oh tan-in-bomb.

Fast Forward

It's crazy to think about all that has happened since my last post...hmm...

-Almost an entire month has flown by.

-We had our first gorgeous snow fall on a Friday (my day off)...so I was able to spend the morning eating chocolate chip pancakes while watching the snow fall outside my window. amazing.

-I had dinner with Kelly and was able to celebrate her engagement. Thinking about discussing which days will be "laundry days" with my fiancee...so far away (and that's okay).

-Saw an amazing musical at a little Lutheran school in the cities followed by an even more amazing dinner.

-The most incredible Thanksgiving weekend ever--surprising my entire family (minus my brother) by arriving at 10pm instead of 3am. an exciting, giddy, and somewhat if not totally life-changing drive to St. Louis. laughing until it hurts. reading about how tickling = sex with my cousins(the cousins who are my age...not the little ones) and brother--hilarious. getting to know my crazy little cousins who are growing up so much and so quickly. dwelling in a house buzzing with 25 people whom I love dearly and enjoying it all. sleeping on an uncomfortable cot next to my parents in the basement (like when I was little). waking up at 5am to go shopping and not really looking for anything in particular yet ending up with more than I could ask for. coffee with my favorite abi joy. planning trips to Italy. sitting down and talking with one of my all time favorite families. abi and i giggling with john and zach...it felt like we were little again and spending the night at the lessings on Elm in Broken Arrow after a mighty Bullets victory. i miss that family. grampa telling me that he'll miss me because i'm the "only one who listens" when he teases them. haha. driving home with hope instead of in despair. being able to call my apartment home...for right now. ...

-getting home as quickly as possible to put up my Christmas tree...felt like it took forever. shopping for ornaments for my very own tree, stringing cranberries and popcorn for 4.5 million hours and ending up with a strand that covers only 1/3 of the tree (and deciding that 1/3 of the tree is almost the whole tree, right?). enjoying every little second while drinking Izzy's grapefruit "soda pop." enjoying church. the perfect Sunday afternoon. surviving the first Christmas program practice with no casualties...or at least not many.

-hope and excitement for the future...but willing to bask in the present little moments that "were made for worshipping" and "thanking God that I'm alive." (Steven Curtis Chapman)

-i pray that you have family/friends whom you can love and who will love you indeffinately.  Merry Christmas (it's after Thanksgiving, so I'm allowed to say that) and may God's richest blessings wash over you and bathe you in His love and comfort. 

Life is officially crazy. ...  I don't know that I even have words to explain it all...but, I'll try with little snippets of the past couple of weeks.

-Beauty in people of all ages and all circumstances.

-Decidedly single.

-A most amazing weekend in the Cities...shopping with some of my favorite people. Dinner at Bubba Gump's--splitting a meal with Linds and discussing how nice dinners at favorite restaurants with reservations are not dates.  Then getting freaked out and nervous.

-It wasn't a date.  However, the evening was unexpectedly wonderful.  Bitter sweet.

-Pam finally smiling after losing her 25 year old daughter a few months ago.

-Helping the mechanic fix my car...yeah right...okay, so I watched him as he showed me how to fix my car.  Looking into a future of mechanic ministry (another words I think it would be fun to be a mechanic). 

-Fixing and enjoying a fabulous dinner for one.  I didn't even get sick afterwords or anything! 

-Looking forward to my date with Kelly this weekend. 

-Thanksgiving is getting closer! 

Have a great rest of the week and God's richest blessings. ... Will try to have a more meaningful entry next time. 

silver lining

There's a piece of heaven somewhere between here and LaCrosse (don't have the exact location)...

I was distracted by numerous thoughts that were swirling in my head all at once while driving the normal weekend drive...
-thinking about the e-mail that I had just received from a dear pen-pal and
  new friend; he had mentioned that he was going out for sushi this weekend...
-this got me thinking about all of the associations I have with sushi (random
  and silly, I know)...trendy places in the cities with some of my favorite CSP
  people--it's our yearly tradition to go out for sushi at the end of the year (for
  StAC and Jesse explains to all of us what we are about to eat and how to eat
  it...it's a very fun experience...much more enjoyable on the ground sitting on
  pillows)...then there's sushi in Tulsa...
-this caused me to think about how amazing it is to have friends that don't
  mind when you completely break down because of a conversation that the
  family in the next booth over is having...this young girl was about to celebrate
  her 10th birthday; she and her father were sitting alone together and he was
  asking her if she was excited and that he couldn't believe she was going to be
  10 years old already...this was the same week as my 21st birthday and for
  some reason it all hit me at once...that I was no longer 9 going on 16, but 21
  going on all grown up.  thank you, Lord, for amazing friends...and for the
  most amazing family (that i take for granted all too often)
-this thought strung to another...how important dad's are and how every little
  girl needs a daddy to think she's as precious as a princess and every little boy
  needs a daddy to be proud of him and teach him how to be a man.  it
  breaksmy heart to think about how many little boys and girls are lacking
  sufficient earthly dads...good thing we have hope and comfort in a most
  wonderful Abba.
-my long string of thoughts was interrupted by my phone ringing...and then as i
  was getting off of the phone i looked around...
-noticing all of the beautiful rolling hills with their deep autumn dress, sprinkled
  with horses, cows, and sheep. 
-then, as i cleared THE HILL (it has a name, but i forget)--you can see a lot of 
  LaCrosse from the hill--the light from the sun streamed through sections of the 
  clouds and gave light to their silver lining...dancing color into an otherwise 
  bleak canvas of clouds.  how beautiful is the God who graces us with His 
  eternal presence.  call me crazy, but i fully believe that He does this display at 
  times when I need his reassurance most...such as when i drove up to wisconsin, 
  leaving behind the people who mean the most to me.  He was there.
-I have never seen such a display...so simple and yet so majestic...it seemed like
  a painting or some scientifically engineered scene from a movie done with
  visual arts and such...lighting up only certain sections of trees--much like the
  retouched black and white pictures where the women have their cheeks
  colored in. beautiful. breathtaking. amazing.

blessings and much love.

Shadow the puppy

Attendance card from church yesterday: 
Children attending church: Katelyn, Shadow (my puppy)

This made me smile for quite a while and then again every time I reread it.  I love moments like this...as little as they may be...they brighten up a somewhat dreary day. 

Thank you, Lord, for the little moments.

Thanks also for amazing days off!  Friday and Saturday:
-Roadtrip to Milwaukee (a wonderful drive)
-Phone call from PW just as I realize that I'm lost while trying to find his office...
-Finding the district office
-2 hour lunch with my favorite District President (the service was soooo
  sloooow)...but at least we had good company.
-rerealizing how much I miss that guy (I rerealize this every time I see him)
-getting the dad look
-PW trying to convince me to consider dating one of his colleagues....GROSS...i
  think he was kidding...i hope so!
-Cedarburg (soooo CUTE....there are approx. 30 houses that I would love to live
  in)
-Concordia Wisconsin...Lake Michigan...beautiful.
-TGI Friday's --hay hay haaay (officially making it mine and Skippy's "spot")
-Brat and Senor Luna....and Skippy talking about his surgery as the whole place
  gets quiet...hahahaha!
-Breakfast and coffee
-Happy birthday to my mother dearest!
-Getting back to Tomah with a little bit of time to relax

I hope that you had a marvelous weekend and that God guides and blesses your every moment and every breath.  Blessings on your week...I know mine will be great!!