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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Finding My #FringeHours

February 13, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 5 Comments

I remember being nine years old and being simply beside myself on school library day. I wondered what new books would be available. I’m sure I pondered my selection all through math class– A new Boxcar Children book? Or Spunky’s Diary again? I loved library day. Not to mention when the scholastic book fair came around annually. Don’t even. That announcement made my little 3rd grade heart beat wildly just like a little Kathleen Kelly.

If there is one thing in our house that we have an abundance of– it is books. When we first moved in here, the massive floor to ceiling bookshelf on one side of the living room immediately called our name. Which is good, since it’s gargantuan and no beast or man alive could lift it. Never the less, these two bibliophiles quickly packed its shelves with all our treasures.
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Still today, the love continues. Last year however, I realized I was always stacking books and never finishing them. Do you find yourself doing that with anything you know you really enjoy? Having all the tools necessary but never really doing it? What is it for you? Crafting? Photo Book Making? Running? Cooking?

It is really easy to slip into the season of “putting off.” That season where you don’t do those things you know you enjoy– the thing that feeds your soul and gives you rest. Life is very busy no matter what stage we are in, and it’s tempting to just stack up those books or virtual albums of photos or running shoes and plan to have more time later. 

But later could be now if we could find those pockets of time, those little bits of minutes where things can happen.

This year I have read five books so far. WOW. That is huge for me, and I don’t say that to show how much time I have– because well, I don’t really. I may stay at home with my girls, but I find that the days and weeks fill up rather quickly no matter what we have planned. We have small group commitments, ministry opportunities at church, I take a spin class three mornings a week at 6am, I review books, I do part-time book editing and virtual assistant work, and I maintain my own blog and spend a good bit of time writing for future projects. And those are just the personal commitments. I also love the time I can spend with our family and friends. All of those things are important to me and so they all have a bit of priority involved. It is easy to let anything I do “for me” slip. The problem with that tends to be that I am prone to be worn out, stretched thin and unable to have much overflow for everyone else if I don’t take time to refresh.

One of the biggest game changers for me has been reading The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You by Jessica Turner. Jessica’s blog, The Mom Creative was one the very first I began reading more than five years ago and even then I was amazed at “all that she did.” This book does not tell you what you should be doing with your time, but it gives you valuable principles that allow you to decide for yourself. The Fringe Hours is an encouraging and exciting look at the time we already have and it directs us to choose those things that matter and invest in them with our time.

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The Fringe Hours so assisted me in making time for myself that I was able to locate pockets of “lost” time in which I could read and write. If you keep glancing over at a pile of something you really hope you “get to” soon– I would encourage you to grab this book! It comes out in just a few days and if you pre-order The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You on Amazon, it could show up on your doorstep then!

Happy #FringeHours, Friend!!! I’m linking up with Jessica Turner today in celebration of her book’s release and Fringe Friday!

**Amazon links are affiliate links. 

The Song
Abby’s Sheriff Callie Birthday Party

Comments

  1. byquietwaters says

    February 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    I too have been inspired to look for those pockets of time! And my pile of “hope to dos” is getting a little bit smaller 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kristin Hill Taylor says

    February 17, 2015 at 10:08 am

    I spend a lot of my fringe hours reading too. AND my girl (she’s 7) is on the couch right now with a Box Car Children book. 🙂

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      February 17, 2015 at 10:23 am

      I cannot wait until My Lucy is old enough for the Boxcar children! 😉

      Reply
  3. Kristin Hill Taylor says

    February 17, 2015 at 10:08 am

    I spend a lot of my fringe hours reading too. AND my girl (she’s 7) is on the couch right now with a Box Car Children book. 🙂

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      February 17, 2015 at 10:23 am

      I cannot wait until My Lucy is old enough for the Boxcar children! 😉

      Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

I saw a magazine cover this week advertising the h I saw a magazine cover this week advertising the headline, “Ditch Gratitude!” 

This is my “No thanks,” face.
My grateful face.
My you-can’t-make-me-face.
Because no matter how long the list of things we still don’t know, I know I need gratitude like water.

Questions remain. Uncertainties abound. Reasons for concern greet us with each January dawn.

Hope remains and so do questions. The two have never been enemies, but cozy next door neighbors.
I’ll keep my gratitude, thank you.
Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will co Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will continue to sigh into in ‘21.
Baking sourdough, watching it bubble and rise and fill our BlueHouse with the scent of a good, long, posture of patience— I absolutely need a second serving of this.
While we wait, and whatever it is that we wait for— may the space between be made sweeter by the knowledge that we never wait alone.
You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapp You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapped this photo was somewhat of a regular day.

What looks like a winter beach vacation was actually the tail-end of a masked lunch stop in the middle of a pandemic road trip.

This sparkling moment of sun-splashed fun was sandwiched between brutal conversations about regular life, especially the hard parts.

And this is how it is. 
These bits of life that we never see coming, they are enveloped between all that makes us tired, weary, sighing pilgrims in a world that was never really meant to be hospitable in the first place.

This photo reminds me to look again at our year, our season, our circumstances.

To look a second and third time.
To keep looking as long as it takes to see that the joy of our right now isn’t gone, it just might be hiding in the shadow of all that’s hard.

Brokenness is never vague. And we don’t have to search very long to see it both within ourselves and around us.
Sometimes the weight of that fact is crushing.
And then, sometimes it reminds us even more clearly of the light shining in darkness.

Joy is an act of defiance against despair and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather defiant at the moment.✨✨✨✨

@hopewriters #hopewriterlife 
#feastingandforaging #hopelenses #getaftergrateful
Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially if what we’re called to be about is the same as yesterday and last month. 
It’s difficult to meet each day with the same fervor and joy for what we are called to do, especially when at present, the progress seems small and immeasurable. 
But even then, perhaps especially so — our faithfulness matters.

When we cannot yet see the other side, the light at the end of this particularly long tunnel, we begin again.

Not because we will always wake with fresh energies and bright, sparkling hope for what comes next, friend. But because the God of Endurance (Romans 15:5) dwells within us.

“It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what he calls you to be and do what he calls you to do between this moment and the moment when you cross over to the other side. When difficulty exposes the weakness of your resolve and the limits of your strength, you do not have to panic, because He will endure even in this moments when you don’t feel able to do so yourself.” — Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

#hopewriterlife
Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for paper towels... especially if the store is in convenient proximity to a quick date for croissants and dirty chai for two. Love my forever coffee companion even more at the start of this new year. Wherever he’s going, I’m riding shotgun.
We have learned... The inestimable value of a goo We have learned...

The inestimable value of a good camp chair, for they have been used for everything from soccer benches and coffee dates to theatre seats and church pews.

What our neighborhood streets can offer in the way of an outing—from the colors of spring to the sparkle of Christmas.

To hold plans with the loosest hands possible.

To rejoice in things found. Time. Margin. ...and enough toilet paper to share with a neighbor.

To give grace and accept it for ourselves.

The hilarious joy of a group text complete with “have you seen this meme yet?” 

To pivot. And then pivot again.

To find more joy in candlelight closer to home, instead of the bright lights of traveled cities.

To perfect our pizza dough recipe and truly learn to prefer it over dinner out.

To work with yeast and flour again and again— until the message of waiting for something really good dusted our apron fronts and kitchen floors.

And in our house, we learned how to be unexpectedly unemployed. We learned how to honor that new found space with needed grief and desired hope. How to be grateful for true friends who prayed with us, held questions with us, and hoped with us. We were reminded of our true identity and that it will never rest in a job. 

In a year in which we’ve all lost quite a lot, you and I have been given so much as well. Some of what we’ve lost we have learned to be without. Some, we won’t go looking for again.

In 525,600 minutes and in all the things, found and lost and found again— there is far and away more to be grateful for.

And we choose joy.

✨Happy New Year, dear friends!✨
Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Though the one in our rear view window is one we wouldn’t choose to repeat, still it was one full of God’s nearness.

One day I’ll write it all down.
But for now I’ll just say,
we were not alone. 🕯
“Once in our world, a Stable had something in it “Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Joy to the World, friends.
Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 desser Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 dessert ever. Made from a wonky gingerbread cake that did not cooperate.
We shall not go quietly into 2021.
We will fight back with beauty and joy and candles... and fresh whipped cream made by an eleven year old with sparkly green eyes. 🎄❤️✨
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