It's Summer And I'm Staying Up Late

Just a few random thoughts as the evening winds down. Or, as the case may be, the morning winds up; it's 1:13AM. I'm obviously on a summer schedule...

• I love to cook. It might be more accurate to say that I love to feed people. I really do. I go on and on about not having the gift of hospitality; I'm not much for hosting parties and entertaining and all that. But I love to make food for the people I love. From scratch. Tonight I threw together some sort of beef tips on rice meal that came from frozen sauce (made from scratch a few weeks ago, when we had stew or soup of some sort - honestly, I realized after I threw it in the pot that it WASN'T what I thought it was. I hoped for the best and bravely carried on....) and some steak that didn't get cooked for dinner yesterday. A little on the salty side (why? don't know..) but delicious. I have a habit of declaring my food delicious right there at the table. That's probably really bad manners, but I enjoy making stuff and I don't mind enjoying it when I eat it, too. 
• I'm growing a garden of sorts, but it appears to be a miserable failure. It did alright when it was raining every day, but I sort of forgot about it this week. I think the 148,000 degree temperatures might have done it in. Epic fail.
• Had a great talk tonight with a friend who has been "officially" in ministry for some time; well-educated (at seminary, no less!) and serving others in the name of Jesus for quite some time. She exudes grace and tenderness. She's moving towards ordination - the official sanction of a Christian church on her calling to ministry - with her tender, wounded heart in her hands. In previous churches, she was refused ordination. She's a woman; many churches "don't do women." She's found a safer place now and will be ordained in the fall. It was just so wonderful to talk with her, to listen to her articulate her heart and talk about her journey.
• Had a great conversation today with another friend, who has grown and changed and leaned hard into her real self over the last four years. As I listened to her share about where she is in her life and how she is embracing the future, I got goosebumps. She is living a life worth living; it's an incredible story. She's inspiring.
• Talked with another woman yesterday at lunch and enjoyed hearing about her journey and her passion for a future that is as yet unknown.
• Thinking hard about how I felt God nudge me towards speaking to/with/for women a few years ago at a retreat. I got to speak in front of the entire church last week, but there's something in me that sometimes leans hard towards women. Fascinating, since I've always felt like a very odd (as in different) sort of woman; being "the chick in the band" for most of my life can do that to you... 
• I was driving to work Wednesday morning feeling SO incredibly happy that it made me wonder if I'd been SO incredibly sad for too long. It was an odd feeling. I think I've been stressed.
• Vacation comes soon. Beach...sand...ocean...family...  BREATHING.

End of late night rant. I'll go cook something....