Each October, I assess. Or perhaps I could’ve written, iAssess. Ha. iPhone-6+-mania affected my brain, like the rest of the world.  :)

“Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life – well, valuable, but small – and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave?” – Kathleen Kelly (played by Meg Ryan) in You’ve Got Mail (1998), as written by Nora Ephron

Assessing what I do with my life, a list::

{*writing*}  …this blog, letters, journals, chalkboard birthday messages, pre-school curriculum, scriptures on cards I tuck in my bag, lists with checkmarks [checkmarks are wondrous], doodles while I talk on the phone, and assessments, like this silly thing…

And while I write my blogs for my friends and familia and my mom and because I need a place to put all my words, I am still surprised that I get more than 5 or 6 views a day. But wonder if I should start applying myself? And become a “real” blogger/writer?

 From the stats the day I started writing this post (I obviously don’t always stay focused).

“He did his best to find just the right words. And what he wrote was honest and true.” Ecclesiastes 12:10

I want to write what is honest and true.

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{*singing*} …martini music (if I could just choose a brand new fabulously successful career – it would be as a lounge singer, shhhh), oldies – mostly from the 70s, country songs are my secret hobby.  I love singing worship songs in the Presence, spontaneous family sing-alongs with my kids or my parents, I also hum a lot. I like karaoke (YES, Adam – our Willie Nelson night will happen),  leafing through old hymnals in times of trouble – singing those words and gaining great perspective. Being all emotional like Diane Keaton in And So it Goes…  :)

A short clip of Tara and I singing in their basement music room a couple of weeks back (she is the beautiful lead, of course). Her husband, Dave, on guitar. Captured via iPhone:

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{*gardening*} …vegetables, flowers, walking with God there – in the cool of the day, my hands in hot soil, sweat dripping down my brow, a red tomato with such complex and intense flavor it would not be possible to purchase it; praying for God to heal our land (the Bible begins in a garden, see Genesis, and ends in one, see Revelation); I grow things, tend them carefully…

“And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden to tend and guard and keep it.” Genesis 2.15

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{*capturing*} …photos of my family, my mom’s words as they are slipping by, videos of my grandbebes, babies as they are born (I’ve been a doula 4 times now!!!), history as it happens, memories as they are made. I collect moments for recording, feelings for posterity, I chronicle the faithfulness of God towards me and my people…

My mom and my baby sister, above. My mom has me create little images like this with her thoughts so she can print them out and not forget them, below.

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{*building*} …I have never been afraid to roll my sleeves up and get dirty working hard. I build altars, homes, people, ministries, businesses and ideas, multi-tiered cakes, Lego towers, big hair-dos on tiny grand-girls, confidence in young women who question their ability to be and do all God created them to be and do…

Gemma’s ballerina cake, Gavin’s Harry Potter (Rice Krispie) cake, June 2014

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{*praying*} …what else can I do?…for my familia, the people who cross my path, good friends, for God’s favor, because God is so close, all my words are to Him, for Him, in Him, through Him…

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{*loving*} …I love Him because He first loved me (1 John 4.19); I love Dave in response to his selfless, passionate, devoted love for me; I love the family I came from, the one I helped create and the life I have been granted. Love is {actually} all around, as it has been noted, and it splashes on me in abundance. What can I do, but pass it on?

Four of the none grandbebes, and me with a heart full of love, August 2014

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True confessions:

I also waste time, doubt myself too much, over-analyze things, am too melancholy, struggle with depression, wish everyone would like me, get sidetracked easily, bite off more than I can chew and hold good people at arm’s length far too long.

But I am fiercely loyal, too, and zealously protective. I guard the people I love, discern evil, get righteously indignant at wrongs, kick Satan’s butt and love Jesus.

We are all many things, good and not so good. We are strong and redeemed in some areas and weaker and unsanctified in others. But when we see Jesus, we’ll finally be like Him. I have great hope for that incredible day – but it is not happening until the very end. So for now, this is who I am and what I do. A list.

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” -1 John 3.2 NKJV

 Have you done a recent assessment? You haven’t? It’s time! Ready? GO!