Saturday, November 1, 2014

JOYS IN NOVEMBER

This was taken at our local grocery store.  Fresh produce is grown in
the fields around this place on a hill.  Even the squash
shows its beauty during this season of change.
November creeps in quietly as vibrant colors begin to fade and leaves drop from hundreds of maples in the area.
Temperatures drop at night but climb slowly during the day.
Yet each day seems a bit cooler.

An awesome Fall tempts me to take my time with final garden preparation and clean-up.
Before I know it the winter blasts will blow me over as rushing wind becomes more chilly.
Ahhhhh, Fall.
A delight this year.

#3216 - 3218:: All Saints Day, a time to linger in fond memories of loved ones who have died or of mentors, like the Apostle Paul, whose writings prompt my heart to become a better disciple of Christ Jesus.

A quote from Sir Thomas More: "If Paul exhorts us to pray for one another, and we gladly think it right to ask every poor man to pray for us, should we think it evil to ask the holy saints in heaven to do the same?"
This is a preliminary sketch of  one side of the little galley
kitchen in the condo.  We made a few changes.
Soon we will see the real thing.
#3219-3221:: A solemn celebration of All Saints and All Souls gives us time to breathe in our remembrances of those, no longer with us, who have shaped our lives.
Blustery day bids us to drive through glistening fields but not linger outside.
A visit with a dear friend in hospital provides hope for better days and a brighter spirit for the patient.

#3222-3224:: Cut, snip, clean, de-frizz with the hair - so nice to be pampered every now and again at the hair salon.
Shop 'til I drop as I enjoy the beautiful day and look at delightfully decorated windows in our neighboring town.
Click, pop, whizz goes the lens as I snap more Fall vignettes.

Voting is a GIFT of freedom.  We are Blessed.
#3225-3227:: Catch up, read, digest, reflect, enjoy the morning.
The condo kitchen arrived a week early but the workers found room for the boxes.
So glad I have a friend overseeing the condo rebuild.  Friends are such a treasure.
Time is an even greater treasure.
VOTING is an honor!
It's the one obligation we all should take seriously as citizens of this country with freedom to choose.

#3228-3230:: We give thanks for a beautiful drive to church for a meeting with members from four other
Dad is honored for all his work with
Boy Scouts of America
If you look closely, you can see his picture,
with accolades, in the upper right corner.
churches.  Nice.  A sleepy day brings us home just as the clouds turn darker and night begins to fall.
Pasta!  Perfect this time of year!

#3231-3233:: A call from a friend: Car broken so cannot go to food cupboard for her monthly pick-up.  I am thrilled that I have a free morning to take her, wait for her, and make sure she is doing well.
We spin in circles but feel great success booking flights to Minneapolis in February!  Dad turns 100!

#3234-3236:: Wind whips through every corner of the yard as I sit cozy by the fire working on wedding words for a sweet couple getting married on 12-13-14!
Letters to write make for a fun 'chat' time on email.
I schedule the next month: An amazing swirl of conferences, trips, activities, obligations, Advent and Christmas services!  B R E A T H E deep.

#3237-3239:: Arise, shine, the day is full!  Slurp a shake as we gather to go over final wedding details with a couple who are very much entwined with their decisions.  Nice.
Another visit with a dear friend from church: cheerful and joyous. His room is filled with chatting people.  God's energy was very present at this very 'present' time.
I love the 'stands' that house the pumpkins.  Creative farmers
revise old wagons so that mounds of produce can sit in the
elements for weeks or months.  Pumpkins everywhere!

#3240-3242::  Crisp morning with a supremely clear sky offers us glistening fields as we take a detour through new sights.
Traffic was closed due to an accident but the detour was delightful.
A guest speaker tells his story of how he survived birth and existence in Ghana, poverty but a sense of freedom in Brookline and how a visitor drew him into a lifetime journey with Jesus.
His vision has enabled a $4 million complex to be built for 'at-risk' kids . . .  supported by 24 community churches.
God is good!

I take every opportunity to fly the FLAG.
Veterans Day was especially patriotic
this year.  We are blessed beyond
measure because of those who have fought
hard for our freedom.
#3243-3245:: A call to one I was suppose to encourage turned right around and filled me with renewed JOY in Christ. My spirit soars! Lists of action items get checked off.  I take time to write a note to a friend on real paper with a real stamp!

#3246-3248:: Remembering the Veterans today as we put our flag out and take time to thank them, and God, for our freedom in this incredible United States of America. TV specials share riveting stories about our Navy SEALs.  I give thanks for all we have because of so many who have died.

#3249-3251:: Early morning mist with warm air may be the last we see for awhile - gorgeous before dawn.  Clear skies by noon give me the incentive to finish the outside clean-up before I hibernate inside . . .  or go to Florida?  LOL
I'm excited to gather with other women I have not seen in months as we dig through the book of David.  Love it!

#3252-3254:: Chilly air comes our way after causing freezing temps and snow out West.  The tempest has mellowed greatly, thank you.  Stillness, quiet, flames steady in our fireplace, linger, rest, sooth my spirit.  Budget meeting tonight: a great team makes all go well.

#3255-3257::  Safe travels last night as we drove an hour each way to church in sleet . . .  then snow. Ride home was quiet, beautiful, bright, as snow fastened to the freezing grass and glistened in the dark night.  Today is glorious as green grass melts white flakes.  LOVE this fireplace today.

A great shot from the car as we moved through this junction point
where back roads meet a busy highway.
Brilliant colors pierce the gray skies.
#3258-3260:: Up early to blue skies and vibrant colors as we drove an hour to a conference; All day inside listening and learning; Drive home as darkness overtook a brilliant day but made it home before dark night engulfed us.

#3261-3263:: An early drive to church viewing pink streaked skies, pristine fields harvested empty of corn; great time at church with wonderful words filling the air, music to fill the senses and two hospital visits that offered good conversation, prayers and lifted spirits.

#3264-3266:: Darkness lingers into the late morning hours as rain patters on windowsills; still, silent, reflection time to breathe deep and re-engergize my soul in God's Word.  Lots of e-chat as I tie up  loose ends and set aside work for a couple of weeks.

#3267-3269:: Tuck away, clean up, turn off, re-set . . . prepare for a nice change of pace away from
Florida Sunsets cannot be beat.  This is from last year
because the cold cloudy days have not
given us much sun so far.
the lingering cold.  Easy ride throughout a long day that ends up in southern cold but not so bad.  Acclimate to new surroundings, unpack, regroup, B R E A T H E.   I love the moist air.

#3270-3272:: Put on layers, ready to ride out the details of a full day with a dear friend who is helping us 'glue' this southern home to our renter back together.  Contractor, tile guy, deliveries, more shopping, many more decisions, paint, silt all over, a mix-up to be resolved . . .  and . . .  the most easy going contractor I ever met.  His stories teach me 'not to worry' . . .   his most favorite words.  He's from Cuba and has stories that really teach us NOT to worry.  A lesson I pray I can learn some day.
My sister took this shot a few years ago.
  I look at it often as a reminder that I should
be doing the same thing.  Another time, perhaps.

#3273-3275:: Sleep in, bundle up, fresh start for another day of decisions.   Slow down, think outside the box, resolve a dilemma through prayer.  God answers as I find a much needed remnant that we must have to complete counter tops.  Healthy dinner and early sleep.  Nice.

#3276-3278:: Rooms are 'muy lindo' . . . more beautiful than beautiful after they are painted.  Shop for window shades with hubby and make sure light fixtures are in place for tomorrow.  News that our ailing friends died: so sad but relieved that he is now breathing more easily as he sits with the Lord and asks those dozens of questions he was waiting to ask.  Phone calls, prayers, mutual grief as I speak with his wife.  Now we plan the funeral.

#3279-3281:: Measure twice, cut once . . .  as we pick out shelving at the hardware store.  Then we measure again and again.  Shelves, rods, places for hanging things, places for boxes and shelf things - all things to consider for closets.  So thankful for great helpers at the hardware store who made this job so much easier.

#3282-3284:: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.  In all your
I had minutes to capture the moment before we flew north.
The renter will hopefully find a fresh, new abode.
ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."  Today we rest in the Lord, visit a beautiful church, trust that the work on the condo will be complete enough when we leave in a few days, and REJOICE that we have so very much . . . grace, unconditional love, presence of God and that we are so very blessed beyond expectation. We move furniture into the condo today even though there is little finished space.  We'll simply cover everything with plastic and unpack boxes later.

#3285-3287:: Final coat of paint as guys scurry, tweak, caulk, make nice the walls in this little place.
Two speeds: slow and stop . . .  for workers.  I try to unpack several boxes but no shelves yet.  Plop,
A view from the kitchen across the new black counter and open
wall that enables the cook to enjoy what's going on in the living area
put, place, find a niche . . . any place to put kitchen stuff.  Pull up tarps, grasp drawers with no handles.  A lid w/o a pot and a pot w/o a lid. The renter will have to place and match everything that is stuffed everywhere I can find finished space.

#3288-3290:: No fretting again.  News that Fr. Jonathan was hit by a car while riding his bike and is now in an induced coma with a broken neck.  Lord, heal him fully in both body and mind.  He is such an incredible, loving, giving, easy-going guy.  Another reason for me to take time to stop, pray for others, breathe, linger, seize each moment as if it were the last.  So what if bathrooms have not been done, no plumbing, kitchen is without counters.  It's simply a space for someone, a place to lay one's head, a place that we do not even call our own.

#3291-3293:: Kitchen counters arrive.  I had no idea how much work they do 'on-site.'  After about
The little galley kitchen is all open and looks so BIG!
three hours we have a KITCHEN! . . .  almost.  Now to connect the stove, fridge, dishwasher, and faucet.  Tile the backsplash and install the microwave.  Finish closets at end of day so I can now store the renter's possessions that were dumped in boxes when the flooding seized this little space.  Store stuff, bring stuff from where we have been staying, fix-up this space the best we can.  Still not done but that's all the time we have.  Tomorrow we return home to help a family grieve, celebrate the beginning of Advent, usher in a new year as we walk with Jesus as His disciples.

#3294-3296:: Early up to a beautiful, crisp day in Florida.  We GIVE THANKS on this Thanksgiving Day, for our health, our abundance, too many blessings to count.  Pack, put, putter and give instructions to a friend who will make the 'abode' look
Morning sun glistens on winterberry bushes and a glaze of icy snow
nice for the renter.  Drive, fly, switch planes quickly, put on sweaters when we arrive . . .  and then more layers . . .  as we drive through snow-covered farmland. HOME SWEET HOME.  No place like home.  Ahhhhhhhh, sit by the fireplace before we unpack.  Linger over spinach pasta.  YUM!

#3297-3299:: Bright, windy, cold  . . . pretty normal for these parts.  Loads of laundry, repack for a conference we drive to after church this Sunday, write words for burial service, visit grieving wife and then visit another in a nursing home.  Write words for Sunday.  Photograph the beauty outside as green grass spikes through glossy white.

#3300-3302:: The eve of Advent and all through the house . . .  Ann Voskamp wrote a sweet poem to
help us focus on the 'coming' of Christ as we celebrate this Advent season.  An easy time having blood taken this morning and then work through a long list as we prepare for tomorrow and another conference.  Quiet, still, a visitor breaks the silence with sweet words.

#3303-3305:: Celebrate!  A new year, a fresh look through the eyes of Mark.  Celebrate with a brunch for the whole church, celebrate with music, celebrate with words and colors and majestic preparation for a pregnant pause this Advent season.