Flight of The Gypsy Bird

  Storm Damage. I think video footage of massive storm damage is among the most heart-wrenching things to watch. Video footage of people's lives, well-being, dreams, hopes....just....leveled. It's been 6 years since a tornado ripped through our small town and the lives and hearts of many were permanently affected .  6 years since hopes and dreams were crushed and life as many knew it changed forever. Every day we drive past the scars...although houses have been rebuilt and lives have slowly moved on, the land has yet to recover.  Once majestic trees now stand as ghostly reminders that something terrible happened. We pass one of the paths that the tornado took, everyday on the way to and from school...to and from town...to and from anywhere. At first, it was a solemn reminder of lives lost, a beacon of hope that humanity was not lost, and for our family, a grateful prayer was said every time we passed it for the sparing of...

So, recently someone asked me to write a 500 word essay describing what worship is and how to flesh it out. Easy, right? Yeah, I thought so too. Ehhhhnotsomuch. The topic wasn't the hard part. It was the 500 word part. I mean, worship is so much more than ANY of us can EVER hope to confine within a literary work. SO! I asked Abba to help me write this thing, mainly because if He doesn't help, it stinks. Haha. Don't judge. It's true, lol. Anywho, I had a revelation in the midst of this essay and I wanted to share it with you. So here is the 536 word essay...hey, I tried to keep it at 500... Enjoy. :) " That moment. You know what I'm talking about. That epic moment when imagination meets reality and it exceeds everything you thought it could possibly be. That moment when your soul is moved so deeply that all you can do is close your eyes and soak in that moment, relish the moment, love the moment, because to do anything else would seem....

 Annnnnd it's been a minute... I know. Forgive me for having six kids living at home and allowing them to have a life OUTSIDE of my own. ;) Blogging has taken a backseat to life these days. Until the other day. Lemme just tell you. Watching your kids live their lives and watching their sibling squabbles and giggles can really slap you in the face with some pretty blinding "light bulb" moments. Like this one, for instance: Nacho and Lily were playing in the floor. FIRST, you need to understand that Nacho loves his sister...like luuuuuuuvs her...like...really really...really..........really loves his sister. So much so that she will scream at him to get off her. (She gets it honest) That being said, I was watching this moment in time as my 4 year old went from playing with his 1 year old sister to LOVING his 1 year old sister...with her 1 year old 'tude with a capital T...and her 1 year old backhand across the face.  He was trying so hard to ...