I am worn out, exhausted tonight. I still haven’t recovered fully from whatever bug I had that made my throat burn Friday night through this morning, though my throat recovered late this morning. But my body is still tired from working so hard throughout it all, and possibly still today, to fight off the bug. However, I pulled weeds of grass out of the flower bed today, and that was quite satisfying to have that completed. That’s especially so, considering that most of it was probably there from when I turned the lawn mower around while it was too close to the beds, and it shot cut grass all into the freshly planted and watered beds… So, there’s that.
I’m too tired to focus on saying anything else right now.
Goodnight, God. Thank you for the love. Heal us all, please. Amen.
Today, we had a reunion for my childhood swim team. Not very many people showed up, but a few of the most significant ones for me were there, and it was awesome. Also, the cookies one person made were actually delicious – both the cookie itself and that lemon icing were awesome.
Now, I really wish we had an adult version of summer swim team. Not super competitive, but enough to give us a goal and a bit of a challenge to work on improving our swimming. For the people who love swimming and swim team, but don’t want to dedicate their lives to it or anything. Somewhere between the college athletes and the drunken social kickball – that’s what I would love to have for swim team. That would be awesome.
I was not great at swim team, as practices were in the early morning, and I was not a morning person until just a couple years ago. So, I never improved much during the season, not like most others in the team who went to practice even half the time. But I loved it when I did go to practices, and I loved the whole social and family aspect of swim team. We really were all like family to each other, and it was amazing. The older kids watched out for, taught, coached, and had fun with the younger kids, and everyone learned so much with each other and from each other. We had some valuable bonds that were different from standard friendships. I guess that was s team bond. Seeing each other today was so easy and wonderful, though most of us hadn’t seen each other for close to 20-25 years. And there was no hurt that we hadn’t stayed in each others’ lives – we hadn’t expected to do so, you could say. But we all valued the time we did spend together and the relationships we had then. And we reveled in getting to touch base outside of swim team… decades later.
Thank you, God, for this wonderful time today. Please, heal this cold that I seem to have. Help to heal us all. Amen.
While emotionally difficult, the film “The Sound of Freedom” is an important and valuable film, especially for those who have little exposure to information of human trafficking and its statistics.
Human trafficking is a true thing, unfortunately, and, many could say, undeniable work of the devil, as spooky or odd as that might sound. I, myself, had the thought tonight, Why does God allow this? And I realized immediately: He doesn’t. It is not God’s will or work at all…
So, go see “The Sound of Freedom”, a film that portrays rather well the true story of a Homeland Security officer who was moved by the encouragement of God to valuable, illogical, immensely dangerous, and life-saving action. Then, spread the word to upload hotel and hotel room photos to TraffickCam.com in order to help AI help to identify where trafficked people are being kept, transferred, and photographed. They are both small yet significant steps on helping to heal the world and to slow down the terrifying rate of human trafficking, in hopes of eventually ending it altogether.
If you’re ever in Houston, stop by A 2nd Cup, a coffee shop dedicated to educate on and to help end human trafficking. As they say, they are more than a cafe – they are coffee with a cause. And their coffee and teas are actually quite good to drink, too.
In addition to that, love. Please, love. Especially those who are the worst of company, show them mercy’s no show them love. If you cannot show your own love to these people, show them God’s love. The only way truly to heal our world and its many sadnesses and evils is with love. Let people know that they matter – they, too, are children of God, even if they have strayed from His path and will in their lives. It is likely a lack of love that led them astray in the first place. They, too, and they, especially, need love. So, I ask you, please, to love.
Dear God, help us to love, please. Give us the courage we need to help heal the world through your love. In your name, we pray. Amen.
All I will say for now is that today started out very differently than how it turned out. Note this exchange between a friend of mine from college and me from just after midday today (though, morning still for the friend).
J: How are things with trying to find work? H: Iffy H: I had a clear message from God to do other things while waiting for a reply for this one particular job interview. But it has been a few weeks now with no follow-up after the second interview. J: Ahhh that’s hard to wait through. His timing can certainly be mysterious. H: Yes!!
Fast forward to 18:45, and I sent that same friend the following message:
H: What did you start this morning?????
Suffice it to say for now that my prayers and understanding of God’s guidance proved true, and to an extreme. He kept telling me that I would understand and know how to proceed once they reached out to me, meaning the school where I had applied for the IT position. He didn’t say anything about whether I’d get the job or even that their reaching out had to do with that job – just that I would understand after talking with them when they reached out. And I had started getting antsy just the past two days, like it was getting close, whatever it was…
And, boy… what an unexpected conversation – two conversations – I had with them this evening when they reached out. God led me truly and clearly, that’s for sure. I have at least one more conversation to have tomorrow morning, but this much of a turn of events was certainly unexpected, though not unbelievable. God truly works in mysterious ways and with mysterious timing. To put it simply, though vaguely, God has just offered me almost exactly what I asked to have several years ago, but that I likely wouldn’t have been able to manage and handle at the time I first wished for it. Now that I say that, I’m not sure I ever prayed and asked for it directly, though I certainly wished it were possible and could and would happen. Man… what a wow-filled evening…
Thank you, God. Help me to act according to your will and to see clearly, especially tomorrow. Help me also to speak clearly and to have the words that make the best difference, tomorrow and always. Thank you for this blessing of an offer. Please, heal all those in need of healing, and help them to feel your love clearly. Thank you. In your name, I pray. Amen.
We have some awesome Talavera from Mexico, the majority of which arrived this past weekend with my man, from his most recent visit to Mexico. We have loads of pots and some plaques and a lot of one tile and some dishes and lots of animals etc. now, and it is very exciting. I already started setting the new planter pots around this morning for visual testing, and we laid out the animals and such in a rough formation for putting them up on the fence. I have little attachment to the formation. They just needed to be set outside in a rough shape for my man to start hanging them up. He had put up the two pieces before that we already had, but he wanted me to have say for this lot. It’s likely because he doesn’t want me to get annoyed with how he does it. However, if he had just done it with his own tastes and opinions, I likely would have loved it. But, now that he’s asked me, he runs the risk of my being incredibly meticulous about it all, as I tend to get when something is up to me… thus my intentionally loose attachment to the current formation.
Said formation can be seen here:
Oh, JK. I didn’t take a photo of the formation that I actually put together on purpose. Instead, you may enjoy a photo of most of the stuff just sitting in the grass when we first brought it all outside, but I hadn’t organized it for display yet.
Also, yes, there is a chicken in the photo, too. I will see if I can get a photo of the display in the morning, so we can compare later how it all turns out on the fence. 😛
Thank you, God, for such blessings as today has held. In your name, I pray. Amen.
But we are still struggling to figure out how to let go of all the insecurities and junk that doesn’t serve us, in order to accept the love each of us has for the other.
And that part has proven surprisingly difficult and incredibly annoying.
‘Why do we have to piss each other off so much?’
‘Because we’re so hard-headed.’
‘And defensive.’
‘What? Me? Speak for yourself!’
😂😂
I’m just glad we can see it all. It isn’t easy to work through all of this, but it would be loads harder and nearly impossible doing it blindly.
Thank you, God, for this love and this relationship. Help us always to become better with each other through your love. Help us to let go of that which does not serve our highest selves and you, as you intended it to be in our lives. Thank you for this life. Help all to experience and notice your love. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I have a sore spot in the corner of my mouth. I’ve had it happen in the past, but with no clear reason that I can recall at present. It is not common or regular or anything. It just has happened in the past, I know. I felt it getting really dry the other night, and woke up the next morning with a really dry mouth corner. A while later, it seemed to be almost like a cold sore kind of thing, but also very much not like one. Now, a few days later, as I remember the other times going, the skin keeps ripping and healing as I open my mouth to eat, and then let it sit between eating times.
Basically, it is annoying, and I would like for it to go away. Also, it is a little painful, which sucks on its own, and then more painful every time it rips open again. Cuts on the edges of the mouth are quite terrible, to say the least. Haha
Anyway, I’m exhausted, and we both seem to have a small bug of some sort, though, possibly, different bugs. I went to bed with a sore throat, and he’s been dealing with digestion struggles since he got back the other night. Whatever the case, we both slept loads throughout the day, and that seemed to help. However, we are both ready to sleep a whole night’s sleep now, despite having slept so much today. Our bodies are clearly fighting off something.
Dear God, please, heal us both. Thank you for this life and love and good health. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Well, we are home now, and showered and going to bed. We are slightly sunburned and the man has something like a low-grade end-of-digestion stomach bug, and we are definitely exhausted and longing for a day of rest tomorrow. However, the weekend went quite well, we both enjoyed it, and I’m both grateful and glad that it all went how it did.
A fun moment:
We all do a silent auction for our family reunion now. So, my man and I always consider what we might bring to donate for it, though without having to purchase something new. This time, we had some extra handmade Mexican mugs from our previous trip together to Mexico. We had just last week (on his most recent trip there) purchased other mugs that we both really like, and so the previous unused, simpler ones were fully ready to find a new home.
So, we donate the mugs. After my mom arrives at the reunion, she mentions how the only things that particularly interest her in the auction are something-I-forgot and the mugs that we had brought. It made us both laugh. ‘No, Mom. Don’t buy the mugs that we brought, which have been sitting at our house, unused for the past six months.’ 😛
She didn’t.
But one of my second cousins did (that means the child of my mom’s cousin). He bid the full value we listed – because these mugs truly would have been for sale for $10 a piece here in Texas – of $40. My man thought the girlfriend must have said she wanted them, yet we found out that the second cousin actually truly wanted them for himself and he wanted to make sure he won them. So, he out the value down as the first bid, and he won the things.
However, his girlfriend also really liked the mugs, and, as he was putting it, he was pretty sure he would be having to split them with her. But there were two of each color, so that wouldn’t be too hard to manage fairly.
But get this: The whole reason we even ended up talking with him about it was because he was standing outside with his cousins actively drinking out of one of the mugs!(!!!) He wasn’t joking when he’d said he really liked the mugs. He started using them right away and was so happy about it. I even photographed the moment, it was just so adorable and hilarious.
I’m so glad they have found such a happy home that loves and values them so much now! It just goes to show that, just because we may not love something, doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome and lovable in someone else’s eyes. Put differently, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. No, they weren’t trash at all for us, but we definitely didn’t love them the way my second cousin loves them. Now, they will be loved appropriately, and I am so grateful.
Thank you, God, for the successful and safe weekend. Please, heal us both in all ways, that we grow closer to you and to each other. Thank you for my family. In your name, I pray, Amen.
Tomorrow, we are scheduled to go tubing. But then breakfast got added in there. As ridiculous as it may sound, I very strongly prefer to have a BM at home in the mornings. With the new schedule, my body is already stressing a shaving to ‘figure it out’. Public bathroom are almost never easy for me, let alone for that kind of need. Ugh…
Sometimes, life can be really annoying with all these tiny yet significant struggles…
God, help me find the clear solution and path, please. Keep us safe. In your name, I pray. Amen.
hannah ananas 