Fall Fun in Pictures

I could post my gratitude list or I could write about our great weekend or I could tell y'all about the beauty of fall. But instead of telling you, I'm going to show you. 

Enjoy. 

at Lake Geneva this weekend

at Whitnall Park, of course.

a little overexposed because of the sunlight but i like it anyway

at my cousin's wedding in Aug

Night shiftin' it

When I tell people that I work night shifts, their reaction is fairly consistent. They moan, feel bad for me and ask when I will be able to work day shifts. Aside from the fact that I make a little more money working nights and aside from the fact that working nights is convenient because we only have one car, I have begun to enjoy the rhythm of night shifts and also the rhythm that it gives my life.

Granted, there are the very obvious cons (that I'm sure you can come up with yourself) but I have come to really appreciate the other side of the column: the pros.

• I have a rather regimented way of sleeping and protect sleeping above all else. I certainly can't say that about when I worked day shifts. 
•  Nights at the hospital are just ... different ... better ... quieter than days. During night shifts there are fewer family members, nursing managers and doctors and I think that is a good thing for nurses. Oh and there are no meals for the patients on night shifts. I greatly dislike meal times; it is soooo inconvenient for the nurse! At the risk of sounding even more jaded towards my career, I'm going to move on ...
• I stay up late a few nights a week to prepare for my shifts and I really enjoy those nights. I usually don't do much - my husband is sleeping which limits the housework, my friends are sleeping which limits social activities and stores are closed which limits errands. The introvert in me LOVES this alone time and I look forward to it every week. 

It is true that I choose to work night shifts and that, for right now, that schedule works out well for our life. But it is also true that I enjoy them and am thankful for this crazy, random, nocturnal schedule. 

laundry (for lack of a better title)

I argue with my beloved.

over laundry.

Because he didn't do it the way I would have. The way I wanted.

I shut the drying hard and grumble loud so that he will hear.

I see more work created for me instead of my husband answering my request.

He calls out my sin, claims his feelings and I cry tears for his pain, for my pride and ask forgiveness.

 

And I wonder, If I don't first respond with love to my husband, the one I vowed to love and honor, what then? Where does that leave anyone else in my life? I may not voice my grumblings at work or with friends but the prideful thoughts are in my head just the same.

 

And sin is sin, whether spoken or silent.

 

But wait ...

 

If I first respond with love to my husband, what then?

 

Then it will be part of my thought process ... a learned part of my response. Learned on bended, grown from a confessing relationship with both my God and my husband.

 

If I first respond with love to my husband, what then? Where does that leave anyone else in my life?

Kitchen Escapades

This weekend I ...

canned spaghetti sauce and salsa

and made tomato basil soup

made beef stew is our cool orange dutch oven

made tapioca pudding

made energy balls (aka my first attempt to make a quick, cheap protein bar alternative)

but our apartment smells like laundry because I also burnt the bottom of the pot while i was making the spaghetti sauce and i used laundry detergent to get it out, which mostly worked.

It is no secret that my hubby does a majority of the cooking/meal planning for us but whether it is the fall-like weather or I am embracing my "wife of a PhD student" role with the beginning of the semester, i have enjoyed my kitchen adventures the last few days and have our meals planned for this week. The timing of this is good too as my hubby is a little under the weather. :(

Gratitude List #1817 - 
(I wrote my gratitude list old-style on paper the last few weeks) 
- perfecting my chai tea (not too much chai and lots of honey)
- cool fall bike rides with Loki
- a nice date night with the hubby, using a Living Social deal
- sharp knives on wood cutting boards
- Loki's stumpy tail wagging
- wearing the new skirt my mother-in-law gave me (after she remembered that my husband commented that my old one wore out)
- holding my husband's hand in church
- local beef and veggies in a yummy stew
- friends. specifically pie-making friends who have us over to eat said pies
- talking at length about my job with a friend who asks really good questions
- finding encouragement to memorize scriptures 
- helping my good friend knit =) 
- our centerpiece

Happy fall, friends!

Five Minute Friday: Rest

linking up with The Gypsy Mama; she picks a topic and writes for 5 minutes on it - no edits - just writing. Yesterday's prompt? REST.

Go {10:52}

Rest is a fitting topic for this week, my husband and I have been talking about rest this week, which has gotten me thinking about rest this week.

What is rest?

rest: refreshing ease or inactivity after exertion of labor

So what, then, in my life, is restful?

a good conversation, a walk through the woods with Loki, snuggling up in my husband's strong arms, reading on the patio, studying the Word

It strikes me that all these things are actually active - moving, learning, engaging. While I do find rest in them, they are not still. And perhaps being still is different than being at rest. Perhaps I don't know how to be still. Being still is a strange concept it on culture - we are always moving, always doing. And yet, in the stillness I am most acutely me; not the me that is working, cleaning, doing or moving (although all those things are needed and make up me), I am just me.

Being still, being silent is hard. It's hard to not think of what I have to do next, not think about work, not rehearse my verses from Colossians. Silence is hard for me, but I find rest in it. A rest that is different than a talking/walking/snuggling/reading/learning rest.

And I am learning to like it.

STOP {10:58}