time

Golly...it's been so long since I've blogged I'm not sure I remember how;)

Suddenly, Christmas is well on it's way and a bunch of changes have packed themselves into what's left of 2013.

Where has the time gone?

This question actually brings up something I was thinking about as I sat in church last Saturday.

This year has presented me with so many challenges and changes and these things have brought me to tears way more than I'd like to admit.
Time has seemed to simply slip through my fingers, and the harder I tried to grasp on to it, the faster it went. 
Sitting in the little church pew stuffed between my two sisters, one engaged to be married in April, the other recently dating, I started wondering why time goes so quickly.
The answer hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm fairly certain I gave a little gasp because I couldn't believe how stupid I've been not to see it.

Time goes quickly because our time is short here.

This year has been tough, filled with lots of decision and trouble.
Sometimes its felt like I could just give out.
So it's like Paul was talking right to me in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Or rather the living and active words of God entered my heart and made sense.
Everything we see around us is temporal: lasting only for a time; not eternal; passing.
Even these bodies we inhabit are passing, only the things we can't see will last forever.
So guess what that means...
this time on earth wont last forever. 
As a matter of fact, our time on earth is just a very small, slight portion of our lives.
Eternity is...well, eternal.
So why do I expect my time to just stretch leisurely on forever?
Leisure time comes in Heaven, after I've done my work here on earth.

In conclusion, I've decided to try to allow God to change me so that I remember to set my eyes on the things eternal and stop complaining that this time is going so quick.
What makes me think that something so much more amazing and brilliant isn't waiting for me once this earthly life comes to an end?
Because I've received Christ as my savior, it totally is.

I'll cherish this precious time on earth, but I will also zealously look forward to what's waiting in heaven for me.

In light of me learning to love this gift of life here are some photos that fill in the gap between my last post and now.

Me and my precious friend from summer camp at our last Breakaway. (youth conference) Senior year:(!

Steph, Abi, Katie and myself at a Granger Smith/Earl Dibbles Jr. concert this Fall. YEEYEE!

 

My sisters and I at Trick-or-Treat day at work this past Halloween. Side note - Our last name is Maske so we got masks and became "The Maske'd girls". Win.

The pumpkins we made this year! (I'm lower right with a TARDIS, Abi's middle with a YEEYEE, Brian [Lizz's fiance] is the only dude with a Superman and Lizz is working hard upper right)

 

Our cupcakes...mmm.

 

MY cupcake...ahhh:)

 

My sisters and I.

 

The gang.

 

Hey, I was seventeen. Still am actually.

 

 

Cupcakery.

 

Abi and I on my day of birth:)

xo,
Hannah Dorothy

s e n i o r

It's hard to believe that I'm even writing this post.
Like where did the time go?
I really can't comprehend.

Anyway, here are a few senior photos from my first session with my sister.

xo,
Hannah Dorothy

Seventeen

In 2.5 hours my day of birth begins.
I was born at 2am on a Saturday Fall morning in the basement of a little house in small town Iowa.

That's right ladies and gents, I was a home birth.
A home birth whose midwife got caught up in a car accident so she did t actually make my entrance into the world. It was just my mom, dad and God. In the other room my Grandma waited with my two older sisters, who were 2 and 4 at the time.

So tomorrow ends my year of sweet sixteen.
It's bittersweet, that's for sure.
It's hitting me all at once as I lay here in bed that sixteen is about to hit the road and we were just getting to know each other.
It's really too bad.

It's hard to believe that my life has been thriving for seventeen years. Like what?!

In my last hours as a sixteen year old lady ill go to bed so I can drag myself out of bed tomorrow at 6am. See, I have jobs know, responsibilities that dont stop simply because its the day that marks another year of my life.

I'm in awe of all that my life has seen and bee. So far.
But I'm hoping this next year passes a wee bit slower, I want to breathe deeply in every moment. A lot of changes are ahead. A lot of choices and decisions.
So here's a tad bit of advice for my next year of life...
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?
Or am I trying to please men?
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10
xo,
Hannah Dorothy

hopefully, different

Christians don't realize they're supposed to be different.
All the time.
We should never look like the rest of the world.

I'm not very good at this.
I long to find a little nook that I fit perfectly in.
A place of comfort and security in who I am and who loves me.

But that's not what my Heavenly Father asks of me.

He wants me to realize that that place is right beside Him, nestled in His sturdy and trustworthy arms.

As of right now, it's become very difficult to be different and glorifying to Christ. 

So far on this little corner of the world that I call Dusty Whispers I haven't been all too real or different.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, not all is well right now.

My soul has been stirring and restless for quite some time and I'm hoping and praying desperately that I can soon rest in full confidence that He has made me to be enough.

Like what?

How can that even be possible? 

That me, myself, is enough and pleasing to anyone?

He is so ridiculously mighty and loving.

At this my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

Listen! Listen to the roar of His voice,

to the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

After that comes the sound of His roar;

He thunders with His majestic voice.

God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;

He does great things beyond our understanding.

Out of the north He comes in golden splendor;

God comes in awesome majesty.

Excerpts from Job 37:1-23

Hoping that my little bits of honesty made me a bit different from the rest of the world today.

xo,

Hannah Dorothy

making this a beautiful place

It really seems pointless to write a whole lot right now.
After reading this post my own words would seem rather insufficient.




Or maybe I have so many thoughts and connections inside me that it seems impossible to express them in mere words. So many inspiring things have been sneaking into my life lately, it's kind of wonderful. Yet right now I could almost break at any random point. I can easily think of three distinct times this week that I have been on the brink of tears.

It's all kind of beautiful though.
God has a way of breaking me until I can rest peacefully in His arms.
Anyway.
It feels like now would be a great time to share some quotes, thoughts and photographs from past and present life.

This photo of my sisters and I is one of my favorites. Sometimes we struggle to maintain this close of a relationship but sometimes I love them so much it really, really hurts.

Ernest Hemingway told us to "Write hard and and clear about what hurts."

Last Wednesday I was driving to my church for a meeting. In the vehicle that I had that one unexpected experience in last June. The evening sun was still hot on my body that was already red and bumpy and itchy from the unidentified allergic reaction to who-knows-what.

I was alone. Unlike so many other Wednesdays when the car had been filled with the voices of my sisters and myself. 

But that day no one was riding shotgun.

That day I was simply driving through the countryside alone as my sixteen year old self.

Seven miles away from my church my throat tightened and water gathered in my eyes.

"Not right  now."

I thought to myself. 

At that moment in time what hurt was that I was no longer a little girl.

My sisters were no longer riding with me so to speak.

My parents weren't close by to lend that sense of security.

And that hurt.

Sometime last year this little local coffee shop became a little place of fellowship and solitude for us three. We usually plan on "working on things" but more often than not we end up just sipping some sugar and talking. I love this place.

Here's the view from our favorite table.

originally found here.

This barn was so long ago filled with my sisters and my imagination and play.

There is more m e r c y in Christ than sin in us. - Richard Sibbes

This very idea is what brought me to tears in my kitchen on Friday.

How can this be true? Sometimes I feel like there is just too much sin in me.

Just too much. 

But my sin is covered over so lovingly with the precious blood of my Savior.

The Creator pleasantly reminded me of this and it was sincerely overwhelming for my soul.

S I S T E R - A girl or woman who shares a common ancestry, allegiance, character, or purpose with another or others, specifically.

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. - Anne Frank

 

Discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes. - Marcel Proust

The kitchen is seriously one of my most favorite places to be. Especially when it's full of my favorite people.

{elizabeth -lizz-, my oldest sister is in the red tank-top}

{i am underneath that yellow headband}

{my mom, joan is the busy blurr}

{brian, lizz's [now] fiance is all the way to the left, laughing}

Lizz, my oldest sister, is incredible.

Abigail, our middle sister is extraordinary.

 These woman are ones to be followed and admired. 
They each fight their own silent battles yet somehow find strength in the One to allow them to be continually 
gracious.

She does not fear bad news; she trusts the Lord to take care of her. Psalm 112:7

Opportunity is missed by people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison

He does not treat us as our sins deserve. Psalm 103:10

Have I mentioned that my favorite couple has decided to become one?

 This happiness that I just shared leads me back to the quote at the top of this post. 
 Ernest Hemingway told us to "Write hard and and clear about what hurts."
Sometimes I think about not having Lizz in the house, forver.
I start to daydream about the sister dates we'll have and all those sleepovers that will take place at her and her husbands house.
It all sounds like great fun.
But The idea of losing such a special part of me is almost unbearable.  
As much as I adore those two being together it will be difficult to settle into this new normal.

I could never love anyone as I love my sisters. - Jo March
 My sisters, mom and I always watch Little Women at least once a year, usually around Christmas.  
At the end of the movie we're always in tears.
Somehow the journeys those women go on seem to match our own in an intimate way.
The Maske girls will always hold that story close to our hears.

Abi and I at a Florida Georgia Line concert this summer. Too much fun was had that night.

  When I'm faithless You are faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13

Hopefully this post made your day a little more beautiful and joyful. 

xo,

Hannah Dorothy