TGIF August 14th, 2009

I am thankful for:

• Drinking coffee and watching silly telenovelas with Juan Carlos
• Having a glass of wine and a heart to heart with my mom
• My coworkers and their support and encouragement
• My beautiful puppy (subject of a future post) that makes us laugh every day
• Sleeping in
• Being immersed in and surrounded by rich cultural diversity
• The discovery of natural/traditional Chinese medicine
• My faith
• Today

Horseback Riding!

Since we first met, Juan Carlos and I have been looking for somewhere to ride horses. Everything seemed to fall through. Now, 5 years later, through a connection at work we finally found someone who let us come out and ride. We went last night (the rain didn't stop us!) and it was wonderful!!

It was strange how after looking forward to it for so long, it just felt like "coming home"- it was so natural. It really affirmed our hopes to have a ranch and horses of our own in the future. In the meantime, this is such a blessing to enjoy! I will try to post pictures after we go again...

16 miles

A couple weekends ago, on August 1st, Juan Carlos had the awesome idea of going for a bike ride down the Chehalis Western Trail. He had gone with some friends a couple years back and they went far enough to find a river, where they all went swimming (this is the river that Juan Carlos wanted to walk to to propose to me until he realized it was a lot farther than he remembered since he was on a bike when he went and we were walking!!)

I had not been on a bike in probably 12 years (I know that is really sad, but true). We went to my parents' house and pulled the bike down from the ceiling of the garage and Juan Carlos borrowed a bike from a friend.

We made it a goal to reach the water and 8 miles down the way we did it (I was close to giving up but really wanted to get there)!! We went swimming and then rode 8 miles back. I couldn't believe we rode 16 miles after not having even been on a bike in so long. Our bums did not recover for a couple days but it was really fun. It's so important to me to continue to have new experiences together and I love taking advantage of summer and doing active things like this. Definitely something to make a habit of...

Where to start again?

Hi, I've taken a break from blogging because I found it was more hurtful than productive for me for awhile. The other blogs I read that used to bring me so much hope and inspiration became a means for comparison and I was growing more depressed and bitter, feeling that my life did not "measure up" somehow.

I think the break has been good for me- sometimes it's best for me to live without so much reflection. But I do want to write about some of the small things lately, so that I can capture for myself the ways God works in the details.

Though this very difficult period of suffering will hopefully pass soon, I have a feeling it won't be the last time I feel this way. I hope next time I face difficulty like this, I can find hope and peace in knowing that EVERYTHING, even the very small things, have a purpose and that eventually the sun does break through the clouds, even when it seems like the light will never come.