ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

i wanted to share this story i saw on the news this morning. maybe you've heard of a little girl named Rachel Beckwith? well, she was a remarkable little girl who, for her 9th birthday this past June, wanted her friends and family to give to her "charity:water" fund instead of getting her any gifts. her goal was to raise $300, to help about 15 people.  if you don't know anything about charity:water , it is an organization that raises money to build wells in the poorest countries where people don't have access to clean water. to date, they've raised almost 10 million dollars and have provided water to almost 500,000 people. truly amazing. and it works by people like you and me setting up a little campaign on their website where others can donate to the project.  Rachel raised about $220 for her birthday. that's inspiring for a nine year old girl.  just a few weeks ago, she was in a car accident and sustained fatal injuries. while she was in the hospita...

just wanted to pop in and leave you with this morsel... we finished our Breaking Free video series last Thursday and as Beth Moore was explaining our new role as freed women, she mentioned that we are His brides [as opposed to wives]. she pointed us to Isaiah 61:10 and i thought you'd love to read what it says: I delight greatly in the LORD;  my soul rejoices in my God . For he has clothed me with garments of salvation  and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,  as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels the word "rejoice" in that verse means "to spin around or twirl" . so that second line literally says:  my soul spins and twirls in my God . i'm sure you can picture it. you put on your wedding dress and twirl around a bit, watching the hem grace the floor just so. but this wedding dress is one that you never have to take off. you are His radiant bride for all eternity. embrace it fr...

i had to share this with you all, in case you haven't already seen it.  Jessi @ Naptime Diaries is amazingly talented. she has a free printable today that you HAVE to go download. it's one of my all-time favorite verses, Psalm 45:11, reminding me of the extravagant beauty that Christ sees in me [only because it's really His own beauty that He's seeing]...  and it reminds me of this post,  about our destiny if we are in Christ. and it also prompts me to suggest that you read Captivating . the end. head over to Naptime Diaries to print it out :) it's a great post, too, so keep reading once you print it!

i didn't have a post prepared for today...  but my daughter woke up a little early  so my husband brought her downstairs to play with her toys  while he finished getting ready for work. as i'm finishing up my quiet time, i hear  "oh buzz, i love you. [breaking into song] i love you so much, i love you so much,  i can't even tell you how much i love you". i walk into the living room to find this: a tea party for buzz and "annie" the dog. "i put cinnamon in it" "buzz. you love it?" "he need more" what could be lovelier?  yes, i snapped [and edited] the photos and pulled together this post in 3 minutes flat.  but they're priceless to me. PS: as i hit "publish" on this post, a frantic [almost] 2 year old little girl came running in: "trash truck here! go see him? go see him!?!" she loooves the trash truck. it's tea parties and trash trucks over here, guys.

yesterday at Bible study, we had a special guest speaker named Carol Oliver. she is a potter, and came to tell us all about the Biblical analogy of God being the potter and us being the clay, all from a potter's perspective, while making pottery in front of us. it couldn't have been more amazing, one hour full of breathtaking analogy. but there were some things that stood out to me. [if you ever have the chance to see her "speak" somewhere, GO!] it was near the end of her presentation, when she was taking us through the process of firing the pottery after it had been carefully kneaded, spun, and shaped into the exact piece that the potter had planned. after it's molded, it has to be thrown into a kiln at 1800 degrees to be "fired". if it doesn't go through the fire, it can never be used. it will just crack or melt back into a messy lump of clay. after the fire, it is thrown into a trashcan with newspaper and everything goes up in flames again....

i am growing to love our little yard. from the surprise flowers blooming everywhere , to the convenience of actual food growing on trees... i love it! and i've never really been an outdoorsy girl or a gardener. but i'm becoming one. here are the latest picks from the tangerine tree, and there are literally hundreds more. we have a lemon tree too, which is so nice. fresh lemon is a staple in so many recipes but i always hated buying them. i want to plant an apple and/or avocado tree soon. mmm, or what about plums or peaches? i think we only have room for two or three, so that will be a tough decision. any thoughts? we also planted some flowers yesterday afternoon. my husband is off for two weeks and he gets really bored really quickly. he started by de-cluttering the junk drawers and vacuuming the house , and then moved on to surveying the projects that need to be done around the yard. first was planting flowers and second will be re-painting the patio overhang. i love that he ...

spring is in full bloom here in san diego. at least in my little corner, in my yard. we've never seen our house in early spring, so everything is a surprise. when we got home from mammoth a few days ago, we were greeted by three white calla lilies blooming by the front door. i didn't even know that was a calla lily plant? [my wedding bouquet was all calla lilies. i adore them] i don't think i've ever appreciated spring so much. not since i started counting the gifts , noticing the beauty. and certainly not since spring became so symbolic of my life  right now. there is beauty all around. it is breathtaking. so my husband suggested that i cut them off and bring them inside. i'm no floral designer like shauna  ;)  but i just placed them in a simple glass vase, leaning to the side. i love them. i hope they last a long time here on my kitchen table. but if not, i know there will be more where they came from. God is too good. ** to leave a comment, ...

we took a little ski trip up to mammoth earlier this week. a much needed and much appreciated vacation. everywhere i looked, especially at the top of the mountain, ready to ski down, i was struck by God's extravagance. His beauty. His magnificence. breathtaking, spectacular and so vast. there aren't enough adjectives in our language. that's why [at least for me] sometimes music describes that which words alone cannot. i was reminded of this song by Keith and Kristyn Getty [writers of In Christ Alone] called Creation Sings.  i couldn't stop singing it the entire week as i beheld His glory at every turn: [these mountains definitely made my "one thousand gifts" list] [no, i don't know those people] Creation sings the Father's song;  He calls the sun to wake the dawn  And run the course of day  Till evening falls in crimson rays.  His fingerprints in flakes of snow ,  His breath upon this spinning globe,  He charts the eagle's flight;  Commands...