weekly gratitude

thank you socks and cable knit blanket for your warmth in truly freezing weather

COLD!

Frost on the windows, ice on my porch, see your breath, can't feel your face as you walk between the house and the car cold. 

Currently holding strong at 35 degrees. 

We haven't dipped below 30 yet (that I know of) but I've got a feeling we'll get there soon enough. And I'm totally into it, just for the record. 

I grew up in California kids... Freezing cold is still something of a novelty to me.

Oh, I hope it snows again this year! 

Mother Nature, if you read this, I'd be much obliged...

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1. Thank you, starting on a light note here, for coffee. Strong, black, hot coffee. Especially this morning. One of the sort of "bonuses" at church is the coffee they have for everyone and after a brisk walk from the car to the building (see preface above) it was heartily welcomed. Being that church is in a large, converted industrial warehouse/garage space, it gets a little drafty sometimes and it was just really nice to have a little personal-sized heating unit to hold onto.

2. Thank you for friends who let you fall apart... Again. Dean and Robin, I'm looking at you. I mentioned last week that things have been a little rough lately and Monday night was a sort of unfortunate zenith. All the crap I can't seem to evacuate from my mind starting rolling around in there again and... Well... I just broke (I really need to stop letting things get to me). In a fit of semi-hysterical-but-all-things-considered-controlled-rage I texted Robin and she talked me off that ledge I've been visiting all too often in the last 8 months. And being the person she is, reminded me that I'm welcome at their apartment any time, day or night. 

"If you need to come over and talk you're more than welcome to. Dean's only stipulation is that he refuses to put on pants."

Now, if you haven't figured it out yet, that's friendship. To know that you guys are willing to put up with my continued meltdowns is something I can never thank you enough for (the same can be said for at least wearing thermals when pants are no longer an option). And I promise, I'm getting a handle on this mess! Gah!

3. Thank you, on a similar note, for friends who know you all too well. And now I'm making the sideeye at Blake. How is it that I can be talking to him online and he can tell what's up? Here's a rough transcript from our last conversation:

(after we'd been chatting for about 5 minutes on an entirely different subject)

Blake: Why are you sad?

Me: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!

Blake: A combination of factors- words usage, reaction times and an overall lack of enthusiasm at talking with someone who is awesome (me).

OK, I'm pretty sure he was a little more eloquent, but that was the gist of it. And it made me smile instantly to know that I've got someone like that on my side. He knows me well enough to know when something's amiss, even when there is no reason he should. Magic? Maybe. He's a clever boy.

4. Thank you for a God who also continues to know me too well. Now it should come as no surprise to me week after week seeing as I know we're reading through Matthew 6, but still, it gets me. Each week I hear exactly what I need to hear. I count it as no coincidence. This morning?

25 e“Therefore I tell you, fdo not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 gLook at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. hAre you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ispan of life?1 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.

I love that passage. It reminds me of this scene from You Can't Take It With You (start watching at about 7 minutes, 30 seconds). Reminds me, even though I might toil and spin (and, yes, sometimes have a barrel of fun) to "be a lily" and stop worrying so damn much. Be a lily... Be a lily... Be a lily!

5. Thank you for Andrea's engagement! Jared's older sister (and Kamdyn's mom) and her boyfriend Dave got engaged yesterday (he hid the ring in the Christmas tree!) and it's exciting all over again (his little sister Alyssa got engaged last weekend)! And she is so sweet and asked me to be the photographer at her wedding too! I am so flattered and honored that they would think of me. I can't wait for both of their weddings next winter! Congratulations Andrea and Alyssa! 

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Well all, hope you're getting excited for the holidays coming up! My brain stopped registering the passage of time somewhere around October so the fact that it's already December is throwing me way off (in a mostly good way).

Over the next few days, I'm looking forward to writing and sipping peppermint mochas, along with getting to see another one of the Indiana boys, Meadows, when he comes to visit the guys this week!

Happy December-ing everyone!