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?

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

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

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!

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 day |  all 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!

NYC | travel post

New York City is somewhere I've always thought would be so. much. fun. to visit, but never thought I would. Not in my single 20's, anyway. Our family vacations are usually in more relaxing, restful locations so I just didn't give it a lot of thought. (Except, you know, "wow, that would be fun.")

Until this summer at a family reunion talking to one of my cousins about how our traveling friends were all starting to get married and the ones still willing to travel with us weren't interested in the big cities.

"We should go!"

"A family girls trip? Yes!"

"Hey mom, y'all wanna go to New York City for a weekend?"

By the next week we had bought our plane tickets. A few weeks later our hotel was booked. Then we bought city passes, bus tickets, and last Wednesday we got up at 3:30am to get on a plane!

all of our selfie stick photos

We got there at 10:30am, checked into our hotel room (30th floor!)...

...then grabbed coffee and pastries on our way to Grand Central Station. We giggled our way through our first subway ride on our way to Times Square. Wednesday also included the Top off the Rock,  Central Park, and the Museum of Natural History. We ended the day soaking our feet and eating take out Chinese food after walking around 8 miles.

The second day (Thursday) found us on the top of a double decker bus where we saw a whole lot of the city on our way to the 911 monument and museum. We walked what felt like forever to find a TKTS booth to buy our Broadway tickets (sold at half price in 3 locations in the city), then got drenched on the rest of the bus ride but saw the United Nations building, Trump Tower, and a lot of other stuff that wasn't on our list. ;)  We came back to our room late that afternoon and got dressed up to go see Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway (after walking nearly 10 miles). On the way to the subway we stopped at Momofuku's (a milk bar) for their famous cereal milk ice cream (worth it!), and on the way back stopped to take a picture at Tiffany's. Fiddler was incredible, and it also allowed us to see Times Square at night. Since it was nearly a 3 hour play, we once again ate Chinese food because even in NYC, most restaurants are closed at 11pm and we wanted to just eat in bed. We walked over 11 miles that day!

On our third day in the city (Friday) we got up a bit earlier and headed to the Statue of Liberty. It was a cold morning and we rode on [the very windy] top of the Ellis Island Ferry. The statue was beautiful, though, and we also saw Trinity Church ("on the corner of Broad and Main"), the bull of Wall Street, and ate lunch at Shake Shack! It lived up to it's wonderful reputation - I ordered the Shack Burger, cheese fries, and a chocolate malted. We took the hoho (hope on/hop off) bus again and saw some more of the city. We walked around Chinatown, went in "the" Macy's on 5th Avenue (34th Street) and bought some warm clothes at H&M and Forever21 (only place we could afford on 6th Avenue haha) for the 2-hour nighttime bus tour of Manhattan and Brooklyn. We were frozen solid when we got off, so we got a pepperoni pizza from Ray's and a slice of blueberry cheesecake from Lindy's and took it back to the room. Walked over 10 miles again altogether.

Saturday morning we packed our stuff up, got one last bagel and acai bowl, and walked down 5th Avenue. We went in Saks, St. Paul's Cathedral, and got coffee at Ralph's Coffee above Ralph Lauren before heading back to catch our ride to the airport!

We're still catching up on sleep and I have a new appreciation for the quiet calm of my little southern town ("green acres is the place for me!"), but I wouldn't trade this experience or the memories we made for anything. It was an incredible adventure that I'm so thankful to have had.

And since we took pictures of practically everything we ate, here are those... ;)

change

It's fall, y'all! Actually, it's been fall for nearly a week, but this is my first chance to sit and write about it.

Actually, no, that's not true. I've had many chances, but I made gingersnaps with pumpkin dip one day, and then another day it was chocolate chip cookies for a church picnic. On my day off I went shopping for an upcoming trip, got a whole lot of hair chopped off, and celebrated with a PSL! (pumpkin spice latte...except in frappucino form because it's like sipping on pumpkin pie.) 

Usually I'm reluctant to welcome Fall because I am not a cold weather girl and Fall is the doorway to Winter. However, I've been craving change for some time now and the crisp mornings and cozy evenings are exactly what my soul's been needing. I'm even looking forward to a cold Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year. A new year with new motivation and new chances. Ah, yes, I'm ready for change. Funny how a difficult season can make something you don't normally appreciate so very attractive. I feel like I'm running towards Fall with my arms wide open. Let me forget Summer for a moment and relish in the smells and sensations that are Autumn.

Change is such a funny thing. Some changes we wholeheartedly embrace, welcoming them with every fiber of our being. Some however, even when they are good and the best choice, rip our hearts out in the process. I was reminded of this the other day when one of my older neighbors asked us to help her move. She has made this choice for herself, and in many ways she's excited about it. She will be so relived once she's taken the final step, but regardless of all of that, her eyes pooled up as the rest of her face smiled. Change is difficult no matter how old you are.

72 hours later...

I quit writing 3 days ago because something came up and I closed my folder and it slipped quietly out of my mind. Today, however, I was suddenly bombarded all at once with people emailing, texting, and even telling me in person that it was time for another post. I don't feel like it today. The words I want to write are spilling down my cheeks because they won't form. They are an emotion I cannot describe, cannot pinpoint, do not understand. An emotion I had forbidden, had restrained, but is sometimes stronger than I am.

This changes the entire tone of this post. It started out as a crisp fall morning with a refreshing scent and delicious feel. Now the shadows have lengthened, it's gotten a little musty, and has a slightly bitter aftertaste. I really didn't want to change direction. Change...

I titled this post before I wrote the first word. Before inspiration struck, I had change on my mind. And this is how change works. One morning we've finally let go of those worries and doubts and cares. A few days later we find we've picked them back up and then some.

"Change" has many shapes and forms, can be big or small, can rearrange our lives or simply our minds. We never welcome it exactly the same. Sometimes we're ready, but often we're not.

Ah, friends, I'm laying it back down. I've stopped asking God for help with some things, I've started just giving them to Him. I like to grab them back a lot, I'm selfish and I'm always trying to fix everything, even the things I can't. He is so, so real. You know this, I know this, but we don't always live like it. Sometimes I can't get my prayers past my lips, sometimes He's right beside me, understanding before I've even formed my thought. We should only crave the change He requires. Surrender is so very hard because I don't know where it will lead, but I'm ready to hand it all over.

Have you reached this point with me? You probably reached it long before me. It's taking me a long time, and I have to go one day at a time, slowly changing my mindset, my actions, my heart. It's a painful process, but when I can look back and see the hard choices I've made and His blessings upon them, I'm willing to make more change.

It is time to see how beautiful dead things can be. I refuse to resurrect the old man or to "dig up in doubt what I planted in faith."

things i love thursday

Happy September 1! For some reason, this month feels like a chance at a fresh start. A clean slate, and an opportunity to change perspective, choose joy, and start the change of the seasons on a more positive note. There will still be more serious-toned posts peppered throughout this blog, probably even this month. I haven't arrived at the end of the rainbow yet, I'm just learning more about the journey to get there, and the growth along the way.

Since the first day of this month is on a Thursday, and since there's a feeling of excitement in the air due to our church's 25th anniversary celebration next week, I decided to throw it back to Things I Love Thursday because it's been a good week, friends, and I want to hold on to those happy vibes and give credit to the little things that have made it that way. (side note - that was an incredibly long sentence)

Reading. 
You know that moment when you get together with someone you haven't seen or talked to in ages and at first it's slow going but after awhile you start thinking, "Wow, why don't I talk to them all the time? This is amazing!" That's how I've been with books lately. Somehow I've scheduled my days in a way that I've found more free time in the afternoons, and in this nice mid 80's-low 90's weather, I could sit on the porch with a book for hours at a time. 
"I don't always find time to read, but when I do, I spend the next seven hours of my life doing just that."

Sunshine.
I thought they were calling for rain, but there's barely been a cloud in the sky this week. The kids came over the other day and we swam for a couple of hours. Squeals and giggles and water up noses...it was an adventure, and it was wonderful. Afterwards we took a drive with the windows down and listened to Lena Rae chatter for 30 minutes. Summer is glorious, and we're in the days where the only way I know how to describe what we're doing is savoring it. Fall is right around the corner, so each of these hot, sunny days is spent trying to wring every last drop of "summer" out of them.


Reminiscing.
"Do you remember when..." "There was this one time..." and an hour later our bellies hurt from laughing, or our throats are sore from trying not to cry. My church will celebrate 25 years this coming week, and as we go through old pictures and listen to old songs, it's impossible not to miss those that are gone, and a time when we were a very small group of people, each one of us members of a family. It's grown a lot over the years, but it still feels like a family, our lives revolve around church and church events for the most part, and it just feels right to celebrate our beginning.

ice cream cones after church - me and Amie with a couple of our friends

baby kisses | warm breezes | ice cold soft drinks (because who drinks those in the winter?) |  buying luggage and purses, booking flights and hotel rooms (hmm...) | grilling | packages in the mail | windows down | secrets and surprises | Lena Rae saying "anybody is mine friend!" | baby showers | staying in touch with my friends who've moved away (we even enjoy group texting each other ;) ) | heart to heart conversation | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, my favorite poet

baby Klay's book baby shower a few weeks ago

 And forever and forever,

   As long as the river flows,

As long as the heart has passions,

   As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection

   And its shadows shall appear,

As the symbol of love in heaven,

   And its wavering image here. 

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(The ending of "The Bridge")

full of weakness

My next door neighbor passed away yesterday. He was only 40 years old, he had a massive heart attack, and it was very, very unexpected.

Today as I sat on our porch reading I watched them dig his grave in the cemetery next to our house.

How quickly everything can change.

I've lived here all of my life, and his family has been the farmers next door for just as long. He helped us with our cows when we needed it, he cut our other neighbors' hay every year. Though I didn't know him well, he always seemed jovial, friendly, and ready to lend a hand.

As my brother and the rest of the community has mentioned, it's so hard to believe and reconcile that he's gone now. Just like that. He'll no longer be driving his tractor past our homes and waving to us.

I kept waking up last night with this burden and so many others pressing down on me. Sometimes we beg God. Sometimes it's the only way we know how to pray. I know God didn't make this tragedy happen, He simply allowed it. As in my post a month or so ago, we cannot answer the "why's", we can only hope that He will help us make sense of it all someday.

"I know the Lord will bring all of this to a conclusion that pleases Him, and I trust Him."

Trust is simple. Waiting is simple. Ah, but they're not easy. Tonight I put my book aside and simply swang gently while I watched the sun set. In the beauty and quiet of the evening I couldn't stop the emotions. Oh Lord, the world is so heavy. I have so many questions, so many doubts, and there is so much hurt in the world. I have an entire list of people dying or who have already passed away. For every miracle you give us it seems like there are two heart breaks. Oh Lord, please help us.

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. | Hosea 6:3

Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate? He can show us His will like a strike of lightening, or He can come to us as rain. The God whom I begged to descend like a cloud of comfort on my neighbor's family is the same God who whispers peace to my troubled and anxious spirit. The God who protects my dad in his travels is the same one who directs the paths of missionaries overseas. No matter how much, often, or far away He's needed, He's never stretched thin. A simple principle, I know, but a reminder than I need more than I want to admit.

We are so full of weakness, I more than ever. But somehow, through my weakness, I've found a strength I didn't even know I possessed. It's found in His joy. You see, I have none on my own, even in the simplest pleasures of my life, it's all from Him. The more I work on our relationship, the more I choose Him over the other loves in my life, the more I find that just when I need it, the strength for another moment is there.

I don't know why I felt compelled to write this. Maybe as a plea for prayer, maybe to let anyone who needed to read it know that if you struggle with anxiety, if you're enduring a hard time, you aren't alone. All of us have our own battles, unique to us but not to God. I pray that each of you go to Him for your strength, and that you find it through His joy.