Random stuff I never posted... Part 2:

My friend Christy and I went to a local pumpkin festival.  It wasn't quite as exciting as I expected, but we did manage to get this gem of a picture, haha

One of the things I love about Sarasota is all of the art!  In the fall there was a chalk festival...

Random stuff I never posted... Part 1:

On "National Museum Day" we visited the Ringling Museum of Art, Circus Museum and Ca d'Zan (John & Mabel Ringling's mansion).  It was pretty awesome (and even better that we could go for free)! 

 

  Ringling was kind of obsessed with everything European, so he modeled his home after a Venetian palace and brought European art over for the museum.

 

The grounds were amazing... my camera was running out of batteries, so I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I did manage to snap a few of the Banyon Trees...

The house is literally right on the water!  There was a wedding on the patio while we were there...

Here we are at the Circus Museum :)

One year ago...

This was me a year ago... me and the last gluten that I have eaten (intentionally at least... there was that pretzel M&M that I thought was a peanut one and a few other "oops" moments).

Ah, look at it, so fluffy and soft! haha.

But, then I look at myself in the picture and realize that giving it up is worth it. Whew, looking pretty rough...of course, this was just a couple hours after coming out of anesthesia (hence the ghostly pale face)

I have learned a lot this year!  I'll write more about that later.  But, for now I'll just leave you with a quote that I read this morning... it was very appropriate and encouraging for me today:

“Our bodies shared the ruin into which sin brought our race. Mortality and corruption took possession of them. They became subject to pain, and weariness, and disease—in every organ and limb. The one drop of poison coming from Adam’s sin has spread itself out and pervaded every part of us. Our flesh, from the cradle to the tomb, is feeble, broken, ready to faint—the cause and the inlet of a thousand sorrows.
All this shall yet be reversed. Former things shall pass away. This head shall ache no more; these hands and feet shall be weary no more; this flesh shall throb with anguish no more. ‘God Himself shall wipe away all tears from these eyes; and there shall be no more death; neither, sorrow, nor crying, for the former things are passed away.’ ‘He will take these vile bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own!’
He who once hung upon the cross, but now sits upon the throne, says, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ ‘This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality, and death be swallowed in victory!”
— Horatius Bonar
The Revelation of Jesus Christ 

I can't wait for that day!! 

Here is a picture of me after a year without gluten! 

Christ, only Christ, live then Thy life in me

I have been reading the book "Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God".  Each chapter is a mini-biography of a Christian woman who was faithful to God's calling on her life...following him wherever he called her to go. You can read the book for free online and I highly recommend it!   I just finished the chapter about Helen Roseveare, a missionary doctor to the Congo.
This paragraph sums up what God taught her through her life there:

As Helen Roseveare stood by our fireplace and looked into their faces, she reached  backward toward the mantel and eased a longstemmed red rosebud from a tall vase. As she spoke, she broke off the thorns, the leaves, the petals, the green outer layer of stem—every elementvthat makes a rose a rose. All that was left was a lithe, straight shaft. The pieces that lay on the floor were not bad things. But, she explained, they had to be removed if she were going to make an arrow. God does this to us, she said. He removes everything—even innocent, good things—that hinders us from being the arrows that he will shoot for his purposes at his intended target.

This week I have also been reading and meditating on Romans 12.  I want my life to be a living sacrifice!  This poem was included at the end of the chapter on Helen Rosevear, and is a beautiful prayer in response... 

Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted,
Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard,
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.

Not I, but Christ, to gently soothe in sorrow,
Not I, but Christ, to wipe the falling tear,
Not I, but Christ, to lift the weary burden,
Not I, but Christ, to hush away all fear.

Not I, but Christ, no idle word e’er falling,
Christ, only Christ, no needless bustling sound,
Christ, only Christ, no self-important bearing,
Christ, only Christ, no trace of I be found.

Not I, but Christ, my every need supplying,
Not I, but Christ, my strength and health to be;
Christ, only Christ, for body, soul, and spirit,
Christ, only Christ, live then Thy life in me.

Christ, only Christ, e’re long will fill my vision;
Glory excelling soon, full soon I’ll see
Christ, only Christ, my every wish fulfilling—
Christ, only Christ, my all in all to be.

 [A. B. Simpson, “Christ, Only Christ.”]