Stuff I Love: Happy Blogs

I love reading blogs. I read about my friends and their lives and I smile when I see pictures of their kiddos growing and just being sweet. Especially when they live far away and we don't talk often, I love hearing their reflections on the everyday stuff, and knowing little details about their lives, like what delicious and creative thing they made for dinner or how much they are enjoying the snowy weather where they are. And when it comes to reading the blogs of people I don't know, I generally stick to the happy ones. I recently discovered 1000 Awesome Things and can't get enough. Just about every recent entry--except maybe the one about "all the food that comes out of a pig"--makes me smile and say, Yes!

I think about blogging much more than I actually blog and my habit has been to share about activities. Really, practically all of my entries could be titled, "Here's some stuff we did." So, I'm not sure if I'll actually do it, but I'm contemplating the occasional post that starts with "Stuff I Love." Cause if it's something small that makes me happy, maybe it will make someone else happy to read about it. We'll see... In the meantime, have a happy day!

February goodness

Again, this is all it takes to have a snow day in Western Oregon:

It seems a little ridiculous, but I try not to complain too much, because it always means happy kiddos playing outside and a bit of extra surprise time that feels like a gift. Our class later the same evening was canceled due to a threatening forecast (we didn't get any more snow), so Leah, Mat and Freya came over to eat brownies and ice cream to celebrate Leah's birthday--yay!

The next night, we met Alexis at the Grand Lodge for a delicious dinner and had a great time catching up by the yardhouse fire.

I've been hanging out with these sweeties a lot lately:

It is always a joy.

Chicago people

We had a wonderful extended stay in Chicago (thanks, snowstorm!) and got to spend some good time with Hilary, Scott and the fabulous Sadie, who just turned one!

The serious eater:

Squeaky clean Sadie Bug:

Cute lil toes poking out.
Kristin came over one night for dinner--yay!

Unckage and The Bug:

With the bundled Bug at Potbelly:


Our most foolish, er..faithful friends who went out at the height of the blizzard to meet us at the Hidden Shamrock for some great pub food and drinks. Joe, Carrie and Joseph. What a great night!

Back to Pilsen, just down the block from our former home, for Community Meal and Mark and Julie's (well-insulated) place:

Out in the snow:

Staying toasty on the El:

We trudged through two feet of snow the morning after the blizzard to work out. The gym was pretty quiet.

There are many, many things we love about Chicago, but at the top of the list are the names of the dear ones we love who live there.

More Michigan

Now that we've been home from our Midwest trip for a few weeks and enjoying milder temperatures and green grass, this wintry weather seems far away, though my parents are still exploring the snow caves along Lake Michigan. I'm happy we got to experience this kind of snow and happy that we got to leave it behind after a week and a half!




Big Red!
Still wearing this coat from high school...it's the warmest thing I've got and the only thick one that still fits me! Matchy matchy.

Cessie wanted to relive her senior pictures :)

Delicious dinner at The Piper with the Wrights:

The Bodies Revealed exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Sometimes creepy but mostly interesting.

The puppetmaster and his puppet:



At the Gaia Cafe, a fabulous place for veggie/vegan food and my favorite Grand Rapids restaurant:

I could eat their food every day!

With the Savaras at the Real Food Cafe on the north side. Breakfast was incredible, it was super fun to catch up with good seminary friends, and the young entertainment did not disappoint :) Andria and Justin announced that they are expecting their third child later this year! Yay!


The usual suspects who hang out in my parents' tiny kitchen:

Rose is super excited to be an aunt!

My Cessie.

The great midwest adventure of 2011!

When we begin a journey or visit people, Eric and I usually talk about what we want that trip to be like or what we want to create, and one of the words that came up for us as we set out for Michigan and Chicago was adventure. We wanted to view all the parts of our travels as adventure and to create adventure with those we would visit. Well, we got what we wanted! The beginning may appear to be uneventful, but things pick up :)

After a late arrival and a good night's sleep at Scott and Hilary's, we cruised down Lake Shore Drive in our rental car and headed to Holland. Oh, Chicago.


It was wonderful to spend some good days in Michigan, our first time back in about 2 years! Could that be? It is always a gift to be home with my family, the people who know me best.

One of our first visitors was Michelle, my roommate at Albion for 2 1/2 years. She's not from Holland, but she and her husband live just a few miles away from my parents now, so I get to see her when I'm home--yay!

My mom and I took Eric to see Albion for the first time, which was great fun. We stopped downtown and crossed Superior St. to grab some coffee at a bookstore, and I told them how, many years before I was there, Albion's town motto was "Our Main Street is Superior." Har.

Lewis hooked us up with an actual tour guide so we could hear all about the most recent additions and other new happenings. She left us after a while and we continued to wander around long enough that Lewis called us, concerned that we'd gotten lost. We walked through the Dow athletic center and even poked our heads into Lower Baldwin, where, in my day, I ate many a bowl of oatmeal and prepared countless tasty treats at the waffle bar. Love this place.

Lewis and Dory prepared a delicious meal and we had a wonderful time catching up with them, Maddie (and her sweet daughter, Lucy), and Lynsey, all Albion folks who are in the area.

to be continued....

What I'm looking like these days...

People have started noticing--and being bold enough to mention--my pregnancy, which I love!

Baby

Tomorrow I will be 20 weeks pregnant! It's surprising to me that we are halfway to a real-life in-the-outside-world baby and have yet to write about it here, but perhaps it is because there is a part of me that is incredulous. Is it real? Is everything really going to happen as it's supposed to? Even after hearing the heartbeat twice and even as I watch my belly grow, I have doubts. I had a miscarriage last summer, so I know in a real way that nothing here is guaranteed, and I worried before that a future pregnancy might be full of fear and anxiety for me, but I think my doubt is comes more from a place of wonder. How is it possible that I have a human growing inside of me? What a crazy mystery. It is a gift that makes me smile and shake my head at the same time. I am incredulous and I am so, so happy!

I am reminded of a poem/prayer from Ted Loder's Guerrillas of Grace that has appeared in my hands twice since October 29th, my 31st birthday and the morning on which I waited impatiently for Eric to emerge from the bathroom so I could show him those two little pink lines. Just a week after that day, at a retreat for church leaders at Camp Magruder, I picked up a slip of paper with the prayer on it during a quiet time of reflection and sat with it for a while, breathing it in. And then on the second of January, while visiting Eric's parents' church in Washington, the prayer was printed in the bulletin. Certainly, this new life is something I am shaping and which is shaping me. "And the wonder of it lays its finger on my lips."

I Tremble on the Edge of a Maybe, by Ted Loder
O God of beginnings
as your Spirit moved

over the face of the deep

on the first day of creation,

move with me now

in my time of beginnings
when the air is rain-washed,
the bloom is on the bush,
and the world seems

fresh

and full of

possibilities,

and I feel ready and full.

I tremble on the edge of a maybe,
a first time,
a new thing,
a tentative start,

and the wonder of it lays its finger on my lips.

In silence, Lord,
I share now my eagerness

and my uneasiness

about this something different
I would be or do;

and I listen for your leading

to help me separate the light

from the darkness

in the change I seek to shape
and which is shaping me.