fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la

I know. it is soooo not Christmas. but i was just thinking of all of the great gifts i have been given.

yes, some of them came in wrapped packages with bows and bags.

but most of them....

i did not have to unwrap. [God is going green]

these past few weeks i have been reflecting on my life. i am again at a cross roads, a point of decision, a fork in the road, a do-or-die [a bit dramatic maayyybe.]

as i pray and worry, and pray and worry, and try to decide where to put my foot next, i can't help but think about how good my life is. i mean really. it is the best.

take my average Sunday morning
10:10 am - alarm sounds-push snooze
10:15 am - alarm sounds again, get up
10:17am - coat and shoes over pjs, do not brush teeth [yet]
10:18am - walk roughly 40 steps to the north, enter St. Paul's Newman Center
10:19am - drop $1 in the little basket, take one steaming home made caramel roll of the counter
10:20am - skip 40 steps south to my house
10:21am - sit on the couch and eat my caramel roll
10:24 am - two options [1] climb back in bed [2] stay on couch with coffee and read and chat with roommates

i mean really? it is rough. and that is only 14 minutes out of my entire week. it only gets better.

i also have THE BEST friends in the whole world. no joke. i love them.

oh.and earlier this week - as i was driving home from a meeting, i saw a freestanding porch swing on the side of the road. found two nice boys, with a truck. and it now sits in my backyard.

don't get me wrong -- there are bad days in this life of mine. but i promise, if you take a look around you, a few deep breaths and go out and get your self some good old fashion perspective, you too will begin to see the millions of blessings, miracles, and little ways that Jesus takes care of you.

so as i continue on this journey called life, and wait to see what adventures my Jesus has planned for us next, i get that nervous/excited butterfly-ish feeling in my guts. because i know that He has something BIG planned. something far beyond my awesome imagination, and if His next gifts are half as good as his old ones. . . i might explode.

i'm baaaa--aaaaack.

so. blogging. it really is a strange thing. i mean, i am basically addicted to several other blogs on the interweb --- truly, i can barely get to sleep with out knowing what funny thing nienie's kids said today, or what fun project these two are up to. i do have a great life of my own, i am not living vicariously through these little websites...really.

it is actually just fun. it reminds me of when you read a really great novel. i mean REALLY great. the kind where the characters become your friends. as you find your self getting closer to the end of the book -- you read just a little slower, and a little slower, until you are reading at a first grade speed just to savor those last few moments together. [has this ever happened to you? or am i just a freak?] when you finally read that last word your heart sinks. bittersweet. you wonder -- what are they doing now? what am i going to do without them tomorrow?


this is like blog reading -- but the people in these stories are real -- and they keep going -- and tomorrow, or if they get behind, the day after tomorrow, they will have more to tell you [and the 4 million other people who read their blog] and if you really wanted to, you could get in your car and drive to their house. provided you knew their address and you called ahead to ask if you could come over, and they weren't totally creeped out by their super blog fan.

but anyhow -- i do not attempt to place myself on the pedestal next to these great bloggers i love. i just want to share parts of my heart and my head with whoever has time to receive them. and really, i think that blogging is more for the bogger [me], than the bloggee [you].

therefore, this post shall serve as the second, okay, third attempt at becoming a blogger. I do not promise daily updates, or always mindblowing bits of wisdom -- but i do promise to share bits of myself, what and who i love, how i live, and the hilarious things that happen during it all. see you soooon.

picture taken from http://cuarts.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/blogging.jpg