The View from Telluride and Why You Should Savor Every Moment

It's hard to believe almost four weeks ago we were celebrating our anniversary in the beautiful town of Telluride, CO. Not only were we rejoicing over 24 years of marriage, but we were delighted with the news of another baby on the way.

How quickly things change.

Here's the Lodge Headquarters

Our kitchenette

Living area which included a gas fireplace and a balcony with breathtaking mountain views

We arrived to clouds and rain and SNOW on the mountain!

BUT, I will tell you the BEST lesson I learned from my time away with my Beloved.  Savor every moment. Enjoy it for what it is. Don't let fears of what might happen tomorrow or what God might plan for you in the future rob you of enjoying the present moment He's given you.

Even with my history of miscarriages (this was our fourth), we still celebrated as though this baby would arrive as hoped for. We talked about baby names and how we'd tell our children. We praised God and reflected on this humbling gift. We didn't let fear or worry rob us of the blessing God had given us, even though it would end up only being for a short time.

How much of our lives do we spend worrying about what is never in our control to begin with......namely that day called tomorrow? I can't imagine my sorrow if I had wasted away this precious time with my Beloved, allowing fear and anxiety and borrowed trouble to strangle away the good gifts of the present.

I'm not speaking of reckless living, with no thought of eternity. I'm speaking of intentionally delighting in every good gift God has given us, in the moment He's bestowed it.

After the initial rainy day, this was the view that greeted us the next morning

Oh, how these golden hues made my heart happy!

The "gondola", as it was called, was our main mode of transportation. As we hovered over the gorgeous landscape, all I could think of was how majestic and great our Creator is.

This is the little bridge we'd walk over every day as we explored the area.

In the town of Telluride we enjoyed these mini donuts made by a street vendor.

Don't do what we did and forget your tripod on a romantic getaway!! This picture would have been much better with my Beloved by my side.

These were the views from one of the overlooks.

This is looking down on the town of Telluride. Our lodge was a couple thousand feet above it.

The view from the gondola station.

I have to say this place had the best "do not disturb" signs I've ever seen. :)

We spied this cabin as we were leaving the area. I think I could sacrifice and live nestled away in this spot, even though it would mean LOTS of snow in the winter.

And isn't this glorious? Snow capped mountains and fall foliage? Only our God could create something so magnificent.

As my heart and brain are still struggling to wrap themselves around Michele's home-going (it still doesn't seem real), I think of how I enjoyed those nine days with her in Utah. Even though we lived in the midst of her endless medicine bottles and doctor's appointments and all of her physical problems, we savored every moment! We shopped and ate and laughed and cried. Oh, I have not one regret, and I count those days as such a special gift from the LORD.

Isn't God kind to give us the multitude of daily mercies that make our lives a canvas of His grace? Enjoying them and praising Him for them while we have them is just one way of tasting and seeing that He is good. And even in the loss and sadness and grief, I cling to the hope, knowledge, and mercies that declare the truth that just as God takes, He also gives, and does so most abundantly.

With love,

Monday Facts~I Promise You Won't Have to Take a Bath

It's a fact that this is a delicious chocolate chip muffin recipe.

It's a fact that unless you're unaware of your table manners, ahem, you won't have to take a bath after eating this muffin.

It's a fact that cutie-pie down there is still working on his table manners, and it's a fact he had to take a bath after eating his breakfast.

It's a fact that this first picture reveals his devious plan to get some water playtime right after breakfast.

It's a fact that I don't mind if my babies have to bathe after eating a good meal.

It's a fact that smearing food all over your face is actually a compliment in some countries. (I don't know where, but I bet it is.)

It's a fact that chocolate chips are considered a staple in our home.

It's a fact that you should serve these with some kind of protein....like bacon or eggs or bacon and eggs. :)

It's a fact that while I promise you won't have to take a bath after eating these, I can't promise you won't have a nice chunk of chocolate stuck between your teeth.

It's a fact that when you bake these, you should share some with a neighbor.


Cap'n's Smear 'Em On Your Face Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, melted AND cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package chocolate chips (for those of us who buy in bulk, that's about 11.5 ounces)
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts  (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray muffin pan with Baker's Joy. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix milk, eggs, butter and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Gently fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar if you dare.

With love,

 Link up with other fact-obsessed bloggers at Seams Inspired.

Take Possession of Those Covenant Mercies

"Faith is never happier than when it can fall back upon the promise of God. She sets this over against all discouraging circumstances; let outward providences say what they will, the voice of a faithful God drowns every sound of tear....When God has spoken, His divine shall, our 'I will,' becomes no idle boast, but the fit echo of the Lord's decree. Believer, up and take possession of covenant mercies."
~C.H. Spurgeon
Treasury of David

She's Been Waiting So Long for This

Jubilant One's Name and Age: Miss Ella, 6 yrs. 4 months

Reason for her delight: Lost Tooth

Method of Extraction: Daddy tied a string to her tooth and his BIG truck and...

 Ate an apple 

Time Extraction Took Place: About 20 minutes ago 

"Other than a dimple in a cute little chin,

What's more adorable than a toothless grin?"

~Azu Espezia

I Love You to Pinches and Squeezes

Brother, do you know how much I love you? 

You're so sweet to cuddle with.

And look how much I make you laugh!

In fact, you're so precious, that sometimes....

I just want to squeeze you tight.

And sister, I appreciate those tight squeezes, so much so that I just want to pinch your lips.

It's ok if we have our quirks.

After all, it's so clear that we're very happy together.

Thankful Thursday~Only God

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,

for His steadfast love endures forever!

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,

whom He has redeemed from trouble."

~Psalm 107:1,2

Only God can take an aching heart and fill it full of gratitude, making it impossible  to keep quiet. Only God can open weeping eyes to see the goodness, His goodness all around them. Only God...

I'm so thankful for....

Children who start the morning singing This Good Day.

Flexible sleeping positions

Yummy snickerdoodles. We loved this recipe:

2-2/3 c. all purpose flour

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1-1/4 c. sugar

**

2 T. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix flour, butter, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, vanilla, eggs, and 1-1/4 c. sugar. Stir well until blended. Shape dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap, chilling for two hours or until easy to handle. Mix together cinnamon and sugar (I used less cinnamon than recommended). Shape dough into 1-1/2 inch balls and dip in cinnamon sugar. Bake at 400 degrees on greased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes.

**from Chickens in the Road

A house with many knights in shining armor, even itty bitty ones. (P.S. That sword weighs more than he does. :))

Whistler's love for sketching God's creation

Trees at the park to climb! Oh, how blessed you are if you have trees in your yard for climbing. :)

Precious bracelets for all of the Poff Girls, courtesy of my very thoughtful friend, Jill. I know it took so much time to make each one of these. And then, she included a joy journal, chocolate cookbook, and a letter I'll treasure always.

I'm also thankful for an encouraging letter from my friend, Camille, all the way from Canada. :) She even included a tea bag for me to enjoy. Good words and tea? What a perfect combination. 

Both of these friends invested time in me. Time to write. Time to create. Time to mail me a blessing, and these gifts came the week before the darkness fell. God's timing is perfect.

I'm thankful for the truth of His Word and for these trials that make us more like Jesus. 

I'm thankful we finally caught a renegade mouse that grew fat on our stores 

of food for over a month. Dead. Very dead. :)  

I'm thankful that Michele's "Celebration Service" took place on Tuesday. It felt like another loss in not being able to attend, but I'm thankful for the time I had with her in Utah.

And I know you're probably weary of hearing it, but I'm so thankful for your prayers and your kind words. You'll simply never know how you have encouraged my heart!!

Is it not humbling to reflect on your mercies, knowing you deserve not even one of them, and yet, God continues to daily pour out more than you could ever count? Truly, it brings me to my knees and to tears.

I pray that no matter how dark your road right now, God would bless you with many reminders of His goodness to you. I pray He would give you glimpses of His joy in the midst of your heartaches and that you would soon find your groanings mixed with rejoicing.

"Thankless children we all are, more or less, comprehending but dimly the truth of God's fathomless love for us."

~Elisabeth Elliot

With love,

Could God Be So Cruel?

As God has quieted my heart before Him during this season of affliction, I've thought much about how one without Christ responds to suffering. I've thought about how easily Christians, too, slip into bitterness or fist-shaking or deep despair. I've reflected on how I used to do that.

The question that comes is, "How could God be so cruel?" Let's play out the question with me as an example.

"You prayed for that sweet baby. God answered your prayers with such delightful timing. He gave you life as you were watching another slip into death. You even stepped out of the fear in more ways than one, sharing the good news with everyone way earlier than you've done since you first knew the pain of miscarriage."

And then He took it all away.

Fill in your own blanks. Because all of us have our own story to tell.

I won't begin to offer some deep theological discussion on God's sovereignty or His holiness because I'm not qualified to do that. I can say that there's a different knowledge, grounded in God's Word, of course, of who God is and how faithful He is that comes only as our faith is refined in the fire.

When I'm living in a bed of roses, I can tell you endlessly how great God is and how blessed I am. And you might believe me. But it's only when I'm standing in the fire, back sore from His rod and His correction, heart broken and bewildered, and yet a song still on my lips, that my testimony carries a greater weight.

Realizing we were losing this baby, I stood at one moment in the middle of my room begging Jesus to stop it all. Did He turn a deaf ear? Did He not care? No. There's no doubt that He looked upon me with great compassion, compassion deeper than I know, and in His infinite wisdom said "no."

There's no deceit in our God. There's no joke-playing. He doesn't have a torturer's mentality. He is our Heavenly Father, and He is making us more like Christ. We would think a parent crazy who gave his child everything she wanted. In fact, we've all seen children who are the products of such parents. They're miserable and selfish and grumbling.  And yet, all too often, we want our God to be the indulgent parent who never says "no," who never corrects, who is more like our Genie in a Bottle than our sovereign God and our Redeemer.

Affliction brings to light what we really believe about God. It reveals the depth or shallowness of our faith. It exposes idols and sin, pride or humility. The real question is not, "How could God be so cruel?" (because He's not) but rather, "What will we do with our affliction?" 

Will we be teachable and malleable? Will we be humbled and thankful? Or will we be bitter and combative and have a closed fist and a hardened heart to the wonderful things God has in store for us, those gifts that only come from trials?

Oh, may God give us more grace and more grace to submit with a gracious heart to His corrections, to His refining of us!

How am I? I am good because my God is good. And, I am unspeakably grateful for your prayers! The tears still fall to my pillow at night, and heavy grief sometimes washes over me, and I have to just find a quiet place. I know it will be this way for awhile, and I know that's okay.

But God, in His kindness, has given me eyes to see His many mercies, and a heart that can say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." (Psalm 119:71). To God be the glory!

Much love and thanks to all of you. Your kindness and compassion have been a comfort to my aching heart.

He Gives and He Takes Away

"Your eyes are an ocean flooding over the levees,

The storms keep coming before you are ready

Oh, and they're taking the whole place down to the seed

'Til all that you have is all that you need."

~Christa Wells

Today is the 14th. It marks the fourth month anniversary of my Dad's death.

Not even three days ago, my precious Michele went to be with Jesus.

And last night, God chose to take this wee blessing.

Thank you for being so kind and encouraging when I shared with you our good news. I covet your continued prayers as the losses (I know they're really not, but that's how it feels) are piling up around me. Truly, the storms keep coming, and I don't feel ready.

But, God's grace is sufficient in the midst of it all. Please pray most of all that I'll be a joyful Mama, that my children won't look at me only to see grief and tears and heaviness of heart and soul. Pray that I'll have a song in my heart and praises on my lips, and that I'll teach them well about God's goodness in the midst of hard providences.

It's in these hard times that I'm especially thankful to have little ones around singing "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" and "Whate'er My God Ordains is Right."


Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Thank you in advance for your prayers.

With love,

And Baby Makes........

(I'm using Larri's "fact post" idea, but I don't think she'll mind.)

It's a fact that none of you thought I told Mountain Man we had won the lottery. It's a fact that y'all are a smart bunch, and I can't fool any of you.

It's a fact that we're expecting another blessing to grace our home next June.

It's a fact that after knowing the pain of miscarriage, I feel very vulnerable announcing a pregnancy. I know so well how quickly good news can turn to sad, and I know that every day this baby continues to grow is a miracle.

It's a fact that this is the earliest we've shared about being pregnant since I had my first miscarriages 7 years ago.

It's a fact that we prayed for this baby. We prayed and prayed and prayed.

It's a fact that I've never suffered from morning sickness.....but I've had a host of other complications to make up for it. :)

It's a fact that most of our family members think we're crazy and much of their congratulations are wrapped in skepticism and shaking heads and even a bit of scolding.

It's a fact that my heart is sad when others can't rejoice with us.

It's a fact that every family should have the JOY of having their pastor react as ours did when we announced the good news this past Sunday at church. His excitement blessed our hearts beyond words! I wish I could have had that moment on tape....just to play when we hear the negative comments or the silence.

It's a fact that while I rejoice, I'm profoundly aware of the aching, empty wombs in my midst. I'm aware of the Mommies who've just lost babies or who are still waiting for one or are past the time of ever having another one. I'm aware that my joy can often cause pain to the Mama who is in a different place. Oh, I'm so aware, and I've been in some of those places, and for those Mommies who read this and find their hearts aching, I'm so sorry, and I hug you in my heart and pray for God's comfort and grace to abound in you. Please don't think that my rejoicing means I'm indifferent to your hurting hearts.

It's a fact that I don't deserve this baby, and it's a fact that I'm humbled by God's kindness to us.

It's a fact that God gave us the best anniversary getaway present EVER. Can I tell you the thrill it was to tell my Mountain Man that we were having another baby?? Isn't God's timing AMAZING?

It's a fact that our children are delighted!

It's a fact that when asked by someone if I was "mildly excited, very excited, or tremendously excited," I replied, "When I found out, I fell to the floor and praised and worshipped God."

It's a fact that Michele found out we were having a baby before she died. It's a fact that she also knew that if our baby is a girl, her middle name will be Michele. It's a fact that Michele was happy for us, and I pray, happy to know how we would be honoring her.

It's a fact that this life growing in me is a great comfort and encouragement and blessing and gift and treasure in the midst of missing my Dad and Michele.

It's a fact that I'm so grateful and so in awe of God's mercies.

It's a fact that I took A LOT of pregnancy tests.

It's a fact that I'd love for you to pray for us and this precious new life being knit together. It's a fact that if you're happy for us, I'd LOVE for you to encourage my heart with good words.

It's a fact that I don't know what tomorrow will bring but that my heart is full of faith and gratitude, and I know that whatever God does, He'll give me a heart that will rejoice in His wisdom, even if it's a hard providence.

It's a fact that I've probably posted too many facts, and it's a fact that if you're still with me, you're AMAZING!

Thank you in advance for rejoicing with us. I'm so grateful to you all.

With love,