My Almond Blossom Promise

Well, I've established the fact that I love almond blossoms and everything about them - their beauty, their simplicity, their heavenly smell, their soft feel. But there's another reason that I love almond blossoms, and that's because they are part of a biblical promise. I stumbled on this passage earlier last year, and it has become a very precious verse to me. I think the Lord put it there just for me, and He put me in almond country and gave me a love for almond blossoms, just so that His Word spoken to me in this passage would be that much dearer.



The passage is found in Jeremiah chapter 1. In it, the Lord has spoken to Jeremiah and given him the task of wha,t to Jeremiah, seems impossible. Jeremiah, in his fear, or perhaps, disbelief, asks God how. The Lord's response?  

"And the word of the Lord came to me "Jeremiah, what do you see" And I said "I see an almond branch." Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

The almond branch (and I always picture as a branch in full blossom) is a sign that what seems impossible, God can do. Where God sends, He equips. He never sends us into any situation without the assurance that He will do what He says He will do. That which God has said, that will He surely do.

For me it's been the revival of my soul. And it's precious to me that, after praying for a changed heart for months, even a few years, that it's been during this blossom season that the Lord has opened the door for me to attend a particular Bible study, a study which has hit my heart in the exact places I've needed it. Right where God knew I needed it. At exactly the right time. In exactly the right season.

Thank you, Jesus.

Almond Blossom Festival

From my previous post you'll have seen that around here, it's blossom time. And here in our blossom-loving community, we celebrate it! Today was the annual Almond Blossom Festival, consisting of parade and carnival. It was basically the funnest day ever!! Friends, family, auntie-time...what more could I ask for?

Me and Mrs. R, my beloved friend

Watching the parade

Little M.

 My homies

Little G

Little D

Mommy KL & Little B

We know the guy waving!

Mrs. R holding my nephew, Little D

Mr. R having his turn. Little D was pretty content to be held by anyone who wanted to hold his cute little self. That's my neph. =)

I wouldn't mind being pulled over by this gig!

We love Save-Mart!!

The Ferris Wheel!! One of my 2012 Bucket List "To Do's" for this year was to ride a Ferris Wheel. Check. =)

 Blossoms as far as the eye can see.

I'm sun-burned, wind-blown, tired, and happy.

I love my town. I love my friends. I love my family. I love almond blossoms. I love my life!

The White Way of Delight

Blossoms. There's almost no words to describe the beauty of an almond orchard in full bloom. It's like a spring snow. It's breathtaking, with the soft fluttering of countless pedals drifting lazily to the ground, blanketing the ground so thickly you almost can't see the ground. I've been forced to admire them merely through the windows of my car either on my way to work or on my way home from work, and it's been slowly killing me not to be able to go drink them in...but tonight I got home from work before it was dark, and so I grabbed Karis and Stuart...and we ran out into the acres of blooming orchards surrounding our house for a good old-fashioned romp together.

 We found Beaver's Dam. I called for Mr. & Mrs. Beaver. They must not have been home.

If you squint into the background, you can see the wall of blossom trees stretching off behind our house and property. In  a few years, the little sticks with white boxes around them will be glorious almond trees blooming on their own. We'll be surrounded. =)

Almond blossom country is my heart-country.

Be Mine

This year, my valentine is this hunkin' man. I couldn't wish for anything more. =)

Me Darlin'

Me Darlin' is home.

HP, which stands for "Happy Place." ;-)

14'' HP

This picture taken by Stuart makes it look really small, but it's actually quite a happy size and exactly the size I wanted. After having a big clunker of a computer for a few years, I wanted portable (but not so small as a netbook.) Thus, the 14 inch.

I am thankful for my laptop and I am thankful for all the helpful people who assisted the clueless girl at Best Buy. =)

The Mountain House

We've always been a hard-core camping kind of family, but as the Offspring began to join our expanding family, we quickly realized that outdoor living with small children is less than relaxing.

So enters Plan B...which insidentally due to it's total amazingness is becoming our Plan A. Introducing "our" Mountain House:

This incredible house-for-rent can be found in a seculed portion of a not-to-near and not-to-distant mountainous portion of our state. With a house big enough for our entire growing family, with wrap-around deck, huge seperate game room, trails for "exploring," and just plenty of room to breathe, it's our own private paradise. And we recently spend a few glorious days away from the hustle and bustle of life cloistered away in the comforting spaces of the Mountain House.

Little M & I went "bear-hunting," which morfed into playing Narnia and being chased by the wolves. Although when I said "the White Witch is coming!", Little M said "the White Witch isn't scary. Wolves are scary." So we continued to be chased by wolves.

Little G.

On Sunday morning, we had our own little family church services, which consisted of singing hymns from memory as Seth lead, Little M "reading" from the bible (and doing an incredible job of retelling some bible stories, even if the Christmas story somehow got mixed up with David & Goliath), and just straight and pure reading of the Word. Best church I've had in years.

How fitting is it that I should be reading a book on fire-fighters?? I mean, seriously. I'm telling you, there's just something about fire-fighters. ;-)

Lights on the deck after dark.

Little M.

Little B. Love this face!

Little D.

Ow, ow, smokin'! My sister KL.

Dad. Yup, my dad has a servant's heart. He was washing the dishes.

Littles M & D.

My time up there was cut sadly short because I had to be responsible and head back to the real world to go to work. The rest of my family staid up there, while Seth and I came back home and bached it for awhile. I'm already majorly looking forward to our next venture up to our Mountain House.