Dare to Do:

Wow this was a challenge for me. There are lots of things, believe it or not, that scare me. High places. The unknown,Talking to strangers,Speaking publicly,being offensive,medical conditions that may or may not affect me in later life.... so this challenge that came last night gave me some pause. What would I "Dare"? I generally analyze risks before I take them, so I'm speaking pretty broadly here. It's hard to get me out of my comfort zone. Whenever we've moved this has always been my biggest challenge, to step outside of myself, take a risk and see if I can integrate into the 'system'. If you've never moved or changed jobs or done something out of the ordinary, you might scratch your head about what i'm talking about here, but believe me, finding yourself in a new spot can create quite a dissonance. It takes me several years to get comfortable again, to stop feeling like the biggest oddball in the bunch, not to mention being the German among the Dutch. Yikes!! So now that we've been in OC for nearly 5 years I have made it back to the 'very comfortable' level again. I need to be shooken up, as it were. Out of the comfort zone again. Dare it. Find the stranger, do something out of the ordinary. Any suggestions out there?

"I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,for who would dare of himself to approach me?declares the LORD."Jeremiah 30:20-22

walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.Acts 9:30-32

Picture taking.

I love this picture. This was taken on the fly, before I really knew anything about photography. (like I know anything now. Ha!) I was still taking things from far away. I preferred the "big" picture as it were. (I have pictures of all three of my kids on their first day of school and they are standing a football field length away from me as I get the shot. I really got the whole kid. Bother.) Anyway, back to this shot. It was taken in South Dakota on trip to the Black Hills. This truly gives you the impression of the vastness and openness of the prairie. Rarely is there anything out there to take a picture of, but there is plenty to see in this one. You can almost see the heat shimmering up too, because as I remember it was a very long hot ride! It was also taken on a a little cannon 'sure-shot' 35 mm camera. I have lots of pictures from that trip and very few of them turned out this well. Like the one of my kids, again, in front of MT. Rushmore. Well, at least I got a nice view of ALL of Mt. Rushmore. But you need a magnifying glass to figure out who those 3 people are standing in front of it!

Fun toys

A friend showed me these new widgets at adaptiveblue.com and Now I'm hooked. "What's a widget?" you ask. Well, it's the little box over on the side there that roles through lists... I really love lists. Anyway, I put up this recipe widget to start with. If you see this page becoming all widgety you'll know why! Enjoy the recipes and watch for more fun stuff!