A Yam-Sham.

It’s Thanksgiving night and I imagine many of you are away from your computers and with good reason!

Kyle and I have spent the whole day together, just the two of us. That’s my favorite part about Thanksgiving – the two of us and the puppy snuggled up in our apartment every year, cooking and watching movies and making up holiday-themed dance routines in the kitchen and wrestling the giblets from the still-partially frozen turkey and arguing over whether Scrooged or White Christmas is the better Christmas movie.



It’s been a great day but you know what really clinched it for me? Finally sitting down at our tiny kitchen table and listening to Kyle talk about growing up in Steamboat Springs, watching his eyes close as he describes the layout of his childhood home on 7th Street, watching him smile as he explained how he and his little brother Aaron would help decorate for Christmas. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face and I just kept thinking, “There is still so much I want to know about you. There is still so much to find out.”

On our eighth Thanksgiving, I keep imagining the next year and the next and the next. I have no idea what they will look like. Will they be like this one? Will there be a tiny new person soon? Will there be another house, another home? Another job? Another city? The future seems like an impossible, overwhelming unknown.

And then I hear Kyle’s prayer over dinner echoing in my ears: “Thank you for Elizabeth, thank you, God, for being the one who holds us together after all this time. We know that’s because of you. In Your name, Amen.”

Happy Thanksgiving…

love, elizabeth

Celebrate Everything

What would my daily life be like if I intentionally celebrated not just the big stuff but the little stuff, too? Sometimes I think I get so wrapped up in the big picture goals that I forget about all the little baby successes I had along the way. So I’m trying something new…

Source: yogamodern.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 

This week I am celebrating…

1. Seeing “Doctor of Philosophy” for the first time below my name on the graduate student photo directory in the lobby. I’m not a PhD yet but seeing those words reminded me how excited I am to be a day closer to my degree.

2. Eating right. I just got back from my Weight Watchers meeting and I lost four pounds!

3. The first real snow in Columbus. It may only have been an inch or so but it was a glorious powdery delight to me and Madigan.

Source: Uploaded by user via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 

I think I’m going to try to do this every week. What about you? What little (and big) successes can you celebrate this week?

love, elizabeth

The Paper That Wouldn’t Die

I don’t talk a whole lot about grad school on here because…well, because my blog is my happy, safe lala-land place where I don’t have to cite my primary sources or think too far ahead. But I thought I’d take a minute to talk about how thankful I am for school. I love my school. I love learning. I love teaching. I love my faculty. I love my students. I love my tiny mailbox in the corridor. I love my desk in the office. I love my stacks of library books and the bigger stacks of ungraded papers and my goofy student id photo. I even love the chilly early morning hike from the parking lot to my classrooms. School has been a great place for me to grow and figure out who I am, what I value, and how I can best serve my community and make art I care about at the same time.

But people…writing the modern drama paper I’m turning in today was like…well, it was kind of like this:

Every woman becomes a slave to…the paper that wouldn’t die.

love, elizabeth

Thankful Thursdays

In honor of Thanksgiving…I thought I’d take this month to blog about thankfulness. So on Thursdays, I’m highlighting things I forget to be thankful for.

And here’s the first one…mail.

Source: meandalice.blogspot.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 

 

I was listening to the news this morning and they were talking about the United States Postal Service crisis. If the government legislature isn’t able to find a solution, the USPS is going to have close something like 3200 post offices nationwide. Amazing…

I admit it. I take the mail for granted. For me, the entirety of the postal service is based on a conglomeration of shiny metal boxes. How does the mail get there? I don’t think about it – it’s magic.

With the convenience of modern mail and internet and all that that involves, I have forgotten how precious communication is. I have forgotten the value of the mail and the people that deliver it.

So do me a favor…the next time you see your mail carrier, tell them ‘thanks.’ My dad was a mailman many years ago. It’s a hard job.

Today, I’m thankful for the post office.

Source: google.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

A Little Turkey Told Me…

it's almost Thanksgiving! Actually, it was a 14 pound turkey on sale at Giant Eagle. Word to the grocery-savvy, three to four weeks BEFORE Thanksgiving is the day to buy the bird. Kroger and other major grocery chains usually have an awesome sale…ours was just $0.59 a pound! So our 14 pound turkey was about $8. For which I am very, very thankful. (Also very thankful for my smart husband who gently reminded me that a 25 pound turkey would probably not fit in our freezer!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: marthastewart.com via Kelli on Pinterest

 

I can’t believe how quickly November has appeared. With Thanksgiving just weeks away, I have loads of grading and paper-writing to do but I’m excited all the same! What about you? Are you making your Thanksgiving plans yet?

love, elizabeth

Why Reorganizing the Pantry Made Me Smile

Well, I can cross SOMEthing off my to-do list! I reorganized the pantry cupboards. At least now I can find everything…sometimes I get all wrapped around the axle wishing I had more storage space, a more sophisticated-looking kitchen, whatever. And then I am reminded that God has always provided EXACTLY what I need. I have never gone hungry. I have never been homeless. If nothing else, cleaning out the pantry has reminded me how faithfully I have been provided for. Again and again and AGAIN.

Here’s The Deep Steep tea I’m always raving about.

Honestly, looking at these pictures is pretty humbling. I know that right now thousands and thousands of people in the world will not have breakfast or lunch or dinner. I am a little embarrassed that I have doubted the goodness of God for even a SECOND. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, God, for my well-stocked pantry and Kyle’s job and the way you have given freely, with both hands, saying, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, Elizabeth.” Wow.

What about you? What’s making you feel thankful today?

love, elizabeth

PS: Stay tuned! Our fall giveaway is just around the corner!

Thankful

Sometimes it’s a bad idea to turn on the news. Kyle and I don’t have television so we don’t watch the headlines but we do listen to a lot of radio. After a particularly depressing round of stories about the bad economy, the rising unemployment, the violent upheaval around the world, and the famine in Ethiopia, I found myself in the grocery store check-out line last night.

“How are you today?” the cashier asked as he handed me my receipt.

“You know, I’m alright,” I said. “After listening to the news, I’m feeling like I’m doing pretty good, considering.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I guess it’s just good that we’re still here.”

His words have stuck with me since yesterday.

I don’t really talk about this  on the blog very much but I volunteer as an advocate for sexual assault survivors who come to the hospital. It’s something I’m very, very passionate about and I love having the opportunity to be a tiny part of her or his recovery “team.” This morning, after a particularly difficult case, I was once again struck by the cashier’s words, “I guess it’s just good that we’re still here.”

I am often tempted to be discouraged by the financial struggle, the stress of grad school, the difficulty of marriage and of life, period. This morning I was reminded that God’s provision in my life continues to be very real and very consistent. I may not have all it together in terms of money or career or life goals…but God has been good enough to keep me sheltered and loved and showered with opportunities to love others. And no recession or debt crisis or famine can take away my ability to love. I am still here. And that means God has someone for me to love.

So today I am thankful for the reminder. I am thankful to be here. And I am thankful for each of you.

What about you? What are feeling especially thankful for this week?

love, elizabeth