Five Minute Friday - Fly

It's Five Minute Friday. Get the word prompt from Lisa-Jo Baker's blog, and then just write for five minutes without worrying about it being just right. Today's word is Fly.

GO

Flight. I love it. I understand the desire for it.

The first time I remember being on a plane was when I was five years old, headed to a family reunion in Illinois. I barely remember it. I know we chewed bubblegum and my little brothers chewed on tootsie rolls to keep our ears from popping. I think it happened anyway.

My grandfather introduced me to the show The A-Team when I was ten. It is still my favorite show. Murdock was and is my favorite character. The crazy pilot.

My grandparents volunteered at a Wycliffe Bible Translators office for many years. And every year we went to their annual family weekend at a local airport. I still look forward to it every year. No matter if I get to fly anywhere else, I have a guaranteed chance to fly once every year at the fair. Some years I take a helicopter ride, some years a small plane. The planes vary. Everything from a six seater to an eleven. And I go all day so I can watch them fly.

I love driving past our local airport. I don't often get to see anything taking off or landing. But the planes are lined up on the side of the runway. And at night, the lights of the runway are almost magical. The anticipation of flight.

I hope to be a pilot, someday. Meanwhile, I can take at least one ride a year, and continue to dream.

As Leonardo da Vinci said, "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Do you like to fly? Do you love it? Besides planes and helicopters, I love roller coasters, and totally want to go skydiving someday.

To read more posts on Fly, click here. To learn more about Five Minute Fridays, click the button below. And have a wonderful weekend!

 

Rural Wednesdays - Foggy Out There

One morning this week I let our dog outside and realized how foggy it was in the distance! I just had to go grab my camera and take some shots :) 

(Click on photos to make them bigger.)

 

Check out other rural photos by clicking the button below. And then share your own!

Five Minute Friday - Tree

It's Five Minute Friday! Today's word is Tree.

GO

Trees... So beautiful. Some are tall, some wide, some scraggly and small like Charlie Brown's :) They provide oxygen, a place to live for many animals (and even some people!), their wood can be used for so many things, and when the leaves turn colors and fall it's simply gorgeous.

My favorite are Christmas trees. Decorated, of course. I don't like them to be gaudy. I like it to be simple and pretty. I love white Christmas trees. (Although they're artificial, obviously.)

I would love to see Redwoods someday. I so want to walk or even drive through one.

 
I love climbing trees. I always wanted a tree fort, but the only tree we had in our backyard was really small, barely even big enough to climb.

Dogwoods are another one of my favorites. So pretty when they're flowering, and the way the branches reach out in all directions.

Snow-covered trees are some of the most beautiful things you'll ever see, outside of Heaven.

Well, that's all for today :) Hope you enjoyed my photos. You can check out other posts on Tree here. And for more info on Five Minute Fridays, click the button below. Have a great weekend!

Rural Wednesdays - The Wheel Barrow

Hey! I'm joining in a great blog link-up I found called Rurality Blog Hop. Every Wednesday you can link up with your photo of rural life. I don't know about you, but I just LOVE photos. I love taking them and I love looking at them. So I was so excited when I found this on Monday and was anxious for Wednesday to get here! Then I went and forgot about it yesterday. Oh well. I am doing it now!

 Click on the button below to check out other bloggers' rural photos from this week!

Seasons

I got this idea from my best friend, Debra Dawn :) She posted some beautiful images of the different seasons and asked what her readers' favorites are. I am curious to know yours! Do you prefer fall, winter, spring, or summer? Or maybe you can't choose just one favorite.
 

 









I told Debra that while I do have some things I like about each one, they also each have a downside. Here they are, in my opinion:




 






Downside to spring: rain, bees.
Downside to summer: hot.
Downside to winter: cold, getting a cold.
Downside to fall: it ends too soon.

 

 





  
As you probably figured out, fall is my favorite :D




Tell me yours and let me know why, and what do you like/not like about the other seasons?
 

Five Minute Friday - Small

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker and her rapidly growing group of fellow bloggers who like to write for five minutes every Friday without worrying about it being just right. No backtracking, no editing.

This week's word is Small.

GO

You've heard tons of people say it - standing beside the ocean makes you feel small. Makes you realize God's power and enormity and the size of the earth and how you are to the world as those little tiny grains of sand you are currently standing on. It may be a bit cliche, but it's totally true.

Other things make me feel this way. Not small as in insignificant, just small as in God is so awesome and big and it makes me even more ecstatic to know that He cares about me even while He's got ALL these other people to care for, too!! 

Looking at a huge field of flowers, standing in a crowd of people, flying over farms and cars that look so tiny from way up there. Great big pine trees, let alone redwoods (which I'd love to see someday!), the northern lights, big ships... So many things can make you feel small.

And yet, God really does care for you. He cares for him and her and you and them and everyone. Don't forget that :)

To read more bloggers' thoughts on Small, click here. To find out what Five Minute Friday is all about, how it got started, and how you can play with us, click the button below!

Isaiah 40:31

Arrrgh and Huzzah!

Arrrgh, me mateys. Today be the release of MaryLu Tyndall's newest novel, Forsaken Dreams.

Here be a bit about the book!

Forsaken Dreams - Escape to Paradise Series Book One

They left everything behind to build a new southern utopia.

Colonel Grant Wallace cannot leave his once precious Southern homeland fast enough. After witnessing the death and destruction of the Civil War, he charters a ship and sets sail for the pristine shores of Brazil, eager to start afresh in a new land. Widow Eliza Crawford boards the ship NewHope harboring a dirty secret and a blossoming hope within her heart for a new life away from old memories. But once at sea, troubles abound. Will Grant overcome his demons of bitterness and rage? Can Eliza find the peace she longs for?

 
And here be a bit about MaryLu:

"I'm a multi-published, best-selling author of Inspirational Adventure Romances normally set on the historical high seas.  I spent my early years on the Florida coast, dreaming of adventures at sea with  swashbuckling heroes!  By age 15, I had a thousand stories swirling about in my head, but I never thought I could ever get published, so I took a different path. One that led me far away from my destiny and from the God who created me. I got a degree in Math and Computer Science and spent twenty years working at a career I hated. Still I wrote in my spare time. I couldn't do otherwise. It was who God made me to be. After years of searching  for meaning and after making a mess of my life, I finally came to my senses like the prodigal in the pigpen and gave my life, my all, to the living God. Since then, miracle after miracle has happened! And one of the biggest miracles of all was that God told me to write a book about pirates, so I did. And then He got me published. It's been a wild ride ever since!"

You can find MaryLu many places on the web:
Her website: MaryLuTyndall.com
Her blog: Cross and Cutlass
Her Facebook fan page: Marylu Tyndall: Swashbuckling Romance
And her Twitter page: @MaryLuTyndall 

 

I got me copy, and am about to start readin' it. Methinks you should be doin' the same, or ye may find yerself walkin' the plank!

You can buy Forsaken Dreams online from Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, Barnes & Noble, or Books-A-Million or pick up a copy at your local bookstore.

9/11 Remembrance

Easter Morning

I took this picture on Easter morning at a sunrise church service. They had three crosses set up to remind us why we celebrate. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was just coming up, and it was lightly drizzling, which didn't bother us. Especially because behind us, there was a huge and perfect rainbow. Two symbols of God's promises on one day. You can't see that and not be amazed. ♥