tea for Christmas

I was permitted an early Christmas present from Andrew & was so delighted with it that I'm devoting pictures & an entry to it.


Busted out the Brown Betty teapot for this one! I love the beautiful way that the tea is wrapped. The paper around the tea has gold crowns on it, which I am thrilled to be able to use to make cards or other crafty things with. Two mornings in a row I've enjoyed English Breakfast tea, and I'm looking forward to having more today as I attack some reading I've been meaning to do. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Tea with Jane Austen, and some plays from my former drama instructor in college.
Thank you Andrew for the gift of British tea! You know me so well, know how much I am enthralled with England, with good tea & you truly take delight in watching me enjoy these things. And how that puts me in mind of God's love...what enjoyment he feels when I'm enjoying what he's given me, but deeper... How I come alive when I'm delighting in Jesus, truly.
Don't mind me, just processing some things.
I enjoy so much more what I've been given, simple as they may be, when I'm on track.

the brownies were good & a risk taken

Martha Stewart's pumpkin swirl brownies turned out alright, even though my oven cooks too hot, the edges of the brownies were singed & the the brownies on inside middle of the pan were liquidy when the timer went off. The lingering taste of cayenne after eating a brownie is really pleasant.
I took a risk today. See, I make cards & envelopes out of papers I collect from magazines, wrapping paper, brochures, etc., and the church I work at was having a craft fair today...so I decided to be brave & purchase a table to experimentally sell my wares. It was so fun! My friend Jenni agreed to share the table with me to sell her own unique rings, headbands, bracelets, necklaces, and "rosette" brooches. Our powers combined made for a more fun experiment & good company. We didn't make a ton of money, barely covering our costs, but the experience was fun & I'm considering the next brave step...dreaming of Etsy & a business like Painted White in my future.
Here's a picture of part of our table. Jenni's on the right.

musique de notre première année

Whoo! Who's that babe playing the bass with the long hair? Answer: my husband when he was in the hardcore band Weeping Prophetic in Arkansas...oh to have known him then...

Musique de notre première année. Music of our first year. Carla Harding, a favorite Brit blogger of mine, has this tradition every year of listing her favorite books/movies/music she's discovered throughout the year. I thought it'd be a good idea to remember the soundtrack of music of Andrew's and my first year of marriage. Here's what it'd sound like:

Above the Golden State
Michael Bublé
Damien Rice
burn PATTERN (Andrew's former band)
Josiah James
Jason Upton
Diaspora (Andrew & his friend Andrew's sideproject band)
Frank Sinatra
John Mayer
Jack Johnson
Coldplay (Viva La Vida)
Thrice
Dustin Kensrue
Nat King Cole (Christmas)
Chicago (Christmas)
Bing Crosby (Christmas)
Sara Groves (Christmas)
Kutless (worship album)
Matt Redman
Jeremy Riddle
Bob Marley
Sigur Ros
Sonata Arctica
Sondre Lerche
Michael Jackson
Amos Lee
Liason
Kansas
This Coming Season (friend Josh's band, real good)
Cream
Israel & New Breed
Johnny Cash
Dewey Lybecker
Keith Green
Enter the Worship Circle
Reliant K
Jon Foreman
David Crowder
Phil Wickham

So there you go. Soundtrack of our first year. Now I'm off to attempt making pumpkin swirl brownies, before the weekend gets real busy!

lately in our lives

We celebrated first wedding anniversary on Monday in a London phonebooth...
in Casablanca eating pita...

in Midtown with James Herriot...

and at a British tea shop in Florence!We sound like world travelers, don't we? :) I didn't notice that before.

A favorite part...falling asleep to the sound of pounding rain on Saturday the 21st. Don't usually get such a treat. The rain is usually quieter.

We also played a little dress up on our actual anniversary day, putting on our wedding clothes again & taking a few pictures of ourselves. I'm thankful Andrew goes along with his wife who still likes to play dress up. :)

Thanksgiving we spent with our Poet family, walking a 3 mile race/run, making homemade lattes, playing Spades & Hearts, and eating delicious food. The rain came down in torrents in the afternoon, making beautiful sounds & bringing a whoosh of chill into the hot kitchen. I was so delighted, I had to take a picture, so here it is, Stonepile Farm on Thanksgiving Day:

I don't want to forget these things

It was one of those walks. The temperature, breeze, leaves lifted, light, & sound all transported me back to South Dakota & washed me with awareness. Reminded me of several walks home in S.D., this walk to work I had this morning. His presence was there & loving me.

This weekend...my friend Laryn & I went to a craft bazaar. We walked into the entry way of the beautiful home hosting the bazaar & women surrounded Laryn, exclaiming over her swollen belly, oohing & ahhing & bestowing glorious, sweet joy, loving words & touches. Laryn was basking in it & I got a taste of it too. How appropriate...reminded me of Elizabeth & Mary in Luke 1. Generosity was shown to me too. I found a gift for my sister Erin's birthday (be watching the mail, soon, Angeldust!) & was given a precious gift myself. It has been over a year that I'd wanted a pretty, simply framed chalkboard to write inspirations on & I found it at the bazaar, more wonderful that I'd imagined it. The price was in my range, if I'd been shopping for myself, but it was given to me as a gift from the lady who made it. What! Generosity was shown to me, more than I deserved or expected.

Afterward, Andrew & I met with a student interested in serving as a Campus Catalyst for his university. (If you want to know what this means, go to www.campusamerica.org to read stories, watch the video & get involved with praying on college campuses.) I was feeling nervous & insecure about what to talk about, how to encourage, really feeling like my role in Campus America was the wrong size for me & I was too small to fit into it. But it was wonderful. Fredrick told us stories & we told him stories & my spirit was refreshed, being reminded of the God Most High who's still actively answering the prayers of His children. Groundless worrying, why do I get stuck so much?

And Sunday...listening to a Damien Rice song, I was distracted, missed the exit I was supposed to take & ended up taking a ten minute detour on my way to a book club. We're reading the book "Captivating" by John & Stasi Eldridge, learning about unveiling beauty this week. That detour that seemed like a waste of time, the song I happened to be listening to, I realized later these happenings were instrumental in teaching me about love. Abandoned, wild, passionate, generous, love. When it's "safe" to give, when circumstances allow, the timing's just right, love is crazy & sometimes makes no sense...

...somewhat like this post.

biographies (and a plug for libraries)

Lately, I've been terribly interested in reading biographies. Yesterday Andrew & I were at the library & I checked out a few books. Among the ones I'm most excited about are:

Ooh, I love American history! Don't know much about Martha Washington, except for her alleged gingerbread cake recipe (thanks mom!), which happens to go great with applesauce. I heard recently that she was perhaps the best First Lady of the U.S., and I want to know why.

Classic Hollywood is another area of interest for me, and, I admit, for me one of the draws of reading biographies happens to be the glossy picture section in the middle. The Grace Kelly book has some beautiful pictures & I especially liked seeing the ones from her years as Princess Grace of Monaco, a part of her life I'm not as familiar with.

Right now Andrew & I are waiting for our "Financial Peace University" class to start. It's a finance class done by Dave Ramsey that our church is doing the curriculum for. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm SO THANKFUL that we've had the opportunity to do it. There's hope, even with student loans & such! Our goal is to be debt free in five years...and how we entertain ourselves is by taking advantage of our public library & check out free DVDs & books! Yes, libraries are a wonder...

hospitality

My prayers from about a week ago are beginning to be answered, specifically the desire for being able to show hospitality & for God to present opportunities for that. On Tuesday night we were graced with a visit from Israel, a friend who attended college with us, who since then has been on grand adventures in Germany, Costa Rica, & Nicaragua with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). He'd been living in South Dakota since these adventures & was stirred up to visit some friends in the Northwest, where we are. He's been hitchhiking part of the way & it was a surprise to hear from him, but our evening was free & we invited him into our home for dinner & to spend the night. What unfolded was a sweet time of encouragement, laughter, outbursts, prayer, tears, & faith-building stories. It was refreshing to hear from Israel, a guy who lives so on the edge as he does, and of his heart for Berlin, Germany, which is so big. (To read his blog, go to: http://translatelove.blogspot.com/). It was what I'd imagine a visit from the apostle Paul would be like, or that's what it makes me think of.
More...I'll be looking for more opportunities & hints & nudges & openings...