Sunday, December 16, 2007

A Quick Tour

Okay, I know what some of you are thinking, "A tour of what?"

Well, let me tell you. I was walking through my house tonight, which most of you have never visited, and was thinking, there are some things I really love about this house that I rent, that I want to share with people, because if you don't have my eyes, you might miss the things that make our house special.

So, I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new camera, but I walked around and took a few pictures of a few of the special things in my house, and now I'm sharing them with you!

This would be me, sporting newly shortened hair, new jeans, and comfy new waffle weave hoody, and smiling for the camera (which is also relatively new). You can see a bookcase behind me. There are four bookcases in my bedroom of varying sizes, and one in my living room. Bookcases are one of my favorite things (especially when they're full to overflowing like mine are!)
This is the chair in which I sit to read and pray. It's my retreat spot, and I generally try to keep it clutter free so that it's always peaceful and ready when I need a moment to rest. It's one of my favorite places in my house, and it's located in a corner of my bedroom. It's also where I usually sit for the marathon phone conversations I have with my friend Shelley. I like a chair I can curl up in. Though I've got to admit, that last night during a phone conversation, I propped my feet up on the bookcase you see on the right of the photo there.

This is the spot I can generally be found when I'm not curled up in the previous chair. I do a lot of my lighting of candles type praying in our living room. You can't tell from the picture, but there are six tea lites burning on my coffee table tonight. You can also see my favorite blanket in which to curl up in on the couch there, my laptop - always an essential, and the couple of books I'm reading currently, topped with a pen, because I find it nearly impossible to read without a pen in hand - I mark almost all non-fiction books that I read - which means I buy rather than borrow most of my non-fiction.
These are the photos of Paris that hang on my living room wall. This is NOT a good picture. And it's too long a story to explain why these are something that speak deeply to me, but they do, and they hang prominently on the main wall of my living room.


And this, this is my kitchen. Here's my favorite feature of my kitchen. There is always a kettle on our stove, ready and waiting to boil water and serve tea. I have a bit of a reputation for serving tea. Last week, when I hosted a Bible study, and was completely confuddled due to dealing with ridiculous customer service issues with Air Canada, and didn't have everything out in time, the kids who came just headed for my kitchen, put water on to boil, and rummaged in the cupboards for tea. I love that I have a kitchen that is always ready for tea. Tea is so important in my life - is that weird? It's a way that I calm myself, and it's a habit, and sometimes, when there just aren't any words, it's a prayer.

Well, those are just a few pictures from my house. A few things I'm thankful for tonight... come visit me sometime, and I'll show you some others.

Later!

45 Minutes

I have 45 minutes to pull myself together.

45 minutes to go from a bathrobe and wet hair going in every direction to nicely dressed, with styled hair and makeup.

45 minutes to treat my traumatized dry skin with lotion.

45 minutes to convince myself that I really do WANT to do the two things that I've scheduled for today, and that I'll enjoy them, and that I'm not doing them out of guilt and obligation.

45 minutes to shake the ghosts of dreams from a restless night, and pull myself into a space that will engage with Jesus when I sit down on that stacking chair at church.

45 minutes to pray for a meeting I'm having this afternoon. One that I'm anticipating and dreading in nearly equal parts.

45 minutes to decide if I can eat something this morning, or if I'm going to have to pack some snacks that will get me through the day.

45 minutes to make a cup of tea to-go.

45 minutes until I need to walk out my front door, with a smile on my face, and engage the day.