Miniature Golf Mayhem!

The resort where we stayed on vacation had a miniature golf course. Faith is quite good at putt-putt and neither Hannah nor Kaylah had ever been to a course...so....Faith put that on the agenda.

Please let the record show that although I love playing putt-put, I stink at it. I mean I truly stink. Normally if I'm no good at something, I hate participating (because face it...who likes losing?). But I really do like doing this as long as my fellow participants aren't gloaters.

Once, several years ago, Faith and I had a good friend get married and we were both bridesmaids in her wedding. After the rehearsal and dinner, all the girls went go-carting and putt-putting. Everyone in the entire wedding party got a hole in one EXCEPT ME. So we have pictures of everyone celebrating their hole in one...and me pouting because I didn't get one.

Some things never change.

These pictures are in a very random order because I'm journaling and folding laundry and watching HGTV and realizing I should be in bed...all while posting this.

It was an 18 hole course, but the two munchkins only had 9 holes of an attention span. So this was taken after we quit halfway through. Kaylah thought the club made a great snack....


The one rule we did manage to teach them that night was this: STAY OFF THE GREEN!!!!

Hannah learned her technique from her Mom. Lots safer than learning it from me. :)

And when she got tired of the technique she learned...she made up her own. She had a method of golfing that greatly resembled the mysterious Olympic sport of curling....

Okay so "Get off the green!!!" wasn't always well understood....

When you can't win...just pose with the features.

Hannah assisted Kaylah in this hole by holding back the stupid swinging pole that was in the way. She did the same for Faith. When my turn rolled around, that little stinker let it go right when my ball got to the hole!!

You can't say my inability to putt-putt is due to lack of concentration...

My nemesis. That stupid barn had a little windmill thing inside. I had to get down on my hands and knees and push the ball through. Stupid barn.

Yes, I feel that way too!!!!

We didn't keep score (THANK THE LORD!!) but we did have a lot of fun.

My favorite moment was the next day when Hannah and I were talking alone. She looked at me with all seriousness and said, "My favorite thing was when we went clubbing." I looked at her with a combination of surprise and horror. CLUBBING?? Then I realized...golf clubs. Oh yeah.

This is What it Means to be Held...

Back in September, when my little nephew would have celebrated his 21st birthday, I had a granite heart etched with the lyrics to Natalie Grant's song "Held." I wanted to take something to his grave that would serve as a testimony of what his life did in mine. I was only ten when he was stillborn, and it was the first time in my life that I had to hit real life head-on and learn just how God went about working amid tragedy.

I have this picture hanging on my freezer door, and this afternoon when I got some ice, i took a good look at it. (You know how it goes with fridge clutter...you see it so often you forget to see it.)

Yesterday, as I wrote in my post, unglued me. And after work, I decided I couldn't go home. Needed to be out somewhere. Anywhere. So I shopped (unsuccessfully,I might add) for a while and then went to a friend's house.

Had a complete meltdown about two hours into my visit. No warning. Just kind of a flash flood sort of situation. I knew I'd be fine. I always am. I cry it out for a few minutes and then I move on. But something totally unexpected happened during that meltdown.

I was held.

Literal arms wrapped around me until I was cradled like a baby, and then I was gently rocked back and forth while I cried. Snot everywhere. Mascara everywhere. Sobbing that turned so labor intensive that it eventually mixed with sweat and became impossible to distinguish between the two. It really wasn't pretty. And yet the tight hold of a hug did not let go until I no longer gasped for air.

When I looked at the picture today, it seemed more real than just words etched in stone. It wasn't some abstract thing. It was real. With arms. I love it when God sends arms.

He Hideth My Soul...

I was raised on hymns. Hated them for several years in my teens because I was raised on them and preferred other (hipper) music. But lately hymns have become my refuge again. Last night the song "He Hideth My Soul" popped in my head, so I found it on YouTube and listened to it as I fell asleep.

This morning, God did a beautiful thing for me in reassuring me of His Presence in my life and I was so excited about it that I literally ran in the door at work in an attempt to be on time after taking the time to journal what He'd done.

I might have known that would bring about a test of some sort.

How very much I wish I could give you the details, because these stories are always better in detail. You can feel what I feel when I can give you a detail. But out of respect for those involved who aren't me, I have to stay vague.

But I have to tell you that right now, my heart is breaking in TWO. I'm on my lunch hour right now and while the rest of the office is eating together in the break room, I'm sitting at my desk with my good friend Puffs Plus with Lotion, hoping to goodness a student doesn't walk in until I get this little tear-fest under control.

God has me in this desert and He's refining me and I am so grateful.

And I am so hurt.

I do not understand what He's asking of me this day. I mean I do understand WHAT He's asking. I do not understand why. Why, when I want to help...when I can help...does He ask me to sit still and wait for Him? He's God and I've learned that while I'm allowed to question His ways without Him hating me, I truly can't question His ways because He's God and He owes me no explanation.

I'm gritting my teeth (literally...you should see my jaw right now) and resolving to obey. The other day when He and I chatted about the verses regarding seeking Him first...and delighting myself in Him...He told me that if I will obey Him in this thing He asks, that tells Him I'm seeking Him first. And that delights Him.

So right now, I'm clinging desperately to the life-long knowledge that He knows what He's doing. He is too wise to be mistaken and too good to be unkind, as the song says. So when I don't understand and can't see His plan...when I can't trace His hand, I must trust His heart.

He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand.

Water, Water Everywhere!

Sorry - we're back to vacation! :)

Y'all know I love water. It's so peaceful to me!

So when I was in Tennessee, I was excited to find out they had a beach that was on Faith's agenda. There are, in fact, photos of me at the beach. You will not see them, and you are welcome.

Basically, I sat on a little lawn chair and worked on my sunburn again while the kids played. I spent much time journaling, much time praying, and despite two applications of brand new sunscreen, much time burning. Oh well. It's a lovely tan now.

The kids had sand pails and shovels, so of course...building castles was the first order of business!

Then it was time to brave the water. (Why are these thighs cute on a two year old and Heaven-help-us on me?)

Sisters...

Probably also some sisters in this picture. :)

Hannah and Kaylah working hard together. This was shortly before the thunder began and we got out before we got wet!

Loved the beach. I felt guilty for about two seconds that I didn't get in the water to play with the kids or stand with Faith, but I really just loved sitting on the side and soaking up the joy of the beach. So I let go of the guilt. (After all...not my kids!)

The next day, we ventured out again...this time to one of the pools. I wasn't feeling very well that day, so I didn't get in the water there either. I sat on the side, and literally BAKED. There weren't any lounge chairs with umbrellas and by the time I decided sitting at a table was better than roasting, there also weren't any unclaimed tables.

So I kept busy taking pictures. It's really too bad these two have no personality....

Yep - no personality at all.

Aren't those pigtails just something else??

Both days, we were pretty tired when we were done at the water. It can wear a person OUT! But I do have a pretty good tan - especially for it only being the beginning of June. Bring THAT on!

We Interrupt This Vacation Journal...

...to bring you an update from the world of writing!

I am both excited and nervous to tell you that just a few hours ago, I signed the final form to send my book to print!




The publisher has been reviewing it these past few weeks to make the changes to the cover (that they suggested) and the changes to the interior (that I requested). I received the second set of proofs this past weekend and have been looking over them to make sure all is as I hoped.

I cannot wait to show you the cover!

This book was born out of a desire to know Jesus better. It came forth during a Christmas season when my heart needed to connect with His and I couldn't find a book to lead me through the Advent season. As a result...I studied the Scriptures myself and in writing what I learned, the book made its way onto paper. (Well...screen. Then paper.)

When Christmas rolls around this year, it will have been three years since the project began, and God is still not done using it in my life. As I scanned through portions of it again today, sentences seemed to place themselves in bold font on my screen and I felt God nudging me through my own words. That tells me they were never mine. They were His.

And so...I'm excited to see what other plans God has for this book. What other nudges He might have for those who choose to read it.

Playgrounds and Creepy McCreeperson

Confession: I am not a big fan of playgrounds. I have to pull the "it all goes back to my childhood" card. Growing up, per my father's wishes, I wore skirts every day. And those of us who wore skirts to school were banned from most playground equipment. (Yes, even in first grade, boys thought it was fun to lay under the equipment and look up skirts. As a result - we just couldn't play on it.) So I was never one of those kids who thought the greatest thing in life was sliding and crossing the ever daunting monkey bars.


Though I don't have kids, I fear my lack of playground enthusiasm makes me a very poor aunt. Faith, on the other hand, loves playgrounds, and there just so happened to be a little "park" as the kids called it at the end of the road where our condo was, so we made a couple of trips down there for fun.

Of course there are the swings. Swings are the one piece of playground equipment I love. I did actually sit on one for a while! (No picture to prove it, but it did happen.)


Hannah had fun with this little thing. I would have broken my neck on it, but she had fun.

Kaylah LOVED the bouncy bridge. And if you'll look to the right of the picture (under the slide) you'll see the best shot I got of Creepy McCreeperson. I wanted to just take a picture, but I was afraid he'd think I was interested in some way and I did not want to make that mistake. Creepy was a rather interesting (aka frightening) individual who lurked at the playground with his fanny pack firmly fastened and his camera in hand. He gave us both the creeps. Glad we never saw him again.

I did NOT participate in the tire swing. I have zero coordination and could only envision a "totally Bekah" moment taking place had I tried. Faith and Hannah both love flying high, spinning around, and all things fun. Kaylah, as you can see - not so much. I so feel her pain. That's why I was behind the camera and not on the swing.

Hey, I wasn't a total party pooper! I did help with the "push me high!" requests.

Hannah worked hard on her monkey bar skills and did pretty well. I have a feeling that even if I couldn't have copped the skirt excuse as a kid, I would not have had what it took to master the monkey bars. Unfortunate but true.

Loved this picture. Hopefully in a different way from how Creepy McCreeperson loved the ones he was taking. Ick.

What is it with children's insatiable desires to climb UP the slide?

Though I'm not a huge playground fan, it was fun to watch them having fun, and it was really nice that they had the whole place to themselves both times we went down to play. Kind of made it feel like the whole place belonged just to us!

Build a Bear!

I said in yesterday's post that it was so odd to be the passenger in a car...and that's true. It was also odd to be a passenger on vacation! Not since I was in high school have I gone on a vacation when someone else planned all of it. Kind of refreshing!


Faith and I left home this past Thursday morning and arrived in Louisville, Kentucky around lunch time. After feasting (don't even think I'm kidding!) at the precious Sonic, we had our first official vacation adventure.

Build A Bear.

I cracked up when Faith told Hannah about it. I could tell that Faith was about to burst with excitement and stopped herself several times from telling Hannah about our first vacation surprise. So when, at last, at the Sonic picnic table, Faith smiled widely and said, "Hannah, we are going to Build a Bear!!!!!" - I watched Hannah's reaction carefully.

She stared for a minute and said, "I don't know what that is." Now that was a crack-me-up moment.


But when we pulled up in front of the store, she decided it looked like a lot of fun! And because I'm just an overgrown kid at heart - I agreed!


I'd never been in a Build-A-Bear before, and you can know I was not leaving that place without my very own bear. Hello! It's vacation! I talked Faith into getting one too. Bears all around! And because the child of a scrapper who also is the "niece" of a scrapper is nothing more than a scrapper in training, we got this picture. Slightly blurry, but she'll learn. (My camera is complex. I was impressed she did this well!) Anyway. Here are Faith and I with our empty bears.



If you've never been to a Build-A-Bear before, welcome to my virtual tour. :) The first item of business, once you've chosen your bear (and those are all the choices there on the wall in the background!), is to stuff the bear. Annie, the lovely worker bee, hooked our little bears onto the tube in the stuffing machine, and we pressed the pedal until the bear was filled right up!

And then - we had to give our bears big hugs to make sure they were stuffed just right. (This sounds like a children's story doesn't it?)

Some of us were more fond of the sound of the stuffing machine than others. Hannah did manage to press the pedal for her own bear's stuffing, as long as she kept her ears good and plugged. Kaylah, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it.

We chose a heart out of the little basket of hearts and Miss Annie put those hearts inside and sewed our bears right up. (Side note - Chonda Pierce tells a story...I tried to find it on YouTube and couldn't...about going to a Build-A-Bear while she was in rehab for depression. You've GOT to find that story and listen to her tell it. Hysterical - and moving all at the same time.) Anyway, I thought of her as we put our hearts in our bears.

Miss Annie was kind enough to take a picture of all of us with our bears before we moved on to the next part of the fun!

The next station was the "washing" station. Air, which sounds like water and did NOT amuse Kaylah, comes out of the shower heads, and there are little brushes to use on the bears. Once we convinced Kaylah that the shower heads were not going to make any more sound, she joined in the fun of brushing and sprucing up her bear.

Let the shopping begin! Can't leave without an outfit!And there are, as you can see, many options. Boy outfits, girl outfits, summer, winter, day, night, sporty, formal, jammies, swimming, anything you can think of - right down to wedding dresses and tuxes. Kaylah may be young, but she's got the shopping for clothes thing DOWN.

They have little dressing rooms complete with mirrors (and stacks of underwear if you look right in front of the mirror). Hannah and I shared a dressing room for our bears. (Hers received a Tinkerbell looking costume - complete with magic wand.)

My bear's outfit was selected based entirely on the shoes. They were just too cute and I could not pass them up. So I found the coordinating dress and that completed my shopping experience! At least for this trip. If I ever get to go back to a Build-A-Bear, I'll probably buy her a little change of clothes. :)

Final stop in the experience is the birth certificate station - where you can name your bear. Because it felt appropriate for this stage in my life journey, I named her Hope. Please meet Miss Hope. (Side note - I had no idea how appropriate that name would become as the vacation went on. More on that later.)

And Faith, who has also been walking quite a journey of her own, named her bear Grace.

While Faith and I paid Miss Annie for our bears, Kaylah found a gift card and got to work swiping. Seriously! Shopper in training!

And that completed our Build-A-Bear experience. I really had a lot of fun. Would love to go back someday with another kiddo (or just me - for more clothes!) to have more fun. Don't know if Build-A-Bear employees everywhere are so great, but Annie was an exceptional helper. She really made our visit the best start to vacation EVER!

So if you haven't ever been...and you ever get the chance to go....I say GO BUILD A BEAR!!

View from the Passenger Seat

So I went on this road trip this weekend, and one of the most interesting parts of the trip was life in the passenger seat. Obviously, being single, I spend most of my time in the driver's seat. At least if I want to get anywhere.

I learned many things from my perch - some of which were actually spiritual, but I'm saving that for another post.

This bit of cuteness sat right behind me. (Please note that safety measures extended to all passengers in the vehicle, including those of the fluffily stuffed variety.) She's no longer a baby and I knew those precious little legs were long enough to kick right into my back - but fortunately that only happened a time or two. She did enjoy sticking her hand through the head rest to tickle my neck and a few times I found myself bonked by flying toys that sailed over top of my shoulder...





...which led me to learn that the area around my feet can hold a deceivingly large number of confiscated toys. And an umbrella. And my backpack. And my camera (always on top and at the ready for accidents, fires, amusing signs, and the like). And my water bottle. And a trash bag from the drive thru. And a couple bags of groceries. Yeah it turned into a "Buried Bekah" fest.
This other bit of cuteness sat behind her mother....and as you can see, she's learning early the art of the headphones in the little Leap Frog (or whatever it's called) computer. Such a blessing for the front seat occupants. One can only hear "Press the green circle...goodbye!...hello!...Press the green circ...good...he...press the gree...goodbye!" so many times before losing one's sanity. (Which leads one to start calling oneself "one.")

I learned that the phrase "I WILL NEVER FALL ASLEEP! NEVER!" is often followed by:

Faith and I both learned that little packets of foam beads multiply like rabbits - sticking to baby thighs, hiding in pretzel bags, flying in confetti-esque showers throughout the backseat, and also make a tasty (yet forbidden) snack. It was through this that I learned the phrase "Don't see me, Aunt Bekah!" meant "I have a foam bead in my mouth and I don't want you to know it and make me take it out so I will call it to your attention because I don't know that you really don't have eyes in the back of your head." Obviously her sentence was much shorter.

Never too early to start a fashion trend! In addition to this new way of sporting sunglasses, I witnessed rapid wardrobe changes of bears (usually accompanied by "Don't see me make-ed!" until the transformation of clothing was complete).

And of course, who needs things like books and beads and bears when there are ROLLS OF PAPER TOWEL!!!! Oh the treasures that can be constructed from a roll of paper towel! Incidentally, it makes great confetti as well.

I also became re-introduced to songs with Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber - everything from Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah to Shall We Gather at the River? My favorite sounds, though, were two little voices (surprisingly on key, I might add) singing "God is so good...God is so good...God is so good...He's so good to me."

I learned that green crayon is as much fun to color on tan car doors as it is on the actual coloring book itself.

And I learned the key piece of traveling with small fry: the explanation of remaining travel time in manageable terms. I made a list for you in case you (somehow) don't know.

3 hours = Sunday School and Church

1 1/2 hours = The Elf Movie

1 hour = The Strawberry Shortcake Movie

45 minutes = An Episode of Dora and the Snow Princess

30 minutes = An Episode of Dora

20 minutes = A Trip to Aunt Bekah's

5 minutes = A Time Out

** Please note that 5 year olds are surprisingly aware of the actual length of Dora episodes, so you better have that one timed just about right or they'll call you on it.**