My First Outdoor Walk ~ Photo Challenge~ WORDS

Hello friends. I hope you all are doing well. It is a little cooler here than it has been. Mind you it is still very hot. I was able to take my first "walk" after surgery yesterday. I haven't gone yet today. I had a lot of office/church book work I had to do. I do not want to get behind in bookkeeping for the church. It is a beast already. 

Today marks the beginning of my third week. I can now walk 5-10 minutes on a flat surface this week. I can eventually build up to 15-20 minutes. I was thinking 10 minutes would be no biggie. THEN..... I started walking and realized 5 minutes was HARD. So, I will be taking my time for sure. 

I am shocked how much pressure I felt. It was actually very shocking. This was a sign that slow and steady is my lot right now. 

Today, I had a little more energy and I needed to get some office work and church bookkeeping accomplished. 

Lots of printing, scanning and recording! LOTS! It is all done and I am all caught up. I am so thankful!

Today, my heart is swelling with THANKSGIVING because the Lord answered TWO specific requests for me and my husband. We had some deeply personal prayers where we really needed a miracle for our youngest son Kyle (19) and he answered it. We still have ongoing prayers for him and a very serious prayer for this coming Thursday. I believe if He answered this one for today, He will answer for Thursday! My husband and I without realizing it was praying about the same thing for our daughter, Hannah (21) yesterday. Neither of us knew until this morning that we both had focus prayer time for her job and for her a raise yesterday. She works very hard and is the "face" for her orthodontist. She is the first person that people see when they go to a consultation for braces. Since she took the position, their patients have increased by 75 percent. She works very hard and always has a smile. Not only that she jumps in all areas that are needing help. She celebrated being there a year last week and they had told her when they hired her last year, she would be evaluated and possibly receive a raise which is MUCH NEEDED as a young lady trying to kick off young adulthood in these times. The Lord answered my husband and I (her too) and unbeknownst to her when she got into work today they blessed her with a raise. We are thankful. 

On to my Photo for the July Daily Photo Challenge! The theme is WORDS. I am sharing TWO today! 

The first photo is of my Thank You cards that you can color. I am having a lot of fun with them. I also do wax seals for letters and cards. I am so excited to get my seals and wax out after I color them to have some fun!

My second one is this lovely sign with the words Simplify on it. A statement by Henry Thoreau one of my favorite poets.  I admire him for being a naturalist. His love for nature and simple living is what drew me to his writings. 

A little story about this sign. I found this primitive sign about 21 years ago for $1 at a yard sale. This sign is so meaningful to me because when I came across it, I had begun to shift my life and was craving a slower and simpler pace for my then young family. I was going 90 miles an hour serving, volunteering, running a cleaning business and raising small children. I had a moment where I knew the Lord was calling me make some changes. Oh, That I did. I went to our Pastor (we were not pastoring at the time) and stepped down from all ministries I was heling in but for two areas that I felt the Lord wanted me to continue. I stepped down from many volunteer positions. I put my house cleaning business on hold. I started homeschooling our children, taking nature walks with them and on my own, reading and playing with them, we took naps, picnics, learned so much and had so much fun. I began to stop and smell the roses, learn how to simplify things, started thrifting, being a better steward with things we owned/had, decluttered our entire home and began having a hospitable home for slow and relaxing moments with friends and their children. Oh, we built so many memories and what a treasure those years were. This sign caught my eye right when I was kicking off my life of "simplicity." It has been hung in every single home we have lived in even if it doesn't really match the home. It will always have a place because it serves as a reminder the importance of a simple life for me.

It is one of the first things you can see when you walk in our front door. What a great reminder for us all.

Thanks for joining me today, 

Chrissy T