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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What I Learned & Loved in the Fall.

November 30, 2017 by HappyGoStuckey 2 Comments

“Dear old world’, she murmured, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

It’s time again for sharing what we learned. These often range from frivolous to thoughtful with a smidge of random mixed in and this season’s recap is as colorful as fall itself. Stick around for the end and I’ll share what I’m reading, cooking, and a few favorite podcast episodes.

 

One. Leaving leftover soup in the refrigerator or freezer for later is an easy way I can be kind to myself. Admittedly last autumn, soup and I went through a rough patch. Following the release of Simmer, I needed a good long break from the artist formerly known as soup. But I’m pleased to announce, that we are reunited, Soup & I, and it feels so good. And truly, one of the best ways I can take nutritional care of myself in busy seasons is to plan ahead. Making and freezing soup makes that easy.

 

Two. Aunt Agatha (Poldark) was in Return of the Jedi. I have a very strange talent for facial recognition but only amongst actors & actresses. I get giddy when I realize I’ve seen someone before and then remember where before we can look it up. However, I did not realize that Aunt Agatha was Mon Mothma in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. (Fun Fact: I was one year old when that movie premiered. I’ve seen it more times than I can count. #brothers.)

 

Three. In a natural disaster, the endless stream of media coverage is both a curse and a blessing. After a lifetime of being narrowly missed by hurricanes, we were lightly grazed with Hurricane Irma and lost power for several days. We had minimal damage compared to so many. But before the storm came here, it barreled right up through my home state with most of our loved ones in its’ path. Having power for awhile nearly made me a basket case because of the constant foreboding updates. The event taught me that a little knowledge may be power, but dwelling on all possible outcomes can be debilitating. Sure, comic relief came in the meme of Moana speaking to the eye of the hurricane and the one with Ross Gellar yelling “PIVOT!!!!” over the storm. But the quiet stillness that permeated the air when we did finally lose power was a strange kind of comfort.

 

Four. With every single October here that starts sweltering and ends crisp & colorful– I am home all over again. We celebrated our seventh anniversary of moving to Georgia this fall and each year it seems I learn a new lesson about surrender and finding and making home. This year’s lesson was a quieter one. A more peaceful head nod at how far God has brought us in our place-making, how much more delight I find with every new autumn. I feel more alive in the fall. I just do, and it seems that our initial surrender has deepened into a slow contented sigh.

 

Fall Favorites:

What I’m Loving in the Blue House Kitchen.

  • This Zuppa Toscana Soup (you saw that coming, right?) I add chopped carrots and double the kale.
  • This Apple Crisp, because though it’s technically dessert, I like to cut the sugar and serve it with greek yogurt for breakfast.
  • Kale Salad like the one from Caviar and Bananas in Greenville.
  • And finally, the Plan to Eat website is rocking my world. I have tried several different meal planning/ meal prep helps and this one finally seems like a winner. It’s inexpensive and I can link recipes from anywhere. It’s kind of like a recipe database which I can then drop onto my meal planning calendar and then generate a shopping list. They’re offering a 30-day trial which was more than enough for me to realize I loved it.

Books I Finished in the Fall.

  • Everyone Brave is Forgiven. Beautiful and still a bit tragic, this was very different from the last few WWII novels I read. I imagine it’s quite true to life, though. The premise of the book is creative and intriguing.
  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Lucy and I are slowly working through the Narnia series and I find something new with each one.
  • Anne of Avonlea. Simply lovely, of course.
  • The Monster in the Hollows. This third book in the Wingfeather Saga was my favorite so far.

My list is a bit short this time. As it is, I have about ten other books I started in the fall that are still in progress. I can’t commit to just one book at a time. Ask my husband. He has to look at my crazy to-read pile which could be its’ very own end table. Any one else in this club?

Favorite Fall Podcast Episodes.

Wear Better Pants. Episode 11 on The Next Right Thing Podcast with Emily P. Freeman

Faithfulness & Work in the Season of Young Children. Risen Motherhood with guest Ruth Chou Simons

C.S. Lewis on Table, an Oxford Prof and Why Stories Matter with Sally Clarkson, episode 104

 

*** I love this seasonal practice of paying attention that Emily Freeman hosts. Feel free to hop over there and see what others learned also. I would love to hear what you learned this fall. Just write in the comments or in a quick email.

 

As always, amazon links may be referral links but the opinions are 100% my own. 
Cozy Christmas Reads
A Thrill of Hope (& a printable for you.)

Comments

  1. Natalie says

    November 30, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    Great list, Cynthia! I love Zuppa Toscana soup, too, and have made it a few times this fall. By the way, that apple crisp looks delicious and I think I have all the ingredients to make it!

    Reply
  2. TJ says

    December 1, 2017 at 7:38 am

    I love your fall pictures! I miss having fall where I live but it is fun to see it vicariously through others.

    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

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. 🎄❤️✨
Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Stuckeys in their natural habitat.) 🎄🕯❤️✨
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