"Life is Good" moments

One of the things I have tried hard to do this quarter is to focus on cultivating a spirit of gratitude and celebration, even when things aren't always going perfectly--and believe me this is often easier said than done! But I just realized how often so much of what we say in normal conversation are actually complaints. "I'm tired, I didn't get enough sleep, it's too hot, it's too cold, I don't have enough time, I didn't get the grade I wanted on a paper..." One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, has a lot to say about gratitude, and he has shown me that we only become grateful people when we start practicing being thankful for the little things in life. He writes in his book Ruthless Trust "the foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness." Then he goes on...

"The grateful heart cries out in the morning 'thank you Lord for the gift of a new day!' and it continues to express its gratitude as the blessings unfold. 'Thank you for the gift of loving and being loved, for the beauty of the animals on the farm and in the forest, for the sound of a waterfall, for the darting beauty of the trout in the brook. Thank you for the deer leaping across the meadow, for fire and water and the magic of Monet, for the rainbow after a summer storm, for a woman with windblown hair striding down the hillside, and for a steaming hot cup of coffee. Thank you for the smile on the face of a child licking an ice cream cone, for the wagging tail of a dog and the touch of his cold nose against my face. Thank you that I was born in that house on East 48th St in Brooklyn and not in the house next door, for had my birthplace been different, I might never have met Jesus and the many beautiful people I know through him. Thank you for the four seasons, for each glorious day of sunshine, and most of all for the gift of the Unsetting Sun, Jesus Christ, who by his death and resurrection has set us on the road to glory."

I used to be really good at keeping a list each week of the things I was thankful for--big and little--and somehow these last few years I stopped doing that. So I decided to reinstate that habit, which has been SO fun! (I would highly recommend it, it is especially fun to go back and re-read the things you are thankful for a few months later!) Here are a few of the things I have been especially thankful for this quarter:

• all the wonderful cards, emails, visits, phone calls and prayers from people as I recovered from mono this winter.
• the incredibly theologically profound music of JJ Heller
• the chance to preach a few more times (in class, not in a church)
• time I got to spend in Houston last weekend with Sophie and other HPC friends
• my wonderful boyfriend who manages to make me smile a lot :)
• the chance to experience worshipping with several different congregations this winter--Mosaic, Bel Air Pres, First Pres Burbank, Eagle Rock Pres, Pines Pres and Memorial Drive Pres in Houston.
• Wireless internet (especially as I was stuck on my couch for a couple weeks!)
• my parents coming to visit
• starting therapy
• and most of all as I re-read my journal from this winter, I realize I am incredibly thankful that we have a God who has BIG hands and can handle all the emotions and frustrations and confusion and joy and excitement we want to throw at Him!

Several various things happened this quarter that never got their own post on my blog, so in an effort to continue thinking about all the random moments that make life good I thought I'd include them here:

In January Pocket had a dinner party to welcome everyone back from Christmas break--Ryan had the camera that evening and took some TERRIBLE pictures of all of us--this is one of the ones that is the least horrific :)

And this was taken that night too--we all absolutely love it, the expressions are just classic!

Also in January, Sophie packed up her apartment and moved in with her aunt and uncle...and the Presby moving company was on hand to help of course! In February we enjoyed a girls night out for happy hour at Bodega, my favorite wine bar around here. So here are Becca, Megan, Laura, me, Sophie, Christina, and Jenn

Also in February, my aunt, uncle and cousins got a new puppy--Eliott (as in TS Eliott, the poet) and I loved this picture of my cousin Mikaela playing with him.

Last Wednesday Chuck's friend Brian (ok he's become my friend too!) had a birthday, so we all did a late night trip to Yard House to celebrate since Brian had to work until 10:30. There was a HUGE crowd of people there to celebrate him, this was just our table.

And those are all the random photos I have to share now...all in all, life is good...stay tuned for more as we head into spring break!

I don't think that's ever happened before...

Some of you may have heard rumor that for Christmas I asked for a coffee grinder and received a Keurig one-cup coffee maker instead. My thought behind asking for the grinder was to start trying to cut down on the number of visits I pay to coffee shops each week to help out the bank account. I wasn't so sure it was going to work, and I really wasn't so sure about this whole new Keurig system--if it was going to work for me or not. I'm kind of a coffee snob--I just never got good at drinking drip coffee, I usually want steamed milk on top or various flavorings. Well apparently the new coffee maker is working. I haven't spent money at Starbucks in quite awhile (I have spent my Christmas gift cards, but that doesn't really impact the bank account so I don't think that counts!). I knew something had changed this morning. My wonderful boyfriend, who very very rarely frequents coffee shops just called. He's picking me up soon for church, but he said he was going to stop by Starbucks and did I want anything? For the first time in probably my entire life I actually said "thanks but I am just finishing the coffee I made this morning, so I think I'm good." Yeah, I dont think Sarah has ever uttered those words out loud before, or turned down free Starbucks. Apparently I wasn't kidding earlier this winter when I said I thought my new coffee maker was one of the greatest inventions ever!

Creating confident kids

I've been helping out this year with a mid-week program at church called Confident Kids, an elementary school aged support group of sorts which teaches kids how to make good choices, how to take ownership of their choices (and consequences), and how to invite God into their decision making. It's been really fun, and I have loved working with the rest of the adult staff as we have tried figuring out what in the world we are doing! The girls in my group are 5th graders and it has been so fun hearing what is going on with them, praying for them, sending them encouraging pieces of mail, and letting them remind me of what it's like to be a 5th grade girl again! (and all the ups and downs and struggles with boys and friends and parents! ahh the drama!) This past week the whole group made sunvisors with the word "Choose" on them to help remind them that good choices can be a bit like sunvisors--they can help keep you from getting burned. I happened to have my camera in my purse we we started snapping photos of the different small groups, which the kids LOVED and wanted to start posing in any number of combinations! Here are a few of my favorite photos....

me with my groupJacob and EthanAnn-Marie (one of our director's of children's ministry) and her groupJoseph and his groupour huddle prayer we end with each week

This is my friend Joseph. Joseph is married to my friend Jamie. These girls are part of Joseph's fan club at church who all happen to be devestated he is married....

Yee-Haw and Howdy!

Ok that's not really how people in Houston talk :o) Sophie and I just returned from spending last weekend in Houston training for the upcoming April Cursillo weekend. We had a wonderful time seeing friends we hadn't seen in a year and meeting the new staff we will be working with. We stayed with our friends, the Westheimers, and on Friday Robert played tour guide taking us to various parts of Houston we had not seen. One of our stops was to drive around Rice University, where a baseball tournament was going on. Rice wasn't playing until later in the afternoon but we stayed and watched a few innings of the game preceeding theirs.

Sophie and Robert holding down the...well stadium...the Rice fans were just showing up as we were leaving.

Friday night and Saturday morning we had training with the new staff of Houston Presbyterian Cursillo #50, and didn't have a chance to take too many photos (LOTS will be coming from the actual weekend I'm sure!) but I did snap this one of LaNoe, Janelle, Rachel and Anne (the most amazing pastor EVER!) worshiping on Sat. morning. Sophie & I are both SO excited to spend the weekend serving alongside these amazing women of God!And...Saturday night after training our friend Karen took the two of us and another friend of ours, Adrienne, to the Houston Rodeo, livestock show and Martina McBride concert. We definitely had a few moments where we looked at each other and said "wow, I don't think we're in Los Angeles anymore!" It was a wonderful evening of laughing, experiencing a bit of Texas culture, and enjoying fellowship time with two women who mean a lot to both of us!

Our first stop was dinner. The other 3 of us opted for bbq sandwiches--Sophie decided to go for the turkey leg as big as her head! (the hat is Robert Westheimer's, he said we needed to look 'authentic'...I'm not sure the Gap sweater and Lucky jeans fit the rodeo motif very well....but she sure looked cute!)

After dinner we went to the livestock show and saw a variety of baby animals, big animals, anything "rodeo-ish" you could possibly want to buy...and we even got to take turns sitting on our new friend here. Yes, he is real, but must have been on tranquilizers or something as he barely moved when people climbed on and off of him! The photo of me on his back was taken on a film camera so I only have a hard copy, but here is Sophie's turn!

It took me awhile to convince Sophie that the fair authorities probably WOULD mind if we snuck a baby pig into our suitcase....but they were awfully cute!

And I totally could have used a tripod for concert pictures, but here's a semi-non-fuzzy one of Martina :)

On Sunday morning we had the opportunity to worship at both Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church with the Westheimers and Pines Presbyterian Church with our friends Adrienne and Barbara. After a lovely lunch with Barbara our friend Sam came and hung out with us Sunday afternoon for a few hours before taking us to the airport. It was kind of a whirlwind weekend but we were so thankful so many people took time out to spend with us and we are very excited to come back to Houston in less than a month!