Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Contentment is being able to enjoy the scenery when you are taking a detour."

 

-Gerald R. Payne

7 Quick Takes [vol. 15]

So I thought maybe if I didn't put the word "Friday" in the title of this post, you guys might forget this is supposed to be a Friday post, not a Saturday one...but then I added in the picture logo and realized it's hopeless. I'm late. I'm cheating. It's Saturday and these are my quick takes.

 

--1--

 



I love these cozy Saturday mornings at home. Slept in (a rare occurrence), drank coffee like it was water in a desert, and just slowly enjoyed the morning with prayer, books, and pumpkin waffles. Four girlfriends came over last night for homemade pizza, visiting a nursing home with our pets, and then girl talk over hot chocolate until 1 in the morning. I'm always refreshed after being with such inspiring souls.


A, Me, and R

--2--

 

My roommate GOT MARRIED a month ago and moved to NORTH DAKOTA! Craziness. It feels like it happened so fast the reality still hasn't set in! We worked such different shifts, I think the adjustment has been easier than I anticipated. She worked 5pm-2am (poor girl) and I work 8am-5pm, so we didn't see each other very often even when we lived together. But still! I can't believe she's across the country now! I'll miss our random cooking nights, movie nights, and homemaking adventures. She and her husband are so cute together and very much in love. Pictures, you ask?

 

How sweet are they?!

 

--3--

 

I was looking for a new roommate (any takers??) but in the meantime, I've been rearranging...and I'm loving the extra space! I now have a craft and reading room, with a bookshelf, all my scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies, and a futon in it for any overnight guests. It's perfectly cozy and purposeful. I can't wait to make Christmas cards in it! (and be able to close the door on the mess until I'm finished with the project!) 

 

Bookshelf is where I'm standing, and there's a card table to the side for crafting



 

--4--

 

Second snow today. Just a dusting but very pretty to see the swirling snowflakes as they fell!

 

This was the first snow a few weeks ago

 

--5--

 



I saw a funny Facebook link on "dog shaming" pictures when your puppy misbehaves. So adorably funny! Since my Little Dog has episodes of misbehavior from time to time, I decided to try one out with him...and it didn't take long for him to provide the perfect opportunity. What do you think?

 

 

 

--6--

 

Road trip! A few weeks ago K. and I went to Holmes County, OH (Amish country, my friends!!) to visit our sweet friend L. We spent the night at her gorgeous home and then enjoyed a Saturday of shopping in the quaint town of Berlin, finishing it off at a yummy Amish restaurant. On Friday night, we had a little trouble and the 4 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip due to *ahem* some navigator issues...(that would be me). In my defense, it is entirely mostly possibly probably not Mapquest's fault.

 

This is how their directions read:

 

Take interstate 75 South.                                    2.5 miles / total trip 50.5 miles

 

Now is it not completely understandable that I would accidentally see the 50 miles instead of the 2 miles and direct K. to drive 50 miles on interstate 75?

 

Well, that's what I did.

 

And so she happily set the trip tracker for 50 miles and we didn't begin to look for the exit until we were a good 45 miles past it! It's not a good thing when the gas station attendant looks at you blankly when you ask how far you are from your destination. ("Never heard of that town...")

 

All's well that ends well. (Right, K??) My kind, map-reading boyfriend answered the SOS phone call and got us back on track.

 

Mmmm...we love Amish peanut butter. Nevermind that it's comprised of five different types of sugar/sweeteners.

 

--7--

 

Last but not least, have a beautiful Thanksgiving. Families aren't perfect, turkeys overcook, and we can get lonely in a crowd of people...but there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. :) May our Lord bless you with a grateful heart, His abundance grace, and His unending love this week. I'm hugging you right now!











Wisdom for Wednesdays

Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye,

In every gesture dignity and love.

 

-John Milton, poet

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through His grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word."

 

-2 Thess. 2:16-17

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(emphasis mine)

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation; they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?"

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
qtd. in Uncommon Beauty: 7 Qualities of a Beautiful Woman, by Cynthia Heald

(Preach it, Jane. :) What a great point-- that laws and principles are there to discipline and guide us when our passions are apt to lead us astray. Our culture is one that allows passion to lead at the expense of principle.)

7 Quick Takes Friday [vol. 14]

--1--

There's nothing like autumn in the Midwest. I'm in love. Freshly cut fields. Kaleidoscope colors on the trees. Bright blue sky backgrounds. Pumpkins and hay bales as outdoor décor.

The one thing I could do without are those tacky decorations of a witch flying on her broomstick into a telephone pole. Splat! Really? It's morbid on so many levels...

--2--

Speaking of decorations, I had the cutest Pinterest-style centerpiece on my coffee table. Did you notice the past tense there? Two glass bowls full of real acorns and a candle in the center of each. I'd show you a picture but I didn't take one. Because I was too busy being horrified by the tiny chubby worms on the bottom of each glass that my roommate's brother pointed out one day.

I promise. I washed and dried the acorns before using them. Obviously the little intruders snuck in unforeseen as eggs...or something...or wherever worms come from. They were disgusting. And they now reside in the field behind our house.

--3--

 

I am now the proud owner of these fine machines and have been putting them to good use. Laundry has always been my favorite chore. (Making beds is a close second. Because I know you were wondering.) I'm using homemade detergent and homemade fabric softener and am quite pleased with both. The scent is not quite as good as what you buy in the store, but I also don't feel like I'm breathing in all sorts of bad-for-you-artificial-chemicals whenever I bury my face in warm laundry from the dryer.

 

--4--

 

I'm reading so many great books right now. It must be the chill in the air-- all I want to do is curl up and read or watch a movie in my free time. Here are a few of the titles I have bookmarks in:

 

Uncommon Beauty: 7 Qualities of a beautiful woman, by Cynthia Heald

 

Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross, by Edward Sri

 

The Anne of Green Gables Treasury, by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson

 

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, by Jen Hatmaker

 

--5--

 

We had an influx of young women at the pregnancy center this week. I ended up staying two hours late that evening completing the paperwork and was a mess of emotions by that time. (Poor P-- he's so, so good with me when I'm like that! Strong, loving, steadfast man...) One young woman was a highschooler recovering from drug addictions, and now with a positive pregnancy test. Our generation makes me want to cry...so lost, so lonely, so confused, so broken.

 

But.

 

There is hope. There is One with shoulders to carry all of this. And power to heal and transform our generation.

 

So we have faith and we keep fighting.

 

--6--

 

P, my brother, and I went to a rally/conference a few weekends ago called Lift Jesus Higher. It was put on my Renewal Ministries. So incredibly powerful. Their stories, their testimonies, the sacraments. It was a day of being recharged by grace. A reminder of God's great power, tender mercy, and His desire for us to continually spread the Gospel. One of the speakers, Sr. Ann Shields, spoke about her time overseas in countries persecuted for their faith. It was sobering, this realization that though our government is rapidly eliminating God from the public square, we do not as yet know suffering and persecution as other countries currently do. It makes me wonder...do I have the courage of martyrs? Am I so attached to Christ and detached from this world that there would be no question of whom I would choose?

Thanks to P being on a first-name basis with the bishop, I got my picture with him at the rally :)

 

--7--

 



I had a friend over this Tuesday for homemade pizza and a workout DVD (thankfully, in reverse order). The workout DVD was one from the Biggest Loser series, and I'm still sore. As in: I ran a short distance from the mailbox to the house to escape the cold and windy weather, only to wince in pain as my legs protested such minimal exertion while they are still recovering. Aside from that, I highly recommend these workouts. In small doses. With a friend. And with pizza as a reward.

 

Have a lovely weekend, friends. Carve some pumpkins for me! :)