it's that time of life...

   

 I had the privilege of taking some save the date photo's for my good friends Bethany and Broody who just got engaged in June. So excited for them to get married! Congrats my friends!

A Prayer...

"Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. 

I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent that my love may go out to my neighbour. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I ave sealed the treasures of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me there is an abundance of sin. in you is the fulness of righteounsess. Therefore, I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen." - Martin Luther

4th of July Memories

The other day on my friend Holly's blog http://hollyslemons.blogspot.com/ she shared memories of the 4th of July, celebrating with her family. This inspired me to share some of my 4th memories as well.
I haven't been in the States for the last three 4h of July's so this year it was fun to watch the fire works fly and BBQ at my friend Steph's house.

So...back to memories.
Oregon is the best place to have the 4th of July. Picture this lake with a giant platform in the middle to shoot of the best firework show you've ever seen. Then imagine a beautiful lake house (on the right side of the shore) filled with lots of people, delicious BBQ, fruit pies, watermelon, potato salad and all other sorts of delectable foods. Then as the sky gets black the fireworks start shooting. The best part about it is that the thunder of the fire works echo off the surrounding mountains. Theres no other setting like it for the 4th.

I haven't been to Oregon for the 4th in a long time, but I want to share one of my first memories with fire works and it happened to be there at my friend Anna's grandparent house on the lake. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old. For some reason I found myself being terrified of the booming fire that was threateningly close to falling right on top of me. As a 4-5 year old that is a scary thing. Well... my dad's best friend Rick was there with his daughter Angela. As I was sitting inside the house (because it was a little less scary in there) crying because I was partly just being ridiculous and at the same time genuinely scared, Angela came in and sat me down on her lap and started rocking me and telling me that it was ok.

Then she came up with the most profound thing (that an 11 year old I think may have ever said) to say to me in my tears of distress... she told me "Lauren" ... "fireworks are like roses".... me: "sniff sniff sniff...really?" "yes...they are like roses. Roses are so beautiful!... but if you touch them they'll prick you because of the thorns... fireworks are the same way...they are so beautiful but if you get to near them or touch them they will hurt you, so just admire them from a distance..."

so that little analogy has stuck with me ever since...and have been a big fan of fireworks as well =) However as I have thought about this simple though I have found it to be true with many other things in life...that God has created things beautiful, but if mishandled or abused have great potential for causing pain for ourselves or others. So thats my little memory, and I have had many other great 4th memories including last year waking up to American flags all over the cottage (including the toilet) put up by my dear dear friend Petra.  This 4th of July was quite different than I was expecting...but that story is for another time...