When those are not the roses you ordered

I wasn't looking for roses today. Roses didn't show up at my door with one of those clear, long plastic forks that has a card wedged between the prongs that says something like "-With all my love". The roses came in the form of an impromptu date with my soon to be thirteen year old daughter.

She's supposed to be at Hot Hearts right now. I encouraged her and her seventeen year old brother to go because that's what six thousand-plus other local youth are doing today. That would be a good place to be. But my kids don't really like loud music and they really don't like crowds, so they're hanging out at home today.

My first sweet rose of the day came this morning in the midst of my sweating it out on the rowing machine at Exygon. I've been away for a week and my workout was quite the punishment. But as I rowed away, Brandi Carlisle booming in my earbuds, my phone rang. You're not supposed to answer the phone at the gym, but I did. It was Hallie and I needed to make sure the kids were safe on the home front.

"We haven't done our devotion yet," she reminded me. (She, Hayden and I have been doing devotion on the weekdays,……another rose).

I promised her that we'd do devotion when I got home. We had the best little discussion about the Holy Spirit being our advocate, one of my favorite ways for the Holy Spirit to be characterized. And then our independent, turning into a teenager in exactly one month daughter, agreed to go to the grocery store with me; something she seldom does. Ah, the roses.

It's been a beautiful day; one that we've all been able to enjoy each other, but the best surprise came around three o'clock when Hallie offered to let me take the pictures I've been asking to take of her for months. She's been asking for me to replace the several-year-old pictures hanging on the living room wall and the stairwell. And you see, I love taking pictures and she rather despises my taking her picture. The last two attempts have been ugly; not the pictures, but our interaction with each other. My trying to choose her pose and telling her to smile differently ends up in a battle that's best not captured.

Today was different.

I allowed for a little freedom. Here are a few of the pictures I took on an afternoon that will not be forgotten. I'm in awe of who she is without my prompting.