Morning Glories

This was is my first morning glory blossom. I started these guys from seeds in early spring and for a while it didn't look promising, but flowers are starting. =)

Soaring Like Eagles

Photo by Mark 11 Photography @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/78845487@N00/73427933/

I've been meaning to post this for the longest time because I think it's so amazing.

"The eagle allows the storm to take him to a higher place... the eagle finds a rock when he's in trouble and lets the sun cleanse him from any poisons. The eagle doesn't flap around like the chickens and crows and sparrows. It waits patiently on the rock for the thermal currents, and only then does it take flight. Not by it's own effort, but by the effort of the wind beneath its wings"

Photo by m3l0dym4k3r @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/melodymaker/2194644989/

" When a female knows a male is interested, she leads him on a chase through the skies, swooping, diving, and soaring high above the hills. When the chase is nearly over, she flies as high as she can and flips onto her back, free-falling toward the ground. It is the male's job to place his body over hers and grasp her talons, flapping his wings with all his might to keep her from certain death. Moments before they hit the ground, the female pulls out of the dive and circles the male. Because he had been willing to stay even unto death, he will have proven himself as a mate. The eagles are joined for life from that point on."

Eagle information from A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury

Steven's Boat

Rushing flood waters drain Lake Delton
By Don Walker and Meg Jones

(Click on the title to see Steven's boat in a picture in the news. His is the one with the red cover.)

Lake Delton near the Dells is essentially empty after the rain-swollen lake cut its own channel around a dam and emptied into the Wisconsin River, taking four homes with it.

Steven has been renting a place on this lake for more than a year now. Check out the pictures he sent me.


You can kind of see what the lake would normally look like behind me. It's not the best shot, but it's all I have.


This is what is looked like with the flooding.




And this is what it looked like after all the water went rushing out.

"Right now there is no lake. It's simply a channel flowing from here to the Wisconsin River. Now we basically have a creek flowing through here but once it settles down we will have a small crick,' said Zowin. "I would not anticipate Lake Delton being here this summer."

Crazy!

Happy Summer!

I kicked my summer off with a variety of fun activities - lounging by a pool, wandering through the farmer's market, and taking a long nap.



In all reality my summer will be short which sounds sad, but means I'll be employed which will be a good thing. (My interview is at 3:00 on Wednesday.)

Happy Summer to you!

Interview!

I have a job interview (yippee!) for a position with the Boys and Girls Club of Dane county. If I get the job I would be a part of creating a program that would support low income kids so they can complete high school and college. The interview will be either on June 11 or 12. Please, please keep me in your prayers!!! My current employment ends this Friday and I need to find something that fits my heart.

The Urgent vs. The Important

For a Bible Study at church I had to read the article, Tyranny of the Urgent, by Charles E. Hummel.

The article, written in 1967, is surprisingly relevant today. I guess the things I struggle with aren't really new, but are the same things people throughout history has been challenged by.

Here are a couple of things that stood out to me.

~Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.

~ Yet on the last night, with many useful tasks undone and urgent human needs unmet, the Lord had peace, He knew he had finished God's work.

~Man is never so truly personal as when he is living in complete dependence upon God.

This article reminded me of a book I've posted about before,
Invitation to Silence and Solitude. I'd love to tell you that I practice solitude on a daily basis, but it would be a lie. Regularly I let the urgent, get in the way of what I know to be important. But I am continuing to seek the quiet and peace which can only come from simply being with God.

I've included a couple of quotes to encourage you.

~ When we stop the music of our life to enter into solitude, we sit down right where we are at that moment, and that's where we meet God. We meet God in our present delight or our present sadness. We meet God in the tears of our life or the laughter of our life. We meet God in our most unnerving questions or the answers we are celebrating. No matter where we are on any given day, when the music stops and everything gets quiet, we sit down right where we are and allow ourselves to be there with him.

In a world where being anything other than "ok", is really not ok, I long to be with my God who will meet me anywhere.

~ Solitude eventually offers a quiet gift of grace, a gift that comes whenever we are able to face ourselves honestly; the gift of acceptance, of compassion, for who we are. As we allow ourselves to be known in solitude, we discover that we are known by love. Beyond the pain of self-discovery there is a love that does not condemn us but calls us to itself. This love receives us as we are. - Parker Palmer

***If you'd like to red the whole article, please click on the title above.