The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ 1.14.10

Hoping to get back into the groove of blogging, now that the holiday madness is over. A good way to get my feet wet--as always, if you'd like to play along, credit goes to The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Outside my window...
darkness. Tonight is my late night--Steve and I keep an early to bed, early to rise schedule, but I'm a night owl by nature, so the compromise is that I stay up late about once a week and sleep in a little the next day. It's a perfect time to do some writing, catch up on emails, etc.

I am thinking...
that perspective is a funny thing: thanks to the crazy cold snap we had for the last couple of weeks, high 40s felt like a heat wave and prompted me to take Elijah for a walk.

Also, of course, about Haiti: most of all, about some friends of ours who have been waiting more than two years to bring home two girls they are adopting from there. Praise God, their girls are safe, but how torturous it must be to continue waiting in a situation like this--and fear that the process will be dragged out even further. Please pray that their adoption and so many others will not be stalled indefinitely, but will actually be expedited because of this tragedy.

I am thankful for...
the evidence of God's grace at work in my life--and the eyes He has given me to see it.

From the kitchen...
we cleaned out the refrigerator tonight--crockpot enchiladas for Elijah and me and balsamic chicken stew for Steve. Chicken tortilla soup is on the menu for tomorrow, and I'm still trying to decide what to make for dessert--possibly my friend Marjorie's coconut cake. Speaking of Marjorie...she and her husband are serious foodies and we are getting together for dinner Sunday night...they are doing most of the food, but the pressure's on for me to come up with a great homemade pasta sauce. (Confession: I usually use Ragu.)

Baking-wise, I haven't yet looked for, but want to find, a great bran muffin recipe. I've got one that we totally love--but it uses a box of bran flakes, and they have some less-than-appealing ingredients--so I want to try and find a more natural version.

I am wearing...
a white t-shirt, a gray long-sleeved EKU t-shirt (my brother's alma mater), a blue fleece zip-up sweatshirt, bright pink snowflake flannel pants, socks and slippers--and I'm cold. Our heat kicks way down at 9pm--need to go take a blog-break and turn it up and/or add more layers.

I am creating...
photo postcard thank-you notes for Elijah's Christmas gifts. We won't talk about those wedding gifts I've mentioned for the last two daybook entries... I'm hoping to get together with a friend very soon and do some serious stamping. I made almost NO cards last year and my stash is dwindling rapidly.

I am going...
to go nuts if I don't get this desk cleared off soon. It's gotten to the point where I feel paralyzed at the idea of even starting to make sense of the chaos.

I am reading...
the book of Numbers. After the flurry of posting about my 2009 reads, I got overly excited (and overwhelmed) planning a list of books to read in 2010. Then I felt convicted about spending SO much time reading various books, but not putting forth nearly so much effort to read more of God's Word. I want to increase my Scripture intake this year, especially Old Testament--so I've pulled The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made back off the shelf and am currently working through Numbers. Books of many kinds are valuable in many ways--but only one is living, eternal, inspired by the Creator, Savior and Sustainer of my soul.

Other books with bookmarks in them right now, besides a couple of 2009 holdovers I'm still finishing up: Soul Survivor (a highly recommended gift from my mentor), Same Kind of Different as Me (the current Bloom book club selection--I've never done a book club before), The House of Mirth (trying to read more classics), and two more Christmas gifts I started digging into last weekend: Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth and Crazy Love.

I am hoping...
to go hear David Powlison speak in east Tennessee in March...to take another CCEF class this year...to spend less time at the computer and more time engaging with Elijah...to write more...

I am hearing...
just the steady hum of the computer, and faintly in the background, the fake-running-water sound of Elijah's white noise machine. The house is nice and quiet late at night :)

Around the house...
a giant 50-pound bag of wheat berries in the kitchen, waiting for me to come up with a better storage solution. Christmas tree is STILL up...yep...what can I say, I like the twinkly lights. That, and we didn't get it up until the 5th and then were gone for ten days over Christmas and didn't get to enjoy it...so I wasn't in a hurry to take it down. Also, I'm lazy.

One of my favorite things...
crawling into my soft bed under the electric blanket and cuddling up with Steve after a long day.

A few plans for the rest of the week...
Seeing as how it's Thursday night, there's not much "rest of the week" left, but we've had a good week here and a full weekend ahead. Yesterday Elijah and I drove down to Whole Foods and then spent the afternoon with a friend from church and her kids, and had a great time. Wish they didn't live an hour away. Tomorrow we're having friends from Steve's work over for dinner, and then Sunday, as I mentioned, hanging out with church friends. Sundays are a highlight of the week anyway--it is a great feeling to look forward to Sunday morning worship and fellowship!

A picture thought I am sharing...
how about four? Because I can't choose :) I had so much fun snapping photos of Elijah playing catch with Daddy right before dinner last week. For whatever reason, he was SO wound up and found the whole thing uproariously funny--which made for some great pictures. Can you look at these and *not* smile?