Thanks Giving

My heart is heavy with realization of the fleeting nature of human relationships and the unreliability of certain conditions of life in which we think we find security. I lost many coworkers yesterday to corporate layoffs—3 in my own department and more across our headquarters. You don’t expect to return to your desk, morning coffee in hand, to find your coworker leaving. For good. I didn’t even know she was leaving leaving until she was gone. And she was only the first. We lost 2 more before noon, and more tears were flowing and cubicles being emptied than work being done for the rest of the day.

We say how important people are and how the invaluable the “stuff” of life is compared to the relationships we build and the people we know. To know that in your head is good; to learn it in your heart is life-altering.  This may turn out to be the most meaningful Thanksgiving season I’ve known until now because it has been pressed upon my heart maybe more than ever how valuable the relationships I have are. I was sick a couple weeks ago for several days, and my husband spent day after day going to the store, cooking comfort food, cleaning the house, and taking care of my every need—even staying home from work to look after me on his birthday. I cried in his arms over feeling so loved and cherished, and I am still not over the awe I experienced from the sacrifices he made for me. I don’t ever want to be.

You never know when your job may be taken from you, your car may be wrecked, your house may be burgled or burned down. Those are terrible things. But then you never know when your coworker may leave and not come back, or your loved one may drive and not come home. The people we know and love are the true fabric of this life. When we truly see them, it is inevitable that thanksgiving will become not just a seasonal tradition, but a condition of the heart.

To my selfless husband, my loving families, my faithful friends: I love you more now than I ever have. And may I learn to love you and those who are strangers to me more and more the longer I live.

Lately

Sometimes you just get caught up in a groove with things and feel like you'll never get over them. Then one day you do, and something else replaces them. But until then...

I am...

Listening:

Getting ready for work in the morning...cooking dinner in the evening. Can't stop. Here.

Watching:

Thanks Erin and Becky. And Netflix. Here.

Drinking:

Slightly chilled. With your feet kicked up. Here.

Reading:

I'm finally reading it. Here.

Dreaming:

A beachfront room in only 2 months. (Summer is flying by.) Here.

Life Lessons: Forgiveness and Other Miscellany

My days lately have been packed full of general life challenges and lessons, leaving me sometimes stressed and exhausted, but ultimately thankful. Levi has commented several times lately on how I've been falling asleep before him at night, usually within a couple minutes of hitting the pillow. (After several violent bouts of full-body twitching, which I apparently do when I fall asleep fast. Who knew...)

In my personal life I've learned that emotional stress can have some pretty intense physical manifestations. (There's a chance I just caught a bug from my father-in-law, but knowing my body, I'm more convinced it was stress.) From that I've been reminded of the importance of forgiveness, not just because it's right or because you're supposed to, but also because your well-being depends on it. I may end up writing more on this later, but for now suffice it to say that God's grace is enough. Also, yoga cures stress nausea.

In my professional life I've learned that if you do your very best during working hours, it is easier to leave the concerns of work behind at the end of the day. Last week brought the resignation of both the directors in my department, landing me with about 200% more work than I was already doing. (At least...it feels like that much!) In a snapshot, I'm bearing the load of re-defining and structuring several of our internal processes, launching a new program campaign for the department, supporting our team through a new contract transition, and trying to maintain my ordinary job responsibilities on top of it all. With no directors! The only way I've been able to not take the stress home with me is to give my absolute all in those 8 hours I'm at work, then drop it all and just pick up the next day where I left off. It's been working! My new boss starts in a couple weeks, and needless to say, he will be so welcome!

This week in my domestic life I've taken a similar approach by tackling one or two household chores per evening, then spending the rest of the evening relaxing. I made a list at the beginning of the week and have crossed off the items as they're accomplished. It's helped me 1) not feel like I have to get everything done all at once, 2) still feel productive even if I'm only doing a couple things each night, and 3) not feel guilty that I didn't do more. I accomplish a couple items then put my list away and return to it the next evening. You should try it!

In closing news, we've also started looking for a new church. We had a bittersweet departure from Grace Bible Church, where attended for over 3 years. For the past year we've continued traveling back to Purcellville to attend because we loved the church and the preaching so much, but we recently started coming to terms with the reality that it's not been possible to stay as connected since we live 45 minutes away now. Last week we visited a church that's more in our locale and are looking forward to making some more visits.

I guess if one thing could be said to summarize everything...it would be that a lot is going on in life right now! But I'm so thankful for the recent reminders to "let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:4)

Confrontation 101

I have come to view confrontation as an art. It is a delicate skill requiring practice and development. It also requires courage, because you're putting yourself out there and running the risk of a negative response or rejection. Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, life brings all kinds of situations requiring confrontation. The good news is that you can get better at it over time, and most confrontational situations utilize the same general skill set.

link

Whether it's about work, family, friends, or anything else, I'm sure you can think of a situation right now where you are anticipating some confrontation. And maybe you're freaking out. I understand! I've had some pretty heavy confrontation situations of my own lately, and it's STRESSFUL! But it's part of life, and I want to share what I've learned from my own situations in hopes that it might help you, whether you are the one confronting or being confronted. So here are a few things to keep in mind:




1. Remember that the other person is a person too. They have a point of view about the situation, regardless of if they're right or wrong, and you owe them the respect of trying to understand them just as much as you want them to understand you. So if you are the one being confronted, hear them out. It's the first step towards a productive conversation. If you're the one confronting, tell them at the beginning that you want to hear their thoughts when you are done.

2. Don't be afraid to tell them how you feel. Yes, you need to base the content of your conversation on reasons you may feel a certain way and give examples of whatever is concerning you, but people often respond to the disclosure of honest feelings in a way they may not respond to your fact-based accusations alone. It may lower their defenses a little. Are you really nervous about talking to them? Say, "The thought of this conversation has been stressing me out because I don't like confrontation, but I hope you'll hear me out." They probably don't like confrontation either, so they'll understand. Are you upset about how they treated you? Say, "It made me feel patronized when you said this," or, "It made me feel unappreciated when you said that." Maybe they did mean to make you feel that way out of spite, but maybe they didn't. That alone could be enough to end the conversation amiably.

3. Be prepared for retaliation and be ready to accept rejection. It may not end amiably. Resign yourself to the fact that as much as you want them to be on good terms with you, their pride may be more important to them than restitution, and you can't do anything about that. But what if it's awkward??! Oh it will be. But it will get less awkward as you realize that you did everything you could and the continued estrangement is their choice. Once you realize that, you'll see that they are the ones who should feel awkward, not you.

4. At the end of the day, all confrontation comes down to boundaries. Someone crossed a line they were not permitted to cross, and a a healthy view of yourself is dependent on communicating that boundary to them. They might not have known, or they might have, but either way they will probably continue to cross that boundary until you decide to prevent it. If you couldn't shrug it off and are feeling the need to confront (as much as you might not want to) then it probably means it was important enough of a boundary for you to defend. Give yourself the same respect you want from others, and speak up.

If I think of any more lessons learned on this topic, maybe I'll write another post, but I think these are some of the basics. If you want a good resource on boundary setting and keeping, I recommend the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. It is very practical, easy to read, and inspiring. I'd love to hear any thoughts or questions on this. It's something I feel like I could keep adding points about, but I have to stop somewhere! Just remember that as scared as you may get, you're worth standing up for and ought to develop confidence in your ability to confront. Even if you're scared of it, you WILL be able to develop the art of confrontation if you try.

The Simple Things

Image

I think all of NOVA is feeling pretty ripped off right about now. Just two days away from spring, and we woke up to more snow on the ground this morning. We were teased with a couple of days that broke 60 degrees, and we danced outside in the steaming sunlight, joy filling our winter-throttled hearts once more. It all sounds so dramatic I know, but it is dramatic to wake up to snow on March 18th. 

Monday was Monday - in the way that Mondays are best. It culminated with running into the grocery store after work, through what had disintegrated into a cold, drippy rain, only to realize the grocery list was still in the car. There was deliberation about whether to go on...but it was needed. Back into the rain. Through the parking lot, the puddles...dug through the car, there it is. I put in in my coat pocket with my keys and journeyed back in to the store where I had left my buggy. (I do call them buggies.) A reach back into the pocket, and the list was not there. Apparently it just wasn't meant to be. Time to jog the memory. I would have retrieved it from the puddle on the way back to the car if I weren't battling an arm of grocery bags, the car keys, an open umbrella, and the Harris Teeter store-front traffic jam.

Back home, the groceries unpacked, the debate about whether or not to go to the gym. We went. It was a good decision. Something about pumping the iron just beats the Monday right out of ya. Another great thing is that the gym is right next to Whole Foods, which we went in for the first time last week and discovered they have delicious individual desserts in a fridge next to a checkout line. We came down the stairs at the gym and Levi pulled me aside into a dark corner and whispered in my ear. Wanna go get a dessert from Whole Foods for tonight?

My face lit up like July. Like fireworks in July, like the sunshine in July, like everything there is to love about July. We scampered through the rain and into Whole Foods, where we (I) kept seeing yummy things as we walked by. Want to try it?, he asked. Just try it. Let's get it. Ok! Walking towards the dessert cooler, somehow we landed in the ice cream aisle. Girl: MMMMMMM. Boy: We could get that instead of a dessert. Girl: But I don't think I want it more than a dessert. Boy (opening the door): Then we can get it with a dessert. Because it's okay to make it extra special sometimes. There was something else on the way to the dessert cooler. We got that too. And finally, a dessert.

We kissed at the register, and paid $21.07. Thinking about how we're supposed to avoid walking in grocery stores and spending random sets of $21.07's only lasted a tiny second, because those words were still ringing. It's okay to make it extra special sometimes. 

$21.07 on the simple things just really hit the spot. Good riddance, Monday. And when those simple green sprouts finally decide to spring, we will say good riddance, Winter.

Date Night at Our Favorite

No gym or cooking or cleaning for me tonight! Levi and I are headed to a local date night destination favorite: the Stone's Cove KitBar. What is a KitBar, you may ask? (It's ok, we asked too.) It's a Kitchen-Bar combo. That means there's no "back room" kitchen where you wonder if you're food is in clean hands. The service staff cooks and prepares all your food and drink right in front of you!

You'll notice from their Menu tab that they also operate based on the idea of "grazing" throughout meals, which means it's a PERFECT fit for us, because who doesn't love a good dinner grazing? They let you progress through your meal at your own pace and the portions are slightly smaller than most dishes at your typical restaurant. Which means you can try more than one thing or share multiple dishes with your date. It also means you can be there for 2.5+ hours and not even realize that much time went by. (Maybe that happened last time we were there?)

A couple of little tips from us "regulars" - 1) Make a reservation, because when you walk in the door you'll feel like the most important people in the world. They say, "Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman! We've been waiting for you!"And you walk straight to your seats, which have "RESERVED" signs on them. And 2) bottles of wine are 1/2 price on Wednesdays. So if you're in to that kind of thing, it's a delicious deal.

If ever we move from the Reston area, I want to take the Stone's Cove KitBar with me!

Weekend: Anticipation

And just like that...it's Friday again! I consider myself among the fortunate - those people who had last Monday off for President's Day. Levi didn't, and that was disappointing, but I had a glorious day at home by myself, sleeping in, drinking coffee, reading under blankets in big chairs by sunny windows, deep cleaning the house, and just generally catching up with myself.

That made for a rather short work week, so here we are again at Friday, and I thought I would share what kinds of plans seem to be in my immediate future.

I'm looking forward to snuggling on the couch with my man, eating pizza, watching tv shows on Netflix, and watching the Dark Knight Rises on bluray. (Yay for Friday nights in!)

I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, drinking my coffee slowly, finishing a book on my reading list, and not getting up from the couch for at least a good couple of hours.

I'm looking forward to taking care of household tasks/chores, budgeting, planning summer trips, etc. (Such things, even if often tedious, are better tackled after the sleeping in and coffee drinking.) I'm also looking forward to going back to the gym for my second day this week with the bench press.

I'm looking forward to church, the lunch we're having afterwards with Bradley and Jill, and the baby shower Jill and I are attending for a friend.

It looks like it will be a good weekend! Now for that pizza.

Always with a Re-Surfacing

Hi! We're still here!

It's been a whirlwind of the last 3 months of 2012, but we're still around and are planning to update you on the latest happenings. That will require the editing of a lot of pictures beforehand though, so I better get to work!

Happy 2013. Happy Life.

It's Official

Due to the 60 miles I travel and roughly 100 miles that Levi travels every day for work, we've decided to start looking for a place to live in Reston. It would cut my travel down to less than 10 miles total and Levi's down to about 30 total, which when combined, is less than mine alone right now! Our lease is up here at the end of July, so we have at least a few more weeks, but they are going to go by fast.

It's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of moving because I love where we're at so much. There's just something about the first place you live together. I remember coming here for a party when the Olmsteads lived here before us, and thinking what a cute little place it was. Then I came another time when Jennifer was designing our wedding invitations, and thought again what a cute little place it was. They were in the process of moving out that time, and we hadn't lined up a place to live yet, so within a few weeks, it was ours to rent! I was amazed at how it worked out, and I couldn't wait to move in.

When we got back from our honeymoon, we opened the front door to piles of wedding gifts and unpacked belongings strewn all over the house. For I think just the first night, we slept in the living room because that's the section of the floor that our mattress happened to occupy at the time. It looked like this:

 We did eventually get settled in though, and had a lot of fun in the process. Two years have flown by since that time, but it also feels like we've just always been here. There are a lot of things I'll miss about this happy place.

I'll miss hearing the baseball games that go on across the street. I'll miss the sort-of musty smell of an older house that says "welcome home" when you've been gone for a while. I'll miss the solid wood cabinets in the kitchen that have the latches you push when you want to open them. I'll miss the creaky floorboards. I'll miss having a full basement with extra storage space, and a little red shed in the back yard. Speaking of that, I'll miss my own yard. I'll miss the chance to garden in it, even though the most I ever did was pick the fresh mint that someone else planted.

We'll miss a lot of things, but we're also excited about what we'll gain. For instance, it will be GREAT to have a dishwasher! We're looking forward to carpet to walk on and I'm looking forward to vacuuming. I love vacuuming. We'll have pool access, be in close proximity to the Town Center with lots of fun restaurants and shops, AND...we'll be close enough to DC to be able to go in more often for date nights or Saturday adventures.

Don't tell anyone, but the more I warm up to the idea, the more excited I get about it. That doesn't take away how much I'll miss this house and the little town of Purcellville that has been home for the past 4 1/2 years, but it won't all be doom and gloom. We'll make more memories and keep growing in love no matter where we are, and that's always something to look forward to.

I took this picture I think on the first day Levi had to go back to work after we moved in. I was waiting for him to get home any minute and I remember just being so excited about my new life with him. That's always what I'll think of when I see this picture.

A Springtime Update

I want to blog, I really do - I promise! Every time I make a new post, I'm amazed at how long it's been since the last one. And usually when I make a new post it's because I've been inspired by someone's blog I've read somewhere, and I think...I have a blog too, so why don't I use it??

So here I am again, and I thought I would try to get back into the groove with an intro to what our spring and summer has and is planned to look like. Part of the reason it's been so hard to keep up with blogging is because so much is going on! I was in SC for an extended weekend in the middle of April to meet my newly-arrived cousin, Lydia.

Lydia Kathleen Parrish

She was every bit as sweet and beautiful as I'd imagined, and I was so glad I could be there to see her as a newborn.

I had a very rough transition back into the normal, non-vacationing world after that trip, because I had so much fun hanging out with all the family at my grandparents' house that I got way less sleep than I should have. But I had to go back to work anyway, and it took a couple weeks to recover!

By the time I was back on my feet again, it was practically May, and I was shocked! We went to PHC for graduation on the 12th and had a great time celebrating with friends who had finished school. My friend Jessica came up from Richmond and stayed with us over the weekend, so we had time to do lots of fun shopping and hanging out together.

And now it's the 20th, and we're just 1 week away from the wedding of our friends Tyler and Tia! It's going to be a beautiful "garden-party" style wedding on a plantation in Leesburg, and I'm so excited to be helping coordinate it. Tyler and Tia did so much for us at our wedding, and now we get to return the favor and be a part of their happiest day! Thank goodness it's over Memorial Day weekend though, because I'll be very happy for the long weekend come Monday!

The weekend after that I'll be going back down to SC for another friend's wedding, which will be on a beautiful Lowcountry plantation on the 2nd of June. I'll be missing my man though, because he will be up in MI for his brother Nathan's highschool graduation. I'll definitely be missing everyone up there, and wishing I could be in two places at once!

And that's as far as we've figured everything out for now. We still haven't sat down to decide if we'll be able to make it to Tennessee with my extended family who is having the annual family vacation there over the 4th of July. So that's still on the books to decide, as well as a possible short trip to Orlando later in the summer. (Groupalicious has a $99 voucher for 2 people to have 2 nights in Orlando with flights included!) Lastly, probably some time in the fall, we're planning to have a longer vacation of our own to some place TBD with other awesome travel deals we've found. (Choices include Cancun, Cazumel, London, Paris, and more...how will we ever decide?!)

More on that to come, but for now I'll be getting back to my weekend of house cleaning before we snuggle up on the couch for a movie. It's hard to keep my head above water sometimes between working full-time and keeping up a house, much less doing stuff I just feel like doing for leisure. And we don't even have kids to keep up with yet...sheesh.

Until later!

Through the Way in Which You Are Not

I spent a wonderful evening with my girlfriends this past Thursday night while my husband was out with the guys. We don't usually have a plan when we get together. We just get together and see what happens. Sometimes we'll watch television shows or makeup tutorials on youtube, or sometimes we'll spend hours talking, or sometimes we'll just sit around and not do much of anything, even talking. But most of the time there is some kind of talking, no matter what else is going on.

This time it was nothing but talking. About three hours of talking. When we were done, we commented on how we didn't even get around to watching a tv show like we had considered doing, but how we didn't need to, because sometimes just talking is way better. And it was so refreshing, because it wasn't just any talking - not just talking about funny stories or random things that happened (although there was some of that too), but it was the figuring-out-the-world and the people in it kind of talking that leaves you feeling like you grew up just a little bit more in the process.

We talked about relationships and people and purpose and the ebbs and flows of life. Thinking back, I realize we talked about change, even though not directly. I mean change was a common denominator in all of our topics. Most of the time we think we don't like change, but then most of the time we do. And both at the same time. We don't like how our relationship with different people change, but in other cases we do. Or we want something to change, but the process of it changing is painful or cumbersome or inconvenient because it requires adjustment, and adjustment requires work. Requires change. The change we want requires the change we don't want.

I don't normally feel so philosophical on a Saturday morning (or afternoon), but something about a still and quiet house (other plans took Levi out of the house long before I woke up today) at the end of a fast and busy week makes me sit back and observe life as though from a distance. I even picked up T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, which is something you don't do unless time and a contemplative state of mind are on your side. I started from the beginning and just kept reading and reading, as though my mind and soul had not absorbed rich, mysterious poetry in a long time. Because I hadn't. The standard 9-to-5 doesn't easily include mysterious poetry. But this Saturday does.

When I came upon this portion of Eliot's writing, I kept going back to read and re-read it, because every time I did, I understood a little bit more of it. And it reminded me of Thursday night's reflective exchanges.

                               In order to arrive there,

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are

         not,

    You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.

In order to arrive at what you do not know

    You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.

In order to possess what you do not possess

    You must go by the way of dispossession.

In order to arrive at what you are not

    You must go through the way in which you are not.

And what you do not know is the only thing you know

And what you own is what you do not own

And where you are is where you are not.

                                   -T.S. Eliot, East Coker III

The change we want requires the change we don't want. Ignorance and dispossession and uncertainty is involved in arriving at where we want to be, wherever that is, whether in our careers, relationships, personal or spiritual lives, or anywhere else. But wherever it is, we can only get there by where we are not, and that means change. And ultimately, we will continue through our lives, through dispossession and uncertainty and change until we reach the End, where we will find that all along, we were only prefacing the Beginning.

Ordering Our Ways

With a new year always comes new goals (or maybe old goals that were never realized) and refreshed motivations. For me there is always an extra spring in my step when I'm doing my everyday tasks - cleaning the house, organizing spaces, making menus - and even an extra excitement over tackling otherwise dreaded projects.

Because that's what you do when new years come, right? You realize everything is new. Everything is fresh, especially your motivation. You have that feeling that you're going to do everything right, and everything is going to be organized. And for a while, it probably is, until that motivation diminishes around the end of January. If you even last that long. ;-)

But something I was thinking about this morning during my devotional time, was the parallel between organizing your physical spaces and organizing your spiritual spaces. Or more accurately, I was thinking about how those two spaces are actually more similar and related than we may realize. When my physical spaces - mainly those in my home - are organized, they draw me into peace and tranquility, which helps me to also order my spiritual spaces. And especially when my spiritual spaces are ordered - when I'm drawing near to the Lord and making his ways my ways - it motivates me to keep my physical spaces ordered. The harmony between the two, especially the reflection of spiritual order in physical order is amazing.

Psalm 50:23 came to mind as these thoughts were rolling. It says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!" Earlier in the psalm, the author explains God's order for sacrifices - how sacrifices void of thanksgiving are unacceptable. "Ordering our way rightly" involves so many things, including sacrifices of thanksgiving, prioritization of God's Word, obedience to his commandments, and yes, even responsible stewardship of our resources and organization of our homes. All these things compose our "ways." They are all intertwined, and they all please the Lord. And through their proper organization, God will show us his favor.

Happy New Year!

brag moment

This was the song I had stuck in my head when I got home this afternoon...but thanks to my wonderful husband, I don't feel that way anymore!

I'd just like to say: I have the best, most tender, most loving husband in the world. He shows me patience and grace that only comes from Christ, and he means more than the whole world to me. He's that guy at the end of the video who brings the umbrella. :)

One of "Those" Days

It's been one of those days.

One of those days where you couldn't fall asleep til 2am the night before.

Image Via

One of those days where you forgot to put the water in the coffee pot, so when you go to get it in the morning...there is no coffee. And speaking of coffee, one of those days where your favorite coffee shop happens to be closed. No afternoon coffee perk for you.

Those days where you deal with some people (probably more than one), and just want to say "what are you thinking??" But you can't.

Where you just embrace anything and everything that seems to be wrong and try to laugh (ok, in scorn maybe, but at least it's laughter) to make it a little better.

One of those days where in a couple of hours, the love of my life will walk through the front door, wrap me up in his big arms, give me tender kisses, and put a happy smile on my tired face.

I think it's not such a bad day after all. :-)

(A steak dinner helps a lot too! mmm...)

The Struggles of an Idealist

It was a beautiful evening last night--a really good one to take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner was over. It was Levi's idea, and when he asked me if I was up for it, I thought it sounded great. But then we realized about 5 minutes later that we were still sitting on the couch, thinking about what to do for the evening.

So you wanna go for a walk?, he asked me. 

I thought about it for a second, and said, Yeah, well I mean...I like the idea of going on a walk. But I don't actually want to walk.

He kind of laughed at me...maybe kissed me on the forehead...maybe patted my head...I can't really remember. But we didn't go on a walk. We opted to do our Bible study together and see if there was something on tv, and it was still a good evening together.

Then it happened again today. A little while ago I realized I was hungry for an afternoon snack, and when I looked in the fridge, I found that big 2-lb. box of strawberries I bought last week. See, they were on sale for $3.89, which was cheaper than the 1-lb. boxes that were $3.99, buy-1-get-1-free. I was so excited in the grocery store - not on saving .10c, but because I wasn't one of those stupid people who were tricked by the buy-1-get-1-free. And because strawberries are awesome, especially when they're on sale!

But that was last week - probably when they were at their sweetest, yummiest point - and I hadn't eaten any of them yet. I realized that I liked the idea of sale strawberries a lot, but there's no point in sale strawberries if you aren't going to eat them. Brilliant. So I had some strawberries.

It all got me thinking though...because I think I'm like that with a lot of things. You know, the idea of it vs. well, it. What's up with that? And how many things are like that in my life? 

The idea of working on the secret anniversary project vs, oh yeah, working on it (which makes my back really sore, btw).

The idea of being in shape vs. going to the gym.(That happened last night too. The idea part.)

The idea of laying out all the wonderful text for that conference program for work vs. hmmmmm.....ok what should I put here....no, backspace....UGH.....I'll try later. 

The idea of having a cozy, meaningful quiet time...maybe over a bowl of Starbucks ice cream, even? vs. actually opening my Bible. (Yet the ice cream still happens.)

The idea of making progress on life goals vs. actually taking steps to reach them.

The idea of walking vs. actually walking. Which was fine last night, but what about with bigger things?

Basically, inaction vs. action.

And don't get me wrong - I love ideas - I was a political theory major, after all.

But still...you know what I mean.

Re-Surfacing

It's been over two months since I've posted! This was never intended to happen. I guess you could say that the busyness of finishing my senior thesis and spanish 102, graduating, starting a new job, and taking trips to the south kind of resulted in a lack of inspiration (and time) on the blogging front.

Now though, things are sort of winding down. Even though the completion of Spanish 201 and hence Spanish forever is about three more weeks in coming (but I'm oh-so-close!!), I seem to have more time on my hands. I'm only working 20 hours a week for now--and by the way, my new event production job with Janna Bowman actually makes me excited to get up in the mornings! 

It has also helped that Levi and I have taken some time recently (possibly as a result of a minor meltdown on my part?) to recognize the busyness of our life and to be more pro-active about making time for quietness. It's amazing how you can get so busy and not even realize that you've started to sacrifice those opportunities to get to know each other better by sharing your thoughts and hearts with each other.

So now that I've had some time to get the house back in order, get my time back in order, and get my thoughts back in order, I'm back on the blog, intending to post more often and let you in on our latest endeavors and adventures. Speaking of which, here are a few snapshots of some of my activities over the past couple of months.

Holly Knoll Plantation with the besties. April 30

D.C.'s Willard Hotel with Erin, Molly, and Kara besties. May 8

 

Graduation! May 14.

Me and the Heeee. :-D May 14.

To my home on the coast for Caleb's Graduation on June 4.
(Don't have good pictures of that yet.)

...a little bit of life...

I've been married for 7 months to the man of my life-long dreams. And every day of ordinary life with him has been nothing less than extraordinary. Craig Morgan sums it up pretty well in one of my favorite country songs: "A Little Bit of Life."

And here's a little bit of our life since we've been married.

A little bit of tractor, a little bit of farm...

A little bit of cornfield, an' a little bit of barn...

...a little bit of c'mon, a little bit of play,

...a little bit of yee-haw in the hay,

...a Dixie cup of home-made wine, a little bit of life.

I breath in, I breathe out.

Yeah. Sleepin' all night with the windows down...

Up in the mornin', stirrin' around...

Drink a pot o' coffee and I head off to town.

...work, work, work, all day long,

...crank it up, back it up, bring it on home,

...supper on the table an' I eat me a bite...

Snuggle on the porch by the pale moonlight...

A little bit of me an' you doing alright...

A little bit of life.

A little bit of back-porch, a little bit of swing...

A little bit of wind-chimes a-going ding-a-ling.

A little bit of TV, a little bit of couch,

Popcorn smellin' up the house.

A-la-mode on a little slice of home-made pie...

A little bit of life.

A little bit of me an' you doin' alright...

...a little bit of life.

Tissues

I guess you could say it's time to get back into the swing of normal life now that the only two happy times of the entire winter season (Christmas and New Years) are over. Okay, I guess Valentine's Day can be a highlight, but it does bother me when stores mix red and pink decorations together -- traditional forms of red (cherry and burgundy) and pink (bubblegum or pastel) always always clash.

Along with this new swing comes the nitty-gritty things that are just a hassle to deal with. Banking problems (I'm ready to kick my bank into the grave with the pain they've been for the past week), work schedules, Christmas tree deconstruction, enrollment for Spanish, new parking permits for school, and oh yes, remembering to [have Levi] put the trash out on Tuesday nights.

But what of tissues? My poor husband came down with a sinus infection of sorts over the past couple days, complete with violent fits of sneezing and midnight nose bleeds that destroy sheets and pillowcases. I don't have the heart to be upset with him about it though. Not even about the tissues I find in the strangest corners of the house throughout the day. (Yesterday one was down in a well-burnt, hollowed-out candle in the living room.) My experiences with the destruction that is a nose bleed denounce any anger.

But amid all of these daily hassles, I am trying to remember to be thankful for all of the blessings I have. That can be a hard thing to remember when I'm surrounded by little things that try to remove my focus from the bigger picture. Neither of us are in the hospital, have broken limbs, or are unable to go to work for long periods of time. Yes, we're still waiting on everything to process before we can pick up our new car, but at least we have a car to pick up. All-in-all, life is pretty good, and I'm married to the man of my dreams. The man who works hard to take care of me and even remembers to throw away his tissues now and then. I guess I should get dinner in the oven for him.

In With the New

There was a time in my life that I contributed regularly to a personal blog. That time was around five or six years ago when I was approaching the end of high-school and beyond. That was back when I wrote about the little insignificant things that were happening to me on any given day -- how tired I was, what unholy hour I went to work that morning, chronological lists of what I did all day, how many cups of coffee I drank, and so forth. You get the picture.

Since then, I have gone to college, gotten academic warnings, learned the value of sleep, learned a little bit more about life, people, and God, and caught myself a husband. I am now living out my life-long dream of wearing real diamonds and being a wife (ok, not in that order), and I guess you could say I've grown up. Less significant now are the little details about me -- my day, my schedule, my "lol, like that was soooo funny--except not really" moments that made headline news in highschool.

Instead, I now have thoughts about how to take care of my man, how to make wise decisions about life with him, and how to plan for our future together. I think about priorities, the value of time, and my relation to the rest of the world at large. I wanted to create a new blog to chronicle my new life and to share some of these thoughts with my friends and family.

I am still making finishing touches to the design of the blog, but ultimately, I hope that you are blessed by what you read and that through the process of sharing I am able to learn even more about myself -- about what I find important and what my mind has a tendency to consider.

Love,

Mrs. Kauffman