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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What I Learned in March

April 1, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 6 Comments

At the end of every month, we join with Emily Freeman to share what we learned– both the serious and the silly. At the end I hope you feel free to share what you have learned with me. I’d love to know.

what i learned-2

*I learned that it’s a Segue. (sey-gwey) N. An uninterrupted transition from one thing to another. Ok, so all this time, I thought it was spelled as it sounds, segue-way or seg-way. It seems much of the world does also– because when I looked up the word, I actually read an article which stated that since this word is so commonly mis-spelled, there is some discussion over adding the incorrect spelling as an alternate acceptable version. Wait, what? We spell something wrong enough so we just decide to make it right? #wordsareweird

*I learned that we can do hard things. I wrote about the recent blog redesign in March, but I’m still reeling from the fun rollercoaster of learning all that I did about WordPress, design elements, and even a tiny smidge of code. (gasp! I know. Code.) I’m not going to apply for a Web-Designer job any time soon for sure– (because I actually broke my blog one day during this whole process and still can’t figure out a thing or two,) but there is nothing at all like learning you CAN do something you avoided in fear for so long. It made me wonder what else we would learn from stretching ourselves regularly.

*I learned that technology can delight us. Have you heard of the new Amazon Dash button? Coolest. thing. ever. and they come in over 100 brands — including wait for it– slim-jim. So if you happen to consume a whole lot of beef jerky and fear running out, you can order a slim-jim dash button and bam, get more jerky at the click of a button. It seemed a little Meet – George – Jetson to me at first, but I can see how amazing it would be with things like laundry detergent, dishwasher capsules, etc. I will admit that I watched the video and then googled whether or not it was an early April Fool’s Joke, because you know, gullible.

*I learned that Annie Banks Mackenzie and Jeannie Gaffigan are real life sisters. Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Father of the Bride) and Ashley Williams (The Jim Gaffigan Show) are sisters– how fun is that? I’ve not seen much of the Jim Gaffigan Show but FOB has always been a favorite.

Books I Enjoyed:

Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy. I have enjoyed this book slowly, like one would a piece of 5-layer Coconut Cake with fresh lemon curd. I would rarely take a year to read one book, but with this one– I was tempted to. Divided into the four seasons of the calendar, Roots & Sky is a soul-satisfying embrace of life’s changes and the beauty within each. I wish I could have read this book when we first moved here five years ago, but I would definitely pick it back up in any life-stage to remind myself to notice the hope of life itself.

“..But it takes time to unlearn habits of fear and worry and fuss. It takes time to learn how to see what is right in front of our noses. We have been eating manna for hundreds of days, but here I am, anxious because our kitchen has no refrigerator and the car that has just been unloaded from the trailer will not start… It is a momentous beginning, but it unfolds gradually and with the usual complications. Box after box.”

–Christie Purifoy, Roots & Sky

Curious Faith by Logan Wolfram. This book is written by one of my favorite people I have met through the internet. You know how it feels to run into someone you know when you’re in a sea of strangers? Like sauntering through an out-of-town mall or walking down an airport concourse, all you see ahead are unfamiliar faces– until you don’t. You see a friend up ahead and you both laugh out loud at the unexpected joy of finding a face you both know?

That’s Logan for anyone who knows her. She is an almost instant friend who gets real about life and God and invites you to do the same. I love that about her. And can I just say, this book oozes with that same authentic honesty? It does. Curious Faith is Logan’s personal journey out of a predictable knowledge of God. Out of the mundane and into the place of waiting with expectancy on the God who delights us with His surprising goodness. This book may be Logan’s story, but so much of it was mine as well. I’m grateful for her obedience in crafting this uplifting memoir of God’s movement in and through her “yes.” And so much of it is just plain fun.

One of the quotes I keep returning to–

“I wonder if our longings were even met, would we know it? If we can’t learn to find life and hope in the seasons of unmet longing, then I’d suggest that pieces of us will still feel dead even when we should be content. Perhaps God eventually satisfies our present desires in ways we imagine, or maybe in His goodness, He re-writes them altogether.”

–Logan Wolfram, Curious Faith 

Up Next on the Nightstand: 

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (I’m speeding through this one– so good.)

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (So late to the KonMari party, but I’ll get there!)

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (I am committing to finish this one in April so I can move on to the next one in May.)

 

Ok. Your turn! What did you learn in March? 

 

Hi, there Are you new here? Let’s take a moment to catch up right over here.

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Comments

  1. Paula says

    April 1, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    I just bought Roots and Sky. Now I will bring it to the top of my list. 🙂

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      April 1, 2016 at 3:04 pm

      It’s pretty great, Paula! I hope you love it.

      Reply
  2. Laurel says

    April 1, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    Whoa, this Amazon Dash Button does sound a little out-of-this-world. I’ve never heard of it! Will have to go do some more research….

    I’m so scared of blog redesign but I think it is calling me in the near future. I’m glad to hear you were able to make it out alive (mostly). 😉

    Reply
  3. greeroharah says

    April 1, 2016 at 8:27 pm

    Yes – we can do hard things. That is something I’m learning too. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  4. ~Karrilee~ says

    April 2, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Oh sweet friend… YOU KNOW CODE???!??!? You are a Rockstar! I still haven’t made the switch over to WP and mostly because I am saving a little at a time to pay the amazing Dan King to do it for me, because – scary! 😉 Also – Segway? That is wrong? LOL… or maybe not? Words ARE weird.

    I finished Curious Faith a couple of weeks ago and loved it and am just not diving in to Roots and Sky. It is my reward book… one I have held on to knowing I would want to read it ever-so-SLOWLY myself!

    Love this link up! It’s always fun to catch up!

    Reply
  5. Caitlin Lieder says

    April 6, 2016 at 8:06 am

    Your blog is so fun to read! I loved this! And interesting about Logan. I’ve never heard of her before and then I heard her interviewed on “Moms Struggling Well” and I literally stopped the podcast and started crying because of what she was saying. I may have to get the book!

    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

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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