I feel as if I’ve been running around continuously for days, and it’s not done yet.  Between classes and students and meeting with friends and such, there always seems to be something on the agenda to do or accomplish.  But, in the midst of the busy schedule, I’ve found myself returning to some foundational lessons…

Patience is a virtue.  It seems like, these days, life is all about waiting.  But not just suffering through the moments until I get to the next step.  That’s not really patience.  Patience involves joy and laughter and confidence that this moment is just as important to God as the goal (maybe more important).   The truth is, no matter what the issues in life, we are all called to live where we are and not rush on to the next stage.

“The Kingdom heart is never hard.”  Dallas Willard made that comment in his book The Divine Conspiracy.  Definitely a worthwhile read for all who long to see Jesus in their real-life realities.  But that comment has been particularly haunting to me recently.  My heart it seems is always hard toward someone: God, friends, my pastor, CU, Eric, myself.  Yet a heart formed after Christ’s heart will not look like that.  I want his heart: loving, tender, breakable and welcoming.

God is good, all the time.  He is not withholding any good thing from me.  He is filling my life, moment by moment, with an abundance of goodness.   He is pouring Himself and his life into me.  He has surrounded me with friends, with material blessings, with so many things and realities that to choose to live in fear and discouragement and anger is to snub my nose at Him and all He has done for me.  I do not want to respond to all his grace like that any more.

So there are the thoughts running through my head all the time.  But, so as not to seem too serious today, here are some happy thoughts for you to enjoy:

• Yesterday in class, as I turned my Thesis Sentences powerpoint on, a student called out, “I knew you were going to talk about that!  I knew it!”  As I took a drink of water, I commented, “Yes, You are so clairvoyant.”  His response: “Well, I can read minds.”  I nearly choked on my water laughing at him.  Poor kid…at least he learned a new word yesterday!
• And, for all who were wanting it…here is the recipe for Deb’s cookies from the shower.  Enjoy!

Sinful Saltines

Line 11″x15″ jelly roll pan with foil.  Line pan with saltine crackers.
Melt butter and sugar; bring to boil.  Pour over crackers.  Bake at 350
for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven; while hot sprinkle chocolate chips on
top.  Give a minute to melt; spread to cover crackers.  Dust with nuts.
Refrigerate until completely cool.  Break apart and keep in refrigerator
until served.  

Eric has an all-day meeting today (schedule 8-5), but he also had a 3-hour run to complete, so he got up at 5:00 am and left for work just before 5:30.  I did not get up, but I did roll over enough to say goodbye.  I’m such a good wife.
I got up at my normal time (about 6:40-45).  I was ready to go earlier than usual.  Apparently, my husband’s presence puts me behind schedule in the mornings.

I had lunch yesterday with a friend.  The Noodles restaurant was pretty good.  The laughter even better.  We had a great time, and I enjoyed the conversation immensely.  I’m meeting another friend for dinner tonight (since Eric has orchestra and all).  Hopefully, that meeting with go as well…or better!

I did very little else that was exciting yesterday.  I refilled the bird feeder.  I took out some trash.  I cleaned up the kitchen.  I made crockpot potato soup for dinner.  Eric and I vegged and watched television in the evening. Very nice!

And for all you who asked…I’m getting the recipe for those chocolate things from Deb.  I’ll post it as soon as I can!

Pictures from Saturday!

As promised, here are some of the shots from the baby shower on Saturday…for all those who couldn’t be there!

Here is a family we know and love!

She loved the gifts most of all…especially if they had lights or sounds!

And of course, some shots of the mother-to-be opening the gifts!  

So it was a fun time, for sure.  Everyone seemed to have a good time, which is always nice.  And there weren’t tons of leftover food either.  And now on to the rest of life…

Yesterday classes went well, but weren’t terribly exciting to talk about.  Today I’m having lunch with a friend at one of the those Noodles restaraunts.  We’ll see if they’re any good!  This is also my only day this week that I dont have to drive to CU.  *sigh*  Oh well…I guess I’ll survive!

Happy Tuesday to you all!

I don’t have the pictures from Saturday loaded in my computer, so I’ll post those tomorrow.  But here’s the verbal recap:

Friday night: We watched Karen’s dog while they went to a class at the hospital, and then I relaxed a bit.

Saturday:  I spent the morning cleaning and setting up.  Mom and Deb arrived about 12:15, and we finished putting everything together.  We had about 20 people come to the shower, and it seemed to go very well.  Karen was given some very nice, very useful things and some adorable clothes for the little guy!  Most guests left between 3 and 3:30, another small number stayed until almost 4:00, and the family stayed until about 5:00.  Needless to say, by then, I was pretty beat, so I pretty much left the little bit of clean-up I had left to do, and Eric and I watched Blades of Glory and hung out on the couch for the rest of the night. 

Sunday:  After church, I made tacos for Eric and cleaned up the kitchen.  I read the newspaper and did the puzzles.  I read the papers I’d brought home from CU and then just hung out with Eric until it was time to go to small group.  We met at the church last night for the first time so that people could use the childcare provided by the nursery.  Except they were understaffed…badly.  So of the 5 children in our group, only one was left in the nursery.  And I didn’t really enjoy the dynamics the group had sitting in a big circle in a sterile room in the church.  I hope next week goes better.  Anyway, I talked to Karen some more on the phone after we got home while Eric watched that Terminator premiere (I didn’t want to see a lot of shooting, etc.), and then we both pretty much got ready for bed. 

Okay, here’s a question for you all.  Eric and I are thinking about going to the beach for vacation this year.  Do any of you have a specific beach place that you would recommend staying?  Someplace you’ve been, perhaps, and really enjoyed? 

Happy Monday!

What I got done yesterday:

• Went to Babies R Us (bought 3 gifts…I know a lot of people having babies these days)
• I also had a funny conversation about peanut butter sandwiches with a very small boy (and his mother) in the store. Lucky kid…I can hardly remember when pb & j was the biggest concern of my day!
• Went to the mall
• Got chicken for lunch tomorrow
• Got coffee for my husband (he prefers Tim Hortons ground coffee)
• Had lunch
• Ran to WalMart (the self-checkout was being stupid…I hate that!)
• Went to Giant Eagle (ordered a cake, bought groceries)
• Started laundry
• Painted my fingernails (which didn’t survive very well with the laundry, so I’ll to re-do them)
• Cleaned my house
• Made dinner (tilapia, rice & green beans…yummy!) and cleaned the kitchen afterward
• Finished 3 loads of laundry
• Knitted some while Eric read

Wow…no wonder I was so tired last night at bedtime!  But I did get most of my to-do list crossed off yesterday.  The rest of it I’ll do tonight or tomorrow morning.  I think Karen’s shower will come together nicely, and I will definitely post pics next week for all of you who might like to see the fun. 

Today is a normal CU day.  It is, I must admit, sort of nice to have a schedule again.  But it’s still a light day for me; I ease my way back in.  On the first day of class, I go over the syllabus. On the second day, I have them write a fun/creative essay.  Both are short days.  The creative essays always make me laugh. 

Happy Friday!

EDIT (1:07 pm):  Look, look, look what came in the mail today!!!!

It’s amazing how fast a calendar fills up.  I was realizing last night that, all of a sudden, I going to be busy for the next two weeks with almost no break.  Good thing I don’t have grad school to add to my crazy-ness!

Classes started  yesterday.  All of my classes include a number of students whom I had in class last semester.  That can be good…or less than good. It all depends.  Those who know me already sometimes act a little too familiar and don’t think they have to do what I ask with the same attentiveness that my “new” students are expected to have.  And they expect Comp to be a lot like Basic English, which it absolutely is not.  So hopefully, we’ll get all of that worked out quickly (or, better yet, not have to deal with it at all!). 

I am trying to think of any funny things that happened yesterday, but none are coming to mind quickly.  I’ll have to come back and add that if I think of one.

Today is another baby shower errands day.  I seem to have a lot of things to do for that today.  But my goal is to have very little to do on Saturday other than set up and such.  SO I will be shopping and cleaning and generally getting ready.  Should be fun!
  

I’ve gotten to exercise outside for the last two days.  I’m going to try it again this morning, hoping the rain holds off for a bit longer.  But we shall see.  I love walking outside, and I’ll go outside even when the temperatures get into the upper 20s (wearing lots of layers, of course).  So when we have these wonderful spring-like temperatures in winter months, I take full advantage of them!

My teeth are now clean, and the dentist found no problems.  And I was done in 20 minutes.  Love that!

I spent the rest of the morning working on Karen’s shower.  It should be fun, though I still have a number of errands to run and things to do to be ready for Saturday.  Good thing I still have Thursday!  The afternoon was spent working on school stuff, writing some and talking to Karen on the phone.  The evening involved goofing off after dinner and going to bed about 9:15 (lights out about 9:45). 

Now, for Holly and Terri (and probably breaking every rule of Xanga etiquette), I would like to have a short discussion about “unmentionables” and undergarments.  See, as a child, my mom bought us the little-girl equivalent of granny panties.  Mine were usually solid colors, and Karen’s had patterns.  It was not until much later in life that I ventured into the world of “fun underwear.”  Now that I can buy my own, I like all kinds, depending on my mood.  And that is good because there are so many options.  But for the most part, I like the bikini style (which is what I ordered from VS last week).

So, here is my question to all of you:  What style of underwear makes you happiest?  Options: briefs, hi-cut briefs, bikini, string bikini, boyshort, hipsters, thong.

(Kimberly, I apologize for such immodesty, but you can blame Terri and Holly! )

I drove down to CU yesterday morning to work on my class prep for tomorrow.  I got all the way to my office (literally walking in the door) when I realized that I’d left all the books and files I needed on my desk at home.  I was a bit annoyed, to be honest.  So I got my mail, did the work I could do without my files, and then drove back home.

OSU…well, at least it wasn’t quite as embarrassing as last year. 

There were only brief moments last night where I felt vaguely as if I should be doing something specific.  Then I remembered (and rejoiced) that grad school was not in the picture this term.  Lovely!

Today I have a dentist appointment (cleaning), and I have a number of errands to run for Karen’s baby shower on Saturday.  I also need to get that prep work done for tomorrow’s classes.  Such fun!

I did a whole lot of nothing this weekend.  You should all be so proud of me!

Non-work: I did a lot of internet searching and some game playing.  I also spent some time knitting.

Housekeeping: I cleaned the bathrooms (it’s amazing how much easier it is to get clean when you clean it every couple of weeks!) and the kitchen.  And I tidied the house a bit yesterday (the clutter was getting annoying).

Time with Eric: We went on a date on Saturday night (greek food and shopping).  We watched a lot of television together on the couch over the weekend.  Very relaxing!

Misc.: Church, chatting with my mom and sister, exercise, read the newspaper.

Overall, I think I used my last weekend of complete freedom rather well, don’t you agree?! 

Today, I’m heading back to CU for the first time in a month.  I have to get my prep work done for classes on Wednesday.  Shouldn’t be too hard, but must be done.  Happy Monday!

A whole new perspective…

This morning I woke up aware of the strangest feeling.  It started last night and was still there this morning, and the only word I can use to describe it is…hopeful.

Eric and I ran up to the mall last night for a short while.  We have discovered that we do our best chatting while we are driving in the car.  And it was so again last night.  But what started out as a conversation about cruise control on the way to the mall, turned, on the way home, into a conversation about goals and priorities and where I/we are and where I/we need to be.

And the conclusion of the matter, after about 2 hours of discussion, is that I am not taking any grad classes this term. And I may, or may not, take more towards an MA.  When I really stopped to look at it, I did not enjoy that class, and I dreaded having to go every week.  And it seems that grad school is a bit counter to the other priorities we have set for ourselves in recent days.  So…I decided to drop my schedule for this term.

Instead, I’m going to focus more on writing, which is what I really know in my heart I can and want to do (at least I know it when fear isn’t giving me writer’s block).  So we’re going to take the cost of one of my classes, and I’ll be able to use that money for whatever resources I want or need (ie, books, supplies, a writing course, whatever).  And for the first time in months, I feel almost light-hearted. 

I keep waiting for the freaking out to start (I do a lot of that), but instead of that, I just sense that crazy hopeful feeling that I mentioned earlier.  This is a path I’ve been too afraid to try for a long time.  At 30, I’m tired of being afraid, and I don’t want to look back on the next 30 years and wish I’d tried it.  So…happy New Year to me.  Here goes nothing!

EDIT (10:13 am):  And I just bought 7 pairs of underwear online from VS for just under $40.  Love that!