Hope

Such a small word, but such a BIG idea.  I must admit that lately hope seems more like a dreamers fantasy rather than a real spiritual thing.  Don't get me wrong, I hope, but I have found myself a lot more cynical to the idea of hoping that things, events, what I want, will turn out for the best.    I would like things to happen a certain way, but life has a funny way of being, well, REAL.  Let me just say, sometimes, reality stinks.  Lately, I am learning something about this powerful word though.  The spiritual expression of hope comes from an ultimate hope in the Lord, not in our circumstances, not in our events.  Our hope in our circumstances comes from the promises of the Lord and the unfailing hope that He is.  Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Lily's Smile

I am simply humbled with this little family of 3 that I call mine.  Today I just know that God is Big, He is good and He wants the best for his children.  I look at these pictures and the only word that I can conjure up is hope.  Hope in a little girl's eyes and smile, hope in a marriage love thats real, hope in what is yet to come.  

My hope is renewed because I am changing how I hope.  I will  hope in God's overwhelming goodness and grace.  I will believe He will work the circumstances, whether good or bad in my life for the good.  After all, that is really what hope is.  Simply put, Hope is Christ, there is no better way to describe it.

Smile!

You know, there is simply no greater joy, other than mothering, than photography for me right now.  I love all things picture related and simply love catching moments on "film."  Lily Grace is of course one of the most enjoyable subjects to photograph, but getting her to stay still and smile all in one exposure is somewhat impossible.  Catching the movement is not the problem, I have a special camera for that, its the smiling.  It is so hard to convince a smile instead of a blank stare.  Lately I have been trying to teach her to smile by being silly and making a big smiley face then saying "can you do that Lily?"  Well, here is what "smile" in Lily's mind means.

Yeah, I know its cute.  Fact is....she's cute.  She was all about "smiling" today so I had the camera snapping each moment I could.  She is such a doll and so busy.  When she is not trying on any pair of shoes she can find (today, Daddy's were on the agenda), she is reading, talking, singing, or being "Siddy, Yiddy."  Yes, that is how Silly Lily sounds coming from the mouth of babes.

We have started the process of trying to catch some good family photos for this year's many photo needs.  On our way up the mountain last weekend, we stopped at a few places to snap some great photos of us.  With the temperatures so cold over the weekend, many of the trees up at altitude were snow covered and just beautiful.

We stopped along the section of road that was burned by the Lower North Fork Fire and snapped some amazing shots.  The trees are black and leaf less, but the white snow creates this beautifully breathtaking landscape.  It really was astounding.  Bob and I thought that the burned trees were actually more beautiful than the healthy trees.  There was just something about the stark contrast between the black trees, white snow and blue cloudless sky that drew you in.  Thank goodness pictures are free because we took a ton of them.

Being in the mountains suits all of us Longmires well and brings out some of the best smiles we have.  I couldn't help but take a few moments and capture some of the ways our world smiles around us too.  It's the simple things that always remind me even in the dark times we face, life is beautiful.