Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time!

I'm 2 weeks into not being pregnant any longer. This is still a weird reality. The first week after Kaia's birth & death was somewhat of an out of body experience for Z & I.

We are by no means the first or the last to have loved & to have lost a child in this way. And while every fiber of our being knows, believes, & trusts fully that Kaia is in the arms of God, it does not make us want her in our arms any less.

Our Spirit gifted faith & celebration of Easter helps carry us through each day into the next. Some times life starts to blur so quickly from one big event to the next, that it takes something to jolt us to a stop & focus on our breathes.

Kaia Gene's life & death jolted us to this stop. It's not how we wanted to be forced to stop, but most likely nothing would have been ideal if it was so big & disrupting to our very cores to make us stop.

Breathe, just breathe. That is what I've been doing to get me through these times. I've been focusing on my breaths. Especially the importance of deep breathing. And with each breath I take the time to give thanks for that breath, for the moment, & for the life that I still have here on earth. We are granted new perspectives in these life events that jolt us to a stop.

Reminded of how precious our time with loved ones is, we plan for the future, one step at a time. And let's be honest, we plan for the future one sip of tea after another, after another, after another, at a time.

Today I'm getting lost in my Tuesday Tea. Thanks for sharing the time!

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.

Friday Favorites!

Thinking about Friday Favorites today with the question, "What have I learned this week?"

Believing we are made new each day in the light of a resurrected savior, it is only right to lift up praises each day. I have found myself giving such thanks when people compliment me or something about an object that might be related to my work with "Thanks be to God!"

My hope is that people realize that I am who I am because of the living Word of God. And all that I do, I strive to do for God.

While I'd like to think that there is nobody reading this thinking, "Well good for you!" I know better. Please don't read this as "look at me" sort of thing. It is yet another bitter cold January day here & while the sun is shining - Praise be to God - it is January & many people are stuck inside & many people are dealing with depression from the often gray weather this time of year.

I share praises to lift all spirits of the good happening in the world. Some times these praises seem fairly mundane, but it is a nice thing to have a home that has electricity that powers my alarm clock that I am thankful for its snooze button. See, can be sorta mundane. Challenge yourself to list 5 praises a day for a week & see how it lifts your spirit. It's worth it!

"Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day." Rishika Jain's Inspiration

Tuesday Tea Time!

 
Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

When you're looking for the things you love, they pop up all around you. I attribute this to be the works of the Holy Spirit saying hi. We look for the things we love to fulfill a piece of our inner being that seems a tinge empty or maybe nothing is empty but we just want that push of joy that that thing brings to us.

Last week I got to share this cute tea themed card with my life long best friend. What a treasure to have the friendship we have and common things we love. Some may say that we had no choice in being friends as our mother's are life long best friends and we were born and raised in the same town only 9 or 10 weeks apart from one another. However, I like to think it's just a beautiful piece of life that we are the friends that we are.

Do you see the Life, Spirit, & Sparkle?!

I challenge you - my readers - to share the little (and big) sparkles of connections that words cannot totally capture in the comments below.

and enjoy your tea!

Tuesday Tea Time!!!

This Tuesday Tea Time leaves me thinking about graduation season. Just one year ago Z & I graduated with our Master of Divinity degrees from Luther Seminary. Here's an action shot of me receiving my diploma & hood right after my dear friend JMC & right before Z received his diploma & hood. I am grateful for our friend STH who captured this amongst other great moments from the day.

A little bit about the day, it was rainy - just like today - & therefore humid & the air conditioning unit in Central Lutheran Church - where the ceremony is held each year - had decided to take a rest that morning. There was a thick layer of discomfort because of the humidity & a thick level of mixed emotions. It is most often a sense of relief to be to this point in a degree program, but many people did not know what the future held for simple things like housing, health insurance, & work. Not to mention the dynamics of everybody's closest family members & friends being present as an added piece to the day.

One year later we have all figured out some form of housing, most likely health insurance of some sort, & some pieces of work. Is it what we'd hoped for, what we imagined? Yes & no. However, at nearly 30 years old, I learned at a young age, very few things in life happen/exist/turn out exactly as one hopes or imagines. We don't have this sort of control over each other or the world. We do have control over what we do & how we act with the fact that we don't have control though!

In the last year I have had 9 job titles of some kind. That is a LOT! You can imagine the joys & frustrations of such constant change & lack of stability I have experienced. Currently I hold 5 of these jobs. A colleague recently said to me, "Wow, you graduated over a year ago & you don't have a call yet? That can create a lot of anxiety!" I countered that comment with, "Yes, it can dwell up some anxiety, but it also provides a lot of time to dwell in scripture which happens to be good treatment for unsettling anxiety."

I have always found excitement in the unknown. I am a bit of a dreamer & love feeding my imagination. I find comfort knowing that the Spirit is breathing each breath in & out of me & leading me into whatever comes today. I control to be joy filled & aware of my opportunities to continue living a life worthy of the calling to which I am called (see Ephesians 4).

Graduates, recent or past, life will be new, changing, hard, exciting, & challenging. Take your joy from this great accomplishment & share it in the day-to-day adventures. Hold on to that joy & remember the hard work that got you to where you are today. This stamina & perseverance will do you good through the rest of life in all of your calls & titles.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Do you ever feel like you have a twitch or an unsettling energy that can't be calmed easily?

It's like somebody snuck some catnip into my tea, except I'm not a cat or much of a cat lover & I made my tea.

I blame it on the changing of the seasons. Spring starts officially in 2 days even if the snow is still a few feet deep & there's more expected to fall.

I thought this twitch would be satisfied for a while with this past weekend's road trip, but it's in my soul to be adventuresome. I love seeing new scenery & meeting new people. I love hearing stories & seeing the Spirit at work in the lives of others & how that means She's working in my life.

I find community & engaging in each others' lives to be of utmost importance for survival. Maybe I'm so over saturated from all the community I experienced from my road trip that I can't help but have a twitch.

This energy or twitch is so prevalent that I am more aware of my senses & others' too. It's like the chiropractic adjustment I had done last Friday released something into the right place & it's working on staying there permanently, but because I'm so used to being out of whack, it's keeping me awake at night.

Ok, so this energy has only given me one night of restless sleep & as usual, I only had one tea bag this morning. Definitely going for the decaffeinated the rest of the day!

What gives you this twitch?

Cheers to twitchy tea time!