Pilgrimage to Taos: Second Tuesday in Advent

Yesterday’s travels took us first to lunch in Abuquerque at a restaurant chosen from parishioners’ high recommendation, then a stop in Santa Fe at a new coffee place, Iconik, for beautiful cappacinnos and the purchase of luscious cinnamon rolls for this mornings’s breakfast. 


After the exquisite, peaceful drive to Taos, we shared dinner with friends who welcome us each year with their hospitality. 


This morning, ready for those luscious cinnamon rolls, with a shriek from my friend, we discovered that ants had found our breakfast treat. Ants in Taos!  Who would have imagined? What a jar to start the day. 

But then there was God. We had bought artisan wheat bread for meals at the local grocery. We found butter in the refrigerator and raw sugar and cinnamon in the pantry. The cinnamon toast God provided was the perfect start to the day. 

So much of my life has been about how my very good plans go awry, and how God always, always steps in. 

A very good start to this Advent walk. 

 

Advent Pilgrimage to Taos: Waiting and Expectant

Early start after a short night, I’m 
at the airport waiting to board my flight to Albuquerque to meet my best friend for our +17th annual Advent trip to New Mexico. 
Meals planned with old friends, star ornaments to create, hikes, many blue corn cheese enchilada meals ahead, cappuccinos, Advent card making, massages, Advent devotions and reflections, adventures and rest. 
Who knows where God, the best guide ever, will take us?
Meanwhile, today My grandson Jonas is two years old. My heart is full of love and thanks for this precious little boy.   His Aunt Lisa took this photo–clothed in Advent blue.  

An abundance of thanksgivings

For God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.  
2 Corinthians 9.8

And so I am thankful for God’s abundance in my life. 
For more invitations for Thanksgiving meals than I could join in a feast of days. 
For construction workers who will eventually get the roads that lead to my mom’s an easier way to come. 
For first responders caring for all those whose holiday has been disrupted by car accidents. 

For fall color to revel in as I sat and waited for accidents to clear on the highway between Houston and Chambersville.  

For my CSA and a bounty of vegetables that I’d most likely never buy on my own, but now can be transformed into delicious sides to share with my family. 

For my daughter’s wonderful cookbook which provided the best recipe for collard greens, ever. 

For my children and grandchildren so far away–but with whom I’ve had good, good conversations this week. 

For a digital age that makes it easy for video chats with my two grandboys. 

For a day to be with my mom and brothers and niece and nephew and whoever else joins us around my mother’s family table. 
Now it’s time to roast sweet potatoes and prepare mashed potatoes. And to continue to overflow with an abundance of thanks.