Thankful Thursday: March 15th

My 5 Thursday Things…

1. Recovery days after my trip to Africa. Thankful today that I had two days to sleep, reflect, and re-adjust after a whirlwind week in Benin!

2. Flip flops. The weather here is completely ridiculous(ly awesome). 70′s and sunny every day. Yes, please. I’ll take spring a month early. Better get on with planting my garden so things will grow! Planning on lots of wild flowers this year, since those are easy and they worked so great last year.

3. New glasses. I am enjoying the transition to all-the-time glasses more than I thought I would. It’s nice that they are cute, and that my prescription sunglasses have gold sparkles on the inside.

4. Finding humor in stressful situations. On Friday as we were leaving Benin to head home, Brye, Brenda, Katie and I almost missed our flight – really. It’s a long, hilarious story that I will write a full post about, as it fully deserves one. But, in the midst of figuring out if we were going to have to re-book our flight, and the passport guy telling us he was tired and wanted to go home, and going through some measure of security 5 times between check-in and sitting in our seats, we just laughed. A lot.

5. Fellow thankful thursday-ers. Two of my friends have started a Thankful Thursday post on their blogs as well! It is fun to see the different things the Lord puts in our lives for which we are all thankful!

Merry Christmas?

Something is off this year, and I can’t figure out what it is. In the midst of my favorite season of the whole year, I’m just not feeling it.

Maybe it is because the weather is so warm, or because I am not feeling 100%, or because I know several people who have lost loved ones in recent months making this a very hard day/month/season/year for them. My heart hurts for their pain, knowing that they are facing their first Christmas without mom, grandma, grandpa, husband, child, etc, and it is never going to be the same again. Maybe it is because in my busyness I chose not to spend time connecting to the Lord in the advent season. Maybe it is because I am tired. Maybe it is knowing that our next conference starts in three days and I’m not super motivated for it this year. And maybe I’ve just been eating too much and exercising too little, and focusing on the wrong things.

Whatever it is, I know it isn’t where I want my heart to be when I wake up tomorrow.

When I look around I see much reason for celebration and joy. And there is joy, even in the midst of feeling off. Joy in delicious food and new houses and time off with family and friends. Joy in answered prayers, and hope for those still unanswered. Joy in laughter and jokes and love. Joy that my family is reunited and my brother is back with us, joy in remembering that Christ made Himself low and took on human flesh. Joy in knowing that this is a season of celebrating that God did not leave us on our own, but came to us. He is Emmanuel, God with Us. He is here!

O Holy Night, the starts are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining

Till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn’

I love the old Christmas hymns that tell of the wonder of His birth. They serve as a reminder of why we take time off and pause from our busy lives to celebrate this one event that happened so many, many years ago. One baby being born, one who entered in such humility, changed the entire course of history. Salvation has come to a weary world that is still trying so hard to do it on its own. Yet our soul feels its worth through Him and Him alone.

In the midst of this season and not totally feeling it, I am learning that it is ok to be off. To embrace it and trust the Lord to renew my joy moment by moment. So, wherever you are at on the eve of Christmas, I pray you are finding your joy in His presence, and trusting Him even if you aren’t where you want to be.

Merry Christmas dear friends….

Thankful Thursday: December 22nd

As Christmas approaches, I am thankful today for…

1. Shelley! We got to have lunch yesterday, and I just love her! So thankful that we have been able to stay in touch over the years.

Shelley and I at Schlotzky's Deli for lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Delicious holiday food

3. My family

4. Christmas Music and Spotify

5. Jesus coming to earth as a tiny baby, and the way the Jesus Storybook Bible shares the story:

 

 

Thankful Thursday: December 8th

Thankful today…

1) That Matt is home!! Monday was a lovely and special day for our family as we reunited, laughed, hugged and enjoyed one another. The long dark night is over, and we are all very thankful.

All together again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) For my ministry partners! I am back in DC for the week, and it has been fun seeing and catching up with a few of my team. It is a constant reminder of what a blessing it is to serve together with this group of people.

3) For my mom’s cooking

4) For the commissary! One of the things I miss most about my military ID card is the discounted prices on groceries. Mom and I went yesterday and I stocked up on some non-perishables to take back to Indy, and I was just amazed at some of the deals. I forgot how awesome it is to shop on base.

5) For the Advent season, and the opportunity to reflect on what it means to wait on something – in this case the birth of our glorious Messiah. Living in a culture where we expect things to happen yesterday, it is a strange thing to think of waiting, yet something the Lord often calls us to do. What is He asking you to wait for right now?

Thankful Thursday: December 1st

Thankful today for these 5 things….

1) My heating pad. I know that was on last weeks’ list too….I’m doubly thankful for it I suppose, especially at this time of year.

2) Christmas!! And having my mom in town this year to help me decorate!!

Me and mom trimming the tree!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) That in just 4 days I will be hugging my brother for the first time in almost 2 years

4) For a dad who takes care of all the apartment-y and car maintenance things for me when he comes to visit! Thankful for a winterized patio, outdoor Christmas lights and organized and protected patio furniture. Thanks dad!

5) Being able to laugh at work/my team/having an awesome job. Each year we create an “Office Ops Team” recruiting ad for the program at IndyCC, and the picture we took today for this year completely takes the cake. Epic, even. Just wait until the final product is revealed in the next few weeks.  Here is a glance at the remnants of when we were done and starting to clean up:

"Have fun at work...or else!"

Thankful Thursday: November 24th

My parents are visiting me in Indy this week, and I asked them to help me out with my weekly Thankful Thursday post.  In honor of Thanksgiving today we have compiled a list of 100 things we are thankful for:

1. Jesus (He has to be first, all others are in no particular order)
2. Books
3. The Word, and its ability to speak into every area of life
4. Sanctification, even the painful parts
5. Dark Chocolate
6. The privilege of maintaining a home
7. Hosting others in my home
8. Starbucks
9. Family
10. World Traveling
11. Time off
12. Fresh Flowers
13. Hot Chocolate
14. Snow
15. Christmas!!!! The best holiday EVER!!!
16. Wisdom
17. Coasters
18. Good food
19. Digital Cameras
20. No more headaches!
21. Beauty
22. My bed
23. Friends around the world
24. The Faithfulness of the Lord
25. Reconciliation and Redemption, and seeing both at work this year in the life of my family
26. Grannie and Grandpa’s cabin in Strawberry, AZ
27. DVR
28. Guest rooms
29. Tea, hot or cold, sweet or unsweet, love it all
30. Laughter
31. Road Maps/GPS systems
32. Spending Thanksgiving with Emily (mom)
33. Our immediate family will be together this Christmas
34. Holiday Traditions
35. Sweet memories that come with those traditions
36. Museums
37. Hospitality
38. My sweet, godly, loving husband of 31.5 years (mom)
39. The opportunity to experience other cultures
40. The ability and blessing to give Bibles and Jesus Calling devotionals into the hands and lives of almost 150 inmates at Riverside Regional Jail
41. Technology that functions the way it is supposed to, and patience when it doesn’t
42. Peace that passes all understanding, and for El Rapha, the God who sees
43. God’s abundant provision that is greater than anything we could ask or imagine
44. Enjoying the work God has given us to do (Job satisfaction)
45. Physical Therapy, and being able to take care of pain naturally, without lots of meds
46. Being able to see and enjoy God’s creation around the world
47. Scrapbooks
48. Real mail arriving in the mailbox
49. Unique and beautiful tea cups
50. Blankets to keep warm under
51. Heating Pads
52. Airplanes
53. Imagination
54. Living in Berlin for 2 years
55. Recycling
56. The ability to change (by the power of the Holy Spirit)
57. Prayer
58. Journaling
59. Things that smell good
60. Hot showers
61. God’s grace and great provision over the past 20 months for our family
62. That I get to live on a lake
63. God’s desire to treat the root issue, not just make it pretty on the outside
64. Grace
65. Connecting with God through nature/His creation
66. Copy machines. Seriously.
67. Friends who love me/us enough to speak truth into my/our life
68. My home
69. Ministry partners, and the joy it is to be in this mission together
70. Lamps, flashlights, light bulbs, etc
71. Having a job
72. iPhones
73. A wife who is a travel agent and takes me to Fiji with her J
74. Good pillows
75. Education
76. Children who love God (dad)
77. A wife who is committed to Christ first and me second
78. Vehicles (older ones) with no major maintenance problems
79. A good work environment
80. Freedom
81. Mexican food
82. The internet (sometimes)
83. Rain
84. New starts and fresh beginnings
85. Wonderful & friendly neighbors
86. Pastors who preach the gospel and accurately handle the Word of Truth
87. Kleenex with lotion
88. God gave someone the intelligence to figure out how to fly
89. Crying is a great stress reliever
90. Stuffed animals don’t require maintenance
91. Comfy couches
92. Fuzzy socks
93. A home in a great neighborhood
94. Children’s laughter
95. Photographs to capture the memories
96. Mother/Daughter Tea Time Outings
97. Scarves
98. Smiles
99. Fall leaves (and college boys to come and rake them up)
100. The power of the gospel to change lives

 

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Praying you have a restful and enjoyable holiday today wherever you are!

Thankful Thursday: November 17th

Hello from Cincinnati, Ohio! I arrived last night for our annual Staff Conference, and find much to be thankful for….

*A New Environment – we’ve had staff conference at the same hotel in Indy for the past several years, and I am thankful this year that in our need for a new hotel, the Lord provided above and beyond anything we could have asked or imagined. The Great Wolf Lodge is beautiful, and I pray that it will be a restful, rejuvenating retreat for our staff, interns and kids this weekend.

*Peace that passes understanding – my computer decided that yesterday morning would be a good time to crash and burn, right before going to print about 300 pages worth of childcare data and information for this weekend. It is dead and gone for good, and in the moment when I realized that my beloved macbook had indeed crashed, I realized that the Sovereign Lord had allowed this to happen and chose to trust Him in it. Now, my natural inclination would be to completely freak out and make havoc out of trying to get everything done somehow, so this is all the work of the Holy Spirit. Yay for growth and sanctification!

*Mozy – In light of my computer crashing, one thing that helped me not freak out was knowing that every file on my computer is stored at mozy.com, so pretty much everything can be replaced when my new computer arrives next week (in case you are wondering, I’m using a spare work computer at the moment). I am thankful for making this investment two years ago, and am glad that it is paying off!

*Gabi – my next door neighbor, who has turned out to be one of the most amazing and hospitable people I have ever met. She is so fun, and is becoming a friend! On Tuesday she let me throw in a load of laundry in her machine, and then we hung out and watched NCIS together. It’s the little things!

*Only 17 days to go until December 5th! That is so crazy – this last month is flying by. It is hard to believe that Matt is almost home…what a wonderful day that is going to be!

*Family – I was in California last week for a conference, and got to stay a few extra days and see my Aunt and Uncle, Cousin and her family. It was such a blessing to spend some time with them, and to get to meet my cousin’s husband for the first time. They are all so fun, and I loved being together, even for a short time.

A Very Special Birthday

In my family there are a couple of birthdays that are celebrated each year with just as much joy and fanfare as the days we were born. One of them is Christmas Day, when we celebrate Jesus coming to earth. Every year for as long as I can remember as a child we made a birthday cake for Jesus, and sang him the happy birthday song. The cake was always red velvet, and we jockeyed for the perfect position to be the one who blew out the candle first.

The other one is today. The 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Happy Birthday Marines!! November 10th has been a special day in our house as long as I can remember. I was born into celebrating this birthday with a dad who joined the Corps several years before I arrived on the scene. The military life is all I have ever known, and I love it. I love the celebrations, the toughness of Marines, the camaraderie and the tradition, the Marine Corps family, the adventures, the balls, the uniforms (nothing finer than guys in those uniforms!), the ingrained values of courage, honor and commitment, and the prestige of being a small part of one of the greatest fighting forces on the planet.

My dad chose this life in May of 1980, and for the next 31 years served our nation as a United States Marine. Even though he is now retired from active duty, he will never stop being a Marine. The same is true of our family – you can take the family out of the Corps, but there is no taking the Corps out of the family, especially not this one. Just come to our house sometime and you’ll see. There is something special about Marines, something you only truly understand when you are a part of the Corps. I really don’t think I can put it into words. Dad was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant right out of college and then married my mom 2 weeks later. They immediately moved across the country from Arizona to Quantico, Virginia, and thus the adventure began. With duty stations following in Georgia, Arizona, Japan, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Northern Virginia (it really is like a different state up there), we definitely racked up our fair share of addresses, friends and adventures in those years.

I am so proud of my dad, and consider it an honor and privilege to be a part of both of these families. My dad, my grandfather, and so many other men and women I know have given their lives to ensure that we can be free. Freedom is not free, and I am thankful for their service and their sacrifice. It was not always an easy life, but it was full, and it was ours.

Thanks, dad. Semper Fi, and Happy Birthday!

Assuming Command of MALS-29 in Jacksonville, NC

Matt and my first Marine Corps ball in November 1998

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the early days....love the short shorts and the knee socks.

The new "major" dad

Thankful Thursday: October 27th

Another week come and gone, and more still to be thankful for.

1. The best Day with the Lord so far this year. Prayer at the office, then a couple hours at my favorite coffee spot in Broad Ripple, lunch at Qdoba, and then the rain stopped and the sun actually appeared and I spent an hour walking on the Monon Trail, praying and praising the Lord. So lovely.

2. Days with the Lord as part of my job. My friend Greg called today, and when I told him what I was doing, he asked if I had taken a day off work. It made me realize how strange it is that I get paid to spend one workday a month with Jesus. Sometimes I get complacent, forgetting what a blessing and privilege it is. When I do remember, it reminds me to steward those hours well, using them to deepen and enrich my relationship with Christ.

3. 38 days and a wakeup left to go until December 5th! It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

4. Only one spot left to fill until I have a fully-staffed childcare for fall staff conference in three weeks. Praise the Lord.

5. Some exciting news that I will hopefully be able to share soon…..!!!

6. God’s passion for our holiness and sanctification!

Thankful Thursday: October 13th

We have now entered warp speed. I am going to wake up and it will be February. Not even joking.

However, in the meantime, as the days rush past with frightening speed, I will hopefully remember on Thursdays to be thankful on here.

Thankful today for….

1. Being challenged out of complacency when it comes to my faith. Being asked tough questions and dialoguing in such a way that it takes me back to the Word to find the answers, not just what I learned in sunday school or from culture or my family or Campus Crusade for Christ.

2. The cross.

3. Rain! I love rain. I love the freshness it brings, the smell it leaves behind, the sound of it against window panes and roofs, everything.

4. Only 51 more days!!!!!

5. The breadth of the gospel and the infinite means God uses to bring it to places and people in darkness. I had dinner tonight with a group from my church, and heard from one of our missionaries serving in Southeast Asia. It was such a joy to hear about what the Lord is doing in that part of the world!

6. My church – love those people!

7. The Word. We are so spoiled here in the states, and in much of the first world. We have no idea what a treasure we have – it is nothing for us to pick up a Bible in our own language and read it. I am thankful for the reminder that there are still people in the world who have no access as of yet to scripture in their native tongue, and that this Word is something to be treasured as a rare pearl.

8. My journal collection. Although not always a pretty story, I am thankful that I began journaling years ago, and can look back and see just how far the Lord has brought me. It is easy at times to forget who I used to be, and all that He has done in my life to this point.

9. Provision. I am in the process of asking a few new families to join my ministry team, which is one of my favorite parts of my job! The Lord is so faithful in providing for each of my needs, and I love getting to partner together with people in declaring Christ crucified, risen and reigning to the nations.