Thankful

Steve being apart of my family.
Beth getting the promotion.
Terry giving me night snuggles again.
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Autumn drinks.
Daddy talks.
Mark getting a job.
Getting to see Aim and Jase this Christmas.
PeaceCorp possibilities.
The Border Bar.
The huge tree in my front yard that is slowly yet surely changing.
Pumpkins on my front porch.

Today my love and I rode our bikes in the crisp, fall air. We biked to the store to get ingredients for the yummy buttermilk pies and pumpkin cookies we made for our fall party tomorrow (come!). THen we biked to a beautiful park...yellow, orange, gold, red leaves reflecting off of a lake....absolutely breath-taking. How can one not think of God when surrounded by his creation. I sure do love living in a place that has seasons.

Mark is so good with me...how does he do it? =) I hadn't ridden a bike in the last ten years until very recently. He sweetly encouraged me and whilst riding always continues to tell me that "I can do it". Sometimes....cars are about to hit me, or I'm about to topple headfirst on the ground....it can be a scary thing, bike riding. =) haha.

I love spending lazy days with my hubs...enjoying where we live, the bodies that we have, and planning crazy goals like training to bike ride to CA. (Don't worry, we WILL do this).

A little over one year together and so much more ahead. I'm amazed at how much we've grown this past year, amazed at how much more I love this man now than when we were married, at how gently and completely he loves me and all my faults...

There are so many opportunities on our horizon right now. Oftentimes, this scares me, as I'm a planner to the core. But...right now I am going with it. Hoping, praying, investing, spreading myself...this right now is my life, and it's a darn good one. Whatever it takes, and however we get to where we'll end up, is all apart of the adventure.

I'm happy to announce that I'm a little more tired this week than I was last. A little more worn out, a little more over-worked. A thought I had once many years ago comes to me now. When my life is over, I hope I am dirty, my hands are worn, I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm all used up.

Used up and Happy,

Alissa

family.

I have been blessed with such an amazing family.

This last week has been long and hard, and my mom, my dad, and my sister (and my husband, my roommates, and my family-in-law) have been dealing with it right beside me day in and day out. What a great family! How special it is that when things aren't going well for me, my family interrupts their own life to come alongside me, get angry with me, cry with me, help me find the answers.thanks family.

Friday was a work day at PBA, and I was able to take my laptop and work in my classroom listening to the beautiful sounds of OTR, and the musical stylings of my father. =) (I miss ya, dad...sunday morning just isn't the same without you.) I prayed for a renewed sense of purpose and plan at Place, for a renewed calling for the students, for a chance to make a difference there.

I wish you all, with your tender and compassionate hearts, could invest in the children at Place. What a huge difference we could make! If even we could get all the ece and kinders shoes that fit them that'd be something...



love and passion,

Alissa

I love re-connecting with old co-workers. The teacher I worked with last year was so fantastic, so full of wisdom (and fun!). Missing her this year...

The books I have been reading about Burma have formed this exotic, unknown, uninfiltrated picture of that place and those people. To go to Burma...that is to go to the end of the world, the last frontier. To go to Shan state.....impossible. What wonders it would hold though...what wonders.

reflective

Yesterday was an amazing day...

Getting to go to church on a decent amount of sleep makes all the difference in the world. I loved connecting with the pastor, meeting new people, observing older, wiser couples....I can see us there. I am anxious to see where we end up.

Over the Rhine was absolutely moving. I ...love music, love it. I get so lost in it, but also, somehow find myself. OTR opened with "I Want you to be my Love" and it felt like such a sweet, simple, intimate blessing from God.

At church yesterday Dean mentioned struggles, mountains that seem insurmountable. I thought of my faltering dreams of a life lived...differently, and wondered if I was a silly/naive, idealistic girl...

In one of the songs coming out on the new album the lyrics said something about everyone has a dream that they never see lived...and again I thought of my own dreams. And a rush of assurance, of confidence, of divine plan, of a purposed life....came over me. And that made me cry ever so bitterly as I thought about all the more waiting I had to do.

I have more to learn, I have harder yet to love, I need clearer yet a vision, I need a more willing leg to limp, I need stronger still a faith.

And...in the meantime, there are difficult people to love and learn to work with.
a husband I must better support, encourage, and love.
a people that I can give a voice...a language too...
an education that I can pursue and further myself in.
and...a trivia night where, if I'm lucky, I'll win us a round of free drinks. =)

with (wavering) hope and assurance of things hoped for....