Real...ly Lovely to Be Home

Linking up today with Gypsy Mama and others to share on what's Real.

For me, today, it's real...ly lovely to be home.  We're having a real snow day, the first in a few years, I think, where we the snow is actually piling up.  I'm missing being at my parents' house, because they live in the middle of a beautiful forest, and there is nothing quite like snow-laden pine trees.  They're gorgeous.  I see the back of the town houses across from us and the cars in the parking lot covered in snow.  And our tree, which I am so glad we have, as it's the only one in the row, doesn't have branches wide enough to be laden.

But regardless, on this real snow day, complete with snow (as opposed to last year, where we got one for -20 degrees or something like that), I'm really happy to be home.  It's wonderful to have the opportunity to stay in bed as long as want - not sleeping, I can't sleep during the day - but reading a book, drinking coffee, working on school work.  I love my job, but an expected three day weekend is a real blessing.  Life is good these days, but busy and I'm tired.  And so a day off from the usual routine is really, really, wonderful.

It's real that my best friend from college, Brooke, has moved to Korea (she is on the plane to Seoul as I type this), and there is a really real chance we won't see each other for a year.  She won't get to be here to see me get even more uncomfortably pregnant, she'll miss it when our son comes into the world, and she won't be here to help me figure out how to finish decorating the nursery.  But the amazing thing about this real frienship, a truly real, deep, two-way friendship, is that, no matter how long we go without seeing each other, no matter how long it is before I can use the speed dial on my phone to call her again whenever I feel like it, no matter how many miles separate us, we will always be there for each other.  She's one of those friends.  The kind that gets to see the real you, the one who is full of joy and smiling, and the one who is a sniveling snot-covered mess on a bad day.  And you get to see the real her, too.  And so, despite the fact that I'm really sad she'll be so far away, I'm really excited for her journey and for mine, and for how our lives and roads will continue to intersect and matter to each other.  And I'm really excited that such a thing as Skype exists. (As I finished typing this, a package (one of several installements) that Brooke sent for Baby arrived.  She's the cutest, most thoughtful, most creative gift giver ever.)

And in the interest of being real, here's the real me today.  I might get dressed later, we'll see.  I might put my contacts in, but I'm not sure.  I definitely won't put on any make up, and well, that's really nice for me.  Here's what me being in bed for the day really looks like (yes, computer AND iPad going), and for Ginny.  She's really bothered that I'm home, as you can see.

As I continue to think about what's real today, I think about the One.  He's pretty real, and I continue to be amazed at the very real ways He interacts and responds to my heart.  Just yesterday I asked Him to continue to reveal and teach me about His Glory.  I opened up to wear I am in Mark (as I work my way through the New Testament), and found Mark's version of the same story that got me really thinking about Glory in the first place.  I just laughed.  And then God shared some more thoughts on Glory with me.  Because He is real, and He is responsive, and He Is.

Oh, and I really want something super bad for me to eat, but I'm not sure what.  Something that's really salty.  Chinese?  Mexican?  I don't know, but I really want it.  Too bad my car has crappy tires, no four wheel drive, and I promised Husband I wouldn't go out today, anyway, unless someone else drives me.   I really love that man, and how he wants to take care of and protect the Peanut and I.  Speakingn of the Peanut, he's really going to town today.  Kick kick kick, hiccup hiccup hiccup, punch kick hiccup.  Love it.

Forgive my slight shallowness today, friends, on what's real.  I really try to be a person who lives what she says and shows the good, the bad, and the in-between, and I could expand on that instead, but for today, I choose to share what today's real looks like. 

By the way, have I mentioned that it's really lovely to be home? 

30 Thankful Days, Day 2 (But 1 for me)

One of my favorite friends, in real life and blog life, Dawn, is sharing something she's thakful for every day this month, and has invited me and you and anyone else to link up with her and share what we're thankful for, too.   Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm not the most faithful daily blogger, but I'm going to do my best.   Joining in on choosing thankfullness sounds like a good idea to me!

Today, I'm thankful for unexpected snow days.

Last week everyone expected us to have a snow day on Wednesday - it was going to be a big, big storm.  But it wasn't.  And we didn't even get a two-hour delay.  Oh, the disappointment abounded.  I had already gone through my normal mental preparation for the probablility that we wouldn't get a day off, so I wasn't as upset.  But my students?  Oh, so sad.

So yesterday, with another storm forecast for today, students hoped again.  This time, though, the storm wasn't predicted to be nearly as bad, so I didn't even entertain the idea of getting a day off.  I was confident we wouldn't, so instead of waking up every few hours wondering if I'd get a call, I slept, like any other normal night.

And at 4:30, the phone rang.  And not with news of a delay, but of a complete and total cancellation.  What surprising joy! 

I slept until 7 (when I would normally be at school), got up, made some coffee, read.  After I blog, I'll spend some time doing some much needed catch-up work, but at a pace I set, with my PJs and comfy-s on, and the dog curled up on the couch beside me.

Oh, unexpected snow day.  I love you.

It's a day to do things I need to do without feeling guilty about doing them, where no one else has any expectations of me, where I am allowed to be as productive or as lazy as I choose to be. 

It's a chance to sleep-in, to breathe, to rest, in the midst of a busy week, a busy life.  A chance to do so without the standard pressures that a normal day requires.  A chance to be.  To be however I want to be.

What I am thankful for today?   The gift of a snow day.

The gift of a day off.

Snow Day and My Living Room

A Snow Day. 

A little miracle, a great gift from God. 

A day where I can relax a little and work on things that will help me not fall behind. 

A day to wake up at my leisure (ummm.... 7:15), drink a couple cups of coffee, and read a while before, again, at my own pace, get some things done.

And a Snow Day here?  Well, today the snow has stopped falling (it snowed through the night and made the roads awful), but now the sun is shining brightly and the snow sparkles as if laden with an inset of thousands of tiny little diamonds.  It's quite cold, which makes a cup of coffee or hot cocoa and a fuzzy blanket all the more appealing, but, if I were a child, I would find the nearest hill and go sledding, for it is the perfect weather.

Oh, Snow Day.  How I love you.

And, as promised, a few pictures of my living room, which is still pretty and cozy and lovely. 

 My living room. The rocking chair used to be on the other side of the fireplace, and we had an old, ugly, uncomfortable arm chair that didn't go with anything in the house.  I hate losing a seat, but I really hated that chair more and feel immensly better that it made it's way to Goodwill.

 

My mantle, newly decorated.  It was much more cluttered before and quite colorless.  The pottery vase on the left I bought with a gift card to the Pottery Barn, the flowers, "C", and heart sign (that says "amore") are from Hobby Lobby, and the wrought iron candlesticks are from Goodwill (those I've had for a few months).

The built in bookcase, with some new arrangements.  A while back I painted it to match the wall in the living room, and, inspired by E over at Me, Myself, and E, I started searching for gold and red books.  The baskets I've had forever, and the Willow Tree angels are a favorite item of mine.



One of my favorite shelves. The milk can also came from Pottery Barn - it was on sale for $4! - and the flowers from Hobby Lobby.  Everything else I already had.

Soon to come, pictures of a new shelf I bought that is going in my kitchen, finishing off a blank wall I have been working on since the kitchen was fixed.

May your day be lovely!

A Literal Day Off

So I've spent some time considering ways to make each day have moments that seem like a day off. And today? Well, today the Lord actually gave me a day off. And even better? He gave Husband the day off, too. In our whole first year of marriage, that's never happened!

Our state is known for being one where it snows at odd times of the year, and although many people are surprised that we're having a snow day in October, to me, it's quite normal. A year without a snow day in October just isn't right! This picture isn't actually from today or from my house, but it is from my parents house (who live a few miles away) during a different October snow day a few years ago.

Anyway, like I said, Husband and I have never had a snow day off together, but today we do! This morning he was slipping and sliding his way up the interstate to work while I was catching a few extra minutes of sleep since I had a two-hour delay. Soon after I got the phone call saying school was canceled, I heard him walk in the front door- the interstate was so bad where he was headed that his boss called and told him to go home. So of course, we giggled excitedly about how it is our first married snow day, just like a couple of newlyweds, even though technically, we're past the newlywed cut-off date.

And today's day off has been just lovely. We ate a yummy homemade breakfast together while drinking yummy Spanish coffee (have I mentioned that I love love love coffee yet?). I made my first ever batch of homemade applesauce- my grandma, who was one of the most incredible women I have ever known- would have been quite proud. I finished the last paper for a course I'm taking, which means I am now down to my last eight weeks of graduate school. Husband and I have been doing laundry- him putting away last week's clean clothes that never made it to their proper places and me washing more clothes that hopefully we'll put away before very long. I've been reading inspiring thoughts by other lovely bloggers and Husband and I have been watching the extended version of the first Lord of the Rings. And it's not even dinner time yet! Lovely!

Okay, before I go, a quick thought I learned from another blogger. She's writing about trusting and loving people, with God's love, agape love, and she concludes,

"Do I give people the benefit of the doubt? And when I can’t…do I truly hope the best for them, through Christ? Or do I dwell on the assumed, or even obvious shortcomings or someone…holding my own agenda close so that I, in my own power, can protect it?

Love believes all things.

Maybe it’s time that I started to believe in that kind of love."

You can read all about it over at (In)Courage, where a bunch of bloggers get together and do just that, enourage one another.

Personally, I know that I need to let Christ's eyes and heart transform the way I see and love others, because there are days that I know I just look at them with my own very-biased, very-judgemental ones. I'm thankful for the reminder that Christ's love is quite different than my own, but that, as I learn to love Him more, I can learn to love others like He does. And doesn't that rock!?!