I’m still so slowly going through all of my Europe pictures. One of my favorite memories (of so many favorite memories) was the day in Rome we visited on the Colosseum and Roman Forum. It was a dream come true to walk in places that I’ve heard about for so many years.  It was all so beautiful, amazing & surreal.  That afternoon we were even given a surprise thunderstorm. It was such fun. 
Here are just a few from that day….

When I look at this one above, I laugh. There must have been a sale on red & pink umbrellas that day in Rome.

Our last look at the Colosseum. I feel a little melancholy looking at this …Ciao Bella!

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I’ve been feeling a bit displaced lately. Like I don’t know exactly where I live. I know that I’m going through some grief, feeling some lonliness, a little awkward in relationships but I am growing & I am ‘becoming’. I sense that I am closer today to becoming who I really am. It’s painful though.  When I see the Rome pictures I’m reminded of Hope.  Life’s thunderstorms do come but the light is beautiful, it’s easier to breathe and life is more vibrant. Oh I want that….

A first read the quote below at Ann Jackson’s blog:

You have an idea of what the new country looks like. Still, you are very much at home, although not truly at peace, in the old country. You know the ways of the old country, its joys and pains, its happy and sad moments. You have spent most of your days there. Even though you know that you have not found there what your heart most desires, you remain quite attached to it. It has become part of your very bones.

Now you have come to realize that you must leave it and enter the new country, where your Beloved dwells. You know that what helped and guided you in the old country no longer works, but what else do you have to go by? You are being asked to trust that you will find what you need in the new country. That requires death of what has become so precious to you: influence, success, yes, even affection and praise.

Trust is so hard, since you have nothing to fall back on . Still, trust is what is essential. The new country is where you are called to go, and the only way to go there is naked and vulnerable.

It seems that you keep crossing and recrossing the border. For a while, you experience a real joy in the new country. But then you feel afraid and start longing again for all you left behind, so you go back to the old country. To your dismay, you discover that the old country has lost its charm. Risk a few more steps into the new country, trusting that each time you enter it, you will feel more comfortable and be able to stay longer.

–Henri Nouwen

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And just a little more fun…..
The Acrobat:

Hail Caesar!

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