Sweet 2

Sweet!

Dude.  Like totally!

If only I could ride the EAC - oh what a day to just let it go and ride the waves...

I had lunch today with a male friend and I found it so sweet to hear him express his concern for a generation of men who are seemingly not able to connect to one another and develop healthy and meaningful relationships.  Today I am praying for all the sweet boys (men) around me who need to be connected and encouraged. 

Project We: Sweet

I can only think of one thing when I hear the word sweet:

 Oh wait - also this:

Oh, that reminds me of something else sweet:

Yeah - I like sweet things...  like them lots.   :) 

Winter: Impending DOOM

Today I am struck by the hilarity of my county's crazy "bad weather predicted - shut everything down" mentality.  But isn't that how we operate?

Weather is only one element of surprise life offers - and yet, if we think that we are going to end up on the wrong side of the coin what do we do?? 

SHUT IT DOWN!

I am the worst.  I hate thinking things aren't going to go my way.  I think part of my resolution this year should be to SHUT UP and take it some times.  I know for a fact that Gordon would call me "Stupid Cow" and send me packing for a bad attitude the minute I started trying to run the kitchen MY WAY. 

Perfectionist doesn't begin to describe it.  And not just for me - for you too.  For us all.  But I have to stop feeling like the one in charge.

I don't need to focus so much on others but on my own reactions.  And let something go.  Let more go.  Let it all go...  Just let some stuff slide.

No more Less whining and panic attacks - More love, grace, peace and mercy.  And delicious risotto! 

Project We: Winter

cover art for Winter (Jon Foreman EP - No I am not a fan)

Gary Chapman's 4 Seasons of Marriage clearly states "Winter means difficulty."

Marriage is hard.  It is painful, trying, terrifying, lonely, and yes - difficult.  For a season.  Like everything else, it would not be appealing to us if it was easy all the time.   But just like our lives, our years, our world, everything has a season and seasons change.   My prayer is that I live through winter and make it to Spring ("a time of new beginnings, new patterns of life, new ways of listening, and new ways of loving" - Chapman) or better yet that I can make it Spring today. 

Smile 2

"it doesn't take much
the slightest disruption can extinguish peace when the candle  is on its own. 

Our peace is like that flame.  And god's covenant and promise of peace is is the lantern.   He has prepared a lantern for us. 

His promise is that when you choose to accept the gift and step into the covenant - your peace is preserved and protected." 

- Shane Hipps, Teaching Pastor
   Mars Hill Bible Church

It makes me smile when I am struggling and the answer is revealed.  I'm four month behind on this podcast that I truly love, but it is all for His purpose.   I needed to hear this today - not a day earlier. 

Remember how hard acceptance is and reach out to it every day so that your peace and joy are safe.

Project We: Smile

If you are constantly surrounded by the harsh realities of the world and all the sadness and anger and mean things people say about one another it takes more work to discover things to smile about.  Especially if cute kitties videos and pet photos tagged with misspelled phrases don't do it for you...   We're back to joy.  

Joy makes it easy.  Get the joy, get the smile.  And smiles, like joy, are contagious.

Reading: Acts 4, You'll Lose the Baby Weight: (And Other Lies about Pregnancy and Childbirth), The Pillowman

Recently Watched: Hotel Babylon Series 1

Freegal Download this week: Street Corner Symphony
Happy Birthday: Debra! miss her...

It's a new year and some things are going to be different.

the view from the top of the mountain

I can't approach the idea of "a new year" without sarcasm because in the end I am still me.  I am me the same as I was eight days ago.  Nothing about how I feel or who I am has changed.  Same for all of us.  Things happen to us, decisions are made that shape us, but we are all put here together to build relationships and create.  That is pretty much it.  Love one another and give glory.  The end.

I am working on it.  So, not a new mission, but a clearer one.  Just love.  Shed the human need to knock the corners off and shine the light.  And just love. 

Project We - New (and An Introduction)

All things new.

Borrowed from a Hero: Austin Madison

NEW:

I have regrets since discovering Cartoon Brew (again thanks to Austin). I now know that if life was mine to do over again I would fight to make it to Cal Arts.  I would do the hard work of overcoming my own self-doubt and do what I really, really wanted. It is new to me to admit that the dream life I have lived so far wasn't really the dream I started out with.  

The Project We sounds interesting to me because it lets me explore what I am thinking and share it with folks who might help me take my creativity and thinking to a new level.   This post might be a cop out because the answer to what is new is easily answered with my very first post.  This blog.   But I also tried to answer the question with a really true new part of who I am. 

It seems like a joke.  If you ask anyone I know what dream I've given up on they'd tell you straight away its stage/production management/design.  The truth is I am still pursuing those dreams.  What I really gave up on - what I really let go of - what is really, really gone without a hope of recovering is too painful to describe and was out of my reach.  So I believed.  I hope I can be the kind of person to inspire others to never let go of that one - that one that seems out of reach.  That one that is gone for me.   I'm glad to have discovered Austin's blog and the Cartoon Brew world so I can connect again with something so wonderful, but it also changes who I am.  It reveals to me and now to you (maybe) why I get behind everyone so hard and push and push towards the seemingly unattainable...  

Also new:

baby boy.

bible study with real insights.

job responsibilities.

a need for focus.

a bad habit of oversleeping.

a re-realization that I have it made - pretty much.

Reading: Acts 1, You'll Lose the Baby Weight: (And Other Lies about Pregnancy and Childbirth)

Recently Watched: The Fantastic Mr. Fox 

Freegal Download this week: Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones
Happy Birthday: Brady Beard (so appropriate)