The breakfast part.

Our wonderful little anniversary trip was to a rural bed and breakfast.

Sometimes I really don't want to post all of my pictures (privacy? labor?) of our comings and goings.

But after my computer was stolen this summer and then Jake's computer crashed ... photos saved on this little blog were all I had left! So now if you'll allow me, I'd like to share about that breakfast part of our lodgings.

My groom.

Apple fritters!

 Key to our room.

Darling surprise, because they knew it was our anniversary.

And in case you're wondering, I believe this photo perfectly captures how Jake feels about my profuse documenting:

Hah! I get a kick out of that.

I hope your weekend was divine.

One year ago today ...

I said "I do" to the absolute most wonderful man on the planet.

We both agree that it feels like we've been married our whole lives. 

In the good kind of way.

Jake planned a special little getaway for us this weekend and I am so thankful.

Thankful for much-needed relaxing time to just be alone, together.

Thankful that we love each other more today than we did a year ago.

Thankful for all we've learned, thankful that we're still in this together.

Last weekend we played dress-up to take anniversary pictures & that picture of my wedding shoes means so much to me. They really show their wear and tear from being one year old. Marriage is hard. But oh so worth it. We are a team, fighting for the good in life and reveling in it when it comes. It is a joy to be on the same team as my Jake.


[Fabulous photos by our dear, dear friend Oriana.]

A collection of mountain themes in my journaling and life.



Let's begin in my blue journal from 2008.

[9.8.08] 

The mountain road is hard and the cliffs are steep. Thank you for the humble road, thank you for the view.

[9.27.08] 

In response to Psalm 42: Let me be on the mountain so that I am drawn to you, mountain and mission.

I prayed, pleaded, begged that the Lord of Life would bring my path through mountains, so that every day would bring me to my knees. And He delivered.

I wrote this post somewhere in the middle of realizing my journey. Then this one, when I thought I was nearing the end of hardship.


More recently, I've been reading and finished the Biblical book of Joshua.

It was recommended to me by a co-worker, and it was fabulous (save for those confusing parts about land alloted inheritances that I don't know how to understand let alone appropriate.) It's a beautiful story and just what I needed.

I'm still reflecting on the book as a whole, but the themes go something like this:

- God has mighty plans to accomplish and He'll use anyone He pleases to do so.

- If we are invited to join His mission, we are called to be very brave and very courageous.

- God has an inheritance, a guaranteed good thing, set aside for us. In order to get to it, we must follow Him and be faithful when the going gets rough and we loose hope.

- Two defined ways to stay faithful are obedience and reverence for God's Law.

- God's mission will be accomplished no matter what.

- He wants us on that journey and He desires to give us our inheritance.

In the middle of the book, in one of those sections about land allotment, a man named Caleb asks for the hill country to be his inheritance. He asks for the land that will be the most difficult. While reading, I remembered how my biggest fear used to be straying from God and in response I prayed, pleaded, begged that the Lord of Life would bring my path through mountains, so that every day would bring me to my knees. And He delivered.


[9.27.08]
"Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it." ... "Thou my inheritance now and always."

To top it all off, Psalm 42 was even a devotion reading for this week's liturgy.

Isn't it something?
To be on a path for quite a while and then
be granted the vantage to see where you've been?
And isn't it something to see
answered prayers,
years in the making?

If it's okay with you I'd like to keep the autumnal recipes coming!

Because I've made some stellar dishes this month and I'd like to share.

Recently, one Sunday night, I hosted a little shin dig. It was one of those first evenings when the sun sets far too early and if I'm not careful, I'll go to bed at 8 'o clock all gloomy feeling.

Thankfully, this little ditty stepped into my life just then. I heard about it on Playing Grown-Up. Chocolate-Pumpkin Tart.

I followed the recipe to a "t." However, next time I would not add the melted chocolate on top of the crust (step 2). That layer was really hard to cut through and it was difficult to make slices without ruining the very soft top pumpkin layer. But that's my only complaint because     this     was     delicious!

Now go make yours!

So it was Halloween.
Can you tell who we were?

Ah, such a last-minute project (Jake is wearing our curtain) but worth it. We always say "next year we are going to plan ahead of time." And somehow it just doesn't happen. Anyway, if you still can't tell, we were the Flintstones.

Now that Halloween has passed, and it was a great one, and we are into November, I really can't wait for Advent!

I did not grow up celebrating Advent. Christmas was a one day deal. And anything before December 25 was purely commercial infiltration. This will be my fourth real Advent season, and it really is my favorite. I was so excited when I realized Advent is only a few weeks away.

In advent, we are offered the chance to look at our world and mourn its brokenness. We long for a Saviour. And of course we can be certain we have one, but we appreciate Him so much more on that Christmas morn when we've reflected on our brokenness for a good long while.

I'll stop there, because it's not time just yet. We've still got All Souls Day, Thanksgiving, and Christ the King Sunday.
But on the chance you begin to see those Christmas decorations, let your heart celebrate our Savior in light of the fact that we need Him so much. Whenever you come across all of the truly lovely, reflective, glittery, festive parts of the season, think on this:

"We might even suggest, as a part of a Christian aesthetic, that the world is beautiful not just because it hauntingly reminds us of its creator but also because it is pointing forward: it is designed to be filled, flooded, drenched in God." N.T. Wright