Pomegranate White Tea

It's a good morning to grab a cup of hot tea, so as much as I didn't want to go inside to make it, I did. I chose Pomegranate White Tea from Trader Joe's. I hope to do this every week from now on because it makes the whole "tea time" theme a little more complete.

Now for highlights & lowlights of the past week, which I've also heard called Roses & Thorns:

A lowlight would be missing my family & friends. It's weird not knowing anyone in this town except people my sister is friends with. I'm not close enough to the people around here who are my age. I wouldn't mind making new friends, but I just like being at home & staying in touch with the friends I already have. Oh, & getting to a terribly sad, frustrating part in Oliver Twist. :(

Highlights include getting back into studying the Bible in Greek even though I'm not going as in-depth as when I was taking the course, substitute teaching homeschool style while my sister was at college, & walking/jogging with my sister 3 evenings in a row at the park. Last night I even went on the merry-go-round, slides, swings, & monkey bars. There's nothing like going on playground equipment to remind you that you used to be a kid. :)

Highlights & Lowlights

Time to make some hot tea again, then share what's been going on this week...

This week's lowlight for me is finding out I have to pay $84 to become a substitute teacher. I'm thankful that my lowlights have been small things lately, but sometimes it's those things that get to you most, leaving you in a bad mood because you don't think it's important enough to pray about. Or maybe that's just me.

 But the highlight is how much I feel like a kid again. My week has consisted of making a chore chart, playing legos & Apples  to Apples, climbing over the deck onto a huge pile of dirt, putting together a jumbo dinosaur puzzle, jogging a new trail at the park with my sister, climbing a tree, hearing my nephew read Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes in the cutest way possible, & sleeping outside on the trampoline with my 10-year-old niece. I did some sorta grown-up things, too. Sewed a small pillow & a hole in my shirt, started reading a verse of Greek a day; I'm going through Romans, & babysat.

What were the highlights & lowlights of your week?

Tea Time

As school starts again, I'm reminded of one of my favorite things about college: Tea Time. It was a small group of girls who gathered weekly to drink hot tea & share the highlights & lowlights of the previous week. Not being very fond of tea, I didn't attend until I became a chaplain & began helping lead it. I grew to enjoy hot tea more & more, as it brought us together in a most relaxing way. Tea Time evolved over the years, but the informal atmosphere never changed. And neither did highlights/lowlights.

In an attempt to keep up with the weekly events of my friends & to grow to know new ones, I'm creating a weekly section of the blog for us to share our highs & lows: Tuesday Tea Time. So grab a cup of hot tea (coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider will work, too!), make yourself comfortable, & share your heart. I'll go first.

I always start with my lowlight so I can end on a positive note. This week was frustrating financially. I don't enjoy filling out job applications, but on top of that, the bank blocked my account because I used it to make a payment on my student loans. I hadn't used that account in a while, so my bank got suspicious. So I have to call them again to verify my identity. I don't like talking on the phone, & I guess I just wonder if one day I'll say something wrong & they won't believe that I am me. Anyway, it's just a small lowlight this week because all I can think of is the fun I had. Oh, yeah, I also didn't get much sleep, but that's because of my highlight.

I went to my aunt's house with my sister! This includes about 50 highlights in only a couple of days:

• Reading The Hunger Games (which I got in Dec. from helping in a Scholastic warehouse) out loud while Kristi drove 8 hours (we also had a nice long, uninterrupted conversation, partly about Notes from the Tilt-a-whirl, which is a rare occurrence when at her house with 5 kids around). This reading also caused us to stay up until 2am even though we got up early to go on a 3 mile hike at Raven Rock.
• Stopping at SC welcome center for a frolick in the woods. Our legs were satisfactorily stretched, but before we hopped back in the car, Kristi decided to wonder to another section of grass. Reading the sign that it was an area for pets, she cautioned me, "Watch out for dog poop." Seconds later she slid in a fresh blob of it herself.
• The discovery of the most plush bed as our resting place for two nights at our aunt's.
• Going yardsaling with the aunt & uncle. We each came away with a little stash of treasure. We also stopped at the Dollar Tree & then off to Trader Joe's. I just tried my orange chicken, & it's delish! :) I also loved the mint ice cream sandwiches. Yum!
• Then it was time for a swim, a delicious dinner of salmon they caught in Alaska a couple of weeks ago, & the watching of Pride & Prejudice. *Sigh* Yes, a dreamy weekend.
• On the way home I got to see my new niece for the first time. So tiny! It was good to see the rest of the family, too!

What are your highlights & lowlights from last week? Can't wait to hear from you!