A taste of Caribbean...

Let me just start by saying we made the most INCREDIBLE dinner this evening...Caribbean Rice with a Jerk Chicken. We've never made it before, so it was a fun first try that turned out great. It's topped with mangos, avacados, and pineapple and is one of our new favorite meals. That really is one of my favorite things about Isaac's and my relationship...we get to make dinner together almost every night. We really enjoy having that time together, and we love creating fresh, great tasting meals. Cooking together has been a staple in our lives for the past seven months and it's so much a part of our routine that I just automatically leave a two hour block of time after work every day for us to spend for dinner. LOVE it! I will tell you what, that man is an incredible cook!
Isaac, my artistic creative genius, designed a bookshelf a couple of weeks ago and has been in the building process in his spare time ever since. He just drew up the design and went out and bought a bunch of used wood for it. He did all the cutting, sanding, glueing, everything himself. I'm sure a project like this is pretty easy for Isaac to make happen because he knows a lot about building, but it's just amazing for me to watch because I just don't have quite the same knowledge about projects. The shelves are so fun and artsy and we are pretty excited to see the finished product! My books are some of my most prized possessions...I love books and I have a bunch of them...so I'm hoping I can talk Isaac into sharing his shelves. We'll just have to see. No pictures yet because we want to show off the finished product when it's done.
I am in my first complete week of being done with everything youth (and everything extra-curricular at that). Isaac's still working with his boys, it's just me who needed a break. It's the weirdest feeling because I've been working with youth for ten years now...I feel like it's defined a large part of me for most of my life, and ending that part of my life feels like I'm losing a part of my identity, a part of me. But my soul is craving simplicity and rest, so I'm following that draw and simplifying my life. As you can see from my stack on the left, I'm filling my time with a lot of reading, which is one of the most relaxful activities I could do. And it's a perfect activity for Isaac and me because while I'm sitting with a book, he can draw to his heart's content. He's been drawing a lot lately, actually, all over anything he can find. I love it! My house is littered with envelopes or pieces of scrap paper that are filled with Isaac's drawings and doodles. I'm including a couple examples so you can see his work and be just as impressed.
One last thought for you all. I've got a lot of books going at once, which is how I usually roll, but there's one I wanted to share a quote from. It's called The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan and it's on loan from our worship pastor as I enter this time of sabbath. Listen to this...Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God--actual physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God--the things of God's nature and presence we miss in our busyness." I think that's a big part of why my soul is craving rest. I'm ready to just be, to just exist, to walk through life slowly, paying attention to all the little details, taking walks, enjoying the beauty of God's creation, seeing Him in all the ways I may have been missing in my business.