pictures.

  Here's pictures from vacation. These consist of pictures from the trip to Big Bend, the Lost Mine Trail, and Sotol Vista in the desert. I will try and post more pictures later.

 An old sign for my favorite soft drink that I saw outside of Judge Roy Bean's place.

A desert plant in an interpretive cactus garden. Name: totally forgot it. 

 

 

 So, my Dad took us to this salon from the eighteen hundreds and this sign was on the wall (no, the salon was not in operation). I think I am going to make on of these for the dining room.

 

 

 We stopped for lunch at a gas station and my little brothers got grilled cheese.

This was one of the first pictures I took in Big Bend. This mountain is call Casa Grande.

 

This picture was taken on the Lost Mine Trail.

 

Here is most of my family at the Juniper Canyon Overlook.

Here is Juniper Canyon viewed from the overlook.

 

 

Here is a racer lizard we saw on the trail.

 

 

Here's is another desert plant that I do not remember the name of.

Here in the window viewed from the top of Lost Mine Trail.

Another view from the top of the Lost Mine Trail.

This is the Chihuahuan Desert viewed from the top of the Lost Mine Trail.



 

And the back of Casa Grande

This is the Chihuahuan Desert viewed from Sotol Vista at sunset. That is rain in the background.

 

 

And here is a few more pictures from Sotol Vista.

  Well that's all for now!

Loving the Haters

I John 3:13-14
  "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love out brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death."

  The more I read the Bible, the more I am struck by the fact that the world usually hates believers. Not dislike, not annoyed by, the world is going to hate those who are in Christ. The irony is that Christians are supposed to be known as people who love. We are not just commanded to love our friends, family and fellow believers. We are called to love outcasts, prisoners and the jerks we run into in traffic. We have to love people who are going to hate us.
  It is not humanly possible to love hateful people. When I am trying to love haters on my own, I am typically overwhelmed by the unchristian desire to high five them in the face. I do not have to depend on my broken human heart to love hateful people, though.
  My heart has been made new. Every crack and imperfection has been washed over. I am filled with infinite love for the unlovable. And why? Because I have been loved. Because even though I am wretched and unlovable myself, Christ has loved me. When I could not save myself from the death I deserved, Christ came and died in my place and then rose from the grave and left death conquered. If I, the unlovable wretch I am, have been loved like that, how can I not love others?
  So this world is going to hate those of us who are Christians, and we get to love them back.

What I did last Week, again

  So once again the post summarizing my week is late. Maybe I will just change my "What I did this Week" post to a "What I did last Week" post. That remains to be decided. So here is last week.

 

To start things off I made a couple of pillow cases for a client. 

 

 

I finished the dress from last week and I did a photo-transfer t-shirt with an old doodle I found in my sketch book.

 

 

The only reason I am posting this picture is because I happened to be outside with my camera, there was some phenomenal lighting, and so I took this picture of my toe-nails. All that to say I painted my toe-nails.  

 

 

I ran for the first time this month. See the trail along the fence-line where I ran? No, I cannot either. It has been so long since the last time I ran, the trail where I used to run has grown over.

 

 

Lastly, I thought about this verse a lot last week. More on that later.

 

 

Well, there is my week. I hope all of y'all's was awesome too!

 

 

 

flowers.

  "He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
  "There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoned. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extra, and so I say again that we have much to hope for from the flowers." "

                                               ~ Sherlock Holmes The Naval Treaty Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

What I did last week

  Well, here I am again, typing out my week summary post later them I intended to. To my credit, I did not have the ability to write this post during the weekend because I was out of town.

I watched Frozen finally. I think it is my favorite princess movie, and Olaf was my favorite character. 

 

 

I folded the laundry from the trip to Big Bend

 

I made forty bars of soap.

 

Then I baked about ten dozen Texas Cow Chip cookies. And yes, the cookies pictured are all the cookies that are left from that batch.

 

 I started a dress that I will hopefully be able to finish this week.

 

I drank a Dublin Dr. Pepper. If you have not had one, you simply have not lived.

 

Got some new sunglasses that were not aviators.

 

And here's the best thing. I got to watch my cousin Annmarie graduate. Ams, I'm infinitely proud of you. You are the best twin cousin I could have ever asked for.  

 

 

 

mountains.

  Mountains are funny things. They evoke the feeling of reckless abandon: the desire to climb to the top just to say you did. But mountains also make you feel small.
  Every time I visit the ocean, I am at some point overwhelmed by the feeling of infinite weakness, the feeling that the body of water I am in is beyond me. When I visited Big Bend, I discovered mountains make me feel small. Bilbo's reaction to the first mountain he saw in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, describe the thoughts I had when I saw my first mountain perfectly. ""Is that the mountain?" asked Bilbo in a solemn voice, looking at it with round eyes. He had never seen a thing that looked so big before."
  I suppose I had a slight advantage over Bilbo in my ability to imagine big things since I have seen the ocean so many times. But the sea is flat. When I am at the beach it does not tower hundreds of feet over my head. The mountains brought to me the realization of what a tiny person I really am. And also a reminder of how big my God is, who created the mountains with the words of His mouth.

What I did this week (urrr...I mean last week).

  So, a few weeks ago I thought it would be great if at the end of each week I did a blog post about what I had done during the week (ground breaking I know). Well that week I did not do a blog post at all, and then the next week I typed one out and never posted it. Now this one is posted the week after. Oh well, such is my life. So here's what I did last week.

 

I went to Big Bend National Park

I saw a rattlesnake while I was hiking.

 

 

I climbed a mountain.

 

 

I went to the desert and it was cold and rainy (what were the odds).

 

 

I stood on the edge of a cliff.

 

 

I saw a bear.

 

 

I skipped a rock across the Rio Grande into Mexico (but I think it was pure luck).

 

 

I had an awesome photo shoot with a road runner.

 

 

 

  And there's my summary of last week. I will probably blog more about Big Bend later this week. It was beautiful. I got to see the desert, mountains, and Mexico all in one place. I am already planning my next trip there.