You....
I wish I understood why, when I am really tired, just worn out from the day, that I want nothing more than your strong arms around me. Wish I could stop dreaming of you and things that I come across throughout my day didn't make me think of you. Wish I didn't want to share my life and dreams and hopes with you.

I hope that whoever you are that I recognize you, when you come into my life. If we have already met I hope I am patient until you are ready for whatever HE has in mind. I pray that we are freely exactly who HE made us to be, to honor HIM, and love one another and HIM. I pray until then it is HIS strong arms I dream of around me, and the things I see remind me of the ONE who created them for me to see. I pray that I share my life, dreams and hopes with HIM first above all...

This amazing photo was taken recently on a Gulf Shores Beach by a member of the "Share the Beach Program." The "Share the Beach" program is a group of voulnteers that monitor the beaches each morning looking for signs of Sea Turtle nests. So far just on Ft Morgan beaches there are 15 Sea Turtle nests.

This particular photo is of a mama Sea Turtle looking for a place to that is safe to dig and lay her eggs. It is difficule for Sea Turtles to crawl up on the beach. They have to drag several undered pounds on to the sand and then to have to meanuver between chairs, umbrellas and other items that beach goers leave. This Blog is to ask you our guests to pick up afer yourselves.

It takes 20 years for a Sea Turtle to be old enough to lay eggs and then the turtles only lay every 3 to 5 years. So the fewer things on the beach the more likly she is to lay her eggs.

This mama turtlestarted two different nests but someting wasn't right either time. So she dragged herself back to the ocean and found another more perfect spot for her hundred or so eggs. So in a month and a half or sowe will see lots of baby turtles on Ft. Morgan beaches.

Music

I put forth the idea sometime ago that, "my life is very much like a musical." Not in the since that I go around singing all of the time, ( just most of the time). The idea was more accurately described as; in my mind everything is set to a song, or has an instrumental score. Many laughed and poked fun at the idea. Still it is the reality in my life, and I love every minute of it!!!
I recently saw a movie, August Rush, it would certainly fall in to the Chick flick, sappy kind of movie that most of my friends try to avoid. This sweet little movie, for me, was full of hope and faith, and the main character heard music in everything, which made my day. So, if you want to know me a little better go see it! Hear what I hear and look for some music of your own.
I'm not far away singing!!!!!

Apart


I wrote this several days ago and then took it down the next day because it did not seem like a complete thought. You see, this, as strange as it may seem was written about my church. A church that has not really in practical terms my church. I live 4 hours away, and rarely go. It was however the church that I felt a part of for years and honestly the best church going experience I have ever had. I do miss it terribly. I do love those who are a part of it with all of my heart. I will always in some way feel a part of this church, i can't just cut that out.
He has begun some new things in me and given me a real desire to part of a church in the community I live in. He has shown me over the past few months while they may walk through difficult times, an d begin new things that the LORD is talking care of things in that church. Given people places to serve and be loved and love one another. Nothing can fill my heart with more joy. Than to see HIM taking care of the ones I love so much.
He is prompting me to be a part of a church here. Pray for me friends, I have to be brave, and begin again in a new community. Know i LOVE you, and always will. I know I always have a home there with you dear ones.

Not a part of your life, your priorities, your anything.
It's OK, it's just a change, a realization, you could say.
It's time to be part of something new, let go what I have been holding on to so tightly.
You don't need me to be part of your anything.
You're doing great, in all parts of your everything.

so what now,
it's time to really be apart
it's time to make being apart, a real part of my life!

Thank you LORD for giving me the desire to be a part of something else, and for being continuing to lead me even when I don't want to listen...

Turtles

We got the call. " their comin' hurry !" I threw on my ratty old sandals and my bright green shirt, and headed to the beach. It was a little after 10 when i got there and began to check the trench. I grabbed my red lens flashlight and started to hunt for the enemy, the ghost crab! The tourist were everywhere but their numbers dwindled as quickly as their patience. However one little family a dad and his daughters hung in there and the girls went on the hunt with me. We filled in holes and did away with and crustacean trespassers.
IT'S STARTING! We all huddled around the nest flashlights just past the dark little things coming out of the sand. At first there were 2 and you just saw a head here and flippers over there. Suddenly, there were 30 or more wiggling and fighting, and flopping all over each other. It seemed that these tiny turtles heard a call from the ocean. At once they turned and headed as quickly as their flippers would carry them to the water. Which is faster than one would think. We took our places to count and walk them to the water to protect them. This Little band of what turned out to be 53 turtles marched like little soldiers with packs on their backs toward the waves. They would move in little formations of 3 to 8 and follow each other in a straight line to the water.
Each group was led by a human captain who led his or her group with their red lens flashlight cheering them on as the they went. This is to avoid any stragglers getting lost and heading in the wrong direction toward the street lights. Some of the lone travelers did get turned around but were helped along by the watchful volunteers. Once these three inch travelers made it to the water their little flippers moved them in just a few second the same distance it took them half an hour to maneuver on land. 81 babies made it to the water that night.

A few days later we went to dig up the nest. This process can be very sad because you often find dead turtles or killed turtles in the nest, but it must be done to get accurate records. This nest was a wonderful experience. I was one of two diggers. We dug out the contents of the nest whose bottom is about 18 inches down. About half way down i found a head little turtle looking at me. I carefully lifted underneath him, and thankfully a whole healthy turtle was there. The volunteers grabbed a bucket and some sand to put him and anyone else in so that they could be released together. we found 3 other babies They are amazing not only was each turtle colored a little different but each was shaped a little different too. we both got two turtles to hold with our gloved hands and carry near the surf. It is important that they spend some time on the sand so they know where to come back to when they get to be adults and are ready to lay eggs. So we stopped about half way to the beach and let them take the rest of the trip their selves on the sand. I have to tell you about holding a baby sea turtle. They weigh next to nothing kind of like a bird or a newly hatched chicken. They are very strong after fighting their way out of the leathery egg and through all that sand. Their flippers seem to be holding on to your hand like they are hugging your hand. They don't wrap completely around your hand. The entire turtle fit in the palm of my hand. Their flippers are much more pliable and flexible than i thought they would be. They can move even the tips of them.
My words do not even come close to doing justice to this amazing experience. It is hard to believe that these beautiful little animals grow to be giants weighing more than the average human. I hope you have the opportunity to see this one day and be a part of it. I hope GOD reveals more of HIS amazing creations to us and gives us the opportunity to be in awe of HIM and HIS creativity, provision, and love for us.

L O V E

Ok, so this is going to be a little different i think. HE has had me stuck on Love for months. Studing the meanings of the word and all the different ways it was used in HIS word. I love, love... Ok kinda silly but it is true. I'm all about showing love, to those around me, to HIM, to strangers, it's one of my things!!!
BUT, i have had this issue with Love. I am afraid of it, or at least the part that involves one man one woman for as long as you both shall live kind of love. I figured this out, i guess, when i was in Seminary and looked back over my dating history. It was not awful but i always seemed to choose the guys, that were sooooooo not what i was looking for or what I believe HE wants for me.
This fear , that resulted in these choices, came from the loss of Jeff. Jeff and i grew up together, his last name started with a B too. So we sat by each other for years. We shared triumps, and dreams, lots of silliness, and a really good friendship. Somewhere along the way this friendship changed, into something else. We were still young, i was barely 16 and he was 17. We never defined the love between us because it was so different and new to us.
Then he was gone.......... He died in an accident on his motorcycle. I was crushed , sometimes i am still crushed. Sometimes, i'm afraid of losing those i love, family and friends. I came to know
Christ partially because of Jeff's death, and paritally because i realized HE had always been a part of my life.
So, HE has been talking to me about this fear for a long, long time now. I have held on to that fear to, i don't know keep myself safe maybe. It has become a hinderance in my relationships, because i don't let others especially men that i might have any sort of interest in, but generally everyone see my heart. You can know i want to serve my church, that i love God and people, that i'm kinda creative and like to express that in many ways, but that's about it.
I want you to see me. I want to be open with my dreams, and gerenous with the love tat HE has given me.
So this is the plan. I'm a plan kind of person. I am going to let go relly let go of this this somthering, stiffeling fear. DEEP BREATH!!!!! My heart belongs to HIM. I am going to take a chance, and even if i fall flat and get hurt, i am going to try again.
I was made to love. I do not know what will happen tomorrow, so this is my chance.
So watch out... You are going to get hugs, and smiles, tears, lots of information about me. You may already have more than you ever wanted to know after this post. Bear with me this is new and not easy for me. Ask me about my dreams, my goals, whatever. I want you to know me. I want you to see my heart. Mostly pray for me, Please. I love you my dear friends.

Shooting Stars!
I figure you get very few chances in this life to see something so amazing. So, i was all about goin out to see it. Then, I felt like the LORD was telling me to go see this. No matter what I read or listened to they were talking about it, The Leonid Meteor Shower. It happens every year and is supposed to be spectacular. I had never seen it and really, really wanted to. It was one of those moments; you just know with everything in your being, you are supposed to witness. I go to bed with anxious anticipation of what I will witness later in the evening. I set my alarm and half wake up about 1:15 in the morning. At about 1:25 I hop my entirely too awake for this hour, self out of bed, put on what I think are warm clothes, and my coat. I hop in the car and head …. Well I wasn’t sure where to head. So I drove south toward the beach because that is the darkest place I know. You can see most of the sky from there; I figured I would see something.
I was not prepared for what I did see. After making several stops along the way to see what I could see, I ended up at the beach where I work. I walked on to the board walk and looked up. I saw something streak across the sky. It left a trail I thought like a jet does in the day time but them it was gone. So I’m standing here thinking to my self……very irritated at myself…. you have built this up in your mind so much that you are imagining shooting stars. Then this kinda calm came over me and a prompting to keep looking. So I lay down on the board walk and just watched. I see another one and another just like the first a bright instant of light streaks across the sky and then it is gone leaving a trail which is also gone in an instant. The most comparable thing it can think of is fireworks. They were that bright but just for an instant. It was so fast that I questioned weather it was happening and then it would happen again.
This experience put many thoughts in motion. The first was to remember quotes from the Bible about the stars falling from heaven when HE comes back. Then I remembered in the Narnia stories how the stars fell from the sky at the end of time there. I remember songs and sayings, and was thankful for all the remembrances.
I began to think about how HE communicates with me. So often I treat HIS presence like my first observation of the shooting stars. I find myself asking, “Did that really just happen?” Or saying something like, “HE couldn’t be telling me that or to do that!” More often then not, in my life, His communication is very quiet, very quick and something, that when I really pay attention that is unlike any other communication. I know it’s HIM. Or maybe a better way to say it is my heart knows it’s HIM. It is something I long to hear or see, or experience and it is unmistakable in it’s………..being…..
I AM

My Cardinals are gone…. Ok, so they are not mine to hold or keep in a cage. I would never even want to do that to something so amazingly wild. I claim them as mine this pair of Cardinals that appear in my life, at the most astonishing times. Probably they are not even the same pair. How astounding would it be if a pair of bright red birds followed me from Baton Rouge to Foley and now camp out at the beach this remote beach? That would be remarkable, indeed. They show up, My Cardinals, when I am speaking to HIM, about the troubles of my day or burdens I have taken again from the LORD. To me they have been a tangible symbol of his presence, a gift that only HE could give. They were a gift that would show up at the most unexpected, yet the most appropriate times. These beautiful living signs of HIS presence, and purposeful interruption in this life HE gave me. They are gone with the seasons and my heart is a little sad, but this life is so much more enriched by the experience. I know HE will continue to show up in other ways, I am on the look out, anxiously waiting and listening.
After writing this we recieved a Christmas gift in the mail for work, attached to the package was a Christmas Card with the most beautiful pair of Cardinals on it. Maybe HE is not done with them yet.

"...just as any bird serves as a sign for any idea. Noah's dove, Macbeth's rooks, Horace's swans, Omar Khayyam's pigeons, Theocritus's nightingale, Count Fosco's canaries--they are no longer birds but usages of birds...I wonder if there ever was a moment whan a cardinal outside my window sat there in blazing splendour signifying nothing." - Alberto Manguel