joy dare twenty-nine

Day 29: a song heard, a soft word, where you saw light.

A song heard: Two for the price of one here. I love/have been thinking about both There is a Fountain Filled with Blood and Beneath the Cross of Jesus. I can't find a version of There is a Fountain that comes close to being as good as when Lydia sang it at Dad's birthday party last year, so I won't be posting a link to that. But here are some of the lyrics: 

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins 

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains!

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream 

Thy flowing wounds supply

Redeeming love has been my theme 

And shall be 'til I die! 

I love this version of Beneath the Cross of Jesus. 

A soft word: "I love you." It'd been a few days since I'd heard that one, since Mom and Dad have been gone and all. I missed that even more than I missed hugs. 

Where you saw light: The sun was super-bright this afternoon when Grampa and Zoe and I ate lunch. It was so pretty. I miss the sun so much during the winter... It was so nice to see it.

joy dare twenty-eight

Day 28: 3 graces found in your friends.

1. Love of God. Sometimes it hits me that, while I was in West Virginia, I was with these girls who were becoming women of God. There are 4 specific girls right about my age in particular, and when I read something they've written or talk to them, it's just so evident that they want to live in beautiful submission. It's amazing to be able to say that I know that many girls like that- especially in this culture, where the number of teenagers who truly care about things like God and sin and grace is getting smaller all the time. 

It's not just the girls, either. I am blessed to know people in every stage of life who just want to be God's. That's so amazing. 

2. Laughter. When one of my friends or I goofs up something small, after we make sure neither of us is hurt by what happened, we laugh about it. I love knowing people who can laugh at themselves, and help me laugh at myself.

3. Good taste. I'm so glad that most of my friends do their best not to let themselves do or say things that are less than lovely; who realize the ugliness of so many things that other kids will just do or say without thinking about it.

Man, I have such awesome friends.

joy dare twenty-seven

Day 27: 3 gifts that might never have been.

This one is hard. 

1. If Dad had taken a job at a rescue mission in Nashua instead of this one at Hampton, so much would be different. A lot of great relationships would never have happened, among other things. I remember the day Dad got the call that the church wanted to vote on us. We all looked at each other and smiled and laughed, jumped up and down... that was a great day. 

2. What if my parents didn't love music? My brother and sisters and I probably would never have started playing instruments or using our voices. It seems like, in our family, that would've changed things a lot. I so love listening to all of them :)

3. What if Jane Austen had never been published? My favorite sister stories (except Little Women) would never have been available for me to read and laugh and smile over.

joy dare twenty-five and twenty-six

Day 25: One grace borrowed, one grace found, one grace inherited.

One grace borrowed: Well, I'm not really in the habit of borrowing things... Ever. Except clothing from my sister(s). But it's very convenient sometimes to have two totally different wardrobes at (more or less) your disposal;) 

One grace found: I have found that, because I am not the only flawed one, people are forgiving. It's such a blessing when someone looks at you after you've hurt them and decides they can forgive you- because they know what it is to make a mistake.

One grace inherited: Last night, I sat at the kitchen table with my grandfather and he read Ecclesiastes to me. He would read a few verses, give his interpretation of that, and find a few more that he particularly liked. He enjoys reading the Word so much. I've been given by my parents and grandparents so many examples of love for God. 

Day 26: A gift before 9am, a gift before noon, a gift after dark.

A gift before 9am: Honestly, I did not do much before 9am this morning. I had read my Bible before then, though. I read 1 Samuel 12. I can't say that I had any sort of "Aha!" moment while reading this chapter, but I'm so glad that I am able to read the Bible without hiding or fear.

A gift before noon: Blue cheese-stuffed green olives. Yumm.

A gift after dark: Sitting with Zoe and Aunt Gail and playing with and laughing at the dogs. Simple pleasures:)

joy dare twenty-three and twenty-four

Day 23: 3 gifts found in Christ.

1. Forgiveness. It's so great to know that, even when I can't forgive myself, Christ forgave me. Forgives me. I tend to regret things for a very long time. I've been told it's part of being a woman. But even if I feel so stained, so unforgivable, all I have to do is ask, and I am clean. Nothing can change the past, but I can begin to let things go when I know that Christ has cleaned my heart.

2. Peace. Things have changed a lot over the past couple of years, and God has really shown me just how much I can trust Him. Don't get me wrong. I definitely have my issues with worry, and with not giving things to God soon enough. But He will work all things together for the good of me, because I love Him. And in that knowledge is perfect peace.

3. Fullness. I don't know how people who don't acknowledge God are ok with life. There's nothing for me in life without Christ. Everything would be so empty without this purpose. It's not crutch religion or an easy way out; being a Christian can be very hard, as anyone who's tried it knows. But how vapid must everything be without it?

Day 24: 3 things blue.

1. Turquoise. Pretty rocks make me smile. Even if that sentence did sound a little strange.

2. Facebook. Yes, social media has a bad rep, and for great reasons. But I wouldn't be in touch with so many of my friends from West Virginia without it.

3. My favorite shirt. Goes with everything, always makes me feel a little prettier.

joy dare twenty-two

Day 22: One grace wrinkled, one grace smoothed, one grace unfolded.

One grace wrinkled: Old pictures. I love pictures, and black and white shots of my mom and her brothers and sister or of my great-grampa shoveling a pile of snow twice his height or my grandparents when they were young and love was new are among my favorites.

One grace smoothed: Seashells have always reminded me of how creative God is. I especially like the ones that have been worn almost completely smooth. I wonder how long it took them to get that way.

One grace unfolded: I have a box with almost all the personal letters I've been sent through the years. It's so nice, once in a great while, to pull those out and read notes from my friends from the days when we set up a "mailbox" between our yards. I'm especially grateful for the two or three I have from my Grammy. She very rarely wrote because her hands hurt her so much, but usually if I wrote her she would write back. I'm so glad I have those.

joy dare twenty-one

Day 21: one thing in the sky, one thing from your memory, one thing that's ugly-beautiful.

One thing in the sky: Not a bird. Not a plane. Not Superman. Have I mentioned yet how much I love stars? Pricks of brilliantly beautiful light that are really thousands of suns far, far away. What a gift!

One thing from my memory: Trips to Maine. I've probably blogged about them before, but long car rides are never a big deal to me because of going back and forth from West Virginia to Maine for all those years. I think it's been said that we only remember the good from certain times in our lives- that's the only reason they're the "good old days." Well, I remember fights with Zoe and fidgety-ness and soreness from the trip. But what I remember much more is singing for the last hour of the way home. All seven of us, singing silly songs and eventually praise songs and hymns until we got home. Those memories are a blessing. 

One thing that's ugly-beautiful: Hmm... There have definitely been things that I have looked at and thought "Yikes. That's so ugly it's cute" (don't ask me why). I think bulldogs can fall under this category. They're sooo ugly. They're sooo pretty. And yes. I am thankful for bulldogs.

joy dare twenty

Day 20: 3 gifts you saw only when you got close up.

1. On closer examination, the snowflakes were even more amazing.

 

Just amazing.

2. When I looked again, that verse meant something different. I love getting strength from the same verse in a different way when circumstances change.

Most underlined book in my Bible: James.

3. When I really saw them, they were the most beautiful people.

My Mawmaw and Pawpaw are pretty extraordinary. I hope Mawmaw has kept a journal, because they have some amazing stories. Sometimes we forget to look at the people we know and love the best and are closest to and see them as people. As changing, growing, with-a-purpose-and-a-story people. But if you can step back every once in a while, you usually realize that they can be kind of breathtaking.

Mawmaw and Pawpaw at Hannah's wedding. One of their awesome stories is that they've been married for over 60 years.

joy dare nineteen

Day 19: A grace in the kitchen, a grace in the weather, a grace that might never have been.

A grace in the kitchen: A small thing that makes me smile whenever I cook is my favorite apron. I made it last year, and it's not exactly frilly or ruffled, but it's extra-feminine and it makes me feel extra pretty and domestic;) 

A grace in the weather: Oh, this one is really easy today. I walked to work this afternoon, and it was snowing really hard. I was smiling pretty much the whole way. I love snow. Especially now, since it's been a rare treat so far this winter. I'm glad it hasn't been gray and icy for the past 3 months, but a little snow every now and then is nice. 

A grace that might never have been: There are so many great things that happen that you can trace back to one moment. One decision. And what would it have been like if you had chosen differently? Anyway, there was one specific family in West Virginia who let Zoe and I babysit their girls when we were very young. I wasn't exactly a normal nine-year-old, but still. That was a pretty big sign of trust. And they helped us get started babysitting, which has been a huge blessing to me- watching kids and seeing how they learn and are constantly amazed.

joy dare eighteen

Day 18: 3 gifts from God's word.

1. 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." To me, that's a little better/more comforting than Philippians 4:13. Instead of "I can do everything," it's more like "God tailored every situation, made sure you could take it. You can handle this because God knows you and is taking care of you."

2. Revelation 7:17: "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." That picture of perfect intimacy with God is beautiful. Being taken care of and protected and comforted- and seeing face to face.

3. Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing. How can you add to that or explain it better in any way? Nothing.

joy dare sixteen and seventeen

Day 16: 3 ways you witness happiness today.

1. My parents, celebrating 30 years of marriage. They are full of joy about it :) 

2. On Tuesday mornings, the church has a women's Bible study. Afterwards, the women stay and knit and talk, and Zoe and I often go over and knit with them. Also, we teen girls had our Bible study tonight. Believers sharing life together is definitely a happy thing.

3. Zoe baked a cake today. She enjoys baking, and she was listening to music and dancing and cooking and it was pretty great. 

Day 17: One gift that made you  laugh, one gift that made you pray, one gift that made you quiet. 

One gift that made me laugh: I love laughing. And Zoe makes me laugh all the time. I'm grateful for her sense of humor. Sometimes when I'm angry or sad or just indifferent, she'll look at me and laugh. Just laugh and laugh as ridiculously and long as she can. Because she know that eventually, I have to start laughing too. I'm glad she does that:) 

One gift that made me pray: When I was thinking about going and preparing to go and and in Moldova, I was constantly praying. That was good. I usually write my prayers, and spend a while praying right after I get up and right before I go to bed. But I'd like to get back into the habit of praying continually throughout the day. And of praising when I pray. I'm going to try to tell God one quality about Him that I am so grateful for every day. I think that's going to be good for me. 

One gift that made me quiet: This is a hard one. I like to talk about gifts;) There are a lot of gifts that make me sort of introspective for a little while... And then I blog about them or tell a bunch of people about them or something. So I'll go with a material gift- my Nook. So far, it's made me spend hours in silence;)

joy dare 15

Day 15: One thing you wore, one thing you gave away, one thing you shared.

One thing I wore: I don't have anything that belonged to Grammy except a pair of turquoise earrings. I don't wear them all the time, but when I do, it's just a small something special. Makes me think of Grammy and smile.

One thing I gave away: Probably the best-received present I have ever given was Lydia's beardhat. She opened that on Christmas morning and we laughed and laughed and laughed. That was a blessing. 

One thing I shared: I love making and then sharing food. Probably because sharing food means spending time with people I love, it's a little blessing that sometimes brings us together.

joy dare 14

Day 14: Three ways you glimpsed the startling grace of God.

This is really hard. To pick, I mean.

1. The first is probably how happy I am. Moving was really hard for me. I knew all along that things would be fine, but I didn't know when. But love lifted me :)

There's this comedian named Dennis Swanberg. He's a Christian, and one of the things I remember hearing him say once was that "there are more firsts to come." That's one of the best things ever. 

2. When I realized for sure that God was telling me to go to Moldova a couple of years ago... That was one of the most grace-filled things ever. It's so amazing that God can use we broken humans like He does. I always want to have an attitude of "Here I am, Lord. Send me," but actually being sent- knowing that God chose me specifically to go right there just then- that was beyond incredible.

 3. You know, almost any startling God-moment or thing about God can be interpreted as grace if you think about it hard enough.

I love to sing. And praise songs are the best. And a few months ago, I was singing, and it just sort of hit me: God enjoys this as much as I do. As much as I love to sing to my Lord, He loves to hear me. He may even love to hear me more than I love to sing. That was an amazing moment, and even though it's not something you read and think "grace," it's still full of grace to me.

There's this awesome song, Mercies New, by Nichole Nordeman. And I've been thinking of it a lot lately. The chorus is like this:

Your mercies are new every morning

So let me wake with the dawn

When the music is through or so it seems to be

Let me sing a new song

Old things gone

joy dare 13

 Day 13: 3 sounds you hear.

1. My nieces laughing. It makes me soo happy to hear them enjoying each other's company- and mine;) 

2. My sisters singing. When I hear the sounds of people I love worshipping the God I love... words aren't enough to describe the beauty of that.

3. I should probably pick something other than voices, huh? The sounds of waves breaking on the sand. So peaceful. I could watch and listen to the waves coming in all day long. There's something about the ocean that always makes me feel contemplative. And happy.

joy dare 12; mawmaw

I talked to Mawmaw on the phone today. She had gamma knife radiation for a tumor in her head on Tuesday. She's not feeling great, but making a pretty speedy recovery. It was good to talk to her.

Day 12: something above you, something below you, something beside you.

Something above you: Birds. Birds make me smile. They're so beautiful and free. Of the birds in West Virginia (funny how I still have to stop myself from saying "at home"), my favorites were cardinals... or bluebirds. I liked the colors and how they were constantly around. Of the birds here, I like the seagulls. I know, I know, they're dirty, greedy birds, but - yeah, you guessed it - they're pretty. And smart. And yet another variation of God's creation :) 

Something below me: Well, how about something I would like to be below me? Snow. I don't want feet or anything like that, just a little to stay for a couple days and be gorgeous. Then I'll be ready for summer again. Snow cleans everything up. It's so pure white. It smells so fresh and clean. Ah, snow...

Something beside me: Megan. So thankful for my dearest friend, someone I've grown so much with. Having someone with the same values and ideals and goals is so encouraging.

joy dare eleven

Hey, I'm all caught up!
The last couple of days have been hard for me. I don't know what exactly it is, but the winter days are sad.
Some of these joy dare things have been a little hard to answer. But it's good to think about what makes you happy, the things that you're glad to have in your life.

Day 11: 3 yellow things that strike you as fresh mercy.

1. The sun is striking me, at the moment, as a very beautiful thing. I love and miss natural light. I'll be very glad when the days start getting longer again...

2. I think the phrasing on this is interesting. 3 yellow things that strike you as fresh mercy. Because I tend to think of things not classified as concrete nouns when I think of mercy, but this is suggestive of something a little more touchable than "a new day, with no mistakes in it... yet" (Anne of Green Gables). Anyway, for my second thing. I have a quilt that Mawmaw made on my bed right now. It's not even mostly yellow, but there's some yellow in it, and every time I see it I think of Mawmaw. Quilting, cooking, telling someone where the pie is. Mawmaw is quite a woman. Anyway, it's nice to have this little reminder- and also nice that I get to know her.

3. Daisies. I love daisies. They're so happy. And there's this G.K. Chesterton quote, and it's not really about daisies, but it's why newness and daisies go together in my mind. This is what he says:

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” -G.K. Chesterton (via Goodreads.com)

I love that. God has never gotten tired of making daisies... or new days. See the mercy in that?

joy dare nine and ten

Day 9- A gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with.

A gift in my hand: Well, in my hands at the moment, my laptop. It's quick at doing what I need it to do. Which is primarily school, although it also gets used for such things as blogging, Facebooking, and church things quite often. It simplifies things.

A gift I walked by: Books. L.M. Montegomery, Jane Austen, Harper Lee. I love stories. Reading them, telling them, hearing them, living them.

A gift I sat with: James Dean. He's a strange dog, but he's very affectionate. He loves his people, and I'm one of them. He's been following me around a little more closely than usual today, and I had fun sitting down and playing with him earlier.

Day 10- A gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's Just. Right.

A gift that's sour: Warheads. Silly. But they always remind me of when I was little. Sometimes Uncle David kept a giant jar of Warheads in the kitchen, and he would give us one every once in a while. And I don't buy them often... or ever, really, but it seems like whenever I have one it reminds me of good things.

A gift that's sweet: There's this one Christian girl at work who always has something nice to say or a big smile for everyone, and it's a gift to spend time with somebody like that. Even when you're ringing up other people's groceries. Haha:) 

A gift that's Just. Right.: Orange cinnamon rolls I made tonight. Breakfast for tomorrow morning, and a little something sweet for tonight:). They're not perfect... But they're pretty fantastic.

(P.S.: I do intend to count a few less food blessings in the future)

joy dare seven and eight

Day 7: 3 Graces from people you love.

1. love. Definitely a grace.

2. smiles and laughter. Such great gifts.

3. hugs. There's almost nothing that can turn around a bad day quite like a hug. Well, maybe a well-placed laugh or smile.

Day 8: Light that caught you, a reflection that surprised you, a shadow that fell lovely.

Light that caught me: This morning, I woke up and it was sunny and gorgeous outside. So nice, you know? Weather can make a day better. And sunshine usually makes me pretty happy.

Reflection that surprised me: I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before. It's obvious, really. But Brooke (she was realllly excited to see me), Hope, Michelle and Lauren came into the store today while I was working. And they were glad to see me, and I was glad to see them. And I noticed that a couple of people I work with were smiling, happy to see people who were happy to see each other. There's something about seeing other people delighting in each other's company that makes people happy. Isn't that great, that gladness can sort of spread like that?

Shadow that fell lovely: Shadows are pretty. I think my favorite ones are the ones that fall on the grass when trees are waving in the breeze.

The Joy Dare. My best friend, Megan, posted this a couple of days ago. And I like this idea. Actually, I think it's great.
Basically, there's a list of things (for example, day two: a gift outside, inside, on a plate) that you can be thankful for- one for every day of 2012. And by the end of the year, I will have counted over a thousand blessings.
So I decided that I would do this every night- journal about these things that I'm thankful for. And then, Joe and I were talking about my blog. And Megan is always telling me that I should blog more. And it occurred to me that, instead of journaling these things that I'm grateful for every night, I could post them here. So I think I will.
I was a little behind- I started on the 6th- so I'll be doing two days' worth every night until I catch up. I won't post the four days' worth that I've already written, but I'll post them all from here on out.

Day 5- Something you're reading, you're making, you're seeing

Something I'm reading: I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies right now. It seems like a crazy, silly thing to be thankful for. But actually, it's made me laugh sooo much that I'm thankful that I decided to read it;) Sometimes it's the tiny things, you know?

Something I'm making: Oh, it's beautiful. I knit a scarf with yarn that Hannah gave me for Christmas- it's in absolutely gorgeous colors. And I classify it as something I'm making because I still need to find a tapestry needle and weave in the ends. But it's so nice:) I even loved knitting it. It was just challenging enough to be fun, without giving me a headache or anything like that. 

Something I'm seeing: A love story. My parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this month. They've been married almost ten years longer than they were single. That's beautiful to me.

Day 6- One thing in your bag, your fridge, your heart

One thing in my bag: Hmm. Aunt Maggie made me a little bag for Christmas this year- it's basically a travel toiletry kit-thingy. Included in this were some great lotion and chapstick. Both of which are essentials for me in the winter. And it's nice to have the good stuff:) 

One thing in my fridge: I think at the moment, that would be the chocolate bread pudding. Yummy. Although if we hadn't just emptied the bottle, the English Toffee coffee creamer would probably win. I do like coffee... and toffee... and words that coincidentally rhyme.

One thing in my heart: This one has a little room for interpretation. Whatever way you go with this, though, my heart is full. I'm so glad, though, that I get to know the truth. That the God of the universe is in love with me. That's always in my heart, I always want it to be on my lips and in my actions. The truth, the Word of God, is in my heart, and I am set apart for Him. I love that so much. I am so blessed to know these things. And that took a turn that I didn't necessarily mean it to, but I think I'll go with it anyway. 

holidays, etc.

It's been a while since I updated, huh? Oh well.
It's been a pretty busy couple months, what with Thanksgiving and Christmas and all (yes, duh).
Everybody came to the house for Thanksgiving. And by everybody, I mean  Gramp and Aunt Gail, Jared and Becky and their girls, Hannah and Chris, and Lydia. It was good:) And Zoe and I went home with Grampa and Aunt Gail for a couple days after Thanksgiving. Always nice to be in Maine:)

Malia came up early in December. She spent the night with us and went to church with us the next day. It was great to see her! We need to do that again soon.

Christmas was a long, drawn out event for us. We had Christmas with Jared and Becky on Christmas Eve after our church services, and Grampa and Aunt Gail were here for that too. It was a lot of fun- the highlight of the night was Ruby getting stuffed animal-type things from her Pawpaw that are characters from her favorite tv show. She was very excited about those!
Christmas day, we had church and then Christmased with Hannah, Chris, and Lydia. That was great. We take turns opening gifts, which makes it take longer and ensures that all gift-givers get to see the reactions to their gifts. My favorite reaction to one of my gifts this Christmas was from Lydia. I made her a beard hat somewhat similar to this one, and she loved it. We all laughed so hard!
The day after Christmas, we went to Grampa's house. The Edwards family had Christmas together that day. I'm really, really thankful that my family likes to be around each other. That's something to be happy about:)

And New Years Eve we spent at the Noyes with church family. Very good way to see in the new year.

It's been a pretty busy couple months with all this holidaying and working (the store was crazy, of course, around Thanksgiving and Christmas), but the last ten days have been nice and calm. Enough time with friends, enough down time. I had most of last week off work, and the last day I did school was the Wednesday before Christmas. SO thankful for Christmas break! I've had just the right mix of relaxing and getting things done around the house without worrying about getting school done, so that's been really nice. Back to school tomorrow, though!

We haven't had any snow stick since Halloween week. It's tried to snow a few times since, but nothing has stayed on the ground more than a couple hours. I think one more good snow and I'll be ready for summer.

I'm definitely ready to be sore throat, cough, cold, and fever-free now, though! I've been just sick enough to be really annoyed by the lack of health for the last two weeks or so. Oh, well.

It's gorgeous outside right now- yay:)

I have absolutely no closing statement to make for this post.