The Sunday Creative - Abundance

The theme for this week's Sunday Creative Challenge was Abundance.  For me abundance is all about nature and the gifts God gave to us and this earth.  From the warm dirt of the earth to the bright light of the sun, we've been given an abundance of riches.

I'm in awe of the way it all works together.  The earth and sun work to grow plants that fuel our bodies and provide the air we need to live.   The wood of the trees we use to built shelter to keep us from the rain and snow that in turn provide the water we need to quench our bodies and to keep the plants and animals alive.   The elements and ores found in the earth provide the vitamins and minerals we need for healthy bodies and to make the tools we use to prime the earth for more plants.  Not only does God and nature provide the things we need to live, they provide beauty in abundance.  How blessed we are to live in this beautiful world.

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Chasing Bubbles

Unbeknownst to me, my family had hatched a plot to win $25,000 dollars in a home video contest using my dog, Sadie.  She goes a bit crazy chasing bubbles.  The plan was to bring her to the birthday party and set up the kid's bubble machine and watch her go.  They decided since I wouldn't be around they wouldn't need to share any winning with me - my surprise visit made sure I'll get my cut if we are every lucky enough to win, and while I don't think we'll win 25 grand on this video - at least we wore her out.

We'll have to give it another go when she isn't also distracted by a party.

Fell in love with this Patty Griffin song - perfect after a weekend spent with my amazing family.

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Rainy Copenhagen

In early October my mom and I set off on our European adventure.  A first for her and a treat for me.  We started in Copenhagen - a truly beautiful city.  We explored beautiful old churches, the waterfront neighborhood and stately old castles.  We marveled and all the bicycles, ate at 7-11 too many times (don't ask) and tried to stay dry.  In fact, our only complaint about Copenhagen was the fact that it rained nearly every day.  

For me the highlight of the trip was celebrating with my friends from Rio as they were awarded the 2016 Olympics.  Years ago, I remember watching the announcement that Salt Lake City would be hosting the Games.  I thought then that it would be fun to be a volunteer, little did I know that I would find myself a part of the organizing committee or that someday I'd be involved in events around the world.  All these years later to be able to celebrate with Rio as they got their turn was a once in a lifetime experience.

Please excuse the blurry photos - between my jumping up and down and their jumping up and down I didn't get a single clear photo.

Because the theme of our Copenhagen trip was rain, a little Patty Griffin feels appropriate.

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Beautiful World

One of the things I love most about living out of the country is that while I'm gone it is much easier to ignore  the negative stories that seem to saturate the media in the US.  While I'm in Delhi I almost never turn on the local TV - I get my news by picking and choosing from online sources - making it much easier to skip or skim through the really negative stuff.

I believe that living this way for the past four years has changed my view of the world.  I feel that without the media telling me what I should think and feel I'm better able to make up my own mind - and since I choose to see the world in a more positive light I think I'm in a happier place.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are problems in the world, I see examples of the ravages of poverty on a daily basis.  I just try to keep my focus on the slow improvements that are happening, the similarities we all share and the beauty in our differences.

This post is brought to you by a gorgeous song I heard this morning that got me thinking, "Beautiful World" by Dierks Bentley and Patty Griffin.

Dierks Bentley   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

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