FFF- Hope

"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all."

~Emily Dickinson

Hello friends,

The theme for Favorite Foto Friday is . . .

HOPE!

We are supposed to post pictures that symbolize hope for us. Since I wrote about hope last week, I thought this would be a tough theme - but it wasn't at all. Immediately the following pictures came to mind . . . as they truly symbolize HOPE for me!

This is a picture of Jacob fishing off a pier - with a beautiful rainbow in the background. Someone later pointed out to us that the pole of the sign forms a cross - and that gave us goose bumps because we didn't realize that at the time the picture was taken. This picture was from July 2005 - about 2 weeks before Jacob entered the hospital for 2 long months - and we were told he only had days to live. But God had other plans and we were blessed with the gift of 10 more months with our Amazing Jacob. This picture always reminds me that God is ever-present - filling our hearts with HOPE.

"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."
~George Iles


This is another picture that symbolizes HOPE to me. This was taken in March of 2006 - 3 months before Jacob passed away. We knew that he was not doing well and fear gripped our hearts everyday. But one evening we drove to the beach to watch the sunset and it was just a fun, beautiful afternoon. This picture reminds me that no matter how dark the days are, God's love shines through.

"Love floods us with hope."
~Jareb Teague

This picture was taken out of the window of our airplane on our way to Guatemala to pick up Allie. We were nervous, excited, scared, happy and overwhelmed all at once! The view out of the window was like a sign from God - filling us with peace & HOPE.

"Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them."
~Vincent McNabb

And well, how can a picture of my 4 smiling children not fill me with HOPE!
They give me the HOPE of happy tomorrows and endless love.

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."
O. S. Marden

And this symbol gives me HOPE that one day we will find a cure for childhood cancer - because this foundation is working constantly on finding that cure.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

And finally - this picture symbolizes HOPE because God is HOPE! It is because of Jesus that we are forgiven for our sins and we have the hope of Heaven. And it is God that fills our hearts with hope when we are hurting and sad and feel like giving up.

"Hope is grief's best music."
~Author Unknown

To see more Favorite Foto Friday posts, please visit
Kiss the Frog 4 Me.

I'm behind this week on posting pictures - so I promise to catch up next week. I just haven't had time to download and edit them yet. :) And I'll share the Halloween shirt that Nancy made for the Give-Away winner - it is so adorable! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.


Ending with a scripture . . .

Overflowing with hope,