Miscellany Monday

Linking up with lowercase letters today for Miscellany Monday.

one | I LOVE this quote that Carissa shared today.  I need this on my wall with some of our beach & lighthouse pictures.

two | Grayson's parents got to spend the last 12 days with us.  More pictures from their visit coming later.

three | I've been knitting again.  I was afraid moving to California would mean I wouldn't get to wear winter scarves, but I'm pretty sure I still will...so now I'm busy making some new ones!

four | I think I made my best pumpkin cheesecake ever last weekend (& I'm making it again this weekend).  Recipe here (except I used pumpkin pie spice instead of mace & left out the lemon extract).

five | Five.  The number of loads of laundry I am trying to get done right now!  I've fallen down on the job with company here, so today has been a day of much laundry & grocery shopping.

six | My parents fly in on Friday!  So excited to see them & take them to our favorite places...& it's their first time to California!

Off to fold the tons of laundry & maybe try to squeeze in some time to bake...I've been wanting to try these!

21 Graces | Week 7

1. A husband who takes care of my car.  New washer fluid, wiper blades, & tags, & cleaned inside & out.
2. Chick-fil-A milkshakes.
3. News that another Chick-fil-A is coming to our area.
4. Fall weather.
5. Parker's "lightly sparkling" soda.
6. Philippians.
7. Super clean apartment.
8. Texts with friends who I only see every few years, but still keep in touch with.
9. A husband who likes to vacuum.
10. Introducing Grayson's parents to our favorite Cali places.
11. Great first meeting of our new small group.
12. An unexpected text from an old small group friend I haven't talked to in awhile.
13. Sunset in Santa Cruz.
14. E-mails back from submitted job applications.  Even if it's not a job that will work for me, it's good to feel wanted.
15. A walk at the park.
16. A good fast food fish taco.  Yes, it doesn't seem possible, but it is.
17. New York bagel shops.
18. First pumpkin cheesecake of the fall.  My favorite :)
19. A $7 burlap lamp shade.
20. Spending a Michael's gift card to "finish" decorating.
21. Grayson finishing work early several days this week. 

Hold True.

Paul writes this verse in Philippians.  Hold true.  The definition of the Greek word for "hold true" means to walk in line.  This makes me think back to elementary school when mastering the art of walking in line was a necessity.  Every child found that looking around or not paying attention would just cause you to run into the kid in front of you, trip or stumble, & then that  usually brought on a need for a teacher to institute a silent single-file line.  Proven to be the most successful way of walking in line: keep your eyes on the person you are following.  So to hold true to what we know, we must keep our eyes on Jesus.

It's easy for other things to sound right.  Fair.  Just.  It's easy for someone to plead their case & make us believe, make us want to follow their way of thinking.  But the only way is His way.  The only Truth is what is found in the Word of God.  No way of thinking trumps the Gospel.  These words are just as relevant now as when Paul wrote them.  Just because we live in a different world does not mean God's words don't apply.  Hold true to what you know is Truth.

21 Graces | Week 6

one | A lazy Saturday morning.

two | The sounds of football on TV.  I don't care about football & don't watch it, but hearing Grayson watch it means fall, & I like fall.

three | Red + blue.  [I keep putting little snippets of our apartment on here.  I hope to get to a "finished for now" point eventually & do whole post on it.]

 

four | A Sunday drive.

 

five | TV marathons.  We get addicted to one show & watch all of it in a matter of days.

six | Figuring out how to use things I already have to decorate.

seven | Countdown to our first visitors (Grayson's parents) is within a week!

eight | Good mail days (a check + a save-the-date + new insurance cards + a magazine).

nine | Trying to make flowers last a really long time.

ten | Hanging things on our previously bare walls.

eleven | Grayson coming home to work when he has to work late, so we can sit at the same table.  He works + I paint.

twelve | Encouraging e-mails from Sunday school friends at home.

thirteen | This app.

fourteen | This text.

fifteen | Playing cards one night this week.

sixteen | Parents getting iPhones.  Now they'll get all my texts & actually be able to see my pictures.

seventeen | Getting into a good workout schedule.

eighteen | Good curly hair days.

nineteen | Painting several things this week.

twenty | Open windows & doors on breezy afternoons.

twenty-one | After 3 hours at the DMV, we are officially licensed drivers in California!

            

Love.

[source]

This made me stop.  Every day I talk to the same people.  Especially right now when I'm not going to a job & interacting with a variety of people each day.  I want to make a conscious effort to make at least one other person feel loved each day.  And not just the handful of people that I talk to daily (though I hope I make them, especially, feel loved each day), but someone outside of that circle.

Lessons from King Nebuchadnezzar

Sometimes if Grayson is busy doing something, but I want his attention, I get in his face. I get in between his eyes & the computer, or phone, or whatever he's reading. Sometimes I just want attention.  And when I do that, he usually puts down what he's doing & pays attention to me.

God did that with King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel.  Nebuchadnezzar was known for his building projects...like the elaborate Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  He was king, & proud of it.  He loved the control & the power that he could use to gain more glory for himself.  He created idols for his people to bow to, & essentially made an idol of himself.  

God is never happy when we try to worship something that isn't the One worthy of worship.  He got in Nebuchadnezzar's face through several dreams that Daniel interpreted for him.  Then Nebuchadnezzar would see that Daniel's God was the One True God.  In Daniel 4:3, he declares,

"How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders!  His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, & His dominion endures from generation to generation."

But after that...he went back to being prideful King Nebuchadnezzar.  Until God got his attention again, & he turned to praise Him.

How often do we do that?  God SHOWS us that He is worthy of worship.  That He is the reason for any  good thing in our lives.  Yet we don't stop attributing that goodness to other things (our own skills, luck, other people, etc.) & praise Him.  That must feel like such rejection.

The She Reads Truth devotional on Daniel said, "There were times when the Truth appeared to catch the king's attention, but still yet, his worship was misplaced."  God demands worship.  If we don't give it to Him, He will still be worshiped.  

Luke 19:40 says that when we are silent, even the ROCKS will praise Him. 

It's pretty cool that the rocks would cry out...but I'd rather that not be because I failed to worship.

21 Graces | Week 5

Find an introduction to 21 Graces here, & link up at Jordy Liz Blogs!

one. A long weekend...

two. ...& getting to sleep in twice.

three. A How I Met Your Mother marathon...trying to catch up before the new season starts!

four. And...we finished season 7 in about 4 days.  One more to go!

five. A successful day trip to San Fran on Monday.

six. 10 minutes of rain on our way back from San Fran.

seven. First Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season!

eight. First ride in a cable car.

nine. Making a shutterfly share site to share pictures with our non-Facebooking parents.

ten. Good creamer after being out of mine for awhile.

eleven. Finally buying a cabinet to use as a pantry...& replacing the cardboard box that did hold our groceries!

twelve. Mailing birthday presents!

thirteen. New recipes - this week I tried this, this, & this.

fourteen. Start of the new Daniel study.

fifteen. New places to photograph.

sixteen. This week Seeley has followed me around everywhere for some reason.  If I went to another room for 2 minutes, she came too.  While I made dinner, she stayed right under my feet.

 seventeen. Quiet mornings.

eighteen. Phone calls just to chat.

nineteen. My parents & Grayson's parents spending Labor Day weekend together.

twenty. Freshly mopped floors.

twenty-one. Fall nail polish colors, my favorites.

San Fran: Take 3

I've written before about how we just don't do San Francisco well.  Until yesterday.

Usually we just go places & then figure out what we're going to do.  We don't really like having an agenda.  Which is odd, since I like to plan every other little detail of life.  But for whatever reason, we normally just get in the car & go.

We realized that just wasn't going to work for San Francisco.  At least not for us since we don't know the city.  So yesterday we got up & made a plan.  Grayson mapped everything out & we were off.

We parked near Chinatown & walked around there for awhile.  Grayson spent several months in China during college, so he always loves getting real Chinese food again.

From there we took the cable car a little ways to the bay.  That was my favorite part!

We explored several of the piers there.  There was a great view of the Golden Gate & Alcatraz.

We had dessert at Trish's Mini Donuts (where I'm sure we'll be going back) & then took a very hilly walk back to the car.  Such a great Labor Day.  Glad we can finally like San Francisco.  So thankful for a husband who likes to GO as much (sometimes more...) than I do.