Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: This last week was FULL with good! It started out with a lovely mother's day & getting to chat with both Ma P & Ma N. A few days of work at home & catch up with a good seminary friend. Plus a brief & surprising quick video chat with Z's & my friend (yes, I'm learning to share) AJO & a phone convo with my "soul mate" JMDT. We finished our week by sending our furbaby to "camp" for a few days while we took another trip, this time work related. At the assembly we got to catch up with many colleagues & friends & meet many more. It was a busy & full few days that still has my my mind moving rather quickly. We completed our trip to the Detroit area with a quick trip to Ikea for a few small things & of course came away with more than what was on our list. And of course came away with picture frames that are too small for what we wanted to use them for. I fully accept the challenge to be creative with these frames!

BAD: Living too far away to make it to everything celebratory for those you love. In the midst of many long time planned travels it's next to impossible to make to all the other things that pop up.

AWESOME: Knowing & acknowledging the wonderful people in life that are doing really great things in the world. Just yesterday Patricia Lull was elected the new ELCA St. Paul Area Synod bishop. You can read more about it here. Patricia was the Dean of Students when I started my seminary career & while our time at Luther Seminary only overlapped by a few months, she has continued to be a role model of a woman in ministry for my life in ministry leadership. I wish her all the best in this new call & may God grant her many blessings & grace as she learns her way as a bishop.

WORD: SO much scripture & I'm working on a Bible study. One of these days I will finish the two fun books I'm reading. I've got a few news people I want to look into too. Oh the options!

coming up: Another trip! Yep, that's right, we're on the go. This coming week we will celebrate with both of our families for two great occassions & then we will celebrate my birthday with some of my closest friends from Capital University!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Credit given to SuperStock

It's Tuesday Tea Time & I hope you're still going strong from the the rejuvenation of the weekend. Ok, let's be real, not all of us had a rejuvenating weekend or even much of a weekend, but none the less, I hope there's time for Tea on Tuesday!

So far today I drug myself out of a groggy state that a rainy night & morning seems to always leave me in & have started laundry & made a mental list of the things that I absolutely do not want to skip over today. Obviously one of those things is Tuesday Tea Time!

In the midst of that I spent easily a half hour, if not more, waiting for my tea to cool down so I could drink it. I don't know how coffee drinkers do it! It seems that they always drink their coffee before tea drinkers. Part of this cool down process has to do with the mug I'm using. It is very well insulated, but it also has to do with the fact that I almost always drink black tea in the morning. According to my electric tea kettle, the temperature for black tea water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

The struggle is when you need that zing of a bit of caffeine to pull you fully out of the state of grog, but have to be to work or class or whatever before you're able to put the jolt into your system. Yes, I realize this is a mental thing & maybe a touch of addiction. There are other things we can do to help with this state of grog. In fact I often do a bit of yoga each morning.

So much of life it seems we wait. We wait as little kids to be older kids. We wait at doctors' offices & stop lights. We wait for the end of the school year & warmer weather. We wait for our dream job. We wait for that e-mail or possibly even that letter in the mail from that special someone that simply warms your heart & makes your day because they're thinking about you. We wait for birth & we wait for death. We wait.

Today as you wait, for your tea, the end of the work or school day, the sun to come out, the voice of God to scream clarity into your life, the love of your life to notice you, your motivation to show it's face again, that still small voice to be heard, for somebody else to sort your laundry, or that phone call that you can't miss, know that you're never waiting alone. EVER! We all wait together even when it's for different pieces of life.

Together we wait. Remember to use sunscreen, drink lots of water (& tea), breath deep, & smile.

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Awesome!

GOOD: This past week started out with a trip to hoosierland where Z caught up with colleagues also in their first call of full time rostered ministry & I spent a few days visiting my parents & by chance a few other family members as well. I got to meet my cousin's wife & daughter for the first time ever & see my cousin himself for the first time in something like 11 years. It was also a true blessing to be able to spend some time with my Gma Dixie that wasn't totally occupied by a family wedding. We made our way back to the great North mid-week to throw ourselves into attempts to do some more work & get back to our regular grind. However, the nice weather is a bit of a welcomed distraction, so we're pacing ourselves. This mother's day I contribute my love for Disney & travel to my mom & give her a virtual boat that she can take any time she wants (you had to be with us to understand, sorry).

BAD: Knowing the prayers that are being said for the girls in  Nigeria that have been kidnapped to be rescued & not knowing what, if anything, exactly is being done to rescue those girls is bad. Also, knowing that stories like Captain Phillips is not the only one & that people feel the necessity to kidnap & yell incessantly & use extreme violence for power is bad & ugly. Love wins, even if it is tough love.

AWESOME: Having a table & chairs for our deck that once belonged to my Mammaw & Pappaw. On their cement patio it was painted white & if I remember right (this is going back quite a few years like to my single digits) the cushions were clad in beautiful green & orange & yellow flowers. Now the table & chairs are black & my mom & dad had the cushions redone to be blue. I have thought about painting the chairs some fun brighter colors, but as my brother pointed it out, it would be hard to paint over the black without more steps than just painting them black again. Many great memories have been made sitting around this table, even from my pre-teen & teen years on my childhood front porch & now no doubt many more will be made in MI.

WORD: The scripture that I hung onto this week in my inbox was 1st Peter 2:13-17 & Z & I just read 1st Tim in the last two days only to most likely move on to 2nd Tim tomorrow. And naturally I'm still reading my leisure books as well.

coming up: Lots of prep for Summer jobs & another conference, this time not that far away or for that long.

Friday Favorites!

This little furball is my favorite. She is full of p&v & keeps our hearts growing & our feet moving.

Tuesday Tea Time!!!

Tuesday Tea Time is here! So crazy to know a week ago Z & I were finishing our trip in Paris with a visit to the Eiffel Tower, rickshaw music taxi to Arc de Triomphe, & a walk down Champs-Élysées to see all the fancy Parisian stores & glance in a few like the Disney Store & Kusmi Tea. May I just say that Kusmi Detox tea is delightfully fruity. However I did not purchase any because we also stopped at the river vendors for a few different gifts for ourselves & others on our way back to the hotel.

There are pieces of our lives that just fit our very beings. For me one of those pieces is travel. Traveling, especially outside of my home country, awakens my curiosity & pure love for the human race. About five years ago I had just returned from four months in SE Asia & was processing my love for my home town & country as well as my new joy of life in SE Asia. This recent trip to Paris was the first international trip I had taken in a while that was for pure pleasure & not work related. No matter the reason for the trip though travel is travel for me.

This has me dreaming about what sorta of call to ministry leadership I may have in the future. This may be something that develops in the next year or maybe in the next several years. One thing I know is that travel is so much a piece of my being that brings joy, adventure, & growth into my world that as life morphs I don't want anything to stop me from embracing travel in all its varieties. It's even more of a sparkle in my being when I find good tea to enjoy.

Whatever your sparkle pieces of your being may be, may they be for the good of your neighbors & yourself & may they regularly fill your soul with fresh air & pure joy.

**apologies for the funky alignment of this post! Technology.

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

 GOOD: This past week started with a day trip to the beaches of Normandy, France. Yes, that's right where D-Day happened. Nothing like throwing in a piece of somber reality with all the joy that comes with traveling. Our travels were great & we've thoroughly caught up on sleep & recovered from any jet-lag we may have been experiencing. It was unique to take a trip that was mid-week to mid-week because it seemed like the number of tourists greatly increased at the beginning of the end of our trip. We waited in a moving line to get into Notre Dame & then opted out of climbing the 400 & some stairs up the towers due to the fact that we had already climbed 300 & some stairs to the dome at Sacre Cœur that morning & there was quite a long wait at Notre Dame. In between Sacre Cœur & Notre Dame we visited the Center Pompidou where we saw a non-moving really really long line that we never did figure out what it was for because we walked around the other side of the building & walked right in. It helped that we had already bought our tickets for here before leaving the states. The thing we realized is that at many of the iconic sites you can go up in either a tower or a dome. Yes, the city is magnificent, but it's the same views from slightly different heights & different points in the city. The good that I think this trip did for both Z & I is that it awakened our spirits of adventure & travel & thinking outside our comfort zones of only speaking one language & knowing exactly what we were ordering for food or drink. Here in the picture you see Zack's café crème which he ordered at some point almost every day. Too bad I don't really like coffee because the tea options were limited. I did enjoy a nice chocolat chaud at least once though & daily enjoyed a glass or two of vin rouge or rosé. 

BAD: A dear friend passed away while we were gone. His death was not unexpected, but after living with colon cancer since 2009 one begins to think that he would just live that way for many years to come. Mikey was charismatic & vulnerably truthful about life which made him openly true friends with people he maybe never even really considered more than acquaintances. My prayers for God's peace are said often to fill the lives of his wife K, son N, sister C (all my friends as well) & their families. Upon returning we realized we needed to check in with one or two ailing people in our lives & I listened to Z essentially say g'bye to a good friend, colleague & mentor of his on the phone. 

AWESOME: The promise that I believe in that Easter brings. Plus, let's be real, I spent most of this past week exploring Paris, France. I got to go up the Eiffel Tower & enjoy champagne with my best friend. AND we came home to a very wet MI, but there is no snow left!

WORD: 1 Peter 1:13-16. Breathing this in a little bit each day. Plus still working on 'The Help' & started reading 'The Color of Tea.'

coming up: A trip to hoosierland & a visit with Gma Dixie! Some work & prep for the Summer & being reunited with my Horton (my big gray Mazda).

Friday Favorites x2!

Just in case you aren't aware of the wonderfulness of the Lusty Month of May sung by the one & ony Julie Andrews.

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday & I think it's Monday! Nothing like a little jet lag to thoroughly throw off your days.

There's so many great memories from this past week that it's too much to share. Naturally there's some sad with the happy & glum with the glam.

BUT my FAVORITE thing of this week is.....

MAY!

Yesterday while in total recovery from jet lag & sorting out small pieces of life I had a most joyous moment - you know the ones where you realize something so exciting that you gasp for air - that it is in fact the month of May.

May has always been a good month & over the years it has built in reason. It's always celebratory. Spring is here, snow may still appear, but it melts almost as quick as it comes. School years are ending around the country & Summer time is nearby. Graduations are happening & new adventures are starting. And yes, it's my birthday month. Plus it means I can sing "It's May! It's May! The Lusty Month of May" from Camelot while dancing around my house & it's true!

Tuesday Tea Time!

It's a great day for Paris tea from Harney & Sons. Happy Earth Day! Do something Earth friendly today.

Sunday Snippits: Good, Bad, & Awesome!

Credit given to Wallcoo.net

Happy Easter! Jesus Christ is Risen Today! Alleluia!

GOOD: This is my favorite holiday of the year by far. There's not the stress of buying just the right gifts for everybody or the money that it takes to buy those gifts. There simply the celebration of our savior Jesus who overcame death so that all people may have life. Plus like most holidays, there's almost certain to be good food to be enjoyed with good company. This past week went by fast as Z & I helped lead & partake in different Holy Week festivities. In the midst of Holy Week we started our prep for the month of May. The next month is going to be one fun even after the next & it's so great to start it out with my favorite holiday! 

BAD: The theme of death is still quite strong. My friend Mike finally entered life eternal with Jesus yesterday morning. My friend Mikey is fighting for his life right now as he has been living with colon cancer for the last 5 years. Mikey asked me if we could have a 1x1 before he left his year of ministry with YE (my 2nd year & we were both on international teams) so that he could ask me how I knew I had cancer when I was 7. The questions he was asking, I knew that he knew he had cancer, but the doctors from 3 different countries had yet to find it in his body. *sigh*

AWESOME: The many people that lift me & others up in life & help me to lift you & others up in life. You are awesome. Here this & believe it. Say it to yourself a few times, in the mirror. Believe that you are worthy & capable of good, because you are. And to top of the topic of 'awesome' what's more awesome than the story of Jesus' life & death & resurrection. No matter if you believe this to be salvation for all people or not, it's still a ridiculous mysterious wonderful story.

WORD: Life's been heavily doused in the Gospel this week. It's a little new & different each time.

coming up: VACATION! Blog posts for the next little while may only be photos or not at all. Sorry folks, but that's the way it is. Gotta unplug every now & again.

Friday Favorite!

 Happy Good Friday! Today is not just any Friday for thousands of people around the world. It is Good Friday. A day that Christians come together in a solemn service to acknowledge the sacrifice of God's son Jesus for ALL of humanity.

Take that in. Believe it if you can.

On this Good Friday I will attend worship later this evening & be as productive as I can be in the mean time.

Yesterday our mail delivery person rang the doorbell in the midst of a little afternoon cleaning. My hands were clad in beautiful yellow rubber gloves that are slightly too big for me & soaked in dirty dish water. Thankfully Z was home & so he was able to answer the door in the midst of his drying of the dishes. When the mail deliverer rings the doorbell it usually means something fun has come that's too big to be put in our mail box.

This week that surprise was an Easter "basket" from Ma & Pa N. Since we were in the middle of dishes we decided to set the box aside & finish that part of our chores before opening the mail. When we were done we went to open the box & other envelopes only to find our little fur baby perched on top of the box in the chair. Sadly for Michi there was nothing specific for her in the box, but she did snatch a crumb or two from Z's cookies he was enjoying. 

May this Good Friday be a day of reflection & a day of waiting for the known Surprise that comes Sunday morning.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Happy Tuesday Tea Time! The last two days have been great for many cups of warm tea due to this never ending snow.

A week from now Z & I will be on our way to adventures in Paris. Excitement & thrill do not even begin to describe how happy travel & adventure make me. It's a major bonus to be able to take this trip with my best friend.

Nearing another year of life celebration, I am often taken aback by the people that I'm connected to in life. Today I was reminded by my colleague & friend TS that people other than my mother & mother-in-law really do read my blog. This is a good thing & a humbling thing.

I write as part of my daily goal of being creative. I write to inspire joy & love. Last year, totally ready to be done with another degree, I spun my words for my thesis in a poetic & creative writing sort of way. While I love education in all its forms, I do not do the "heady professor" talk well. Instead I exude a lot of energy & excitement around certain topics & overwhelm people. I have a lot to share, just ask me!

Why should it be a surprise that others read my blog? Well, for example, TS & I don't really know each other. We were at seminary at the same time & have mutual friends, but have only ever been in the same social setting maybe two or three times. Maybe I should listen to my own words from last week & not judge myself for the impact that I have on people or the impact they may have on me. Take a risk!

Sometime in my 20s I realized how relationships truly come & go in life. I knew this earlier in life, but had plenty of examples by my mid-20s. Thankfully social media allows me to stay ever more connected than most people think we need to be. However, here we are, sharing tea, & life & hopefully some spirit & sparkle!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome

Happy Sunday! I'm changing it up a bit. As my readers know, the ugly is often stuff we see in the news & something I struggle finding anything to share about. My heart doesn't stay in the ugly part of my days very easily. I've been conditioned to do otherwise & I'm not gonna fight that. So this past week while watching some sort of television show - if only I could remember which one! - I saw a segment on the 'good, bad, & awesome.' I knew in that moment that needed be something I tried with my Sunday Snippits, so here we go!

GOOD: The little ways those we love say hello. My bff, BGEG, has seen hearts popping up all over her life ever sense her Grandy passed away nearly 2 years ago. I was eating lunch the other day only to look at the core of my apple & see a heart. I thought to myself, "Why hello Grandy Mary & whoever else you have with you!" I say whoever else because death has been very prominent this year already & definitely in my life time of those I love. This heart was definitely unexpected & while the picture doesn't show it well, I especially loved that the apple seeds - which I enjoy eating - filled the heart. My good friend JMC convinced me some 4 or so years ago that it was okay to eat this part of the apple too. So hello to JMC in NJ! Yes, the little hellos come from the living & the dead. Call me crazy, but I believe in a God that gives eternal life & these hellos are one way God is working in the world.

BAD: Did I mention death? Yeah, I can't express enough how important it means to be in community & to be constantly reaching out to each other as part of community & sharing love with one another. We fall short of doing this for everybody & maybe even feel that others fall short of doing this for us, but try & try again is all I can impress here. On another note, our fur baby doesn't like the grass & seeks out the ever shrinking piles of snow to use the bathroom. However, even this doesn't convince her to always use the restroom outside. We we try & try again. Sigh.

AWESOME: I So much like ending on a good note! Going along with the little hellos & the apple heart, I read this week that people, Drew Barrymore in particular, also looks for hearts in her day-to-day life to simply see the love in the world. She even compiled enough materials to create a book titled Find It In Everything.

WORD: This is Holy Week for those who practice Christian traditions. That means this week we walk with Jesus in his last days on earth as a human & celebrate his resurrection as all peoples' salvation on Easter Sunday. This week, Christian believer or not, I encourage you to find an experience to take part in around Holy Week. There's worship services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, & depending on where you live possibly something special on Saturday & a multitude of celebrations on Easter Sunday.

coming up: This & that, those are my days right now. Enjoying Netflix, reading a piece of daily scripture, doing yoga, blogging, keeping the laundry done, & practicing my basic French. This week I will also toss in a little Bible Study prep for working at camp this summer.

One Word 365: Healthy

So I've tried to do a bit of weaving in my healthy updates with my regular blog postings, but today deserves its own post.

Spring is finally showing its damp & sunny self! This is very good for the soul after a long cold snowy snowy winter. However, my soul is a mixture of emotions & feelings right now.

This particular season of Lent has been heavy on the side of death. End of life, no matter the age, is hard to grasp for those of us left living. This week marked the 5th person in a circle of my life who died. He was just a year behind me in school & his sister a year ahead. We were all friends through church & living in a small town. I can't quite put my mind around the pain his family is living with right now, but my heart is heavy & sad for them & his friends. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them whenever you have the chance & I hope you take this chance weekly if not daily.

Then there's the pieces of light & happiness & hope. Today I enjoyed tea with two of TE's daughter's & friends. The best part was watching TO (TE's daughter) lead a cute Pinterest art project with her not quite one year old daughter. She painted little CO's feet to press onto the pallet for flower leaves & her hands for petals. Her best friend since first grade was there too & lead the project with her little one who's 2 years old. It was just a sweet piece of my day that I'm thankful for. I also am thankful for the random phone convos with family members & my life long friends as of late. Oh & the joy of hosting, I really love sharing the simple peaces of hospitality with others. Plus hosting a small group from church meant a good reason to make a batch of my favorite chewie cookies & this time (only the second time I've tried making them) they were a success! *The first time they were a bit like eating a cookie brick*

And some of the hope comes from conversations around upcoming jobs. I love working in ministry specifically focused on senior high youth & older. This Summer I get to hone in on my passion & test my skills with Bible studies & the many adventures of being at camp. Yes I'll miss my husband & puppy while I'm gone, but what am I if not my own person?

Physically, the healthy word has not been paired with good things around here lately. There's been head & chest colds & stomach viruses & back problems. All this I stick out my tongue to, do yoga, meditate in the Word, & pray.

and the healthiest thing I've done as of late is remembered to take many a deep breaths throughout each day to acknowledge the life that I am given & the life that I am living & all that I am capable of thanks be to God.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Welcome to Tuesday Tea Time!

See this honey pot? Isn't it cute? I received it as a gift for Christmas along with another honey pot that appeared to to be more stable & would definitely hold more honey. SO I chose to keep this cute decorative honey pot as part of my Spring decorations & use the seemingly more stable one for my daily honey.

Well the other honey pot proved to be weaker than the honey that broke the honey wand off the lid it was attached to. It still works & I still use it, but it definitely isn't kid or accident prone friendly.

And there on my little kitchen shelf, next to my sink, sits my cute bumblebee honey pot.

How often do we miss-judge something or someone & miss out on life with it? I'm still enjoying both honey pots, but to be totally honest, I rarely look at the shelf (partially because it's above my line of vision) & therefore do not enjoy this kitschy gift. No, we can't truly take it all in, but I encourage us all to choose the one that seems less pretty or less trusty & see what adventure awaits you. But don't get yourself in trouble either!

I just refilled my "other" honey pot this morning & am enjoying some sweet peach tea. Enjoy your tea time no matter the time of day!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & ugly

Credit given to Ashley Dellagiacoma

GOOD: This past week was a low key week. As usual I had no problem keeping myself busy, but I did have to be creative with what I did to fill my time on certain days. I enjoyed allowing myself time to network & prep for some work related things as well as catch up with a few good friends. Thursday Z & I took Michi to puppy care with CH & headed away for the day. Our big adventure was honestly simply because we had bought an Up North Live coupon & needed to use it before it expired. Check out Friday Favorites to learn about my highlight from that trip. The other silly fun part is we purchased a new vacuum (Shark Rocket). It works wonderfully & is very light weight & versatile. Friday afternoon in the mix of snow, ice, & rain I enjoyed lunch with my friend AVP at Indo China Gardens. The heat of spice was a good warm me up!

BAD: Winter weather is slowly fading away, but that means allergies & sickness are rampant. Yes, there has still been stuff in the JZ Parsonage. Also, there seems to be quite a few people in my life that are at or near the end of life. This reminds me to breath deep & enjoy the air around me.

UGLY: There's a lot that could go here, but it's all in the news.

WORD: Check out Anne Lamott on FB or elsewhere, she's poetic & real which I find refreshing.

coming up: The usual networking, work, cleaning, socializing, & drinking tea while the slushy icy snow stuff reveals the grass underneath.

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday! Thursdays I try to stay off of computers & phone because it's Z's day off & so I treat it as my day off. (But if SFC is reading this, I didn't ignore your call, I genuinely believe we are in a game of phone tag!)

This week appears to be a week of little photography. Honestly I generally review my Facebook newsfeed to pick my Friday Favorites. Today nothing caught my eye that wouldn't have been too repetitive.

So today I searched on Google one of the places we visited on our day off yesterday. This picture is an aerial view of the former state hospital in Traverse City now known as The Village. In attempt to preserve the buildings, the city has refurbished the different floors for boutiques, restaurants, law offices, yoga studios, condos, vacation rentals, & more.

As somebody who loves to see historical places being put to use today & thriving in community, this was quite the little piece of adventure in my week.

Now who wants to looks into renting a space for a few days of vacation with me?!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Credit given to UnripeHamadryad

It's Tuesday Tea Time!

While I definitely have other tea lovers in my life, it seems the coffee lovers outnumber the tea lovers. Some of these people are people who don't care how they get their kick of caffeine & will go with either tea or coffee. However, I think some of the people in my life just like the idea of tea, but regularly go for coffee when given a choice.

I am thankful for this variety in my life. Without these two preferences there wouldn't be the crazy fun drinks that mix both tea & coffee that I've only ever found in the random quaint corner local coffee shops.

This mixture of tea & coffee preferences also brings us the joy of people in our lives that own a lot of the beverage they don't drink to be hospitable to people who do drink that beverage when they visit. The problem with this is both tea & coffee go stale when not stored properly or used regularly. And the problem for tea lovers is that coffee not only stains mugs & thermoses in color, but also with it's bitter flavor that most teas cannot mask.

I as an avid tea drinker, use to buy coffee to have for when visitors came, but did not know what sort of coffee to keep around that my visitors would actually want to drink. Lucky for my coffee friends Z is an avid coffee drinker & keeps a good supply of the real stuff. (But if you want a real education on the quality of coffee ask our friend PMc)

The cute thing about this piece of art is the quaint tea cup & the hearty coffee mug. I may decorate with tea cups, but I rarely drink out of them. I'm a true child of the 80s & 90s & a citizen of the USA & I want my tea in abundance (& I want it now!).

All that said, no matter which you prefer, you are always considered my cup of tea.

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & ugly

GOOD: This past week was a good week to watch movies & do some house work & catch up on a few other things. I started the week with Zumba class on Sunday afternoon & then went into recovery mode for my head cold. Let me tell ya, intense physical exertion with a severe soar throat is not a good idea! My favorite movie that Z & I watched was Miss Potter about the life of Beatrix Potter. It is one of those movies I remember seeing advertised possibly before it came out & I couldn't believe that it came out in 2006. Renting mainly from a Redbox in the last couple of years has greatly changed the availability of what we rented. Now living in a town with a Family Video & no Redbox, there's a different variety of movies to rent. There's also something nostalgic of actually going into a video store & browsing for the right movie for that day. The other exciting peace of my week is taking on more work that will use my skill sets & allow me to work out of my strengths. More about that to come later!

BAD: Feeling cooped up so much of the time. Lucky for our fur ball, it has been warm enough to take her on several walks lately. Not so lucky for her is that she usually needs rinsed off afterwords from all the mud & dirt that has flung up on her underbelly. These pictures are the state of our back patio & yard to date. This was yesterday evening. I'd been wanting to walk out into the huge snow drift for quite some time & Z hit a point that he wanted to try & shovel it. Well, as you can see it is SO solid that I'm as tall as the house standing on the drift. We may need a heat lamp at this point to use our patio any time soon.

UGLY: All the back & forth about World Vision & their hiring policy. They made a well thought & I'm assuming prayed out written decision that upset the fruit basket & quickly took it all back. Talk about whiplash! Then there was something going on with Hobby Lobby, but I'll be honest, I was so tired of all the controversy over World Vision & things going on around the world that are less than uplifting that I didn't even read up on any of the Hobby Lobby information.

WORD: Today I suggest reading The God Article

coming up: Hunkering down & figuring out the details of some my new work. Reading b/c I'm slow at reading stories that I already know & want to finish The Help before our Paris trip. And getting outside as much as possible because while it doesn't totally look like it, Spring is here!

Friday Favorites!

Over the course of many months Fridays have become my Tuesday. Yes, I say Tuesday because they're not quite as hectic as Mondays, but they're definitely the start of something new since Z & I try to take Thursdays off. Though we just admitted this morning that we haven't been very good at truly taking a day "off." 

Yesterday wasn't much of a day off at all in lieu of household sickness. There was much cleaning & sanitizing to be done so that we didn't become more sick off of one another's ailments.

So I say thank you for the little things this week that have given us strength when physically it hasn't been a super strong week.

My BGEG sent this pretty pink card to say thank you & while it had such a heart felt message  inside, it reminded me to be thankful in return. BGEG recently ended her time working in retail book sales. My oh my did I learn through her stress how important it is to say "Thank You" as often as possible. It not only is a sign of gratitude for sharing life & talents together, but it is a sign of acknowledging each other's humanity & feeding each other souls in a very necessary survival sort of way.

Today, remember to mind your P's & Q's & remember to say Thank You to those who serve you in even the tiniest of ways.

Thank you for being you & sharing life, spirit, & sparkle!

 

Tuesday Tea Time!

It's the best time of the week & to be honest I'm on round two of my echinacea tea bag for the morning. Z started very early this morning with a full day ahead & of course our fur-baby thought she needed to get up as well. Little does she know is just because she wanted her morning routine about 90min early does not mean she'll get her evening meal 90min early. Good thing my only plans outside the house today involve buying more tissues & this time I'm splurging on Kleenex brand with lotion in them. I'm the champion of finishing off 3 boxes of tissues in less than the last 24 hours!

Naturally with this bit of a head cold I was feeling sorry for myself & a craving that I've had for quite some time - seriously a couple of months at least - needed to be calmed. When you're having a craving for something that you try to ignore, does it ever truly go away? Maybe the craving itself does, but the thought that you like that thing you're craving does not. Which overall makes me think that the craving doesn't actually go away.

So on a whim, last night, Z was at a meeting & I decided to make chocolate chip cookies to have when he came home. Let's call it a whim, since I don't really like baking. All I wanted was the dough, but I knew it'd be more fun to share, so I baked the cookies. I even cut the recipe in half so that I didn't end up with the supposed 5 dozen cookies a full recipe would've made. It's all about moderation, right? Since I baked the cookies, I ate way less dough & gave some cookies away!

Now my craving for cookie dough has been calmed & happiness has been shared & Tuesday Tea Time is a touch sweeter!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & ugly

GOOD: I'm always thankful for sunshine when I travel, especially when I travel long distances by myself. So that was a good start to the week. One big theme of the week was food. Oh how I love food! Momma P had sent me back to MI with the goods to make corned beef grilled cheese sandwhiches & left over Irish car bomb cupcakes for St. Paddy's Day. While still recovering from that goodness we made homemade turkey burgers with a few modifications to what's listed in the recipe. Then on Friday we made homemade pizza from a dough & sauce recipe that was gifted to us for one of our wedding showers & never been used. Thank you MTB & the rest of the Tornero family for passing on the goodness! Saturday was a relaxing day with a bit of cleaning, an adventure to the local coffee shop just to get out of the house - even if it's still quite chilly - & some planning for our upcoming trip to Paris. The bonus pieces of the week were chats through G-chat, Skype, phone & attempts at FaceTime with college friends, seminary friends, & family.

BAD: The reality that people have to debate how to react to the death of a church leader who hurt a lot of people. Death is death, it's the end of a person's life & no matter the good or bad that person caused we need to honor that a life is not in our world any longer, but another. For all the articles that have said to not cheer for death of a hurtful person, the people have already cheered simply by wondering if it is okay to do so. Do what you need to take care of yourself.

UGLY: Today my ugly is the cold, but all you have to do see ugly is turn on the news channel or go to check it out online. There is bound to be something about war or hunger or devastation.

WORD: Psalm 128 - "Happy is everyone who fears the Lord." Discuss!

coming up: Singing random songs about the dog, hopefully warmer temps again, snow melting, dancing, & more time getting to know the community in which we live.

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!

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!

Sunday Snippits:

Happy Sunday!

This past week is good, bad, & ugly - as usual. Life is an adventure!

GOOD: The week started with some slightly warmer temps & March is definitely proving to be more sun shine filled than February. Tuesday was a sad & joyful celebration of TE's life. Wednesday was busy preparing to drive to hoosierland for the weekend. While in hoosierland I was spoiled by my family & friends. I enjoyed surprising my life long best friend , BGEG, at the local coffee shop as she & family were carrying in her artwork to set up her show. The baby gender revealing party KZ-S & momma & papa E held was a delight to be at. The revealing came through popping balloons with confetti the "gender appropriate color" inside. It's a girl! Then today I learned another childhood good friend is also having a baby girl. 2014 truly is the year of many babies from my peers. And let me not forget getting to worship with my brother's "praise band" & then go back to a St. Patty's day celebration with family & close friends.

BAD: The further North I drove today the deeper the snow got. While I was gone it rained & snowed. Ah the life of living in the Great North! I'm too tired from travel to remember much of anything else right now.

UGLY: In lieu of the fact that we are currently watching 12 Years a Slave. Modern day slavery & discrimination. While the movie is based on a true story that is over 100 years old, the hatred for people who are different that oneself & a ridiculous sense of entitlement is all too common.

WORD: Last night I heard a version of the story of Paul on the road to Damascus like I've never heard. One thing that struck me was that Paul was never actually mentioned. While the speaker started with a focus on washing the mud from our eyes he turned the focus into shaving & the fact that "Jesus shaves & saves" & we need to put on the "aftershave of life." Yup!

coming up: Prepping for a few different job things, dancing, singing, enjoying the sunshine!

Friday Favorites!

This week was full of adventure, sad & happy. Today I share with you my best friend BGEG & her hubby setting up her artwork at the Kenapocomocha in our childhood home town. I drove South yesterday to surprise them for the weekend as we will be celebrating together learning the sex of their baby at a gender revealing party put together by her sister & mom. 

Surprises, fresh art, & good lunch convo make for a pretty good Friday Favorites in my book. But I don't want to forget, BGEG got her blog up & running & you can find it at brittagene.com. Her artwork is day dreams & soaring imagination in color! Be sure to stop by her blog or even the 'Mocha to admire & purchase her work.

Just for a taste 'cause it's so bright & brings a smile to my face to know BGEG is doing what she loves:

Tuesday Tea Time!

Welcome to Tuesday Tea Time with my friend's God-daughter & friends!

LBG shared this photo after a stressful week of her last semester of seminary & I loved the joy it brought her. It's got some great friends in it too. I mean, how many people often have tea with Barney the purple dinosaur & Snoopy? I think Curious George might be there too!

So in lieu of today being the funeral of my friend TE & the stressful week that LBG was having last week, I share the little things that bring us joy & hope that there will be abundant smiles in our future.

Today I find joy in the puddles from yesterday. While these puddles may be seen as messy, they are a beautiful mess. They are a sign of a long hard Winter. They are a symbol of the variety in creation that God brings us each year. They are a sign of being washed clean for the coming Summer months when we'll think it's too dry & hot.

And of course there's joy in this tea time, remembering the times with TE, & the shared tea time with LBG & her God-daughter.

May tea time bring you a daily dose of joy!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & ugly!

Sunday Snippits!

GOOD: Winter is ending nicely. I know that doesn't mean there won't be more snow, in fact there's likely more to come this evening, but the temperatures are finally starting to warm up a bit. Facebook was filled with plenty of uplifting pieces of art & funnies this past week. Ash Wednesday went off without a hitch & with many #ashtag(s). While the #ashtag is ridiculously nerdy, it is also a pretty great way of sharing one's faith in Jesus & outwardly acknowledging our human fate of being made from dust & returning to dust. Reading this article brings me hope of change in the church for expanding the kingdom of God. Friday night we had fun with friends at a new restaurant in a neighboring town & Z tried frog legs for the first time (& prolly his last). AND to top of these good things our passports have been renewed & we have booked our first trip out of the country for next month! While we have been numerous places before ever knowing one another existed, we have not been on any over the ocean trips together.

BAD: While Ash Wednesday reminds us that from dust we came & to dust we will return, this week makes that far to real for my liking. The death of a dear friend (TE) to the most aggressive form of breast cancer (IBC), an accidental dose of chemo to my uncle who's living with PICK's disease & small cell lung cancer - it helped him breath better even though they weren't doing chemo, & the death of my best friend's (AJO) Grandma.

UGLY: The continuing war throughout the world. The crazy highs & lows that are a part of grief. The unknown.

WORD: So Z & I have been doing different devotions lately. I've been regularly doing the AM & PM devo that's part of the 'devotion' app on my phone. Occassionally we do those together, but we've also been doing the Luther Seminary Lenten Devotional. In Zumba today I shared Psalm 127 because I thought it was the Psalm I read the other day (it wasn't) through one of these devos that I just didn't connect with on that day in lieu of the grief I've been dealing with.

coming up: A funeral on Tuesday, some camp prep, some Zumba work, & as always some adventure!

Friday Favorites AND One Word 365 Update!

I share Friday Favorites with a heavy heart today. Today we are figuring out how to celebrate the life of our friend TE. I blogged about tea with TE back in November (celebrate her joy for life & people here). Sadly, yesterday afternoon TE's time on earth was ended & she fully joined God in heaven. Her mantra through all of her treatments & adventure with cancer was "God in, Cancer out!"

While it's not what anybody wanted, God is in & cancer is out. This picture that reads "With Brave Wings She Flies" is TE's current profile picture on FB. Naturally people are sharing lovely memories of who they knew TE to be.

I wrote in my November Friday Favorite that she is my inspiration. Even in her passing into a life that is whole with the Spirit staring her in the face, she continues to inspire.

And "with brave wings, she flies."

Tuesday Tea Time!

Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

Last week we talked about the World Tea Expo & my love for travel & new things. Well 'new things' is a bit broad. Really it's my love for education. Yes, I, the girl who knew I'd go to college, but didn't know if I'd do the traditional 4 year plan & then for sure was not going on to do any sort of further education that required me to take the GRE. Well I found that master's program that spoke to my heart & my being that was not connected to the GRE & went to seminary to continue my studies in World Religions & be trained deeper in my Christian - more specifically Lutheran - roots as a leader for & with the Church in the World.

Being in between jobs right now after being in a specific education program most of my life is a unique place to be. So I thought to myself aside from dreaming about potential future trips to things like the World Tea Expo, that I should decide what I can learn more about right now. Being a blogger who writes something about what's going in life while drinking tea on Tuesdays, I was led to Tea 101 with the Republic of Tea.

The 6 day e-mail series is short & filled with quality information for a better cup of tea. While it is only 6 days & very nice that it's e-mail form so that you can come back to it whenever you want, I am no high class tea drinker. The one habit I don't want to break is having more than 6oz of water to make my tea. Thus I figure means steeping the tea leaves longer, but I did not see this information in the e-course.

Daydreaming is great, but doing something with those dreams is even better.

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & ugly

GOOD: These boots! Not only are they a quality brand with good support they were a surprise, on sale, & oh the wonderful colors! I can't get enough :-) This last Tuesday I finished my phoning job which was a bit of a relief to finally be done with the list of people to call. It was a blessing to be able to work with YE again though & to continue to promote the ministries that God has them offering. I seemed to have beat the crud that I was feeling at the beginning of last week & move into the middle of the week figuring out how to spend my time with more than enough to do & figure out about life. By the end of the week I found myself sending e-mails pulling me out of one job application process & pushing forward with another for a summer gig at Michi-Lu-Ca with ELCA Living Waters Ministries. I'm very excited to know what God has in store for both Z & I this Summer & the months following. I will be serving in the position of Senior High Camp Director.

BAD: The sleep we lost due to our worry of our poor Michi puppy licking her scar & wound from the clamp. Our puppy likes to lick, so thankfully we came up with a quick fix & knew where to find the onesie that our family used 3.5 years ago for our niece's birth announcement. Yes, she's still wearing it & still sleeping a lot, but also playful. Also bad, the constant surprise of how cold it remains to be. This is not just me who's been living around the 45th parallel for the last 7 years, this is everybody that lives above the Mason Dixon line. Bring on the mud season!

UGLY: Last Sunday Z & I watched Zero Dark Thirty & while fascinating. I wonder what that woman is up to now & where those children in the home ended up & how the soldiers are doing. SO much war going on in the world & in people's personal lives. Also, it's ugly that it is a surprise when certain states are able to pass laws in favor of all people being allowed to be married. I wish there wasn't a reason to doubt those laws passing.

WORD: I finally started reading The Help after how many years? I'm a bit behind after college & seminary. Plus I'm not a big reader. Aside from this though I've also been using the app called Devotion for a morning & evening moment in the word. It's free, definitely recommend it!

coming up: More recovery for Michi (she's doing great), prepping for Summer Work, Zumba, & planning a few trips here or there.

& now to enjoy the Oscars!

Friday Favorites or Saturday Surprise!

I started Friday Favorites on Friday, but here it is Saturday & that's how life rolls.

Yesterday was a day at home to stay out of the ridiculous cold weather that has been called the Polar Vortex. I'm tired of hearing it. It's cold, it's still Winter for a few more weeks. Yup.

I also was at home taking care of our Michi Gander as she is recovering from being spade on Thursday. So naturally I made a delicious meal for dinner that wasn't much fuss while she was snoozing & snoozing on the couch.

Recently I've been focusing on #makingthemiddlework as Kelly Barton says. Taking in life's little joys like opening the blinds to let the sunshine in & realizing how pretty a clove of garlic is. Creation makes me smile & yearn for good things in life.

And that's where life is rolling on this Saturday Surprise!

Where do you find yourself rolling today?

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.