Tuesday Tea Time!

WORLD TEA EXPO!

This morning as I'm waiting for my tea to cool down enough to enjoy I started looking for an image to share with yall for Tuesday Tea Time. Well before I click on "images" my attention is drawn to a link for the World Tea Expo.

Just yesterday after the Republic of Tea posted a delicious looking tea on FB, I decided that I need to work in a tea shop at some point in my life. Well clearly I live in the wrong part of the country for this, so it won't be happening any time soon, but some day I will be surrounded by the smells & joys of tea ALL day long.

What part of the world would I need to live in? I told Z that this was a new life goal of mine & he said "So we're moving to Asia?" I do have lots of connections in Hong Kong, but I'm not certain I'd want to live there full-time. According to the World Tea Expo, SoCal is the place to be as a tea connoisseur. In fact, the World Tea Expo starts on my 30th birthday!

I won't be able to attend the World Tea Expo this year, but as the video from the website says, anybody that loves tea needs to attend! Who wants to come with?

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Ugly

Happy Sunday! Enjoy the Snippits of Life, Spirit, & Sparkle through the Good, Bad, & Ugly. I invite you to use #lifespiritsparkle when sharing via social media throughout the week. Together life is better, Spirit is not to be denied, & sparkle is the way you or others shine in your world.

GOOD: This last week was a bit of the same ol' same ol'. A bit of work, a bit of Olympics, a bit of falling asleep on the couch because the Olympics were on so late. Z had traveled to MN & returned safely, work life continued to whirl us forward with new & changing information to finish out the week. And today we crashed because Z lead a 24 hour famine with the youth & spent the night at the church & I am just a little cruddy. In the midst of this I was able to connect with our friends B&M BR who now live in TX. Together we shared the ups & downs of life since graduating & moving in the last year. Seriously, life is so much better when shared together.

BAD: Crashing under the weight of life. Our friend's dad died. My Uncle was diagnosed with cancer on top of his pre-existing Pick's Disease. And there's been one too many days of feeling like the only thing I have control over is the laundry & dishes.

UGLY: All the war around the world. I can't imagine what it's like for some of the Olympians returning home.

WORD: There is power in Scripture no doubt. This week while working on a newsletter article I quoted Lamentations & not because the article was about lament. It was anything but. It's amazing how hope shines through in the darkness. Check out Lamentations 3:22-24.

coming up: Finishing phoning with YE, Tea Time, checking in with some friends who recently announced big life changes, & getting rid of the crud.

Friday Favorites!

One Billion Rising is a campaign that I learned about just over a year ago & last Friday people, like these two ladies, from all over the world rose for justice because 1 out of every 3 women will experience rape or sexual assault in their lifetime.

Many will never be given the voice to speak up, so we as a community & as a world & as a people rise up together for the voiceless.

Awareness is a key education piece that will help make these numbers of victims less. Using our voice through dance or song or poetry or speech will help with the education & cause awareness to grow. Awareness will cause action. We must stop tragically hurting each other so deeply.

I find my hope in the resurrection of Jesus & God's word from Lamentations. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him'" (NRSV Lamentations 3:22-24).

Rise with us Spirit, this I pray!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Credit given to Miss Voodoo's Tattoos

Tuesday Tea Time!

Today Tea Time comes with a snoring puppy pressed against my side. She's taken to her morning nap being on my lap or as close to me as she can get. Thankfully, I'm able to get a few things done despite the puppy's closeness.

It's so fun when I Google "Tea Time" for an image & up comes something I've never seen before! While I do have a couple of tattoos & have thought about getting another, I have NEVER thought about having a Tea Time tattoo.

This tattoo is rather impressive simply knowing how hard it is to keep hand/finger tattoos looking fresh. Each tattoo has a story & I would love to know more about this tattoo or the plethora of other tea time tattoos that show up on Google images.

Frown at the idea of marking up one's body permanently or embrace it, either way it's a piece of art that's not going anywhere.

That's a splash with Tuesday Tea Time! What's in your mug?

Sunday Snippits: One Word 365 Update

What?! No GOOD, BAD, & UGLY?

I'm multitasking!

When I chose my One Word as healthy, I meant it in a holistic way, but with a special emphasis in the emotional department.

Hi, I am a forever optimist who struggles sitting with people - including myself - in the gray times of life.

There's SO much life to be lived that I don't see the point in living in the gray times more than than the clear sparkly times. However, as I've mentioned recently, I am living in a time of limbo. I'm working a couple of different jobs & applying for others & praying for what path I should follow. I can't escape the gray.

This forever optimism comes from a lot of gray in my childhood. I like to see people happy so I figure if I share a smile then it can hide the gray.

It doesn't fix the gray, but it makes me feel good.

Thus why on the usual Sunday Snippits, I ALWAYS have a LOT more to say for the GOOD than I do for the bad or ugly.

Living healthy is hard, but beautiful!

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday Favorites!

This week has been busy with a little of this & a little of that. And it's that time of the year where the weather is still playing Winter, but showing small signs of Spring in the future.

You may think "She's Crazy!" The snow & ice keep coming & that does NOT equal Spring. Well last year it did! It would snow about once a week clear into the second week of May in MN, but it would all be melted within a day or two.

My favorites this week are watching people have fun in the snow. AND clinging to the longer bits of daylight & hearing the birds chirp a little more often.

Here's our niece E in the most snow she's ever witnessed in her life. Seriously, I may be biased, but does it get much cuter than that?!

I hope that wherever you are at the end of this week & in whatever weather you're living, that you're enjoying a piece of it & finding a reason to smile.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Meet JK & his dad LK. Mom & wife, RK, posted a few pictures of her & J's tea time last week & I couldn't help but share with all of you. Of course I asked for permission before posting pictures of my friends' adorable toddler having tea time with his mom. LK is clearly studying hard for his final semester of seminary in the background!

LK & I met Fall 2003 & both being the youngest in our families, he knew how to be the bully of a brother figure that would drive me crazy & I knew how to be the bully of a sister figure that would drive him crazy. The only difference is he shares the title of being youngest in his family with his twin sister. LK & I would go on to graduate from CAP in 2007 & then on for two years of service on separate ministry teams through YE, & then onto different ministry settings & continuing education settings. LK met RK during our time with YE & they now have 2 adorable babes & are continuing to journey together as a ministry couple about to embark on life after seminary.

I sit, writing this, enjoying my second round on my bag of English tea, smiling about the friendships with this family (1/2 of which I've never actually met, like JK). Last time LK & I were together in the same place was less than a year ago & our friendship has grown a little more mature that when Z wasn't around for one reason or another, people got confused & thought LK was Z. Don't worry LK, you're not my only college friend who's dealt with such confusions. Just ask DL about him coming to Z's & my IN wedding reception!

So from across the miles, I cherish the tea time with JK & family because in my book of life, tea time is always more precious when shared with others.

May you stop & enjoy your tea with a friend (near or far) today & may it be good till the last drop!

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Ugly!

Sunday Snippits! Bringing you the good, the bad, & the ugly from my world view. With a few other Snippits of life.

GOOD: This last week started with the second to last day of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza! This event is for ALL leaders working in children, youth, young adult, & family ministry throughout the ELCA & our partners in faith. I say this because you do not need to have any special degree or special title to be part of the network. You simply need to have a heart for serving the kingdom of God for the sake of children, youth, young adults, &/or families. This means your volunteers, parents, pastors, & youth leaders on all levels can join the network & attend the Extravaganza next year in Detroit, MI for renewal, education, & connection surrounding 1/3 ministries! Upon returning to Chebooboo the good is that the days are getting longer & there is hope that with the slightly warmer temps that Spring is on its way despite what that groundhog saw.

BAD: Not having much interest in football & knowing the Superbowl was boring. Leaving your interior car light on for a couple of days in a parking garage 12 hours from home & having little to no knowledge about cars is bad. I couldn't stay awake during the opening ceremony for the Olympics. Anybody else have this problem of wanting to eat & eat & then entering food coma?

UGLY: People's response to Superbowl commercials & how AMERican we are. People's attacks on Russia & having a bad outlook for having the Olympics there prior to the Olympics even starting.  Can we please live into each other's strengths & not worry about the things we cannot correct?

WORD: That read the Bible in a year plan I mentioned I restarted, I'm struggling. While having the Bible on all our techy devices is great, I still do better with opening up the book & reading as I was taught. Plus, I clearly work better with others or I'd not be struggling so much. So today my focus is on finishing Bittersweet & reading my daily devo from one of the many sources I have around here.

coming up: Another week of Zumba & phoning for YE & Valentine's Day & of course lots of Olympic games watching.

Friday Favorites!

SO many favorites from this past week.

This picture of the word "frame" is painted on a stole that was gifted to me as a first year in ministry person. While I've truly been working in ministry of sorts for the past 10 years, graduating from seminary & living into a more defined calling made it more official for me to stand up with the people who have been working in Children, Youth, & Family Ministry for 365 days or less.

YE has been a part of my life since 1996, if not sooner. Here I am with a number of team alumni from across the country. Many of us are serving in parish ministry settings, some of us are still in school, others of us work for YE on some level or have in our past, & we all have been crazy enough to follow a call to live in intentional community sharing the Gospel around the world.

The Luther Seminary connections were around every corner at the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza! AUB & I became good friends just in our senior year. She is now serving in IL, so we are not horribly far from each other, but visits are hard to fit in. We are both looking forward to what the future of ministry leading holds for us.

The ELCA YMN is all about networking & connecting. Here I am connecting with the lovely leaders from InterServe Ministries, Raphael Malpica (his son was one of my seminary housemates), & comedian Jason Earls.

And that connecting piece I mentioned, wasn't to be avoided at this event. Here I am with 3 of my Diaconal Ministry leaders. We all attended the Diaconal Formation Event together in 2010. Three out of the four of us were students then, & now we're serving in 4 outta 9 regions of the ELCA.

May your week be as full of favorite moments as this. This is a plethora, I fully acknowledge that, but that is why we attend continuing education events and personal retreats and community events and worship, so that we may be filled up to move forward with the daily drain of life.

Tuesday Tea Time!

I don't wear graphic tees very often any more because for so long people thought I was significantly younger than I am & graphic tees didn't seem to help. The comments were never very complimentary either. This is one graphic t-shirt, however, I would wear.

Reflecting on things of my past has been a prevalent theme of the last couple of days. Not in a "woe is me" sort of way, but in a "what the what (I'm totally overwhelmed)" sorta way.

Not that a t-shirt gets me overwhelmed, but the works of the Spirit sure do. Z & I recently road tripped to St. Louis where we were surrounded by such an incredible cloud of witnesses all working for & with children, youth, & family ministry

I've been reflecting because many of the people at ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza I have met through one piece of life or another. This past weekend I was with friends from my high school years, Capital University, Outlaw Ranch, Scotland days, Youth Encounter, Diaconal Formation Event, Luther Sem, Michigan, & most likely a few more connections than I can fully remember.

It's crazy how one place leads you to the next & you never have any idea what you're going to do when you have to head to a new place, but before you know it, the new place is the comfortable slightly aged place, & you're looking into another unknown adventuresome day.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

It's confession time today.

The first confession is that I'm not actually drinking tea. I'm drinking a caramel latte with a touch of Bailey's Irish Cream because we're on staycation mode.

The second confession. While in conversation with Mama P the other day she mentions something about the bookS she got me for Christmas. My response was maybe the wrong one, but she wasn't mad that I know of. "What books did you get me?!"

Oops! I forgot that my mom got me books for Christmas because I had been so diligent about finding a spot for them to keep. As soon as she said what they were I remembered & knew exactly where they were, so like any good gift receiver, I made it a point to actually look at one of them since that conversation.

Tea & Crumpets is sure to help me prepare for any fancy tea party I ever want to throw. However, right now the fanciest I get is making giant scones & taking them to visit friends. This Winter has been a wear a lot of fleece & sweatpants (or track suit bottoms for my English friends) Winter. I am glad to be saying g'bye to January in just a few days & moving into February.

Maybe February will give me more time for looking into & reading about Tea & Crumpets!

Sunday Snippits: GOOD, BAD, & UGLY

GOOD~ Its vacation & continuing ed. week! So this past week has been busy work plus a lot of time inside due to weather. Aside from the busy work there was Tea Time with TE. In my attempt to make us scones I made one giant orange scone & it was delicious. I'm all about the no fuss recipes, so I purposely made one scone instead of a dozen individual ones. Plus earlier in the week I had an unexpected phone call from KT & later in the week an unexpected card from JM! A couple good heart to hearts is energy for the soul.

BAD~ Death in the family is never fun. Z's last living grandparent - Grandma Esther - went quickly into heaven Tuesday morning. We are all thankful she was on hospice for less than 24 hours. Now prayers for decent weather for travels for both the memorial & inurnment.

UGLY~ The way the winter weather makes people complain. Find something worth complaining about! I'll be the first to admit I'm not amused with the fresh snowfall anymore, but it's January & it snows.

WORD ~ Today I restarted a plan to read the Bible in a year. I read a LOT of Nehemiah, yup. I started this plan at the end of 2012 & made it 80 some days before getting tired of it so I figure I'd give it another try.

Coming up~ A little work & a lot of play & the EXTRAVAGANZA!

Friday Favorites!

What a weird week!

If there ever was a week for ups & down, this was it. And acknowledging those ups & downs is just half the battle.

There was a shooting at Purdue, Z's grandma died, & I am in a state of disbelief with this winter. The snow just keeps coming!

So as I wrote in my One Word 365: Healthy update the other day. I appreciate the things that make me smile all that much more.

Z had put this reminder in my ipod right after we had moved to Chebooboo. He figures why buy fudge from the dozen stores in the area that make it as their speciality when you can make it at home. I figure why make it when you have such a variety at your fingertips? The silly thing is I thought I deleted this reminder a few times, but it keeps popping up on my ipod! Coincidence?

His silly sense of humor is one of the reasons I said "yes" when he asked he could kiss me for the first time 4 years ago today.

See, ups & downs?! Gotta keep learning to go with the flow 'cause it's not worth it to fight against the waves.

One Word 365: Healthy

Here's the first of those random healthy updates I said I'd be posting.

The number one way I've been finding helpful with being completely healthy is posting things (FB, Twitter, & Instagram) that bring a smile to my face & hope that they do the same for others.

January is always a month of ups & downs. The snow is pretty, the sun makes it sparkle some days, & then there are endless days in a row that are nothing but gray & icy & snowy & make you wish winter was over last week.

I also made myself & Z take a vitamin D pill today. Hoping that would boost our smiles from the inside out.

Plus I've been making myself take the puppy on walks, even if only to the mailbox & around the drive-way. Fresh air, no matter how cold, is always good for the mind, but be sure to bundle up appropriately!

Physically: Zumba instructing keeps me accountable to taking care of my body.
Mentally: Goofy mostly with a healthy dose of worry & fear about the unknowns.
Spiritually: Frustrated, but happy with the surprises.

What's your OneWord365?

Tuesday Tea Time!

HAPPY TUESDAY TEA TIME!

  

It's another cold cold day appropriate for thick scarves, fleeced lined leggings, two pairs of socks, leg warmers, 3 top layers, & a cuddly puppy in your lap.

And of course on this negative degree day, the sun is shining & making me think I should go outside.

My tea today is Paris from Harney & Sons.

Yes, I have blogged more than once about how I don't drink caffeine very often. Well I now have gone to drinking one caffeinated tea drink in the morning. However, this is also influenced by the fact that none of my gifted teas this past holiday season are caffeine free. 

This rich vanilla flavored tea takes me on that adventure I wrote about last week for Friday Favorites. This is an adventure that gets me through my day. An adventure that allows me to listen to the still small voice & dream & sometimes escape life's present realities. This is sacred time.

Keep on adventuring more.

Spend time in the sacred places of your life.

Let the still small voice be heard.

Sunday Snippits: GOOD, BAD, & UGLY!

Credit given to FamilyShare.com

It's the start of another new week & in the forecast there's lot of single digit weather. It's definitely that time of year where people are simply holed up or totally escaping to someplace warm. Then there's those of us who don't have the option to do either & trudge through each day.

GOOD: This last week was full of discernment & being more attentive to listening for that "still small voice." This last week was full of joy that I can share out loud now b/c they have shared it out loud. My life long best friend, our mom's are life long best friends, my sister from another family, is having a BABY! BEG & her hubby are due in August & I just can't stop smiling. The other fun piece is that our good friends W&M now are W&M&R & my college roomie is now K&D&W! 2014 is the year for babies. Don't get any ideas, none here just yet. This last week was also fabulous because I got to FaceTime/Skype/GoogleHang/phone with BLF, RR (check out One Story Catcher), DF, & a few other great people. If you haven't noticed, I thrive in community. I also got mail from AJO (with stickers!) & M&B-BR. PLUS, we got to hang with A&S yesterday at the local winterfest. There were snow sculptures, more snowmobiles than I had ever seen at one time in my life, live music, & OUTHOUSE races. Yes, that's right, people build their own style of an outhouse & race against one another down a snow track. We decided that St. Tom's needs a team next year & can be the Holy Crappers with a confession booth or pew or prayer kneeler.

BAD: It's taken me all month to catch up with the piles on my desk. While the piles are sorted through (for now) there's bound to be more. With the schedule I've been keeping, since I work from home, I get tired of spending so much time in my office & I can't find motivation on these dark cold days to do more than I have to. I also don't really know what's going on in the world. The articles that come into my inbox are often overlooked or really have to catch my eye to be read. So I apologize if I'm missing some big bad things.

UGLY: You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so let's just leave it at there are ugly things in life & I've been incredibly snarky lately.

WORD: John 1:29 was posted by the ELCA today on FB & I wanted to share it at Zumba, but couldn't remember the exact scripture. Today, it was all I needed to read & absorb. I didn't want to study it or check out the different translations. Just read & absorb & be.

Coming up: This week I will finish phoning for YE, so that's sorta sad 'cause I love the ministries God is leading YE in. AND there will be Tuesday Tea Time AND there will be Zumba on Wednesday AND there will be more reading of Bittersweet.

Friday Favorites!

Ever feel like everybody else is living a more exciting life than you?! Lately, I've been trying to find the adventure in my daily life here in the tippy top of the mitten of MI. I have friends living & working in fields that I'm passionate about too & in places like Ecuador, South Africa, Malaysia, & Germany. 

I am blessed to have had the chance to visit at least two of the countries I listed, but it's been FAR too long since I've been out of the country or had a good adventure. None the less, there is adventure here in Chebooboo too.

See:

Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Two and a half years ago Z & I were newly married & I was quite frustrated with the process of changing my name. Companies & organizations just couldn't get it right that there's no 'E' in my first name.

A month before our wedding, my housemates & I had finished off this giant tub of honey that our one housemate BMG had brought back from visiting her grandma in Montana a year prior. It was so big that it took four housemates, plus house guests a full year to use the entire tub. 

This particular day that I was embarrassingly frustrated with Wells Fargo I had stormed into the alley house, blazed by some friends who were their usual over the top lovingly nice selves (you know, the kind you don't feel you deserve & maybe don't know how to really let them love you like they do), & stomped up to my room to find this giant tub of honey. 

In my anger I didn't stop to really look at the tub. I thought it was the old empty tub & didn't know why in the world they thought I would want that empty tub. Once I had calmed down & leveled with my stressed self about all the changes happening in life at the time, I realized that this giant tub was full to the brim with fresh Montana honey.

My housemate's sister had gone to visit their grandma in Montana right before she came to visit us in MN & to celebrate Z & I on our wedding day. My dear friend Jules (she does have an 'E' in her first full name) had brought a whole new tub & knowing how much I love tea, she decided to gift it to Z & I. The lid of the tub still has the piece of masking tape that says, "With love from the M girls."

AND NOW this honey, yes, Z & I are still working on it 2&1/2 years later, though it is only maybe 1/4 full now, is filling up my fun new little honey pot.

Here's to the golden moments in your day that make you stop & breath & smile.

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Ugly!

Anybody else wanna know what kinda of carnival this picture is advertising?!

I suppose it says Catholic & that should be enough. Right?

Happy Sunday Snippits!

Thanks to Google for this random image.

Here we are in 2014 with the GOOD, BAD, & UGLY!

GOOD: Lots of people I love dearly are pregnant right now & to start off this past week we celebrated my Grandma's & Dad's birthdays. YaY LIFE! This last week I officially started teaching Zumba. It's a fun adventure, but one I'm definitely still getting used to. My brain is constantly wired for new ideas for children, youth, & family ministries & Zumba was not my first plan on how to live out this wiring of my brain after graduating with my Master of Divinity. However, God works in wonderfully mysterious ways & it was SO great to see mother & daughter come to my class today. Another good thing is that we finally feel like we're recovering from the busy busy Holiday season. We took ALL day Thursday to take down, pack up, put away, & clean all the needles & dust that had settled. Plus, another fun thing of this past week was opening an account at Family Video. Yes, that's right, we live in a town with a video store & no Red Box. Gotta love small town living, it's one or the other, not both! I also hosted my first ever Pampered Chef online party & it was a GREAT experience.

BAD: I think I'm allergic to more things than I want to know. And at this point in life, I don't really feel like being tested for allergies for the first time ever. Also, it's really hard to choreograph for Zumba with a puppy who is becoming more mischievous day by day & likes to cling to your every move.

UGLY: That the above picture & the word carnival go together. Add some fake streamers or something! If this is how the church advertises for itself, then how do non-church goers view the church. Today is the day that people around the world remember the earth quake in Haiti from 4 years ago. The destruction & despair still linger today.

WORD: Currently, I'm reading Shauna Niequist's Bittersweet & it has a chapter for people at every place in life, or so it seems. Friendship & Food are important themes, which is pretty great in my book.

Coming up: More Zumba & phoning for Youth Encounter & most likely lots more ADORABLE photos of the puppy.

Friday Favorites!

Meet MG!

I know, you're thinking, haven't you had her for a couple of months now? Well it took a couple of months & one of the coldest days of the Winter for us to call the groomer who naturally could squeeze her in on that sub-arctic temperature day.

AND NOW WE CAN SEE HER EYES!

Her fur was masking her true size & now we're reminded how truly little & young she is.

How were your eyes opened to a new light this week?