• Start Here
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Table
    • Together at the Table
    • Food and Such
      • Beverages
      • Bread
      • Breakfast
      • Main Dishes
      • Vegetables & Sides
      • Soups
      • Desserts
  • Writing
    • On Family
  • Happy Designs
  • Connect
    • For You
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What I Learned & Loved this Fall

December 7, 2018 by HappyGoStuckey 2 Comments

“…When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.” — C.S. Lewis

Here we are in December and although fall really travels until December 20th, I’m joining in with Emily Freeman to share my list of what I learned & loved in the fall. Because really nothing feels more wintery than Christmas, and we need to properly say farewell to fall. Here’s what I learned. 

Jennifer Garner is my favorite (and possibly only,) celebrity instagram follow. Have I said this before? She is a delight. The fact that *Sidney Bristowe* saved the world and now stands in her kitchen, roasting a chicken– I’m a super fan. And I LOVE that she is a mom but never, ever posts about her kids. When she posts a photo with Ina Garten, my little culinary heart explodes.

Sometimes it’s more than just hair.

In September, I got a pretty drastic haircut. Well, really it was just bangs– but it was so different for me, that it felt drastic. It still feels drastic when I see people I haven’t seen in awhile and I have to introduce myself. At first I wasn’t sure I would even keep my haircut even though I LOVED it, because not everyone around me did. (One of my children cried and the dog barked and all that jazz.)

Our family all adjusted to this silly thing that was just hair and I discovered something– I was smiling at myself in the mirror way more. Maybe you smile at yourself in the mirror all the time. I don’t. I’m usually giving a slightly critical, appraising look to whatever needs to improve, but smiling? Not exactly with regularity. I should smile more, if only to show my gratefulness for this life I’ve been given. And the fact that I’m still holding on without hair color for a little bit longer. #praisehands

My mom recently realized she’s allergic to dairy. I know. I was given the birthright of loving cheese from HER. But, she realized she feels much better without it. So she avoids all of it. At first, I was slightly annoyed FOR her because of all the things I knew she couldn’t have. I was annoyed? Not her? Nope. Because she knows how much healthier she is without it.

I say all this to say, if suddenly you realize that you would like yourself better, or be healthier, or just be a better version of who you were created to be– if you did xyz– figure it out, and don’t be afraid to say “Actually… I…”

It’s okay to know yourself. It’s not selfish to recognize that avoiding bread or dairy, or ordering a salad on pizza night, or choosing not to skip the gym just because everyone else is, or getting up before the sun to read, is good for you. If something isn’t immoral or adversely affecting your people and just a matter of you-ness— do what makes you the best version of yourself. That is a gift to everyone who knows and loves you.

So yeah. I’m keeping the hair for the foreseeable future. And I’m happily buying the best darn almond milk I can find when my Mom comes to visit.

I learned that we can choose to welcome both joy and grief, recognizing we have two hands— one for joy, one for grief—to hold both at once. Lance and I lost someone we loved dearly in November and though it stirred up so many conflicting emotions in us both, they were all equally welcome gifts. I wrote more on this here.

Favorite Moments of the Fall

  • Chatting with Jacqueline Heider on her podcast, Anchored Souls.It’s been a while since I’ve been on any podcasts, and I truly enjoyed talking with my friend Jacqueline on hers.

  • Picking apples whilst needing a jacket in Blue Ridge.
  • We celebrated eight years of living in the garden city. We celebrated with Mummy Dogs on our front porch and then trick-or-treating with our neighbors as the leaves began to dance down from the trees.
  • Seeing beautiful Estes Park, Colorado for the very first time with a sweet team of co-workers and having an exciting job change which still, miraculously allows me to be home with my people. All gifts.

Fall on the BlueHouse Bookshelves 

Once We Were Strangers by Shawn Schmucker.
A true account between the author and a Syrian refugee who came to the United States with his wife and sons, Once We Were Strangers was intriguing and compassionate. I was changed with the first quote from the first page, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”

What this book is not: a sensationalized, embellished story which either deifies or land-blasts the US people or its government. It is a factual account with heart, because it is the story of an actual man and his family. It is the story of a friendship which changed more than one life.

Because I am a hopeful idealist who also happens to be an enneagram 9, I wanted a happy ending. This book doesn’t end with a bow and a complete and total resolution— it just ends, but I didn’t feel that was a negative thing at all as I recognize that the story is on-going. 

Once we were Strangers opened my eyes to many things I’ve never seen about the refugee crisis. The author does not write to forcefully convince, he only writes to tell a story that needs to be told. More stories just like this are out there, and I hope they will be written as well as they allow us a greater capacity for compassion. 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Another luxurious novel by Kate Morton. My favorite still remains The Lake House, though the Clockmakers Daughter (which I’m currently reading,) is crazy good so I may change my mind about that! 

 

Well, that’s all for fall! I may have been quiet here lately, but it’s only because I’m working on something fun for the late winter/ early spring. If you aren’t on my list of email friends, please hop up there and join so that you will be the first in the know!

And as always, please feel free to reply or comment and tell me what you learned & loved in the fall!

A ‘Truly Beautiful’ Grief.
Spring Favorites

Comments

  1. Amanda Keith says

    December 7, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    Something fun? Now I’m imagining all the possibilities….how can I possibly wait until Spring!!?!?

    Reply
  2. Susan says

    January 18, 2019 at 11:19 am

    I am sorry to say that I just read this. Holiday sewing, adult children being home and just life, has kept me off of my computer except for necessary things. I love your style of writing and now I see that you offer suggestions for books! I look forward to looking into both of these books. Thank you or sharing your heart here!
    One of my favorites this past fall was visiting with my only daughter, Rebekah, at her temporary home at Ethnos 360 Missionary Training Center in Missouri. I got to attend her classes, meet some of the staff people and many of her good friends who share her passion for serving Christ to unreached people groups in their near future. We then made a road trip out of coming home for the holidays! Good memories and a stronger bond were made!
    I look forward to the Spring to see what you have in store for us!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Amanda Keith Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe and receive a Free copy of “Simmer: Six soup recipes and the Stories that Inspired Them.”

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

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.

Instagram

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.🍝
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Categories

Featured Posts

On Waiting & Moving

(And a Recipe for Italian Tortellini Soup) Later this month, our family will celebrate the 10th … [ Read More ]

Five Good Things

Hi. How are you, really? If you're anything like me-- you have moments of complete gratefulness for … [ Read More ]

Winter Favorites

(and why it matters to pay attention to the little things.) "For you are the sunshine-maker in … [ Read More ]

Loving Lately in November

"...all creation's revealing his majesty. We're invited to join with all nature in manifold witness … [ Read More ]

Feasting & Foraging (free for the weekend!) 🍊🌿

I wrote a book, called Feasting & Foraging, and I would like to tell you why. About a year … [ Read More ]

Miss Something?

Please be kind and give proper credit if you share! © Cynthia M. Stuckey. For personal use only, not to be copied, distributed, altered or sold.

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy may be found HERE.

Want each post to magically appear in your email box?

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Cynthia@happygostuckey.com
xo Cynthia
  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Table
  • Writing
  • Happy Designs
  • Connect

© 2021 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design