Signs

God is totally at work in my life. I keep seeing the signs. You might not believe in signs, but I sure do. I began to "see" it as I read #SheReadsTruth Day 3 Proverbs 3:5-12. Here is The Message version of these verses...

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;

   don't try to figure out everything on your own.

Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;

   he's the one who will keep you on track.

Don't assume that you know it all.

   Run to God! Run from evil!

Your body will glow with health,

   your very bones will vibrate with life!

Honor God with everything you own;

   give him the first and the best.

Your barns will burst,

   your wine vats will brim over.

But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;

   don't sulk under his loving correction.

It's the child he loves that God corrects;

   a father's delight is behind all this. 

This message of signs continued during our faculty retreat. Our speak spoke about signs and how the answers are always in the eyes of the beholder. Sooo true!So maybe the signs I have experienced mean nothing to you. That's fine by me, but I'm going share some of them with you anyway.

I've been thinking about going back to school pretty seriously for the past year, but couldn't find the perfect program. On the family roadtrip I found it while randomly reading stuff online! This program was absolutely meant for me and is in a place I will love. While driving in to St. Louis I saw a literal sign for the school. I then remembered a colleague's husband had worked there.  He actually worked in the department I want! Even stranger, a blog I recently started following mentioned it. Oh yeah and then about a million songs pointed me there. And of course, the more I have opened myself up to these signs and guidance, the more I have noticed God at work. 

So back to the verses above... I am still trying to figure out everything on my own at times, but I think God appreciates my efforts of trying to let go. I am working to embrace discipline in my life and allow for correction. Crazy how so many changes can come from a few words written so long ago. 

Do you believe in signs?

a

P.S. If you haven't heard of The Message, go google it. It puts the Bible in today speak for those non-biblical scholars like myself. 

Extraordinarily Ordinary

Last night, I was thinking about this blog and how infrequently I've written of late. I thought back to how much joy I got out of writing the first month and what is different from now. I read a few of my favorite blogs and realized that what makes them so great is the ability to take a seemingly ordinary snipet of their life and make it extraordinary. Whether it be a spiral slicer from Yes, I want cake or a cartwheel from Mama Pea, I cannot wait to read their posts and truth be told am sad if there isn't a new one.

I need to embarce the ordinary. Be grateful for it and find the extrarordinary in every day life. I am so thankful to know there are so many other positive, God-loving, kind people (and bloggers!) out there to remind me of my many blessings.

I feel like...

a hamster.

Why? Those dang hamster wheels are the story of my life right now. Running running running with seemingly no progress. Oh well, at least I like to be busy! Speaking of, I'm off to swim practice.

Is coaching considered a workout? I sure hope so.

Opa!

If I believed in past lives I would say that I was Greek in a past life. Or maybe I'll blanket statement it and say I was Mediterranean. I've been cooking up a storm since I have been back in Florida and my most favorite thing so far has been a Pinterest-inspired Greekish quinoa salad (yes, that was an alternate title for this post).  I don't really have a recipe per say so just go with it.

1. Cook some quinoa, maybe a cup.
2. Chop up a boatload of veggies. For me this was a cucumber with the seeds removed, two giant roasted red peppers, one (or two?) bell peppers, and half of a small red onion.
3. Get your hands of some fresh dill then use whatever method you want to cut it. I prefer the snip with scissors method. I snipped about a palm full. Note - I have sizable palms. I also love dill.
4. In a small bowl, combine dill with a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper and some red wine vinegar if you have it.  
5. Mix quinoa with veggies.
6. Dress with dill/evoo mixture. 
7. Stir in some feta. You'll try to use only half of the container , but in reality you'll want to use the whole thing. Dump the whole thing in there.
8. Try not to eat the whole container in one sitting.

I ate this salad warm and cold. It was good both ways. I also served it on a bed of spinach. Can you tell how much I love vegetables? I also yelled "Opa!" after I ate it. And broke my plate. Ok...not really. You caught me.

This makes about six or seven Pinterest things I've done this week. How did my past-life selves survive without it?

Sharpen your pencils!

I cannot believe it - tomorrow is my first day of school. How is that possible?!? It's like the Olypmic Committee knew that today was my last day of summer and decided to end the games just for me. Good thing the students won't be there for a week as I still have a lot to do before my classroom and I are ready!

I'm actually pretty excited, but worried I have said "yes," to too much this year. Will I be able to give my all to all of these things? I know that everything will eventually get done, but aghhh I'm gunna need a little help and support along the way. Thank goodness I have y'all.

Earth-shattering news: I have not had Diet Coke or any soda in three days. Three days! I treated myself to a Shellac manicure in celebration. My other celebration is supposed to be the performance by the Spice Girls. They better not be the last act.

Bakcrastination

I have a problem. It's not that I procrastinate...well that's a problem too, but rather what I do to fill the time when I should be doing something else. I bake. Or cook. Or coupon and make lists of things I need to make this or that. Lately I've been on a mug cake kick.

It started about 15 years ago when I went down to Ethel's house every day to visit her granddaughter and watch (then) forbidden MTV. Ethe,l at sixty something years, was totally ahead of her time. She made us individual cakes in bowls in the microwave way back then. She would spoon out some cake mix, a little egg, some oil and water without measuring anything and pop int in the microwave. Out came the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever had. She then proceeded to make a quick glaze and voila! This was back when I hated chocolate. It was so good I still ate it. Ethel never called it a "mug cake," or a "bowl cake" for that matter.

Back to the matter at hand - I have been making mug cakes the past few nights. Like this one and  this one.  I'm sure I'll make another one tonight. It probably has something to do with my to do list that just keeps getting longer! Or the fact that I keep spending too many hours not doing items on said to do list.

Mom Knows Best

This time it's not my mom, but still a mom who frequently mothers me. One of my dearest friends is also a coworker. We met for lunch yesterday and of course, jumped into all the things we we needed to do before school started. We were both on our way to school to get some work done. The thing is, "work days" don't start until the 13th. Meaning - this is still technically our vacation. Here is where the mom advice comes, "This is still your vacation, enjoy the last few days of it!" I had planned on going in to school today and working the whole day, but goshdarnit I'm not going to do that. I'm going to finish unpacking, watch a little HGTV (since our cable was out the whole time I was in Missouri - grrr), and ummm make to-do lists. Some habits are hard to break. Baby steps, people.

But I'll make my to do lists sitting at my table overlooking this :)

Gratitudes

It's hard to believe I have been back in the States for over a week. Life moves so quickly and we rarely stop to think about it.

If you read this post, you "heard" me mention a book about the Amish. I don't mean to sound self-helpy, but this book had a lot of really nice insights. Specifically, about how the Amish live their lives. They are not always looking for something out there, but rather live in the daily mastery of whatever is going on at the moment. I tend to fall in to the category of looking for the next great thing.

As the school year is quickly approaches, I'm getting nervous and excited about all that it holds. Will I be able to focus on the daily tasks? I'm teaching an additional class, moderating another club, coaching and working on that cryptic thing I talked about a few days ago, not to mention my normal commitments of Advocates, Youth Group, working out and some semblance of a social life. I am going to be way busy, especially for the first semester and I imagine stressed and frequently overwhelmed. But, I don't want to lose sight of my goals. I said yes to all of these commitments because they mean something to me!

In order to keep me a little more centered, I have decided to keep a Gratitude Journal. It will be a separate page on this site and I will jot down something I'm thankful for every day. Feel free to add what you are thankful for in the comments section. Some days I might have hard time coming up with things, so bear with me if you see "my morning latte" six days in a row.

a

1/3 Chlorine

I'm pretty sure that a third of my body composition is chlorinated water. My mom is probably more along the lines of half and Briggs is maybe a quarter. Seth - not so much, he could care less about the pool.

A few examples to prove my point: 
1. Upon arrival at our hotel in Kentucky, Briggs and I went to check out the pool.  We walked in and both said at the same time, "I love that smell." Overwhelmingly chlorinated water. Yum.

2. We have been home for three days and this is how many beach towels we have gone through...

13 if you can't count from the picture. Never mind the scorched grass - proof of the extreme drought and heat that has pervaded the Midwest this summer.

Being around the pool gets me so excited (and nervous!) for the upcoming swim season. My first adventure as a head coach should provide some extremely entertaining blog posts!

Now I'm off to, you guessed it, the pool :)

a