Hello, Monday!

She looks a bit strange, doesn't she?



And there she is again...in the corner of the picture.

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Mondays are one my favorite days of the week.  I don't "get" Monday Blues.

There's just something about a fresh, new week starting.



Mondays are fresh and clean.  I do laundry and vacuum and we get groceries.



On sunny days like today, we open up all the windows and let the lovely breezes blow through.

Mondays are full of hope and good intentions.

I'll be honest enough to admit that Monday's goals do not always turn into reality through the week.

Last week one of my goals was to get to bed by 10:00 every night.  I think I might have done that three nights.  Pitiful, isn't it?

This week's goal (or one of them, anyway)?  To start running again.  I got out my running clothes and shoes last night so I'd be ready when I got up.  Good planning, right? ...Or good intentions that don't always turn into reality.  I did not go running this morning.  Not the most impressive start, huh?

Well, there's always tomorrow.  And four other mornings left in the week.

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An itsy-bitsy lady bug



I absolutely love God's attention to detail.





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Today is an especially awesome Monday.

It's that "Back-to-School" time...and while I'm having a mini-celebration that I'm not going back to school, I'm even more excited about this -

Classes at the Missionary Training Center started and the Bible Institutes are having Orientation (classes start Wednesday).

I have friends among both staff and students at each, and I'm really excited to see what God does this semester - and this year.

Hurray for new beginnings and God's totally amazing plans!

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Little Taylor starts another round of chemo this week.  It can be an especially brutal round.  While the battle is far from over, God has already shown Himself strong on her behalf.  Last week, she underwent a stem-cell harvest (the stem-cells are for a transplant after a later round of chemo).  The normal "harvest" is one bag of stem-cells.  Taylor had six.

Also, this morning the doctor gave them the incredibly wonderful news that Taylor's tumor has shrunk 55%!

Joyful applause just seems fitting in the face of miracles like that.

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Finally, a cosmos that isn't purple. I was getting a wee bit tired of only purple.





Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it's only in Your will that I am free,
For it's only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

...That just finished playing on the radio. Now it's "What the Lord Has Done in Me".

Both good songs for the start of a new week.



I think we'll close here.

Blogging somehow doesn't result in folded laundry, beds made, or dinner prepared.

All those things need to be done.



"...Jesus Christ has set me free..."

Indeed!

Happy Monday.  Happy new week.  Stay close to Jesus!