Undeserved provision.

This past Sunday while visiting at our Pastor’s house, amidst the laughs and stories, we had the precious opportunity to reflect on the blessings that God has given us through time. After that discussion, I walked away marveling at God’s grace towards us, how He continually provides even when He seems like he won’t, and feeling overwhelmed by His love and concern for me, a very sinful person. I prefer to say, “God’s undeserved provision” for varying needs, because that is in the most general, but truest sense, what a blessing is.

Our Works of God journal has stacked up with the countless ways that He has provided for us through the years. Varying from seemingly small things like a gift of 40 ears of corn to freeze for winter to filling up the car with a tank of gas when we had no money to do so ourselves to witnessing my Grandma accept Christ as her Savior after countless years of praying. Whatever the scenario, God has always utilized people and circumstances, most times the most unlikely people and circumstances, to show His love towards us, and ultimately His glory. 

The classic love of fall.

This week I received two packages from both my Mom and best friend. One contained Apple Cider K-cups and a deliciously scented, Pumpkin Spice candle, while the other contained Cinnamon Spice coffee and a Yankee candle smelling of autumn wreath.

From this one can draw two assumptions: one, my loved ones know me very well, and two, fall is an incredible season to be celebrated. I used to disregard fall altogether, deeming snowy winters and swimming filled summers more exciting than leaves falling—I found it depressing and it seemed that only “old people” appreciated it. Well, I must have gotten old this year because I found myself craving the crispy chill of fall.

There is something inspiring about this season, it thrills me to enjoy the unique characteristics that fall brings and the fact that it leads to Thanksgiving and Christmas (my two favorite holidays).  In fact, the surprise gifts inspired me to take a break from the books and spend some moments enjoying this season of life; after all, this is the only fall that I will spend as a newlywed, at Northland, and probably in WI. Beyond the candles and fall drinks, I have been appreciating certain aspects of this particular fall in our little apartment. So I have decided to journal a paragraph in summary of my fall thus far: 

A note on Chex Mix.

As I write this, I am contentedly sitting with my new, thrifted find of a cozy, white blanket, a cup of apple cider, and before you think, “aw, what a dreamy situation” I will add that I am also nursing my abused lip back to health. You may ask how my lip came to be abused—was I in a fight? Or perhaps mishandled the curling iron this morning? That would be a no to both statements. I doubt that you will believe the truth, but here it is: my lip suffers from Chex Mix brush burns. I did not know that this was at all possible until today, and as a result, I highly warn against taking late lunches.

Renewed creativity.

I am happy to say that this week has been looking up. For reality sake, as I write this, I have been at work for two hours and wishing that they could have been spent with my pillow instead. However, my exhaustion cannot snuff the spurt of creativity that I have been on. 

What a happy day when I discovered my work to be enjoyable rather than stressful. It was another early morning, just like this, but my mind was craving a moment to create and lo, and behold, a bit of inspiration hit me over the head. One hour later a brand new design of my very own, stared back at me from my computer. That was the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the 9 hours seemed to fly by as I concocted and tweaked design after design. Not only did I finish my project, I continued to check others off my list, and had some personal fun with Photoshop. Needless to say, it was a great feeling.

Upon arriving home later in the day, my husband and I went through our usual routine of dinner, cleaning up, and homework. But instead of the gross, “I feel like doing absolutely nothing” mood that usually occurs after long days, my creative juices were flowing with no intention of stopping any time soon. I couldn’t sit still, I HAD to do something. By the time we were saying, “goodnight”—I had re-arranged all of the home décor, doodled some ideas for designing the next day, researched how to seal DIY wood coasters, and began a fall wreath for our door. The living room floor remains littered with my hot glue gun, fabric cutter, and little scraps of paper that I struggle to put away because then I have to wait to continue things later. 

Parched creativity.

Today is Friday, the end of another “first week of classes”, and I have found myself saying, “Finally!” After a year of anticipating my return to Northland, I thought I would be saying, “Finally—I am learning again!” or “Finally—it’s so good to be back!” And though both of these statements are very true, I find myself saying, after only one week, “Finally—the week is over!” I thought I would make it to at least week six. Looking at this week in retrospect, I think of two words that describe the week that have led me to this point: humbling and overwhelming.

It’s funny, when one thinks of being humbled, they automatically think of a prideful person with a bursting ego that needs brought down, at least, one notch. Though I have gone through my share of ego-busting humility cases, this scenario is different. 

Highlights from August 3rd.

Where to begin? How do you start to sum up all of the happy tears, giddiness, overwhelming peace, wonderful nervousness, and overflowing joy that comprises the day that you have the honor of saying, “I do” to your best friend, for the rest of your life?

Well, in my opinion, words can’t do it justice. And since pictures are worth a thousand words I’m going to post some of the pictures in sequence and we’ll leave it at that. 

After wedding life.

Well, we are back from a wonderfully relaxing time on our honeymoon. From here, life is non-stop for a while as it typically tends to be. But I am so thankful that this time, I don’t have to tearfully say goodbye to my man, instead we get to be together through everything for the rest of our lives—and I’ve got the certificate to prove it!

I have a lot of thoughts in regards to weddings and I will be sharing the highlights in a future post. But for now I want to end this short post with a smattering of thankfulness.