my day off

This day was all about family!  It's an honor to live within 20 minutes of all of my family except for my sister who is just an hour from Mansfield.

God is so generous to our family.

I had the privilege of starting my day by taking my mother-in-law whom I dearly love, to lunch and then grocery shopping.  We had a great time and I ended the shopping trip by printing off some amazing pictures I've been waiting to frame, mainly of the grandkids!

I then went home to cook dinner for my son's family and my hubby.  Following dinner we all ended up in the upstairs bedroom that's been converted into a toy room.  Here we played with Legos and danced to children's songs like "Old McDonald's Farm and Twinkle Little Star".  So fun!

I am SO thankful for this kind of simplicity.  Some may consider it trivial - I consider it life-giving.

And so as my day off comes to an end I'm filled with ribs, and 'guess why the chicken crossed the road' kids' jokes, the hum of the dishwasher and a reluctant glimpse at tomorrow's calendar still clinging to today's memories...

Thank you Lord for simple days and precious memories and being completely surrounded by family.

weddings

My brother is getting married tomorrow.  Tonight my mom, sister and I did kitchen duty preparing dessert, potato salad and pasta salad galore, while the bride's family worked on decorating.

We had lots of laughs as my dad's yodeling rang out across the church reception hall and filtered through the kitchen doorway.  His hilarious spirit will never stop making me laugh!

Along with laughs came anxious preparation as the bride tried to turn the dreams she had silently dreamed for so long of this day - into a reality. 

I liked the simplicity with which they are satisfied and in some ways envied the ability to settle for enough instead of always pushing for perfection and often for way too much.

I love my new sister-in-law a lot and pray the Lord will wrap His amazing arms around them and draw them constantly into Him as their lives become one.

My new sister-in-law whom I love!

does creativity just happen?

I wish!

Today I have spent some time pursuing creativity!  I have been networking with other 'Directors of Programming' across the country picking their brains for suggestions or events I can attend - or creative processes or meetings they attend that I could shadow or SOMETHING to take me out of my little Crossroads box...

A couple of my best contacts have recently moved on to other areas of ministry so I feel like I'm kind of 'out there'...certainly not abandoned by our teams or staff, but just kind of needing something to point me at some new things I have not yet discovered on my own.  New ways to help 'create the need' and 'reveal the Savior' to those who are seeking.  Jesus was relevant when he walked the earth, He used stories and current things that surrounded the culture to teach those who followed Him or crossed His path.  That is why I can never stop pursuing creativity.

It takes no fancy tricks or gimmicks, that is not what I mean when I discuss creativity.  Instead I long to investigate every beautiful piece of His creation, everything that people consider moving and all the vast ways to communicate with our congregation.   We are all wired differently, music speaks to some, art to others, the written word to some and simplicity to others.  So my job is to investigate as many shapes and forms of these endless possibilities as I can every week - and I feel a need recently to learn from others.  So today I sent emails and made contacts with other leaders in my position.  I am praying there will be some divine appointments made as I lay myself open for suggestions and most of all to learn.

simplicity

I LOVE bad weather when I'm home! When I have to go out later I won't be so happy I guess, but, when I'm home life is simple.

We didn't get anything with this storm compared to other areas of the country, just enough to keep us off the roads for a while today. But, what the storm did do by limiting our choices for one day is it gave me the gift of simplicity.

I sorted through stuff, washed clothes and made homemade potato soup sprinkled with bacon and cheese.

I talked to my dad who told me he just stuck his cane out of his window and pulled a bird feeder toward him in order to refill it, and was now watching the thankful birds eat! Can't you just see a cane drawing an empty bird feeder into a window? Simplicity - focus on details - enjoyment of little seemingly insignificant life stuff.

A sabbath of sorts. A 8 inch deep, cold, beautifully white simplicity!

blessings

My phone died today so I was out of touch with everything going on.

When I got back on my computer I read the prayer requests from the weekend congregation. This line was at the end of one of the requests.

"I praise God that we still have a job and mostly that Jesus died for our sins"

Out of all the prayer requests I read this very simple Praise - stuck out to me...just the simplicity caught my attention. It made me remember and consider just how much every single day I should be thankful for my amazing blessings!

There is nothing that makes any problem I have disappear faster then reading other's prayer requests. The ask for help, the hope that the church holds the answer to struggles they are going through is just so genuine and in some cases the last chance for answers. But in all circumstances...

I am thankful 'mostly that Jesus died for our sins.'