friends...lovely times...books, and introspectiveness. or lack of it.

Hello!
Last night I wrote some stuff, but never got around to posting it, so here’s that . . . but beware, I wasn’t that inspired yesterday, what with being sleep-deprived (not that I’m better today, but I am) and talked out, and screamed out. (wink to anna, heather, steph, and my dear brothers scaring us) :

Frankly, I can’t wait till Wordless Wednesday, just because I caught some sweet shots from an upper-level window on Sunday morning.
But then of course, on the other hand, I really can wait for Wednesday, because I don’t wish the weeks away… it’s going by scarily too fast as it is.
Golly.

Yesterday we had a fund-raising lunch and silent auction at church, and Sarah and Justin were the head of it. it was pretty amusing, because we ran out of spaghetti pretty quick and so Justin was in the kitchen cooking more up for a while there. We all had a lovely time sharing Eliyah, holding her while all the stuff went on. She's getting so darn big, oh-so-cute. Sarah was in need of a reconstituting cup of water after it was all over --and, being the nice little sister I am to her, I won't mention (she teased me that i was going to blog about her and this funny little thing, so i'm not disappointing!! ;)) that she was so out of it she was searching for her purse when it was slung over her shoulder, tucked under her arm. Haven't we all done that at least once in our lifetime? About something ....? ;) Hehe.

We’re loving the new Tobymac album, though. Hey Devil is my favorite . . . especially since it’s a very dancy type of number. It’s just a good song altogether. The others are good, too; very good, in fact. But sadly, it’s becoming very run-down; Rachel is playing it nonstop, and it’s starting to really bug me. Urgh. I hate it when that happens.

Well, this partly-vegetarian lasagna that Anna made Saturday night is really, really good –even more so when you’re very hungry. ;) The rest of us told her we weren’t interested in vegetarian-noodleless-lasagna, so she deviated. (hehehehe; evil laughing of an omnivore-carnivore) Beef made its way into the pan, along with the deliciously roasted slices of zucchini and eggplant with asiago and parmesan cheese. Not to mention she put a layer or two of lasagna noodles in there. In the end, it turned out fabulous. Yummy. Oh-so-good. Mmmmmm. Oh, don’t forget ricotta cheese and spinach.


We had a lovely time with Heather and Stephanie, took them home today (they were dropped off at our house yesterday afternoon) after walking to the coffee shop uptown (one of the daily-brews? mmm:)) and taking pictures in this lovely cold weather, then going home for a bite to eat, after which I changed into my red plaid pajama pants and a more comfortable long sleeved shirt. We were just going to drop them off, and go home after a stop-in at a hobby store. Great.
. . . But of course, as we listened to alittle bit of Tobymac, Manafest, Children 18:3, and Carrie Underwood when they got tired of the harder music, ;) things were talked about and stuff was brought up, and soon we were heading to the bookstore-coffee place to show them where it was. We went in. It was pretty funny, because I’ve never been so dressed-down for going out before. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be going out, but what’s a bookstore/coffee place run by an older lady? Eh, not bad. Cute place. The girls were teasing me about being in lounge pants when usually I’m . . . not wearing lounge pants out-of-doors far away from home. Haha. It was good, though. Sorry, but the picture of us four is not uploading worth a pound of sand. Darn. So, um, that'll come sometime... ?? Ha, I'll just have a friend post. What a great idea!!! Pictures and everything..... (laughs)
I’m rambling. And not enjoying it. I need to go knit that hat for the new baby some friends just had, and finish reading that Perfecting Kate book…
I’ve been having thoughts on what we act like, say, and do (subconsciously) to impress people and/or so they have a better view of us than what we really are, after being in a quiet place and realizing how _________ we are.
I need to journal. How do I know? Well, I almost went on a 10-mile long rant on how I haven’t read my Bible the past few days and hardly at all this past week, and the fact that I haven’t had any time, as I told Brookie, to be introspective. Not in a strange or new-agey way, but to get quiet and find out what’s been going on inside, what God’s been trying to say . . .
And I have not made time to do that.
I would love to call myself introspective.
But lately, heck no.
Even though I’ve been really liking these books I’ve been reading, I can’t wait till I’m done with this last one. I’ll be back to my normal list of reading that I’ve had for the past month or so:
Hinds’ Feet on High Places, my Bible, and C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, which I just added because a friend gave it to me after hearing I was looking to buy a copy, snag it off Amazon or ebay. ;) (thank you, PJ!)
. . . Well. I do have a to-do list for tonight, and another thing—go to bed early. As in, in the p.m. Heh heh.
Good night.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:09pm

I have finished the somewhat fluffy books I was reading…. Well, actually…they weren’t fluffy, but they weren’t the meatiest stuff I have or could’ve read. I know that’s defending myself, but…I’m not posting to explain myself away.
I’m just glad I can now focus (I know, I know; that’s my choice, entirely my fault if i'm lacking in that hugely important area, dangit) on reading Hinds’ Feet on High Places, which I was just copying a few quotes out of a moment ago.


 The green valley where all her friends and she had lived was far away behind her. even the mountains were out of sight, and there seemed to be nothing in the whole wide world but the endless sandy desert on one side and the endless sea moaning drearily on the other. [page 80, Hinds' Feet on High Places; Hannah Hurnard]

. . . It sums up right now in an eloquent way. Earlier, on errands with Mom and visiting friends, Anna and I were discussing what we want to do . . . and we have some praying to do. And listening. And waiting. Because really, when you ask for God to help you be more patient, what should come up but a situation to help you –and then you get to choose, sometimes quite painfully, to go through it, hold out on letting your tongue get you in trouble, (ugh that is sooooo hard). . . . .


So. We need to choose. I don’t care if you disagree, because I know I’m right. And heck, we all know (well, I mean, my family and I know) that I suck most of the time, am mediocre some of it, and brilliant a very small amount of that last unnamed portion of ‘sometimes.’ Brilliant, as in, choosing the right thing, being kind instead of biting someone’s head off, going when called instead of worsening the situation by making them call for me a hundred and one times. It’s all these little occasions of irritating –you or them, both ways—that can and will strengthen your character. Gosh, I sound as if I’m a . . . self help person or something. I’m not. And I’m just getting a hold of the idea of all this . . . even though, say, I’ve had Ephesians 4:32 memorized since I was a little kid picking fights and being picked on by siblings and making tiffs happen on the spot and trying to get my own way, etc.


Just want you to know and see that having scripture memorized doesn’t make you that…but it reminds you of what to aspire to, what the standard is, and eventually it’ll make some amount of sense to you.
....Going off to make a mug of green tea --or maybe just get a huge glass of water. :) I'm not addicted, folks. No need for worrying about me. (laughs)
Wellllll. Have a good night. :) See ya later.