Here’s a peek  …

We are already planning for next year … it just keeps getting better.

Instagram for me began as an exercise of capturing the moments that made my heart sing. It seems the theme has continued. Each of these represents a moment in time when my heart swelled with gratitude or I just wished I could freeze time. And so I did … in a photo.  If you’re interested in seeing my moments of gratitude in real time, you can find me right here on Instagram!

I have so many pictures I want to share … but I’m really enjoying my family time this season. The cousins were so fun this camping trip … I’ll share more, in between my own summer fun!

I found a small shoot right on the fence line that divides my property from my neighbor’s. The shoot was sprouting right under the chain link between the ugly bush in my yard, and the beautiful shrub in theirs. I imagined a seed had blown over or a bird had left this little seedling behind to later take root and spring forth life. There were no other peony plants nearby, no sign that it was intentionally planted.

Or was it?

I actually believe little gifts like this are very intentional. It’s God’s way of saying, “I see you.”

I found this little shoot at a time when I had been noticing the feminine flowers of the neighborhood peonies. During a time when finances were beyond tight. No room for purchases like a peony bush from the local garden nursery.

That was three summers ago that I dug up that little sprout. I’m not even sure how I knew it was a peony. Perhaps it was the single tight little tell-tale bud ? I knew it was for me. I was weeding behind the bush that day, and my heart leapt at the sight of the sweet little sprout, heavy with a single bud. I put it in the ground at the corner of my garage. A spot that gets plenty of sun and more than it’s share of rain with the broken gutter gaping above. For two year’s I’ve watched it grow stronger and more robust, never has it given me a single bloom. Until now.

This feminine flower of pink lace with it’s delicate scent of perfume. This was my garden’s first gift to me this year. My daughter saw it first and plucked it right off, which in turn gave me the unexpected gift of photographing it’s loveliness! Sometimes the most beautiful things come after we patiently tend to them. In time, under the right conditions, everything blooms. And in the end, it is a sweet sweet gift. Things of great beauty are worth the wait. Patience. Rest. Reconciliation. It takes work, lots of intention, and often lots of prayer. But in the end – the results are so so beautiful.

Winding down my business.

Here’s a peek at a sweet doll face I shot a few weeks ago.  I think what I’m going to miss most is the building relationships with my families. The joy of exposing their connections through my view finder. The growth and change that passing years reveal.

I have moments when I feel peace and relief about moving on. I have other moments when I feel a bit sad, but with peace. Right now … it’s a sad moment.