Currently . . . January 4, 2023

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At the beginning of each month I've been participating in a "Currently" link-up hosted at Overflowing With Thankfulness. Our hostess Jennifer posts a set of action verb prompts for the month and writers respond. So, without further ado, here are this month's prompts and what's happening currently . . .

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Loving - the gift of time spent with family and friends over the past couple weeks. Yes, that's a standard answer, but it was true. I've felt mostly isolated and lonely adjusting to a new home and not having any connections as the holidays approached, so being able to have some extra days to spend with the family in Maryland and to visit with friends was very meaningful to me.

Organizing - all the stuff we piled into the spare room after the holidays! That's my job starting today, I guess, and when I finish that I still have other areas of our townhouse to organize. When we moved in just over a month ago, we designated this the "office" and spare bedroom, but other than the desk (which is STILL in two pieces) and computer, it remained a catch-all as we figured out the master bedroom and the downstairs. Right before the Christmas break, we got the pull-out sofa. We drove home to Maryland for Christmas, and my husband drove back to Ohio with a full carload of more boxes and things for the townhouse. He put most of them into the spare room until I got home (yesterday) so now begins the next round of unpacking and organizing!

Resolving - to stay on top of all those organizational tasks and to run a tighter ship here. And generally resolving to make the best of my new life here and look for all the positives and blessings.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions - do you? I think most people tend to do something more general, like a Word For The Year (which I've done in the past, and I'm not sure whether I'll do it this year), or are more intentional about having measurable goals. For the last couple of years, I've made a sort of Bucket List for the year, and put many of those things into my Remember The Milk checklist. (I still use the older version on the desktop, but there's an app as well) That way I can set things to repeat at regular intervals and can keep track of what I'm actually checking off my list. So for example, if my Bucket List includes writing notes or letters to family and friends, I can set that task to repeat every Sunday, and check it off when I do it. It's a handy tool for my Bucket List items, and for all the tasks that I want to keep on my household and personal to-do lists, like remembering to schedule appointments, set out the recycling, pay bills, or even participate in link-up parties like this one! 

Eating - I don't know yet! I don't even know what I'm doing for dinner tonight, to be honest. However, I brought back a few more recipe books and some pantry items, and will be working on my meal plan later today so I can go get some groceries tonight. It's different cooking for just two of us. I'd love to do more baking, but then it would also be just the two of us eating the bread and cookies and I feel like that might be counter-productive to our goal of getting in better shape!

Anticipating - I'm looking forward to seeing our oldest son and his family soon! They are the ones that live near us here in Ohio, but we haven't seen them since before Christmas. They went to visit his wife's family over the holiday, while we went to be with the rest of our kids in Maryland, and we've all been dealing with some illness, so hopefully by this weekend we will all be healthy enough to get together.

I'm also looking forward to having our first guests here in Ohio. Plans are shaping up for a a visit from friends in late February. Of course I am hoping that I'll soon have a date on the calendar for our next visit to Maryland.

I'm also anticipating all the good that will happen in 2023. I'm not naive enough to think there won't be disappointments, challenges, or heartaches, but I choose to focus on the good things God is doing. 

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God.

~Philippians 1:9-11~

Anticipating blessings in 2023!

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This post will be linked at this month's "Currently" link-up hosted by Overflowing With Thankfulness. Shout out to Anne in Residence who originated the link-up and is taking a break from hosting for now.

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I Spy Collection - December 28, 2022

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Over the past couple of years Lysha at A Camera and a Cookbook has been sharing a weekly set of prompts for photos. Participants shared their photos in the I Spy 2022 linkup. For the end of this year, the I Spy #100 link-up is remaining open for those of us sharing the collages of our quarterly photos for the year. I've really enjoyed playing along at I Spy and hope it returns sometime in 2023, or that I can find another source of photo prompts to keep me watching for interesting shots during the year.

Enjoy this week's collection of quarterly collages along with a few new photos!

 

- Backyard (quarterly) -

- Window View (quarterly) - No collage for this one, just the latest shot and a review of the previous ones.

- Choose Anything (same vantage point, monthly) - I added a shot from today and made collages of all the previous monthly shots.

- Holiday Highlights - We were home (in Maryland) for Christmas, and I am spending a little extra time here with the kids. Haven't taken many pictures - just enjoying being with them!

This was the scene the morning we left Ohio:

Little Aubrey deep in thought:

I think the cats missed us too.

Hope your holidays have been happy, and wishing you a blessed New Year!

iSpy 2022 has been hosted by Lysha at A Camera and a Cookbook. The idea is to challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone and do something different with your photos.  

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Share Four Somethings - December 2022

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For the final time in 2022, it's time to share Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved (or Saved) and Something Achieved. This delightful monthly link-up has been so much fun for me and I'm grateful for the connections made through it.

Something Loved

As I've shared before, this move has been hard. Other than our son and his family, we don't know anyone where we live now, and we are still searching for a church to call home. But even so, I must say that I'm loving the opportunity to kind of 'start from scratch' in decorating and making our townhouse feel like our home. We brought some furniture with us, but it's also been exciting to purchase new pieces. (Doing our part to keep IKEA in business!) For the first time in my life, I have an actual china cabinet to display my china. I have a brand new dresser - I don't think I've ever had a new one before. (We're still putting that together . . . ) I decorated the tree and put candles in my windows without worrying that a cat would knock things over. In a way, it's like when we first got married and had our first apartment, except now we can afford to get new furniture and just go buy a set of shelves or bath linens when we realize we need it. And once again, it's just the two of us. Don't get me wrong - I miss our kids and friends terribly! - but there's something to be said for the way we reconnect when there isn't anyone else to socialize with. All that said, we hope to feel at home at one of the churches we've tried out, to start making some connections with people, and to find some activities to get us out into the community occasionally.

Something Gleaned

From author Tessa Afshar's Facebook post:

There is an important prayer that I sometimes need to offer more persistently. "Jesus, I give you control."

I think over the past couple of years, many of us lost control over a lot of things in our daily lives. Now, we cling to it more tenaciously, like a wounded child with a safety blanket. We want to have our way about certain desires, about some plan, about some expectations. We we don't get to have what we want, our responses are bigger than they should be because they are the responses of a wounded child who is afraid the world is out of control again.

I think Jesus treats us kindly if this is where we are. Just as you have to acknowledge the validity of the emotions in a child with a tantrum, he acknowledges our emotion. But kindness doesn't mean that he lets us just settle more deeply into having control. He doesn't let us have our way, because that doesn't heal the soul. It just deepens the wound, even if in the moment getting what we want feels more reassuring.

God's point of view is often much longer than ours. Most of us lean into the now. We want comfort for this moment. But the Father often makes choices that are uncomfortable in the now because he knows they are healing for our future.

Something Braved or Something Saved

Christmas shopping. By myself. At the last minute. In an unfamiliar city. I actually don't know if that's foolish or brave, but my point is that I got it done, despite my anxiety about driving in the city. Now, off to wrap the gifts!

Something Achieved

I'm still a bit surprised, in a way, that I've managed this move and all that goes with it, and haven't completely fallen apart. This past Sunday I even went to church by myself, since my husband wasn't feeling well. Yesterday I booked my plane ticket back here after New Years, and that feels like an achievement also - I'll be able to stay with the kids for an extra week and have some time to spend with friends as well.

I've also achieved a full year of sharing four somethings each month (I think), and I was disappointed to learn that the link-up would not be continuing. But I understand that sometimes it's time to move on to the next adventure, even in the blog world. Then upon linking up this post, I discovered that Share Four Somethings will continue, but with a new hostess and prompts. Yay! Blessings to all who have been kind enough to visit and comment on my posts this year, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a very prosperous New Year!

In 2023, Share Four Somethings will continue with a new hostess! Jennifer at All4Boys.blogspot.com will host on the last Saturday of each month.

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

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 ©2006-2022 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

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I Spy Collection - December 18, 2022

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from HS Coffee Break helps fuel this blog.

Over the past couple of years Lysha at A Camera and a Cookbook has been sharing a weekly set of prompts for photos. Participants shared their photos in the I Spy 2022 linkup. For the end of this year, the I Spy #100 link-up is remaining open for those of us sharing the collages of our quarterly photos for the year. I've really enjoyed playing along at I Spy and hope it returns sometime in 2023, or that I can find another source of photo prompts to keep me watching for interesting shots during the year.

Enjoy this week's collection of quarterly collages along with a few new photos!

 

- plant (quarterly) - 

- Spot in Town (quarterly) -

  

Outfit (quarterly) - I found myself with the same problem I had in the first quarter. There is no full length mirror in our townhouse, and I didn't really want to take a photo of myself in a public washroom mirror! So this is the sweater I wore this morning, and a collage of my quarterly outfit photos.

- Front Yard (quarterly) - a new photo of what I guess could be considered our front yard, and a collage for the year.

- Your Choice - 

iSpy 2022 has been hosted by Lysha at A Camera and a Cookbook. The idea is to challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone and do something different with your photos.  

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to HS Coffee Break by email 

 ©2006-2022 HS Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.