HAPPY FRIDAY FOLKS!

I'm so very excited about this weekend! Janathin is coming in town, and we've made a bunch of fun plans with each other, family and friends.

Blake and I are finishing up the third part of the XTerra Alabama Trailrunning Series at Oak Mountain on Sunday morning. We're hoping to continue our first place lead in our individual age divisions so that we'll make it to the National Championships in Oregon next September. I'm going to need as much help as I can get because my training has been absolutely pitiful! Work, food poisoning and this past week's croupy-crud has left me weak and untrained! Please pray!

Did you know the world's largest doomsday vault is in Svalbard, Norway? Take a look: http://www.norwaypost.no/content/view/23321/26/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

My great grandfather Andrew Andersohn (Americanized to "Anderson" when he came through Ellis Island) is from Norway and made passage to New York on one of the very last Norweigen schooners when he was 13.

I think it's fascinating that more than half a million unique samples of seedlings reside in this seed vault. According to Cary Fowler, the Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Svalbard is a fail-safe backup critical to averting a food crisis in the case of natural or man-made disaster or global warfare!

One more lagniappe (extra little something) for you. This is the coolest foodie website with beautiful pictures. Check it out and be inspired: http://www.tastespotting.com/

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hand-Written Letters

Receiving a hand-written letter or card via "snail mail," may be one of my most favorite things!

Sure, emails, texts and phone calls are always nice, but there's just something about receiving a personal card or letter. Instead of snapping a way a couple of lines through an instantly received email or texting an abbreviated one-liner, hand-written letters speak of intention, thoughtfulness and 44 cents!

I get tickled picking out that special card for whoever I'm wishing to mail happiness to.

And, I especially appreciate the time, effort and creativity expended on handmade cards.

If you get a chance this week, make time to send someone you care about a hand-written card. They'll be thrilled to pull it out of their mailbox and see your name on the return addy! Happy Monday!

Happy March!

Good morning On.a.Whim friends!

I’ve missed you.

My day job has kept me a tad bit busy of late.

I’ve also been distracted a considerable amount by a handsome native Chicagoan. :)

To catch you up, we celebrated my Emme Grace’s (youngest cousin) 11th birthday on Monday with Edgar’s strawberry cupcakes, cheese dogs, spinach dip and lemonade.

Emme has just moved (barely a month ago) here from Texas with her family.

I could not be more happy to have them here!

Also, here’s a sneak peak at the spring book list.

Stay tuned for the details. You may notice there’s a foodie theme…

I Dream of Spring...

If heaven has a season, I'm pretty sure it's spring. Those who know me know how much I dread the cold, dark months of winter. I do my very best not to complain about Seasonal Affective Disorder, shorts days, gym workouts, treadmills, colds, stuffiness and darkness, but every year winter creeps up on me. December through February has a way of seeping inside me and making my bones hurt.

My winter-loving friend Kat always reminds me that if it wasn't for winter and the dying of all the trees and flowers, then we wouldn't be able to enjoy the quiet rest found only indoors or experience the joy of everything coming back to life. Well, winter lovers, you can keep your snow days, sweaters and hot cocoa. I'm ready for springtime!

Here are just a few of the many reasons I love spring:

1.) Easter: (April 4th) Celebration of our Savior's sacrifice, death, resurrection and our FREEDOM!

2.) Farmer's Markets: http://www.pepperplacemarket.com/

3.) My Birthday: March 30th, every spring! AND, my sweet little cousin Emme's is March 1st.

4.) The Music City Half and Full Marathon. This year will be my fifth in a row:
http://www.musiccityhalfmarathon.com/

5.) Day Light's Savings: Sunday, March 14th. Yay for sunshine AFTER work!

6.) Thymes products: I discovered these delectable lotions at Three Sheets in Homewood. Their flowery fragrances remind me of springtime: http://www.thymes.com/

7.) Spring weddings: My dear friend Catherine is getting married March 20th.

8.) Arts and Crafts Festivals: This will be Fairhope, Ala's 58th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival: http://www.eschamber.com/artscrafts/

9.) Azalea Trail Run 10K (http://www.pcpacers.org/atr/) celebrates Mobile in springtime when all the streets of downtown are lined with the magenta, white and pink flowers.

10.) What do you love about spring?

For days I've been trying so hard to think of a good quote to speak for my favorite season and was overwhelmed with joy when Father shared this in the middle of my Beth Moore study tonight!

"Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with Me. See! The Winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth. The season of singing has come!" ~Song of Songs 2:11

Blueberry Breakfast

Sharing another wonderful weekend in Nashville with my sister and her roommate Lauren, we enjoyed a healthy, delicious breakfast. I found this Skinny Pancake recipe in the February issue of Health magazine. After making a few changes, and cutting it into a heart shape, here's the simple recipe:

Whisk 1 egg and 2 egg whites with 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract.

Pour into a small (around 6-inch in diameter) skillet over medium heat.

Lightly swirl "pancake" around pan so that the edges cook quickly.

Tuck a fork under and around the pancake.

Flip, cook another minute, then place on a plate.

Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp powdered sugar and 1/4 cup fresh blueberries.

Enjoy!

For this healthy blueberry muffin recipe, click here.

Lauren came in from work (she's in the middle of her midwifery clinicals at Vanderbilt Hospital) just in time to eat.

She recently purchased a juicer and made us some fresh grapefruit juice to enjoy.

I'm thinking about getting one of these. They work so easily and make the freshest, most delicious juice.

Happy Valentine's Day On.a.Whim Friends!

When My World is Shaking

One of the most curious literary terms I learned on my way to a minor in English is pathetic fallacy or the treatment of inanimate objects as if they had human feelings, thought, or sensations. For example, oftentimes in movies, when all is finally made right--the star-crossed lovers find one another, the underdog wins the Super Bowl, the cute little boy finds an organ donor; you get the picture--the sun is ironically shining in agreement. This is pathetic fallacy. 

Mulling through much difficult news of late, I couldn't help but realize that Birmingham's weather, which is a never-ending overcast, drizzly and below 40 degrees, is playing pathetic fallace (not sure if this is the right usage) in sympathy of my loved ones.

Just today, a friend of my dear friend Blake, watched as her four-year-old daughter passed from this world. The president of my company is battling tonsil cancer. People are suffering immensely in Haiti. So many I know are still without work. A dear one just went through a break-up and is trusting God to heal her broken heart. A precious friend  has battled a life-sapping mental and physical illness for over a decade now, while another is headed into a daunting, life-changing surgery next month. In my job I am constantly made aware of the frailty of our human bodies and how much chronic pain can overwhelm one's quality of life. All you have to do is OPEN YOUR EYES to realize this world is in extreme pain. I'm reminded of this reality and given hope by John 16:33--"In this world you WILL have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world." 

We are a hurting, broken people desperately in need of a Savior. The thought of not knowing Christ and having to face this world is terrifying to me. He is our hope. Yes, we are going to face trials. All kinds of trials: physical, mental, emotional. But we have so much hope in knowing that this world is not our own. And that our Father has perfection in store for us after this life when we are with Him. What joy!

I found this little piece of hope in JJ Heller's Your Hands. It's worth downloading:

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
Yea, one day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world 
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave You when...

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave...
I never leave Your hands 

El amor es...

Two springs in a row, I traveled with my church in Auburn to Orphanage Emmanuel in Guaimaca, Honduras. Two hundred-plus native boys and girls, from newborn to 18 years old, attend church, go to school, tend the livestock, cultivate the land and grow up on  this orphanage's compound every year. Far from the fast-paced, consumer driven world of America, I remember envying these precious orphans. Without the constant distractions and self-created stress of my normal routine, I experienced intimacy with God. 

I assisted with one of the first grade classes and had the opportunity to teach them 1 Corinthians 13 in their native Spanish. Every time I hear someone read the chapter out loud, I remember the children, many with lice and silver teeth, singing "El Amor, es paciente, es bondadosa..."

Valentine's Day  is often seen as a commercialized holiday created and sustained by the greeting card industry, but it's one of my favorites. Not because of the gushy romantic part, but because of the reminder it is to truly love those who God has placed in our lives: parents, spouses, friends, co-workers, neighbors, casual acquaintances, etc. 

I rarely consistently act in love. I usually first consider my own comfort before another's. I often get defensive and angry when someone doesn't respond to me like I think they should. I'm often impatient. I often quickly find fault in others. I'm Rude. I'm Deceitful. I'm Bitter. But I'm praying that God will teach me how to be patient and kind with others. That He will continually sanctify my heart and remind me of the grace I've been given even when I was undeserving. And that I'll share that grace with others. Ultimately, that I will love as He loves:

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 

It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails."

~1 Corinthians 13:1-8