Cocoa Joy “sat” for her Delta Society finals today, and she passed! She’s officially certified to visit health care facilities where she will bring lots of joy and love to people who are hurting and lonely. Yea! Cocoa. In this photo, she is waiting for Cindy, the Delta Society test administrator to complete the paperwork after her test. There is no way we could have reached this point without Sandy and Xalina!

You can view a few more photos from the day at Training Up Cocoa.

Of course, this photograph was taken in London; no one in America would consider doing this!

Recently, a friend was talking to me about getting away—just stepping away from the pace of the city and finding a quiet place where he could be alone and think of nothing that is too pressing. Times like that are rare, but I believe when we do “step away” or take time out to be still and consider the goodness we have been given, we find a special kind of peace—one that refreshes and readies us for the challenges up a head.

I know I probably need to find something else to photograph other than flowers. Sometimes, you just have to go with what you have been given. And on this day—this was what was available. I love the mountains anytime of the year. There are parts that are always green. This was taken in the Pisgah National Forest over the July 4th weekend.

Today felt like a C. S. Lewis day. . . . It was rainy, cozy, and perfect for curling up with a good book or talking with friends. The above photo was taken this past May while visiting The Kilns, Lewis’ home. It is the sign (The Eagle and Child) that once hung in front of the pub where C.S. Lewis often met with his friends—a group called the “Inklings.” It now hangs in a newly constructed section of Lewis’ home.

In a letter to a friend, Lewis wrote, “Williams, Dyson of Reading, & my brother (Anglicans) and Tolkien and my doctor, Havard (your church) are the ‘Inklings’ to whom my Problem of Pain was dedicated. We meet on Friday evening in my rooms: theoretically to talk about literature, but in fact nearly always to talk about something better. What I owe to them all is incalculable. Dyson and Tolkien were the immediate human causes of my own conversion. Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”