Yesterday I turned 47. I do feel a little older this year – I don’t really know why -maybe because I’m definitely closer to 50 than 40 now. But, I’ve realized that I have so much to be grateful for. I started listing things, and its really quite a list.

I know there are times when we have to remind ourselves to be grateful, when things are painful or just plain hard to keep going. But this is not one of those times for me. I’m blessed to overflowing – and so with a light heart I’m jotting them down. Maybe my list will spur you on towards a thankful heart too.

These things are not big and important by the world’s standards. not a chance. I don’t have a new house, fancy kitchen or fashionable fall wardrobe. But, my list is chalk-full of His goodness to me in simple, ordinary ways, that have become extraordinary to me.

1 Michael

2 Emily

3 Isaac

4 Mackenzie

5 & 6 My parents- Ken and Rose

7 &8 Michaels parents – Johnny and Ellavene

9 My sister (my life-long friend who can’t get rid of me)

10 All of my family and friends near and far- I can not count them all – they could have a list all their own!

11 Ollie & 12 Jojo

13 My home and especially our 14 new back deck

15 Night-time fire around our fire pit w s’mores

16 Peanut m&ms

17 My piano and 18 violin too

Fresh flowers – 19 purple snapdragons and 20 blue hydrangeas

21 A comfy bed

22 Fresh coffee with heavy cream

23 Working technology and especially my new laptop

24 Cozy blankets

25 Hummingbirds at the feeder

26 A fridge full of food – we’ve never had to go hungry.

27 My oven that faithfully bakes loaves of bread and cakes

28 Lunch with friends 

29 New friends at children’s choir 

30 My lemon sugar Himalayan candle from Ace hardware

31 Open windows and fall breeze

32 Cake

33 My forerunner

34 The maple in our front yard, turning red 

35 Hot chocolate

36 Sunshine 

37 My favorite mug 

38 Birthday cake- particularly the Monte Carlo from Federal Bake Shop and thumbprint cookies too!

39 Burt’s bees lip shimmer

40 Footie socks that keep my toes warm 

41 Homemade strawberry jam on toast

42 A new set of colorful felt tip pens

43 My Bible study girls

44 My favorite pocket Bible

45 Front porch mums

46 Trader Joe’s everything seasoning nut mix

47 Thoughtful birthday gifts, including new birthday sweaters, new tote, whisk attachment for my stand mixer, cookbook

48 Sunsets and 49 walks at Chester Frost Park

50 Audible books – my rescue from boredom while chauffeuring my people!

Thank you, Lord, for all of your precious gifts to me.

 

We’ve learned to enjoy life by just being together. no fancy soirees. no high-dollar gifts. just us. loving each other in the normal stuff. For richer, poorer, sick, well – all the days – grumpy or happy, good and not-so-good – we are in this together and that’s worth celebrating every day! So – here’s a bit of the good life this weekend…

a neighborhood walk with the girls.

flowers, because Michael knows I love them.

a trip to Home Depot, of course

a little work outdoors, because the weather was good

goodies from TJ’s, it’s the little things, right?

more flowers, for the front porch

chocolate dipped strawberries, a worthy splurge

pumpkin bread, by Mackenzie

a lovely evening out with friends

refreshed fire-pit (thanks to the help of Isaac and Mackenzie!), ready for friends and family

That’s it, folks! Keeping it simple over here and enjoying the gifts of life and love ! Here’s to many more years together.

Growing up I had a great grandmother who we called GG. We loved her dearly – her sense of humor, her determination, her cinnamon rolls, her love of family and her devotion to God. When we visited Iowa I slept in the front room with GG in her double bed where she accused me of nightly giving her the “Bonky-roll-stomp”. If you sat on her lap, she would tickle you and laugh and say, “You’d better sit still!” She was such a character – and I hope I take after her.

We would stay with her for several weeks in the summer – and we played endless games of “Memory” (with old maid cards) at her kitchen table, and we’d play “I spy” for literally hours. She made up a game called “hide the thimble” which we begged her to play over and over. Most importantly she got us “little boxes” of sugar cereal for breakfast. Our time with her was the best.

She had such a zest for life and absolutely the best laugh you ever heard! Just today I remembered one of her sayings- something I’d forgotten. She would say it regularly to us. “I love you more than tongue can tell!’ I believed her. When I think about it now, I realize that the love and devotion she had for all of us, was truly one of the best examples of God’s love for me.

There are so many verses in Scripture that remind me of His unspeakable love. How do I choose one to think about? Well, I’m going to share my favorite passage here, Ephesians 2:4-10:

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

and that makes me think of this old hymn:

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

My heart is so grateful for the earthly love that’s been given to me, from loved ones, like GG. But far surpassing it is this rich, deep, Love that I’ve come to know. It’s more than my brain can really understand. And its far more than my tongue can tell.

Thank you, Lord.

You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged very much lately. At all, really. for a long time actually. Life’s been CRAZY. See that? Its an all-caps kind of crazy life. Lots of learning and growing around here.

Wanna know something? I’ve missed writing words down to share. Not that I have a corner on the market with words to share that everyone needs to read – nope, not at all really. But, sometimes it feels good to tell somebody the things. I feel better when I tell the things.

You might be wondering what things.

I’d like to tell you about a song I’ve been listening to a lot. Its by Housefires. I hadn’t ever heard of them until a few weeks ago. I’m not sure I can even share a link to their music here, but I’ll try at the bottom.

The specific song I’m talking about is called “Jesus, What a Savior”. It is super simple; the words warm and soften my heart into a gooey mess (am I allowed to compare my heart to a hot-n-fresh chocolate chip cookie?) and I feel it all the way down to my toes.

I know when the Holy Spirit is meeting me in a song because He sings it in my ear on repeat and I CAN’T GET OVER IT. This one in particular moves me towards hope. Towards peace. That’s what happens with this song.

Titus 3:4-7. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Is there any love that is better than that?!?

I’m not sure why I’m so surprised when a song reminds me of Scripture and it moves me. But its absolutely refreshing and completely exciting to know the Holy Spirit is moving in my heart! That He is moving towards me…

The song is “Jesus What a Savior”…

So here’s the thing – He’s always using something, just like he promised, whispering truth to my heart. There is no love like His. This time, I’m really hearing it. And its way better than a fresh chocolate chip cookie.

In the movie “Nemo” there is scene where the fish in the tank at the dentist wake up in the morning, on the day of their escape and they are excited. One of the fish says, “Today’s the day, the sun is shining, the tank is clean. THE TANK IS CLEAN!” And right then and there, their plans come to a screeching halt.

I’ve felt like one of those fish lately. I’m bee-bopping along, and BAM! Just like that- things are NOT following my itinerary. My plans seem completely undone. And let me just say that I love my plans. I’m quite happy when everything goes my way. I mean, who isn’t?

So today, I started teaching children’s choir at a new church, in a new space with new kids, meeting new parents. I had mixed emotions about it all- I mean last year this time I NEVER would have planned this! But over time I came to realize this was something that the Lord had for me, and so I started this new journey.

I chose several songs that I thought the kids would enjoy learning. And, in particular I chose a song by City Alight that focuses on the Scripture from Psalm 118. “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

As I made my lesson plans this morning, I thought about that Scripture a bit more. Regardless of whether the day is full of familiar comforts or unexpected situations – new joys or hardship and pain – I can rejoice because this REALLY IS the day HE has made.

Well, I’ll just say – it was great! These kids can sing! I can’t post pictures on social media – but they are just the cutest group! Its gonna be a good time for sure! Thank you Lord, for this good day you made!

And here’s the song, just to remind you, no matter what – You can rejoice and be glad! This is the day He has made!

My friend Danielle and I have daughters who are best friends. Scheduled to graduate the spring of 2020, last summer we began planning a party for the girls to end all parties! We had all kinds of ideas for our celebration.

And then corona.

Like many others, we had to change our plans. At first we were on hold indefinitely, but Mid-May we decided to go for it. We did all we could to make our party conducive to social distancing – by shrinking the guest list, making an outdoor space available, having individually wrapped snacks and plenty of hand sanitizer on hand.

Post party by several weeks now, I’m quite grateful that no one became sick because of partying with us.

The truth is- we didn’t really know how to help out girls graduate during a pandemic. With end of year events cancelled left and right, it seemed impossible to have any type of normalcy for our graduates.

But guess what? Our girls are anything but normal. With class and grace, they rolled with the punches and enjoyed their final days of school. I did not hear one complaint.

And THAT is how you graduate during a pandemic : with a healthy dose of positivity, and the ability to stay on the bright side of things. Maybe that’s a good way to survive life in general! Regardless, I’m proud of these girls, their maturity and flexibility during such a difficult time!!

Emily and Shannon, If you can handle this, you’re gonna really go places!

On March 12th, I came home from a dress rehearsal for a show that I never got to perform. It’s been postponed for a while now, but I have that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’m probably not going to play those charts anytime soon.

Sadness.

A few weeks later, in March, I found myself at Publix, decked out with a new mask, trying to follow the big one-way arrows on the floor. By the time I began the self-checkout I was near tears. Not until I was headed to the car did I realize I was mid panic-attack because of mask fatigue. That’s not an official term – just my own words to describe how I feel when I’ve kept a mask on too long.

More sadness.

Life’s new demands and unusually slowed pace has brought deep emotions to the forefront. Heartbreak over cancellations. Heads spinning because we are trying to do all the things correctly- even though the guidelines and finish line keep moving.

But, my own personality type requires me to see my glass half full. I need to find the goodness in a situation. Even during isolation, with Covid-19 knocking at the door, I find myself searching the skies for the clouds with silver lining.

So. I thought I’d share with you the good things I’ve noticed that have happened over these last two months at home with my people. Some are new habits or happenings in my kitchen. Some are new thought processes – but, none are meant to guilt you into thinking you should be doing them too. Primarily, I want to share so that you might be spurred to see the good where you are too. Beyond that – I need to feel productive each day. (But that’s a completely different topic for another day.)

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14

Well its been a crazy couple of days around here. And I do mean CRAZY. Michael began a pretty big project – residing our house! We celebrated Mackenzie’s 11th birthday, we went to the Chester Frost beach and we got haircuts finally. So, trying to keep up with regular life wasn’t so simple.

But I have good news! I still managed to complete a baking challenge with my friend Theresa! And our ingredient was CHOCOLATE!!!

I also have bad news: my milk chocolate pound cake did not come out of the pan. So I made cupcakes from the same batter – and they were perfect. Well, as close as you can get to perfection. Theresa on the other hand turned out some beautiful Whoopi pies which were absolutely wonderful and they were devoured without hesitation. Mmmmmmm.

Below is all of the week’s deliciousness – chocolate or otherwise- that happened around here. In spite of corona virus isolation, its been a very good week.