Sedona

This past weekend Chris and I decided that we needed OUT of the valley. We figured the best option was a day trip somewhere since a hotel stay was out of the question. After contemplating Flagstaff we opted for Sedona instead. The weather report said there was a chance of rain, but we decided to pack a change of clothes and be prepared for the possibility of getting wet. We debated taking Ava with us but weren't sure how she'd do with a drive that long. Fortunately friends of ours volunteered to keep her for the day so we didn't have to feel bad about her being in her crate (thanks Joe and Steph!). We planned to get lunch, do a bit of hiking, and just generally relax and see the sights.
The drive to Sedona was just under 2 hours, and the sky was clear blue. We decided that the first order of business was lunch, and pulled into a cafe that looked popular. About 5 minutes later we changed our minds and walked out. There were flies buzzing around everywhere, a bug in my water glass, and Chris said their dry storage was mostly canned and processed food and that what they made wouldn't be that great (and was a bit pricey). Instead we went to look at an art show and ended up at a little Thai restaurant nearby. There was only one occupied table when we went in, but the couple there said they had read a review online and that the food was good. We both ordered curry (mine mild and his spicy), and found out that the other customers had been right. The food was amazing- easily the best Thai I've ever had, and not too spicy. It was worth the 2 hour drive just for that.
After lunch we decided that hiking and taking pictures was next on the list. Chris and I shared the DSLR and had a little photography competition going. We each got a few good ones in. Here are some of my favorites:

Ok, I have to say I still hate how blogger uploads pictures. For some reason I can only upload and insert one at a time. Anyways, these are my favorite pictures in addition to the ones I put on Facebook. I'm still learning how to use this camera but I think going places and taking pictures could be a fun hobby for Chris and I. We even had fun processing them together when we got back home. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us. Handing a point and shoot camera to a stranger and asking them to take a picture is one thing. Handing over my DSLR is quite another.

Ezra

The Book of Ezra

God says, as soon as My people were settled in the land of promise, they rebuilt the altar on the same site where the original altar had rested. The altar of sacrifice symbolizes "yieldedness" to Me. To return to the narrow road, you need only surrender your will to Mine.

And as my beloved and for so long troubled servant John Bunyan described in Pilgrim's Progress, you will take the broad, more comfortable road through "bypath meadow." But know this: I will not leave you there!

Draw courage from this history.

I will strengthen you to fight the good fight and to finish well. You will make it to the party. There is always a way back from sin. Tears of hope will flow every time you experience My loving mercy when you fail.

I still love you. I will not give up on you. I have a plan.




(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

Nehemiah

The Book of Nehemiah

God says, whatever anyone does out of a sincere desire to know Me and draw others to me is a great work. And as you engage in that work, sometimes you will be energized as you catch a glimpse of My plan unfolding. More often you won't. Either way you are doing a great work.

Every father who repairs a leaky faucet and then prays with his kids before dinner is doing a great work. Every mother who prepares that dinner and joins in that prayer is doing a great work. Every single person who works hard to pay the rent and reads the Bible before bedtime is doing a great work.

I see it all. And I am pleased. Their reward is coming.

Whatever is done to know Me and make Me known, to advance My purposes, is a great work. And I will use every great work done by My people, no matter how small it seems, to further My great plan.

When you see the fullness of that plan and its end result, you will be plunged forever in a sea of joy.



(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)

Shades of Morning- Marlo Schalesky

I have to admit that I don't know quite what to think of this book. I received a review copy of Shades of Morning for free from KBK Public Relations, and in exchange I agreed to post my honest review. However, that will be hard to do without giving away how the story eventually finishes off. Here's the official synopsis:

Summary:
Marnie Wittier has life just where she wants it. Quiet. Peaceful. No drama. A long way away from her past. In the privacy of her home, she fills a box with slips of paper, scribbled with her regrets, sins, and sorrows. But that’s nobody else’s business. Her bookstore/coffee shop patrons, her employees, her friends from church—they all think she’s the very model of compassion and kindness.
Then Marnie’s past creeps into her present when her estranged sister dies and makes Marnie guardian of her fifteen-year-old son—a boy Marnie never knew existed. And when Emmit arrives, she discovers he has Down syndrome—and that she’s woefully unprepared to care for him. What’s worse, she has to deal with Taylor Cole, her sister’s attorney, a man Marnie once loved—and abandoned. As Emmit (and Taylor) work their way into her heart, Marnie begins to heal. But when pieces of her dismal past surface again, she must at last face the scripts of paper in her box, all the regrets and sorrows. Can she do it? Or will she run again?

Part of the reason that I wanted to read this book was because of the involvement of a main character with Down Syndrome. I wanted to see how the author would treat that character, and if the portrayal would be realistic or not. I was happy to see that the portrayal was definitely realistic. Most people think that kids and teenagers with Down Syndrome are simply cute and happy. The truth is that they can be stubborn, mischievous, nosy, and embarrassingly honest at the worst possible times. The author happily allows Emmit to be all of those things. However, it did irk me that the other characters kept referring to him as "the Down Syndrome boy" although I fully realize that this is likely what would happen in real life. 
Had I stopped before the final chapter and simply had the resolution that I was expecting, I would have said that this was a very good book. The characters were realistic, the story held together, and the revelations were real and not contrived. However, there was one final twist that remained, and it just rubbed me the wrong way. For one thing, I didn't feel like it was necessary to the story. It was like the author threw it in there just as a "gotcha". Besides that, I don't feel like the author played fair with the ending. She created the world of the story with all of its rules, then broke them at the end with something that came totally out of left field.
As I said, though, other than the ending this was a very good book about loss, guilt, forgiveness, and ultimately Grace.

Song of Songs

The Book of Song of Songs

God says, I love you. I delight in you. I will do whatever it takes for you to enter into the exquisite, life-defining pleasure of the communion My Son and I enjoy. I invite you into the feast of love.

I am arousing the desire I put in every human heart to experience satisfaction in an
undeserved relationship of love. To arouse desire without providing hope is cruel. To feel desire without hope of satisfaction is hell. Dante's words written over the door into Satan's world were apt: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."

But desire with hope is sweet. It is the abundant life...for now. I want you to nibble on the appetizers now. But to do so requires wisdom.

Relate authentically with Me.

Hurt and celebrate, lament and praise, weep and laugh.

Be all that you are without pretense, in My Presence.



(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)