Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 52

Today's Daily 5:
(an introduction to the daily 5 can be found here)

1. sleeping in sweet smelling, freshly washed sheets last night
2. my unemployment benefits finally started and the first deposit landed in my bank account.  that will be helpful until I find work/find out if I've gotten into school.
3. waking up in my own bed - I'm always for the mental break that staying somewhere else provides, but it really is nice to wake up in my own bed.
4. grilled cheese sandwich made with aged Wisconsin cheddar cheese on whole grain bread.
5. Watching episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Iron Chef America" while vegging at mom and dad's this afternoon
6. listening and watching as a toddler giggle while jumping in piles of fallen leaves and playing with her mom
7. rearranging some furniture to make life in my crazy living situation slightly more accommodating for the moment.
8. hanging a map of the world back up, and beginning the process of sticking up photos of people I love and pray for all around it
9. working on a project/hobby for a while tonight
10. almond joy bar

A Familiar Feeling

Dana posted this quote from C.S. Lewis the other day.  In it, Lewis describes a feeling I'm finding rather familiar lately.  The pain of renovation is one I'm experiencing, and I found Lewis' description to be profound.  Being made into a palace is a reminder I can use right now, amidst the painful reconstruction.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.

But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. [Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis]