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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Loving Lately in November

November 22, 2019 by HappyGoStuckey Leave a Comment

“…all creation’s revealing his majesty. We’re invited to join with all nature in manifold witness to his great faithfulness– and since creation is going to declare it either way, we might as well jump in with our half-finished songs and join the chorus.”

–Andrew Peterson, Adorning the Dark

November is more than half over and last month truly was an Octoblur. Lance and I kicked off the month in New York City & Boston, feeling fancy, and we finished October trick or treating around our ‘hood with one Hermione Granger and one Woodland Fox. Both bookends were sweet & memorable.

How was your October? Before we launch into the second half of what is one of the greatest months of the year– I’m sharing just a few things I’m loving lately.

In the BlueHouse Kitchen

  • This White Chicken Chili (Wait. Don’t keep scrolling. This is not your ordinary brothy-soupy chili. This is prize-winning chili. Seriously. It has one more than two chili-cook-off’s 🌶🌶) I add lime and cilantro and it is A++!
  • Brown Sugar Syrup for coffee-shop quality lattes at home. Mmmm. We had the first real drop in temperature this month and I immediately made a batch of this syrup to have on hand.
  • The Harvest Salad with Cider Vinaigrette and Maple Pecans from Feasting & Foraging (free with Kindle Unlimited right now. wink wink.) Seriously. This salad screams fall & will look gorgeous on your Thanksgiving table. Or the day after with some leftover Turkey on top.
  • Also. These Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats are everything. We served them to our Monday night life group fam a couple of weeks ago and I’m already planning them on an upcoming meal plan. SO good you don’t even miss the pasta. (I know. Carbs are Life. But I stand by what I said.)

On the BlueHouse Bookshelves

  • Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson
  • Caroline, Little House Revisited by Sarah Miller. (I just finished Little House on the Prairie as a read-aloud with the girls, so the parallel story line has been enjoyable.)
  • Write Better by Andrew T. LePeau. LePeau worked for over 40 years at InterVarsity Press as the associate publisher of the editorial division. I snagged this book at the Hopewriters Conference last week and am so excited to dive into this one.
  • What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon. I finished this spell-binding book a few weeks ago– it was so good, that I read the last page and immediately sent a copy to my mom. Note: there’s some time travel in this book so if you’re a realist who doesn’t like to set that aside when you read, be warned. 🙂

Making Life Easier

  • In my diffuser: Siberian Fir & Peppermint. Thanks to Amanda from Birdsong Design for sharing this tip– It smells like a Clean Christmas Tree!
  • Pick-up. For everything. I’ve been using the Target app to order what I need and then free curbside pickup to grab it. Granted, part of the fun of Target is lingering long in all the different sections, but that doesn’t usually fit into our schedule– not to mention this way saves money- Ha! I’ve also been using Kroger Click-List for awhile and THAT has truly made me a better meal-planner and grocery shopper. I still wish Publix had the feature because well, Publix has my heart.
  • Rethinking the idea of hiring a staff to help keep things running has helped me immensely. My current staff members are 10 & 7 and they really only unload the dishwasher and do a few small chores … and they’re obviously my children, not employees. But re-framing this idea of “farming out” things on my to-do list has helped me juggle more. Being intentional to plan ahead and be sure that I am using all of the things at my disposal instead of lamenting my limitations. (i.e. using Target pick up & Kroger Click-List, making sure we all have a bit of margin to actually pick up after ourselves daily, utilizing the library hold system and pick-up, etc. to name a few.) It may seem so ordinary, but assessing and using what I have at my disposal at this stage– is saving my life!
  • Getting back to getting up early. I was sick a couple of weeks ago and it threw me completely off course with getting up early, but I’m back and I love it. There is no substitute for this introverted Mama to having a few quiet minutes at the start of the day.

One final thing I’d like to share with you— If you are one of the dear hearts who have left a review for Feasting & Foraging, thank you so much. I am grateful for you. Thank you for every tag and message and text!

If you have read Feasting & Foraging, and haven’t had a chance yet, would you consider leaving a quick review here? Authors are immensely grateful when you share a few words about their words, because it helps others find the book they’ve labored over.

What’s on your fall loving list? Big or small, I’d love it if you would reply or comment and tell me one thing that you’re enjoying right now.

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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

Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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