Elli Kate! Sweet dreams, sweet pea beauty!

Here comes the Rain

Most of the time a nice brisk run will clear my head. That’s what I was thinking at about 5:35 after a distressing phone call I received this morning. My immediate response was, “I think I need to run.” Translating my thoughts in that statement meant that I know God will meet me outside and we can talk this thing through this morning. I just needed some time to concentrate on breathing. Breathing is all I’ve been concentrating on for several days now, since Saturday, in fact. Inhale—exhale—inhale—exhale…don’t take one breath for granted.

Today on my run, I breathed at deeply as I could. As I did, I remembered once again that every breath is a gift from God. We are breathing the breath that He has given us to breathe to worship Him. I ran past an open field full of coreopsis and remembered the verses about not worrying because the flowers of the field are beautiful and they don’t have to toil or spin, the Lord takes care of their every need. And, the birds of the air do not have to worry, because God even takes notice when just one of them falls from the sky. The same goes for me today and always, I do not have to worry about a thing. God knows what I need. He knows that I’m hurting and sad and weepy today. He knows how I’ll feel tomorrow. He knows what three months from now holds for my family and me and my precious Gramma. And He knows how to care for us and everything we need in the “mean-time”. The God of the end is also God of the means. He is the Author and finisher of my faith. So, today I will cling to Him, because He is my ONLY stronghold! He is my hiding place when I don’t want anyone to see me cry.

Let me quickly fill you in on what I'm writing around about. My Granma Reva was sent to the hospital on Saturday early in the morning, I'm talking 2 AM leaving from Burns Flat, OK where she and my Papa live. She was diagnosed with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) on Sunday, June 20, 2010. And, we were told yesterday that she might have to be put on a ventilator to breathe for as little as 30 days and up to 3 months. That also means that she will be sedated or in a medically induced coma for that period of time. We got the call this morning that she was in an emergency situation and the medical staff needed to act immediately if she was going to go through with this next step. So, that's where we are today, in summary. It's a very difficult place to be emotionally today. There are so many thoughts that are swimming to the surface in my brain.

Another day I will try to organize my thoughts to tell you what my Gramma means to me and why this is a huge trial in my life and in the life of my family. She's not just any ordinary cookies and crochet grandma. She's my Gramma Reva, she's anything but ordinary. She's pretty much extraordinary.

The showers did come today. I did not want them to, but the Lord knows that we need water to grow, so rain down on us! I thought that my first submission for my blog would be sunshine, but I guess not. I created this blog yesterday, out of a conviction to be sharing my life online with more than just those who see me daily. So, if you think of my family and me today, pray for us. Today is a rainy/sunshiny day. I wish that I could tell you all that I thought this morning on my run, but I think that I’ll pause for now and fill you in on more tomorrow. Until then here’s a list I want to share with you.

List of good things that can happen:

People at Baptist Hospital come to Christ through my Granma’s life and our testimony

My family members (including me) draw nearer still to the Lord

We all learn to live on purpose everyday, not just when tragedy strikes

My Gramma can be healed miraculously

Our prayers are more in line with God’s will

Our family will be closer even than we were before (we’re already a close family)

We can be a light of encouragement for those who have no or little hope

God CAN be glorified in all of this!