All These Things (3): October Edition

Cliche, but let me say this: where did October go?

I realized today that the last time I blogged was when I released my book (ongoing blog tour this week, yay! Also, you can pre-order the print edition here if you’re not fond of ebooks :D), and a lot has happened from then until now that I should write about. I should, and I really want to, but work has been especially draining the past two weeks that I kinda just want to lie down and sleep when I get home.

That, and a lot of new things happened, like:

  • Last international trip for the year – Bangkok and Siem Reap! What a lovely, lovely vacation. I promise to blog about this one weekend this month. :)
  • My sister-in-law gave birth! I have a nephew! ♥ Most of my spare time goes to him (when he’s awake, anyway), so there. Isn’t he a cutie?
    apollorafael
  • Work. Oh wait, that’s not new.

October was a pretty fun month, though, and I’m not complaining. November, on the other hand, seems like it will be busy. Up until February. But…that’s not so new anyway. This kind of busy is good. :)

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But look, it’s NOVEMBER. Last two months of the year! Last week, at our sisters’ household, the question was, What’s something you want to do (this year) that you haven’t done yet?

My short answer: cook a dish. I can bake fine, but I can’t cook. Or I just haven’t tried. Next goal: cook something for Christmas/New Year dinner.

Oh, but when I reviewed the goals I set for 2014, I realized that I have actually fulfilled most of them. Wow. And there’s still two months left! A lot can still happen. :)

My longer answer for that question, in one word: study. Let’s pray about this more.

* * *

To be perfectly honest, though, there’s a lot about the next two months that I feel a bit apprehensive about. Maybe it’s because I already saw a forecast of the first two months of 2015 for work, and the worrywart in me is glad there’s stuff to worry about again. Sigh, not good. But I don’t want to get lost in the busy-ness of the next two months. I don’t want to. I refuse to. Lord, give me the grace to take it slow and to breathe, and – in her words – count the thousand glittery things You’re giving me.

I felt God saying, “This is life, my girl. This is life. You don’t need to be somewhere. You don’t need to hustle. You don’t need to hurry. I just want you to suck this moment in good. You’ve come a long way. A long, long way. Be thankful and keep going. You’re so okay, my dear.”

That’s all God is asking of us at any given moment: To suck in what is what right before us– what He has placed there so intentionally– and then say thank you. Because it’s simple. And it’s true. And it’s a gift we forget to find the gratitude for. And it fills us so much more mightily than the fears and worries we stack inside ourselves when we think this day-to-day is about getting “stuff” done.

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Yes, I’m also one of the many, many people caught up in the Taylor / 1989 mania. Couldn’t help it, really. Shake it Off helps in keeping me sane – shake off all the stress, I say!

Here, have an earworm. ;)

[youtube nfWlot6h_JM]

 

One Hundred Days

Not to freak you out guys…but if I counted it correctly, we only have 100 days left in 2014. 

Okay, never mind, you can freak out now.

So in the past days since my last post, I had been working (not new), working on releasing something (eeee), been to Pangasinan and almost got caught in the middle of a typhoon on the way home, and got stuck at home for a weekend because of another typhoon, effectively missing a wedding because of all the floods. If I hadn’t been paying attention to Twitter, I wouldn’t have realized that there are 100 days left because somehow, my days just seem to blend into each other. Sometimes I even forget what happened at a certain day because other things get in the way.

I don’t want that.

I don’t want the next few days in the rest of the year to just blend into one another, for me to forget the things that happen in everyday. I don’t want to be so consumed with work, with being busy, being worrying about work and being busy that I forget the essential things. You know, the things that bring joy, the things that make me choose joy. Take delight.

It’s just 100 days left. Soon, it will be 1.

One of the things I learned in the past years is intentionality, and with that comes mindfulness. I want to make the last 100 days of 2014 to count, and for that to happen, I need to take it one intentional and mindful day at a time. I know that there will be moments that will fall into the cracks, that will get lost in the busy-ness of the days, but I don’t want them to just be forgotten.

So this is the plan: remember that #100happydays challenge? Well, I enjoyed that so much the first time, so I thought, why not another round? Except maybe I won’t use that hash tag anymore but stick to my own. I will still post photos in my instagram account, but maybe not all of them will be photos. I’m not entirely sure yet.

But I do know that I want to count down the last days of 2014 recalling at least one blessing in a day. I want my 2014 to end with me learning and relearning to choose joy, and to take delight.

Because…Joy is a choice to believe God when He calls what He has made very good, and a choice to draw near to that very good world in its ache and terror and sadness.

Are you with me? :) Happy last 100 days of 2014, friends!

* Image 1 and Image 2 (combined from we heart it