Exceedingly Perfect

Our 26th wedding anniversary!

Lovely time

At a wonderful hotel

In a beautiful room

I opened the guestbook

To record our stay

And noticed the entry above ours

It read:

"November 9,

We are on our honeymoon!

The room is perfect!

The food, perfect!

The service, perfect!
(Signed) Vivian
P.S.  The groom exceeds perfection!!"

Twenty-six years ago
I, too, was an exclamation-point bride
In awe of my groom
And he of me
Before too long
We tumbled off those unrealistic pedestals
On which we each placed the other
And admittedly have at times been
Exceedingly imperfect
But we have learned
To love
To forgive
To laugh
To view each other not with "love-is-blind" eyes
But through the lens
Of our Savior's gracious love
And no longer expect perfection from each other
(Whew!)
Together we can exclaim
Praise be to You, God
You have been the Rock on which we stand
On  Whom we rely
You have been
Perfectly faithful
Perfectly loving
Perfectly patient
Perfectly good
To us
You and You alone
Exceed perfection!!

Diane Mann 2009

Song For Karis - Isaiah 26:3

You promised perfect peace
To this mind ill at ease
That my heart so troubled
Would find tranquility
When my mind is stayed on You
And my gaze lifts to You
I begin to see how mighty You are
And all that troubled me seems far

So hold me now like You said You would
Let peace reside where fear once stood
I ask you to give what I cannot give myself
A trusting heart that sings out, "It is well."

When I'm resting in this place
Quieted by grace
Somehow I know, it's where I'm meant to stay
I find such solace here
You're bigger than my fears
Looking only at You, I find the strength to stand
I'm safe here in the palm of Your hand.

So hold me now like you said you would
Let peace reside where fear once stood
I ask you to give what I cannot give myself
A trusting heart that sings out, "It is well."

You held me, Lord, like You said You would
Now peace resides where fear once stood
You gave to me what I could not give myself
A trusting heart that sings out, "It is well."
Diane Mann 2009

Unequally Yoked -- A New Little Thought

Jesus married down (but never makes me feel that way).

10 Things I Love About Camping (some meaningful and some not so)

Okay. It's eleven things. This uploading thing was arduous, and I can't seem to get the photos in the order in which I pictured them then put words under each photo. Therefore, this is now a quiz. Just read each description then scroll down to match it with the appropriate picture.

Oh, well. Here are the answers already. I could never be a teacher!
KEY: 1)Embroidered sleeping bag. 2)Coffee pot. 3)Tent. 4)Yellow envelope. 5)Trail sign. 6)Black and white picture of Sequoia trees. 7)Vast rocky hillside with trees. 8)General Grant tree with happy couple in front of it. 9)Campfire. 10)My filthy feet with a new pedicure. 11)Silhouette of trees with a purple dusk.


1. Old Stuff - This is Brent's (hint, hint). Getting out the camping stuff never fails to bring back memories of other camping trips, and I end up taking a lovely stroll down Memory Lane -- Memory Trail, in this case.

2. New Stuff - We thoroughly enjoyed this new appliance in the mornings!

3. Surprises - Halfway to our destination, through various discussions, I discovered Brent had packed his backpacking tent for the two of us (smaller than my newly purchased air mattress). I did not love crawling into a tent in my twenties and was much less excited about doing so here in my mid-forties. Our GPS led us to a Wal-Mart, where we purchased a tent, 10x12, sleeps five. Oh, well, it's too big for just us two, but maybe we can fit grandbabies in it someday. Our surprise was that half the tent measurement was FRONT PORCH, so what it sleeps five of I'm not certain (five itty-bitty grandbabies?), but the two of us slept snuggly.

4. Best Deal in Town - The price is oh, so right at $18 a night.

5. Trail Time - An early afternoon hike is just what is needed to get prepared and in shape for a late afternoon nap.

6. Big Tree, Little Me - I learn so much about God by absorbing the wonder and majesty of all that He has made. These trees make a person look up, which I do believe might be the point.

7. Room with a View - We arrived at our campground just before sunset on Labor Day weekend but were able to secure a prime piece of real estate. This was the view from our (very large) tent porch.

8. Shared Memories - We have pictures of me in front of this tree with my siblings (when they used to let you go all the way up to the tree), and of us and our kids of all ages. I love journeying through life with this mann.

9. Campires - Enough said. But I'll add something. What is shared around a campfire is more weighty than when shared in other settings. Songs are more beautiful; stories, more hilarious; thoughts, more profound.

10. Dirt - Seriously. The floor is dirty, but it's supposed to be. How freeing is that? I love the contrast of roughing it then going home to newly appreciated comforts (like showers and soap).

11. God Loving Me - When my oldest son was young, he looked up at the stars at night and said, "Do you know what my favorite part of camping is? God loving me."
It's my favorite part too.

I Thank You (a song I wrote on the beach)

You crown me with love and compassion
You clothe me in robes that are white
You pick me up when I stumble
And put me on paths that are right

So I thank you
I thank you
I thank you
For each morning Your mercies are new

Jingle for Emmett

Well, I got a tiny song in my mind when my grandbaby turned one.
And here it is:

Little boy, you are turning one
You light up my heart like the noonday sun
Lights the sky
That is why
I love you.

Diane Mann 2009

Message Sent

Messages today are very easily sent. This second I could bring up Skype on my computer screen and not only hear and talk with my niece in Hungary; I could see her, as well, and she, me.

My phone is sitting just feet from me. If I grabbed it now, I could press a few buttons, and instantly my daughter, sitting three miles away in her algebra class, would open her phone and read the very words I'd typed from my living room.

This morning I was reading passages about God's love. And I thought about the cross. Yes, the essential important work of redemption was done through Christ's death and resurrection. But the cross also carries with a message from God: "I love you." I know we hear and see evidence of God's love all around us, but nothing proclaims His love as clearly and as loudly as the cross of Christ.

My brother-in-law, once he realized he loved my sister, packed some brown bags with meals and rode his motorcycle in the cold a great distance from western Canada to Chicago, Illinois to let her know of his love for her. I always found that sweet.

And when my dad was paralyzed from the neck down, he could only type using a retainer on the roof of his mouth which had buttons he could click with his tongue. How inspired I was when the first words he typed were "I love you," and we printed the message and gave it to my mom (who still has it on her refrigerator ten years later). He overcame a huge obstacle to send his message.

But no lover has ever traveled nearly as far as Jesus, who left heaven to come to earth, and no one has overcome as great an obstacle as Jesus had to show us the love of the Father, that being our sin! He traveled the distance and removed that which was in the way of the message of His love being delivered to its recipients.

This morning I find myself rejoicing in the love of the Father and thanking Him for his love that found its way to me.

I will continue to receive it, yield to it, wallow in it and let it have its life-changing way in me.

I drew this with my left hand.
It's a picture of me feeling connected.
I love it.