life at the daily grind

I might be lost at sea but that will never mean that I do not tilt my head back, stare up at the stars and sacrifice the salt in my tears like an offering of my most sincere and honest gratitude for the way the water never seems to stop rocking me back to sleep.  Tyler Knott Gregoson, Chasers of the Light Poems from the typewriter series

Give Thanks In Joy. This past Monday I turned a year older, and in a way I feel different. It's not like when you were little and you'd blow out the candles and someone would say, "Well kid, do you feel older?" and you'd be left feeling a little silly, because were you supposed to instantaneously "feel" older?  Well, no. And for a long time you feel like the baby in every situation. No matter where you go there will be others older than you reminiscing about "when I was your age..."  But in the past few months things have changed in my life.  I went from being an independent 20 something, living with family and somehow rarely seeing them as I came back and forth from work to drinks with friends to road trips to cleaning the jungle growing in my room from lack of time spent there, to something a little different. I "leveled up" in the video game of adulthood that we all plunged into without reading the instruction manual.

Over the past month I have been trying to get myself back into daily devotions, and though I may not have gotten to the daily part yet, I have managed to have quiet times a bit more often. Recently I have been using the website  SheReadsTruth  for my outlines and I have been greatly enjoying them. With all that's going on in my life at the moment I was really glad to find a study called  "In Everything, Give Thanks."    Here's a little of what I gleaned this from this mornings study, and hopefully there will be more to come.  DAY 1:   Psalm 105:1, 12-15 (The Message) Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done! Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music! Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek God. Live a happy life! Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence. Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he’

Do you ever have one of those days, or weeks, or months, where no matter what obstacle is thrown in your way here and there you just push through and continue on your way until all of a sudden you just hit that wall and everything comes crashing down? That is currently where I'm at now. solitude  | ˈsäləˌt(y)o͞od |  noun the   state   or  situation of being  alone :  she savored her few hours of freedom and solitude . •  a lonely or uninhabited place . ORIGIN  Middle English : from  Old French , or from  Latin  solitudo , from  solus  ‘ alone . ’ A couple weeks after moving here and settling into the routine of coastguard life on the island I realized something that made my heart sink.  I was alone, and only one other human being on this island knew my name.  And I realized I was very out of practice in the art of going forth and meeting people, for it had been years upon years that I actually had to do that, and I thought (not for the first time) I'm not

So right after fluffy kittens, and coffee, a crockpot would probably fall next on my list of favorite things. It is so far one of the most used items that my husband and I received for our wedding. We love it! My husband is an FS3, which means that his job at the station here is to feed all the wonderful coastguardsmen/women. He loves it, and the people love him(and his food ;) One thing that we have been working on is proportions. I did a lot of cooking at home, before we were married, for my family. I have been used to making enough to feed 6 people, give them seconds, and at least have enough leftover for three people to have lunch the next day. At A-school, G (and his 6 classmates) were cooking for the whole training facility and would be cranking out meals for 600-800 people daily. It's considerably less pressure now that he's at this station, only needing to cook 2 meals for about 15-20 people and maybe a handful of dinners for those staying later. But when it comes to