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As I write this, I am looking at my three dogs (a Great Pyrenees, a heeler, and a yellow lab), wondering, why in the world can't you just sit still?! I just let them out literally half an hour ago. We have already played fetch to the point that I got tired watching them run back and forth. You have already eaten, pooped, had a gallon of water, and sniffed every corner of our property. What could you possibly need? Their restlessness can cause me to feel restless. Did I miss something? Am I wrong for making them wait to go outside? Why am I anxious all of a sudden? Stop ringing the bells to be let out! I tried the doggy calm down spray with every calming oil I own. I tried fluffing their dog beds and all the pillows on the couch for their comfort (heaven forbid they ever lay on the hardwood floor like an actual dog). I tried calming music. I've petted you until my leggings are covered in all the fur. Tell me what you need! Some times I wish they could just speak and tell me exactly what they need so that I can just solve the problem and we could all move on. I mean, they speak in their barks and whines and sighing, but I never took Doggy Language 101 in high school. Can't they be more like the cats? Feed me. Pay me attention when I want. Give me a sunny spot to sleep twenty hours out of the day. Don't touch me unless I touch you first. Whether it be the dogs, kids, life, school, the workout equipment, or just the ever ending list, they all keep calling out for attention. I just want to yell, "Can't you just sit still?!" Matthew 6:25-27- "25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" (ESV). Anxiety is ever present in our lives from a subtle hum in our bodies to a crippling fear that keeps us from discovering what God has called us to. I have known the company of the crippling anxiety and it held me captive. I lost myself, my focus in life, and the truth that God had it all in the palm of his hands. It was through my time digging into the Word, praying and talking to God, and talking to others, that I found I was wasting my hours by worrying about things that God had already taken care of. He has shown me peace in understanding that his ways are higher than mine and all that I do is for his glory. This can seem almost impossible if you are in the midst of scary or dark or uncertain times. Or even in times of feeling like you are on top of the world and need nothing from God because you are controlling it all. Hold fast to and believe in the certainty that God is here, with you always, and will never leave your side. John 14:27- "27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (ESV). Peace is the enemy of anxiety. When we are anxious, when we question God, when we try and control all the steps of life, we welcome in fear. We can fall victim to believing in the empty and meaningless promises of life and the false belief that we do not need God. But when we stand firm in prayer, in spiritual community, in the knowledge of the word that God brought us peace, we can face the anxious, the unknown, and remember that God is in control. So when I feel anxious because I want to pull at my hair and say to the dogs, to life, to the expectations of the world, "Can't you just sit still?!", I sit in God's presence as I pray for his peace to wash over me. For his will to be done and for all I do to be in his glory. To turn away from anxiety and the temptation of the enemy by knowing deeply that only through God, I find my peace and purpose. Can't I just sit still? Yes. Yes, I can. Can you just sit still? Yes. Yes, you can. We can sit still in the love and the goodness of God.

You should NEVER have to use the word "burning" to describe the scent of laundry as you are pulling it out of the dryer. I prefer the smell of lavender or a nice spring morning when I fluff and fold my clothes. Not the smell of a campfire gone wrong mixed with burning metal...unless that's your thing. Needless to say, I yell to my husband, "Can you come smell the dryer?! I think something is burning." He walks into the laundry room, pauses, takes a whiff and says, "I don't smell anything." In my mind I'm like, how in the world do you not smell anything?! Is your nose broken?! Did you just take a big ol' inhale of the hay outside and smell nothing else?! Instead of pausing and checking where my emotions are at, I yell, "How can you not smell it? The whole dryer stinks of burning. Literally you just have to stick your head inside the dryer and you'll know!" So, long story short (and without all of the emphasis on my heightened, uncool emotions), he sticks his head into the dryer and smells. He stands up with his hands on his hips, "Oh yah, no more using the dryer. Looks like the motor is on its way out." Insert a smacking of my hand to my forehead as I roll my eyes at his response. Vindicated! Yes! I was right! Oh wait. Vindicated and no dryer to use to dry the wet load of clothes currently sitting in the wash. No dryer to dry his uniform for work. No dryer to dry my daughter's sweatshirt that needs to be washed because she somehow got last night's dinner in more than one place. Great. Now what? Hand dry them with a blow dryer? I mean, thankfully the day was sunny and unusually warm for April in the Pacific Northwest. My back deck, patio chairs, and table became my drying racks for the wet clothes. The sun won't last forever like back home in San Diego, soooooooooo, that family walk we were going to go on in the morning, turned into a nice family walk around Home Depot perusing for a new washer/dryer set. Who says being an adult isn't fun? It wasn't that God presented us with a new washer/dryer set. It wasn't that the money for it magically appeared in our account or that we always smile in the face of adversity. Some times it's tears or unchecked frustration or real sweaty pits and palms as we brainstorm a solution to a real problem. Philippians 4:12-13- 12 "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (ESV). Having the dryer go out was a blessing. It was an opportunity to focus not on the things that were going wrong or the things that I then wouldn't have or wouldn't be able to do, but to have thanks for all of the things that I have. We have family and friends down the street that we were able to go and use their dryer to dry my husband's uniform for work the next day. My husband was off so we were able to go and pick out a new set. I am off right now so I will be home when they come to deliver it to our house. Above all else, praise God that a fire didn't start when I had the dryer going last night when we were out to dinner with family. An inconvenience, a time of low, a time of plenty, a time of hardship, and times of joy, are all chances to praise the Lord for what he is showing you and walking you through. There is a purpose in all that he does. We won't have the most expensive or the newest washer/dryer set around. We don't have the fanciest laundry room or appliances in our house. We don't assume that just because we pray for something, it will be given to us in exactly the way we want it in the exact timing that we want. Everything that we face, in plenty and in hunger, in abundance and in need, comes from the Lord in the ways that he knows that we need for his glory and in the timing that is just right for his plans. His ways are higher and in everything we have and in everything that we get to do, it is all for his glory. So even in the moments when the dryer smells like a campfire gone wrong, and the deck has to become my temporary drying rack, God is with us in the low. He is reminding us of our times of abundance, and bringing us to a moment to praise him for all that is good. For we are strong in his ways and no matter the circumstance, we can face all things through Christ.

Chris Renzema is one of my current favorite artists. I appreciate the honesty in his words and the amount of personability he creates in his music. He was my number one listened to artist on Spotify last year. As a Christmas gift, my husband got me tickets to see him at The Crocodile in Seattle this month (even a meet and greet!). His track "Narrow Road" from his newly released album, "Manna" has been playing on loop. Also, how awesome that the album is named "Manna"!! This whole album is real, raw, and speaks to the realities of what it's like to walk a narrow road in this difficult and overwhelming world of today. Give it a listen! https://open.spotify.com/track/6nUhW3DT9vGkKyiEpP5j6c?si=c308b1af0baf4392 Image from: https://chrisrenzema.os.fan/

This house has been loving us some Poppi probiotic soda. All of their flavors taste delish and they're a fun and good for you alternative to soda. The kids get to feel fancy yet their bodies are getting all of those great gut health goodies. Link below and picture from Amazon. https://a.co/d/fetwgGf

Oh sorry mom. Did you need more room to do your yoga?