Little Blessings (Pt. 53)

November 12, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Tonight I realized it’s been too long since I’ve done this.

So…

:) Small potty-training successes. I’ll take each one!

:) I love you, Mommy, with a squeeze around my neck.

:) Cozy blankets and furry slippers. (Thinkin’ those might make the list every time this winter!)

:) Our first hint of snow tonight.

:) A surprise visit and chat with a sweet friend.

:) Thanksgiving next week! Headed back to Minnesota for a few days.

:) Hearing a song or reading a verse and feeling like it was written for me.

:) Laughter over silly things.

:) The changing of seasons again…I don’t love to be cold, but I love the unique each different season brings.

:) The faithfulness of my Father.

 

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, friends, just life, where I am

Current ABC…

November 11, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

…in 5.

Go, Mel!

A=Aaaaahhhh. As in, sleep. Soon.
B=Baby doll. Maelie totally found her Christmas present today. And couldn’t seem to forget about it!
C=Coffee. Always wonderful. Dunkin’s Gingerbread Latte is my current favorite.
D=Dirty Girl Race next June. YaHOO!
E=Elections. The bright side? At least the phone calls have subsided. Now when my phone rings, I have hope that it’s actually someone I WANT to talk to.
F=Family pictures Wednesday. Good grief, it’s about time. 😉
G=Gingerbread cake. With lots of frosting.
H=Happy news for a friend. :)
I=iPod. As in, shopping for a new one. Old one died a sad death.
J=Jellybeans. Actually, I still have part of a bag from Easter. But they just don’t sound good right now.
K=Koala bear…courtesy of my husband. 😉 Have I mentioned that I regularly regret living so close to Australia and not actually visiting? Bummer.
L=Leg warmers. Loving them with boots and leggings right now. SO cute.
M=My Maelie-girl. Two years old. Time flying by but loving this little girl more every day.
N=No idea?
O=Oh, Indo…how I miss thee. Especially when the temperatures get colder and I just need to go to the beach.
P=Potty training. Starts tomorrow. Going two days hard core to see what happens. (Is it wrong that I’m praying she’s a potty training prodigy?)
Q=Quiet. Still thinking and reflecting on Friday.
R=Running.
S=Ssssshhhh…I ran today. Foot is ok. Not wonderful but we’re making progress.
T=Thinking about my to-do list. Kinda long.
U=Umbrella needed. It’s raining. Rumor of a potential snow-ish substance tonight, too.
V=VERY ready for pie. Easily my favorite thing about the Thanksgiving meal.
W=Waiting. Have I mentioned I don’t do that well? Yeah, waiting.
X=Xtra pain from workout tonight. I am silently cursing those chair leg-lifts we did. I may not be able to move tomorrow.
Y=Yawning Yellow Yak…Young Yolanda Yorgenson is yelling on his back. (You’ll never guess what book I’VE been reading!)
Z=Zebras. African safari, anyone?

Ok, I’ll put an end to the dorkiness at least for tonight. Oh, and it took me 18 minutes, not 5. Oh, well. :)

Hope your weekend was fantastic. :)

Sig

Filed Under: just life, random, where I am

Five-Minute Friday: Quiet

November 9, 2012 by · 6 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Quiet

Tonight I took my girl on a “date”, and we went to a movie night for preK-junior high students.

It was free, it was our time together, there were lots of great friends to hang out with.

But I noticed something as the movie started.

There were So. Many. People.

So. Much. Chaos.

SO. MUCH. NOISE.

As time went by, it became clear that it was going to be impossible to pick up on any kind of story line much less actually watch the movie. We lasted maybe halfway through the movie before she became restless and it was clearly time to go.

There was just so much noise, it didn’t work.

I’m not angry or upset. It was fun, for the most part. But, watch the movie?

We did not.

I thought about that during the drive home while my overly-tired daughter, for once, sat quietly in her seat, fighting sleep.

About how I often live my moments and my days in the chaotic instead of the quiet.

I almost-purposely surround myself with things that keep me busy and going, determined that I won’t need to think if I don’t stop and be still.

There ARE those quiet moments, though.

The ones when He almost forces stillness and silence. Perhaps because He wants me to listen?

I think so. No, I know so.

And I always walk away from those moments of quiet with something. A piece of Truth. An encouraged heart. A smile in the reminder of His goodness. A glimpse of Grace.

And as I take those steps from the moment, ready to dive headfirst back into the chaos of life, and there’s nothing wrong with that sometimes, may I always remember

that He moves deepest in the quiet.

May I always be willing to stop and listen.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: Five Minute Friday, friends, just life, Maelie, what I'm learning, where I am

Laughing at Myself and Chatting to Whoever Will Listen

November 8, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Ok, I’m a funny girl.

Potentially the kind that doesn’t realize she’s funny until two days later.

Take, for instance, the post I wrote two days ago. Death by Dum-Dum?

Though it was election night (and, by the way, there was no dancing in our house :() I was not referring to my president when I titled it. Just wanted to clear that up there, though it did kinda make me smile when I thought about the irony of it all.

The fact is, Obama’s our president for the next four years and, like it or not, that’s the way it is. No amount of foot stomping and tantrum throwing from people old enough to vote is going to change things.

So I accept it and pray extra hard for our country because we really need it.

And I may, or may not, crack an extra-big smile when I think of the completely un-considered title of Tuesday’s post. 😉

I laugh at myself for other reasons, too.

Like today when I was just belting out a song with the radio and realized the guy at the stoplight next to me was totally watching.

Yeah, yeah, dude…you just wish YOU could look half as cool while hosting an impromptu karaoke session in your vehicle.

Does anyone ELSE do this? Please tell me I’m not alone in the I-wanna-be-a-rock-star concerts that take place each time you get into your vehicle?

At any rate, I turned the corner and laughed a little. Didn’t bother my self-esteem at all!

I have SO been in the mood for any-and-all-things gingerbread. Candles, lattes, my favorite cake. And, today, Mae and I were walking through the store, and I caved. I completely broke down and bought gingerbread cookie mix.

I don’t think I’ve ever bought a cookie MIX.

Cookies are just something you make from ingredients. Not everything thrown into a bag.

But, we shall see. Cookie baking is on the list for tomorrow, and I’ll let you know if they’re any good. I have a feeling, since they’re gingerbread, they’ll totally hit the spot. :)

So I’ve been on a running break this week…think I mentioned it once or twice. 😉

I hurt my foot. :( I’ve had two stress fractures before (one in my leg, one in my foot) so I knew what to look for and would bet a lot that’s what’s going on. It makes me sad because I’m itching to run…get out there, pound the pavement, and shatter my not-so-wonderful 5k time from Sunday’s race. Can I blame it on the chocolate? Never mind…that was AFTER the race. 😉

Anyway, I posted a 29:01 on Sunday, which was frustrating. (And it has taken me that long to be able to talk about it.) I can run it in 27:30 when I really push myself, but for some reason, that particular morning I just couldn’t get through the pain. It was a bummer…a few tears even dripped. :(

One of my friends is going through the I-really-shouldn’t-run phase now, too, because of a different injury, and we chatted yesterday about how crabby it was making us that we just couldn’t run.

For me, it’s knowing when it’s ok to push it again. I’m thinking I may try intervals sometime next week, but until then…yay for Pilates?

WOO HOO!!! Ok, that was forced exuberance.

I’m trying to look for the good in it, and though I miss that time of cranking up the music, tuning out the world, and praising Him, I have enjoyed, just a teeny-bit, sleeping ’til seven. But I’ll be ready to go at 6 a.m. next week for sure!

Hope you all have had a good week, and guess what?!?!

Tomorrow’s Friday…gotta love that. :)

Sig

Filed Under: friends, just life, music, random, running, where I am

Death by Dum-Dum?

November 6, 2012 by · 1 Comment

Ok, so I’m in kind of a quirky mood…potentially to curb some of the nerves these election results are bringing tonight?

Ugh.

Definitely a nail biter.

Anyway, so I was driving home from my hair appointment tonight, eating a dum-dum. (Thank you to my favorite hair stylist for letting me be a kid and take one. Or two. ;))

Then I suddenly had a really freaky thought. Something like, Man, it would be a bad time to get in an accident and have my airbag deploy. I’d choke on my dum-dum, and that would be the end.

Ok, ok, I admit that my brain can get extremely imaginative at times. :)

But it was enough for me to crunch the rest of my sucker in about half a second and get that stick out of my mouth. No more driving with dum-dums for me!

Now that you know for certain that I’m really quirky…

Tonight is that one night every four years that is such a strange paradox. I detest the way the news stations report election results and yet I’m glued to the tv…and feeling insanely sick to my stomach but eating some form of chocolate anyway.

But I promised not to talk politics, didn’t I?

So Mae and I spent the day at home today, and it was a long one. Darn time change…seriously, her eyes pop open with the sun…hellooo early mornings. For now, anyway. Thankfully I had a moment of genius when I remembered the “gift” my mom gave her several months ago. “Gift”=100+ piece plastic food set for her kitchen.

Gift for Maelie. I-will-injure-myself-by-stepping-on-all-these-tiny-pieces, non-gift for Mel.

I hid it in the garage…until today.

I can’t believe how many hours that kept her occupied.

She loved having new toys so much that I didn’t mind having to pick up that 100+ piece set a dozen times in an afternoon.

It was fun watching her “cook” all kinds of different food for me. She had fun, and for a moment, I felt guilty about not giving it to her for…ahem…about six months. Well, I felt guilty until I stepped on one of the plastic pieces and reminded myself exactly why I’d hidden the thing.

Oh, well. She’s not likely to forget about it anytime soon, so I’ll have to be extra careful about where I walk. :)

Well, it’s getting late…and I’m seriously thinking about turning off election results and watching a chick flick.

Sounds way more fun. :)

G’nite, friends.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, hair, just life, Maelie, random, where I am

Monday Random

November 5, 2012 by · 2 Comments

I’ve got a hundred thoughts swimming through my head, but it’s far too late to try to actually make any of them sound intelligent. :)

Can I blame the time change?

I went to bed at 9:30 last night. Usually, I don’t even start blogging by then. I must have been exhausted. Actually, the tired probably had more to do with an early morning race and two hours of bowling in the afternoon. All fun, but definitely energy-zapping.

So it was Monday, and a mostly uneventful one…except for the stop sign I ran. Totally not kidding, totally feeling like a complete scatterbrain. I drive that route a dozen times a week…there’s no reason in the world for it. I took Maelie home after that and we stayed home for the rest of the day.

Though I did go work out tonight…for part of it. More on that tomorrow, maybe. I’m on a twoish-week running hiatus, and I can’t say I’m in love with the idea. But when one has a stress fracture, the only thing that helps is NOT doing the thing that caused it in the first place. (And, yes, I ran yesterday. With said stress fracture. Like I said, we’ll talk tomorrow. :))

Speaking of tomorrow, it’s Election Day.

Like y’all didn’t know that. Well, you did if you’re like me and have literally been counting down the days to the end of the the political ads and completely annoying and inconveniently timed phone calls. Anyway, you know what you need to do…so go do it. Obviously, our country needs some help…so vote for the candidate that will bring positive change. And that is ALL you’re gonna get from me as far as politics go.

Anyway, I’d be shocked if you didn’t know which side I party with. :)

Though I may kick up my heels and do a virtual jig if things end up like I’m hoping and praying they will. I’ll let you all know if I dance, k? 😉

I sent in an application today for something big. It’s not a job but definitely involves responsibility and a pretty incredible opportunity. I’m really praying…for God’s Will first, but also that His Will lines up with what I’d like to happen. :) Do you ever do that?

I guess I just need to remind myself that when I find my joy in Him, He’ll give me my desires.

I’ve been really lovin’ this song lately…singing-it-all-the-time lovin’. Have a listen and sing along. It’s a good one!

Thanks, friends, for stopping by the blog tonight.

Hope your Monday was good…and that it didn’t involve running any stop signs! 😉

Sig

Filed Under: just life, random, where I am

Got Chocolate?

November 4, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Please forgive the lack of words this weekend. :)

This is what I did this morning…like, really early this morning. (Well, this pic was later…after we’d showered and put on our uber-cute hoodies from the race. My favorite goodie bag so far. :))

I will totally get up way too early to run a 5k if it includes good friends and chocolate. T’was fun. And chocolatey. :)

Hope your weekend had some kind of chocolate, too.

Sig

Filed Under: friends, just life, running

Five-Minute Friday: Roots

November 2, 2012 by · 8 Comments

Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.

Join me!

The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.

Today’s Topic: Roots

Sometimes having a scattered life can lead to that feeling that there are no real roots. When pieces of existence span oceans and continents, knowing where exactly those roots are deeply planted is difficult.

The first decade was just that.

A cute little green house in a Twin Cities suburb. Job bouncing and church hopping, waiting for what He had for us.

We knew it was something, and it was.

Three years after we moved into that cute little house, whose color resembled that of pistachio ice cream, we pulled up the roots we’d put down, hopped on a plane, and flew to the other side of the world.

Those roots grew differently in the tropics.

Though we planted and watered, things just blossomed in a different way. Five years of wonderful and stressful, of stretching and challenging, of loving and living made us into different people. Gave us different worldviews, insights, and most importantly, lifelong friends.

And yet the roots were not to remain there forever.

Once more we pulled them up…strangely, far more painful than the first time…and moved them to an at-the-time obscure, almost-suburb of Chicago.

We planted them and we daily water them because, for now, this is where they should grow.

We have a daughter now, and she needs a place to call home. We are investing in the life around us, determined that these roots will stick no matter if there’s something next or if this is it.

And while, in this place, it is good to have roots and we love that they are planted here, my Father daily reminds me of something.

That this world is not my home.

As important as it is to have that place on earth to be my home, rooting myself in Him and His Word, His Promises, and His Love is what will truly bring growth.

My dear friend said it best in a song she wrote…

Lord, plant Your Word in my soul, only You make me whole.

Father, keep my roots planted in the right place.

Five Minute Friday

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, Five Minute Friday, Indonesia, just life, remembering, where I am

So I Will Dance With Cinderella…

November 1, 2012 by · 6 Comments

Oh, she was beautiful.

Absolutely.

She sat perfectly still while I did her Cinderella hair. Just for the record, that never happens, but she barely moved a muscle as I twisted her hair into a bun, doing what I could with her limited amount of hair. (Cinderella must have had a lot of hair…of course, it seems to work that way in fairy tales. No fair. At least she didn’t want to be Rapunzel!)

And she loved it anyway. :)

Tobin and I looked at each other, almost in disbelief at how fast she is growing up. Dressing like Cinderella. Old enough to know what it means to dance.

And perhaps the most heart-melting moment of the day was when she took her daddy’s hands and they twirled in a circle.

Danced.

I seriously couldn’t resist it…I had to sing. So I sang through part of the chorus before a lump formed in my throat and I couldn’t continue.

You see, there’s this place of honesty in my heart that I haven’t let find its place on my blog just yet.

That place where I truly ask myself, as the days slip by, if this is the only time we’ll experience this. If this time of dancing is only going to be with her.

Don’t get me wrong…she’s enough. More than that.

God poured his blessings into our lives on that Monday morning in June 2010. And He continues to do so.

I have never forgotten how wonderful it was to hear her cry, see her face, hold her for the first time. I remember thinking how tiny she was and how I felt certain that those moments would last forever.

Though they didn’t, it was a nice dream.

And as each day happens and as we soak up the wonderful and the terrible and the happy and the sad and the joyous and the frustrating and the completely blessed…well, we just do our best to make memories out of what we’re given.

Like those memories made yesterday as my sweet little Cinderella twirled with her daddy.

I don’t want to spend my days wondering; I’d rather just live them.

Live them fully as I let my little girl be Cinderella for as long as she wants to be. I’ll watch her twirl and sing and dance and be the wonderful Mae that God has created her to be.

And soak up the blessings of now.

So I will dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms;
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew.
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella, I don’t wanna miss even one song;
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight…and she’ll be gone.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, family, just life, Maelie, music, where I am

Little Blessings (Pt. 52)

October 29, 2012 by · 2 Comments

:) Laughter with my girl.

:) Perspective…and the insight that can be gained from a rough morning.

:) The chicken dance. (BAIS peeps, do you remember? ;))

:) What the house looks like after three hours of cleaning. (Since the girl is sleeping, we’re guaranteed it will look this good for another ten, too!)

:) Cozy blankets and chick flicks. (Guess what I’m doing tonight?)

:) Blog hopping…love reading my friends’ takes on life and all that God is doing.

:) Early morning 5k PR’s. :)

:) The gift of true friendship.

:) Anticipating a crazy-fun, downtown-5k weekend.

:) Prayer…and a Father Who loves us each so deeply. Please keep the Hall family in your prayers, especially tomorrow. (Tuesday.) I went to college with Julie and Randy; tomorrow, their youngest daughter, Taylor, who is not even two yet, will be having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her spine. This is a very delicate, risky surgery as the tumor is wrapped around arteries. Please lift up Taylor, the doctors who will be working on her, and her family as they trust God to heal their precious little girl. You can read more of her story here, and if you’d like more updates or information, there is a facebook group called Praying for Taylor. I know they would appreciate your prayers so much. Thanks!

P.S. Wanted to give you a photo…what a beautiful little girl. God holds her in His hands. :)

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, friends, just life, Maelie, prayer, where I am
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