Not a real green dress, that's cruel

While you may think that my title is strange it actually makes sense (to me). I've had a song stuck in my head for the last few days and this just happens to be one of the lyrics. Its called "If I had a million dollars" and it's wicked funny. Anyways it's got me actually thinking about what I would do if I had a million dollars (not much unlike this post). I've been thinking way too much about this so here's the list just in case you were interested what I would do if I had a million dollars.

I would:
- buy some land and a house (preferably next to water with enough land to have a small farm
- build a deck with a faucet outside for easy clean up after garden work
- build a couple greenhouses and a hen house
- get more kayaks with whitewater accessories
- oh yea, pay off all my school debt
- put some away in saving for when I need a new car
- have a kitchen without the washer and dryer in the middle of it
- have a sewing room separate from my bedroom
- put skylights in my house
- buy a mountain and have it moved to my back yard (I had to put something huge in there)
- add more blueberry and raspberry bushes to my garden
- take a road trip to the west coast and then fly to Ireland
- get a motorcycle (and the lessons to go with it)
- add a sun room with a fireplace for cold winter nights
- build a tree house
- oh and get a really nice camera and printer (with a lifetime supply of ink)


Hopefully that is out of my system now and I can stop thinking about it.

What would you do if you had a million dollars (and please be more selfless than me)?

Early mornings

All my life I've wanted to be an early riser. I think it's from all of the farm and ranching romance novels I read as a teenager (please don't hold that against me). Anyways, up until about a year ago I've been nothing but that. Don't get me wrong. I've always been able to get up in the wee hours of the morning if I HAVE to. If other people are dependent upon me to be somewhere at a certain time then I'm there. However, getting up in the early morning to just get myself ready without rushing or get things done at home that need to be done but could be done later was never motivation enough for me to get up earlier.

Since starting my job at Rehoboth I've been not only forced to get up earlier but more willing to get up earlier without rushing. I'm not exactly sure what has brought the change about (maybe something to do with less late nights out with friends), but I am absolutely loving it. Being able to take the time to eat breakfast and get my lunch together or go weed in the garden and read my Bible has been something that gives me a chance to be more ready for the day ahead that I've ever been before.

Two dear friends of mine got married at the end of last month and they decided to have a morning wedding so they could have breakfast foods for their reception and then hit the road early to head off on their honeymoon (I'd probably want to skip out early myself, weddings are enjoyed in medium sized doses). As the unofficial photographer of their wedding I had to be there at 6:30am to take pictures. Which of course meant that I had to get up more like 4:30am to get up to the place in time (about an hour away) and be able to get pictures of the rising sun. The lack of sufficient sleep was totally worth it.





While yes I am getting up earlier these days it's usually not early enough to actually watch the sunrise so any opportunity to witness this miracle was one I couldn't pass up.

When was the last time you took the time to get up early and notice the breaking of the dawn on your part of the world?

Moments

Last night we had the first "real" thunderstorm that we've had in a while (maybe a couple of years). Growing up in Florida will allow you to appreciate and not fear so much the beauty and power of a thunderstorm. Well whenever we get one around here you stop whatever you're doing and you go enjoy it. That's what I did last night with my mother. She found me working on the computer and told me to come see something in the laundry room.

At first I must admit I was irritated and told her I would in a minute. Well when I hadn't finished what I was doing in a minute she came back again and said that there was something I really needed to see.

Let me just interject here that mom has been on an absolute cleaning kick lately (which is not all that odd), and has been telling me a lot lately to stop what I'm doing to see what she's done that day. This particular evening she had painted the back porch and walkway, painted the stairs inside, water-pressure cleaned the bricks out front, and done laundry. So I had been getting up a lot. I've been working on getting some pictures together that I'd taken of my friends wedding a couple of weekends ago, so I was really trying to get some work done. Finally, though my mother's insistence won me over and I walked outside with her and stood in absolute awe of God's amazing world (I wanted to kick myself for not going sooner, mom really wanted it to be a surprise so I could enjoy it more, she knows me to well).

We stood there for close to an hour and just watched and talked.

Mostly we just watched.

And stood in awe.

I think the best part of that night was just hearing my mother thank God aloud for the thunderstorm. It reminded me that I am truly blessed to have a family with whom our faith is open and out loud (most of the time).

Thank you God for the thunderstorm, and for my family.