this little piggy

Is anyone else feeling like the swine flu is starting to be like the weather, it is all we talk about when we don't know what else to say?

I mean, poor piggies got a bad wrap out of the deal but I do know that prevention is key so at work we have been a LITTLE obsessed with this:

I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday at home, in bed, with a bit of a bug that I think I slept off. I'm hoping there is no return to it but this is what the first part of the week looked like....
drinking this:

eating this:

him cuddled by my feet...NOT with a stuffed animal as seen below

weekend run down

that's right twitter style again. I know you are wondering why I don't just get an account and give you a play by play daily. In a moment of weakness I tried to do just that but since I closed my account over 6 months ago, I am locked out. Or maybe I lucked out because I fear I may struggle with boundaries there. Here it is, for nothing more than my own personal joy:

Friday night:
-@redbox and happy I reserved The Proposal online first
-forget the frozen pizza, hubby says we are going to pick up Wolfies and somehow Starbucks Java chip ended up coming home with us too.
-in bed by 10:30 and happy to be there!

Saturday:
-up by 7 to get a start on the day and do my Explore the Story reading on the treadmill at the local gym
-rushed to coffee with my girlfriends from @FBHS, why do I struggle to be on time so much?! Left there to run to Meijer & then back home before the couple's baby shower
-hubby took one for the team by eating jars of baby food while blindfolded; was on standby with a big bucket while he tasted peas, squash, ham & gravy. yikes
-jam session on the way to David Crowder Band and grabbed Quizno's on the drive. Not holding to the restaurant budget too well this weekend, but at least we used coupons!
-Got to the concert early to get good seats, only to find that they are assigned...and we were in the 3rd row! Decided that when the Lord returns, I want to be at a David Crowder show singing "You are my Joy" or something of the like.

Sunday:
-EARLY morning to set up breakfast for the high school session that Ryan taught this morning from 8:30-noon. Was so proud of his passion for who God is and the way he is loving on high schoolers.
-took a FULL out nap in my church clothes and then realized that I had dog hair all over my new black sweater dress...but it is from Meijer so I machine washed it this afternoon
-bummed around and watched the latest episode of GLEE on Hulu.
-ended the night with youth group, hanging out with 50 of our favorite high schoolers, including a leader's skit involving a sword, a cat, a vegan, a human table & a waiter.
- a late night walk around Zeeland with the hubs and our pup, realized 1/2 mile in that my boots were not the most practical option but earned me some fall fashion points.

what? friday already!?

Rare are the weeks that Friday sneaks up on any of us, right? This has been one of those and I don't know where alot of the time went but I do know that I was more focused and productive than I have been in a LONG time. Including the 5 hour stint today taking in too much coffee at lemonjellos. I simply had to relocate to finish the EGM youth group directory because Thursday is my day to work at church and Laura is out of town this week so it was all me. So to avoid doing laundry, playing with Toby, and any other distractions I could find, that was my retreat.

I also had 2 really great Uppercase Living parties last night and tonight so between my regular job and all of this, plus maintaining some semblance of a social life, I am ready for Friday! I can't complain though, somehow all of the pieces seem to fall into place and I am really loving going into people's homes and helping them find just the right thing to decorate with. It has definately helped me increase my public speaking confidence as well, which I feel like is a skill that will never go to waste. Anyways, enough ramblings for tonight- looking forward to a weekend. Maybe Redbox will have The Proposal available. Give me some frozen pizza and this guy, I'm set.

haha. explanation here. This was last weekend at the Pumpernickel's Casual Cafe in Union Pier which carries Ryan's top favorite EVER gelato, toasted coconut. Like a kid in a candy store.

in less than a week....we are going to see him:

Perhaps an unlikely looking worship leader. But aren't we all treasures in jars of clay? I don't know any other band that continually leads me to a place of worship and understanding my relationship with God in light of normal everyday life like David Crowder's music does. That being said, this is our third DCB show in the past year so I think we both kind of like him. alot.

I invite you to check out the band's website at the link above for a preview of their music if you haven't heard them before. Here is a snippet of the lyrics of my current favorite:

OH HOW HE LOVES US:

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Pre-Chorus:
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Chorus 1:
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 2:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

fall adventures

I had been looking forward to our day away with Justin and Jamie ever since we planned it back in early September. Both Jamie and I are such planners that we usually have our respective vacations planned down to where we will eat dinner, visit, stay etc. But this day was reserved with conscious effort to go with the flow and that we did. We started with our local fave, @ The Diner in Zeeland for breakfast. Good local fare, everyone is always happy with their selection and since Ryan and dined at IHOP the night before on a whim for pumpkin pancakes, I started with staples, coffee and oatmeal.

From there, we headed south, using the Garmin and road signs as our guides. First stop, Crane's Orchard for some U-Pick Honeycrisps and the search for the perfect pumpkins. Ryan so spoke my love language when suggesting the perfect pumpkin/gourd combo to go on our front porch. (And I have my Welcome up so I will take a pic soon!) We hung out there for a bit, wandering up and down the rows, taking pics and apples.


My dear friend Jamie, who was one of my first friends at Evergreen when we started attending 5 years ago. We have been in various small groups together Ryan and I were engaged and began our married life, prayed with them as they anticipated the birth of their little cutie, Alexis, this spring and continue to value their friendship so much. If God does call us somewhere else in the next few years for Ryan's seminary years or even ministry in another place, I know they are "lifer" friends.

After Cranes, we spent the rest of the day adventuring Southwest Michigan and hit the following wineries:
Fenn Valley, Round Barn, Hickory Creek, Free Run, Karma Vista... I think that is all of them. Gorgeous views and lots of pit stops along the way where we saw God's creation in the trees and winding roads.

At one point in the day, we stumbled upon the Chocolate Garden with the creamiest, most delectable...and expensive truffles we have ever had. Ryan and I shared a 2-pack of dark chocolate coffee truffles. Oh my. Check them out if you are a chocolate lover and travel 94 between St. Joe & Chicago, you won't be disappointed.

We ended the day with a trip to the Stray Dog in New Buffalo for dinner and HAD TO partake in our tradition of ordering a stray dog as an appetizer. Let me break it down: a cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped, deep friend hot dog with caramelized onions and fries. Which without splitting 4 ways would nearly put you into cardiac arrest.

What a gift this day was, between Ryan's 21 hours, my balancing 3 part time jobs (sounds worse than it is), and striving to life in each day for what it has. It totally energized me for a new week and each time I pull into the driveway and see my new little pu'nkins, I will smile for sure.

I LOVE FALL. Can you tell by my obsessive mention of the pumpkin baking, the red tree, the necessity of gourds? All of it. We have had some awesome weekends with friends enjoying the traditions of fall and before I tell you in about this weekend's events, I have to go back a few weeks and tell you in pictures about when they came:

We were so excited because it was the big ArtPrize opening weekend that I wrote about here and even though they are the type of friends that you can stay in your comfy clothes and drink coffee all day with, we wanted to share the adventures of our city. We spent the day Saturday downtown checking out a bunch of different venues and made our 2nd trip to Hopcat



I think my hubby was inspired...this was his artsy pic of the day of muah.

thoughts from today

Today was one of the most focused days that I have had in I dare say a long time. My head is quite regularly full of thoughts flowing in and out like rivers, which leads to sticky notes and action items and reminders. Today was marked out for something different and my mind and my heart were able to put a halt on the influx of information for the occasion. We had a staff retreat off site and it felt so good to sit with the team and intentionally process the vision and calling God has for us, in our work and in our own individual walks. The day also included some great coffee and delicious Italian food from here. which never hurts.Lucky me that I get to be with these people 3 days a week:


PS: there is the most gorgeous red tree with fire red leaves on my drive to work that reminds me of a chapter in Cold Tangerines (my standing favorite book by Shauna Niequist) that you can indulge in at this site

Recessionista

I was reading an article online that discussed Hope College & campus slang from current day back to 50 years ago and it cracked me up. I have to agree that part of campus life comes new verbage and some of the
things that I remember from our days at TU were that everything was “random” and people who were really great were deemed “quality” by our definition. Anyone else, any other throwback terminology you want to get nostalgic about?

One of the terms they listed in the Holland Sentinel article was “Recessionista”

A Recessionista is a fashionista who clips coupons; she looks good but she got it on sale. love it. That is my shopping mantra this fall on a new and improved budget to incorporate tuition into our cash flow. Here is what this Recessionista is loving this fall.

Scarves- again, really? Yes! I just can't seem to stay away from them and have already started obsessively wearing my orange scarf from last year' trip to India because it is all things fall and makes me happy.

Bubble Rings! My sister-in-law Rochelle is so talented and this is her latest creation. Check out more of her jewelry here (or on me because she lets me be a walking sales girl for her goods.

Dark nail polish-which my friend Michelle pulls off really well and I think I may have to indulge in it soon. Here it is on Fergie Ferg- she is a fashionista and I seem to continue to be drawn into the beats of Black Eyed Peas again this fall. Heard his rendition of their latest last night and the song will never be the same.

Cleaning up messes

I cried today over spilled coffee and after rinsing it held my sweater out the window all the way to church to dry it out. How funny that must have looked to the other cars, my purple v-neck flapping in the wind. It just felt like that kind of morning, messy. Until I was reminded. Reminded that I have a choice, to engage in the mess, or to give the mess up.

Talking about more than my shirt at this point. This week started a year-long journey we are going through as an entire church to read the Bible (check it out here). The whole story, from beginning to end. So here we sit at the beginning and I realized this morning how much like Eve I am; like we all are. We want more, whether it be more wisdom, more beauty, more things. We want more and the ironic thing is, the pursuit of more leaves us hungry, shivering and afraid.

But instead of leaving us alone, God stepped in to the garden to clean up the mess of fallenness and promised His Son. And even though there are so many apples that seem to fall right into my path, pulling me away, I am learning that they don't sustain and fill the way the Word can. It's awesome that our community is walking this journey through the Bible together, because I need more of this story in my life, to remind me that I don't have to try to clean it all up on my own and come up with solutions like being good and trying to learn acceptance. It's already mine.

Ryan has been reminding me of this lately, when he hears the things that I say and the way I process certain areas of my life. I'm really thankful for the work God is doing in his life, because it is giving me a better understanding daily what it means to want the things God has for us as part of His story, rather than just rushing back to the tree, even to just sit and look at it longingly. So thanks God for today, for your sustenance and for a husband who loves me enough to tell me what to eat.

the joy of a skyline

I started my morning early today. And those who know me know that is a good thing. But on these rainy and dark mornings, even I, O’lover of morning have to admit that it is stinkin’ hard to get myself rolling. As I drove the 20 minutes to meet a friend for breakfast on the other side of town, I was in the morning zone, concentrated on getting there and anticipating caffeine.

We enjoyed our time together and had a good opportunity to connect, which I am finding in relationships is worth getting up early for, or squeezing in a 30 minute walk, because people are BUSY. Another topic for another day. To my point though; as I drove towards work on the highway, the way I used to take into work when I was living at home in those brief months between college and marriage, I remembered what I loved about that commute. If you hit it just right, there is a beautiful dawning taking place as the sun begins to rise and even the hills and industrial skyline of little old Zeeland sparkle.

I can’t describe why it was so beautiful to me this morning but it felt like a little shot of joy plugged into the day, even before 8 a.m. I arrived at work, humored by God and the way that He surprises me with his beauty in our lives, if we only look for it. So today, even in the skyline there was joy to be had.

throwing off hinderances

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let me start by saying that I am so priviledged to be back hanging out with high school students because I come away so blessed and challenged EVERY time. Our theme this year is "Amazing Race" and to begin, we are taking inventory on where we at in our race; going up a hill? at a water stand? bending over to tie our shoe for the 10th time because we are lazy and don't want to push through a side ache?

Our theme verse of this year is Hebrews 12:1-2 and tonight we honed in on the verses about the sin that so easily entangles us, slowing us down on our race to the prize. It is like we carry sin around like bricks on our backs, weighing us down and keeping us from running hard.

Laura had actually taken a stack of bricks, written different sins on them: envy, lust, lying, rage, cheating. etc. & asked a student to pack his backpack with the bricks that he believes he is carrying as we all thought about what our bricks are. I was so struck by the simple picture when he then unpacked his bag and laid those bricks at the foot of the cross, lightening his load and allowing him to freely live. How come I want to pick those bricks back up and carry them when I can leave them there?

This week caused me a lot of self reflection after realizing that alot of the process through this time of transition for Ryan and I has been going on in my head and not in community. I hurt a dear friend by my lack of transparency this week and by trying to manage my load on my own. In realizing it, I practiced alot of unloading of the backpack daily this week, sometimes over the SAME issues of envy, control, gossip, but truly trusting that I cannot carry them on my own. None of us can.
What are your bricks? Give them to the cross and together lets be amazed at the journey He takes us on.

Psalm 119:32
I run the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free

currently obsessed with..

the phenomenon of the REDBOX


You mean, I can just drive up to Walgreen's door or casually stop by after finishing my grocery shopping at Meijer (already a good enough thing in itself) and pick up a movie? Without painfully pacing the aisles, debating a drama or a comedy in open air for all to observe while Ryan & I debate who picked last time...amazing!

I'm not sure how it began but I do know that we have realized that the new budget program with life as a full time student allows for different types of entertainment and that we can rent 20 redboxes for the movie & popcorn that we were going to see tonight. So happily, to the joyful little Redbox we went tonight for a date night in and all are happy because we can wear our pjs and eat fresh out of the oven oatmeal cookies in bed with our $1.06 movie.

Have you tried the box? :)