For Fun

The nature of my blogging is generally serious.  But this weekend I was able to get away with my family and enjoy some solitude in the outdoors.  Camping is not everyone's 'cup of tea', but for me it is a delight.  I was so renewed and encouraged that I wanted to share some of it with you.

On our way to the high country, we were met with some beautiful scenery.

Once there, the air was invigorating and the power of afternoon storms, delightful. 

I rarely knew or cared what time it was.  There were no schedules, no meal plans, and no deadlines.  We set up camp a few days before so when we arrived for the weekend, home sweet home was ready for us.

 And when we left there was no taking down.  Not yet.

Waking in the night was a blessing in disguise for the sky was dazzling!  It's been eons since I've seen stars so abundant and so brilliant. 

In the morning, while the guys were off hunting, us girls explored the meadow.
It contained endless treasure,

                                                exhilarating joy,

 and the perfect jungle gym.

Happy kids makes a happy mama!


















Time for reflection,

and to finish reading my current favorite book for the 3rd time, Finding Favor With the King, by Tommy Tenney.  The best book on worship I have ever read. 









I played hide and seek with a squirrel on a mighty Ponderosa.  

                                 I think I won.

Sunday we went home to worship with our church family, then back up to our oasis where I woke the dawn with a little of my own singing and time in the Word.  For only in the Lord is true refreshment found.  Later, an impulsive hike was in order and some stump shooting with our bows and arrows.  We topped our weekend off with some practice in volleyball skills and last but not least, a load of firewood. 

Some wild turkeys watched my husband cut wood.  Us girls arrived just in time to see them scurry off.  Ironic, since my husband has a tag to hunt them.  Back home, the dinner table was quite jovial at the thought of tagging a turkey with a chain saw rather than a bow and arrow.  Okay, so not really appropriate dinner table conversation, but it made for some laughs.

I do have a secret agenda for sharing my weekend with you.  It is nothing profound.  Only that I wanted my Dad to enjoy these pictures.  He reads this blog but is not on the social network.  I know that tomorrow he is remembering his oldest brother who went to be with the Lord at 97.  We are reminded that this world is not our home. We are only strangers in it.

Yet, if the earth, in its natural original state, is this wonderful, how much better our eternal home.  I, for one, cannot wait to go there.  Jesus has gone ahead and is preparing it for us, so that when we arrive, it will be   . . . home sweet home.
 

(My Uncle Leland was a God fearing man.  I once had a thought provoking discussion with him about the stars in creation.  I think that now, he knows.) 

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part;  then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."  
1 Cor. 13:12