Jehovah + me + encouragement

I am about to go brew some tea and sit on the rooftop with my little sister. We are practicing the art of living slowly before we both head off on our adventures by next week. Then living slowly will be somewhat improbable for some time.

I got a package today. It was surprising + sweet + unexpected. Two more lovely books to add to the best ones that must come with me. I probably shouldn't be, but I'm taking most all of my dear novels with me and only leaving three boxes behind for safekeeping. I'm too sentimental to part with them at this point in life. They seem necessary. They are necessary.
I've traveled to hundreds of worlds, lived hundreds of lives, learned thousands of things. How could I leave that all behind? There is no possible way. I tried to talk myself out of a few of them the other morning. You don't really need these, I said to myself, my hands clutching a small red-bound book of poetry till my knuckles turned white. But I knew in my heart that I did. I do, I do need them. All of them.
Books are the ability to time travel. Giving that up would leave me a destitute soul.

These days of late have been full + brimming. We have been busy with loved ones and learning to love others. I took some time today, stole away really, to nap and write out an essay I had been meaning to because I cherish it so. And now, tea will happen.

It was one of the best things I've ever learned, that I can be others by reading. But it was better that I learned I am already beautiful, and I have a good life to live too. It was proven to me today, by a parcel + a small note.
I want to encourage you all my friends, because I was encouraged today. Your life is what you make of it, so make it gorgeous. Take time to read. Wanderlust. Learn. Discover. Do simple, slow things. Things you love.
And God is great. God is glorious. Because He is Jehovah-Jireh, and He is Jehovah-Nissi.

Today it seems that everything is a gift, and everything is wondrous.

Weekend.

The house is slightly quiet in the absence of my sister and her husband's departure this morning. I feel the pressure of not knowing what day it is all the time just a little now. It's easier to keep track when you have other people to remind you.
I love slowness.
I'm realizing that more and more as I age in my youth and step hesitantly into adulthood. I like moving slow. I prefer it. I'm comfortable in it. And I'm learning that I will be satisfied with it when someone turns to me and says, let's slow down together. Let's slow way down. It's the simpler things that I'm tempted to indulge in as they entice me. Walking. Drip coffee. Three hour long dinners. Warm knits. Mornings. Porcelain tea pots. Linen.  All that, and more.
I am becoming me.
And the best thing is, I know someone somewhere else is too, becoming them. And we'll meet one day, and turn to one another and say, you? You learned who you are already? Well isn't that just perfect. 
And it will be.
Slow, and perfect. In a human way.

My brother-in-law turned twenty-two today. We celebrated with peach breakfast cake and blue candles lit twice.