camping

We had so many blessings this weekend with friends, camping.

A hike, a rainstorm watched while playing cards in a dry cabin, "cowboy" foil packets for dinner of potatoes & onions, bell peppers (our new favorite!) and bbq chicken.

A revelation, a resolution, a new chapter.

Thank You, God, for Your good gifts and the eyes to see them.

tonight

Tonight, I am thankful for:

- the fact that a falling mirror cut open my dad's nose rather than blinding his eye. I think we take for granted how closely God shepherds us.
- my first summer spotting of heat lightning. It looked just like when your flannel pajama's spark against your cotton sheets. Cool.
- homemade popcorn
- the anticipation of three--no, four--mini vacations, soon! all in state, all with different people, and all promising to leave me happily exhausted.

Which reminds me, time for bed.

Thank You, God, for Your good gifts and the eyes to see them.

the Good kind of macaroni and cheese

Last night, I was thankful for my new camera (a birthday present from my thoughtful husband). By the way, my birthday week did continue--much to my glee. I like being celebrated. Barbecue at the staff meeting, which wasn't specifically for me, but I felt like it was. Maybe like a little "I love you" from God. Lots of phone calls and cards on the day of. Lots of being reminded that I am loved.

Anyway, I was thankful for my new camera, so that I could take pictures of what else I'm thankful for. I thought I was going to be thankful for my fresh salad at dinner last night, so I took a picture. Romaine, feta, walnuts, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes. Usually yum.

But I ended up feeling not-at-all rabbit-like, and opted to eat a big bowl of macaroni & cheese instead. The Good kind. We got this huge pack of organic mac n cheese at CostCo, and while we were going through all 15 boxes, we convinced ourselves it was good.

It was not.

And now we are finally through with that pack, and so excited to have the good old Kraft back in the house. Mmm.

Thank You, God, for Your good gifts and the eyes to see them.

today i am thankful for morning hugs from my husband. also thankful for the prospect of sharing york peppermint patties with friends at the movies tonight.

Thank you, God, for Your good gifts and the eyes to see them!

a birthday WEEK!

Today I am thankful for a Birthday Week. Usually I just have a birthday, but this year the celebration has expanded. I'm So blessed.

Friends came on Sunday bearing chocolate cheesecake and fun games and really good wine. The sky opened up with a great (in the fullest sense of the word) thunderstorm. And I was given a gift card to Barnes & Noble, which leaves me full of anticipation and ideas for how to stretch it to get the most delight for my money. (A future thankful: the B&N opening not-at-all-far from me very soon!)

On Monday, family came bearing cake and more presents and a really funny two-year old for entertainment. The sky opened up with an even bigger thunderstorm (lightning crashes! thunder you could practically see! driving rain!). We ate grilled pizza with a new sauce recipe I found, which was a hit. For good reason: it is awesome! Here are the links, because you are absolutely going to want to try this out (delights are always more delightful when shared, don't you think??):

How to Grill Pizza

Exquisite Pizza Sauce (although I left out the anchovy paste and red pepper flakes, and added more garlic, freshly minced and roasted)

This morning, I woke up dreaming of an old friend who has recently found a lot of peace in her life, which I am glad about...that means she's searching. My dream made me happy because in it, we began talking about the One who brings True Peace (which is not the peace she's found). It was a reflective sort of dream, and gives me hope for her and reminds me to pray for her.

And more is to come, I am sure, because my husband tells me it is so.

Thank You, God, for Your good gifts and the eyes to see them!

small holidays

I love some of these "small" holidays the very best. Perhaps it is because my mother taught me to approach them with GREAT joy and a sense of such fun! 

We dye all our food green on St. Patrick's day: milk, pudding, mashed potatoes...

And the First Day of Spring is quite possibly my favorite holiday of all. I always buy one bunch of daffodils to pass out that day. What joy & hope this day brings me! 

provision

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open."

This is from the first chapter of James, in the Message translation of the Bible. And its the wisdom that we are following this year. I wrote earlier about being brave--depending on God--and more opportunities have since arisen for my "faith-life" to be built up...opportunities, that, if I accept them, will be used to form me into a more true woman of God. After hearing some bad news yesterday, I actually laughed out loud as I realized we are simply facing another gracious opportunity to rely on our Abba for His provision.

And His provision is so much more broad than my limited humanness first realized. He provides not just jobs and money, but richer gifts like faith and wisdom. Thank You, Abba, for knowing what I need and providing as I need it. I love You.

fences

I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas last night, all in one sitting. The tale is so striking, and my mouth was agape for half the book. It is best to go on this journey at the same pace with the 9-year-old narrator, learning about his situation as he does, and so I couldn’t share the story with my husband as I read. (And you shouldn't try to find out anything about it prior to reading it, either! I will tell you that it is about a boy in 1940's Europe, and he discovers a fence, and it is very sad.)

By the time I finished the last page, I was so wishing I had been reading this as part of a book club, so I could explore my thoughts and feelings out loud, right away. (I’m making Husband read it later this week for that purpose.)

I still have a lot of processing to do (I dreamed I was in the story ALL night long last night!), but I'd love to hear comments from those of you who have read this. What was your initial reaction? What do you think about the juxtaposition of innocence and evil in the story? To which character do you most relate? For those of you who were alive in the 1940's, were you aware of the events that occurred during those years? Have you applied "the moral of the story" in your life & how? I'd be delighted & thankful for your feedback!

favorite movies

...in no particular order...

- The Village
- The Visitor
- Sleepless in Seattle
- Wait Until Dark
- Sabrina, both versions
- The Illusionist
- Molly
- Kolya (great Czech film!)
- Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility (I usually avoid books-turned-movies, because they ruin my imagination...like I don't want to see the Narnia movies, because the books are so wonderful! But I've never made it all the way through either of these, so I love the movies. Yet isn't it a shame about the books!)

that learning to be brave thing...

Last night, I couldn't go to sleep, so I stayed up and looked at a million blogs, and then, all of a sudden, I leapt right in to the temptation to check my work email account, even though it was a Saturday night. A situation had come up on Friday afternoon, right before I left work, and it was handled as best I could, and I went home grateful for a weekend. But I let that situation gnaw at me til I thought I just had to go and check my email, whereupon I learned that the situation is worse than I expected. So now, I am all day fighting the temptation to think about this hard thing before it is time (i.e. Monday morning!).

Why do we get caught up in the lie that our work never ends? God gave us weekends, and Sundays especially, to REST. To rest in HIM. Jesus, help me let go of my work, and the fears wrapped up in it, and give my whole heart to You today. Each day has enough trouble of its own, right?

Oh, so on to the learning to be brave thing. I am grateful for my job--I am grateful to have a job at all right now, and grateful for the ways God uses it to stretch me. Which is good, because boy am I stretched. There have been so many opportunities for me to be brave & bold & develop my conflict resolution skills over the past year--none of which comes naturally to me. But all of which I need more of in my life.

And so, slowly, I am learning to be brave. And am blessed to be learning always in the gracious sunlight of Jesus' hope in my life. Thank you, Jesus, for nurturing me and creating me to bloom.