Sorry so quiet...

I haven't been able to think of anything to blog about recently...sorry! I know it gets kind of boring when you keep checking someone's blog and there's never a new entry!

How can I make this worth your visit?

Hmmm.... Do you see a family resemblance here?

Say Cheese!

My mom and my sister Anna were down here in California last Thursday through Saturday to attend a Women's Prayer Summit with me. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with the ladies from my church.

Before we left for the event, I asked my mom to take a picture of Anna and me. The flash wasn't on, so she didn't realize the picture had already been taken, so she kept her finger on the button. What follows is the progression of photos she took as I realized she was taking more than one photo!

Notice how the beautiful smile never leaves Anna's face; she's like, frozen in time!

I bought a robot!

Yes, I have moved into the era of the Jetsons with my own personal household robot...

Well, it's only a robotic vaccum cleaner, but still!

Meet Rover, my new Roomba Red from the iRobot Corporation (this isn't Rover himself, just one of his many look-alikes):




















Rover will vacuum my floors for me while I work on the computer or do laundry or read. Just push his buttons and he's off!

Rover can sense when a spot is extra dirty and he spends more time in that area...he also has a sensor that keeps him from falling down stairs (although we have no stairs in our house, so that's not an issue for us). He covers a lot of ground, and has little side sweepers to get dust and debris from along the wall's edges. He's not too noisy...definitely not as loud as a regular vacuum cleaner!

My cats aren't quite sure what to think about this new addition to the family, but they tolerate him; as long as he isn't heading straight towards them!

Now if only they'd make a robot that could clean my bathroom for me...

God is so creative!

These are some of my favorite pictures from a trip to the Sacramento Zoo a couple years ago...I love seeing the creativity of our God expressed so wonderfully at the zoo! (Remember, click on the pictures to see them bigger!)

Two of my favorite things!

A moment of grace...

I am not prone to clumsiness. I don't usually drop things, run into things, trip over things, etc. Today, however, I had quite the ungraceful moment!

I'm currently working in our church library on Monday afternoons. Western Seminary from Portland has their Sacramento campus on our church campus, so there are usually several students in the library on Mondays when I come in.

Before I went to the library, I stopped to get a Jamba Juice. A nice, big, fruity smoothie! I was looking forward to drinking it as I worked throughout the afternoon (it's been hot here lately). I came in through the back door of the library, walked through the back room, and up the three little steps into the library itself. It was at this point that something went wrong.

I don't know how it happened, exactly, but as I stepped into the library I fell. It felt like slow motion...and next thing I knew, I was on my knees with my broken Jamba cup in front of me, all the icy, sweet contents in a pile on the carpet. The two students in the library were perfect gentlemen, going to get paper towels to help clean up the mess, and then later, offering to go to Jamba Juice and buy me another drink (how sweet of them).

I was able to laugh about it -- which encouraged me, because if something like that had happened to me in high school, or even college, I would have been mortified! I was only mildly embarrassed, and soon got over it...which shows me how much I've matured since then. I guess there are perks to getting "old" after all!

But the thing that stuck out to me the most was how the two students bought me another drink, even though they don't know me that well and it was no fault of theirs that I had tripped and dropped my drink. It was a moment of grace...something undeserved. It made me think of how many things God has given me, in His grace, that I don't at all deserve. I'm so glad we serve a gracious God!

Keep your eyes open for a moment of grace in your day today!