Christmas Continues

Merry Christmas to all, hope it was a fabulous one. So far we have seen Matt's immediate family for Christmas. We got some awesome gifts, including an espresso machine from Matt's sister that we are enjoying playing with. Today we head back to Princeton to spend some time with our beloved friends, Ryan and Melissa Bebej. Tomorrow we'll see some additional members of Matt's family and Tuesday we head to Indy for some extended time with my family and some friends.  It's fun that even though Christmas day is over, we still have some Christmas fun yet to have. I'm also looking forward to a little bit of time off work. I have to admit, I have been rather lazy this morning and I am loving it! But for now I should probably go get ready to get on the road. Hope everyone is enjoying the season! 

Christmas Time

Ahhhh I love Christmas. Can I just tell you that it annoys me that I always try to make everything perfect and really feel the whole sensation of the season, but instead I drive myself so crazy doing everything that sometimes I'm not really enjoying it. If I could just take the whole month of December off and decorate to the hilt, bake complicated cookies and gift wrap boxes for the ba-zillion of needy people in the world, that would be great. But alas, "Christmas leave" does not exist. Therefore I must pick and choose and try to relax and enjoy the season. So... here's to enjoying the season. Now I'm going to go pull out my Christmas decorations and pack away the fall :)

Told You So

So, remember in my first blog, I said I was really bad at keeping up with blogs, well the last 3 months are your proof of that. Every once in a while I think about posting, but I think, it's been so long and I really don't have anything that fantastic to write about, so why even post? But then I read other's blogs and I think, I'd like to blog, why not? So over the last 3 months Matt & I have celebrated our 3rd anniversary, gone to Seattle to celebrate in Mike & Nikki MacKinnon's wedding and then gone back to life as usual. This fall we visited Eric & Kathleen for a weekend and visited my brother for a weekend, all fun events. Otherwise, life is normal.

I've had some particularly challenging patients this fall and I definitely feel like God is hand picking some of these patients for me to be a part of their lives. I definitely feel that the hospital is my ministry field, sometimes it is rewarding, sometimes it is challenging, but for now it is always where I feel God wants me to be. In many ways these patients are a big part of my day to day life, my day to day adventures. Unfortunately, it is quite the Hippa violation to talk about it in much detail here, so that's about all I can say.

In other thoughts, have I told you lately how amazing my husband is? I don't have any large, sweeping romantic thing that he's done lately to attest to this, it's just the culmination of every day in which he is who he is. Matt is always respectful and caring. I feel like we both make an effort each day to take care of each other, to go out of our way to meet each other's needs. Okay, enough mush, I just think it's good to appreciate each other every now and then.

Olympic Fever

I've got it, the flush of the face, the increase in t.v. time despite beautiful weather outside, the late nights despite work the next day ... a classic case of olympic fever. Now of course I do not have the time to watch all olympic events, but I am loving what I can get. In general, I don't watch sports. Of course I get sucked into basketball with Matt every March, but other than that it just doesn't hold my attention. But for some reason, I love the olympics. There is such an energy! As Matt and I watched the men's 400 relay last night we were actually cheering, loudly, and jumping up & down in our little bedroom in Peoria.  It is definitely fun getting swept up. I also mentioned the olympics with almost every patient I treated today - good conversation topic. I also caught myself trying to sneak a peek at their t.v.'s while we were working. Not fair, they get to sit in the hospital all day and watch the olympics ... just kidding, I would never actually wish to be in the hospital. But... if I had to be, olympic time is not a bad time to do it. 

Tomorrow after work we leave for Seattle for a mini-vaca/mostly Nikki's wedding activities. I'm really looking forward to our time there, but I'm not sure how much olympics we'll get to catch :(

Courage, Brains and Heart, oh my!

So as I write I am watching The Wizard of Oz on t.v. with Matt. Last weekend we had the extreme pleasure of seeing Wicked at the Oriental theatre in Chicago. It seems that Oz has been perforating our lives lately. I remember an episode of the show Scrubs that has a significantly "over the rainbow" theme running throughout it and loving the symbolism it drew out.

As I watch the wizard it is interesting to think of the many symbolic metaphors that have applied to this movie. One thing I notice as I watch is the idea that the characters are pursuing courage, brains and hearts in an effort to make their lives complete. I wonder if any person would say that is all we need in life, or if that is enough. Of course many people pursue success, wealth and love. But courage can bring success, brains can bring money and heart can bring love. So in many ways in this life pursuing these things can bring many forms of satisfaction. Of course there is always the other layer. Where is God? When the characters pursue the wizard are they looking for the wizard, or just what he can give them. When we pursue God, are we looking for God, his heart, his character, or just what He can give us? Now maybe it isn't fair to draw a comparison between the Wizard of Oz and God, maybe it is even blasphemous, but I still think it's fun. In the movie, the Lion is too scared of the wizard to initially approach him and the scarecrow is too humble, believes his request is too small. How often do we feel our requests are too small, or so outrageous that we're afraid to ask. It is a good reminder to ask anyway. I also love that the Wizard does not necessarily grant their requests in the way they thought. A badge of honor for the lion, a diploma for the scarecrow and a ticking heart clock for the tin man. God does not always grant our requests as we would expect either, but he is wise. And I would feel completely confident to say that in a test of wisdom, God would certainly kick the Wizard's butt. 

Blogger ... maybe?

I really like to write. To share little stories and have a creative outlet.  I love to read others' blogs and would like to be part of the blogging community, but I'm not sure if I'll have the stick-to-it-iveness to follow through. I'm going to try though, because I just want to.  There aren't a ton of things in life that we get to do just because we want to. Face it, we don's always go to work because we want to. I don't clean my house because I want to, more like I have to. Even cooking, an activity I generally enjoy, is not something I always want to do. So, I am hoping that this blog simply stays as something I want to do. 

I chose the title, Joyful by Intention, not because I necessarily am joyful by intention, but I want to be. When I think about the blessings of God, I think one of the best is Joy. Of course the greatest is love, the Bible tells us that. But for me, love has brought joy and things outside of just love bring joy too. What I love about joy is that it is a different word from happiness. Joy is not tied into having everything perfect or being in a great mood.  Joy is a frame of mind and a decision, or intention as it would be. I am sure on this blog I will complain, I will talk about how rough times can be in my perfect little American world, I will be far from perfect. But overall, I want to strive for a life that is filled with joy by intention. Joy from seeking moments and joy from seeking God.

So today I am home from work sick, nasty cold/sinus infection of some sort? Sinus headache I just can't shake. So as soon as I wrap this up I'm going to go take a very hot shower with a little shower soothers lavender/mint thing I bought in the hope that it will clear my sinuses. Then maybe I'll curl up with my puppies and take a little nap. So I guess this is the intro to my blog, and we'll see where it goes from here :)