New Beginning

It looks like my thirty day challenge sort of went by the wayside. I just wasn't around much over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I wasn't on the computer much when I was. I think I'll modify my original challenge, and rather than a post every day for thirty days, I'll use Roaming Chile's suggestion and make it three or four times a week instead for say, ten weeks, and see how that goes. That will help me out a lot on the days where I have extra meetings, or if I am studying, or preaching or something, and can't squeeze everything in.

It would be silly to add stress to my life right now. It would be silly to add stress to my life at all, especially something self-inflicted, and as totally avoidable as this. I am already having a bit of a hard time managing things some days, why would I add something more? It would make me dread blogging. That would be absolutely counter productive. I want to blog for fun as much as anything, and it wasn't feeling like fun to me anymore. So allow me to back up and take a deep breath and start over.

3... 2... 1...

On that note, I would like to say that Thanksgiving 2009 was wonderful! My husband had a few extra days off and we spent Thanksgiving day with the family out at the 'big house'. We had food, food, and more food! It was a long, leisurely, lazy, and refreshing time, almost like a vacation for us. My mother in law, Judy, had the house fixed up so nice and pretty with fall colors and lights and candles that I just wanted to stay on and on. Everything was peaceful and calm. It seems like there's precious little of that in our day to day life, and I absorbed every wisp of it that I could while we were there. We talked for hours and had a great time. Even the kids enjoyed it without an x-box, and without arguing. That says a lot!

Judy still had leftovers from Thanksgiving, so she called and asked us to come back out for supper on Saturday. This was the second visit we got to have out there with the family this holiday. I almost said no, because I didn't want to put her to the trouble, but you know, she really liked having us, and I really wanted to go. So, go we did, and I'm glad. Once again we had a wonderful visit. Their house is so cozy and with the weather finally turning cool, and the leaves having fallen, it seemed like just the place to be. It seems like winter has been a long time coming this year. Maybe not, but I was ready for it. I love the cooler months.

My father in law, Jerry, built a fire outside in the fire pit on his front porch to just take the chill off a little. His fire pit looks sort of like the one I found a picture of and posted here. It's pretty. I really liked it. It kept us all mesmerized. Once the flames would die back a bit, we could still watch the fire through the cut-outs in the sides. We sat and stared into it, and out across the valley for a long time, hours probably, until the wind started to blow too cold to enjoy it any longer. We actually got a rare, and pretty decent cloud burst later on into the evening. I can't resist rain any better than I can fire, so I went back outside. Next thing you know I had another log or two in the fire and my husband came back out to sit with me and stare into it with me some more. Before we were done, grampa was back, too. We probably shouldn't have stayed out so long. Grampa told us later that it was way up into the night before his legs ever warmed back up.

Granny, who might have used her smarts a little more than the rest of us, stayed in with the coffee. When we all went back inside, we found she'd saved us a cup or two, and we sat and talked and laughed together. We've really had a good time going out there lately and hesitate to leave when the time comes. If you're reading this, granny and grampa, thanks a bunch! We love you both.

"Oh Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!" ~ William Shakespeare

So, Thanksgiving has passed for 2009, and we're heading into what is going to be a very different Christmas season for us. I will attempt to post throughout the season about the things we're doing and not doing this year. Change comes hard for me during a time of such traditions. I'm sure it will be good... different, but good. Maybe this is where some new traditions will begin. Through it all I want the focus to be on Jesus. I want to be mindful of His presence, and to be a light for Him in a place and time where most would forget Him.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." ~ Joshua 24:15

Be blessed this Christmas season. Be a blessing.

Good night. See you soon.

How Boring Can I Be?

Committing to blog every day is a decent idea, and a noble attempt at, um... something. I forget what it was. Something to do with practicing writing. That would be fine if there was anything noteworthy to write about, I guess. I'm going to have to be more active and interesting for the next month just so I can have something to write about every day. It might help if I remembered to get in here and write before midnight.

My day today? I did my laundry and tidied up a bit. I'd post a recipe of my dinner for the day, but it was oven pizza. I'd like to say please stay tuned, things will be more exciting tomorrow, but all I'm doing is a staff meeting and one last quick trip to the grocery store before Thanksgiving.

Hmmm... Four days in and I'm beginning to realize what a dull writer I am. I guess I should take the craft more seriously. Feel the moment. Be the laundry.

Peering through the dusty beams of sunlight streaming in through the back door glass, I considered the neatly folded, brightly colored piles of freshly laundered clothing standing side by side along the edge of the table, like a row of indian corn. Na, laundry is laundry.

I'm going to bed.

Sundays ar Great Around Here.

Today was a nice day. I got to hear two really great sermons this morning. Nothing unusual about that at my church, though. We are really blessed. I tell you, my pastors are the greatest! I feel like everyone else is just plain missing out, especially the local folks who don't attend my church and could. They just don't know what they're missing. kingmanfoursquare.com , people. It's available. Nothing is quite like being there, but take it where you can get it!

We had my husband's folks in for lunch. We've been spending more time together since they moved up here, and it's been really great, I think. It seems like we're making up for lost time. We're going to be joining them for Thanksgiving out at their house this year, too. For most of our married life we've lived away from family and spent a lot of our holidays with just us, no extended family, so this is really exciting. I'm planning on a long, lazy day and an evening of leftoverture and maybe a movie.

Then this evening, back to church. I preached tonight. I'm not real pleased with the way it went this time, actually. It felt a little disjointed, but I think I pulled it together in the end. I think I tend to over prepare, that's what my husband tells me, and that makes it difficult to connect all the points. I'm working on that, but it's tough. I almost always try to cram too much into one message. My son liked it, though. That was encouraging. I'd like to just ask my pastors out right, but I don't want to look like I'm fishing for compliments, or seem insecure. Actually, I just want them to tell me where it needs work. If I'm going to learn someone has to correct me.

Now, we're home, and I'm just about pooped out. I think I'll hit the hay early tonight. Tomorrow starts a new week and I'd like to get a fresh start, a better start than I had to the last one.

Forgetful Day

I almost forgot I was blogging again! I make a fresh commitment, and almost blow it within the first twenty four hours.

It sort of fits into everything else I've done in the past few days. I have forgotten a lot of things. It seems like about half of what I've started this week I left unfinished. I'd be doing something, get sidetracked and start something else, and totally forget to come back and finish what I was doing initially. I've been busy all week, but I can't really pin point any one thing I've done.

I forgot to wish an old friend a happy birthday. Perhaps I shouldn't say 'old' and 'birthday' to my friend all in one sentence, especially since we're the same age. After many years, I re-established contact with her on Facebook. Facebook actually is good for something, it would seem. She is a dear friend from high school and I knew her birthday was coming up soon. I've thought of her every year on her birthday for over thirty years, and I was determined to wish her a happy one now that I could! Slick forgot.

I forgot to turn the fire off under my iron pan and smoked the house up. I forgot to pay two bills. I forgot to take some ingredients for a holiday dinner to the church where I was preparing it. I forgot and actually left the water running in the kitchen for about five minutes. I forgot where I laid nearly everything I picked up. I forgot to record a TV show I like. i forgot my sunglasses... on my head. I forgot to buy coffee. COFFEE!!! I don't forget coffee!

So this is the week I committed to post a blog a day. Maybe the fact that I actually remembered before the day was out means that I've broken the forgetful streak and can move on. New commitments require some discipline, and retraining your mind is a part of it. It could be the hardest part, I think. I'm good at follow through once my mind is made up, though, so onward with the training.

Fine! I'll Do It!

I have a very dear friend who is constantly challenging herself. She knows she is capable of more than she is doing, so she is constantly expanding her horizons and doing new things. She really is an inspiration to me, because when I look at her and her attitude, her lifestyle, all of a sudden I know I really don't have any excuses for procrastinating. She's a wife and a mother of a whole passel of young 'uns, a housekeeper, gardener, teacher, singer/songwriter, blogger, drummer, chief cook and bottle washer, with her fingers in a few other pies, and does all that and then some while contending with several severe health issues.

In the light of all of that, how can I look at my life and make excuses for not following through on little things that she and I have talked about because I've had a long day, or I'm in a bad mood or some such thing. I can't. I've tried. I have ignored her for weeks on end sometimes, but she's just so darn pushy, and level headed and inspiring like that! I need that kind of inspiration sometimes when life is too busy, or boring, or disorganized.

One of those things we frequently talk about is blogging. Not a big thing. I was trying to develop a habit of blogging, just to practice and hopefully improve at writing. It's not as though anyone is sitting on the edge of their seat awaiting my next post, or like my life is so exciting that I need to record it for future generations, at least not at this point, but it was something that I enjoyed doing. You never know, maybe something I write will benefit someone down the road, even if it's only me.

But, I have gotten so lazy about blogging. I had to adjust my schedule some time back, and I just lost my rhythm, I guess. I never got back into it or made a place for it in my life like I intended to. It's an easy thing to fall away from something and make excuses to put it off a little longer. So she challenged me to start again. Of course she took up that challenge herself, and decided to post one blog every day for thirty days. Well, I'm going to take up your challenge, Loretta. One entry every day for thirty days. I don't feel ready for this, but I probably wont until I get started, so I am just going to jump in. No rhyme or reason, no theme or flow in the works, just daily entries. I may bore my friends to pieces, but I'm just going to do it anyway.