back from the abbey!

great week with the "cheese makers" at the abbey of gethsemani! and it's been a great birthday weekend for me!
got back to town friday night and had a dinner date with rob at my favorite indian restaurant ambar, celebrated the sabbath yesterday on my actual birthday by hanging out with the family and actually resting some more! and then we had a really fun evening with two of my best friends and their husbands at our favorite vietnamese restaurant, song longs 
the owners, the le family have become friends and they rolled out the red carpet for my birthday. the pho with chicken and veggies is to die for, not to mention the amazing cold rolls! what a great evening!
and today, we finally have snow! yeah!

i know many folks have been suffering in the last few weeks with blizzards and ice storms, and even lack of power, and that can be so frustrating and even painful. ( one year for my birthday when we lived in the northwest, we had a windstorm that knocked out power for four days and the worst part was living with no heat!)
but here in cincy, it's been more like april than january, so it's nice to have a coating of white and a week of "real" winter.

here's a great quote i found this past week at the abbey!
enjoy your day, wherever you are and remember that each moment is a gift from jesus!

"Winter is a demanding season…
And yet the rigors of winter, like the diminishment of autumn, are accompanied by amazing gifts.
One gift is beauty, different from the beauty of autumn but somehow lovelier still:
I am not sure that any sight or sound on earth is as exquisite as the hushed descent of a sky full of snow. Another gift is the reminder that times of dormancy and deep rest are essential to all living things.
Despite all appearances, of course, nature is not dead in winter—it has gone underground to renew itself and prepare for spring. Winter is a time when we are admonished, and even inclined, to do the same for ourselves."

Parker Palmer
Let Your Life Speak
p.101