Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: While May is generally my favorite month of the year for all it's celebrations, I'm alright with a start to June being just a day away. May has come to a peaceful nice close. Another year older, more fabulous people graduated from all sorts of different education programs, at least one (though I'm sure there are more) friends was ordained, & amidst any struggle there was always a touch of laughter & love each day.

BAD: The ugly face of mental illness. And society's failed attempts to normalize mental illness. The exhaustion mental illness causes those living with the illness & those they live with. I have seen this play itself out in my life through friends & family for years.

AWESOME: Knowing that I am rooted & grounded in love & so are you. While I took this photo the other day in attempts to capture my great new leggings & just the fun color splash of my newish sandals against the very green grass, it represents this groundedness - literally & figuratively - we have with the world around us. I've been reassured of this through conversations the caring words of jibberish when we have no actual words to share with one another.

WORD: Romans 8:12-17 I am so very glad that is not by my own doing, but by the acts of God in Christ Jesus & through the Spirit that we know of this redeeming power for all people through adoption.

coming up: June! and so much fun!

Friday Favorite!

It's my birthday!!! Call me narcissistic, vain, or whatever, but it's one of my favorite days of the year. 

It's always filled with lots of love & well wishes & a touch of adventure. Today's adventure is exploring more of Pure Michigan with my partner who never fails to lead an adventure or two while jumping in full energy to the adventures I provide.

Life together is beautifully crazily overflowing with Life, Spirit, & Sparkle thanks to Z & all of you!

A giant donut to help with the morning birthday shenanigans!

Tuesday Tea Time!

One of the beauties of living in Pure Michigan - especially up North - is there isn't a single day that isn't good for a campfire. There also isn't a single day that isn't good for a warm cup of tea & we all know that's like a hug in a cup!

Some days are more suited for outside fire-pit fires & others for indoors fireplace fires. The chillier temps & rain on Memorial Day meant an indoor fireplace fire was in order.

Cuddled up by the fire with MG - who's a tad bruised this week recovering from playing with her big dog friends - & my Bubba tumbler of Topsy Turvy Tea Party Tea, I bring you this Tuesday Tea Time!

Today's image brings a smile to my heart knowing the conversations & moments that happen around the table that this little teapot decorates. It's owner proudly stated this past week the "He's (referring to her husband) not a tea snob, but I AM!" We come by this honestly. Though, as much as my mom loves buying me tea & all the accessories, she herself is not much of a tea drinker. BGeG, her mom, & I all are though! Our days start with a good cup of tea, are refreshed in the early afternoon with a second - possibly a third by this point depending on the day - cup, & often end with a final cup. We know the steeping times we prefer for each kind of tea & to some degree the temperature the water needs to be to best suit the different types of tea. BGeG & I even shared our tea bags making two cups of good tea - one for each of us - this past week.

It's a heart smile, heart find, heart warming kinda connection to be able to share a tea bag!

So who wants to come for tea on the porch - after the roof is redone - & share a Tuesday Tea Time?

Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: This past week was a blur, but a good one at that. After a business trip I got to spend some quality time with some of my favorites (including little miss E & her owl). It's a blessing to have people who take you in, shower you with love, & let you decompress from the every day chaos on only a few days notice. I am forever grateful for the friendship of miss E & her parents (& our parents!). I could've never dreamed of having such rich relationship that started at birth & carries on. Speaking of carrying on, it's the end of the month, it's graduation day for many in the area, & it's my birthday week! There's so much good in that sentence it's crazy. There's many reasons to celebrate!

BAD: Realizing at the end of the day, when all steam was gone, that I had not kept my rhythm of blogging this last week. It made it more real & y'all got to travel with me a bit more that way. In the news this week we continue to hear about murder, sex offenders, victims, hunger, & other illness. You don't have to look far.

AWESOME: Spending a few days decompressing from life's recent happenings that are out of my control & being met where I was with good company, baby snuggles & laughter (& snot & poo), & sunshine & food & a quick lunch with family for my bday is all pretty fabulous in my book.

WORD: Commentary on Acts 2:1-21 because it's Pentecost & the Holy Spirit is here.

coming up: so much Life, Spirit, Sparkle, I don't even know which end is up!

Friday Favorites!

Tuesday Tea Time!

A good Tuesday Tea Time from a fellow tea reviewer Oolong Owl!

Pardon the layout & lack of links as I type from my phone while on the go.

While my oolong will have to wait, I'm enjoying a nice London Fog Latte.

No matter your drink, enjoy your Tuesday Tea Time & say hello to the Oolong Owl!

Friday Favorites!

Hello Friday! While quite damp & Scotland like, you have been good today. Alright, most anything that reminds me of Scotland is good.

This week has been filled with little adventures. The photo of MG captures just that. God only knows what she had her nose in near this old building on our friend's property!

She was so incredibly smitten though to be out in the country running free with her friends. And that's what matters. Adventures of all sizes are good for the soul!

The funniest piece of our country adventures was not captured on film, but just imagine this fur baby bounding towards you across a field after losing sight of one another for a minute or two with complete joy to see you again.

Tuesday Tea Time!

This Tuesday Tea Time I don't have any recent funnies to share unfortunately. Last week was truly a unique week with one funny & crazy happening for the first three or four days. How often in life does that happen?!

The last couple of days have been chillier so still no sun-tea has been made. Not only has the chilly weather prevented making sun-tea, but the space in our fridge, or lack thereof has as well.

One thing Z & I do, when the rest of life seems totally chaotic, is eat well. This Mothering Day my family treated me with dark chocolate brownies with walnuts in them (my favorite simple dessert) & homemade pizza - using one friend's family dough recipe, another friend's marinara sauce recipe, & our own toppings of cheese, artichoke hearts, kale, & sun-dried tomatoes. SO tasty!

It was a great day with good reflection on what mother's day means. One friend - who has a baby that'll be 1.5 next month already - shared her idea of mother's day is not about her, but rather "My job is to recognize anyone who has shown mothering love reminiscent of the selfless sacrificial love of God."

What a beautiful spin on a "holiday" we have made so normalized & commercialized!

Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: It's Sunday & if I choose to spend it well than clearly my week will be filled with content! The quote says so, but it doesn't say who said it. So it's Sunday, start the week off right! Start the week off with what is right for you & benefits others around you. A week of content is not a week all about you, but you in the midst of others. No matter how isolated we may feel at times or like to think we are - due to introversion, space, or other factors - we are anything but unconnected from all of humanity or creation. This last week was a week well spent with a touch of content. We laughed a lot this past week - about the shopping cart that was ditched on our property, the chocolate display that we knocked over & tried to pick up, & the fact that I tried to make an appointment I've been putting off making, but turned out the number I had dialed was for an organization in FL. We started out the week with crazy & ended with a little less crazy thankfully, but nonetheless crazy.

BAD: There is no one way to rightly pursue life. While we want that right way & we want to figure it out & have a quick fix for every bug & bother, it doesn't exist. Just as my friend & colleague TS wrote in an article titled Spinning Round & Round I think many of us find ourselves in these places. The more we read & educate ourselves, the more the world spins & the more our heads float & the more we become aware of how small we truly are. Small isn't always bad, we can do mighty things no matter our size - literal or figurative - & persevere through the spinning & spinning. The slightly bad is that the spinning will always be because of the endless possibilities we bring to the table. We have to work with a balance.

AWESOME: Friends having funny dreams, involving you, that spark great conversation & might be true, but only time will tell. Also ending the week with the chance to hike, explore, sit around a blazing fire, dig into scripture, & wake up to a good rain storm.

WORD: If you find your Sunday being the start of your week or any other day, muster up what you have to make it well spent & the rest will be content.

coming up: A touch of excitement & preparation as we gear up for this coming weekend's Celebration Weekend with Jonathan Rundman & continuing to figure out & live with #LifeSpiritSparkle

Friday Favorites!

Hello Friday!

When I took this picture the other day I didn't think it held much significance for that day other than my #heartfind, but the Spirit has a way of bringing us back to words we need to hear or believe or see or all of the above again & again.

Each day is made new in Christ Jesus.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Tea on Tuesday is always a good time! So take a minute to join this time with your tea (or other drink that is like a hug in a cup for you).

As the weather has gotten warmer so the desire for iced tea has grown stronger. We're really only 3 days into sandal weather - if you ask me anyway - so the chance to make sun tea has not been taken just yet.

That's because this week is off the charts cray cray!

Sunday I was simply supposed to assist in worship, instead I led both services & made up my sermon in about 5 minutes prior to the first service. I knew as long as I preached the GOOD NEWS all was good!

The day of course didn't end there for work or outside life. I was also set up to help create a brand new to this site fundraiser with the youth & families. SO I got a good 7 hour work day in to kick off the week!

And the really silly piece was while out running errands in the late afternoon or early evening, Z bumped the shopping cart into a display of Brookside Chocolates & down it went. First i sorta stopped as I caught it with my side, but it was too unstable. Fits of laughter ensued for hours on & off about this ridiculousness.

Then yesterday I set up an appointment... in FLORIDA! It wasn't till the very end of the conversation to set up the appointment that I asked for the address of the meeting location & laughed when they said FL. I shared with them that I am in fact in Michigan & would not be able to make it there by 2:30 that same day. Fits of laughter yet again!

So whaddya think it'll be today?

Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: It's May! The Lusty Month of May! I wait all year to share this music & the time is finally here. As much as I love a good piece of music - I've never seen the full musical it comes from - I love getting lost in the woods too. That is, I love getting lost in the woods when there is a clear path to follow. This past week during a few days away we got to spend some time getting lost in the woods of Pokagon State Park not too far away from where I grew up. I absolutely loved finding these old tree stumps & finding the new pieces of life making their way through the forest with Spring warmth in the air. It was even warm enough to wear sandals!

BAD: Do I need to point it out? The country of Nepal is picking up the pieces they're able to recover after earthquake. Baltimore is trying to pick up the pieces after complete riots. And the world is full of broken people. At this past week's retreat we heard about a study regarding Flourishing in Ministry & it was quite evident what a true challenge this was for many people.

AWESOME: Maybe the challenge of flourishing isn't all bad, but simply real. We came home later in the week & I found a random chunk of sidewalk chalk on our back patio. It makes me wonder who was on our back patio & what they were going to draw before being scared off. I think this summer I will have to get some sidewalk chalk!

WORD: "The Bloom Comes From Abiding, From Letting the Root Do What It Does."

coming up: Lots of #LifeSpiritSparkle with the #LustyMonthofMay!!!