Friday Favorites!

Hey look, I remembered to share a Friday Favorite this week!

Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Today's favorite of the week is from this morning's breakfast, compliments of Chobani Greek Yogurt.

The slightly crazy thing is that this heart find is a favorite because it connects me to so many people in the here & now & those who have gone before us.

Yes, it connects us to a world beyond life on earth.

Not only do I love this connection, each heart brings a smile to my day & we all need extra reasons to smile.

The trend of heart finds for me was initiated by my bff after the passing of her Grandy. It reminds us of the love of Grandy & the love that lives on today. Just the same I find myself sharing heart finds to continue to spread the symbol of love that my friend TE had for everybody & most everything in life.

To one year of life without my dear friend TE to talk to, other than amongst the stars of the heavens, here's today's heart find.

Share your heart finds with the world!

Friday Favorites!

I know I know, most of you who follow me have prolly seeen enough Michi photos to last a life time. This past week though there was so much good that fit into Fridays I had to include this photo simply because it says "Happy Day!"

The first day of Spring, the slightly warmer temps, the adventure back to MI from hoosierland, the delicious turkey burgers we made last night, the changing ministry opportunities, & the connections I continue to make with friends new & old. All are favorites!

May your Friday be filled with many favorites too!

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!

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.