My husband would like this post...

Pollyanna's Guitar Parts!

This morning I was called in for overtime...

...nevermind that I don't work at the place that called me in...and nevermind the fact that I do not have a diploma, certificate or any sort of training for the job I was being called to do...and never mind that I was already in the shower when the call came in getting ready to head in to my own job...those are just minor details...I was called in for overtime! The irony of this all is that it was my husband's workplace doing the calling (he has just come off a string of days) and they had already left a message for him this morning...then they called back looking for me...Sherri. I asked my husband, "Do you work with any Sherri's...could they have just mixed up numbers?" "No," he said, "There are no Sherri's." Hmmm. So I asked him if I could borrow one of his transfer belts...if I'm going in for overtime, I better have the proper TLR equipment!

Singing an Old Song

At small group last night someone shared an old hymn that she used to sing in her childhood. I didn't recognize the song, but found myself singing old hymns from my childhood as I got ready for work this morning, and the beauty of the words to this song washed over me. It's a hymn we often sang during communion...

TAKE OUR BREAD
A TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN HYMN

Refrain:
Take our bread, we ask you,
Take our hearts, we love you,
Take our lives, oh Father,
We are yours, we are yours.

Yours as we stand at the table you set,
Yours as we eat the bread our hearts can't forget.
We are the signs of your life with us yet;
We are yours, we are yours.

Refrain:
Take our bread, we ask you,
Take our hearts, we love you,
Take our lives, oh Father,
We are yours, we are yours.

Your holy people standing washed in your blood,
Spirit-filled, yet hungry, we await your food.
Poor though we are, we have brought
Ourselves to you:
We are yours, we are yours.

Refrain:
Take our bread, we ask you,
Take our hearts, we love you,
Take our lives, oh Father,
We are yours, we are yours.

Words by Joseph Wise

Nowhere

"God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of himself. A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it. But if I am true to the concept God utters in me, if I am true to the thought in him I was meant to embody, I shall be full of his actuality and find him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere. I shall be lost in him."
Thomas Merton in Seeds of Contemplation

Speaking of "nowhere"...have you ever noticed that if you combine the words 'now' and 'here' you get 'nowhere'? Brennan Manning writes that "To be fully present to whoever or whatever is immediately before us is to pitch a tent in the wilderness of Nowhere. It is an act of radical trust -- trust that God can be encountered at no other time and in no other place than in the present moment. Being fully present in the now is perhaps the premier skill of the spiritual life."

Thirteen Food Favourites 1. Tea - English Breakfast (which believe it or not was actually invented in Scotland...and by the way, Irish Breakfast Tea is very good as well!) 2. Salad - spinach (have you ever tried one at Kelsey's? ...homemade are always good too!) 3. Seafood - lobster 4. Chocolate - Lindt truffles 5. Wine - Gewurztraminer 6. Snack while watching Hockey Night in Canada with my hubby - parfaits (sugar free and fat free, of course:) 7. Coffee - Verona 8. Fruit - strawberries 9. Cheese - old cheddar and edam 10. Starbucks beverage - caramel macchiato (no fat and no sugar version) 11. Item to enjoy with said Starbucks beverage - vanilla almond biscotti (dipping it in my macchiato of course!) 12. Guilty pleasure/occasional treat (usually during the Gilmore Girls when my hubby is working evenings) - popcorn (with a glass of milk) 13. Restaurant to eat at - White Spot (...and we don't even have one here:( ...guess where we at at twice the last time we were in Edmonton?!:) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Kimmy, Daisy, Ardice, Dawn, Karen, Karin, Jade, Nancy, Norma, Kelly, Chickadee

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There is something just SO RIGHT about this cup and saucer...



...it's this year's valentine's cup from Starbucks and the heart in the bottom of the cup is actually also engraved out of the saucer so the two actually interlock when the cup is set down!

...and my amazing husband made the brilliant decision to get this for me for Valentine's Day! So sweet and so brilliant! (especially considering that I'm a girl with a thing for cups and saucers ...and Starbucks ...and even more so for HIM;)

We went out for an early dinner to Earl's last night. I had my favorites, the bento box and a glass of gewurztraminer. Then we went for a drive and even stopped by Starbucks before we headed home:) It was a fantastic date-night! I read our cards over again this morning before I headed off to work and my eyes were full of tears, again...

God blessed me with such a good man!!

VALENTINE
(Martina McBride)

If there were no words no way to speak
I would still hear you
If there were no tears no way to feel inside
I'd still feel for you
and even if the sun refused to shine
even if romance ran out of rhyme
you would still have my heart
until the end of time
you're all I need, my love,
my valentine

All of my life
I been waiting for all you give to me
you've opened my eyes
and showed me how to love unselfishly

I've dreamed of this a thousand times before
but in my dreams I couldn't love you more
I will give you my heart until the end of time
you're all I need, my love,
my valentine

And even if the sun refused to shine
even if romance ran out of rhyme
you would still have my heart
until the end of time
'cause all I need is you
my valentine
you're all I need, my love,
my valentine

Valentine Thoughts

With it almost being Valentine's Day, my heart is all wrapped up in romantic thoughts! It's not like I really need a special day though to go there...I'm just a romantic at heart every day:)

Today I've been remembering some of the most romantic things my debonair husband has done for me, so I'll share a few of them with you:

- leaving a dozen roses in my car on the seat while I was at work one day!

- writing me notes in French ("the language of love")...even when neither of us are particularly fluent in French:)

- rubbing my feet when they are tired.

- making me an Italian charm bracelet (without knowing there was a tool to help) after picking out charms that represented things about me to him:) (This was last year's Valentine:)

- surprising me in the kitchen with embraces from behind:)

- washing the floors (he never lets me do it!)

- the sweet things he calls me:)

- that look he gets on his face when he thinks I've done something cute.

- he always finds the perfect card!

- writing songs for me:)

- surprising me on the 12th day of Christmas with a bobble I had looked at in passing at the jewellry counter as we left the store...it's not just the bobble that touches me but his attentiveness to what I like (sigh!)

- always choosing the seat next to me so we can hold hands or snuggle:)

- insisting we go to Starbucks at the end of a tough day (even if we've already been there once or twice that week)

...

Thirteen Things: Favourite Authors (in no particular order) 1. Henri Nouwen (favourite book of his is: Life of the Beloved) 2. Catherine Marshall (my two favourites of hers are: Beyond Ourselves and Something More) 3. Jane Austin (Pride & Prejudice...need I say more?!) 4. Brennan Manning (everything I've ever read by him hits my heart...so I can't pick a favourite). 5. Luci Maud Montgomery 6. Carolyn Arends (The book - Living the Questions) 7. Louisa May Alcott 8. Brent Curtis (Sacred Romance) 9. Henry Drummond (The Greatest Thing in the World) 10. Margery Williams (...do you know what she wrote?) 11. D.L. Moody 12. John, the apostle (I love how John writes what it felt like!) 13. Eugene Peterson Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Chickadee, Kimmy and Jacob, Daisy

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Ok, so I haven't blogged for a while....I've been kind of busy....well, actually I've been away. Les and I went to Edmonton for the Breakforth conference and then a little together time thereafter:) It was an awesome trip! The highlights of the conference for me were getting to worship with and learn from the likes of Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Ken Davis and Twila Paris. I think that most of the learning was heart-learning for me this time and the thought that has stayed with me the most was Ken Davis' words about how God regards me... "HE adores you!"

Tomorrow it's back to work for me, so please keep me in your prayers if I cross your mind. In the meantime, here are the lyrics to the song of worship I'm wrapped up in right now:

Everything
Tim Hughes

Key: B

Verse 1:
God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping

God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking

Chorus:
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything

Verse 2:
God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting

God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing

Bridge:
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
You are everything

Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
Be my everything

©2005 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

So I took another one of the quizzes on the net....

...and my husband is going to like the result:)

I'm a Porsche Boxster!

You're stylish, nimble, and good-looking. When it comes to having fun, there are few who can surpass you. And yet, you suffer from a lingering inferiority complex. Maybe it's because you have an older relative who is always in thelimelight?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

All I Ever Have to Be
Amy Grant

When the weight of all my dreams
Is resting heavy on my head,
And the thoughtful words of health and hope
Have all been nicely said.

But I’m still hurting,
Wondering if I’ll ever be
The one I think I am.

I think I am.

Then you gently re-remind me
That you’ve made me from the first,
And the more I try to be the best
The more I get the worst.

And I realize the good in me,
Is only there because of who you are.

Who you are...

And all I ever have to be
Is what you’ve made me.
Any more or less would be a step
Out of your plan.

As you daily recreate me,
Help me always keep in mind
That I only have to do
What I can find.

And all I ever have to be
All I have to be
All I ever have to be
Is what you’ve made me.

Election

With the election fast approaching, like many of you I've been following the news...and this story just makes me ill!

'Walk The Line' Scores Big At Golden Globes

Apparently the movie and it's two stars all won big last night - well deserved in my opinion!

Quote from an old Franciscan:

If you feel the call of the spirit, then be holy with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength. If, however, because of human weakness, you cannot be holy, then be perfect with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength.

But if you cannot be perfect because of the vanity of your life, then be good with all your soul.... Yet, if you cannot be good because of the trickery of the Evil One, then be wise with all your soul....

If, in the end, you can neither be holy, nor perfect, nor good, nor wise because of the weight of your sins, then carry this weight before God and surrender your life to his divine mercy.

If you do this, without bitterness, with all humility, and with a joyous spirit due to the tenderness of a God who loves the sinful and ungrateful, then you will begin to feel what it is to be wise, you will learn what it is to be good, you will slowly aspire to be perfect, and finally you will long to be holy.

Quoted in Peter van Breeman, Let All God's Glory Through

My Heritage

A couple of the blogs I visit have talked about myheritage.com. You upload a picture of yourself on their website and they tell you what celebrity you look like. So I tried it...I think most of the responses they give you have to do with the angle of your face in the picture and its similarity to a celebrity's in a picture. The first scan I did was of me in our family picture from this fall. My Heritage thought I looked like Hilary Duff (Amanda would be so proud!), Audrey Hepburn, Sharon Stone and Kirsten Dunst. Interesting, but I doubt I look like any of these people...and if I'm not mistaken, I don't think they look much like each other either. So I tried it again, this time with a recent picture of me alone. My Heritage thought I looked like Nicole Kidman, Janet Leigh, Shania Twain and Keira Knightly...bizarre?! So I tried one last time using a wedding photo...this time it said Isabella Roselini, Sharon Stone, Janet Leigh, Keira Knightly and Shania Twain?!

So the names that came up most often were: Sharon Stone, Keira Knightly (she did portray Elizabeth Bennett in P&P this fall, so in that one way I identify with her:), Janet Leigh and Shania Twain (actually, someone in my small group once said I looked like her if you can imagine?!) In reality, I look like me...and that's ok, but the My Heritage site was a fun diversion:) Who do YOU look like?

Starbucks

I'm going to have to admit it, I love Starbucks! I was once one of those people who scoffed at paying $4 for a coffee, and now I find myself in the line of people who pay that a couple of times a week...(and even more often on occasion).

It started off innocently enough... As we walked the chilly streets of Edmonton shuffling between venues for Breakforth last year, we ducked into Starbucks for something to warm us up for our walk. It was then that Les bought me my first caramel macchiato. Deep inside it was a guilty pleasure for me as I was sure that it couldn't be good for me. So, in the beginning, it was something we reserved for once in a while as a treat. But then a few months later in Saskatoon, I found myself in the Starbucks drive-thru craving another treat. This time before I ordered I asked for the nutrition information, and found out that, for the most part, it was actually good for me. Then later at home, I even logged on to their website where I learned the freedom of ordering things 'my way' - and that in doing so I could make 'my drink' even better for me (I now order it 'no fat and no sugar' please).

This fall, a weekly trip to Starbucks became a bit of an oasis for me on Thursdays when Amanda went to dancing. I would sit and sip instead of rush and run for a whole hour on Thursdays. If Les wasn't working, we have some 'us' time, and if he was, well, I'd take a book or a magazine along and have some 'me' time.

Starbucks has also come to be a stress releasor for me when I'm having a tough day at work. There have been a few too many of those in the last few months, and so that brings me today...the second day of the week...and the second lunchtime Starbucks run for the week as well. At this rate I think I'm might end up over my limit this week... (shhhh, no one needs to know, right?!)

10 Things I love about Starbucks:
1. Caramel macchiato's (no fat and no sugar please)
2. The friendly people who serve me actually seem to like their job and are happy.
3. Biscotti (they're actually pretty low carb-wise!...who knew?!)
4. Free treats from time to time:)
5. I've gotten to know many of the staff, and several of them actually start making 'my drink' when I walk in (before I've even ordered).
6. That pink cup and saucer they have on display for Valentine's (there is even a heart indentation in the saucer that craddles the cup perfectly...oh how it taunts me!)
7. Stress relief! (Somehow drinking a Starbucks helps me remember Matt7 in a way)
8. They sell all the ingredients too - so I can make Les and I treats at home! (and they are very generous about sharing their recipes!!)
9. There is something just SO right about how they DO Christmas there!
10. It's more than coffee, it's an experience~!

Today as I drove there and back, here's the song I had blaring in the cd player...

Takes a Little Time

It takes a little time sometimes
To get your feet back on the ground
It takes a little time sometimes
To get the Titanic turned back around
It takes a little time sometimes
But baby you're not going down
It takes more than you've got right now
Give it, give it time

What's this walking through my door
I know I've seen the look before
Sometimes on faces in the street
And sometimes in the mirror looking back at me
You can't fix this pain with money
You can't rush a weary soul
You can't sweep it under the rug now honey
But it don't take a lot to know

[Chorus]

Well it may not be over by morning
But Rome wasn't built in a day
You can name that thing a thousand times
And It won't make it go away
Let me put my arms around you
And hold you while you weep
We've been talking and you know what, I'm sick of this talk
And it's nothing that won't keep

[Chorus]

You can't fix this pain with money
You can't rush a weary soul
You can't sweep it under the rug now honey
But it don't take a lot to know

[Chorus]

Walk the Line

This was one of the best movies I've ever seen!! Les took me to it for New Year's, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it! Even now, days later, we still find ourselves discussing it. The acting was superb, and I saw so much redemption and grace in the story...I'd highly recommend seeing it if you haven't:)

Here's a link to a review that closely matches what I thought.

My Tween!

My daughter is definitely a 'tween' these days.

Exhibit #1
I never thought I'd see the day when she would sleep past 8 a.m. on a weekend, but pretty much this whole Christmas vacation she's been sleeping until between 9 and 10 (much to my delight:) Anyway on Monday evening when I was reminding her that she had an eye appointment on Tuesday at 9:30 she looked at me shocked and said, "In the MORNING?!! HOW early do I HAVE to get up for that?!"

Exhibit #2
After Amanda's eye appointment yesterday we popped into Walmart since it was close by. As we were finishing getting what we had came for Amanda asked if she could look at clothes. I said that we could LOOK. She showed me outfit after outfit, looking up at me OVER her glasses saying "Ooh, isn't this nice?!" about each one. My response was usually something like, "Yes that's very nice." "OOH!" she'd say, "It's even on SALE!" To which I responded that we weren't getting one. "But WHY?" she'd demand. "Because you just got a whole bunch of clothes for Christmas and on Boxing day, and you don't have a spare hanger in your closet." She'd then give me the sad eyes begging look. "Oh, but what about this one," she said showing me a very trendy shirt on sale for all of $7. To which I said, "Amanda, you know Daddy would kill me if I brought another new shirt home for you today. He said 'no more' for a while."

Then as we walked away together, Amanda looked up OVER her glasses at me one last time and said "Well SURELY you wouldn't DIE!"

Merry Christmas!

I meant to post that wish before the first day of Christmas arrived, but it's now the third day of Christmas, and well, it's just as heartfelt.

I don't like it when people say that Christmas is over after the gifts are opened on Christmas Day or after the turkey's been eaten...so humor me as I let Christmas linger. It's been hard to let go of my other concerns (largely work) and enjoy the days, but I've been trying:)

On Christmas Eve, we attended services at Emmanuel Baptist Church where Amanda danced with the worship dancers. It was a wonderful service aimed at families highlighting the 'real star of Christmas'. After that we had family back to our house, ate appetizers, visited and exchanged some gifts. And for the second year in a row, my sister is in town for Christmas, which is a treat!

Les had to work Christmas day, so I arose with him before six that morning and saw him off. After a quiet breakfast, I read a devotion and snuck downstairs to play some carols quietly on the piano, then I came back up and made a pot of tea and read some Brennan Manning by the Christmas tree lights. Amanda soon arose and opened her stocking. The two us then did our tradition of lighting the advent candles and the Christ candle while singing carols and read our advent stories of His birth.

The rest of the day went by at a much quicker pace with a turkey to prepare and families to host. Les got home from work around 2 p.m. and we had a bit of family time around the tree before both Les' family and my own joined us.

The feast was wonderful, with too much food of course, and a highlight of the turkey platter being toppled right after dinner before dessert was served...so due to broken glass, no turkey leftovers were to had this year, but a fun memory nevertheless.

Pictures were taken, games were played, laughing happened. It was a good day!

The Brophy's