Snapshot Love—he's home and more.

It's Sunday evening and I'm beat. Sleep is calling my name. The early start to my days with HelloMornings means early to bed. I don't want to give you a sloppy post but this is sure to be a shorter post with less words and primarily pictures.

I considered sharing only this one photo as it sums up my past few days. He's home!!!! He didn't expect me to be at the airport to pick him up; I loved the smile on his face when he saw me standing in the baggage claim area waiting for him. The three weeks apart were too long so I couldn't get my arms around him quick enough. Of course his welcome home required a picture!

One of the first things we did together was go for a walk.  I'm grateful for the alone time I had with God when I ventured off on my many walks while my husband was gone but how wonderful it felt to walk with him by my side.

We tried to get closer for the gorgeous sunset. I'm going to claim my husband slowed us down. :)))

At first glance I thought this photo looked cool. At second, third and fourth glance it became less and less appealing. Why am I sharing then? I'd love your opinion as I'm still undecided.

Here is one of four attempts to capture a picture of us while on our walk. A silhouette maybe? You could also say it's a bad photo. My husband is such a trooper for putting up with me as I stop several times along the way to snap away with my camera phone.

I couldn't publish "Snapshot Love" without a photo of our Red, White and Blue. God Bless America!!

We spent our Sunday afternoon with my husband's family celebrating my niece's birthday. The two precious nieces of mine in these next two photos snuck off and then returned with super cute photos so I made them share.

The birthday girl.

The photographer.

Two more beautiful shots captured by the photographer...

Thank you girls for sharing with your favorite Aunt!! I'm one of many aunt's but I'm sure they consider me their favorite.

I've been contemplating how I'd end this post since I promised to leave you with something different each week. Either I ran out of ideas already or I'm too tired at the moment to be creative. One thing I've noticed other writers doing on their blog is sharing a few of their favorite reads from the week. Many of them share on Friday's. I'm going to be different and share on Monday.

We shall call this portion Monday Love (it's Monday now) because I loved these five posts from the past week.

1) When You Don't Feel Beautiful by Jen Avellaneda at Rich Faith Rising - "But guess what? We don't have to beautify ourselves before entering the sight of God." Jen gives beautiful encouragement on a topic I know many of us struggle with.

2) Three Word Wednesday: Walk as Children, by L.R. Jensen at Gods Wild Woman - "Take the detour that eats up the time we claim as our own and spend it doing something worthwhile: marveling at how good our God is." I loved everything about this. So good!!

3) When the Waves Crash Quickly, by Jennifer Kostick at A Girl On the Doorstep - "Grace lives in the deepest, darkest seas. Mercy washes the soul that is tumbling along the bottom to the shore. Hope is the strength by which we are able to stand back up." My Sunday began with reading this post from Jennifer. I woke feeling like my soul was tumbling along after an argument with family. Her words lifted my spirits and reminded me to seek comfort in God's love and mercy.

4) For When You Realize You are not Enough, by Barbara Isaac at My Life As An Adventure - "And it hurts more than I can express, this letting go of you, this trusting Him enough to leave you in His hands." This is a beautiful post which reminds us our children are His before they are ours.

5) I Almost Stole a Chicken, by Joanne at Days and Thoughts (I'm cheating as this is from today but Joanne had me smiling. She shares a great story on being honest and I'm thinking God used her to teach a young clerk a valuable lesson too.)

Wishing you all a fabulous week.