Joy

Yesterday was a joyful day. A relaxing morning, a wonderful lunch made by Anna Roorda. She is such a wonderful cook. I'll say it again and again and again. She even made Pioneer Woman's potatoes that we watched Saturday morning on the Food Network. Delicious. Their apartment is always warm (literally too!) and inviting and joyful. You can tell that Josh and Anna make their apartment a home. It doesn't matter if their walls aren't decorated perfectly and all the furniture doesn't quite match - it still feels like a home. It is the people that make the home. This got me thinking about how I am always thinking/striving to make our home look "perfect". So when people walk in they look at the matching throw pillows, the artwork placed on the wall, the coordinating picture frames and curtains and think that our house is so put together. Those are such outward things though. We are what make our house a home - not the decorative pillows. Why am I trying so hard to make things look so good on the outside? Why not focus my time and energy on the things that you can't see right away?

We got together with some other friends on Saturday evening. Part of our discussion was about how no matter how much we have in common with another person and how much we are alike - those outward things do not matter. What really brings us together in unity is our belief in Christ. In the end all the outward things and the small things we try to chat about - we are bound to disagree about those earthly things. Thankful for that unity in Christ.

Maybe it is time to start focusing more inward instead of outward. (side note, I had inwardly and outwardly written first and then changed it because I couldn't decide which was grammatically correct. Then I realized that it doesn't really matter because it is my blog and I can spell things wrong if I want.....or if I don't know how it is supposed to be - end site note).

Yesterday was also joyful because after eating lunch with Josh and Anna we played this new game called Scotland Yard. There is one person labeled "Mr. X" who is against all the other players, trying to hide/sneak around the board. It is a strategic game but what I liked about it was that the team who was against Mr. X could talk together and decide what their moves were going to be as a group. You weren't just playing by yourself, unless you were Mr. X. Brett was the X person first and he lasted a good while but then we caught him. The next time we played Anna beat us all. She even wore the hat labeled Mr. X so we couldn't see where her eyes were looking on the board. We also watched the Packers lose yesterday. That wasn't so joyful. It was fun to have another person cheer/yell at the teams like I do sometimes. Telling them they should run faster and how it was so silly how they just ran right into a bunch of people instead of running to the side. Oh, Anna, I think we have a new bond in football. :)

The cats are still the cats. I think Marshy has just mellowed out a lot lately. At first I thought maybe he was having some vision problems because he was just slinking around the house and moving slowly and just not his normal self. However, he still goes after food and runs down the stairs like there is no tomorrow. No problem there! Parker has this new thing in the morning. He will come into the bedroom and shut the door. Then meow and complain that he is locked in and can't get out. He is such a pest :)

I found our camera! It was in the couch cushions. I think last time I was putting pictures on the computer it slipped in between the cushions and got stuck. Now the battery is charging so the next post I write should have a few pictures instead of just boring words.

Until next time.

Nothing New

I have had so many ideas for blog posts floating around in my head lately but just haven't had the energy/time/motivation to write them out. Since I last wrote we took a trip back to Iowa over Christmas. I've got many pictures to post about that, so that will be a post of its own. I've been fighting lately to get my shifts in at work. I actually got 3 whole shifts in this week and even signed up for extra on Thursday but ended up just getting but on call. We then spent New Years Eve here at home and had Josh and Anna over for a low key night. It has finally snowed here. Everyone acts like this is a blizzard around here - just a few inches of snow. Crazy people.

Well that is a short synopsis of happenings around here. Maybe I'll find the energy later to actually do a real post. As for now - I think maybe I'll just lie here on the couch. Or maybe do some dishes....yes.....dishes it is.