Weekend date

Beautiful sunrise...rest...time in God's Word...conversation...time together to recalibrate...just what we needed to do!

We used a gift card for dinner out at a new experience.  It was definitely interesting, yet not our favorite.

The sunset was gorgeous!  True love is a stop at Menards for fire starters, job needs, and sweets.

My love...caring for all the needs of family and job.

A perfect end to the day!

In the quiet and stillness of the evening...my heart is grateful for all God has done and is doing.  We do not know all His plans, but we were reminded to make room for Him to write His story.  For each of us, the process looks different as God works in our lives.  
 

A cold weekend

Saturday tv shows are always fun!  A trip down memory lane with Laurel and Hardy moving the piano!

Catching some cuddles between the duties of getting ready for company.

Our home smelled wonderful all day Saturday as Ted smoked pork butt and some sides for supper with friends.

I think it was the best smoke job yet!  The quiet first bites around the table affirmed that thought!

It is fun to share like hobbies!  Teddy's Christmas gift to his Dad came in handy too!

"Look at the bark on that!"  

After the goodbyes, clean up, and dying embers in the fireplace...the quiet settled in with a peaceful stillness and contentment.

In the not so silent night...all was calm and bright...with swirling, blowing snow!  The cold has settled over our state!

A yummy treat for Sunday lunch....Krusteaz cinnamon cake with a scoop of vanilla!

A beautiful day...the sun...FINALLY!

We enjoyed our small group gathering and then the Lions football game with friends.  We are old...we left at half time so Ted could get ready for his busy week that started very early this morning.  We fell asleep just as the Lions won by 1 point!
 

January happenings

We found the cause for the leak!  A corroded faucet.  I am so thankful for guys who have been trained to do all the hands-on trades!  And it is a blessing when they actually know what they are doing...as it is a big help to my husband.

I thought this was interesting to see on the wall of the office we were at on Friday!  As we left the office, the snow started to fly and got progressively worse for the evening commute.  It took Alisa an hour to get home and Ted used four wheel drive the whole way home from Inkster for two hours (usually a 37 minute trip!).

Alisa worked out some of her nerves from driving by shoveling the front walk.

Warm cuddles after time outside and then...tada...finally finished the puzzle!  Well...almost...see top right...we are missing one piece!  I can't be sure if we lost the piece or if it didn't come n the box.

 

I am watching the robins in our trees this wintry morning and listening to music.

It is a very cold morning here in Michigan.  Our flowering trees still have the berries on them and the birds come through the fall and winter and pick them clean.  I noticed their heavier feather coats as I listen to their chirps.  I watch my family maneuver into the new week dealing with the winter weather in various ways and I ask God to watch over and protect them as tears stream down my face.

I know God already sees the needs.  I feel so small and insignificant to ask for His protection, but He tells us to ask in faith believing.  He loves us so.  He wants us to come to Him in our weakness with our needs.  I don't know the when, how, what, where, or how...but I'll trust.  This weekend was filled with times of serving and encouraging others in seemingly small ways.  As I sit this morning, I believe it was me who needed the reminders that came in the serving and encouraging.  And so in the warm, quiet of our home, I am spending time in thinking, praying, and thanking God for who He is and what He has done, is doing, and will do.  As I watched the robins, I am reminded that God supplies for His creatures in each season of life.  Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes the clouds move in to hide the sun, but the birds still fly and sing as they look for their daily food.  There is effort in living life.  There are uncomfortable situations and circumstances...and we can look to the Heavenly Father to take care of us.

You Love Me Still
by Sisters

VERSE 1

At times my feet have wandered far away
From boundaries that have always kept me safe
Wherever I may go, Lord it's good to know
The love you have for me will never fade

CHORUS
You love me still, and that is so amazing
You love me still, forever and unfailing
Wherever I go, your grace will follow
Mercy today and more tomorrow
You always have, You always will
You love me still

VERSE 2
Sometimes it's hard for me to comprehend
The beauty of the grace I'm living in
No matter what do , whatever i go through
The Love you have for me will never end

Wherever I go your grace will follow
Mercy today and more tomorrow
You always have, you always will
You always have, you always will
You love me still , you love me still

You love me still, you love me still 

The little things that make up a week

The appliance saga continues!  An icemaker that was not working correctly got a visit from a repair guy.  A new part was ordered.  I am thankful that we can have an icemaker.

A yummy quiche!

One favorite part of the year...fires in the fireplace!

Snow came!  Sunday morning...a Dad showing love like he always does...quietly taking care of the things around our home and vehicles.  Made my eyes teary as I watched him.

He continued show love...by taking me out to dinner...and ordering dessert.  Not as good as the street ones in Mexico, but still yummy and a reminder of a fun time together!

The new part arrived and was installed!  Really, Frigidaire, 10 little ice cubes at a time?!  Are you kidding me?  Not impressed with this set up at all!

It is now a winter wonderland inside to match the upcoming winter weather of outside!  Christmas was put away and the snowmen came out.

I'm being reminded of the grace that God gives me each to do what He asks, and find rest in the moments of stillness.  I've heard of the use of our story this week to encourage a hurting heart.  As we look back, we both said, "Really?  That is why things happened as they did...so we can empathize in their situation?  I never would have guessed in that purpose!"

"Do justly...even when others do not.  Love mercy...even in hard to love situations.  Walk humbly...you never know what God is doing."  God uses the truth we have posted around in our home to gently remind me of His way every day.

An easy new recipe...chaffles!  Better than I expected!  BBQ chicken chaffle sandwiches for supper.
 

A new gadget

We have talked about it and debated it...and finally decided to try it.

I ran the start up test cook.

We did chicken quesadillas.  The second worked better than the first.  The first top tortilla got sucked up by the fan and started burning.  Great!  Learned to get it all stuck together and then later saw how people use one tortilla and fold over...ahhhh!  Smart!

Homemade applesauce in lefse coated with butter and cinnamon sugar...MMMM!  We got the air fryer to cook healthy meals...and all I want to try is appetizers and desserts!  We will not talk about the failed supper reheat of Wednesday.  I found out the hard way that it does cook much faster than I was prepared for...turkey pot pie without the flaky puffed pastry was a disappointment!  And so the learning of new things continues!
 

An update

Mom received a beautiful bouquet from a friend.  A pop of color that reminds me of the pop of energy that Mom has had!  A break from the harsh chemo and a time to build strength for the upcoming surgery on January 29.  They had a good appointment with the surgeon on January 3 and have a plan for the end of the month.  We continue to trust God to lead in all the details surrounding travel and surgery and recovery.
 

Happy New Year...2024

 

Love is also...

making recipes that your husband sees and wants to try!

making homemade pizza instead of ordering take-out.

making a turkey pot pie and yummy dessert for Sunday dinner.

 

Love is...

building a fire for your wife and spending the evening in the cozy comfort of it!  Happy New Year!
 

Flourishing

This was a little plant (kalanche) gifted to me by a teacher friend two years ago.  I have re-potted it twice now.  It sits on the bookshelf in our bedroom and is flourishing!  It has quadrupled in size as it gets the right amount of light in all seasons in this spot.  I usually water it every week, but it has had a couple times of no water when I was gone for a period of time.  The new growth continues even in the dry spells.  Likewise, even in the dry spells, we can continue to flourish as we seek His light.  I walk by and see this plant every day, and lately, it has been a reminder of how quiet moments and contentment help us flourish in our every day life.  No one else sees this plant...just Ted and I...and God.  This little plant has helped me focus on being grateful for these days in our life!  For the first time in ten years, I am not hustling and bustling about to get all caught up after the school and church Christmas schedules and work responsibilities to be ready for Christmas time with our family this year.  I have spent time doing a little here and there...and I have time to just sit and spend time in reflection with God and write down my thoughts.

  Our family theme for the year has been to "Make Room" for God to write His story in our lives.  I can look back and see how He has done that repeatedly, and He is still doing that!  I fight against the human instinct to critique and complain about the how, why, what,  and when of life.  I caught myself again this morning slipping into that mode.  I am not God.  He is working in all of our lives and it looks different for each of us.  I think I know...but in actuality...I do not know all of His plans or ways.  I begin to question and then I forget because I do not see His plans or ways right now.  

And then I saw this plant again this morning...sitting quietly...lifting its healthy, strong stems and leaves toward the light...freshly watered this week...and the blooms ready to open!  Another year of change for me...God continuing to write His story...only He knows the beginning from the end.  

And there is the thought again...in all the change and in the seemingly dry spells, I can flourish.  In everything I do, God expects me to flourish (growing or developing healthily or vigorously).  We tend to think that only acts of the big and showy are what demonstrate flourishing.   On the contrary!  I am seeing the flourishing in small and daily acts.  Big and showy are only short bursts that are not sustainable.  My internal health and maturing comes from daily spending time with God no matter the external circumstances. Flourishing does not depend on what others are doing around me.  Flourishing comes as a result of being planted (stable, fixed)  in the House of the Lord and serving in the areas that He brings to me.  The phrase "Bloom where you are planted." comes back to me.  I was blooming where I was planted when I was teaching.  God transplanted me this year.  I did not plant myself where I am right now, God did.  He has a  purpose in everything He does.  He has a purpose in this as well.  Plants do not tend themselves, yet they bloom in response to the care they are given and sometimes in spite of that care.  So I am finding myself in new opportunities and I am spending time to learn how to quietly care for the new circumstances.  Sometimes watering with tears to be honest, but knowing that I am flourishing in my time with God...because I have more time.  Time to help my husband and family.  Time to spend with others.  Time to be creative.

So I go back to Isaiah 26:3, He keeps me in perfect peace when my mind is stayed on Him and I trust in Him.  Nothing more nothing less.  

Psalm 92:13-15 remind me of the "Why?" in all of the changing and flourishing..."to shew that the Lord is upright, He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."  

Sometimes flourishing looks like my houseplant...quietly sitting in His light and soaking it all in so I am ready to share the truth that He is to be trusted in all things...and in all of the ups and downs of life...radiating a beauty of light in a world of darkness.

A flourishing plant...BLOOMS!

My word for 2024...

Flourish.