Weekend update

I crawled into bed last night exhausted.  But it was the good kind of exhaustion, like the good kind of sore after a workout.  I was tired because we worked our buns off this weekend, but I felt great about it.  I think I'm officially nesting, because I did more cleaning and organizing in this past three day weekend than I've done in the past three months.  It's a great feeling to get our house in order.

And having some accountability, feeling like I would need to come back here and post about my lists for the weekend, gave me a push to meet my goals.  So here's the update on how we spent our weekend.

Play List:

1. Prayer walk the neighborhood with Jeff and Monte. I have lots of excuses for this one: snow, Monte's leash is at my parent's house, and I made so many trips up and down stairs this weekend that extra walking did not sound like fun.
2. Use our Blockbuster Express free rental code (ESU11B good through 1/18).  We got into watching Lost online instead.  It was still free entertainment, so I'm ok with it.
3. Paint something.  I don't know what, but I have many projects waiting in the wings.  I just feel the need to paint.  Painting my nails counts right?

To Finish:

1. Rearrange the furniture in the dinning room/kitchen.  Done, including my new piano.  It makes our home seem so much more peaceful and there are less flat surfaces for clutter.
2. Purge the magazines.  About halfway done.  I'm going through them and tearing out any recipes that I may have missed, so it's taking a little longer.
3. Make Colossians memory books.  Done with hubby's help.
4. Get donations ready to go out the door.  Two garbage bags have been loaded in my trunk.  Just need to stop at the thrift store and drop them off.
5. Start and finish cleaning the house.  It's much cleaner than it was on Friday morning!
6. Make chicken stock.  Done and used some for last night's dinner.

Finish-It Friday

Aby over at Simplify 101 does a weekly Finish-It Friday post.  Our whole family has a three day weekend coming up and we have very little on the calendar.  This is so rare for our family.  I work full time and husband is in full time ministry that often dominates our calendar.  His day off is usually Monday's, but as he's also in seminary, these days are often loaded with homework/studying.  This three day weekend is like the trifecta of calendar bliss.  My government funded office is closed for MLK day, hubby has his usually Monday off and seminary classes don't start back up until the following week, no major ministry events on the calendar, and our exchange student also has Monday off school for MLK day, so no getting up early for the carpool.  I love weekends like this where I have time to finish up the things that have been driving me crazy for a while and still have time to rest.

So here's my finish it list for this weekend.

Play List:

1. Prayer walk the neighborhood with Jeff and Monte.
2. Use our Blockbuster Express free rental code (ESU11B good through 1/18).
3. Paint something.  I don't know what, but I have many projects waiting in the wings.  I just feel the need to paint.

To Finish:

1. Rearrange the furniture in the dinning room/kitchen.
2. Purge the magazines.
3. Make Colossians memory books.
4. Get donations ready to go out the door.
5. Start and finish cleaning the house.
6. Make chicken stock.

May you also have a restful and enjoyable weekend.

My Other List

I've started a list of 1001 gifts of grace to work gratitude into my heart and daily life.  I'm noticing and appreciating more God moments and little blessings and doing my best to give him all the praise and glory.

There's another list that I'm working on.  It's a list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days (approximately 2.75 years).  I finished it on paper in December and have since added it to the blog.  I will update the page on the blog as I'm able to cross things off the list.  And I'll try to do separate blog postings for those items which might be more interesting.  Some items are spiritual, some are financial, some are practical, some are just plain random.  Some have been on my mental to do list for a while.  I hope that having them written down and a timeline will help me accomplish some of these goals.

Anyway, one that I crossed off on Tuesday night was leaving a 100% tip for a waiter or waitress.  We got about 4 inches of snow on Tuesday night, but since hubby and I happened to be out on the other side of town anyway, we decided to go to dinner and use one of the gift cards we had received for Christmas.

Now here's my little soap box.  Christians are often known in the food service industry as poor tippers.  I've heard many servers complain about being scheduled for Sunday afternoon when they'll have to wait on the after church crowd because they know the tips won't be that great.  One friend of ours was trying to live out her faith and share it with her co-workers while working at a restaurant.  Her testimony was often hindered when a pastor would stiff one of her friends or someone would leave a tract instead of a tip. In my humble opinion, Christians should be the most generous tippers as they use any opportunity to interact with another person as an opportunity to show them grace and Christ's love.

Stepping down from soap box...

Please don't think that I'm bragging on what we did Tuesday night, or that I think it makes me some super holier than thou Christian.  In all honesty, I stole the idea from someone else's 101 list because I thought it sounded cool.  But we used the gift card to pay for most of our meal and then paid for it again as the tip on our debit card.  I don't really know anything about the young woman who waited on us, and we didn't stick around to see her reaction.  But it was a slow snowy night and I'm sure she wasn't too excited to be there.  We prayed as we left that the Lord would use this act of generosity to glorify himself.  Maybe in heaven he'll tell me her story and how it fits in his eternal story of grace.

Humble Beginnings

My husband and I began our marriage in a rather unconventional way. The day after we returned from our honeymoon we packed up our cars and moved to camp. God had called us to work with teenagers for the summer, to love on them, teach them truth, and serve alongside them as they came to camp two weeks at a time. Our home for that summer was pretty swanky by camp standards. It had a kitchen, a queen size bed, and we even had our own shower. We didn't have to walk outside to a bath-house and had a little more privacy than most of the summer staff. However, compared to what I always imagined my first married house to be, our little fifth-wheel trailer was a bit of a let down. I almost cried the night we first moved in, but over the course of the summer, our little shady spot in "Maple Grove" became home.

This particular camp has become one of my favorite places on the planet. God works so mightily there and I love connecting with him through his creation in ways that aren't as easy in the city. This past weekend we got to go back home. We took 70 high school students and leaders to camp for a weekend retreat. And we saw the Spirit move big time. There was a great speaker, wonderful times of worship, meaningful small group conversations, and lives were changed. We're praying that the Spirit continues to move in the lives of our students now that we've returned to reality and that the commitments they made will be lasting.

Hubby and I visiting our first home this past weekend.

Gifts of grace that I'm counting this week...
65. a day of rest and worship

66. baby movements while Daddy was talking to my tummy

67. a weekend at "home"

68. lunch with our mentors/friends

69. vulnerability of our students

70. knowing we can't fix their lives and turning to the one who can

71. sleep in my own bed

72. popcorn for dinner

73. a sassy new haircut

74. the dish fairy and her light hanging husband (aka my mom and dad)

75. the anticipation of seeing inside my belly (tomorrow!)

76. hopes to one day see our little one encounter God at camp