What A Wonderful World

Y'all ... I'm going to miss this place.  This morning was Consecration Sunday at church, which is the service where members are invited to make their financial pledges for the upcoming year.  I know that it's hard to talk about money in the church sometimes, so the church staff really tried to focus the worship service on WHY we give, not just telling people to give.  We decided that I would play my saxophone while people were bringing their pledges to the altar.  The cool part?  People put their pledges IN my saxophone case!  It was a great visual reminder that gifts don't just come in financial form.  They also come in the arts, time and talent.

I decided to play "It's a Wonderful World".  The song was initially on my mind because the other night Bruce and I went out to dinner with Tim, Elisabeth and Ephrem and on the way home Ephrem started to get fussy.  I don't know who started it, but we all ended up singing "It's a Wonderful World" and he calmed down immediately.  It was almost like he knew that in that moment - a moment where four friends were driving down the highway with a beautiful bundle of new life, singing and laughing together while they still have the time to do so - it was a wonderful world.

At first the song was just on my mind.  But it was amazing to me how everything came together in worship.  As my senior pastor said after I finished playing, it IS a wonderful world.  But we have the opportunity to make it better.

Phew.  That was longer than I meant it to be!  How about some lunch?

Leftovers from last night's dinner!  One of my favorite parts about cooking big meals is having a no-brainer lunch the next day.  I was actually starving by the time I ate this, because we didn't get home from church until 2-ish (we left around 12:30 and we stopped at the grocery store on the way home) and we had run out of the house so fast this morning (7:30 and I don't get along) that I hadn't eaten breakfast!    My body is not a fan of not getting food until 2 p.m.

I totally declared today a LAZY SUNDAY.  I went to sleep wayyyy too late last night, woke up a little sore from yesterday's short run + long walk and thought I deserved a nap!  We turned on some football and I dozed on the couch while Bruce played with my telephoto lens and tripod.  He got some neat shots of the birds on our porch!

Precious Carolina Chickadee ...

We're not sure who this guy is, we've never seen him/her before!

Eventually I got up and was somewhat productive.  I packed up some clothes that I know I won't wear until the spring and wrapped some of the glassware that we don't use on a regular basis.  I've come to the realization that I will live in controlled chaos of boxes and containers for the next month and half.  I'm okay with that.

I think.

Bruce was out at Stone Mountain for some dusk fishing, so we just ate a late dinner and are watching the Vikings and the Packers pound on each other and pretend it's not awkward to play one another.

Oh yeah, and dinner?

Yum-me.  A French Onion Roast that I will have the recipe for posted tomorrow morning.  This one is so easy, it almost shouldn't count as cooking.

Lazy Sunday with my husband?  Now I think to myself, what a wonderful world ...

Goodnight!