Back to the Grind

I can't believe Thanksgiving break is over already. It feels as if Wednesday was only yesterday and I was beyond giddy about heading home to spend some quality time with family. And now it's Sunday and I'm back at the apartment, eagerly counting the minutes until Ciaran gets here. I didn't even get to go to Midland Free today for church because of the snowstorm. And my dear husband is driving all the way from Petoskey in this snowstorm too. He had to go up there to get a car for us to use from his brother's house. Ciaran, for those of you that don't already know, was in a car accident just about two weeks ago and so we're down to one car right now, which has made for an interesting two weeks with our crazy schedules. But thanks to his parents, we're going to have a car to use now until we are able to buy a new one.

And Thanksgiving was wonderful. I spent some quality time with my mom and her family and then spent some quality time with Ciaran's family and friends; we even got to go to a Spirit game while we were in town which was fun. But I'm struggling with feelings of dread tonight. My flesh is crying out against having to get back to the grind of work and the inevitable, hectic busyness of it all. It was so wonderful to have a few days to just veg and sleep and read and spend undistracted time with the Lord. It's hard not to be homesick when every visit is so absolutely wonderful. Goodness, now I'm feeling sad. I better go spend some more time with the Lord. And hopefully Ciaran will be here soon. :-)

Kissing My New Husband

Hehe. Kissing my new husband.

Overlooking the Pond

Memorable Moments

Memorable Moments Together After the Ceremony

Another View of the Ceremony

This was the most idyllic setting. I felt ushered into God's presence as soon as I walked down the aisle. It was so perfect.

The Ceremony

Another picture!

I'll keep posting these as I find them, but there are about 300 images for me to wade through, so I'll probably only be posting a few favorites each day. Sorry for the delay. This one makes me giggle because Ciaran (as always) was making me laugh uncontrollably. I had been SO nervous before the wedding so it felt REALLY good to laugh at one of his jokes just minutes after the ceremony was over.

Wedding Pictures

Wedding Pictures Have Arrived!!!

A Much Better Day

After my grumbling and complaining about my day yesterday, I figured I needed to post today to share that God gave me such joy in my job today that all of my fatigue melted away. God is so good! And now tonight, as I sit here getting some paperwork together before our 7pm finance meeting, I feel joyful and contented with the work God has blessed me with. Praise God and thank you for your prayers when I was being a grumbler yesterday. :-)

Also, for those of you who love hymns, Covenant Life Church out in Maryland are memorizing hymns. Here's the link to Joshua Harris's blog post about it. They are memorizing "Amazing Grace" this month...sooo good. Next month is" Before the Throne." I love these hymns, especially "Before the Throne"!!! Check it out when you have a chance!

Another Tuesday

Tuesdays, my favorite day of the week...not really. A long day at work, a staff meeting, fast food for dinner because I'm just way too tired to actually cook, watching a really, really bad movie while grading papers....the only highlight of my day was when my colleague and friend, Nicole, arrived here at the apartment and Ciaran got home from work. Nicole lives an hour and twenty minutes from our school and so Ciaran and I frequently make our guest room available to her so she doesn't have to make such a long commute every single day of the week. Tonight and tomorrow night are two of her nights to spend with us, so we're now watching Dan in Real Life as we grade papers, trying to erase Sweeney Todd (the really, really bad movie we just watched the end of...we missed the beginning of it, thank goodness) from our memories. Tomorrow is Wednesday, the middle of the week. I hope it's a better day than today.

On a more positive note, I was patrolling blogs tonight and came across this quote on the Girl Talk blog:

"It is faith that enlivens our work with perpetual cheerfulness. It commits every part of it to God, in the hope, that even mistakes shall be overruled for his glory; and thus relieves us from an oppressive anxiety, often attendant upon a deep sense of our responsibility. The shortest way to peace will be found in casting ourselves upon God for daily pardon of deficiencies and supplies of grace, without looking too eagerly for present fruit." -Charles Bridges

Wow, did I need this quote today. I desperately need for God to give me a fresh burst of passion and cheerfulness in my work. Nicole and I were talking tonight about how different teaching is from our dreams of teaching when we were in college...we both set out to change the world (or at least our small part of it); to make a difference, and yet we seem caught in a battle with papers and apathetic students and politics and sheer exhaustion. But I know that as I spend some extended time with the Lord tonight, He will revive me and give me the strength I need to keep going. Gotta love the first year of teaching. At least God has provided me with a wonderfully supportive husband (he is an absolute treasure; I realize this more and more with each passing day) and a great colleague who is fighting through her first year of teaching as well.

ESV Study Bible

All right, so I've been meaning to post about this for quite some time now. Has everyone had a chance to see the new ESV Study Bible?! I absolutely love this Bible and it was well worth the wait! The study notes are amazingly rich, the color maps are so helpful and the extra articles are theologically precise. Then tonight Ciaran and I were perusing various Bible reading plans online and I saw in our new Bible that it references this website for Bible Reading Plans. Check it out! Ciaran and I have pretty much decided on the "Every Day in the Word" plan, but all of them look really great. What I loved so much about these plans is the option to print them like my old fashioned Discipleship Journal plan that I have done for years, or you can access the text online complete with audio versions of the daily passages or have them e-mailed to you or sent to your cell phone. This is brilliant. No more excuses from me as to why I can't complete my daily reading. :-) It's at my fingertips no matter where I go! Ciaran and I aren't waiting for January 1st to dig into this new plan; we started tonight and it was such a nice time sitting here in our living room listening to our Bible passages online together...so much better than watching TV as we unwind from a long day. Check this site out when you have a chance! Night!