Daily 5 - Day 192

Today's Daily 5:

1. Got a big load of stuff (including all my books) moved to Grandma's house this morning thanks to help from my dad.
2. Choosing to be a bit honest as I continue to explore how I'm feeling about this transition of moving
3. Cooked dinner for mom, dad, T & L, and my aunt tonight.  It's fun to cook for others, and it's nice when the meal wins rave reviews.
4. Got a treatment from mom and my aunt - hopefully that'll help with the soreness a bit.
5. First iced passion tea lemonade from starbucks since they switched to whole leaf tea.  I tried the new version of hot passion tea a while back and definitely didn't like it - plus the price went up quite a bit.  But, I was very pleasantly surprised today to discover that the iced passion tea lemonade still tastes the same!
6. Laughed with my dad as I discovered the the starbucks abbreviation for my aforementioned drink of choice, scribbled on the cup in sharpie is "PTL" - that made me laugh.  Such a bad, inside, "christiany" joke, but it did make me smile.
7. Watched the end of the Canadian men's curling match with Great Britain tonight - love that Canada is still undefeated.  Plus, I really like watching curling.
8. Also saw the medal ceremony for the Canadian who won gold last night in the skeleton.  I'm so not very patriotic at all, but every time I see a Canadian athlete on that podium, excited to receive that medal, and hear our anthem play, I totally want to cry.
9. Enjoyed an Almond Joy bar tonight.  I've been savoring some that were sent to me as a gift, and tonight it hit the spot just perfectly.  Thanks LP/CA!
10. Got caught up on the Lenten reading I'd fallen a bit behind on.

Starbucks - Dubai Style

Have you seen this photo that's making the rounds on the web?  Someone sent it to me under the the title "The Best Reason Yet to Visit Dubai".  Now that's a Starbucks!

Daily 5 - Day 18

Image by Dia™ via Flickr

So, eighteen days in...

This was a wild and crazy day within my heart, on the heels of a wild and crazy week. I just sent a long email to a dear friend detailing some of the things going on within me, and it took nearly an hour to write those thoughts out...

But it was a beautiful day, and good...

So, here's today's daily 5:

1. the surprise in the way God started speaking, catching me totally off guard, while I was at church tonight
2. an iced passion tea lemonade, and Macdonalds (one a typical beverage for when I need to pray, the other comfort food) consumed while I processed those things
3. a tour of a cemetery, and hearing some stories of the origins of Calgary
4. Hosea 2:14-16, 19-20, 23 NLT
5. Accomplishing some very necessary errands so that our home can truly begin to feel settled and like "home"
   

Lovely...

I had a lovely evening.

I met this long-time blogging friend, and we sat for two hours in a starbucks and talked.

It's been a long time since I've had a conversation that flowed freely and easily about the important things in life. About something more than the surface things. A conversation that felt free and honest (at least to me - since I suppose I can only speak for myself...)

It was for me a much needed gift tonight, after a long and wrestle-filled week. A soul-restoring thing.

And, while she couldn't have known it, I realized driving home that it was also a redemptive sort of thing for me to have that sort of conversation in a Starbucks. I've loved the tea and a few other drinks at Starbucks for a long time, but Starbucks has also been very tied to many of the struggles of the last year. So many funny and deep associations.

I didn't really think about all those things when we agreed to meet at a Starbucks. I didn't really think about it even as we were sitting there chatting. But as I was driving home, I realized that it was a redemptive thing for me. To have that enjoyment restored (even though I hadn't totally realized it was gone.)

So I'm saying thanks, to my friend for suggesting that particular location, and to God who somehow orchestrates the things I don't even know I need.

Starbucks, special request

I had to chuckle a few minutes ago.

I'm borrowing my dad's truck this morning for the planned Ikea trip and had told him I'd be at their house to pick it up sometime between 9 and 9:30. My phone rang at 10 to 9 this morning. It was my dad.

He wanted me to do him a favor.

Could I please stop at Starbucks on my way to their house and pick him up a venti mocha frappucino with no whipped cream?

My dad has entered the world of Starbucks!

Too funny! So, I'll stop and get his frappucino, and I'll probably get a iced passion tea lemonade for myself, and I'll head on into the day!

2001 (A Thursday Morning Mish-Mash)

(This is my 2001st blog post! How crazy is that? I've been doing this for quite a while now I guess...)

I'm glad it's Thursday, because that means it's almost the weekend. And this weekend, my house is going to be empty - just me! And that is absolutely one of the most exciting things I can think of right now. I'm so looking forward to the quiet and the space. I love my roommates, but I'm expecting the next month to be a bit wild, and the few days quiet break will be a nice relief before the full-on craziness of moving and final wedding preparations kicks into full gear.

Our landlord is showing our house at 8 tonight. Which means that after work we need to do a bit of tidying. And, that at just before 8, we need to clear out for 20-30 minutes or so. Which, quite frankly is a bit inconvenient, but, I think I'll go get a strawberry lemonade, or an iced passion tea lemonade at Starbucks, and that will redeem the inconvenience. And, hopefully, the people will fall in love with the house, and the landlord will like the people, and this will be the only showing we'll have to endure.

I'm listening to Karla Adolphe's various solo albums, and her Jacob and Lily album again lately. I love Karla's voice, and feel privileged to call her a friend. I also love her lyrics - they seem to speak so deeply to the places in my soul that long to be drawn out.

I'm thinking a lot about the providence of God right now. There'll likely be a blog post on that topic coming soon.

I had a dream about shoes, and wearing shoes that weren't mine and changing shoes, and knowing this would be the last time I'd wear certain shoes last night. It was a rather striking dream.

They're forecasting a mixture of snow and rain for Sunday. Snow. In June. (yes, I've lived here all my life. And yes, I know it can snow in literally any month.) Seriously. It's supposed to be 23 degrees today, and by Sunday we're possibly expecting snow. How gross is that? On the other hand, I can quite nicely blame my dad - everytime he goes to Africa, the weather gets ugly. (Of course, he usually goes in January...)

My heart remains somewhat discombobulated, listening, praying, waiting. The dreams are frequent still. And many I care about are facing challenges this week. So I'm listening and praying and waiting, and feeling just a bit tired and discombobulated in the midst of that.

And now, now I'm off to make toast for breakfast, and kick start what promises to be a very full day.

Here's hoping for beautiful things, new seasons, joy, hope and life to be the things we each encounter today!

Sunday Morning Hanging at Home

I was hoping (for the third weekend in a row) to go to the zoo this morning. But, I'm waiting for an internet tech support guy to show up at my house. He's coming between the very specific time slot of 8 am and 5 pm. And he'll be calling with only fifteen minutes notice to tell me he's coming. I can't get home from the zoo in fifteen minutes.

So, I'm hanging out at home this morning.

I'll be making a quick run to the mall eventually to pick up a couple of things I forgot to get yesterday. I can get home from the mall in 15 minutes.

And I'll be heading to my parent's house for lunch a bit later. Mom is having her usual pre-travel "I must gather all my children around me" moment. And I can get home from their house in 15 minutes too.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to read. I haven't been doing much reading lately. It's been hard to focus and my attention span has definitely suffered through this last year of health struggles. But I kind of feeling like reading this morning, so, for a while at least, until the mall opens and I can head out to do my necessary errand, I think I'll read.

And, I think I'll treat myself to starbucks at the mall. I'd like a cup of iced passion tea lemonade to curl up with while I read.

The Deep End?

Kirk talks about the crazy God experiences as diving in the deep end of the pool. This has been that kind of week.

I've been reading and hearing from all kinds of sources this week:

• a Dutch, Catholic, gay but celibate priest writing on prayer
• an Episcopal, female priest talking about the life of faith, and her calling to ministry
• a slightly sacchrine, but genuine Christian novelist
• a British founder of a prayer movement
• friends from all over the country and world
• Music from favorite bands
• A Canadian songwriter, poet, and novelist

All of these things circling and clinging. Floating through my brain.

Lots of imagery having to with light.

I've been praying each time I drink a cup of Starbucks - started as a bit of a joke, but has become something else. I prayed my way through a cup of tazo passion tea at work this morning, and that somehow led to a deep and intense conversation with one of my youth girls at another Starbucks this evening - pray for you if you think of it - she's facing some hard things right now.

I've discovered yet again that my story of depression and healing is perhaps one of the most powerful things God has ever used from my life or asked me to speak.

I was reading a document on the bus this afternoon and praying and three friends came to mind very strongly. I felt I needed to invite them to be part of that which the document was inviting me to be part of. I passed it along by email and left phone messages with one. I talked to the other for an hour on the phone tonight. She's putting out a Gideon fleece of sorts in response.

This has been a crazy, deep end sort of week. Beautiful, confusing, and worth every minute.