Thanksgiving done differently

Here are just a few pictures of my Fall season. It started out with a trip to IN to visit my cousin, and taking her two boys to a Pumpkin Patch. It was true Fall.

Then back in Orlando. Me, Elizabeth and Cheryl made the most amazing carmel apples. They were Really Delicious if I must say so myself.

Then Thanksgiving day started out early. I was up @ 6:00a.m. getting ready for my 2nd Turkey Trot with Elizabeth. I did not train as much actually I didn't really train at all for this race so my body was feeling it later that day. But it was a fun race to do, i might just make this my new tradition.

So since it's been quite the month. After talking with my roommate and dearest friend Elizabeth we decided to do something totally different and crazy for Thanksgiving. So my Thanksgiving was spent at the Marriott Resort. I spent my thanksgiving day laying by the pool, reading my Martha Magazine, and just chilling. The evening was spent enjoying a bottle of prosecco, eating a delicious bacon burger, sharing what we are thankful for, and having carrot cake in a king size comfy bed. Then at 12:30 a.m. the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. The fire alarm was THE MOST ANNOYING SOUND EVER!. But no worries all was fine, it just was hard to fall back asleep. It will be a thanksgiving I will never forget!

So now I am in South Carolina enjoying chilling and relaxing while Elizabeth does her wedding stuff. It has been a one of kind weekend so thankful for friends and for crazy last minute ideas that make life rich and full

My Banner

Due to some thoughts and reading of others thoughts. I have decided I think I am ready to share one of my life's banner on my blog.

My Banner : "Christians don't Lament Enough"

I am drawn to Christians that Lament. When I hear someone lamenting, I get encouraged, excited, it makes me feel normal. Somehow (my experience) I feel that as Christians we are to rejoice, give thanks, and make a joyful noise... more than we are to Lament. HOLD on. I am not saying that those things are wrong. But we live in a Fallen world, this is not Heaven. I hardly ever walk into church and hear people Lament, I mean really feeling the intensity of really Letting God hear our REAL thoughts about life.

I recently was asked the question to fill in the blank.

God is _______________________

I think the church teaches me to say things like Good, Mighty, Wonderful. But I wonder what if no one was looking, what if no one could hear you, what if you let your true self be heard. How would you answer the question?

Other thoughts...

Last night i asked my friend about heaven on earth. She said that there are echos of it, for tastes. I asked so when? where? how? have you experienced the echos and for tastes? Her response was in nature, mountains, sunsets, standing in the middle of a forest. In conversations with friends, laughter with others, being heard. She also mentioned having a good meal and eating food that is so Ono (Hawaiian for good), so delicious and tasty.

Question: do you hear the Echos of Heaven do experience for tastes?

somehow I feel this post it just the start of one ongoing long post

A Hard Place to be

To just be honest. This place, this season, this life is nothing short of just plain down right HARD!

In talking with some dear people in my life I keep hearing this life just is not the way it's suppose to be. Due to some great Words of my dear friends that keep ringing in my ears I want to write out some words of things that feel hard in my life right now.

It's hard.

To allow myself to feel certain things

To allow myself to hope

To believe in change

To hear certain words

To walk through certain seasons

To realize though I have done MUCH counseling in my life that there are some things that may never change in me on this side of heaven

To sometimes get up and face the day

To know how not to let certain things/feelings control you

To know what righteous anger means

To struggle financially

To trust in God

To believe in sovereignty

To let God's love for me sink in

To not know what will happen next in my life

To know when to set boundaries

To look at the depravity in the world

To speak to the dignity

To fight for justice

To let myself know what it means to really REST

To REST

To HOPE

To DREAM

To LOVE and be LOVED

"My God, this world is a hard place to live sometimes"

a quote I found today...

couldn't have say it better myself

A quote

"At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman..." -Camus

A friend shared this quote with me yesterday and it left me speechless.

The last 24 hours have felt like a whirl wind. Due to feeling crazy I decided it would be good to read from my favorite book I am reading for school right now "Not The Way Its Suppose To Be". As I read I thought I need to put this in my blog. Here are some words from what I read today.

"The story of the fall tells us that sin corrupts: it puts asunder what God had joined together and joins together what God had put asunder. Like some devastating twister, corruption both explodes and implodes creation, pushing it back towards the "formless void" from which it came." -

"What are some features of this flourishing? As Christians see her, a spiritually whole person longs in certain classic ways. She longs for God and the beauty of God, for Christ and Christlikeness, for the dynamite of the Holy Spirit and spiritual maturity. She longs for spiritual hygiene itself- and not just as a consolation prize when she cannot be rich and envied instead. She longs for other human beings: she wants to love them and be loved by them. She hungers for social justice. She longs for nature, for its beauties and graces, for the sheer particularity of the way of a squirrel with a nut. As we might expect, her longings dim from season to season. When they do, she longs to long again.

She is a person of character consistency, a person who rings true wherever you tap her. She keeps promises. She weeps with those who weep and, perhaps more impressively, rejoices with those who rejoice. She does all these things in ways that express her own personality and culture but also a general "mind of Christ" that is cross-culturally unmistakable."

... her longings dim from season to season. When they do, she LONGS to LONG AGAIN... SHE LONGS to LONG AGAIN... long again...

Those kinds of moments

Ever have those kinds of moments you didn't expect? I had one of those this morning. I got on Face book, which I have a love hate relationship with Face Book. I didn't expect to see so many great photos of my friends and the level of cuteness of my friends kids are dressed up for Halloween. I got to see my Niece Dressed up as Alice in Wonderland, those pic's make me smile. It was a moment I didn't expect.

Then another picture of someone else who got married. This particular picture caused a moment I didn't expect, anger, sadness, hurt...

Somehow it hurts more to see pictures of people getting married when they have only been single from their first marriage for such a short time. Why does it hurt more? I am not sure, but it does. I didn't expect to have this wave rush over this morning, NO Not right now ...please

Then I checked my e-mail and got some of the sweetest comments from important people in my life. I didn't expect the kindness. I didn't expect to be so loved, cared and comforted by simple easy to say words. These people were just leaving comments and somehow they came at just the right time in my day, when I needed to know just one more time I am Loved, I am thought of, I am enjoyed.