Long Over due Thanks

I have been so crazed with a million things, but all good things. Getting to see people, sweet times enjoying this city and State that we love and the people we love in it. We are looking forward to a trip to the beach this Saturday with some great family and friends both! I am so blessed, but also stressed, and have so many details still. I know it will all work out. Its a very bitter sweet time, with goodbyes and "lasts" but also new exciting adventures to look forward to! I expect many tearful moments over the next few weeks, but I know we have great things waiting for us. I am so glad I have seen time and time again how Gods plan always works so much better for my good than my own plan, I can fall back on that these week of goodbyes and unknowns. 


260. Great blessings of provision. 
261. His promises
262. My rock of a husband who is aways there
263. Beautiful days to enjoy in the Northwest
264. Ice cream and sparkling water on a warm day
265. Wonderful old friends who stick with you through it all
266. Adventures and the unknown
267. Work you love
268. The hope of unpacking to come!
269. Simplifying in the meantime, life without "stuff" for a few months

I waiting to meet some friends last night and was reading The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris while I waited. I was so blessed in those few min of waiting and found myself underlining half the book of quotes I loved. Here are some of my favorites that I hope to meditate on over the next few days. 


"The rhythm of sunrise and sunset marks the passage of time that makes each day rich with the possibility of salvation, a concept that is beautifully summed up in an ancient saying from monastic tradition: Abba Poeman said that every day he made a new beginning" 


Dorothy Day said " My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms" 


" I know from bitter experience that when I allow the busy little doings to fill the precious time of early morning, when contemplation might flourish, I open the doors to the demon of acedia." (acedia: spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference)


" I have come to believe that when we despair of praise, when the wonder of creation and our place in it are lost to us, it's often because we've lost sight of our true role as creatures- we have tried to do to much, pretending to be in such control of things that we are indispensable. ..The danger is that we will come to feel too useful, so full of purpose and the necessity of fulfilling obligations that we lose sight of God's play with creation, and with ourself s" 

Sunny Days

250. Beautiful Sunny days in Seattle

251. Gods providing in ways we can't imagine
252. New adventures
253. Blue water, snow caped peaks, green grass, good conversation with my man
254. Bumping into old friends unexpectedly!
255. A husband that serves
256. Catching up with a friend over a nice dinner with sun and ocean behind
257. Girl dates! :-)
258. Full calender with friends and family
259. Not taking things for granted

When the world turns

I feel each time my world turns upside down I get a little mini check up on my current spiritual state. When the world turns how do you respond, what the gut reaction, what do you turn to without thinking. Its a very good indication of where you are.  In this season of unknowns, and many questions and large dark space in thew future that holds who knows what, I am thankful for the constants in my life, the things that God promises will never change.

240. He is and will always be
241. No mater where you are He is there, He shares our burden as He promised
242. Much like my parents, no matter where I go I know they will follow and visit often.
243. Gods plan is always the best plan even if its unimaginable to us at the time.
244. He always has the best for us His children, no exceptions!
245. Sometimes the best for us is not easy and is not painless, but its still best!
246. He knows and has the details planned out ahead! Help me never forget it!

247. No matter where I am my best friend and lover will be at my side, going through it with me, and thats all I really need.
248. I am loved
249. Gods work is wherever I am, He has a plan

Weekly Thanks

230. My creative hubby

231. A church family who prays

232. Little half day adventures with my honey

233. "Killing" a few hours between things
234. Homemade chicken pot pie with beautiful flaky crust for the weekend
235. Options
236. A trustworthy wise husband
237. The promise of things to come
238. A God who Draws me.
"Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" Jer. 33:3b
239. Loving friends who pray for wisdom and guidance 

Thanks

I have been very remiss lately and have been getting out of the Thankful habit and I need to keep it up. If I take the time to truly write it down it makes me stop and think of things in a way you just don't otherwise. So today will be short but I will strive to at least weekly thankful lists like Ann @ holy experience



220. Early nights in with my man221. Coming home to smells of dinner cooking222. Relaxing and doing nothing for an evening223. Fun new book to share224. Rain!225. Quiet early mornings and coffee!226. A car that works and a man of God to fix it227. Job offers and choices!228. Someone else feeding me!229. Great health care professionals! 

Day by Day Thanks

211. Looking forward to spending the weekend with Godly woman in a beautiful place
212. New lives coming this Summer, so many pregnant woman this year!
213. Flowers! Just bought an orchid for my desk!
214. Road trips with the girls and great tunes!
215. Pictures of my man up in my cube!
216. People being nice to me

217. Gods word each day
218. A blog that forces me to have to remember what I am thankful for
219. A job
220. Lastly praise for a great interview for my husband! Be wanted is a really great thing!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring is here in Seattle, and it is marvolus, the colors alone! We got a new camera, the final one this time I think and my husband took lots of close ups all weekend testing the camera and I just love the result. The colors and details just make me amazed! Gods creativity is soming is it not!








































Lilac's above are my very favorite! I love the season when they come out!


206. Sunny days followed with rainy days, always keeps you guessing and never gets boring!

207. Beautiful Sundays relaxing in the shade of a blooming tree.
208. Mondays come and I have my prayer meetings to look forward to!
209. A wonderful weekend with woman from my church at our womans retreat coming up!
210. A great free fun time at the football game with some friends old and new. Free food, free parking, and great seats what a blessing!

More Thanks

196. Wonderful trip away with my man
197. Wonderful ladies of faith, they bless me so much!
198. Beautiful cherry trees blooming everywhere
199. Diamonds!
200. His encouragement every day
201. A job to go to
202. Food on the table
203. Dear friends for dinner
204. Knowledgeable Doctors tender care and brilliance!
205. Sunny Spring Days, and the rainy ones too!

New Things

I am struck by how much language makes your world work or not. I know this well by bring overseas of course and even in England when you come across diffident dialects and things when people speak the same language and can hardly understand one another. (I just listened to Journeys in English by Bill Bryson and it was fascinating on the topic)
But as much as I know all these things it sticks me again as I sit here in my new position as a member of the I T department. Now I know how to use computers, I am decently quick at picking things up and figuring them but which I assume is why they hired me. But unlike many of them I have no experience doing it for a living per say and did not learn any of it officially but all of it just by doing or by needing something and figuring it out. Which means I know what I am doing to at least a certen extent but I have no idea how to tell you what I am doing. Or in fact when someone tells me how to do something I maybe get every word in three because they are speaking another dialect if you will. I know what they mean but don't know I do because I didn't understand what they said. Its not the end of the world and I will slowly learn the vocabulary but it is interesting what a difference it makes to the smoothness of ones day, how well you do or don't understand one another.
Anyway for both reasons have been thinking on language some and wanted to mention some.

186. A great deal on a hotel for 2 nights this weekend to celebrate 5 years ago tomorrow the wedding that changed my life for the better forever.
187. On that note a wonderful husband who I am thankful for every day, lest he ever forget, I should tell him so more.
188. For the mystery piece of jewelry that he has been tormenting me with hanging from my bedroom ceiling just waiting for this day to be unwrapped! What a lucky girls I am
189. For a steady job to pay for a few nights at a hotel, and maybe even a meal out! What a queen I am!
190. For Gods faithfulness and goodness in all things even when itys His time frame and not my own, He is good
191. For Him letting me be a part of the ministry He is doing, for being obedient to Him even when there is pressure to quit for good reasons, Thank you Lord for letting me be a part of your story. You can do it all without me but letting me the  imperfect one I am be able to be a part of it is amazing to me!
192. For the woman I "minister" to who always end up encouraging and ministering to me all the more, for each one wanting to be more in Gods story each day!
193. For rain through the sun, for growing new things and Spring
194. For learning new things each and every day!
195. For snow in April.

Blessings

Its been ages and I have missed writing! I was training someone to take over my old job and not am now in my third week of a new job so things have been very busy!
Easter has come and gone and what a blessing it was. Its amazing how people can become your family. I am forever reminded that family can come in so many ways! Through birth certainty but also through marriage which for me is a wonderful blessing and I am so grateful for that. And through the good taste in my brothers in picking loverly sister for me when they married! Wasn't that nice of them, but they did pick wonderful woman and what a blessing that is! And for kindred spirits, those wonderful people in life you meet and think you must have known forever, and the wonderful people in life you have known forever but maybe haven't seen is just as long. That instant sense of friendship, and closeness is and can only be from God I am sure! Thank you Lord for it! What a blessing and for an Easter to share with those who are not my birth family and some that were.

New Job

Its official I have a new job. I won't start for a while until they replace me but I accepted and gave notice today. Not to long ago the Dir of the IT department where I work approached me about working in IT. As many of you might not know I have a degree in fashion design, and yes I am still laughing at this whole situation. Who would have thought. But the more I think about it, I did help my professors in design school with their computers, so I shouldn't be super surprised. Plus I grew up around and am married to geeky techy people so I speak their language, and I am mostly normal, or at least have had to function with every day (read dumb) people so I am what I like to think of as "bi-lingual".
Anyway I am very excited to see what God is doing, I was a little puzzled when He clearly let me to this job, and now I am starting to get a glimce of why He might have done it. I have realized if this is the direction He saw for me as ever He saw so much more than I could have ever imagined and of all the various numbers of jobs I applied for I would never have applied for this one. Mostly because though I may have the skill for it, I can't show it on my resume so it would have been pointless. But when you are seen doing it your in. Amazing! I feel a little bit like I am sitting back and watching a movie of my life unfolding, its not a bad place to be I must say. Sit back and let God do what He wills, because it will always be better than my plan, at least has always been in my experience.
I had a wonderful Bible study last night with some wonderful encouraging Godly women. And I have been jotting down thankful things in my new journal.
180. Woman who seek God walking along side
181. Girl chat over good wine and great meal
182. Fresh baked bread
183. The smell of my kitchen when I make fresh baked bread
184. Good dark chocolate and coffee
185. Hot rich coffee on a cold morning with fresh Spring blooms coming up.

New Journal

I am so excited I have been inspired for some time from Ann over at aholyexperience  to make what she calls a visual homaking journal. I used to always keep a notebook like this and still do but it used to be most sketches and fabric swatches and inspiration, but in the last years its just a place to write an outline from the sermon or someone contact info or some prayer requests, which is good, but very uninspiring. So I have done it I made one! And I am so excited! Of course from my last post on lack of camera, you will just have to imagine how amazing it is, because it is! I am already making lists and writing things down like a crazy person, and already I am glad, because half of the things on my grocery list I know I would have forgotten relying as I usually do on my memory, or more often on walking up each row knowing "I will remember it when I see it".
But best of all I have been jotting down my grateful things as I think of them which works so much better than sitting down at the computer and thinking over your day tiring to remember them. Plus despite this as evidence, I really love pen and paper. So now I just have to transpose my wonderful list to this formate! I hope I remember!

170. Hot soup on a cold day
171. Dropping into a soft couch!
172. Soft pillows in smooth sheets
173. Cloudy days! Perfect for...
174. long walks with birds, ducks and a good book for company!
175. quiet nights
176. cooking
177. Sweet prayer time with strangers who are now new friends
178. Going to bed early
179. Dinner waiting for me at home all done and ready to go!

Pictures?

Everytime I sit to write here I think "must get camera, must use camera". The trouble, as I have found it, of living in Europe is, everything seems picture worthy, then when you move back, nothing much seems picture worthy, a thing I am tiring to change. There are many thing worthy of pictures here, I stop and enjoy them often, I just don't take pictures of them. So I am sorry there are never pictures.
Wonderful Sunday, if you can have one while getting nothing accomplished, I think you can! It was a beautiful cold Sunny day, my favorite kind! We were privileged to hear from our paster 3 separate times over the weekend, no wonder I feel blessed! But I am also very challenged with setting a rule of life for my self  and working that through in my head as my day goes on. But I am excited to start this challenge!
We also went on a lovely bike ride (we have a tandem, or bicycle built for two, we are adorable) near the University in some wetlands, and explored together etc. It was a lovely day, and the best part of it all is, my bottom feels fine today! Its a mini miracle in my option because it never feels fine the next day! So because of my like of camera, you will have to trust me that the snow on the mountain peaks sparkled above the equally starkly water, and the blue blue sky. You had to be there. Had you been you would have seen my cute new workout outfit, which I call hobbit pants ( like Tolkin Hobbits if you are not in the know) that my husband assures me do not make my butt look big, but that I am not convinced about.
Anyway I am wandering way off topic.

160. Snow caped peaks on clear blue days
161. Driving with the window down!
162. Getting up and going home in daylight
163. Pulling dead plants to make way for new growth
164. Crocus popping from the ground
165. Evening Prayers
166. God faithfully meeting me in daily divine hours
167. A clean room, even if the expected visitors never needed it, clean non the less
168. Beautiful churched with unlocked doors
169. Beautiful woman seeking Him

Thankful Days

Interesting how so many things fall into place at once. Now that I have a "normal" job ie 9-5, that is to say except its really more like 7-6 but its all the same right! :-) Anyway now that I know where I will be next month and don't wonder day to day if I have a job, life seems very "daily". Very day in and day out always the same, constant lists, constantness. Everything you do needs to be done again, etc. Sound familiar, it might as its basically what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about. Well I am starting a new study on just that, and it wasn't really on purpose exactly, lots of reasons went into the topic choice and very few had to do with where I was at . At the same time I started reading a great book about the daily tasks woman paticuarly do over and over, like the dishes, which are never really done because you will always have them to do again the next day, can become like liturgy or daily meditation. Its very fascinating! It all comes together, ohh and the sermon Sunday talked about it too! Go figure!

151. So thankful for faithful woman who seek God and keep me encouraged to do the same
152. For wonderful books and new words "Quotidian"
153. Beautiful days!
154. A husband to take me out on a bicycle built for two for a banana split for valentines day.
155. And one who buys me a Anniversary (5 years for us!) gift 3 months early and hides it in plain site around the house so I have to look at it and wonder for months!
156. A wonderful mechanic who makes things work and I don't have to worry about knowing what was broken to start with! Its just all looked after and taken care of!
157. A working car! I don't have to bicycle to a date unless I want too! ;-)
158. Ask Wednesday Services tonight
159. A beautiful friend getting married and getting to be a part of making her feel beautiful

and the days go by...

I am still forever grateful, even if they go unwritten.
Just the month of writing them down I still remember to notice the little things, though they seem to go by me in a blur these days and not stay long to be contemplated over as they were.
143. A cloudy day after many clear ones, I like the mystery and faith of knowing the mountains are still there even if all you see is dense white cloud
144. All of the ladies as yet unknown who have signed up for my new bible study! How exciting to have 18 new ladies who want to join with as as we study Gods word together. God let me be an empty vessel so you can use me.
145. The blessing of getting a glimpse of what God might be doing and what His larger purpose for organize things as he has done.
146. A beautiful new baby born to a dear friend safe and healthy after 43 long hours of labor. God is amazing!

147. Dear ladies who seek God, old and new, getting to know new ladies and their hearts more dearly while listening to a wonderful ladies speaker.
148. Dear old friends to reconnect with over weekend to come, how I look forward to the fellowship we can rekindle.
149. A job each day, praise the Lord.
150. The Lords work He has kindly show me, and providing ways for me to come along in His work, how grateful I am for that!

Another week closer...

Another weekend gone and back to work I go. But I did get to squeeze in some me time this weekend which is the first time in my short memory it seems! Time to enjoy Christmas and do some fun handiwork. The clouds are back after a week of brilliant sun and views! Almost unheard of, and I am so glad to see the clouds again. Most don't see it but I see and love their unique beauty just as much as the sun.




136. Clouds and rain again! 137. Great deal on a whole chicken and roast and yummy meals for my family ready to go for the week. 138. My husband working hard and still finding time to help me139. Family140. Fun day out with the parents141. Creativity142. Red hair

Important

Now I know how important this practice has become to me! I missed yesterday and my day did not go well and I feel quite certain they are related. I had so much to do yesterday I just did not have time to be thankful along the way. Very sad and bad of me and I paid for it! And now as much as I got done I did not get it all done and thats all I focused on, not all the great things I did get done which I would have had I been looking for things to be Thankful for.
Today I read my daily devotion and what would you know it was this...


Do Not Yield to Discouragement
"They looked...and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud" (Exod. 16:20).
Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud and when you have found it, continue to look at it, rather than at the leaden gray in the middle.
Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be. A discouraged soul is helpless. He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others. From Streams in the Dessert, for the rest go here
And this great poem

"Keep looking up--
The waves that roar around thy feet,
Jehovah-Jireh will defeat
When looking up.
"Keep looking up--
Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul;
The Light of Light shall fill thy soul
When looking up.
"Keep looking up--
When worn, distracted with the fight;
Your Captain gives you conquering might
When you look up."


What a great reminder of the importance of this, and what great timing He always has, we should not forget.

130. For all the things accomplished regardless of how many are still yet to be done
131. For fellowship tonight while we celebrate the awaiting of Christ's birth
132. For a kind husband always willing to help, even if he does get distracted, let me never forget to be grateful for the willingness, so much more than many get
133. A beautiful Sunrise on the drive to work

134. Mountains to the West and East of me both! How amazing this place is!
135. For Goodwill, mason jars for soup in a jar gifts for .20 cents each!
136.

120. Beautiful cold clear winter days
121. Getting Christmas cards
122. Sitting by the tree stuffing cards with hubby
123. a broken laptop
124. Christmas shopping and great deals
125. Lunch with Mum
126. Date night!
127. Gift certificate to nice restaurant for date night!
128. Christmas lights shining out all over a dark city. 

129. A hot shower on sore muscles 

106. wonderful full weekends
107. A freezer stocked with good food for the week

108. Christmas trees 
109. Clear skies and crisp air
110. Cold refreshing mornings
111. Encouraging others
112. Sunday Worship
113. Family, wonderful parents
114. Husband who cares, even about the littlest things
115. Advent, His coming ever nearer
116. New recipes, $.75 a serving!
117. Having a job to go to still 
118. Wonderful banana Muffins! Thanks Rachel @ Beans& Rice
119. Full fast day

Shrouded in Fog?

I was fortunate enough to have light traffic this morning and got to work early so I sat in the conference room to do my morning prayers as I watched the sun come up behind the mountains and it was majestic! I do enjoy the view from the 10th floor here. ( Poor sample of what I see as my camera' s broken) 

So I had a great few moments to start my day, imagine the above with purple outlining them as the sun rises. Then within 30 min the fog rolled in and I can't even see the building next to us, less than a block away! We are shrouded in white. How quickly things can change,and they always do change that fast when my focus is not on my Lord, if I forget to consult and think and thank Him so quickly my view can become so limited and I am confused and can't see. I often wonder why though at this moment it should always feel clear, I need to adjust my focus and look to him not into the fog and He will clear things right up. 


In my morning prayers I read this and loved it, how true it is!

You fearful Saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

100. My husband volunteering to make the steaks that have been in the freezer for months, so we can have a nice dinner together. 

101. A swift drive with a beautiful view of the sun rising purple over the rugged peaks. I do love the NW.

102. A great weekend to look forward to, hunting a tree, seeing parents both sides, Christmas decorating

103. Getting a start on the decorating and making my mantle beautiful, I realized while I was enjoying myself that we have never had a mantle since we have been married. What a joy, and what a great central thing it makes in a home.

104. Sweet Christians at work blessing me
105. Wonderful bloggers giving me cooking ideas for my weekend cook-a-thon
106.