Tuesday Tea Time!

Hiya Tuesday Tea Time Friends!

I really meant to rock 'n roll for every Tuesday in November, but then life happened & I didn't have a piece of art to share & so on & so on.

This past year has been incredibly unbelievable in so many ways. It really goes back further than that for Z & I, but that's not worth rehashing at this point. After going through the birthing process at such a premature stage for both myself & Kaia people (mainly medical professionals) would ask, "Are you ready to have another baby?" They weren't being pushy, they were being realistic that I (& Z) may not be mentally ready, but that our bodies would be physically doing their normal things.

When would we ever be mentally ready? Our first born, who was quite the surprise, broke our hearts in all the best ways. Kaia broke our hearts by being in my womb & making us grow in love for one another. Kaia broke our hearts the day she was born & we knew we could not force life on to her. Kaia broke our hearts in the memories & stories that we now hold so dearly. Kaia broke our hearts to be more raw, vulnerable, & giving. So much of what we do as a couple we do in honor or memory of Kaia. The reality is we would never be mentally ready for another baby & we knew it. We also felt, months ago, that the best way to honor Kaia was to make her a big sister.

We have no idea what the health of this rainbow baby will be or if it'll even prove to really be a rainbow. But we have hope, lots & lots of hope. We are filled with joy & fear all at the same time. While I found that I could barely hold the news in after finding out at such an early stage (week 4 or 5), when it actually came time to share the news I was very anxious. It wasn't worry about what people may think or say, it was the "what if" game that we so often do with ourselves. It was & is truly a relief to share the news of our rainbow baby & receive the support & prayers & silliness that comes with letting people know. It is another life & it is worth celebrating, just as we celebrate its big sister Kaia.

A lot of the last year has hurt emotionally, physically, & all around just hurt. And there will be more hurt in the future, but we have a choice to either let that bring us down or build us up & we choose to let it build us up. We look up for the rainbow.

Tuesday Tea Time! One Word 365!

Art By Britta Gene Art

Happy New Year! It's that time again for a new One Word 365. In 2015 my word was heart, to remind me to live with my heart out for the world. To live with my heart open to vulnerability to build community to live a life of Spirit led hospitality with the Sparkle of day to day happenings.

This year, after some playing around with words & a prayer or two, my word is 'create.' I chose create, or it chose me, so as to focus on creating space, time, & overall Life Spirit Sparkle. Space for God to be the light that has overcome all darkness, time for myself & others, and to live more fully a life led by the Spirit & filled with Sparkle.

The choosing one word instead of a big ol' resolution has become a trend, but a pretty great one in my story. As I've been reading about more & more friends, colleagues, & groups choosing one word, I'm inspired by the ways others are using their one word. Some are using it for a focus in their continuing education, others as a way to think up, in, & out, & others so they don't have to live through another big resolution gone awry & never finished.

I encourage you to live by one word that helps you be a better version of who you want to be & who you are. Choose a word that makes you smile & gives a skip in your step & a light challenge in your day - only light bc some days are challenge enough.

Share your word in the comments!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time, a chance to slow down & breathe deep.

This sort of self-care is necessary when every time you turn on the tv, radio, smartphone, social media of any sort there is another massacre large or small somewhere in someone's life.

In the midst of the world-wide chaos, I choose peace & love. Panic is not worth my time, nor yours, & there is not much many of us can do other than sign petitions, speak out, & pray. If there are things like prayer vigils or peace acts to show up for, we can show up. We can show up in the name of love & peace.

Sure there are things & people I don't like in life, but it is not worth dwelling on those things or I quickly become those things. Often the things we don't like about somebody else & speak outwardly about is really just about ourselves. Life is short & each day is a blessing, so live it large with love & peace.

Some times love is tough love, but it can still be recognized as love. And before loving others we need to know how to love ourselves, so love yourself a little extra today with tea - a warm hug in a cup.

Peace & Love.

One Word 365: heart

My heart, a fragile strength inside me.

My heart, sometimes, though not often, on my sleeve.

My heart, faded in pieces, yet beaming all together.

My heart, always room to grow into new tomorrows.

My heart, the pieces of my heart.

Some times typing or saying the same word so many times makes me second guess my spelling or pronunciation. Heart is not only my One Word 365 word for 2015, it is part of my motto. Though, living with my "heart out" has not been much of a challenge. I've come to find I may be a bit of a bleeding heart sort of person. I give life all my heart as it is too precious of a gift to treat it any other way.

My heart has been made happy by the genuine person asking "how are you?" & patiently waiting for a reply. While they may have already jumped to conclusions of how they think I should be, it is only fair to give me my voice & let me answer - as is everybody's right for their own heart story. So thank you to those who ask & patiently wait for my heart story.

My heart has been made loopy, heavy, & relieved by my recent story. The loopy is no wonder when things have been heavy yet relieving all at the same time as of late. Ah, breathe in the pieces of life transitions!

We move forward day by day with our "Head Up. Heart out. Move to the Beat." motto helping to shape each day.

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!

One of the beauties of living in Pure Michigan - especially up North - is there isn't a single day that isn't good for a campfire. There also isn't a single day that isn't good for a warm cup of tea & we all know that's like a hug in a cup!

Some days are more suited for outside fire-pit fires & others for indoors fireplace fires. The chillier temps & rain on Memorial Day meant an indoor fireplace fire was in order.

Cuddled up by the fire with MG - who's a tad bruised this week recovering from playing with her big dog friends - & my Bubba tumbler of Topsy Turvy Tea Party Tea, I bring you this Tuesday Tea Time!

Today's image brings a smile to my heart knowing the conversations & moments that happen around the table that this little teapot decorates. It's owner proudly stated this past week the "He's (referring to her husband) not a tea snob, but I AM!" We come by this honestly. Though, as much as my mom loves buying me tea & all the accessories, she herself is not much of a tea drinker. BGeG, her mom, & I all are though! Our days start with a good cup of tea, are refreshed in the early afternoon with a second - possibly a third by this point depending on the day - cup, & often end with a final cup. We know the steeping times we prefer for each kind of tea & to some degree the temperature the water needs to be to best suit the different types of tea. BGeG & I even shared our tea bags making two cups of good tea - one for each of us - this past week.

It's a heart smile, heart find, heart warming kinda connection to be able to share a tea bag!

So who wants to come for tea on the porch - after the roof is redone - & share a Tuesday Tea Time?

Friday Favorites!

Hello Friday!

Yesterday I had a chance to catch up & enjoy some appetizers out with a friend. It's amazing what a little one-on-one time with somebody you appreciate, but don't either one have the time to see each other as often as you'd like, can do for the soul.

And it's amazing how quickly that boost can be brought down by sad news, stress, grief, & other people.

So today's Friday Favorites yet again comes back to the little things in life. I'm thankful for the many friendships that stay true despite the distance or time between check-ins. I'm thankful for all that I glean from these friendships & the motivation to continue with my head up, heart out, & moving to the beat.

Each day's beat is different & each day's beat finds my head & heart in new places. It's all interconnected & it's all a bit cray cray & it's all Life, Spirit, & Sparkle.

I lift my mango-pineapple pick-me-up smoothie to your Friday Favorites!

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!

Tuesday Tea Time!

What a lovely photo! Credit given to Austea for sharing their products in clever ways.

Tuesday Tea Time & I'm wishing I had some of this loose leaf tea. Maybe not this loose leaf tea, but loose leaf tea in general.

I'm exploring where/who to buy loose leaf tea from & the benefits of loose leaf tea versus bagged tea.

I bought myself a small sample of loose leaf tea while on vacation the other week & while I find it just as refreshing as most bagged teas, it is quite messy.

I'm really good at making a mess & not very good with the mess.

I even dried my tea leaves out over night so that I could use them a second time. While I'm not sure I would make a constant habit of this, it was simply refreshing the next day. Often I will reuse my tea bags for a second go, but I never dry it out again. Does anybody know the importance of drying the tea leaves out in between uses?

May this #heartfind encourage the continued exploration & love of Tuesday Tea Time!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: Good is sharing a piece of sunshine - literally or figuratively - with one another. This past week this sunshine was shared with me - & hopefully therefore with others - through the many encounters with others. I heard or read more than once in the past week that seeing another person & living with them is seeing & living with God. This makes perfect sense to me as I have been continually returning to Genesis 1:27 recently. Come, Holy Spirit, come. All in all this past week was a good mix of my many commitments to ministry leadership. There is much excitement in the air for things yet to come!

BAD: The drive of consumerism for more, more, more. With recent cell phone hiccups & a spouse who still owns an old flip phone (gasp!) the workers at the store jump on us like hawks on prey. Seriously people, a phone that makes calls & texts is the basic desire we have. We don't need all your special plans to be able to recycle these phones that much faster when you're companies are already charging an arm & a leg. With as many people that are only using cell phones now & doing away with land lines, I truly think it would only be right if cell phone companies made phones to last more than two years. We don't buy land line phones thinking they'll only last two years so why would we want a cell phone that does that? Good grief!

AWESOME: Julia Child was once quoted for saying, "People who love to eat are always the best people." I'm SO glad to report that according to Julia I am ONE of the best people. Now let's be real, there are hundreds of us who are the best people. This past week though, I hit a wall with appetite & creativity to make new meals. That creativity is stirring making new ideas & new inspiration though already. All I needed was a trip to the produce section at Meijer! Grapefruit Goodness!

WORD: I'm given the opportunity to preach in a couple of weeks, but we have some fun adventures in between so I'm starting to sit with the passages for the week of February 8th. Aside from that, look up at the "GOOD" of today to see a little more!

coming up: Hopefully a continued nice mix of a little work with this call & a little work with that call. It's all about balance! Head up, Heart out, Move to the beat!

Friday Favorites!

Hello Friday evening Favorites!

Today was the first day back in the office since Monday & I started a praise journal in a gift from my consecration to write 5 praises a day on work days. This is a practice that Life Coach DT challenged my group with when I took her e-course over a year ago. It is amazing how this changes one outlook on life. Seriously, just being in the office made me happier today. Set aside that I had felt a little cabin-fever the last couple of days being at home!

This year my new One Word 365 is HEART! I'm sorta excited about this word because it connects to so many pieces of life, but especially with my life long best friend as she has seen SO many hearts since her Grandy's death.

I chose the word HEART not only because of the love many of us had for Grandy, but because it seemed like a healthy (OneWord365 2014) challenge to stretch my heart & mind around where my heart is in each day & how my heart is being used & how it is being shared & how it is being affected. In the world of chakras I most often think/speak/act through my throat & my heart third with my navel in second. I act out of voice & gut. So this is a challenge to continue my holistically healthy approach to life to be in tune with heart.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday evening tea today!

While I woke up over a week ago & decided I was done burning my candle at both ends the actual doing so is another thing to figure out.

Why do we over busy ourselves?

Part of me says it is to escape some things & the other part of me says it is to run towards things like being in community.

Just the other day I had a convo with an introverted friend about how easy it is to stay inside & not get involved in public, but then at the same time how much energy even an introvert is given by having to go out in public for work or just for a grocery run. In all fairness, even I - an extreme extrovert - said it was easy to convince oneself to stay inside. So it works both ways.

If we're running from something the chance is it is something that we don't want to discuss or have to think about. So we find home in other places & people.

We find home where our heart is & busy ourselves in these places.