Daily 5 - Year 4, Day 9

Today's Daily 5:

1. Quiet day, tackling items on my to do list
2. praying for a friend from house church as she prepares to head off to school for the next nine months
3. little boy smiles, and baby boy cuddles (and getting to give one little guy a bottle!)
4. a really good meal, punctuated with laughter, shared with house church friends (I love that we eat together so often)
5. a day that reminded me how much of a blessing having some time off from school really is

Daily 5 - Year 4, Day 8

Today's Daily 5:

1. Dove chocolate with raspberry (regretting that I only bought one bag of this type in Florida)
2. Sitting on the front steps in the sun, waiting for a ride
3. a little voice hesitantly, proudly squeezing out my name
4. the hug of one of my last close friends still residing in the city, and the smile in her eyes as she shared some good news with me
5. rousing conversations over dinner with my friend and her husband, spanning the breadth of topics such catholicism, nursing, work, dating and parenting

Daily 5 - Year 4, Day 7

Today's Daily 5:

1. aloe vera gel (I got a bad sunburn on the weekend, and aloe vera has been my life line the last few days)
2. a salesman who didn't make me feel totally inadequate as I began the process of shopping for a new mattress
3. lazy morning of cleaning and sorting out what needs to happen with the remainder of my summer holidays
4. an impromptu pedicure
5. buying a toaster oven, to make cooking at home an even better possibility

Daily 5 - Year 4, Day 6

Today's Daily 5:

1. a massage appointment that felt wonderful
2. a bus trip listening to a new audio book
3. taking the day slowly
4. mango bubble tea
5. sitting quietly with my art journal, mapping out dreams, goals and hopes for this next season of my life

Quiet Spaces

About once a year or so, I begin to crave quiet.  I feel an impulse to turn off whatever it is that I've been watching on DVD or netflix lately, to quiet the stereo, and just be.

Usually when that happens I still find space to write.

But this week?  This week I'm feeling that craving creep up on me, and I'm ever so aware of the impending arrival of another full semester (rumored to be the most intense in my program).  I'm ever so aware that my short summer break is waning, and that I need to honor the craving for quiet.

I'm aware that I need to be present to friends (both long distance and nearby).  That I need to take time to read, and journal, to pray and process, to create and simply to be.  That there are parts of my life that need careful attention, that there is cleaning and organizing that I want to accomplish before heading back to school.

And because I'm craving quiet, and aware of the waning of summer, this space is going to be quieter.  None of the "regularly scheduled programming" for the next week or so.  I'll probably pop in occasionally, and I'll be here with the Daily 5, but that's it.  Just the things that can't help but spurt out of me, and my usual daily practice of thanksgiving.

I'm off to honor the quiet in my life for a while, and I'm pretty sure I'll return with more to say than I've had in quite a while.