Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 178

Today's Daily 5:

1. String cheese
2. a friend who made sure that a group meeting didn't wallow in unproductivity
3. still really loving turkey and cranberry sandwiches on Winnipeg Rye Bread
4. at least a partial solution to one of the big problems that popped up last week
5. the laughter that came with our first attempts to find heart rates and blood pressure readings.  We're pretty sure we were all "dead" at quite a number of points, thanks to our lack of skills in locating those important indicators of life.

Tuesday Anticipations, February 14, 2012

I stare at my calendar as I write these posts each week, and take a moment to reflect on the things that are coming.  Sometimes it is hard to find things to anticipate, and sometimes it's easier, but I've found taking a moment to pause and anticipate the coming joys and moments to be a discipline worth practicing, one that creates space in my heart.

And so, this week I am anticipating:

• Beginning to learn to take vital signs later today in class. There is something about finally donning my stethoscope that makes this nursing adventure all the more real, and worth celebrating and basking in.
• Hearing the stories of how my married and dating friends and family celebrate the feast of St. Valentine.  I love to hear the creative ways they find to let their partners know that they are deeply loved.  I may not be much for the "Hallmark" style holidays, but I think that anything that takes a moment or two to celebrate the deep love two people share, whether that celebration is simple or extravagant, is worth participating in.
• The Thursday night house church gathering that happens once a month or so where the only thing on our agenda is to eat together.  Sometimes we cook and have a potluck, but with two pregnant ladies in our midst, these days we show up and order pizza or chinese or something else entirely, and spend the evening laughing, talking, and sharing life together.  We have the gift of eating at our house church - it's one of the things we do best, and I love the chance to gather around a table with these friends.
• The fruit of a day spent quietly on Monday.  I embraced silence for much of the day - none of the usual background soundtrack - and the thoughts and prayers that surfaced were lovely.  They showed me places that Jesus is at work, and spilled over into writing ideas.  The fruit of that day will no doubt shape my week, and I look forward to it.
• A girls afternoon out  for tea, with my sister-in-law, mom and sister-in-law to be.  It was a Christmas present from my brother and his wife, this girl's afternoon together, and I am looking forward to spending the time with them.
• The arrival of reading break!  Next week is reading break!  No classes! Lots of time to move more slowly through my days, and catch up on some things that need doing.
• A zoo date with one of my best friends and her daughter.  Nothing like some of my favorite people, combined with one of my favorite places.

What are you anticipating this week?

Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 177

Today's Daily 5:

1. cozy slippers, lined with sheepskin.  a gift from a dear friend, carried across an ocean at my request.
2. waking up to a quick email from the same dear friend, detailing the beginning of her experiences as a "mature student" - an experience we will laughingly commiserate about, though an ocean separates our physical experience of it.
3. a simple lunch of soup and crackers
4. an hour spent in conversation about Jesus with a new friend
5. embracing quiet for the day, recognizing that this was what my soul was longing for, and being able to meet that need
6. candles lit all around my space, providing warmth, ambience and light
7. texting with a collection of friends from school - questions about a quiz that comes early tomorrow, laughing, chatting about weekends, hoping for luck with registration and group assignments for the next semester
8. emerging into the outside world at dusk, and walking through a gentle snowfall to the the grocery store
9. listening to a new audiobook that immediately demanded my involvement in the life and words of the story-teller
10. finishing the school demands for the day and week ahead before dinner, knowing that would give me an evening to rest, and separating the day from the evening with my walk in the snow
11. Breaking the day's silence with the audiobook I already mentioned, and with the beginning of another trip through The West Wing on dvd.
12. Remembering just how much I appreciated the intelligent, sarcastic wit of the writers on The West Wing
13. Being thankful that when I cut my finger while washing out a container from lunch, it was a minor wound, easily staunched with a band-aid
14. recognizing moments of grace when the tendency to hear the accusations and feel overwhelmed grew strong
15. new thoughts emerging as I embraced silence today, whispers of Jesus speaking to parts of the journey that I am continually pondering, feeling words begin to form around those places in my heart

Rambling Thoughts

It's Monday morning and I've been awake for half an hour or so.

Usually I write these Monday posts at some point on the weekend, so they're all ready to go, long before I wake.

I was too tired last night to accomplish that.  It was the last thing on my list, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

So I'm writing now, propped on pillows, still semi-reclined in bed.

This is one of those Monday's when I don't have anything burning to say.  No story from the deep internal moments of my life.  No half rant, half exposition of my thoughts on something I've learned at school, and why I can't quite agree with it.  Today there's just my slightly sleepy ramblings.

I'm thinking about how much I appreciated the quiet of the weekend.  How much I enjoyed the silent spaces that I sat in, even when I filled those silent spaces with work.

I'm thinking about my body, and long-term health goals.  About the moments when I see little bits of progress towards those goals.  About the ways that I am working to change my thinking, to make these goals long term habits, and not about short term gain.

I'm thinking about the fact that life threw major bumps at me last week, all in twenty-four hours.  Major financial challenges, the emergency hospitalization of a couple people very close to me, all while I was battling illness.  I'm thinking that I'm proud of how I handled those 24 hours.  That I'm thankful for the friend who let me rant a bit in the midst of them, and the friends who hugged me and prayed with me at house church.  I'm thinking about how the way I would have weathered this a year ago would have been different, and how I see immense healing and growth in the way I handled it now.  And I'm proud of that, and thankful for it.  I'm thinking about how it reflects my word for last year "heal" and my word for this year "still" in that I see healing in my response, and I was able to hold onto that internal peace and stillness even amidst the tossing of life's waves.

I'm thinking that there is always something to think about, and that I'm thankful for a Monday ahead of me with very few scheduled commitments, and lots of space - even space from school work, since I accomplished most of the homework and reading for this week already, and don't have to devote more than an hour or two of today to it.

I'm thinking that slightly sleep thankfulness and exploring rambling thoughts feels like the perfect way to begin this day.  And so, I'm off to crawl out of bed and begin it in earnest!

Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 176

Today's Daily 5:

1. Sleeping in
2. an email inbox at zero
3. baking muffins (love having time alone in the kitchen - tried a new low calorie banana chocolate chip recipe and they taste great)
4. a new USB hub for my laptop, that works great, and supports the peripherals I need when I'm working at home
5. a turkey and cranberry sandwich on rye
6. the combination of chocolate and hazelnut
7. the Starbucks cup with a straw that I bought a while back, and use for drinking water when I'm working at home
8. plowing through large chunks of the assigned readings for the coming week, and studying for a quiz that's happening on Tuesday
9. seeing a bit more progress in a goal to move towards greater health
10. being able to watch television shows for free online