curiouser and curiouser

so this weekend, i hosted a tea party.  the main conclusion i have drawn from this event is that tea parties are a crapton of work.

bean wanted to take her small group girls to aunt sue's tea house in marion.  because it's amazing.  duh.  but...there was a fire.  and since aunt sue's was no longer a viable option, my sister decided i was the obvious next choice, having never hosted a tea party in my life.  i think we all know i am very much a sweatpants girl, and my mother will attest to the fact that i have been rockin the sweatpants look my entire life.  lace is a swear word.

but i do love tea.  and cooking.  and eating.

so.  i hosted a tea party.

lovely, right?  we had to be careful.  the tea set was borrowed from my mother, and i have it on good authority that heather had to leave a kidney on deposit.

after the girls arrived, they were invited to choose the different types of tea they wanted to sample. 

the meal started with the choice of vegetable or tomato soup, followed by scrumptious chicken salad (made by travis, and it's amazing) and crackers. 

the next course was fruit salad and scones.  we used a new favorite recipe of mine: melon, berry, and feta salad.  it is fresh, full of unique flavors, and so tasty.  mj was kind enough to suggest two awesome scone recipes: caramel apple scones and petite vanilla scones.  i had never made scones before, so they were a decent first effort.  they tasted very good...they just may have been lacking in style points.  and there was nothing petite about my scones.  ha.

we then served finger sandwiches.  there was egg salad on white bread.  i made cucumber, cream cheese, and dill on pumpernickel.  and not so much a sandwich...we had bruschetta: fresh mozarella, basil, and cherry tomatoes on crusty french bread.

and finally, there was dessert.  like they needed more sugar after the scones.  i had my go-to dark chocolate brownies.  we made red velvet mini-cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  and then there was the peanut butter fudge.  it tasted really good, but i did something wrong when i made it, because it turned out pretty crumbly.

the girls were all in food comas at this point, so we kind of just rolled them out the door and sent them on their way.  good times.

not being a fancy girl, i never know, but i just assumed a good hostess should wear pearls.  was i wrong?

it's a boy! it's a girl! it's an epidemic!

i was away from my desk for about 27 minutes.  when i came back and scrolled through my facebook newsfeed to see what i had missed over lunch, there were three birth announcements. 

sigh.

i am excited for these friends.  they are from three different stages of my life, so it's neat to be able to watch as lives and families develop.

but.

maybe three in half an hour felt like a little bit of piling on...especially on the day where it has been snowing for hours.

seasons.  seasons.  seasons.

they all end.

oh i guess i could catch you up.

i've [slowly.  oh.so.slowly] been doing things on my list.  it is highly unlikely i will accomplish them all before my birthday, but you never know.  if i assume that attitude, i just won't do anything.

on saturday, i participated in my 'fun/unique race.'  five of us ran an urban obstacle 5k.  participants were encouraged to dress as superheroes.  so...we did.  some of us got more injured than others.  this may surprise you, but i was NOT the most injured.  that title belongs to iron man.  yes, heather looks like someone literally attacked her on the mean streets of indianapolis.

 

pictured left to right:
kim: the sworn enemy of turtles.

liz: the spiderlanterine.

ashleyne: captain, my captain.

heather: leave no pebbles behind.

holly: almost had to punch a guy because he was dressed like the joker.

late again

i had a whole bunch of 'i need to do' things this weekend that somehow slipped past me.  like blogging on time.  oh well. 

i went on the women's retreat with my church on friday and saturday, and i think my biggest takeaway from it was this:

i am extremely blessed to have a community of single women in my life stage in my immediate and physical presence.  there have been many seasons of life where this wasn't true, and i am beyond thankful for it now.

but having our small group surrounded by many other women who are no longer in our life stage was useful, too.  because we have much to learn from one another.

i think many churches today struggle to serve single people--and single women in particular.  mj shared a really great blog the other day that discussed this very idea.  (here's the link, if you missed it: http://lindseysthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/6-ways-to-love-single-women-in-your-church/)

so it is easy for me to sit in a group of women who are married and have kids and feel grossly misunderstood and forgotten.  it is easy for me to let waves of sadness drown me instead of listening to their hearts.  it is easy for me to close off and not want to be vulnerable with women whose lives look nothing like mine.

BUT--and this is a big old giant but--i know i do a huge disservice to my church (and the Church) when i allow bitterness and sadness and jealousy to cause me to miss the many ways they are really loving, connecting with, and serving me.  it is a delicate balance, and there will probably always be a tension surrounding it.  that's usually the case when people who are so different are in the same space.  that doesn't, however, mean that the tension cannot be couched with love and grace.

my favorite grownup has been loving on me, listening to me, encouraging me, challenging me, and speaking life into me for the past twelve years.  she and i have been in completely different life stages for that entire time.  i can't even begin to imagine all the wisdom, laughter, joy, and community i would have missed out on had heather dawn not come into my life...or if i had chosen to shut my heart off from her because our lives look so different.

my heart is free and vulnerable with heather dawn because she has modeled abundant life to me.  she has genuinely cared for me.  she has laughed and cried with me.  so i trust her.  i choose to be authentic with her because i believe she loves me.  if i am going to love the church well, i must consistently choose to believe that they love me.  even if their lives are different.  even if i feel misunderstood. 

because i believe that's what the church is supposed to be--intentional, authentic community moving toward one another in a spirit of love and grace.