Connecting.....

These last weeks have been about connecting or re-connecting for me.

We are doing well - have enjoyed lots and lots of time with friends and family.  In the last few weeks I have been blessed to see the majority of my girlfriends that have played a significant role in my life in various stops along our travels.  It has been so good for me - lots of trips down memory lane, lots of laughing, lots of sharing, lots of dreaming and questioning and wondering. Good for me to remember and just be. Simply put: there is just nothing quite like friends with history.  Thanks girls.

We have also treasured time with family.  Nearly a week with Benjy's Dad, Gary and Robin.  And nearly 2 weeks with all of my family in Canada.  So good to be with both sides.  The kids reconnected easily with grandparents and aunts/uncles and especially cousins.  Lots of late nights and playtime and good food and just plain old connecting. Another simply put: there is just nothing quite like being with family (ha! interpret that as you may)

But I think one of the types of connecting I want to write about too is the reconnecting I have done with God through reading.  No, not through a dynamic Bible reading plan...  I hope I can reconnect to the Word of God again - I want to and need to.  But what has really fed my spiritual life as of late are novels by Francine Rivers.  It has been a long time since I have made time in my life to read - just to read for me - not parenting books, or devotional or self-helpey kind of things.  And I am kind of not the most girley of girls so I had this idea in my head that a woman Christian author would be about really feminine things - like flowers and butterflies and rainbows.  So I avoided them even though many recommended them.  I stand corrected and proclaim it.  In the past 2 months I have read 4 of her novels: the Mark of the Lion series (ya remember these books? Hadassah?) and then just yesterday finished Redeeming Love.  So I have been changed and reminded of how good God is and how much He loves me and how I need to be more like Jesus in so many ways.  The themes of love, forgiveness, grace, service, etc.. have made me think and desire change in my own life.  So...thank you Francine!

If you have not taken the opportunity to read these books - please accept my recommendation to do just that - it will connect you again to our great and awesome God!