Tuesday Tea Time!!!

Good Morning from the MI Gathering 2015!!! Follow #MIgath15 for more awesome pieces from the gathering.

On day 3 of the gathering, I am treating myself to possibly the chai latte of the year! What makes it so great? They purposefully charged me the price of a coffee refill. If you know your coffee shops, you know black coffee or a simple hot tea is the cheapest drink available & lattes are a few dollars more.

If you've ever been to a youth event you know there are late nights & early mornings & days filled with lots of different activities. By day 3, as a tea drinker, I need my tea to taste like tea. So while I always pack my tea bags & most often use the hotel room coffee maker for my morning tea, this morning a treat was in order for my jump start.

Today may your tea taste like tea & a treat to you!

Tuesday Tea a Time!

Happy week of celebration!

It's the most wonderful celebration to end the year. A king is being born, by a radical unmarried teen. She's barely even in her teen years & claims this is the Christ child brought to her womb by the Holy Spirit.

Sounds like a crazy wild & cool enough story to want to celebrate, no matter what you believe!

So may your celebrations be merry & filled with your favorites, fit for a king.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Oh hello Tuesday Tea Time friends!

That first warm sip of tea is a check-in. A check-in to the day. A check-in of the day. A self check.

Does anybody else experience this?

There are pieces that ground us. Pieces that remind us to breath deep, smile, & do your best.

These pieces are pretty powerful pieces of us. 

These pieces are us. These pieces remind us that we are alive & the world is buzzing with a few million other pieces.

Grab tight to the pieces that make you whole & check-in, smile at yourself & the world. Even when the world is weird, it needs your smile. Even when you are weird, you need your smile & so do the rest of us.

Ah, tea & your powerful pieces life. Enjoy!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Hiya Tuesday Tea Time friends!

This past week has been filled with many a good travel mug or mug of tea on the go. I had a few good chances in the evening to truly enjoy a warm mug of relaxing mint or sleepy time teas.

The best tea time was a surprise tea party at work! While I didn't think the congregation could do more to welcome me, walking into the fellowship hall for the start of confirmation - we have lunch together first - a couple of youth (B & K) were asking me what my favorite teas are & then if I'm ready for my surprise.

I was totally surprised by a lovely tea party with scones, triangle sandwiches, cherry pie, & lots of fun tea to choose from. They even gifted me with a new tea cup & saucer for my office!

May your Tuesday Tea Time be as enjoyable as tea with new friends!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Holy Tuesday Tea Time!

I'm coming to you late today as it was my first day at my new job. It was a great day with many warm welcomes & unpacking & figuring out a few calendar items as December is a very busy month in the church worker's calendar.

As people continue to ask about our trip to Japan, the best part was simply being with family we hadn't seen in a very long time (aside from FaceTime). We got to see some really great things & admire God's creation. One of my favorite days really was the day we walked nearly 13 miles.

That particular day we took the train to walk to a temple, then took the train to walk around the imperial gardens, then took a train to walk around an area of Tokyo we had yet to adventure. Then we hit a wall & rested in a shopping mall because we were going on a food tour that night.

When you sign up for a food tour in Tokyo you may imagine things like raw fish. I know that's what we were prepared to have. Instead we walked through back alleys that we would've never gone down on our own to a fabulous little place were locals often go after work. Everything was grilled in front of us as we were seated "at the bar" & enjoyed skewers of vegetables & meat & seafood. Then we walked to get a traditional Japanese sweet. And then we went for more food. The last meal was a meal that we grilled at our tables. It was a mix of some form of lettuce, fish roe (though there were other combinations with other meats), a few other vegetables, & a broth. It essentially reminded us of a dish of hash. The best part was when Z awed the natives with his skills trying the dessert rolls. It was essentially a Japanese crepe with fruit & red bean.

Then we made our way back to our hotel. And that was the day we walked & walked & didn't loose our feet!