Ashes

So today is Ash Wednesday. Signifying the beginning of the season of Lent. We went the the Ash Wednesday service today down at the Franciscan Center. (I love that place!) We got the ashes smeared on our forward and what they said to us was "Remember that you are dust, and that to dust you shall return" It was a very nice service and the priest spoke on just the beginning of our fast to focus on our reward from heaven not from others for doing the fast...and calling us all to be people of action. That we are followers of Christ here to serve and bless other es...help the poor, give to the poor, help others....and we need to be doers of this. It was a really good message to hear in the start of this Lent season. Sitting there absorbing it all I was already convicted of my own selfishness in my areas of fasting. Putting myself out there to benefit from it first then to have it be a spiritual focus. ahhhh I am such dust!! Chris encouraged me to not let that stop me but use it as a starting point to repent and pick it back up again with that focus on Christ....so here I begin again and again :) Peace be with you all!

The Season of Lent

I'm sitting here after a morning of unpacking and decorating of our new place and reading up on the season of lent online. I really love church history and traditions. I want to learn more about the traditions of christianity and their meanings. There is a lot of depth there that I think us protestants throw away cause its attached to the Catholic church. But there is so much to learn...those traditions were created to take us closer to God and His ways. Just like traditions today in the protestant churches. I've been talking with Chris (who was raised catholic) about observing Lent this year. I want to do it for myself and my walk with God. So its Sunday before Ash wednesday and i'm comtemplating what I want to fast for the 40 days and just some goals for myself in readings and prayers. I found this interesting on the web today:

"Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent."

So as we enter this season I pray for myself and you that this would be a time of soul-searching, repentance and a season of reflection for you all :)

A whole new world!

So many new things to update...so we are in our new place!! And I love it..still not fully unpacked and trying to adjust to less kitchen cupboards..but our new neighbors gave us a nice shelf to use while we live there!! So nice of them! One of the reasons we stayed in our community is the people we have been meeting there...so yes new place that is ours together (not Chris cramming into my tiny space) So our big news!! Chris got his working papers..wow have we actually arrived at the light in the long dark tunnel!! He is so excited to begin. He has been getting all the papers together calling all his job connections and working on resume and on top of that still volunteering down at the museum. He has been a busy guy but so excited about his new ventures. It's exciting times for us...it seems like things are unfolding for us. We were just talking about it the other night. How it feels like we are just starting our new life together...:) And our 1st visitors to our new place are the Swiharts coming down from Canada!!! So super excited to have them in town for a day or so! so Thank you all for your prayers and support :) Love you all.

We are on the move!

We are moving!! and I'm so excited about our new place. Staying in the same complex..we love our community of little old ladies from NYC that all have crushes on Chris :) But we are moving up a floor (3rd floor) but a bigger place. 2 bedroom and open high ceilings just bigger space. Chris has amazed me by how much he has basically moved the entire apt. I came home the other day from a meeting and all the boxes were gone! Its just awesome to have an amazing partner that we keep great stride together. So we are excited about our new space together..and as soon as we are settled we will have you all over :)

Good Morning!

There is just something about the morning time that I love. I hate getting up and out of bed but I love the getting my day started. From my 1st cup of tea, watching the morning news, that quiet time before I begin my getting ready process (shower, make-up, clothes) I think its when i'm most contemlative...maybe because the days plans and details have yet to bombard my mind. I wish I could just stay in that nice quiet place :) well my food for thought for today is this:
1 John 3:21 message "God is greater than our worried hearts, and knows more about us than we do ourselves"---well that hit me as I was sitting in the bathroom this morning :) I'm really grateful for someone greater than me know more than I do, and the amount of detailed worry that travels through this brain...I'm just grateful that He knows more than me and is in control. Well wish you all a wonderful day :)

books

one more thing! So job #2 leaves me lots of down time so i'm reviving my love of reading once again. I'm been cranking through lots of good books. so I need recomendations. Right now I'm reading a Richard Yates book Revolutionary Road. Life of a marred couple in the 1950's and the stuggle behind the facad of the "leave it to beaver image" really good and heavey..and please dear God that is my nightmear! anyway..anyone reading it?

i'm still here

so i started this blog to stay connected with our loved ones and keep them updated on the happenings of our life. Kind of like the newsletters I use to do monthly when I worked with Forward Edge. Now I remember how painful it was for me to crank one out every month..and so the blog has fallen to the wayside. I guess I need to give myself a little bit of a break. Working 60 hours a week can run a girl ragged. But in between running from one job to the next I really have been reflecting on being thankful for not only having one good job but two; in light of all that is happening in the economy today. I am thankful I work for and with cool people that I get along with and enjoy being with. Just being more grateful for the provision that God has blessed us with (2 jobs for me) Its really leading me to pray more for my workplace, my co-workers and that God would bless my bosses and their business in these hard times...maybe that is a selfish prayer so I can keep my job but none the less I'm grateful now adays that God is providing. I'm finding I'm more helpless over the couse of the details of my life and its not up to me to pull it through. Maybe my faith is growing? But when i get bombarded with worry over getting all the bills getting paid, will Chris ever get his working papers, will he be able to get a job, will he get deported, am I stuck in this situation in life forever? Ok my mind will keep going and going and gotta pull the stop and let it fall in God's hands which can be so hard and so unseen...But here we are...learning and growing...so next week we move into a new apartment. I'm excited!! We decided to stay in the same complex just a upgrade to a bigger place...now we have a 2 bedroom so a office/guestroom for visitors...so come visit!! But i'm excited for a new place I love it. Its farther from the mainroad (less noise) and bigger patio and more sun. anyway i'm ready for the move and change. Well i gotta get back to work...love you all and I'll be back :)