The Little Things

It is important to me to take time to stop, listen to the music of life, take a deep breath in, and look around. What amazing things I find when I do this! God has given us such beautiful gifts each day if we simply choose to look for them. Often we do not have to look far.
I was rather bored one day. I had finished as much math as my brain could handle, I had cleaned the house, and I needed something to do while grandpa napped. So I decided to take my camera and see if there was anything interesting laying around for me to take a picture of. Much to my delight there was! You may have seen some of these pictures on my photography blog already but let me share with you what really made me interested in these photos.

Upon a glance this is simply a purple flower...but if you take the time to stop and look closely you will notice some very fine details. First, the vibrant orange pollen. Now look at the little bits of orange coloring in the center of this little flower... it makes the pollen "pop" a little more. And that lovely blue has a way of pulling more color out of those soft purple petals while the blurred green background sets the perfect stage to show case this little flower.

This vibrant yellow flower is just a puff of delight to me! The way it seems to capture the light in it's very petals amazes me. My grandmother tells me often, any garden with a dash of yellow is always the pettiest and I find that to be true. Yellow is a very cheerful color!

The white rose. Notice the traces of pink throught it's petals, the way the petals seems soft, and light seems to elluminate each petal. So much beauty and detal in each petal is what I see in this photo.

This is a from one of the beautiful trees on my grandparents property. The tree's branches are often completely covered in this pink fluff and makes for a beautiful thing to behold.  Look at the way the light hits the petals and how soft they seem in this picture.

Isn't it wonderful?! Look at how many different shades of pink and red are contained in just one flower!

The flowers in this photo are less than pefect, you can see the time and the hot summer have had their toll, and you can see a tiny creature working dilligently to provide its family with food for the winter. What I liked about this photo is that it reminded me of how fleeting life is and the words of James in the Bible.

What makes each of these photos important to me is how great our God is. I see God's handiwork in each of these photos and that is what makes them important to me. He thought about the colors blending together and how they would seem pleasing to the eye. He also thought about the importance of pollenating the plants and how we would need a little bee to help us out. He thought about the wonderful aroma of the roses and how their petals offer us many healing benefits. He thought about each and every single one of those things and so much more and I don't want to take it for granted.

Have a great evening friends!

To God be the glory,

Bethany Joy

Volunteering @ CRMC: Day One

I started my day by reporting to Mrs. McCloudy, she sent me to Mr. Cruz, and from there I went to Ms. Rose, the unit clerk. It was a wonderful first day! I learned many things about the NICU that I hadn't known before, I learned how the doctors on the floor wanted everything done a certain way, I learned many little random facts about the hospital (for example, they don't like card board sitting around), and I got to see many precious babies. I learned that Ms. Rose has a sense of humor...quite a funny thing she is! She was great to work with. She made things easy to understand but kept things moving along. At the end of the day she was happy with the work that we got done and we both look forward to seeing each other again soon. 

I also got to learn more about their codes...All hospitals have "codes"  that they use to announce things over the intercom without disturbing patients. I remember my mother telling me about it when she was a nurse. Now I get to memorize each and every single one and the "plan of action" too. SO much memorizing! I also have to learn where everything is... The good news about that is that I will spend most of the time in one unit (the NICU) so I don't have to remember quite as much.

I met two other volunteers, both already knew each other because they attended the same medical school. Both were Asian and quite silly! We worked together for about 15 minutes before they had to leave for a class at their medical school. Almost the entire time they were giggling about something. Most of the time I couldn't understand what they were saying but nonetheless we enjoyed working together.  

My favorite part was when Ms. Rose and I were doing inventory and we went down to L&D (Labor and Delivery). The mommas there looked so sweet...holding their babies for the first time. The looks on their faces were priceless.

After I finished doing inventory we made some family care packages (with blankets, hats, and a note), some crib cards, and that completed my day. I was very thankful that everyone was so friendly and helpful. It made my first day very enjoyable. :-)

Thank you everyone for praying and offering words of wisdom and encouragement. I appreciate it! :-)

To God be the glory.

Bethany Joy

Rose Petal Blessings

It has been a wonderful week here in sunny California. My grandfather and I trimmed the rose bushes a couple weeks back and now they are covered in the most beautiful array of colors! Tomorrow the gardner will bring some fall looking flowers and plant them along the walk way. I am looking forward to seeing what he has planned. He has done a wonderful job caring for the rest of the yard.

Today, I was delighted to collect the rose petals that had fallen from the roses and set them aside for me to dry later. I look forward to using them for teas, tinctures, and balms later. I enjoyed playing around with the roses this afternoon and taking a few pictures.

A California update: Most Beautiful Love

What a blessed daughter I am! The life that the Lord has given me is good. Over the past three weeks I have had the most wonderful opportunity to be with my grandparents. I was supposed to be here caring for them however, they have been so well that I have not needed to do hardly anything to help them. I think the Lord has placed me in one of the most wonderful spots. Here in the sunny land of California, in the rather busy city of Madera/Fresno, I have the opportunity to sit and watch as my grandparents live their lives and unknowingly show the most beautiful example love. 

When my grandfather was in his hospital bed rather exausted from the hip surgery, my grandmother bent over and tenderly ran her fingers through his gray hair and whispered a sweet prayer of faith, love and healing. When she had said amen she told my grandfather that she loved him and then he replied in a deep but most sincere and loving voice "I love you too.." At first I wanted to take a picture of this most precious moment but before I could reach for my phone it dawned on me.. You can't capture such a love as that with a phone camera. This love has been tested and tried, it has gone through many battles and come out stronger and closer not only to each other but to their dear Savior. That moment I had te honor of witnessing is a moment I will forever cherish. 

Let us never take for granted the blessings He has given us. Lord help us recognize the blessings you scatter through our day. In hospital rooms, at our office, or when we are simply sitting on the couch resting, never take these moments for granted. 

To God be the Glory.
Bethany Joy

Catching up once again...

Life is always happening. It never stops. Never slows down. Instead it seems to fly by even quicker than we had planned. I love to sit and watch the livestock from the rocking chair on the front porch and just take a moment to breathe. Lately, it has been my favorite place to sit. Tonight I would like to just fill you in.
Lord willing, tomorrow evening will find my mother, Samuel, baby Daniel, and myself on a plane heading toward California. We are quite excited to take this trip and see my grandparents again. They are such a blessing to our family!
On Thursday I had the joy of doing a photo shoot with some dear friends. I just loved spending time with them and capturing photos of them together.
My rather playful puppy, Chloe, is still every bit in training. She is smart and beautiful and I believe she will make a wonderful service dog.
Miracle is quite well. He is maturing quite a bit and has started acting more like the trained and well behaved horse that I know he is.
Promise is every bit the baby. Bekah is excited to work with her while I am away. I am sure Promise will enjoy the change and love the attention. I am thinking she will be a great horse for dressage. She just has that "look".
Well friends, I believe that catches you up. I hope you have a restful evening.
To God be the Glory.
Bethany Joy

Texas Trip

Well it looks like I have an awful lot of updating to do. We'll start with our trip to Texas.

Texas:
We started our journey very early in the morning. I think it felt extra early because we stayed up rather late the night before. The bright side of waking so early is that we saw the sunrise before we pulled out of the driveway. It was breath taking!

We then drove several hours before stopping for breakfast.. It was so nice to stretch our legs for a minute or two. We were packed into the car so very tightly! It made for some very interesting and funny conversations.



After filling our tummies we packed ourselves back into the car and buckled up. Daniel and Josiah were my buddies for the trip. Daniel was quite some fun!

We met with our friends for dinner and then rested for the rest of the first evening of our trip... When we woke up early the next morning we packed everything up and started getting ready to leave. As we drove that day we saw many beautiful things!

When we arrived to our rental home later that evening we were SO happy. The trip was great but we were glad not to be in the car.

The house had many enjoyable traits...Like the play-set. It was so much fun to hear about Sanuel and Matthew's adventures as they played together!

The days leading up to the Reformation of Food and Family conference we did some sight-seeing. We went on the river walk, we visited the Alamo, we saw some breath taking caverns and even some pretty fish...

We then prepared for the conference. I actually forgot to take any pictures until the last day. The event was wonderful! We made many new friends. I look forward to the next time the Lord allows us to meet. It was such a blessed time of fellowship.

To God be the Glory.

Bethany Joy



Preparing for Texas

Our family is now preparing to take a wonderful little trip to Texas for the Reformation Food and Family Conference. We are simply thrilled to be going! Are you taking any family trips this summer? It can be challenging to take long trips with a large family at times. I'd like to share some tips, tricks, and what we will be doing for our trip to Texas.

Our family likes to plan ahead. We have a list of snacks and meals for the trip. Any snacks have to be mess free. So things like baby carrots, beef sticks, crackers, apples, and fruit chews are all usually in our ice chest.

For our bags we split into three teams (you can split your "teams" how you like). Each team gets one large bag with all their clothes, under garments, socks, etc. They also get a zip lock with their tooth brush, tooth paste, and floss. Depending on the bag it will also have perfume, makeup, hair brushes/combs, or other essential items.

We continue with our teams until the trip is over. Each team keeps their section of the car clean as we are driving and each team stays together as we go sight seeing and travel around. We try to pair people up in groups that will make the trip go smoothly. For example, don't put the three loudest, craziest, messiest kids together. Split them up and pair them with older kids who can help remind them to keep clean and quiet when we are sight seeing.

Let the children bring along one - two toys that they might enjoy.

And that is basically what we will be doing for our trip to keep things organized. We will be taking a u-haul with us to make a little extra room in the car.

If you are taking any trips I would love to hear about what you do to keep things organized!

To God be the Glory.

Bethany Joy