liadanslyre

the fives

i have a number of gmail invites.
please let me know if you’re interested.
we start our new kinship friday. this tops the list for our weekend.

we are devising our hopes and dreams for 2005 and committing them to prayer this month. other than that, charles is prepping for his gre and the day he gets is $% $#@!*^ social security card. i tell you for a government set up on a market economy based on the survial of the fittest- they make it nearly impossoble for a nice immigrant like charles to be self substaining.

but this, my friends, would be a diversion from the topic at hand. perhaps latter this month i will boil over and post a tyraid about the treatment of immigrants.

for now-i thought i'd recap some of my favorite things about 2004. it may be considered too late to do this- but i don't care- it's my blog.

five favorite books from 2004

1. a year in provance. a book about the author's life in provance france. i loved it. pure escapism.
2. better together. a sequal of sorts to bowling alone by robert putnam. very good and very accessible book about community building.
3. memoirs of a geisha. a wonderful book. i think it was my favorite of the year. i know i know- this was 'in' like four years ago. what can i say- i'm behind the trends.
4. celebration of discipline. second time reading this book and it did not dissappoint. a great balance of the biblical roots and practical.
5. the celtic book of prayer. this book has really enhanced my devotional life more than any other in recent memory.

five favorite days from 2004

1. the day we got engaged: february 14th

it was a cold day and charles took me to shoku to partake in the foods of the gods... sushi. we went to my sisters for dessert where he was staying. they had vacated the premises. i walked in to rose petals on the floor and candles lit. music playing and delictable cheesecake. he proposed; i said yes! we were happy.

2. the day we got married: may 29th

i stayed at a fancy hotel with my family in nashville. anne and i shared a room for my last night single. jess and joe came. chris and chels came. we woke up around 9am and jess and anne took me to breakfast. we relaxed. we swam. i went to get my hair done. we went to a tiny stone chapel on vanderbilt's campus. i saw charles. he was so handsome. we sang songs and cried. we had communion together. my brother (a pastor) married us. and we were very happy.

3. christmas day: december 25

we had a wonderful first christmas. it included the exchange of simple gifts due to our budget, many games of scrabble with my family, snow, candles, laughter, time with WSA (world's smartest aunt) and watching my niece have the time of her life!

4. st. patricks day: march 17th

this was my last day in the corporate world's version of pimping. i'm referring to temping. they took me out to lunch at mary kelly's in dublin and had a nice party for me and i entered the world of the insured. and i was grateful. i had thought that all my work woes would end- but they did not. but that was ok with me- b/c i knew i was insured. and i began the lesson of learning that it is not my job's responsibility to bring meaning and order to my life.

5. any day on our honeymoon.

not to be exhorbanantly mushy- but we had a wonderful time on our honeymoon and got to eat fresh seafood everyday. our days were long and monotonous and contained a lot of sleeping on the beach, reading and walking at dusk. and other stuff too. but that's all i'm going to write.

i guess i could do the five worst days but i thought that would be a downer and honestly- i can’t think of too many worst days- b/c 2004 was a pretty stinkin good year!

five people
(who made 2004 what it was)
1. my husband charles. for obvious reasons.
2. my mom. my mom has been so supportive and understanding during our engagement and now in our marriage. she has welcomed charles as a son and really been of more practical help than any one person ever in my life!
3. chelsea. my friendship with chelsea has added so much to my life! watching her walk with Jesus is nothing less than inspiring. she and her husband were kind enough to let charles live with them for four months.
4. anne. her humor and devotion to me has meant so much. inspite of any difficulty she faced personally, she was excited and supportive of me through my wedding and made the trip to nashville! she also raised some hell on the old blog during the election period. she challenges me and makes me laugh.
5. jess has been an endless source of wisdom and love for me. she serves as an anchor in many ways on things that are important and helps me sift what is not important. she rawks.

ok my peeps. that's all i got. i'll leave you with...

today's chewable vitamin

"you must be the change you wish to see in the world."
~ mahatma gandhi