michael buble, big green trees and thoughts of home...

i must say that though i am from the great state of Texas country music is not one of my favorite genres. i can tolerate it but when i am flipping through radio channels i never stop on country or what might even resemble country.

that being said, the other day my sister called and asked if i had a few minutes. we all know that as a mom we can answer "yes" to that one moment and in 2 seconds everything goes haywire and my attention is needed elsewhere.

when she called i had a few minutes and so she had me sit in front of my computer and log in to a photographers website. this amazing houston photographer had taken pictures at a wedding that my niece and nephew were a part of. as i looked at the pictures a beautiful song was playing and what i thought was a country song turned out to be the song "home" by michael buble. then i saw my nieces and nephew all dressed up and i began to cry and cry harder than i have in a very long time. these wedding pictures are phenomenal! the green grass and huge trees made me long for my home in Texas. my sweet family there has changed and grown up so much since i last saw them at thanksgiving a year ago. oh how i miss them!

the last several days i have gone back to the site with those pictures and i have thought about many things. like how sweet it is to be so in love and oblivious of what life will bring. i saw jenny & michael (the bride & groom) and thought about our own wedding day. i never could have imagined a little over 9 years ago what was ahead for us - the joy, the pain, the redemption, the sadness, the adventure, the great love, the depth, the grace, the abundant blessing.

home is a destination when you play a baseball game, it is the destination at the end of a long and busy day. home is a dwelling place, a place of refuge. where is my home? i have a home waiting for me in glory. i have a place with Christ in heaven where i will one day reside with the Creator of those stunningly picturesque nieces and nephew of mine and those beautiful Texas trees. my temporary address for now is here in arizona but my home awaits me in heaven.

dorothy had no idea how right she was when she told toto, "there's no place like home".

You are my refuge, my hiding place, my home, oh Lord. to dwell with You all of my days is more than i deserve. who am i? i am your child and You are my Daddy.
i will ever praise You.