My husband just introduced me to a really creative website: wordle.net. Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

As many of you know, I SOAP on a daily basis. This means that I open God’s Word, the Bible, and as I am reading I take note of a scripture (S) that stands out to me. I then make observations (O) about that specific verse. After observing the scripture in it’s context, I then apply it to my life by writing an application (A). Lastly, I write a prayer (P) asking the Lord to help me apply His Word to my life. Thus SOAP. I title each one of my SOAP’s in order to help me clarify the topic.

So, I put all of my titles in from January until now.  Here is my word cloud of what God has been showing me in His inspired Word, the Bible. You can click on it to open the link.

Brian and I enjoyed the last two days at Bonnie Doon Beach in Santa Cruz. The weather was perfect…in the 70′s and sunny. Since it’s such a secluded beach, we decided to take the dogs and the family there. I had lots of fun training Maggie to stay near us and walk with us on the beach. Hopefully next time we’re at a regular beach she’ll remember what she learned

Anyway, click here to see some of the beautiful pics from our days off.

A few weeks back, Brian and I took a drive down the coast. We stopped at Moss Landing to look at the Sea Lions, walked along the coast in Monterey and ended with a picnic at Carmel-by-the-Sea to enjoy the beautiful weather and watch the breathtaking sunset. Wonderful Monday!

While on the beach at Carmel-by-the-Sea, we had a curious friend join us over and over again…a chipmunk that we named Alvin. He was so adorable! Kept coming to eat our cashews, filling up his mouth with them and running off into the brush behind us.

Click here to see a few pics from our trip. Enjoy!

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So yesterday, Brian and I took the first of many road trips. Since we moved to Santa Cruz our life has been consumed with the church. Unfortunately when we stay home on our days off…we end up working. So we agreed that we need to get out of the house and explore the beauty all around us.

Yesterday we got a late start, left the house at about 2pm. We spent a few hours driving up the coastline toward Pescadero. On the way, we stopped and got some beautiful nature shots. The first stop was at the Lighthouse in Santa Cruz on West Cliff Drive. Such a beautiful day for pretty pictures. But I have to admit, it was my first time really using my new camera so I ended up copying most of Brian’s shots (being a first-time photographer and all).

The next stop was an unmarked beach near Bonny Doon Road. We just saw a few cars parked along the side of the road and a walkway leading somewhere. So, we hiked down to the beach that was surrounded by beautiful cliffs and had a few hidden caves. The shots we got were great. Especially with the spray of the waves on the rocks. It was beautiful.

The third stop was a popular fishing spot, Greyhound Rock. We stayed up on the cliffs instead of walking down to the beach. We got some nice shots of the sun peeking through the trees. Definitely a place for a picnic basket next time.

The last stop of the day was in Pescadero at the famous Pigeon Point Lighthouse. It has been decommissioned, but is still a beautiful lighthouse (in need of a little tlc). As we were taking pictures from a few vantage points, I was blown away at the beauty of the lighthouse on the water with the setting of the sun. One word came to mind over and over: majesty. How can anyone look at such a sight and deny the majesty of the Almighty God, creator of the heavens and the earth. It was absolutely gorgeous!

I have to say this was a great road trip. We created such fun memories as we talked and laughed on the drive there and back. Definitely, one of my favorite past times from this day forward. We’ve got road trips planned practically every week, so stay tuned for some more commentary and great shots of God’s beautiful creation all around us.

To see our pics: http://rebeccaafox.com/photos/?album=1&gallery=2