81-100

(I'm going to try again to do these on Mondays.  We shall see.)

81. A long, slow Saturday afternoon.  It was actually restful, refreshing, and it slipped off into night leaving me more ready to face Monday than I have been in a while.  A good Sabbath.

82. My brother Zach, man and Marine-in-the-making, prayed for and farewelled and boldly gone off to boot camp yesterday after church.

83. Sandwiches, especially on Hawaiian buns.

84. A mother and a brother to make sandwiches for.

85.  A "little" brother (age 16, taller than me) who's neither ashamed or too busy to meet his sister (me) at Barnes and Nobles to quietly sip stuff and read our respective books in companionable silence

86.  The nearness of fall, announced by slightly-cooler weather.

87.  Books by Charles Dickens, like Dombey and Son.  Somber.  Moody.  Autumnal. Understatedly humorous. Filled with great moral depth, and the comforting knowledge that Dickens will probably let some of the good characters end happily.  Way better and more wholesome than Twilight, but with plenty of bleakness to satisfy those of us who go in for melancholy and darkness-with-light-peeping-through-the-cracks sorts of tales.

88.  Loreena McKennitt's music - also autumnal.

89.  Well-kneeded bread dough, after several rises, a smooth lump of elasticity.

90.  Energy to make bread again. 

91.  The smell of fresh bread - pitas, which all puffed up nice and plump.
 

92.  The spicy-sweet smoked aroma of bacon frying in a pan.

93.  AWANA starting up again this Wednesday - I miss my 5-6 grade girls!  I also miss the games, songs, council time, memorizing the Word, and hanging out with different members of my church family.

94.  The fact that my mom and some other ladies are about to study the same book my Bible Study group just finished.  It was a really good one, so I'm excited for her.  :-)

95.  A warm sun - a cold sun would be so disappointing, wouldn't it?

96.  Our six warm little chicks.

98.  Vanilla Chi tea.

99.  A reminder to not be obsessed with my service, but rather with who I am in Christ.

100.  The unending love of my Savior, and the treasures in heaven He calls me to lay up.  Because most things on my lists, blessings though they be, are only fleetingly mine.  I'm glad to know that if I became a penniless beggar on the street tomorrow, I would be just as rich as ever in the things which matter.

Guess what we got?

Little Grey says hello. 

Rambles from a borrowed basement

Here I am, sitting on the floor of a lovely homeschooling family's basement, where Sarah and Catie (sisters of the groom) and I are staying.  Another young lady (Courtney) is over practicing violin duets with Sarah for the wedding.  They're both great musicians.  Ah, I love homemade music :-). 

In midst of listening to Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, I was over on the YLCF, reading some excellent reposted articles for single ladies on love and trusting God.  Excellent stuff, about beauty, expectations vs. ideals, patience, and God's perfect faithfulness to give us the "no"s that will actually turn out to our greater joy. 

Good stuff.  I am so weak, but He is strong.

The fact of the matter is that the only way to true peace with regard to our future mate is by way of an age-old path called surrender. In fact, it’s the only way to true peace about anything. And the more comfortable we are with that idea, I believe, the happier we are in this life. We sometimes think of surrender as a last resort, an arms-folded acceptance of an unpleasant situation, rather than the gateway to all the delights our Father’s blessing and joy. 
~ Lanier ~

Surrender.  Not mournful, but eagerly expecting good things from  my Father.  That's what I need and am praying for. 

In other news, my brother Sam (the best man... in many ways, thinks this adoring sister ;-) ) drove down last night from Iowa- hurrah!  Dear quiet Sam, friends with jolly Aaron since they were nine years old.  I still haven't seen him yet - he's hanging out with the bride's family, and Joy and Aaron (or "Jaron," as the about-to-become-one-person is being affectionately called, hehe!)  It's funny seeing the confused wildness that happens even with a small wedding, with friends coming from all over, and families galore, and pennies pinched and rehearsal dinners hand-decorated....

"The brisket in the borrowed freezer needs to come out to thaw!"

"Don't forget the black pants!"

(playing with kids at the park) "Wait, Ethan, you probably shouldn't be eating sand."

"Ellie, you like gnawing that lotion bottle, don't you?"

"Emmie, how did you manage to fall down again?" 

"Can you add something to the lists for Wal-Mart and Sam's?"

It hasn't been all stress, though.  Not with these folks. :-)  Earlier we three "big girls" did have time to play with the littles in water.  It was an amazing fountain at the park, designed flat and slanting into drains, so it barely holds water. But it shoots out these sporadic streams of water, so the adventure is to run through and try to not get wet...  A few of us didn't dodge in time, but then, getting splashed is fun too. ;-)

Farmington is lovely.  It's a pretty little edge-of-the-mountains sort of town, with enough hills to be pretty but not block the huge sky.We listened to the new Andrew Peterson CD about five times driving up from Albuquerque, across the rolling hills, and last night in the pouring rain as we drove around town running errands.

This is a very odd post.  But ah well.  :-)  I think we're about to head off to the next thing soon, so I should wrap this up.  Dress rehearsal this afternoon, then the rehearsal dinner, then tomorrow the two giddiest people in the world will share their first kiss and head off to their secret honeymoon destination "somewhere in Colorado."

They're about to go dancing in the minefield, and sailing in the storm.  :-)  May the Lord bless their new family with greater things than they can imagine.

(picture added August 24, 2010)

Thankful Thursday 71-80

"Now we're counting stars and counting sand,
little feet and little hands
we're counting joys"
~Andrew Peterson

71 - Andrew Peterson's article on Boundless: Buried Treasure: The Adventure of Staying Put

72 - Coffee in airports

73 - Not having to drive Wednesday (good, because I got a dangerously small amount of sleep)

74 - Airplanes - almost as exciting as dragons

75 - Some four-year-old children at the airport, who were as thrilled about the grasshoppers on the window ledge as they were about watching the airplanes.   They might as well have seen fairies; they couldn't have been more enthralled and exclamatory.

76.  Headaches... because at least it means I still have a head. :-)

77.  A God more exciting, and more trustworthy, than an airplane - He takes us on wilder, more dangerous rides, but He is even more worthy of trust than a huge metal bird with a human pilot.

78.  Friends who rescued me from my vigil at the Albuquerque airport.

79.  Driving through northern New Mexico - rain and rolling hills, mountains and cloud-shadowed sky, and Andrew Peterson singing about family and marriage and God's love and nearness and justice in our darkest hours.

80.  Little bitties - Ethan of the happy face and ever-protruding tongue,  Ellie all plump and keen-eyed and serious.  Ellie granted me more smiles than I expected, since last I saw them she was fussy, and Ethan was the happy fellow.  I guess she likes me. :-)  And Emmie the cheerfullest 3-year-old I know.

Thankful Thursday (51 - 70)

Busy days!  Edit and writing work, cleaning out our utility room, listening to Andrew Peterson's first fantasy tale, going to ladies' Bible study, eating too much ice cream, drinking too much tea... not blogging enough, but working to record the blessings, still.  Because God is good apart from circumstances, but even in this world He doesn't leave us without abundant hints of His bountiful goodness.

(Oh, an update:  For anyone who was wondering, I didn't quite finish the Boundless Summer Challenge.  Maybe next year.  The last week got me  - I got behind on the writing part, and then life grew too crazy.  But it was an amazing experience, and I hope to go back before too long and finish the last few Tasks.  I got so much out of the ones I did, and hope I keep doing things like them!)

Here we go.   This is too fun!  :-) 

51. The big West Texas sky

52.  Signs

53.  Psalm 139

54.  Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith" on piano

55.  Air conditioning


56.  Stamps, handwritten silly note, an octopus card

57.  A friend's birthday dinner of sandwiches, "special" sauce, and laughter

58.  Rain seen from a cozy deli, pattering on cars, trying to blow open the stained-glass and wood door 

59.  A mother who loves history

60.  Church history, and people who love reading about it

61.  Too much laughter, when everyone needed it

62.  Guacamole

63.  My dear friend Sarah C.'s kindness and wisdom and friendship

64.  The smell of rain in the air which greeted me as I walked out of HEB, arms loaded with produce :-)

65.  Rain when the sun's shining

66.  The tall candle on Cheryl B's kitchen table that had melted crookedly... tilting sideways, as Sarah M said, "like a sunflower reaching for the sun."  We pointed the stretching wick towards the window, and I think we were both solemnly happy for its effort. 

67.  The art and joy of reading aloud, and being read aloud to. 

68.  Air conditioning  ... oops, I put this twice.  Air conditioning more than one day in a row, then! :-)

69.  A little brother who gives me rides when I ask, in the glorious and ancient white monster.

70.  A God who is way bigger than all the "What if"s and "If only"s I could ever come up with. :-)