Slightly Recovered

I'm doing slightly better than this morning.

Emails and comments from a few friends brought smiles.

The roses that are still hanging in there on my desk helped.

Booking a pre-wedding manicure and pedicure for Saturday helped.

A sandwich for lunch full of this beef filling that my mom makes, and I rarely get these days helped.  (My mom gave me a container of the filling last night.)

Settling into a few tasks at the office helped too.

I'm still tired, still distracted, still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the curve-balls of life.

But I'm doing slightly better.

And for that, I'm thankful.

Daily 5 - Day 266

Today's Daily 5:

1. Luke 8
2. Feeling like something lifted overnight.  Feeling hope rising again.
3. Oatmeal for breakfast
4. A friend and co-worker who knows how a rough a time I've had these last few weeks brought me a bouquet of a dozen pink roses at work this morning.
5. Macdonalds for supper.  No mocking me.  Sometimes I just enjoy a really unhealthy meal.  And tonight I did.
6. Loving the newest book I'm reading - "I am Hutterite."  As books that I'm reviewing for booksneeze.com go, this one is way more readable and engaging (at least for me) than "The Hole in our Gospel."  (which, incidentally, I heard this week, won a "Christian book of the year" prize, so maybe I was the only one who didn't think it was all that great.)
7. House Church tonight was fabulous.  It was so great to be surrounded by friends, to pray for and with them, and be prayed for.
8. Still loving the iphone
9. I have an upcoming opportunity to escape Grandma's for a couple weeks and house sit.  Still waiting on the details, but delighted by the timing.
10. Tomorrow is Friday!

Look What Appeared in My Office This Morning!

A friend and coworker brought me this bouquet of roses to cheer me up amidst the rough week I've been having.  I love them!  (I loved the hug that came with them too!)

Daily 5 - Day 92

Today's Daily 5 (or more):

1. Getting a blog award - very fun! (see my previous post)
2. The smell of the roses on my desk at work
3. really good roasted baby potatoes and yam, green beans and "tuscan chicken sausage" from the farmer's market for supper tonight
4. finishing day 4 of yoga/exercise - week 2
5. accomplishing a number of things on my to do list tonight
6. daily dose of a trivia game at lunch hour with a coworker
7. sorting through photos, ordering a few to be printed, some for me, and some to send to some friends
8. a long hot shower tonight after yoga
9. knowing that tomorrow is Friday - this is a very good thought right now
10. magic bag draped across my cold feet in bed.
    

It Kind of Feels Like Monday

Having a holiday in the middle of the week was great yesterday while it was still the holiday.

It's still great today, but today does feel slightly like a monday as a result.

I'm feeling discombobulated, and not sure what to tell you.

I'm still loving the roses on my desk - a gift from a co-worker earlier this week.

I can't quite figure out how to describe how I'm feeling today, other than weird. Slighty jumpy and very adrenaliney but not panicky. A doable feeling in the middle of the day, not so much a doable feeling while I was trying to sleep last night.

As a result, I'm yawning a lot today.

It kind of feels like a Monday. I'm glad it's really a Thursday, and that the weekend is coming soon.

Daily 5 - Day 89

Today's Daily 5 (or more):

1. the gift of a dozen multi-colored roses from a friend, to remind me that I'm cared about
2. the smell (all day long) of those same roses filling my office
3. a nice quiet day at work
4. taking time tonight to make some cards - pretty basic, but it's been a long time since I took the time to do something even kind of creative
5. finally taking the time to paint my fingernails and toenails and to put a mask on my face (it's been way too long since I stopped to give myself that little bit of extra attention)
6. accomplishing a number of things on my "to do" list
7. plans for the week slowly coming together
8. listening to Jason Upton this morning and revisiting some long ago promises and callings and being reminded that God is faithful to keep his promises
9. getting day 1 of yoga for this week accomplished
10. getting out of the office for a little while this morning to run an errand for the company. (I love that my job sometimes encompasses errands... I've always been the errand queen, so it's fun to get paid time for some now!)
    

Monday Morning...

The drive in to work this morning was helpful. I listened to some Jason Upton songs that I hadn't listened to in quite some time. Songs that Jesus has spoken through for very specific situations in the past. It was good to remember those moments and promises.

Work this week should be nice and quiet. Three of the four management team members are out of town on business. Two of those three are the ones that tend to stir conflicts and tension within the office. With all of them gone, the office should be quite peaceful this week.

A coworker and friend discovered via facebook and my blog yesterday that it had been a pretty rough day. I was surprised and delighted when she showed up at my office this morning and delivered a bouquet of multi-colored roses, telling me that I'm loved and cared about. I was delighted both because it's nice to be surprised like that, but also because they were roses. With my new, tighter budget, I've been walking past the roses in the floral section of the grocery store for weeks now, unable to justify the cost of having one of the few flowers I really love in my house on any kind of regular basis. My office smells wonderful this morning, thanks to the roses, and every time I glance up, they are bringing a smile to my face.

And with that, I've got schtuff to do! A number of things that need to be accomplished today.

So, I'm off to do those things!

Smile List

Here are a few of the things that are making me smile today (complete with some pictures!):

• coconut scented oil in my oil burner (loving that my bedroom smells like the tropics right now)
• A newly redesigned and decorated journal, ready for use (front and back covers)
• Brand new pens for writing in the aforementioned journal
• A beautiful bouquet of red roses, sitting on my dressing stand
• Freshly washed sheets and a nicely made bed
• A beautiful crisp white blouse, just bohemian enough to make me really happy, and just dressy enough to work perfectly for nearly any occasion
• Peanut M&M's to accompany a creative spree
• Plans to clean my bedroom
  

Things I Wonder About

I think I'm going to start a regular feature... just random thought statements that cross my mind. "Things I wonder about..."

I'm starting with this:

Who on earth came up with the name baby's breath for that particular flower? No baby I've ever held has had breath as foul smelling as this particular beautiful but entirely stinky flower. It smells more like animal pee than anything else... and why something so foul smelling is always paired with something as lovely as roses is yet another mystery to me...

Again at prayer...

My heart is as prayer again.

This morning I am praying:

• for an encircling, a drawing together
• for healing and restoration
• for roses along paths
• for some I love very deeply
• and some I know only in passing
• for conversations that must happen
• and for all the things the have gone unsaid, through fear, or through necessity
• and for courage to speak the things that are as yet unsaid but must be given voice
• for a diminishing of greed and jealousy
• for those who have been heavy on my mind and heart these last days and weeks
• while remembering "his body broken, his blood shed"
• with thankfulness for a friend with whom I spent last evening, laughing, talking, eating, communing
• for a tearing down of idols (idol worship is about self harm)
• for restored dreams
• for travels that are not yet fully possibilities, but that God is calling some to
• for health and strength
• for daily bread
• for just enough light for one more step (another step deeper into darkness, closer to the light)
• for birthing
• for empty arms to be filled
• and empty hearts to be held
• while thinking about some lyrics from two Ben Harper songs (Roses from a Friend, and Blessed to be a Witness)
• for two little girls in Winnipeg who touched my heart deeply (and their family, who also entered my heart)
• for two friends recently engaged
• for the closing of the gap
• for the lonely to be set in families
• for all those who bear the marks of Christ on their lives
• for healing and wholeness
• for joy amidst suffering
• while remembering Francis and Claire and Lazarus and Rose of Lima and all the others that have impacted this year
• for peace
• and hope
• for the coming of the light.

Advent is nearly at a close. The light is coming. Amen, come Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.