one of those mornings...

It all started by waking up feeling like I was literally leaning to one side and having absolutely no balance.  Almost to work, and I had to take a different route as they were closing a main street that I cross over.  Once to work, and I notice that the class for today goes until 2pm, which I had no idea about.  My shift usually ends at 1pm.  Then, hot coffee starts pouring out of the carafe while I'm carrying it, leaving both myself and the floor a hot (literally) mess.  To top it off, no one drank any of it.

I guess we all have to have these types of mornings/days to keep us humble, huh?  Here's to hoping for a better rest of the day!  I'm off to throw my clothes, and possibly shoes, in the wash.

relaxation

Tonight was the first evening this week that Col and I were home together.  We enjoyed sitting outside at Great Harvest Bread Company for dinner thanks to a Groupon and spent the rest of the evening sitting on our porch.  I love summer nights!

Quelf night

A night of good food, good friends, and good fun! :)

good things

-going to the dollar theatre for date night with hubby...and to take advantage of air conditioning
-mom and dad coming up to visit for the night and

• helping mom re-plant our front flower bed
• Zonie's for dinner
• Yolickity's for dessert
• playing games
• saying goodnight to my parents in the guest room

-hanging out with fun friends and playing outside
-going to the drive-in movies with Col

-having time to just sit and read

-walking to Park Ave to enjoy dinner outside with Col's rents

-my cousin randomly stopping by to say hi since she's moving in down the street

-an evening at home to do laundry, work around the house, make a fab dinner, and chat with our new neighbors

awesome dinner - thanks to a recipe

from Beka.  I had to substitute a

few things, but it still worked.  Yay!

drive-in to see Brave
and the Avengers!

[learning to] say goodbye

Last night was rough.  Col's childhood dog/best friend/survival coach/you name it, passed away.  While Jesc was getting older (14 this year), he still seemed himself and had no health problems other than general slowing down.  We last saw him on Sunday, and Col's rents even took him for his nightly walk that night.

Monday though, he parked himself underneath the dining room table where he stayed until he peacefully passed, while my in-laws, sister-in-law, and niece were eating dinner.  The worst part of it all was trying to reach Col with the news, who was in grad class.

We've both lost our childhood doggies this year.  It's so hard because of the many years and situations they've been through with us.  However, this morning I was thinking and praising God for the capacity that He's given our hearts to love.  It made me think about the fact that thankfully, He doesn't only give us the ability to love for one parent, sibling, spouse, friend, pet.  Instead, we are able to love an unlimited number of people and animals, which is great because none of us will live forever in this world.  Here's to the wonderful dogs who grace our lives, and for the unconditional love Jesc gave Col and vice versa.

 

hooray for hubby!

After a lot of very late nights, Col finally got to show off all his hard work from grad school.  Instead of a thesis, his program requires a research paper and Scholar Showcase where faculty, professors, and community members are invited to come view their work.  My in-laws, sister-in-law, niece and I went to support him and it was a great evening.

[here he is with his awesome poster - Increasing Literacy Motivation in the Intermediate Grades]

He did GREAT explaining his research to attendees and got awesome evaluations.  I'm so proud of him!

One step closer to the end!  He completes grad school in August.  Lately I realized that when you are married, grad school is a team effort.  I am just as ready for it to be over as he is! :)

musings

Life is hard. 

Sure we’ve all heard that before, but do you ever have those days/weeks/months/years where you feel burdened by this fact?  The past week has been exhausting in almost every sense of the word.  One thing after another has been popping up and threatening to steal my sense of well-being, destroy relationships, and cause me to grieve.  So lately I have been thinking about how much heartbreak and suffering there is in this life.  It’s been one of those weeks where I grieve for the perfect world that was lost due to sin.  And even though I’m thousands of years removed from that fateful day when Adam and Eve lost this perfection, I often think about what life would have been like.  Granted, this would erase our need for a Savior, Whom I’m eternally grateful to and thankful for a relationship with, but it’s always interesting to think about all the hurt that would have been avoided.  Enduring rough times make me even more excited for the everlasting joy of Heaven someday.

Do I love my life?  Wholly and unconditionally yes.  Am I ever so grateful for the blessings that God has bestowed upon me, my family, and my friends (the latter two being huge blessings in my own life)?  Of course!  However, do I also grieve along with God for the pain that sin and living in a fallen world causes people every day?  Yes.

But when all of this weighs heavy on my mind, I can find comfort and thank God for this: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

from excitement to sadness

Sunday was a GREAT day.  Then today came and decided to knock me down, more than once.

But let’s start with yesterday.  It was a rare, extremely rare, day where we had no plans!  And it was WONDERFUL!  I seriously felt SO refreshed after a bad, distracted week.  Somehow, the day seemed to last forever and we got so much done.  We started the day with church, grocery shopped, treated ourselves to bagel dogs for lunch, and went home where I decided to finally tackle some gardening that I’ve wanted to fix up for a while. 

You see, we have this flower bed in front of our porch that is overgrown and just doesn’t look all that great.  It is full of perennials which do bloom every year but everything was just getting out of hand.  I’m not much of a gardener nor do I really have the urge to become one, but this has bothered me since last year, so with this unlimited amount of time, I finally decided to do something about it.  Col sat on the porch doing homework while I shoveled, dug, weeded, removed, and finally evened out a newly cleaned bed.  Col helped me complete it, too.  After re-laying the bricks around the edges so that they would show, we finished it all off by spraying it down.  I was hot, sweaty, and dirty (the latter two not my idea of fun), but we felt SO proud and accomplished!  It looked great (and it was only 2:15pm)!

Time seemed to last forever and the rest of the afternoon was great spending time with Col and reconnecting after all the weeks, and especially the past week, of our crazy, busy schedules.  We had time to watch a movie and I finished a book while he did more homework.  Even after a 2 ½ hour long staff meeting for his new job, we enjoyed dinner with his parents.  I will be forever grateful for this long, free Sunday which renewed both me and our relationship.

Monday.  The activity that was awesome therapy for me on Sunday turned into something that caused me to need therapy to erase the guilt I felt.  Turns out our definition of “you-can-do-whatever-you want-with-the-flower-bed” is grossly different from our landlords.  He was not happy and I spent the whole day upset about it (add to that other worries that are already on my mind).  I couldn’t stop thinking abut it all day at work and into the evening.  After trying to avoid him, and even though Col already apologized to him and explained that we misunderstood, I decided to woman-up and apologize myself.  However, after talking to him, I didn’t feel any better.  No “it’s ok” or “I can tell how upset you are and know you didn’t do this to spite me” was heard.  Forgo all my plans to beautify the front of our house.  Goodbye pretty flowers and intense pride and excitement.  We’ll be replanting everything he wants, at our own expense, just to watch it grow untended and overgrown again.  Lesson learned.

Needless to say, we are becoming more and more ready to buy our own house.

last week and a half in [picture] review

our precious niece at her friend’s bday party that we got to take her to 

walk with our niece and dog-niece Liby

new restaurant of the month: Zonies. I HIGHLY recommend it. This is the cookies ‘n cream zonie.

dog sitting the ever-energetic Buddy while his owners celebrated their 2^nd anniversary.  Congrats Eshlemans! 

leak/water damage in our kitchen ceiling that we came home to after being away dog sitting for 4 days

Bruster’s ice cream with the ever-encouraging, fun-loving Beka

Not pictured above:

-feeling loved and encouraged at a girls’ night event w/ Katie at her church

-getting soaked at Canal Days w/ the Eshlemans

-impromptu family ice cream get-together

-a friend coming to my aid in the exact way I needed, right when I needed her

-combined small group cookout where I could finally hold one of the babies since the plague is over

-a beyond amazing and exciting meeting/conversation with a wonderful family

-refreshing evening w/ one of my hometown girls, Deanna

[learning to] forgive

My lesson this week has been in forgiveness.  When this song came on while I was driving to work this morning, it confirmed and helped me with my choice to forgive.

Forgiveness
By: Matthew West

It’s the hardest thing to give away
The last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those who don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real
It takes everything you have to say the word

Forgiveness
Forgiveness

It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and judge
Say you got a right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying “set it free”

Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what its power can do
So let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner it really frees is you
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

I want to finally set it free
Show me free to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness
Forgiveness