javajanie

Thankful He Is Writing My Story

"None of us gets our dream the way we dreamt it, because none of us is writing our own story. God, in his love, writes a better story than we could ever write for ourselves. He will take us places we never intended to go, because, in doing so, we become more of what he re-created us in Christ to be." Paul David Tripp in What Did You Expect?

My Life In Bullet Points: Things that I'm Really Digging Edition

• My husband. I mean, seriously, he's awesome and he puts up with my sinful self. What's not to love? And he's taking me out to dinner and a movie somewhere in DC. Pretty sure we are going to see the sequel to Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as far as the movie (can't remember the name and I'm too lazy to google it right now). Dinner? Well, that's still up in the air. 
• Waterdeep's newest album. It's been on repeat the last couple of days. I tend to buy albums, have them sit on iTunes ignored after the first listen, then rediscover them a couple of months later. 
• Live music. Went to see Thad Cockrell and Sandra McCracken (with Derek Webb) over the weekend in Tennessee. I was blown away. And Thad, Sandra and Derek are so kind and sweet. Really blessed to get the chance to spend some time with them after the show. Really excited and encouraged by what they are doing in Christian/Indie music. Katie Herzig is coming to town on the 27th and I can't wait. I've been checking out all the small live music venues hoping to find some other of my favorite artists in the area. 
• Miss Shirley's tomorrow with Kelly. Spending time with Kelly is already awesome, but throw in Miss Shirley's and it's going to be spectacular! 
• FroZen Yo in DC's Penn Quarter. 10 flavors of self serve frozen yogurts and a topping bar by the pound? Yes, please!
• Dinner with friends tomorrow night. It's been awhile since Steve and I have had a chance to hang out with Mike and Shelby. Really looking forward to it. 
• Butt kicking books. I had been reading fluffy YA paranormal, but knew it was time for something a little more serious. I picked up "What Did You Expect?" by Paul David Tripp. It's about marriage and it's kicking my butt in a good way, in a way that I really need (just ask Steve). 

And here's a not bulleted point for you. We had a really great time in Tennessee visiting Stephanie and Jim. Seriously wonderful people. Their hospitality meant so much to us. James and Nate are just adorable. And they introduced us to the game "Settlers of Catan". I lost miserably both times, but it was fun. Hopefully they can find some time to get out to DC so we can show them some East Coast hospitality! 

Coming later this week......new poultry pictures! I'm sure you all can't wait! 

After A Crazy Wonderful Exhausting Weekend...

what do I do? Nap? No, I make homemade rolls. Silly. 

Hot Coffee and Cold Pizza

It's been a good week. The kids are gone (and yes, I do miss them), but it's nice just be me for a little bit. So much of who I am is wrapped up in being a mom, it's good to get a break. It's refreshing and makes me a better mom throughout the rest of the year. At least I think it does, maybe you ought to ask the kids. 

We did another "staycation" this year. We spent a lot of time by the pool thanks to this lovely little heat wave the DC area is experiencing. I'm even a little brown. Ok, a darker shade of pale, but it's not pasty white anymore. 

In the evenings, we headed into DC for dinner, well, every night but Wednesday. Made it feel like we were on vacation. I love the feel of the city. I used to think I was a country girl, wanted a big farm. Oh no, give me the city, a small place to upkeep, walk to whatever I need, sit on a bench watching the world go by. 

We hit up some great cheap eats for dinner too. Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill, Amsterdam Falafel in Adams Morgan, Absolute Thai in Chinatown, Casey Jones in La Plata, Kodori in Waldorf. 

Tomorrow we are heading to Nashville to spend some time with Jim and Stephanie and to see Thad Cockrell/Sandra McCracken at 3rd and Lindsley. Really looking forward to it. We are going to stop in Knoxville to see some friends that were stationed with Steve while he was over in Germany. Should be a really great time. 

Now we are going to sit back, relax and watch Hot Tub Time Machine. 

It's the Little Things

I'm thankful. I'm thankful for this heat wave, makes me appreciate the refreshing pool in my backyard that much more. I'm thankful for a husband that doesn't laugh at my lame attempts to do a flip off our diving board. Yes, I'm 34, grew up with a pool in my backyard and have one now and still can't get it right. I'm thankful for 5 children to miss while they are gone for a few weeks. I'm thankful for the my Rhode Island Red pullet that runs right up to me and stands under my feet til I pick her up and pet her, silly chicken. I'm thankful for cold pizza for breakfast. I'm thankful for the sisters God has blessed me with. I'm thankful for all the graces God has given to me. 

All Things Work Together For Good

"God, in his providence, has the power and the will to work all things together for good for his people. This does not mean that everything that happens to us is, in itself, good. Really bad things do happen to us. But they are only proximately bad; they are never ultimately bad. That is, they are bad only in the short (proximate) term, never in the long term. Because of the triumph of God's goodness in all things, he is able to bring good for us out of the bad. He turns our tragedies into supreme blessings." RC Sproul

Cage Match, Rooster VS Possum

Waking up at 5:45 am to a young rooster crowing for the last 5 days, not fun. Waking up at 3:00 am to a possum in the rooster's cage attempting to eat him, really not fun. Actually, really scary, especially when you need to rescue the rooster, but prefer not to be attacked by the icky teenage possum. Lucky the rooster came running to me for protection as soon as I provided an escape route. Took me over 3 hours to fall back to sleep. The roo seems to be ok. Some bites on his butt, but overall, just slightly traumatized. 

Highlight of the Day

Watching Steve sitting in the grass feeding our ducks their favorite treat, Cheerios. Well, pretty much his duck. Penny  is quite the Cheerio hog. Steve now understands why she's a bit rounder than Desmond. Barely let's him get a treat! 

#12 City Of Bones

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)

Cassandra Clare

Yes, another book in the YA paranormal category. Yes, I realize I am 34 years old. But someone has to screen these books before I allow my teen daughters to read them, right? Yeah, that's my story. It could also be that this book came highly recommended by three of my friends, Kelly, Jen, and Steph. 

That said, it isn't just another "Twilight". I think just about any book gets compared to Twilight, but the YA paranormal genre has been around for a long time before the Twilight Phenomenon. Honestly, it's better than Twilight. And I'm hooked and very glad that I have books 2 and 3 sitting on my shelf waiting for me because otherwise I would've had to make an emergency run to Borders to get the next one. 

As far as age appropriateness, I would pass this one onto my 15 year old daughter. Considering I've mentioned what a prude I can be as far as sex in YA novels, that's a good thing. Can't vouch for the other books yet. It'd be disappointing if they were racier considering it's a series. 

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone that loves this genre. 

Not So Impressive After All

Luther

While we were in Virginia visiting my sister, Nicole and her family this past weekend, Steve noticed this movie on their bookshelf. It looked to be a well produced biopic on the life of Martin Luther. Let's face it, most movies about church leaders tend to be cheap and kinda cheesy. This one actually had decent actors listed. Nicole and Rob also gave it high praise, as did my teenaged niece and nephew. So we borrowed it. 

We watched it last night and let me just say, it was really good. Makes me want to actually pick up on the biographies we have sitting on the bookshelf about Luther. Sophie, Josiah, and Ashley watched it with us and really enjoyed it too. 

When it was all over, I walked into our library/music/game/catch all room and took Luther's Large Catechism off of our shelf. I took it out to the kids and said,  "Here's a book that Martin Luther wrote."

Ashley took it from my hands in wonder and started gingerly turning the pages. "He wrote this?", she said in amazement. 

"Well, that's a copy, but yes, he wrote it." I said. 

She shut it and put it on the table, "Oh, he didn't really write it."

Obviously, it was more impressive when she thought we had an original handwritten copy back from the 1500s. I love that she thought we'd just have it sitting on the bookshelf among all our other books. I wish we did. I bet it'd be worth a forture!