Practicing Thankfulness

I think it's a good practice to be intentional about thinking on what things for which you are thankful. In high school, I used to have a little "gratitude" journal that I would write a few things each day for which I was grateful. I don't know if I still have it, but it would probably be pretty funny to read... if I remember correctly, I did this right before bed, so "my bed" probably made an un-proportionate number of appearances!

Anyway, I was never very good at doing it habitually and daily (hm, not much has changed, this is still something I struggle with!), but it was always encouraging to do. Because even on bad days, you are forced to think about the many blessings God has provided (like when Steve has to work 27 hours straight I am forced to be thankful he has a job). So when I saw that people on Facebook were doing "30 Days of Thankfulness" I jumped on the bandwagon (I am not a big bandwagon-er, but this seemed worthy!). Additionally, one wise Facebook friend suggested that we who recognize it should specify that we are not just thankful, but thankful TO God. So if you've seen my (not quite daily) posts, this is not new to you. I just wanted to list them all (so far) in one place on this, Thanksgiving Eve.

Without further ado, here they are (in no particular order, I might add) :

I am thankful to God:

1. that I can rest in the sovereignty and goodness of God
2. for rest
3. for our wonderful church family
4. for His Word, a lamp unto my feet
5. for my hubster, who has been such an encouragement and agent of spiritual growth in my life
6. for his powerful Word which is the hope for salvation and a daily encouragement (I read Psalm 33 today and was refreshed by the truths in it)
7. for blessing me with an amazing family (including wonderful in-laws!)
8. for yummy and nourishing food (He provides!)
9. for pastors and teachers who are willing to speak the truth, even when it's difficult or unpopular (His truth persists!)
10. for friends: new and old!
11. for the ability to come to God in prayer
12. for work to do! (Praise Him, I have a job as a contracted toxicologist... now just praying for them to send me something to work on!)
13. for JESUS! (Thinking about Christmas as I prepare to give a short message at my church's ladies' Christmas tea!)
14. for a cozy bed* and a roof over my head (even though it's not the roof I'd prefer!)
15. for Pinterest recipes and craft ideas :)
16. for carves and puffy vests to keep warm when it's chilly
17. for the Holy Spirit! Because of Him, my daily life is different. I am not perfect, but definitely a work in progress thanks to God!
18. for the legacy of amazing, strong Christians. So many amazing testimonies of God's grace, faithfulness, and equipping are an encouragement to me today!
19. for transportation... He has been keeping my Honda CR-V running for 210K + miles and counting even though the transmission tried to die a year ago!
20. for YouTube knitting tutorials! :)
21. for His steadfastness and unchanging nature!

*  it wouldn't be my list if it didn't include my bed! haha

Each one of these was brought on by a scripture, thought, realization, sermon, or "random" blessing on the days they were posted. I would love to expand on each of them, but I think each is sufficient on its own, too. So perhaps I'll revisit some of these in another post someday, but for now I leave you with this from Psalm 36:

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O Lord.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

Wishing you all joy and blessing on Thanksgiving!

Working Girl Again (Praise Report!)

For the past year, I have not been working. But God has (in so many ways)! After a year of being out of work (and many discouragements about finding a job due to the nature of life right now), I am employed! Well, technically, I am self-employed. And this is how I know God was behind it all...

In September I was contacted by someone on LinkedIn asking if I was a toxicologist and whether or not I was interested in a position as a contractor. (Yes and yes!) That led to a couple of interviews and a few days later, a signed 1-year contract and a scheduled flight to Ann Arbor for a public training course at my old employer. As a bonus, I got a wonderful, but short and packed time of visiting family and friends while I was in town -- although I didn't get to see everyone, unfortunately! Most exciting of all, the job is  work-from-home (e.g., the Bay Area, Detroit area, or anywhere!) -- how ideal! All from a random message on LinkedIn. Coincidence? Not if you believe in a sovereign, powerful, GOOD God!

Following training, I had an orientation with the company I'm working with, who are based out of Southern California. It's beginning to feel real and the next step is simply to start! (I just got my first assignment today!) There's quite a bit of uncertainty, but I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to what God has in store. (Knowing that He has orchestrated this has been a great reassurance through the unknowns and self-doubting.)

As you all know, the past year has brought many changes to my life. (Most have been wonderful!) But when I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of it all a couple of summers ago, God ministered me through a song based on Isaiah 43 (emphasis mine):

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵ Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶ I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷ everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

[Check out a sample of the song here. I just love songs that sing scripture -- I'd much rather hear and memorize lyrics based on scripture than someone's opinion!]

In context, God is using Isaiah to reassure the nation of Israel that although they were going to go into exile (as punishment for their disobedience), they would not be abandoned by God; in fact, He would still be with them and would eventually deliver them. God used these verses (in song format) to remind me that He who saved my soul by sending his own Son to die on the cross as payment for my sins (the most important and loving thing He could do for me!) would surely not abandon me now or ever. He is on my side. That does not mean everything will go my way, it just means that I will never be alone to face anything that comes my way. It doesn't mean that I can handle everything He'll allow to happen to me by myself, it means He can handle everything He'll allow to happen to me.

He is worthy of praise! I hope that reminder is an encouragement to you where you are today!

Inside Intel

Living in Silicon Valley is like a geek's dream (as evidenced by a trip to the Tech Museum and our outing at Fry's). Well, did you know that Intel has a museum at their headquarters? Now you do. And what nerd could resist?

The museum is small but makes good use of the space with technology (shocking!). It covers Intel's history (did you know they made digital watches for a while?) and exhibits some of the historic technology.

Such a happy nerd :)

And for those of us whose heads this stuff is well above, it has some interactive exhibits, too! I spelled my name in binary and tried on a bunny suit (clean suit). (Who could resist that opportunity!)

Does this make me a nerd, too?

And who knew those were so flattering?! (Ha!)

Maui: The Road to Hana

Number one (or very near the top) on any list of top things to do in Maui will be driving the Road to Hana. Now, the first thing to know about this trip is that it is about the journey, not the destination. Hana is a small Maui town with not much going on. It's not really worth a 3-hour drive (plus or minus depending on frequency and length of stops). But the getting there is just breathtakingly beautiful!

We were a bit nervous after reading some reviews of the road, for the things that make it beautiful make it both dangerous and unfriendly to motion-sensitive stomachs. Namely, it's sometimes narrow and often very, very winding. It hugs cliffs without much between you and the rocks below. The two-lane road often narrows to one lane despite being for two-way traffic. The twists and turns include many blind hairpins. And on it goes...

But after driving in Ireland (with many same such characteristics and then add driving on the "wrong" side of the car and road), I declared I could drive anywhere. (Never mind that Steve was the sole driver of our rental car.) So we braved it (and I downed some Dramamine) and were rewarded with many beautiful sights, tastes, and smells. I can't duplicate tastes or smells and these photos don't do it justice, but here are a few sights from our day-long trip that show some of the highlights. (Warning! Many photos ahead...)

Great ocean views and salty sea air to appreciate.

Winding roads and lush vegetation.

Views like this around every corner...

Seriously. So many amazing, breathtaking vistas!

Tree lined road to an ocean view.

This and some fresh banana bread from roadside stands kept us going!

It was so tempting to stop and take photos and linger at every beautiful view, but we had to keep going. And I'm so glad we did! There are lots of guides available (viva la internet age!) so we had to do some research (actually, Steve's forte, not mine) to select where to stop. I have to say, Steve did a great job! The highlights were definitely a little past Hana, at these fabulous sites:

Waianapanapa State Park (black sand beaches, lava tubes, and lava cliffs with a blow hole):

Gorgeous black sand beach.

Happy toes in black sand.

Lava tube (lava flowed through here to the ocean,
leaving behind this cave)

Steve kindly carries our bag of stuff (we had a picnic lunch here
and were also ready to swim). The blow hole was nearby, but it must've
been low tide, because nothing was going on.

Large pebbles made up the top of the beach.

O'heo Gulch (The Seven Sacred Pools) and Waimoku Falls (Haleakala National Park):

O'Heo Gulch has many waterfalls and pools (more than
seven!) and is a beautiful and windy spot.

We didn't swim at the black sand beach, but I couldn't resist a dip in this freshwater pool. It was chilly! Above is the
bridge we drove on en route to the Park.

Looking away from the waterfalls is a great ocean view.

It's real. We saw it with our own eyes!

Our hike to Waimoku falls (2 miles each way) took us through this
enchanting bamboo forest. Some parts were as dark as night!

The 400' falls were worth the journey!

We drove back to our resort by continuing the loop around the South side of the island.We had some doubts about doing so because there is a stretch of road that is unpaved, but so glad we did. We didn't make it home before dark, so we enjoyed the sunset and the amazing other-worldly scenery.

If it weren't dark, you could see the cliff-hugging road that characterized
the start of our drive home.

 

Awesome cloud formation on the South side of the Haleakala Ridge

The volcanic landscape looked like the set of a Sci-Fi movie!

There's no way to really do these places justice (especially with my amateur photography skills), but I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of it from our eyes! We had such a wonderful time and thank God for the opportunity. I have more photos on my Facebook page if you haven't already seen them :)

Maui: Iao Valley and Lahaina

You know how sometimes when you go on vacation, you need another vacation because you packed so much in that you didn't really relax and now you're more exhausted than when you left? Yeah, me too. That's usually how I usually roll because I can't stand to have missed anything there is to see/experience in a place.

Well, this vacation to Maui was different and I actually am starting to appreciate the benefits of sitting around doing nothing relaxing. However, we did actually leave the resort to go on a couple of adventures! (We did have a rental car, after all... had to use it!)

The first day we arrived and were driving to our resort past this gorgeous, green mountain area and Steve said, "Wherever that is, I want to go there."

It was Iao Valley, and there we went. It is a beautiful, narrow valley between tall, lush, green mountains that rise sharply from the island. We were immediately enthralled with the exotic landscape. Fascinating, too, was the history of this valley; it was the site of one of the bloodies battles in Hawaii in the uniting of the island chain under King Kamehameha. Warriors were said to climb the area's most significant landmark, the 1200 foot Iao Needle (pictured below) as a lookout. (How'd they do that?!)

It also has a lot of spiritual significance to the native Hawaiians. We, however, simply marveled at creative power of our Lord on display in this place!

Our time there involved a short hike to a viewing point of the Iao Needle and a stroll around the botanical gardens there. It didn't take much time, so afterward, we decided to head to West Maui to the city of Lahaina, where we checked out the shopping area, the wharf, the most awesome tree I've ever seen, and ate the most amazing Hawaiian Shave Ice!

This Banyan tree spans one full acre: each additional trunk is a part
of this one tree!

Seriously a highlight of the trip.

The following day we drove the Road to Hana. I'll share some photos of that adventure in the next post. Thanks for reading!

R&R: Maui Style

I got it into my head that we should go to Hawaii while we are here on the West Coast last winter. I mean, it's only a 5-hour flight instead of 8-10 from Detroit (depending on where your connection is). Which makes it much cheaper. So... I mean, it just makes sense to take advantage of our proximity, you know? It took a bit of work, but thanks to friends we met here who did just so, and our Hilton Diamond Member status, Steve was also convinced. (Insert happy dance here!)

And, we thought, why not make it an anniversary trip? So off we went, the week before our first anniversary. (First anniversary and second tropical vacation... yes, I know I am spoiled!)

Our Hilton points got us a cheap rental car and five days and four nights at the Grand Wailea Waldorf-Astoria resort. And then our diamond status got us upgraded to an ocean-view room. The resort was amazing and beautiful with exotic gardens, grand ocean views and access to a beautiful beach, and more pools than we could keep track of (seven, I think... it's hard to count that high when you're on vacation!), many connected with water slides. So needless to say, though there is much to do/see on the island, we spent almost half of our time just enjoying the resort and relaxing. So here's what our time at the Grand Wailea consisted of... (and I'll keep it fairly brief since a picture speaks a thousand words)

Wearing leis

Watching the fish and turtles in the koi pond below our lanai

Sitting by the beautiful pool

Reading and sunbathing (with sunblock, of course!) while drinking fruity drinks

Enjoying the sound of crashing waves on the beach

Laying by the pool

Drinking tea and reading on the lanai, enjoying the ocean view

Fine dining at the Humu restaurant at sunset

We were so grateful to be able to get away to such a beautiful place so affordably!  It was much-needed for Steve, who continues to work 12 hours/day (sometimes more), 7 days/week with only every other third weekend off. (Which is why we stayed and relaxed at the resort!) We had an amazing time! Thank you, God, for this blessing!

[PS - Yes, we did eventually leave the resort! (That will be the next post...)]

The Making of a Wedding Cake

You may remember that a few months ago, I took a cake decorating class with 6 others from church. We had a fun time baking, decorating, and sharing our treats with others from church (good way to get rid of all the cake and cupcakes we made!). But we never thought we'd be baking a wedding cake only 2 months later! (God knew, though!)

A couple from church was getting married and we undertook the cake as our project. How fun for us to be able to get together and use the skills we'd learned to bless this couple! (Even more fun that we kept the fact that it would be a real wedding cake a surprise!)

So how do you make a wedding cake, you may ask?

First, mix and bake a dozen cakes of different sizes.

 Step 2: Mix a LOT of frosting and some filling.

 Next, take a photo of the team with all of the baked cakes!

4: Assemble cakes with filling in between.

(4 1/2: Test by eating some cupcakes made with the extra batter, frosting, and filling! Repeat as necessary :) )

Fifth, glob lots of frosting on the whole thing and spread (this is the crumb coat). Freeze for 15-30 minutes.

After that, add another layer and smooth that out as best as you can, drill some holes for the dowels, and freeze again. Meanwhile, make 100+ icing roses.

Step 7-9: Come back the next day and add a fancy design (looks great and hides flaws!).

Finally, load the pieces in the car and drive to reception site. Assemble and add roses/fresh flowers (only the non-toxic ones). Step back and be amazed!

Any questions?...