Jane Austen's got nothin' on my small town.

We have been having the most gorgeous, foggy mornings lately. 

   I'd love to say that we get outside to play every day, but I would be 68% lying.  Sometimes it's a matter of all the to-dos begging to get done that are all inside things.  Sometimes it's just not nice out.  Sometimes I'm just lazy.  But sometimes it's a bit of all three, and I'm wondering......how in the world do you moms make sure your kids get enough time outside when there's  always a million things to do inside?  Laundry, cooking, cleaning etc...these things all take place indoors so at times it's very difficult to find time for the Great Outdoors.  But when we do, I'm always glad that we did.

   It's straight out of a Jane Austen novel, and serves to make me moody and contemplative.  Sometimes it burns off in time for a sunny, beautiful afternoon, but other days, like today, it hangs around all day, shrouding the valley in a cold, damp, misty wistfulness. 

   I am both a summer child and secret lover of the city, and so life in the rainy Willamette Valley has had its challenges for me. 

   But this......oh this, is where it's at.  Cool, crisp, haunting walks through the countryside.  This is the stuff writers dream of.  The perfect setting for almost any story.  If they could somehow bottle it up only to let it loose in their office, car, taxi or elevator...then every moment would be a moment of inspiration.  Every commute, one of contemplation.  Every lunch break, a chance for character development and plot twists.  This is the last straw.  If I can't write a book in this type of setting, well then I probably never will. 

   Our Beth Moore Bible study this morning was so dead on.  I could not take notes FAST enough.  I covered the pages up one side and down the other, scribbled underlines and waved my highlighter like I was a charismatic at a praise service. 

   I have neither the time or emotional energy to go into it all, but some of the points she made were these:

•    If pride is the graveyard of effective believers, than insecurity is the psych ward.  
•    The devil defeats us ALL if he can get us focused on competition and jealousy.
•    All insecurity and jealousy is rooted in pride.
•    But you CAN defeat it.
•    Because this culture has us so focused on competing with one another, comparing ourselves and feeling jealous.....if you are not fighting it, you are doing it.

   There were 100 other things, but I just don't have time for those today.  They deserve their own blog post, really. 

    Oh and how cool is it to live in a place so small that the mail lady recognizes you walking and hands you a package out the window of her car??   Pretty cool I'd say.  And about that package....well I will be reviewing its lovely contents on the blog tomorrow!  So check back for that. 

And just remember.......

you are loved by the King.