What Makes Me Happy...

Over on Kelly's Korner, she's sharing about things that make her happy. What a great idea, especially when one of the things that makes me so happy is a day like today (a beautiful, sunny Friday with an extended weekend!!!).

• My incredible husband, Jordan
• My family - the Hoods and Lindstedts
• Learning something new
• A great book with tons of new insight (also, relearning to love reading!)
• Meeting new people and watching relationships form
• Listening and helping someone
• Peace and quiet!
• A perfectly made bed - with hospital corners and everything!
• Babies
• Praying for someone
• Playing piano and singing - especially leading worship
• Giving people gifts
• Trying a new recipe - and loving it!
• Flowers - especially hydrangeas, ranunculus, and peonies
• A deep conversation
• Understanding the amazing truth that my Saviour died so that I may live
• Sharing that truth with others!

Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Sneaky

Our one year anniversary is approaching... in October... and my husband is already planning a surprise trip for us! He started thinking about this when we hit our 6-month mark and it's begun to consume his hours when he's not at work or with friends. He's being very sneaky about everything, but occasionally dropping little hints. Of course, now it's starting to consume MY time as I'm trying to figure out where we might be going. Here's what I know so far:

• It's somewhere his mom has never been - which narrows things down because she's quite the traveler!
• It's east of the Mississippi
• I don't need a passport (I don't think I do anyway...)
• The flights aren't too expensive... lower than $300
• We get to stay at a place that looks like this (see picture the picture above)
• He's really excited about it and says I'm going to love it

So, any guesses? If you already know, don't ruin it for me. For some reason, I think we're going to Nashville (we're both big music junkies), but I could be wrong. I don't really care where we go, I'm just excited for a getaway with my man. Isn't he wonderful?

con·tent·ed

con·tent·ed (adj.): feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation

This word has been on my mind for the last few days. All my life, I've been looking ahead to the next stage or the next big event. When I was 5, I wished I was 10. When I was 10, I longed for 16. I dreamed about my wedding day since I started playing with Barbies (which was pretty young!). You get the point.

So, now that I've hit most of the milestones I always looked forward to, I find myself wondering "What next?". I got my driver's license. I graduated from high school. I turned 21. I graduated from college. I got married. We bought a house. It feels like the only thing left is to have babies, but that's not going to happen for a while (even though there are days I wish it would happen right now!).

I was recently telling Jordan that I'm feeling bored because I don't have "the next thing" to research on Google. First it was the wedding, then the house, then furniture for the house, and now... what? Even though I'm sure you could throw tons of ideas my way at this point, I find myself being reminded to be content where I am for a while. I can easily get consumed by the fun ideas of being a stay at home mom (which is my goal someday!), but for now, I work at a chiropractor's office and I have the freedom of a new marriage (a.k.a. no little ones to worry about!). I need to embrace this stage of life and stop dreaming ahead... which is very difficult for me to do.

I think ahead because I feel like I need to be prepared for what's to come. Worrying has been a part of my life for a while, but I'm starting to realize (thanks to the gentle prodding of my husband) that there's no point to it. There's already a plan that I don't know about... constructed by Someone who knows what I need a lot better than I do. Check this out:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

What a relief. It's not up to me. I can be content today.

PMS

There's no way around it. PMS has infected my life this week. Someday I want to find a cure for it... but for now, I'll just live with the rollercoaster of emotions that's tempting to drive me (and my husband!) insane.

I had the day off yesterday, so I spent it running a few errands, then meeting with some people from church, then sitting in the sun with a great book, then making homemade pizza (crust and everything!) with my man, and then finally having some good old fashioned bonding time with our siblings and siblings-in-law. Such a great day off... and the 80 degree weather wasn't bad either!

I had a bit of a meltdown when my mom called to tell me the doctor thinks they need to move my grandma to a nursing home. I still haven't pinpointed the exact reason for my meltdown (her health is relatively good... it's just a physical mobility thing), but I'm blaming PMS and overreaction. Luckily, I had two great listeners around to help me process through everything. Nothing like great friends (and sisters!). There was just something that hurt my heart a little when I thought of my strong, independent grandma being sent to a place without her own kitchen! She's one of the best cooks I've ever known (I always told her she should open a pie shop!)... and to think of that being taken away from her was just too much for me. It's one of the hard parts about growing up - naivety is gone and the world is so real... and not always so nice. Realizing that things are changing (and have changed) and that people are getting older (which isn't always better) is hard to handle. I'll always say that I have loved my twenties, but there's something about this adventure into adulthood that just makes me want to be five again... when my biggest worries were what dress to wear to school and whether or not I'd get white milk or chocolate milk at lunch. Oh, and where I'd be put for our afternoon nap... by the pencil sharpener or the garbage can. Now, I feel like life is full of these really important decisions (buying a house, finding a job, staying healthy, etc., etc.).

Anyway, the good news is that Grandma feels pretty good and is complying with the doctors as they all try to figure out the best living situation for her. It's hard being six hours away and just wanting to be there and help out, but knowing that won't happen for a while. My heart is with her, even though my body isn't. Hopefully, prices on flights from MSP-OMA will drop soon so I can go down and spend some time with everyone.

So - adulthood. Is it all it's cracked up to be? I can remember being younger and always wishing to be older and more mature... now I'm thinking it might be nice to revert. It's always greener... :-)

Beautiful Reminder

As summer approaches, I'm getting more and more excited about the beginning of our all-girls book club. I'll be leading it with one of my great friends, Katie, and the book we've chosen has me more than ready to get this thing started! What was supposed to be a "small" gathering of girls quickly expanded, and I'm excited to have around 14 of us who are going to grow together this summer!

We chose to read the book Strong Women, Soft Hearts by Paula Rinehart. I must admit, I was slightly apprehensive to choose this book because I thought it might be for "old" ladies... but then I read part of Paula's blog and a synopsis of the book, and I was in. I immediately bought it off Amazon and started reading when it arrived in my mailbox.

So what has me so pumped about this? Let me share a little snippet from Chapter 2 (the chapter's about desire) that totally hit home:

"'When we are wholly His we will be more ourselves than ever.' What an incredible thought! The more completely we belong to Christ, the more of our real selves we become. Reclaiming my heart in the sense of owning my longings has been like entering a pantry and finally getting the labels on the right jars. To a greater extent, I have God's permission to live out the truth of who I am - to believe that my desires are not an accident, a mistake, or a nuisance. It is the definition of joy to be able to offer back to God the essence of what He's placed in you, be that creativity or a love of ideas or a compassionate heart or the gift of hospitality." (Strong Women, Soft Hearts by Paula Rinehart, p. 24)

Friends, my sweet husband has heard me reiterate this a million times already and I haven't even gotten to discuss it with our book club! This paragraph must have been written FOR ME. Don't you just love it when that happens... when it seems like an author was looking at your picture when she wrote?! It's hard for me to even find the right words to explain why this means so much to me. I think many of us feel like we have to fit a certain "perfect Christian" mold - but this defies that. We are called to be our true selves - and to give that over to God. That's the tricky part - because self-will has a way of creeping in.

I've been so good at putting on the pretty facade and trying to do everything the way I think it should be done, all the while forgetting that I should be first looking to God for direction. So much easier said than done! :-) I've been trying to do this for a couple years now, and sometimes I'll succeed and other times, not so much. I'm looking forward to starting a more intentional shift in life - God first, my plans second.

To those of you in our summer book club, I can't wait to share this book with you!

For a more in depth look at this book, check out the Bloom Book Club here. They're doing video discussion of each chapter - love it!

New Season, New Look

I've learned that spring is my new 2nd favorite season (after fall, of course)... so there's a new look to the blog to reflect this.

The new picture on the header was taken by our good friend, Kristen Lunceford. Enjoy more of her talent here.

Hoping for some thunderstorms tonight... love it!

Slacking

I haven't written in a while - and I could give you a long list of excuses, but it doesn't really matter. There's been a lot going on and I've (once again) neglected my blog.

So, a few things I'm excited about...

I'm really pumped about our small group. I can hardly keep myself from telling everyone about it. We started as a group of people who didn't know each other (hadn't ever even seen each other!) and we've been together since February. The growth in this group of people has been incredible.

I'm most excited about the idea of many, many more people being able to experience this kind of community and spiritual growth. This summer we're having two large group gatherings for anyone in our church (or community) who's in the 20-30-somethings age range and interested in getting in a small group. For those of you in the area, more info will be coming out soon at church, but the dates are June 18th and July 9th from 6:30-8:30pm. Entrance fee = nonperishable food that will be donated to a local food shelf.

We're also having a girls' book club this summer (thanks to Bloom Book Club for inspiring the idea!). We will be officially choosing the book at the end of the week. Can't wait to grow in a new way with this lovely group of ladies!!!

In other news, Jordan and I are heading to Neenah, WI to spend Mother's Day with my grandma who lives there. We haven't seen her since our wedding last October, so some good quality time is on the menu! It's still really surreal to us to book a hotel room together. One of the many perks of marriage. :-)

We have some great friends getting married this summer and I'm already so looking forward to celebrating with them!

Oh, and have I mentioned my great friend, Christa, who's due with her first baby in July? We had a super fun baby shower for her a couple weeks ago. It's been fun to watch her gain that baby glow over the past few months. Can hardly wait to meet the little guy!!!

I'm happy to announce that I will have at least four piano students starting lessons in the fall. I'm hoping to grow the studio gradually over the next year, with hopes that I'll be able to do that full time sometime soon! For more details, check this out.

I could go on and on, but Jordan needs me to go to JoAnn's with him to buy velcro (haha, men these days), so we're off to run a few errands!

Nice to be back in blog-world!