Tuesday Tea Time: The 1st of 2014!

Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

Curious, does this picture represent any Tea Time for you?! I find it quirky & unlike any tea time that I've remember. However, my cousins, LC2, are expecting their first baby & LM said she is craving spaghettios. So in celebration of LC2 & their growing addition, here's our FIRST TUESDAY TEA TIME of 2014!

This is the first year in a long time that Z & I don't have anything big & life changing (that we know of yet) happening. No wedding, no baby, no graduations, no moving, no new schools.

This leaves me excitedly sitting in the anticipation of what each day & month may bring. We have a few things planned of course, like continuing ed. events & a vacation to celebrate other family members' graduations & weddings.

What are you anticipating for the days & weeks & hours of 2014?

LC2, we know your big one ;-)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

A New Year & I'm back full of Life, Spirit, & Sparkle to share with anybody who wants to receive the goodness of sharing.

My friend over at Thirsty Nerdy Cats did this One Word things a year ago & my friend TU at Praying on the Prairie is doing it this year. I figured I should join in the fun.

Plus, 2014 is weird year for Z & I. We don't have any known major changes or life transitions that will happen this year. Ok, so I turn 30 this year & we'll have our puppy fixed & we'll be doing continuing ed & vacation in MO & CO at different points. But nothing quite as big as finishing a degree program or knowing we have to move.

With this year being a year of anticipation of the unknowns, my word is

HEALTHY.

When thinking about what I hoped out of 2014, I thought to myself, "I want to be healthy in a holistic sorta way. Physically, Mentally, & Spiritually." AND because I'm a 2 on the Enneagram, I want to help others be healthy too.

Stay tuned for more on being holistically healthy.

What's your One Word?

Friday Foto Favorite

Photo courtesy of Politico

People say that religion & politics shouldn't mix, but the reality is politics are from people & people are who make up religion.

This is a picture of hope.

May the God of peace & understanding give hope to the world in light of this weeks tragedies.

Sunday Snippits: the GOOD, BAD, & UGLY

Heya friends, it's late, so we're gonna keep it short & simple with

GOOD: Life is progressing forward & more boxes are being packed! This weekend we traveled to SD to visit with friends I hadn't seen in 9 Summers & to celebrate the wedding of B&E. It was so great to see the DG family & meet their little ones. It was also really wonderful to celebrate with B&E & enjoy time with good friends that have already moved to their first calls. While they've only been gone for a couple of weeks, it seems much longer. Let' just say there was squealing from multiple people when we all saw each other.

BAD: Life is still up in the air.

UGLY: Negativity is too easy to focus on, so skipping over this topic. Plus, if you haven't noticed, it's hard for me to mention the ugly most weeks.

WORDs to dwell in: Ephesians 4 - we are created & called to be one

Coming up: My final info desk shift is this week on what would have been my Mammaw's 100th b-day. More packing, more figuring out life.

Thirsting for a Thursday Special

You've most likely missed Sunday Snippits & Tuesday Tea Time, those are everybody's favorite pieces of me sharing Life, Spirit, & Sparkle. So here's a Thursday Special to quench your Thursday Thirst!

The topic of the day: ambiguity

As I sit quietly listening to see if WOK will wake up from his nap, the 6 fingered cat Ernie (yes, after Hemingway) is howling from the basement. 

This is not ambiguity, this just is.

Now that graduation has come & gone, Z & I sit in a time of unknowns. Maybe today's topic should be hopeful unknowns. Ambiguity still fits though because we know that we have been assigned to serve in the North/West Lower Michigan synod & we know that the synod staff is working to give us potential placements. We know so much & at the same time, so little. 

Last week we celebrated 4(+) years  with friends & shared how we have been impacted by each other & our time at seminary. The next day family started arriving & Saturday afternoon we had all of our immediate family in our apartment except for my brother (who was camping in PA). At baccalaureate we were reminded to let the Gospel surprise us & at commencement we were given a pep talk to not be boring. Living in ambiguous unknowns is NOT boring.

It is the working of the Spirit that keeps us hopeful in the unknowns & the ambiguous "answers" to our questions of "What's next?!"

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.