November 17, 2016

things i love thursday

I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship, and strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than where we were before.
-Andy Griffith


Doing these lists every Thursday has made me realize how quickly the weeks go by. This will probably be the last post for a little while because life is about to get really busy. It's only Thursday, but this week has already sucked a lot out of me. Do you ever have those weeks? You just get a little bit more "in your head" and maybe a little overwhelmed and you find yourself ready for the weekend and a long nap where you don't have to think about anything. As Scarlett O'Hara would say, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about it tomorrow."


those friends again
Catching up with the ones who've moved away and kissing their babies and getting those sweet little hugs.

Hiking with the ones nearby and discussing life.

Staying up until 11pm eating chips and laughing at snapchat filters. It truly is the little things. 

ten of my favorite people


pasta salad and chicken salad
It's up close to 80° again today, and those are the perfect things to eat. 

pumpkin everything
Pumpkin chai, pumpkin bread, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin candle, pumpkin cupcakes...pumpkin is a funny word. Most people around here say "punkin".

missionaries  
I sat in on a Missions Conference 2 nights this week and got re-energized for our own. The missionaries and their presentations always tug at my heart - especially when they expose their own heart for the people they're called to. 

This particular presentation was very special - we've know this missionary for so many years, and my church has built over 20 of these orphan homes. He is moving and changing this country because he truly cares about them. https://vimeo.com/178260459

thanksgiving
It's one week away! I may be "behind" on a lot of things, but holiday preparation is not one of them!

poem of the week 
Y'all ok with these? I just love them! (Plus, I think this one's neat because he wrote it for his brother.)



Hymn for My Brother's Ordination

Related Poem Content Details

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Christ to the young man said: "Yet one thing more;
If thou wouldst perfect be,
Sell all thou hast and give it to the poor,
And come and follow me!" 

Within this temple Christ again, unseen,
Those sacred words hath said,
And his invisible hands to-day have been
  Laid on a young man's head. 

And evermore beside him on his way
  The unseen Christ shall move,
That he may lean upon his arm and say,
  "Dost thou, dear Lord, approve?" 

Beside him at the marriage feast shall be,
  To make the scene more fair;
Beside him in the dark Gethsemane
  Of pain and midnight prayer. 

O holy trust!  O endless sense of rest!
  Like the beloved John
To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast,
And thus to journey on!


I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I, for one, am very excited about it! Thanks for reading, what do you love today?


November 10, 2016

things i love thursday



"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-Aristotle



Two weeks in a row, what do you know? Look at me go!

I love dumb rhymes.

the weather
Y'all, it was 30° this morning! What a change from last week! There was ice on my windshield and I shivered all the way to work - finally!

holiday season
Can we just say it's here already? I mean, it's too early for Christmas but Thanksgiving's in two weeks and today the kids are going to be at the house and I think we'll do some Thanksgiving crafts and teach them how to do a skit (update: Amie said she tried and it did not go well. ;) )

fall back
I don't like the fact that it's dark at 5pm and I get sleepy at 7pm and I feel like I'm always running late for everything while I'm actually an hour early, but other than that, it's great! Honestly though, it's really nice not getting up while it's still dark, and it feels like the days get off to a better start somehow. Plus, when it gets dark so early there's not much else to do but read a book!

answered prayers
The months of September and October and the first part of November were incredibly difficult for my extended family. After weeks of unanswered questions, a nearly miraculous recovery, and a few weeks of healing, today all is well again. We're planning Thanksgiving as usual and no one is ill. Only God could could have made that possible.

the election. is. over.
Regardless of how you voted (and I sincerely hope you did), it's over now and Donald Trump is our president elect. I wrote a big long thing on how I feel about all of it this morning and just now deleted it because there's no point in publishing it. Let's just remember that the most important changes will be the ones we decide to make inside of our own homes, we can lead by example, and as Christians, our orders have not changed. We'll respect those in authority and pray for them, regardless of how we feel about it. (I think feelings should be left out if it more anyway.)

a clean car
Can I confess something? In all of my neat-freakish, tidy tendencies, I HATE washing my car. It is without a doubt my least favorite responsibility. The inside stays neat as a pin 99.9% of the time (any trash is removed from that thing the moment I pull in my house). The outside, on the other hand, has to get pretty embarrassing for me to grant it worthy of a washing. It got a bath Monday though and I must say I'm quite enjoying it!

friends
The older I get, the more dear they become. I love my friends like they're my family.



And I leave you with Longfellow because...I mean, c'mon, it's Longfellow. I don't really need a reason, do I?


The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

Related Poem Content Details

The tide rises, the tide falls, 
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; 
Along the sea-sands damp and brown 
The traveller hastens toward the town, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

Darkness settles on roofs and walls, 
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; 
The little waves, with their soft, white hands, 
Efface the footprints in the sands, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls 
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; 
The day returns, but nevermore 
Returns the traveller to the shore, 
      And the tide rises, the tide falls. 
P.S. I loved reading what you loved last week, so please feel free to use my comment section to list the things you love Thursday!


November 3, 2016

things i love thursday

Wouldn't life be much more lovely if we could learn to be continually grateful for the things we have instead of fretting over the things we don't?

Y'all, I'm cleaning out my drafts folder! There is no telling what I'll be posting on here in the coming weeks - or maybe I'll just delete them - either way, this was in my drafts from last week but I never finished my list! I'll start a fresh one in a minute, but I always like to ramble for a little while first. 

Do you ever go through a big "cleaning out"? I do! My sister-in-law told me I'm perpetually cleaning-out, but I just don't like stuff! If I haven't used/worn/looked at/read/touched it in awhile, why in the world is it still hanging out with me? Last week I went through my closet, packing away some summer stuff and mingling in my winter things. (This was a mistake since it was 86° yesterday and has been in the 80's all week.) I went through clothes, books, shoes, receipts, bills... I'm not an overly sentimental person, so when it comes to papers I have to go though, well, I don't really have any to go through. I'll keep cards for awhile, but I went through a big letter and card throw-away a few months ago so I was proud of myself for only having a tiny little stack of papers! (P.S. If you've ever sent me a card, I do keep it if you've written something on it. I just don't keep it forever :/)

Then I got on my laptop and noticed I had lots of emails stacked up so I hit the "select all" and then "delete forever" and whoosh! They were gone! (minus my personal email where I save all y'all's comments) I then went to my texts and remembered I'd also deleted all of them a few weeks ago - I don't know why all of this is so satisfying for me, but apparently it's so satisfying that I wanted to tell you about it!

Anyway! Do you wanna know some things I love Thursday? Here we (finally) go...

squeaky clean windows |  Bananagrams | organizing (see above ;)) | new towels | candles | Amazon Prime | coffee in the mornings (it really does help! I get why everyone drinks it now - it's 6:15am and I'm already going strong - talk to my mom if you think this is normal for me) try it with half heavy whipping cream/half pumpkin spice creamer. Mmm | tea parties with Lena Rae-Rae | OUR CHRISTMAS CARD IS DESIGNED & ORDERED AND MY POEM IS WRITTEN! hallelujah | Thanksgiving plans (favorite.holiday) | Darlene Rose's testimony (she spoke at our church years and years ago and I listened to the 2-hour long recording again recently. I cried for the whole 2 hours, but then again, I cry over everything) | maple trees (I can only ever identify trees in the fall, and even then only maple) | frosted lemonade (see 86°) | cooking | windows open all day every dayall things Missions Conference! (this makes me more excited than anything else)


notice the pinky raise ;) just on the wrong hand!

A friend sent me this recently. I've had this poem memorized since 8th grade, and it's still a favorite. It was actually the first one I ever memorized, and the only one ever required. It sparked my love for good poetry. This is a beautiful recitation, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

 There are some things in life never to be revisited, and that's ok.


I hope you're having the loveliest Fall! (I read somewhere that in the U.K. they say Autumn because of the French word "Automne" and later the Latin "Autumnus", but in the U.S. we call it Fall because "leaves fall down" ;) ) I'd love to hear some things you're loving this Thursday...or Friday or Saturday, whenever you read this!