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Hey guys! I've Moved!

I am super excited to let you know that I am embarking on a new, super awesome, specially focused blog called The Sparkling Hippie!

Please come check it out.  I am very excited to see the direction the Lord is taking me in this new blog chapter of my life.

http://thesparklinghippie.com/

Come check it out!!

Sunday Funday: April 12

One of my good girl friends has a feening for hiking lately.  This past Sunday we decided to scratch that itch by planning a hiking trip to Quartz Mountain.  She had actually wanted to hike the Wildlife Refuge but that was in the opposite direction of how I had planned to spend my Sunday morning, so we decided to hold switch paths for this week.

I started the day by waking up early and heading to Altus for worship at my favorite church.  I love going there for many reasons, one being that I know I am completely there for God, not others' opinions or approvals.  I'm there for one reason only and that is heart-felt, beautiful worship.

Sure enough the praise was awesome and the holy spirit was strong.  The sermon was about the parable of the seeds.  I found it very inspiring and took several pages of notes from the discussion.  At twelve o'clock, as always, I was sad to leave the sanctuary but I knew it was time to continue my journey out in the world.

I had taken just a few steps outside when I saw a good friend of mine.  He informed me of an event going on downtown and told me I should come.  So I parked my car and checked it out.  It was the Walking on Chalk event hosted by Main Street Altus.  I had heard of this event and wanted to see it for myself in years past but had never made it.  I loved it!  Artwork all over the streets is fun to watch and enjoy.  Before too long I found myself paying five bucks to enter a drawing myself.  I knew I wasn't much up for the prize money because most of these artists had bags and bags of specialized chalk.  They had came early to stake out the good pieces of concrete and their works were premeditated.  Regardless, I had an hour to kill before my friends would arrive in Altus and I wanted to get some art out of my system.

For weeks a phrase out of an Elin Hilderbrand book had haunted me.  "She was her own happy ending."  The moment I read it I felt the connection and minutes later I saw the vision.  I had something I needed to create.  Because this was fresh on my mind I chose the Art Walk as a fair enough place to create it.

First I picked a smooth square slab of concrete, but I was soon told that adults had to use parking spaces, not squares.  I was okay with this, until I realized that the only smooth parking spaces were across the road and they had already been filled up.  A lady instructed me to use the parking spaces on this side of the road and try to find a smooth one.  The problem was, these spaces were on asphalt, therefore they were jagged and course, making it hard to chalk on.  I didn't have a choice though, so I complied.

Very soon I found myself getting extremely into my chalk art.  I was kneeling down then standing up and moving from one side of the parking slot to the other.  The hair, the brains, the beauty and colors of it all were coming together.  This was my masterpiece that needed to be seen and felt.  The process took me nearly an hour and I felt pleased with my work, though I knew it was rough and choppy due to the canvas.

Several of my friends greeted me when I finished.  Altus friends who just happened to be walking around.  I was invited to a bar-b-que and a different hiking trip.  Unfortunately around this time I needed to change out of my church clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) and into my hiking clothes (shorts and a tank top.)  So I headed to my friend Bailey's house to change clothes and catch up on life.  Of course, this always takes longer than 15 minutes and that was all the time I had until my girls were meeting up with me.

So I was late.

But I met the girls at a parking lot across town just a half hour later.  We drove into the North until we came to a trail we liked near Quartz Mountain.

The hike was beautiful!  We found ourselves off and on the path, in the middle of craters and even on top of a large rock.  The funniest part was that Katrina and I kept seeing identical scenes from the Lion King.  We saw the crevice where the hyenas hide, the valley when it was destroyed, the place where Simba crawled back up and even a few more.

My phone said we hiked about three miles.  It was exhilarating but it also made us very hungry.  Naturally, our final stop for the day involved sushi at our favorite hibachi joint.  We feasted.  Calamari, Crab Ragoon, Miso Soup, and House Salads for appetizers, plus two Sushi rolls and two hibachi plates.  We had hiked up quite the appetite!

Overall I would say this was a very memorable and fun Sunday.  We plan on hiking again very soon.

Pushing Through the Crust

On Easter Sunday we had our tighter circle of family out to Hooverville for a wonderful meal.  Grandma, Grandpa, Steven and Miranda,  Tommy and Denice, Mom, Dad, Grant and I, all enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by my mother.  Ham, deviled eggs, salad, hot rolls, potato casserole and beans made for a delicious spread.

Grandma and Grandpa were excited to be back at home.  The first thing Grandpa did when he got out of the car was take his walker out to the wheat pasture behind the house.  He wanted to see the wheat!

I walked with him as we examined the wheat up close.  He picked a strand and told me the head would come out here in the next week or so.  I always take Dad and Grandpa's word when it comes to farming and gardening, however the back of my mind says they have to be either psychic or magicians to know this stuff.  How can you tell the exact week when your crop is going to pop out of the ground or turn colors?  Grandpa hadn't even seen my garden and he still knew when my potatoes would sprout!

Since we were near the garden I excitedly showed Grandpa the progress my onions had made.  He was very pleased, although I quickly apologized for not having freshly weeded the garden (it had been less than a week, though.)  Nevertheless, Grandpa's seal of approval was on my onions, and that was worth gold!

A few weeks later my potatoes started to bloom.  Dad had told me to keep the ground wet so the plants could push through the crust.  I was fascinated as I soon saw exactly what Dad meant. These tiny baby plants were literally pushing their way through the hard outer shell of the earth and into the fresh air.  For weeks I had been hoeing around plants that I couldn't see.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I was hoeing in between the rows or not, but by good faith I did it anyway.  Slowly but surely one plant after another began to pop up, and it seemed like overnight they would arrive.

The whole idea of "pushing through the crust" is amazing to me.  What was once a seed is now moving earth around so they can complete it's purpose in life.  I think that should inspire anyone.  What is the "crust" in your life that you need to push through in order to fulfill your purpose?

In church on Sunday this lesson continued when my pastor spoke on the parable of the seeds in Mark 4.  The farmer used good seed and cast it across the land.  The seed fell on to four different types of soil: hard, rocky, thorny and good.  Each type of soil is linked to the spiritual life of you and I.  The Lord is planting seeds and we hear good words but are they taking root in your life?  Perhaps the seeds are not growing because your heart is hard or because your idols are choking it out.  Maybe you believe the Lord and want to follow him but as soon as a hard time comes you give up.

The good news is, you can change your soil.  You can change the outcome of the seeds.  It is your choice to be good soil, you only have to cultivate your heart in good faith, just as I did my garden.  Remember, it was weeks before I saw results, but the persistence paid off.

Think about what kind of soil you are, and ask yourself what crust you need to push through in order to live the life of purpose and passion that God called you to.  You just mind find a sprout to water.