Stomach Full; Heart Even More So

Going home for Thanksgiving always leaves me with a FULL stomach and an even more FULL heart.

My stomach was full of all the greatest things ever: mashed potatoes, dressing, scalloped corn, green bean casserole, wild rice, pumpkin pie, pecan pie with ice cream, chocolate walnut pie (YES, I didn't eat any turkey (no room for it) and I HAD THREE PIECES OF PIE - DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!). Then it was on to the next house where I did actually eat turkey and almond pie, snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies, crackers and dip, seven layer bars.....the list literally goes ON AND ON AND ON. I also had leftover dressing for breakfast on Friday because THAT'S HOW I ROLL and IT WAS SO DELICIOUS (next year I will try this awesome idea so that my dressing is actually a little bit breakfasty).

My heart was also full of all the greatest things ever: playing cards at 1 AM, catching up with friends, singing in the car with my sister, talking wedding with my cousin's betrothed, watching football with the fam, playing trucks with little boys, looking through bridal magazines with my "brother's" fiance, catching up on life with all of the "Moms" in my life, helping my actual Mom with her work-filled Friday, eating all kinds of cookies on Christmas cookie baking day, seeing far-away friends on Skype, getting random gifts just because someone thought of me, having time to myself to think and write and pray, having dinner with my cutie grandparents and aunt and uncle and Dad, watching the Gophers with Grandpa and Dad, seeing tons of "old teachers" (I was instructed to call them "former teachers") while in town, chatting with my cousin while working at the concession stand on Saturday, listening to great and encouraging sermons in the car, enjoying the wonderful weather while I drove......this list could also go ON AND ON AND ON.

I am SO THANKFUL for the reminders of the many things I have to be thankful for whenever I go home for Thanksgiving. I am so blessed and my heart is SO FULL.

Hope your Thanksgiving was blessed, as well.

Just A Picture

No, not of my haircut (I'm currently feeling very much less confident in it than I was last night....oy).....of my quilt! Forgot that I hadn't posted anything from Quilt Retreat this year, and since this blog semi-serves as journaling for me, I wanted to put a picture here.


I don't like how the colors come across in this picture (they are greens and purples), but I do like how I fit the boy into the picture :) I heart him.

Anyway, this is just the finished top. I still need to find a backing and I think I will actually quilt this one myself. EXCITED! I kinda wish I had a place in my house to set up my sewing machine (once it is fixed) so that I could sew here and there when I want, but oh well. I might need to just dive in for a weekend sometime again.

I think I'll give this as a gift sometime in the future, depending on when it is done, and depending on when my besties finally pop out some girl babies!!

Wait....What?!?!

If you live in the cities, it's possible you've passed the following sign, as I did today:


If ANYONE knows what a sexy, Asian, farmhouse antique is.......you get 1,000 points.

This sign is a perfect example of why I always carry a camera with me.

In other somewhat-but-not-really related news, I was thrilled that I had my camera with me last Friday when I met a girl with the exact haircut I've been dreaming of. I had scheduled an appointment for a trim, but I started to get the itch to chop. I convinced myself that I would be mad if I chopped, but I still wanted to do something different. Color doesn't get me very excited anymore ever since my hair was nearly every color of the rainbow during my college years. And when I saw this girl's hair, I just KNEW it was the cut I wanted. So (good thing I'm not shy....and I hope she isn't either, come to think of it.....) I took a picture of her and showed it to my stylist tonight, and........voila! Cutest haircut EVER!

Now I just have to recreate it tomorrow.....which is where it all goes downhill.............

Forgetful

"I don't really have any secrets, she told me once. I just forget a lot of stuff."
-StoryPeople

(this really could be the StoryofmylifePeople!)

More On Obedience

From Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon, entry of August 14 (Evening):

He is the Master, and His knowledge is to serve us instead of our own; we are to obey, not to judge: "The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth." Shall the architect explain his plans to every hodman on the works? If he knows his own intent, is it not enough? The vessel on the wheel cannot guess to what pattern it shall be conformed, but if the potter understands his art, what matters the ignorance of the clay? My Lord must not be cross-questioned any more by one so ignorant as I am.

Every Time

My new territory for work has parts of Anoka and Coon Rapids in it. Seriously, every time I start driving on Hwy 10 West I want to merge onto Hwy 169 North and KEEP GOING UNTIL I GET TO THE CABIN.

Every time.

And then I remember that someone else is living there right now, so I just get back to work and think about next summer. CAN'T WAIT.

Part of my itch to go to the cabin was because it had been so long since I had been on a road trip (and let me tell you - I LOVE ROAD TRIPS), but going to Green Bay for the Vikings game last weekend helped to quench that thirst a little bit. Mostly because I had my little sister laughing the HARDEST I have ever seen her laugh EVER on the ride over there.....she had tears dripping off her chin. It was AWESOME. And so fun. ........ ......... and now I want to do it again! That's the problem with road trips.....they are so fun that I just want to do them all the time! Especially when the weather is SO PERFECTLY FALLISH like it has been for the last few days.

I got another little fix this weekend as I drove to camp for a perfect fall weekend at Quilt Retreat. I felt accomplished, even though my sewing machine broke halfway through, and we had a great time of catching up with friends and relaxing. It's not the cabin, but it definitely ranks up there as one of my most favoriteist places on earth ever. ever. Loved it.

Hope you were all able to enjoy the weekend, as well! (can you tell it is bloggy catch-up night for me?!.....)

Less About Dreams and More About Obedience

I listened to a very interesting interview today with the creator of VeggieTales, Phil Vischer. Maybe I'm way out of the loop, but I did not realize that Big Idea Productions was sued and went bankrupt. Thus, VeggieTales is now owned by another entity, and Phil Vischer lost everything he had ever worked for and created with VeggieTales. If you want to read more specifics, you can go here (disclaimer: I haven't personally read this entire article -written by Mr. Vischer - but from skimming it, I assume it lines up closely with the interview I heard).

The first thing that struck me about the interview was the humility Mr. Vischer displayed in talking frankly about the mistakes he made and the condition of his heart in regard to success. He admitted to having an attitude of saying to God: "Here is my big plan, I just need You to show up and bless it." This is something I do so much, and I'm sure many of us do. We desire things, we pursue things, we make plans and set goals....and we really want that to be what God does for us. Or we just want to do it and have God bless it. When talking about making plans, Mr. Vischer said "As a Christian, where I am in 20 years is none of my business. If I've given Christ lordship of my life, where I am in 5 years is none of my business. My business is: what has God given me to do today and am I doing it?!"

He really focused on making life less dreams and more about obedience. He said "dreams" are very American things. You need to achieve and succeed to matter. You need to be reaching for the very, very best or you aren't trying hard enough. Dreams give you energy, purpose, ......life. And that is what is so wrong - because Christ is Life! What gives us energy and purpose should be obedience to Him.

I think this interview struck me because a) I am a person who sets goals b) I have "dreams" for my life c) my life is not currently what my "dream" was at this age and d) Christ is my life. And that's what it keeps coming back to: Christ is my life. I don't think it's bad to make plans and set goals and have dreams, as long as they don't become an idol and they don't take precedent over Christ in my life. Even though my life isn't what I would have planned, I know that Christ has taught me things and blessed me in ways that were only possible to do with the way He has directed my life. So I cling to Him for life, and I'm thankful that where I am in life continues to direct me back to Him.

I'm pretty sure that's the point, after all.

Gift Idea

I want to pass on a gift idea to you all, you know, since three weeks from now THANKSGIVING WILL BE OVER (WHAT?!?!) and we all will be racking our brains with what to do about Christmas gifts. I'm fully aware that my readers can be counted on one hand, but nonetheless, I want to pass this along, and you should too!

I've mentioned before that friends of mine are adopting from Ethiopia. They have set up an Etsy shop in an effort to raise the money necessary for the process. Their shop is cool for a few reasons:

1. They are selling letter magnets, so you can pretty much customize whatever word or saying you would like. A great gift for anyone on your list.
2. The letters are pictures my friend has taken of random stuff that looks like letters. She gave me magnets that spelled "welcome" many years ago, and I think most of those letters came from playgrounds, sidewalks, etc. I thought it was pretty cool. Example:
3. It is affordable and the money is being used for a wonderful reason!

So, again, check it out!! And spread the word!

Plus One

[sidenote: I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged......]

Apparently things got a bit out of control at Lambeau Field yesterday. 43 people were ejected from the game and 13 were arrested. And that doesn't even count the guy sitting in front of me.

I have been to MANY professional football games, most of those being Viking/Packers games, and I have never been so offended by another fan. It's one thing to cheer for your team, yell for a flag, etc. (as I was......as everyone was.....) but it is an entirely different thing to say something horrible directed at another person. There's no way I could repeat what he said to me, and had I told security, he would have been ejected in a second. But I didn't tell anyone (though many people around me also heard him), and I still kinda wonder if I should have. Oh well. It's over now, but it stinks that it sorta ruined my enjoyment of the game. So I'll just add a plus one to that total, knowing that he would absolutely have been hittin' the streets if I would have spoke up.

I expected Favre to get booed at first, but it lasted the entire game. It was kinda crazy how everyone was so worked up, more so than other games, because of Favre's return. And it didn't help that the game was moved to 3:00, so there was a lot more alcohol consumed by that time than a noon game. Overall it was fun to be there, and I am just so happy the Vikings won!