Happy May Day!

I've banished Winter, saith the Spring,

Awake! arise, ye flowers!

Brisk breezes blow,

Bright sunshine glow,

And rouse the young Year's powers.

~Henry James Slack (1818–1896)

Happy May Day!!!

Hello Spring Flowers!

A Bible Verse for Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!!

Let the heavens rejoice,

let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound,

and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant,

and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest

sing for joy.

~Psalm 96:11-12

For more inspirational quotes and Bible verses please see my Colorful Quotes page.

Colorful Quotes: A Quote By Trina Paulus About Becoming a Butterfly

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked.

"You must want to fly so much that you are willing

to give up being a caterpillar."

~Trina Paulus

This quote really spoke to me today. The process of metamorphosis that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly is so symbolic of what we go through as humans as we grow through adversity. As a Christian who is actively putting my faith in Christ alone for physical healing and physical and spiritual transformation, I am especially feeling the discomfort of no longer wanting to be resting in this cocoon! I left the caterpillar stage about three years ago and as I've had these past three years to rest and Be Still in God, I am really getting excited about being free to fly. 

Be Still and know that I am God. ~Psalm 46:10

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. ~Luke 1:45

For nothing is impossible with God. ~Luke 1:37

Having HOPE will give you courage. ~Job 18:11

And then I found this beautiful poem!

I tell of hearts and souls and dances...

Butterflies and second chances;

Desperate ones and dreamers bound,

Seeking life from barren ground,

Who suffer on in earthly fate

The bitter pain of agony hate,

Might but they stop and here forgive

Would break the bonds to breathe and live

And find that God in goodness brings

A chance for change, the hope of wings

To rest in Him, and self to die

And so become a butterfly. 

~ Karen Kingsbury, Oceans Apart

For more inspirational quotes please see my Colorful Quotes page. I also have a very encouraging Faith board on Pinterest.

Colorful Quotes: A Photo of a Bear and a Nature Quote From Albert Einstein

There's a Bear! Where? Over there!

This happened to us last summer. We were on our annual family vacation in Northern Wisconsin where there are lots and lots of bears (and mosquitos!!!!) We all long to see a bear and sometimes we do, but not every time, and not this up-close and personal. And we were safely seated in our car, so we could snap as many pictures as we needed. It was the best!!!

So I created this image with a nature quote by Albert Einstein that I love.

Look deep into nature,

and then you will understand 

everything better.

~Albert Einstein

For more pics of this beautiful creature and and her cubs, please see my post from last summer: There's a Bear!

I love bears so much I even created a Pinterest board for them.

An Irish Blessing for you on this Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

May the blessings of each day

be the blessings you need the most.

~Irish Blessing

Spring Fever

It's Spring fever.
That is what the name of it is.
And when you've got it,
you want - oh, you don't quite know
what it is you do want,
but it just fairly makes your heart ache,
you want it so!
~Mark Twain

Spring Fever is rampant in my neck of the woods! It's too early to get it. People are doing a lot of complaining. People are pale and tired of the snow. Even life-time residents act surprised with each cold, dark, snowy day. The problem is, the earlier you get it, the longer it lasts! So, I'm holding it back by acknowledging it, but not succumbing to it. I took this picture three years ago. My neighborhood church has three glorious fruit trees on its property and they are lush with these flowers in the spring. Here, in Eastern Washington spring comes late, but it does come and it is beautiful! When it does, I plan to soak up every bit of its beauty and warmth.

For more inspiring quotes please see my Colorful Quotes page!

Colorful Quotes: Treat the World Better Than it Treats You!

I love this quote by Patrick Stump. I think of those times when I have had a really bad day and it seems to be such a snowball effect. Bad just keeps on building until it's really bad! So, I love the idea of stopping the cycle by treating yourself and others better. Just pour out love and goodness and kindness!

This is a picture of my view one beautiful, winter morning and it makes me feel peaceful, so I used it as a background for this awesome quote. Enjoy!

When you have a bad day,

a really bad day,

try and treat the world

better than it treated you.

~Patrick Stump

For more inspirational quotes please see my Colorful Quotes page. 

Reminders for a Better World

I'm worn out from this past political season. Between that and my own personal health issues and just lots of life stuff happening, I've become sort of stuck again with keeping up with my blog. So, in the interest of making an attempt to jump back in and to further my personal mission to promote love, kindness, beauty, and all things God-breathed, I've created this positive message from a photo I took of a heart in the clouds. At the time, this heart-shaped cloud was a perfect reminder of hope and of prayers being answered.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In all things give thanks.

~1Thessalonians 5:18

Hello November, 2016

Hello beautiful November, 2016. You arrived all moody and brooding;

with your dark skies and hints of blue; chilly temps and bright sunshine;

your mix of bare branches and yellowing leaves -

I think I love you...

For more images with inspiring words and quotes please see my Colorful Quotes page.

I LOVE Pinterest! Come see what I'm pinning!

My Fall Lake View - Maxfield Parrish Colors, Giant Rainbows, and More!

My view is always pretty, even when its gray and drab or stormy. I'm incredibly grateful. However, last week the view was exceptional - three days in a row! We've been having record amounts of rain for the month of October and we had one day last week of sunny skies and no rain.

Wednesday: Just look at it!!!! These photos are early morning, just after sunrise. There is still a mist and fog on the lake. The sky was such a bright blue and the clouds were fluffy and soooo white!

I threw open the back door and started taking pictures with such excitement. I mean, look at those colors! I felt like I had stepped into the middle of a Maxfield Parrish painting!

 It was so beautiful, I never wanted that day to end!

Finally, I went upstairs to my little studio to work and this is the scene from my desk. Aww... the colors and beauty were both inspiring and distracting.

Thursday: Thursday was so rainy and windy and gray and drab that I didn't take any pictures during the day, However, that evening, around sunset, as we were watching our favorite football team on TV (GO GREENBAY!) I noticed that the sky was turning an odd sort of yellow. Then a pink glow...

And quite suddenly, a huge, brilliant double rainbow appeared!

I ran outside to get these photos. It was so huge, that from my place on the porch, I could not capture all of it.

The clouds behind the hills across the lake were lit up and glowing. As the rainbow started to fade, the sky turned all kinds of pink, blue, and purple!

Friday Morning: Friday was more of a classic, foggy, misty, October Day-

with hints of gray, brown, yellow and orange. 

It rained all day.

Friday Evening: More fog and low clouds. The air smelled crisp with hints of wet leaves and a campfire - so peaceful. 

I LOVE FALL!!!!

I Love Living at the Lake and I Love this Lake Quote

A lake is the landscape's

most beautiful and expressive feature.

It is earth's eye;

looking into which the beholder

measures the depth of his own nature.

~Henry David Thoreau

I live on a beautiful little lake in Eastern Washington and I am grateful for it every single day! In fact, the image above was taken a couple of weeks ago on an evening cruise just before sunset. It was magical. I wanted it to last forever. Fortunately, every glance of my sweet little lake is almost this breathtaking. Ahhh...

Cheers! To all things beautiful

and all things good and wonderful.

God is good!

For more images with quotes see my Colorful Quotes page. I post lots of pics of my gorgeous lake view on Instagram. Follow me there!

There's a Bear!

There's a Bear! Where? Over there!

I took these photos while on vacation this summer in Hayward, Wisconsin. We make the journey from Washington State to the North Woods of Wisconsin every year. It's a family thing! My husband's family has been doing it since before my husband was born. His entire family carries on the tradition. Seeing a bear is a highlight that we always hope for. Sometimes it doesn't happen.

This year we were blessed with this beautiful mama bear. We knew she was a mama because there were babies up this tree!!

She was beautiful and such a good mom. Thankfully, I took these pics from the safety of our car, which also allowed us time to really observe her and her babies.

For a digital image with a quote that I created using this mama bear, please go here! 

I love bears so much that I created a Pinterest board just for them. Please come peruse it.

Beautiful Sunrise, Feeling Blessed

I rise to taste the dawn,

and find that love alone

will shine today.

~Ken Wilber

I love to wake up early and enjoy the taste of dawn. My morning view is always beautiful and I continue to be grateful for it.

This sunrise though! It was breathtakingly beautiful.

And, look closely at the Osprey that was hunting for fish. 

The light filled the sky in such a way that my camera (phone) could not capture it quite as grand and brilliant as it really was in person.

It changed quickly!

So bright and beautiful. Cheers to the day!

Follow Debbie's board Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky! on Pinterest.

A Happy Surprise, Mama Deer and Her Sweet Baby

Yesterday, I woke up to such a sweet surprise. It was 5:30 am and I stepped outside to water my plants and saw a Doe in my driveway. I grabbed my camera and watched her. When she noticed me she stopped and stared for a minute, making eye contact. (which was so cool) Then she went back to her serious job of nibbling on the grasses, leaves, and such in my yard. I don't have a normal yard; it is wooded and natural, so I didn't mind at all. I was hoping she would not come on down and start eating my potted plants. That has happened before!

Isn't she beautiful? I looked right into those gorgeous eyes. What a blessing!

Finally, I had watched her long enough and needed to get back to work. I finished up my watering and went back in the house for an hour and a half. I had to go outside again and figured she was long gone, but she wasn't. She had moved on to another part of my wooded hillside. So, I stood there and talked to her awhile. Suddenly, I noticed that she was obviously a nursing mom!!!! Just as I was thinking about the fact that she had left her baby somewhere, she walked over to a big bunch of wild sweet peas, growing under and around a metal staircase that leads from my yard up to the road. She nuzzled them a bit and up pops a tiny fawn, who had to be brand new. I watched the fawn nurse for several minutes and then the mom began cleaning her. 

Look closely. She's licking her. (or him)

Still cleaning her baby. 

Precious little gift from God. I love deer so much. They are so sweet and beautiful. I'm thankful to have witnessed this. I love them so much, I even made a Pinterest board just for them.

Follow Debbie's board Oh Deer on Pinterest.

Hello May Flowers - Happy May Day!

       Sweet May hath come to love us,
Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;
And through the blue heavens above us
The very clouds move on.
~Heinrich Heine

Everything is blooming most recklessly;
if it were voices instead of colors,
there would be an unbelievable shrieking
 into the heart of the night.
~Rainer Maria Rilke

Hello May Flowers - Happy May Day!

Follow Debbie's board Earth Laughs in Flowers on Pinterest.

Be Still - Divine Messages

I find heart rocks and other hearts in nature. For me, they are signs from God; answered prayer and also validation that my prayers are heard. I only find or see them while praying or after praying about a particular subject. I have hundreds of heart rocks, many of which I paint. If I am praying for another person and I find a heart rock on their behalf I will often paint it and give it to them as a gift. 

During difficult times I may find as many as twenty all on one 30 minute walk. It's AMAZING!!! Soon I will do an entire post on just the subject of heart rocks! They are very special to me.

In addition to heart-shaped rocks, I often will see a heart in another form, either a piece of moss, a knot on a tree trunk, a patch of little weeds in the pavement, and even in the clouds.

This was the view from where we stopped and parked
 to finish up our long visit.

Recently, a good friend and I decided we needed to have some special girlfriend time to catch up, bond, and give each other support in some areas of our lives in which we have been struggling. We met at Starbuck's and got yummy coffees and then climbed into my car and went for a drive in the country, near my home. It's a drive that I have done many times in the last few years when I need thinking time, praying time, or even when I just want to feel gratitude for the area in which I live. I have shared it with my wonderful daughter, who is in her first year of college. It's still one of our favorite things to do when she comes home for a visit.

We talked about some pretty serious stuff; things that I have been going through and her, as well. I prayed about our meeting before we got together and felt that we were doing exactly what we needed to be doing. I left our visit feeling even more confident of success in my current journey/issue/path and that she was going to be great and successful too. It was a special day with my special friend.

Today, I was uploading photos from my camera and came across the only two photos I had quickly snapped while we chatted and enjoyed the view; a scenic shot of the valley below us (as shown above) and a picture of the beautiful clouds. And just look at the message waiting for me in the photo of the clouds. 

My heavenly sign, a sweet little heart

I created something with it that I can share with others. If you're needing a little boost, a sign from heaven that God's got your back, please enjoy and be comforted. 

Be Still

and know that I am God.

Psalm 45:70

Follow Debbie's board Heart Love on Pinterest.