oh, life.

back in dc. with one less gallbladder, lots of new memories and missing my family like crazy. here is one of the last pictures taken of me with my gallbladder at 6:45 on monday morning.


this morning i was journaling while looking out over the beautiful mountains and i was thinking about everything i have to be thankful for and also realizing how often i fail to remember and thank God for it all. my goal between now and Christmas is this: to praise and give thanks first and foremost. for everything i complain about, there is a flip side of thanks. i want to learn to meditate on the side of thanks. i want praise to flow from my lips, rather than complaints. i want it to go deeper than what i say as well...i want God to change my heart so that my first reaction is thanks and praise. but as we all know, God works in His own timing, and that may not be before Christmas. so for now, i'll work on what i say and pray for the rest to follow.



as seen on the way home to dc:

on an electronic billboard--scrolling: "The pilgrims will bring the *change to new screen* PAIN!!" (we are still not sure what this means...)

on an electronic hotel sign--scrolling: "ROOMS *change to new screen* Construction welcome." (does this mean they are wanting to redo the rooms, or construction workers are welcome to stay there?)

on a bumper sticker: "a child must die" (we later discovered that the bumper sticker said "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish". which is an interesting quote, however, it was written so that it looked something like this: it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish", so that the most easliy read part was "a child must die". we actually didn't know the rest of the quote until we googled it when we got home...not for lack of trying though...)


that is little dog ted, anxiously awaiting his thanksgiving feast to cool down enough for us to feed it to him. he's so cute.

i miss my family and the quiet of north carolina

i am thankful that i am home safely with my husband and making memories by sitting on the couch and quoting the star wars that we can hear our neighbors watching through the walls...

see, i'm working on my goal already. i'm so lucky that God is a God of grace.

have a happy monday, everyone!