Tuesday Tea Time!

Good morning Tea Time Tuesday followers!

This past weekend I had the joy to visit the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival for the first time since late elementary school. We ate lots of goodies, bartered for a new scarf/handkerchief with beavers all over it (it was stained), & caught up with a good friend & her mom (a new friend!).

Right before we were about to say g'bye we passed the honey stand. Tempting to buy new in their cool different bottles, but being honest with myself I didn't need any more honey at this time. Then there was the tea stand! Yet another tempting site to splurge at, but I simply took their info & said I'd feature their work in my next Tuesday Tea Time.

Teajutsu has a lovely message! They say they "are a company of good humor, of good will, of inclusion and innovation." Who wouldn't be intrigued by that self description?! It caught my attention right away. They even have a diet plan that I agree with & sounds smart & affordable. AND in good fashion, they believe that tea is for everyone. 

We all need to check them out a little bit closer & if you've tasted their teas, please let us know your thoughts in the comments! I plan to revisit the thought of purchasing a taste of Teajutsu once I get through my current supply in the coming weeks (or maybe months with my supply).

Happy Tuesday Tea Time to you all!

Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: That I have loyal followers that read because they care & are okay when life has so many twists & turns I don't post until later in the day. This hoosier sunrise photo just omits the humidity of the day & the day had only just begun. Yes, a hoosier sunrise means a trip to my dear hoosierland. And a trip to hoosierland means pieces of self care with lunch, tea, & catch-up dates with long time friends. A trip to hoosierland also meant a meet & greet with new babies in the family! A trip to hoosierland also meant being woken up at the crack of dawn by an excited MG, always ready to greet the day & wake everybody else up. Thanks to MG's energy & an early morning walk I got this great no-filter used photo of the hoosier sun rising above the trees.

BAD: In the last week I have felt emotions that left me feeling numb, as if the wind had been knocked out of me, & plain dumbfounded. Mix a little bit of anger & hope in there & you have grief! Anybody else remember learning DABDA in health class way back when? This past week I was gifted a couple different things that I wanted eventually, but I didn't know how I wanted them. I do know I didn't want them to go down as they did. However, that's that & tomorrow is a new day. We each believe the pieces we choose to believe to get by & take care of ourselves & that's the best we can do.

AWESOME: The peace that passes all understanding & the way in envelopes one when you most need it. I have prayed for this peace for others on so many occasions & hope they have been overwhelmed with it as I have in the last week. Last week I was pleading with God for this peace at one point & by the end of the day there it was. I stood in the hallway wondering how I could be so calm & the only explanation was an answered prayer & a gift of the presence of the Spirit within me.

WORD: Today the Good News was that Jesus doesn't put us in boxes & he doesn't call us to be box monitors. Jesus pulls us out of our boxes & together we disassemble the boxes we put others in & therefore there is no need for box monitors. Jesus has it all in control folks!

coming up: One foot in front of the other with Life, Spirit, & Sparkle! Head Up. Heart Out. Move to the Beat!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Hello sleepy time! Tuesday Tea Time has come & not quite gone. I do believe I over estimated my ability to get back from my travels & jump back on board with my bit of routine. Oops!

Many many thanks to Timothy & Allison for sharing Friday Favorites & Sunday Snippits while I was away in hoosierland.

What a crazy milestone in my call to ministry to have come & gone. I had the same feeling of joy on my consecration day that I had on my high school graduation day. At high school graduation many of my friends were red in the face from tears & I had this ridiculous grin that I could not wipe away.

Today I spent part of my time in the office setting up all the cards & new decorative gifts that I received. The picture though shows the long awaited gift of a basin, pitcher, & towels. These are the symbols of Diaconal Ministry. My basin & pitcher were crafted by the great Jim Alworth & his wife Grace. The most beautiful piece about it is that the design is one of a kind.

And now it's time for bed!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome

Credit to Glue Arts

GOOD: This past week marked 1 year since we moved to MI! Crazy how much a year can bring. This past week we spent the week preparing to host a cookout. In the midst of that I continued to do some organizing/cleaning & recycled many papers. Z & I were officially nominated to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which you can watch by clicking on the words "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge." If you're trying to understand the phenomena of this ice bucket challenge, me too! I appreciate that more & more people seem to be announcing that they're donating to ALS research AND another cause of their choice. One friend even challenged people to donate an hour of their time to an organization they feel makes this world a better place.

BAD: It's technically Monday & I'm still awake because I want to share this blog with you. And missing the MN state fair is prolly a healthy thing, but sad nonetheless.

AWESOME: Having a place to call home & know it's not temporary because of school or internship or other life circumstances. Also, how entertaining watching people's reactions & different takes on doing the ice bucket challenge is pretty awesome. AND lastly, knowing while it's easy to think life is mundane, there a LOT going on & YOU are part of that.

WORD: Psalm 138. Why would the Lord God forsake the work of God's own hands?

coming up: More cycling & random dancing & more projecting 'cause it's what I do these days. Plus visitors from the hoosierland & beyond coming later in the week!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

 GOOD: This past week started with a day trip to the beaches of Normandy, France. Yes, that's right where D-Day happened. Nothing like throwing in a piece of somber reality with all the joy that comes with traveling. Our travels were great & we've thoroughly caught up on sleep & recovered from any jet-lag we may have been experiencing. It was unique to take a trip that was mid-week to mid-week because it seemed like the number of tourists greatly increased at the beginning of the end of our trip. We waited in a moving line to get into Notre Dame & then opted out of climbing the 400 & some stairs up the towers due to the fact that we had already climbed 300 & some stairs to the dome at Sacre Cœur that morning & there was quite a long wait at Notre Dame. In between Sacre Cœur & Notre Dame we visited the Center Pompidou where we saw a non-moving really really long line that we never did figure out what it was for because we walked around the other side of the building & walked right in. It helped that we had already bought our tickets for here before leaving the states. The thing we realized is that at many of the iconic sites you can go up in either a tower or a dome. Yes, the city is magnificent, but it's the same views from slightly different heights & different points in the city. The good that I think this trip did for both Z & I is that it awakened our spirits of adventure & travel & thinking outside our comfort zones of only speaking one language & knowing exactly what we were ordering for food or drink. Here in the picture you see Zack's café crème which he ordered at some point almost every day. Too bad I don't really like coffee because the tea options were limited. I did enjoy a nice chocolat chaud at least once though & daily enjoyed a glass or two of vin rouge or rosé. 

BAD: A dear friend passed away while we were gone. His death was not unexpected, but after living with colon cancer since 2009 one begins to think that he would just live that way for many years to come. Mikey was charismatic & vulnerably truthful about life which made him openly true friends with people he maybe never even really considered more than acquaintances. My prayers for God's peace are said often to fill the lives of his wife K, son N, sister C (all my friends as well) & their families. Upon returning we realized we needed to check in with one or two ailing people in our lives & I listened to Z essentially say g'bye to a good friend, colleague & mentor of his on the phone. 

AWESOME: The promise that I believe in that Easter brings. Plus, let's be real, I spent most of this past week exploring Paris, France. I got to go up the Eiffel Tower & enjoy champagne with my best friend. AND we came home to a very wet MI, but there is no snow left!

WORD: 1 Peter 1:13-16. Breathing this in a little bit each day. Plus still working on 'The Help' & started reading 'The Color of Tea.'

coming up: A trip to hoosierland & a visit with Gma Dixie! Some work & prep for the Summer & being reunited with my Horton (my big gray Mazda).

Friday Foto Favorite! (Yep, it's Saturday)

While I love living in the city, I'm a small town girl at heart. Last night I got to take Z to his first experience of Friday Night Pizza's on the Hawkins Family Farm. PJ Hawkins is my childhood pastor & now a colleague, but still my pastor. It's so great to be able to see where ministry has taken him & his family & to be able to share that as Z & I start our journey after seminary.

If you're ever in Northern Indiana during the Summer on a Friday night, be sure to stop & enjoy Friday Night Pizza's on the farm.

Sunday Snippits: the GOOD, BAD, & UGLY

Happy Sunday Snippits! I'm here with 

GOOD: Last week was a whirlwind! Interviews are going well, packing is stacking up in our apartment, & friends seem to be abounding with good news of where life is taking them these days. We have a new niece! Baby L Nelson is doing well, as is mommy, daddy, & big sister C. I can't wait to meet her & see everybody else. Boo to distance! On Wednesday, I had my last info desk shift last , so that was a relief. It was a great student job, but I'm ready to move forward. Z & I also decided we'd be moving in with Pa & Ma P in early August, so that we could attend Fun Fest & my 10 year class reunion. Our GroupLife group from Jacobs Well Minneapolis got together Wednesday as well & caught up, which is always good times. Then Saturday was the end of the year bash celebrating RR's birthday & going away. You can pick up on her story & follow her adventures at One Story Catcher. There was lots of good food, great people, & fun things like tricycle races & using up old firecrackers.

BAD: I'm an emotional eater! Stress & anxiety is high with change, which brings a variety of emotions & occasional tears. Since we're moving to Hoosierland, that means we'll be moving twice in about a month of each other. 

UGLY: MN has been unseasonably cold! It was slightly welcomed after the extreme heat, but still not totally since it's July. Also, clutter is part of moving & I don't do well in clutter.

WORDs to dwell on: Mark 4:35 Jesus Calms a Storm. My friend & colleague MM preached on this scripture this morning. May we cling to the promise that Jesus is with us always.

Coming up: Today we made it to church & then I came home to attend a baby shower for some seminary friends. It was fun & African Safari themed & I won a plant! Now, let's hope I can keep it alive. More packing, helping friends move, a few last time appointments, massages, & Pa N's birthday!