Hello, Monday

Hello, Monday, the only day of the week that I seem to manage a blog post lately.  What is it about late winter that sucks the deep thoughts into a deep pit?

Hello, winter.  We've met, haven't we?  You're killing me.  More accurately, you're killing my hydrangeas, and that will never do.

Hello, Easter songs.  You're a mix of old and new this year, and I am really looking forward to Sunday.

Hello, Zion album.  On repeat.

Hellooooo...spring break-next-week!  Can you hear me?  Hurry and get here quickly!

Making it to 100 today!

100.  My siesta scripture memory spiral

101.  Good times with Big Red

102.  An unexpected lunch date with friends and lots of laughs

103. Having my teen admit (kind of, sort of, and definitely reluctantly) that her mom was....right 

104. Hillsong

105. Heaters

106. Jeans week at school 

107. Some kids in my last period class that make the day better, every day.

108. Clean clothes

109. Clean clothes folded

110 Clean clothes folded by someone else

111. A super-sanitized refrigerator, courtesy of Big Red, who takes his cleaning seriously.

112. An hour-long massage--an much-appreciated birthday gift!

113. Hazelnut lattes

114. Blog friends    

What's on your Monday list?

Be blessed, 

Ginger

 Linking here.      

Can I Get a Amen, Sister?

Profound statement for today:

Parenting teens isn't for sissies.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Report back with any wisdom.

(Or sympathy. That will work, too.)

 

Be blessed,

Ginger

Hello Mulititude Monday: the Let's Pretend It's Spring Edition

Hello/goodbye weekend temps that had us fooled!  For a day or two, we could believe spring was coming.

Hello, cold. Again. 

Hello, same sweaters.  Every year I say I'm going to find some "springier" styles to help me through the March/April wardrobe blahs, but I never get around to it.  Now all the stores seem to think it's June.

Hello, $20 prom dress!  *Fist pump*  You're gorgeous enough without the phenomenal price tag, but I'm so thankful for it! (And so is my girl, who was pretty darn excited to find you.)

Hello, Easter mantel.  I'm showing you off later this week. (I need all the blog help I can get these days!)

Counting my blessings, one by one:

 88. Gifts from God that make little things joyful--like consignment store prom dresses!  I love that He shows up in the small.

89. Great worship services

90. The complexity and perfection of the Word--breathtaking

91. The veil was torn!  Hallelujah!

92. Birdsong

93. broccoli plants

94. enough carrots pulled from the garden to feed the Easter bunny and all his pals

95. hot chocolate with marshmallows

96. ...and whipped cream

97. a really good pen

98. a clean sheet of paper

99. birthday cards in the mail

Be blessed,

Ginger

Little Spots of Joy

Today is my birthday.

It's a simple pleasures day.

Big Red took me to breakfast, which is one of our favorite dates.

Today and tomorrow are staff-development days.  School days without students are *almost* like holidays.

My desk is clean(er), and I've got a rough plan for the days up until state testing.

At home, my girls had folded clothes and cooked supper, and DD#1 is making me peanut butter chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache. (About eleventy-million WW points.)

Big Red bought me a travel mug so I'd stop swiping his.

I bought wrinkle cream. *wink*

What are your simple pleasures?

Be blessed,

Ginger

Hello Monday: Back to Blessings and Blogging

Hello, Monday!

Hello, winter!  Isn't your time about up?

Hello, daylight savings time! I'll like you...eventually. Today, not so much.

Hello, dark-drive-to-school.  You're one reason I'm not a fan of this time transition.

Hello, library books.  I hadn't replaced you in a while (hello, huge library fine), but this weekend I went on a major reading marathon and immersed myself in fictional complications instead of real ones.

Hello, pastor search team.  Speaking of complicated things...

In the midst of this list lies another one, blessings all...

82. enough rain to replenish the earth

83. electricity!

84. a car that's paid for! and gets me to work each day

85. libraries

86. books...and more books

87. when God shows up and blows us away 

Be blessed,

Ginger

Vanishing Act

For my next trick, I decided to vanish from Blog Land...and reappear in a few weeks!
First there was Getting-Ready-for-Retreat Week.
Next came Retreat Weekend. (Fabulous.)
Then there was Post-Retreat-Recovery, still on-going.
I'm skipping small group tonight to try to get my game face on.  It's Wednesday, and I'm hanging by a thread.
And no snow day today, dang it.
(It poured snow as we arrived at school and melted before afternoon.  Rats.)
So...as I scramble around my house propping my eyelids up with toothpicks and cleaning the kitchen table, let's pretend we're at Starbucks (virtual calories = nothing nonfat or sugar-free, and throw in a scone or a brownie or a cranberry bliss bar if you like) and you're doing the talking. 

Scripture and a Snapshot: Hope

Let me tell you a bit about perfectionists if you don't happen to be one.

If we can't do something perfectly well, we sometimes just won't do it at all.

Which, truth be told, is why I nearly called February a wash and didn't post until March 1st.

However, when you're a perfectionist who generally avoids procrastination, there's a war zone in your head on a regular basis. :)

All of that to say this, I'm struggling.

Perfectionist + anti-procrastination + lingering sinus headache= major loss of perspective.

Yesterday I asked God for some direction and plain ole' encouragement, and as He is wont to do, I got a bit of both from an unexpected conversation yesterday.  It made me think again about why I love women's ministry and why it's even important at all.   

Early this morning, outside in the breaking fog, I could see my husband's garden, and I knew he'd been digging around in it, turning over packed winter dirt, reminding the soil what it is to be soft and fertile and ready for growing things.  

And I thought, I want to be like that. 

Ready for growing things.  Not packed down and crusty with winter-weariness.

There's lots of cold in the forecast for this week- bitter cold, actually.  

There are lots of obstacles-spiritual, traditional, you name it-to real relationships.

Psalm 71:14 is the springtime of the soul, hope in the Lord. 

The gate is praise.  Focusing my heart and mind on real praise will grow hope in me, and praise will break through the cares of the Body and will sow seeds of joy.

Be blessed,

Ginger