Mary Frances Belk Dwyer

Maine -iac

So this weekend Lauren & I are heading to Maine. And that is actually the place we're staying (thanks to one of Lauren's co-workers...)

This trip really couldn't have come at a more perfect time...the Lord is so faithful.  The times I find hardest are those where I'm just idling along, sitting there.  I pray there is much rejoicing this weekend as I have so much to be thankful for.

There is a time for everything.  A time for laughing and for crying and I have a feeling this weekend is going to provide healthy amounts of both (although I'm certain most will be laughter)...and I couldn't be more excited.

I can just imagine...sitting out on the porch, listening to the ocean, thinking about my dear sweet Mimi and all the wonderful times we shared. 
 

Mimi: she had style, she had grace.

Mary Frances Belk Dwyer
 January 15, 1921 - October 6, 2009

 

and now they're re-united. 

 

There was magic in her touch,
And sunshine in her smile.
There was love in everything she did
To make our lives worthwhile.

We could find both hope and courage
Just by looking in her eyes.
Her laughter was a source of joy,
Her words were warm and wise.

There was a kindness and compassion
To be found in her embrace,
And we could see the light of heaven
Shining from her face.

 --------------

Miss you forever, love you for always.

Bike Riding along the Potomac...

Yes, that is how I spent my Sunday afternoon, and it was beautiful.  One more day just marveling at this place.  This place that for now, is my home - something I'm still shocked by at least weekly.

Lauren & I decided we were gonna take a bike ride. Sounded like an excellent idea to me.  We started out first in Georgetown, where we ended up just eating Subway on the banks of the Potomac and getting air in some tires.

We headed back to Crystal City to her place to park and ride from there...we thought that might be a little smarter.

We took off on the Mount Vernon trail, headed for Old Town Alexandria - and the path we took was just incredible.  Biking through forests, over marshes, on cute little wooden bridges with ropes as the 'safety net,' passing runners, bikers, rollerbladers, walkers...and getting passed ourselves. 

We made it to Old Town, stopped for a cookie on King Street and ate it along the river.  We decided to be a bit more venturous and head farther south...so far south that we were going UNDER 495, that my friends is what they call the 'outer loop' and 395 is the 'inner loop.'  We pretty much started at 395.

We saw a sign for Hwy 1 and decided to follow it...only to find out we were going the wrong direction and were coming upon exits for Fort Belvoir...not the direction we needed to go.  After turning around, biking back through Alexandria we headed for Gravelly Point.

Gravelly Point was the perfect place to end our 15 mile bike ride.  We laid in the grass, somewhat in pain, but also enjoying the perfect beauty of the day...and the fact that planes were taking off 400 feet in front of us...and flying straight over our pretty little faces as low as 100 ft above us.

Yesterday brought back a lot of memories.  Mainly of when I used to cycle all the time in college. Road & Mountain - I miss it.  I miss it a lot.  My goal is to go at least 10 miles 3 days a week on the bike...there is something relaxing about it. 

But let's face it.  If it weren't so dad gum hilly around here, I'd be in my rollerblades in a heartbeat...because that my friends - is my favorite.

 

 

Under the Virginian Sun

So yesterday...Lauren, Carrie & I ventured out into the Virginian Wine Country to do a little wine tasting and sight seeing.

It was just beautiful.

The rolling hills, the changing leaves, the "oldness" of it all.

I'm intrigued by these people who own these vineyards.

Who are farmers... who are just amazing.

We had lunch at the cutest little place, overlooking the beauty and majesty of God's creation.

I was just stunned and amazed. 

I could not have imagined a more perfect day with more perfect girls.

The Lord definitely gives us what we need, when we need it and yesterday (and today) was just what I needed.

The touch of the His hand is all around us. We see it in the order, beauty, and dazzling variety in creation. The great expanse of space with its billions of planets and the incredible world of the microscopic are all testimony to an Orderer of great creativity. God has left his fingerprints all over his world so we can know he is here.

Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities --his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. --Romans 1:20

William John Bry-Bry

...that's what he'll say when I coach him through saying his full name. It's adorable. 

So, a week ago today, I arrived back from Texas (yes, again) from another week of being there...this time in Fredericksburg spent with Jennifer, Eric & Will (my youngest nephew).  (I do realize it's a late post).

It was a week of fun
of laughing,
of Cowboy Cookies,
of realizing how thankful I am for them,
of realizing how thankful I am for family.

We did a lot in that week. Shopped of course, because that's what we do best.

We stayed home too.

We went to Round Top/Warrenton - a trip that is now going to become tradition.  Ate at Royers - where Dad met us...and the PIES ARE AMAZING.

The job I have now allows me a lot of freedom and freedom I though I had when in college, when in actuality, I have more now.  And because of that I've been able to go to Texas 3 times in the past month and a half for 9 days each trip....that's 27 days.

And 27 days of thankfulness.

Will is at such a fun age...
I love that with him I am a clear association with an airplane
That I can ride on his yoshi car (see youtube video) and his 4wheeler
That I can fit in his fort
That I can buy him Pink Piggies
That he is the cutest Will I know
but most importantly, that I get to love him - and love him for the rest of his life.

all I know is that I love all my nieces and nephews a whole lot.
I can't imagine how much I'm going to love my own children one day.

ebenezers

The following is taken from Beth Moore's Believing God:
      "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us'" (1 Sam. 7:12)
       Ebenezer means "stone of help."  As we walk out the remainder of our time line of faith, let's keep memorializing God's obvious interventions and spiritual markers through stones of remembrance.  In the meantime, by faith let's walk with a (figurative) stone in our hand as an "Ebenezer" until we see the next astonishing evidence or spiritual marker and lay it on our line. You see, the "Ebenezer" stone constantly reminds us, "Thus far has the Lord helped us." In other words, with God's help we're making is so far, and we'll make it some more.

You probably noticed the title of the blog has changed.

I've been back from Texas for just about a week and a half, and have had plenty of time to digest the things I experienced while back home.

It's still hard for me to believe that I'm living in Falls Church, VA - and as much as I find it hard to believe, I also find that I don't deserve it, by any means.  The Lord has grown me an awful lot since bringing me up here - mostly in areas I didn't aware I needed growth in.

I was in Texas for the week before Labor Day weekend and flew back up here on Labor Day.

For 22 years we've been having a "family reunion" at my parents house in Frankston on this weekend. This was our 22nd year. So practically, all of my life.

For 22 years it's been mostly the same people, with a few dropping off and adding a few.

For 22 years it's been the "fat camp" weekend (meaning, all we do is eat, play cards and shoot guns)

For 22 years it's been one of my favorite weekends.

But this year, it came in a whole new light.  For awhile now, since around my last semester at college, I've been praying that on my trips back to Frankston, that I would love and serve - just like I do 99% time.  Only, when I go back home - it seems so easy to fall back into the way "thing always were."

I hated that. I didn't realize how much I couldn't do it on my own, to not act in the way I grew up acting, fighting for a place and doing whatever it took to get it.

But this year - was different.  I found the most joy when I was serving and helping. Whether cooking, bathing children, feeding the 14 dogs, or just doing something I really didn't care to do (there are a number of those things).  I'm thankful for that, I'm thankful that this year - it didn't all fall on my mom to do everything.  That for maybe the first time, it seemed like she wasn't doing it all.

I mean, really, 20ish people at your home for an entire weekend? It's like an army invasion. Especially with all the kiddos.  And the older the kids get, the more of an army it will become. But an army I wouldn't trade for anything.

So back to the title change.

I spent some time just thinking while back home, about how many things I could look back on, in my life - and clearly see that the Lord had His hand over me.  When in most of the situations, let's be honest - all of them... He probably should have just let me go for how wretched I was being - but instead, because of His sovereignty and grace, He chose to dust off my trail and call me back home.

I'm thankful for His grace.

I'm thankful He's in control.

and most importantly, for His unwavering, unconditional love.
--------------------------------------
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
Will be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.