bad bon bons

So, quite a bit has happened in seven weeks, as is predictable in a time frame of that length, unless you are blessed (or cursed?) with an unprecendently uneventful life. If you are, I envy you a fair bit, as one day I pray to be well ensconsed in that category along side you. I imagine that happening about the time Maui beckons so fiercely we can no longer resist (11 years, 11 months and 4 days until this retirement-induced state becomes a reality), and our days begin to blend into a divine recipe combining blissful ingredients of sand, sea, song, and sunsets.

I do plan to fully update everyone on all things Lachen ~ including updates on new health, faith, familial, church, and "D: none of the above" random~type journeys as I gradually find my blogosphere groove again. Please be patient with my tendency to share things semi-randomly as they organically occur to me.

My time away was an extremely well spent endeavor of renewal. I've discovered fresh fulfillment in rediscovering the power and purpose of listening, of seeking, of hearing, and responding. I have been neck deep in a study of Romans, and deliberately focused on being reshaped and refined by the power of the message contained within that book. My gosh - have you ever read the book of Romans? I mean, REALLY read it? Sat and savored it morsel by morsel, listening and seeking with a heart that clings to each passage like a lifeboat? Wanting to be chiseled away at?

Whoa. It it is a phenomenon of transformation. EVERY time I have been led by God to an intense, deliberate study of Romans in my adult lifetime (five and counting), I have emerged utterly... changed. God bless Paul ~ what a miracle to have his words reach across the generations into the heart of a soon to be (one month away!) 33 year old twenty-first century dwelling, Ugg clad, singing goofball mother of two.

Suffice it to say, I have not been wasting this hiatus eating bon bons.

But Cheezits are another story. And we must not labor in the delusion that I have entertained any thoughts whosoever of my abandoning Dr. Pepper. May it never be.