Hello world

Who would have ever thought I'd be up in the 5 o'clock hour most mornings? Anyone close to me would not. 

But, unlike me, the world is beautiful when it is waking up.

There is quiet. It is fresh. Things are clearer. There are possibilities.

Most of my early mornings are on my mountain. This week I was there four times: by myself, with my "mountain mamas", with my teenage boys, with a dear friend. You know it was a good week when you get to the mountain four different times!

On two of the mornings the sun rose red. The sky was hazy and smoky because of fires in or near the superstition mountains and in california (sad!!!!!). The sun itself was a bright red circle. It was eerie and beautiful. 

So many of the world's problems have been solved on a mountain in the early morning. If only anyone would listen to me and a few other mamas. Until they start listening, I will just keep working out the solutions for my own personal problems--for my family and my own questions, pain, hurt, issues...

Some times I feel like my situation and problems are so unique and the things that I am learning are so profound and amazing. But then I realize how many other people in the world right now, and who have come before me, are experiencing their own similar things and doing their own learning and I don't feel so uniquely wise. And that is how it should be. 

I am just one of many. My worth is not based on the others around me and what they are doing though. That is a learning that I've really had to let sink in. 

I do not understand the HOW of Heavenly Father's love, grace, teaching, and miracles for ALL of His children. But I do believe He extends His love, grace, teaching, and miracles to ALL who are willing to receive them. 

Monsoons are finally here in Arizona and our temperatures have dipped below the triple digits. And that feels a little like heaven. Thunderstorms in the desert are the most awe inspiring things to an arizonan. Oh, it's exciting when the wind starts blowing, the storm smell fills the air, the lightening flashes, the thunder rolls, and the skies open to let the water dump to the earth. 

We got a big storm last night. Kyler and his of group friends abandoned the house and ran out to play in the rain. Soon Layla, Perry, and the family friends we had over for dinner were outside joining them, too. Eventually they came back to the door drenched and happy. There is no experience better than playing in warm arizona rain. It is true living.

We took advantage of the drop in weather and a few of us went on a bike ride this evening. We just rode around our neighborhood and we almost ran over lizards, a sonoran toad, and a RATTLESNAKE. No joke. A rattlesnake crossing the street. Eric and Kacin tried to kill it with a big rock, but it slithered into a mass of bushes and was gone. 

The world is a marvelous place.