Monday, May 30, 2005

Several Beautiful Stories Running Together

At our women's retreat earlier this month Kim led us in a journaling exercise to think about the last little while and write about a beautiful story, a moment or moments you want to capture and savor....I have had many moments this weekend to savor so here goes...

It started out earlier in the week when my mom insisted I take her sofa. She has moved into a smaller place and needed to get rid of her sofa. Rich and I have been looking for new living room furniture since last October. We have looked and looked but have not wanted to spend the money. Our sofa and love seat for those of you that have not been to our home, sinks to the floor, if you have a bad back it's almost impossible to get up once you've sat down...We did not want/nor could we spend a lot of money...

when my mom offered her sofa, I said no, as it wasn't something I would choose. We decided to take it to put in our family room (another story, the infamous Mr. B. Chewed our sofa in the family room beyond repair)...When Rich brought my mom's sofa home we put it in the living room just to see...

It brightened up our living room...We thought, hmmm, not bad, so we moved our living room furniture down to the family room and had the new sofa in the living room...

So, Friday afternoon we went to the Memorial Weekend Sale at Pier 1 and there was a sofa that we had eyed before on sale for 1/2 price, so we ended up buying it as a love seat, the wicker furniture was also on sale so we got a new arm chair as well, we got a new living room for way less than we thought we would have to spend...

Saturday we spent the entire day cleaning and rearranging our house, did a ton of laundry...it felt so nice, we have not had the time or energy to pay attention to our house in 7 months!

We had company for dinner, the first time other than our kids since last fall...something Rich and I have both really missed, we love to have people over for a meal...

Sunday I tried a different teaching method at the Vineyard, showed a video by Rob Bell than discussed what people saw as themes and what they thought about it, I think it worked well...I love to hear people think out loud, and I like to be in the room listening to different views and perspectives --letting them be there with all the tension and all, no one had to have the answers, I liked it. I wouldn't do it every Sunday, but would like to incorporate that method once in awhile.

Sunday evening we went to an engagement party for my daughter's best friend. I am going to officiate the wedding next March in Thailand. It was really fun to be with all of these young people from so many different worlds. As we were leaving, the bride to be and her father told me how much they appreciated Rich and I being willing to come to Thailand for the wedding. They are paying our travel expenses as part of the wedding budget...I told them we were thankful for the opportunity...I don't imagine Rich and I would have ever planned a vacation to a southeast island in Thailand...

This weekend, I receive and hold as a gift from God:
new furniture
having friends over for a meal
the nagel's moving home
being invited into my 25 year old daughter's world to celebrate with her and her friends
getting a vacation to Thailand
belonging to an awesome faith community
having a great husband and 7 year old to live with...not to mention the not-so-obedient Mr. B....

1 comment:

Sharon Richards said...

So cool :) I'm glad you took your moms's couch, that you got a chance to organize your "space", that you had people over for a meal, that you had a good experience trying something new at VCC (you are very clever, by the way) and that you get to go to Thailand (that you care about your daughters friends and that you love your daughter). I am really excited for you :)