Baby Turtles and the Sea…

I’ve often joked in my life that God lives at the beach. I don’t know if it’s just that I have had so many God moments with sand between my toes, my eyes on the horizon, and the sound of waves ringing in my heart. I have cried, laughed, danced, dreamed, and prayed so many times at the ocean and found myself time and time again when I’ve felt the most lost. This summer, it happened again. We had a much needed vacation to the ocean and as always, it cleared my tangly soul, swept my heart clean, and cleaned …

Behind the Vacuum

When my youngest son, Luke, was two, he was a fearless, rascally boy who loved dismantling the vacuum. However, one day as I was vacuuming, he became really scared of the vacuum. As I was vacuuming under his kitchen chair, which was littered with dropped veggies and crumbs, he kept yelling and running away. I was watching him in sort of amazement because first of all, Luke is fearless. Second of all, he had never done that before with the vacuum. However, the thought that really gripped me was that usually when he was scared of something he ran to …

On Your Mark… Get Set… Jump…

When Matt and I started Jones House Creative four years ago, we leaped confidently off of a cliff from this wonderful place of assurance and strength. We had a lovely reserve in savings, a retirement fund that was growing, college savings for our kids, and I had confidently written a blog on finance for the past three years. Matt and I had a plan.  We had a word from God in the direction of the business.  We knew it would be hard, but we were also excited about the adventure of it.  Like Abram setting out from Ur, we had …

His Hidden Heart

Last winter was one of the most brutal that I have ever experienced in Oklahoma. The first frost came early in November and spring only made it’s appearance in May. We had ice storms, snow storms, and lots and lots of cold rainy days. It was a very long, very hard winter, and it also happened to be one of the hardest times in my life. I went through an 8 month period of health problems where I felt like I was walking through thick, heavy mud each day. I would get up in the morning completely exhausted and barely …

Out of Hybernation

Spring is in the air. My flowers are beginning to bloom. My whole world has turned green overnight, and I have finally decided to come out of hibernation. We had so much ice and snow this past winter, it seemed like everything died and it was hard to even imagine that it used to be green. There were days when I would drive down the street and everywhere I looked was this interminable color of grey and bleak yellow. And at some point in the never ending winter, I think I doubted the spring. I lost hope, or rather let …

Something Stirring

From the vicious heat of summer and the constant motion of my children, I suddenly feel a change coming. The rains have come this week. My precious Noah is back at school and life is beginning to find the rythm of routine once again. There is something about the Oklahoma heat that causes everything to dry up and stop and seek desperate shelter in the relief of a friend’s pool. That is where my creativity has been hybernating. It is where my writing has both whithered and found refreshment. I miss the flow of creativity. I miss the sermons that …

The Number of Faith

I have to admit, when it comes to believing God for His provision, that provision has often had an exact number in my head. Maybe it’s because I think in numbers, or because of my belief that it is important to be specific with your prayers. To me it is a different prayer when you pray, “Lord thank you that you are taking care of me” versus “Lord thank you that I am safe as I drive to work today. Your angels surround me and Your word says that even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of …

Oompa-Loompa Wisdom

I am white… not as an ethnicity (although technically that is true too)… but rather as a very pale, ghostly winterish shade of hiding under sweaters for the last 6 months white. I was especially white sitting next to my darling mother today who has just returned from a glorious beach vacation. “Wow, look how tan I am,” she rejoiced as she held her beautifully golden arm next to my, what all of a sudden appeared to have turned bluish-white, arm. It was a very cool day here in Tulsa, so maybe that’s why I appeared a little blue…. or …

Outside of My Box

This past Tuesday, I had a divine appointment. It just so happened it was with my hair dresser. My hair dresser is a wonderful girl named Claire. One of the things I love about Claire (besides her wonderful skills with hair) is that Claire lives outside of the box. I have the feeling she always has. When I first met her she had pink hair, and this wonderfully spunky attitude. But underneath her unconventional exterior, Claire has faith like a giant. She told me at this past appointment that her friends are always suprised that she is a Christian. “Why …

A Lesson in Trust

How ironic that I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of this blog by not blogging for two weeks? I can hardly believe that it has been a whole year. Honestly, I have really missed writing lately. There seems to be so many other things fighting for my time and my attention… cute, cuddly, hungry, sticky things during the day. At night, it’s just finding the balance between time with my sweet husband, my part time job, cleaning up from the day, laundry, taxes, (did you notice I skipped right over the 15th of April and tax season?), helping Matt with …