Getting back into blogging.

Exactly a year ago I boarded a plane with 7 young people-on our way for leg one of our adventure Around the World. I had spent the prior year praying, preparing, planning, dreaming, and then it was here. As I got on the plane I wondered...would this be my last team? Would there be more? But in my heart of hearts I wondered if some changes were coming.
Now, looking back, I realize that yes, there were some changes up ahead.
I didn't know it would be as drastic as they were, or that they would come about in the way they did.
I'm thankful for that trip. I am thankful for the transformation I saw in those 7. I'm thankful they became my friends. I am thankful for those I met and those who I got to see again.
An honest moment: it's hard to say good bye to a season that was so rich and fruitful..to enter into one where it feels like all is being pruned right off. I was talking with a friend about gardens and pruning yesterday....about tying fruit trees down so that they bear more fruit and grow properly-allowing sunlight to hit more places. I think maybe that's a bit of what it going on in my life right now. God's been tying down some branches-to allow more light to hit more places. I certainly felt a little pinned down when I was sick and not getting up and about much! ( I am happy to say-I am getting back to my normal active self again!)
I started a little garden this year, my dad helped me build the space. Here it is:

I kind of wanted to stop blogging because it would be easier. But I think I need to keep writing..to keep risking...to keep being vulnerable. I am reading Donald Miller's book Scary Close. About vulnerability and relationships. Sometimes I think, he's talking about me. Hmm. Another way of getting pruned? Or maybe it's fertilizer. At any rate...This post is all over the place..but it's just me, getting back into the practice of writing again after not writing anywhere but my journal for a while. 

Here's my other project.. which I enjoyed the fruits of SO MUCH this past weekend. 

One year ago I was traveling the world, now I am making gardens and restoring bicycles. Who knows what could be going on a year from now!
 Now that I have written all kinds of random things,  I am going to go...and finish reading that book.