"If Everything Comes Down to Love"

Trying to be patient in this season

You're no good unless you are a good assistant; and if you are, you're too good to be an assistant.  ~Martin H. Fischer

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.  ~Confucius


Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas.  ~Paula Poundstone 

 Ecclesiaste 3:1-22

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

⁹ What gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; ¹³ also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.


 48months (4 years) = How long we will be in Wilmore/ I will work at the seminary.
 3months = How many I have worked so far.

We are taking each month, one month at a time.  45months isn't too long... its just a season.

22 things that I am thankful for...

This is a little late because my husband was on the computer all weekend doing hmwk! But it is still worth posting:
 
Everyone (it seems) has been writing what they are thankful for (one thing per day in November) and I on the other hand have not....

So since Thanksgiving is on the 22nd of November here are 22 things I am thankful for:

1. A God who loves me in a way that I can only begin to understand.
2. My loving and wonderful Husband.
3. My Amazing Dad.
4. All of my siblings. ("be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future." -Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen)
5. Wonderful lifelong friends who I am grateful for.
6. A job that uses some of my natural skills and will pay a big chunk of Brian's schooling.
7. Thankful that the Lord uses people and things (music, movies etc) to speak truth into my life.
8.  For a wonderful apartment that has everything we need.
9. Thankful to live in a state that has all of the seasons.
10. For my health.
11. Ability to take Zumba classes for $1 and work out for free at the seminary.
12. For new friends in KY! 
13. God's Provision over and beyond what I can imagine. Meeting every need.
14. Washer and Dryer in my home :)
15. The ability to run and exercise without my knee hurting (1st month since May!)
16.Thankful for YL and the people I have met over the years through it.
17. Getting to experience the seasons changing again, now that we moved to KY.
18. Boots for $7. I really needed some and we ended up finding some that go with dress pants and jeans!
19. How God orchestrates things at specific moments and just like a match can turn into a wildfire so quickly things begin and end just as quickly.
20. That this too is just a season.
21. My gift of service.
22. Long vacations in December that end one year very well and begin another with Family! :) 19 days!

  
   

What's for Dinner?

okay so I will have to say this is one of my new favorites.  Way better than ham and scalloped potatoes, but very similar. Yummy cheesy goodness!

Check out the recipe and look at reviews too(they always have helpful suggestions).
 http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623

Tonight I am making it (as directed minus the paprika) for the second time (still have Velveeta cheese left) and I am going to add some frozen broccoli to it with a salad on the side.

You are mine

Love this song. Not sure if I have shared it before.  Hard to find a good video to go with it.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy (what would have been) 44th Birthday!

Every year I have been excited about my Birthday.  There are many women (and men) who have said that  that will change as you get older.  But with each  new year I will count it as a blessing.  And if by God's grace I live past 42years old (something my beautiful mother did not get to do) those years will be the sweetest and I will be grateful each and every day for a new day.

Live each day as if it were your last. For we are not guaranteed tomorrow.

James 4:13-15

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Today at Lunch

Today at lunch I was reminded of how much I miss my mom.

This week has been a long week. One of those that drags and drags. Especially because I am dreading tomorrow. November 8th. One of the three hardest days of the year (Mom's anniversary of her death and Mother's Day being the other two).  It will come every year and this is the second year so far that we do not celebrate my mom's birthday with her.

SO back to what I was really wanting to share.  Today at lunch one of the admins was sharing about her recent trip home to PA to surprise her mom for her Birthday.  (My mom's birthday is tomorrow and of course I cannot go home and surprise her.)

I just smiled and really and truly thought it was so neat what she had done for her mom but I sat quietly living in my grief.  There have been only a few people here in Wilmore that I have talked or shared my mom's death with at all. And the group of women that I was eating with would have been so kind and gracious if I chose to share or relate the surprise trip Heidi took to see her mom to the fact that tomorrow is my mom's birthday but she passed away in Jan of 2011 and I would give anything to see her.

Yeah, no. I can't do that. I can't be the person who brings down the mood of the room.  So I sat so nice making sure I did not shed any tears.

Heidi also shared about some personal stuff in her life that happened over the last year or so with one of the newer admins. One part was about hiding away in the stall of the bathroom crying.  (Hello! I remember so many times were I would go to the bathroom because my desk was out in the open at Baylor and I did not want others to see me cry. These of course were in the early months after my mom passed away.)

Today I just felt like I understood so much of what she was talking about (even though they are completely different major events in our lives) but I just felt like I couldn't share anything.  I really hate that feeling.

Living with a blessed mindset

God is gracious. God is Good. And God always provides. 
I complain about my job or have days where I would give anything to be doing anything else.

Today as I was getting ready to leave for lunch (with some other admins from the seminary) I realized I am blessed to have a job, insurance, and it is helping pay Brian's way through school.  I should not be complaining nor should I go one day without realizing how blessed I really am.

Thank you God for the sweet reminders and speaking to my heart about the everyday.