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Gina DiMartino

~ finding beauty in pain

Gina DiMartino

Monthly Archives: January 2013

desert song

24 Thursday Jan 2013

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Tags

be still, desert, exodus 14:14, wilderness

This week I went to see a counselor. I feel weak admitting it. Like its something only people with big problems do. Like if you read this and you know me, you will immediately think less of me. Or think I have issues. Or judge me. Maybe I shouldn’t even be writing it. But anyway, I sat down with her and just talked. She asked some questions. I told her about my life. How I moved to Kansas. How my knees always hurt. How I wish I didn’t have to work at Starbucks.

She asked me what I would change about my life. I wish I had a different job. One with regular hours. One where I didn’t have to get up at 3:45 am one day and work until 11pm the next. She said my schedule alone is enough to make a person feel crazy, emotional and depressed. YES! Welcome to my life!

Someday i will write a book. It will be a rebuttal to the dude who wrote How Starbucks Saved My Life…

Ok, so back to the conversation. I said the only other thing I could really think of is that I would have liked to be married by now. Or at least have someone. To know that I don’t have to keep doing this life alone. But other than that, there’s really nothing I would change.

We talked a while more and she set down her papers and looked at me with her sweet, sincere face and said “There is nothing wrong with you. You are doing all the right things. You are seeking God, spending time with him, eating well, exercising, and are surrounded by people who love you. What I think is that you are in a wilderness. And all you are supposed to do right now is be still. Be still and know that He is God. And that is the hardest place in life to be.” People, the woman had tears in her eyes as she told me this. Man I was just glad she said nothing was wrong with me! Haha. I know I am in a friggin wilderness. Duh. Welcome to my life. And yeah. It’s definitely the hardest place I have been. How long do I have to be in this wilderness? I just thought it would be over by now. I thought moving to Kansas would be moving OUT of the wilderness. But it feels no different. Different but the same.

“The Israelites were in the desert for 40 years.”

Gosh I hope it doesn’t last that long…

“They literally walked in circles for 40 years and they didn’t know what God was going to do.”

UGH! Right now I am thinking ‘Lady, how is this encouraging to me?’

“But all God wanted them to do was to be still. To know that He was God. And that’s what you need to keep on doing.”

And that was it. My first experience with counseling. Not at all what I was expecting. She bowed her head and she prayed for me. She prayed for me to be still, she prayed for me to be led out of the wilderness, she prayed for my husband, she prayed for my new job…It was sweet. Wonderful. So encouraging. But I just walked out of the room thinking, great, now what? I was expecting it to go something more like…look at all the problems in your life and all the things you have done to mess everything up…lets work on fixing all this stuff and then maybe you will feel better. I’m good at fixing stuff. But nope. All I got was “be still”. Not quite what I was looking for. I was perplexed.

That night, I settled in bed to do my Bible study. We just started Beth Moore’s A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place. Its only week 2 so I’m not super into it. But I like it. Its good. Liz was on the phone so I figured it’d be a good time to do the homework and reading for the day. And this is the most amazing thing. God obviously knew exactly what I needed. That this very same day I would be opening the bible study to Week 2 Day 1. The words of the counselor ringing in my ears as Beth Moore began pouring into my life.

“God seeks to set His people free from their dependence on themselves so that they depend instead on Him. Throughout this week we will discover that God’s supernatural provision for humanity is most recognizable when we find ourselves in a wilderness devoid of self-sufficiency.” And the verse for the day printed on the top of the page Exodus 14:14. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. I stopped right there. I read it again. Did you notice? Wilderness. Be still. Wow. Just wow. 

And dudes. I hate the wilderness. I hate the pruning that is going on. I don’t like that I’m losing friends and having my heart broken and missing my family and living so far away in Kansas. But all I can say is that there is nothing wrong with me. And right now all I am going to focus on is sitting still in this wilderness.

Until God tells me to move.

I’m sitting right here.

Need You Now

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

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need you now, plumb

This song has quickly become one of my new favorites. I’ve always loved Plumb and am really looking forward to her new album.

Ukrainian Christmas Dinner

14 Monday Jan 2013

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My roomie celebrates ukrainian Christmas and her family always makes peirogies for dinner. So we set out to do our own Ukrainian Christmas dinner. 

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Liz doesn’t do well with onions. They made her cry something fierce.

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The dough is almost the same as pasta dough. You mix it all right on the counter.

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And the knead it forever and ever. It took a really long time to get it to the right consistency.

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I made the sauerkraut. I have never done that before. I have also never eaten it before. It was good! Of course I made it with Guinness. Yum. Guinness makes everything yummy.

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We rolled out the dough and cut circles.

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We then filled the circles with a delicious mashed potato and cheese mixture.

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They turned out so cute.

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Liz loved making them!

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We pan-fried some kielbasa. I haven’t had it in forever. My grandma used to make it for us.

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Then fried the pierogies with some onions and garlic. Then everything goes into a pan all together. sauerkraut, kielbasa, & pierogies. We popped it in the oven for a few minutes to make sure everything was warm.

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Dinner is served!

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Merry Christmas!

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One Sketch A Day

11 Friday Jan 2013

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For Christmas, my lovely, artsy friend gave me this sketch book. It’s called One Sketch A Day: A visual journal.

A yearlong record of sketches
because every daily drawing
is worthy of remembrance.

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It has spaces for you to make a small sketch every day of the year. I love it! It has only been about two weeks, but I love thinking, planning, and executing my sketches every day.

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She is doing one as well, so its fun to share pictures and see how we are growing. I can’t wait to see how much we improve by the end of the year! I’ve added a new page at the top of the blog so you can check in weekly to see the progress!

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Check in here for updates: https://cragsandclay.wordpress.com/a-sketch-a-day/

2012

10 Thursday Jan 2013

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As I sit here at the cusp of the new year, I think back to my journey through 2012.  I helped plan, and went to a ton of weddings. Was mostly gluten-free for the entire year. (Some weeks were better than others) Lost 20 pounds. My bff moved to Kansas. So then I did too. I tubed down a river. Worked at 5 different Starbucks. Read the entire chronicles of Narnia twice. (At least)  And welcomed a few babies into our circle of friends!

It was a busy year. It flew by.

Weddings, babies, adventures…
I moved to Kansas.
I saw wild buffalo.
I went to Dallas.
I went to Ohio… twice
I went to North Carolina… three times

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2012

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I made so many cupcakes this year…I wish I had counted them…lets say it’s easily over 500

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My cute sister got married

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My beautiful friend Liz got baptized…and then moved to Kansas

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I ate poutine for the first (and not last) time

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Went to Ithaca for the first time… Gorgeous

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Climbed a mountain

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Bought a new car (Caroline)

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I have the best friends in the whole world I love them LOTS. They made this for me when I moved and it now hangs in my new room in Kansas. Reminding me of how great they all are!

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My lifelong friend Allie started her battle with cancer at the very beginning of 2012. At the end of the year, she WON and is now cancer free!

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I went to the Indianapolis speedway

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Went up in the St. Louis arch

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Moved to Kansas!

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Saw this guy

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Almost got run down by these wild buffalo

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Tried wearing lipstick

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Met this guy

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And…my Papa is the cutest 🙂

Happy 2013

Crafting for Christmas

07 Monday Jan 2013

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Here’s a quick rundown of all the fun things I made for Christmas gifts this year!

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Stashing through the snow tree ornaments. For the mustache man in your life… These were so fun and so easy. I’ll definitely be making more for next year!

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I made LOTS of scarves this year. I discovered how easy it was to make infinity scarves and went a little crazy. Everyone got one this year. Hurray for warm necks!

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I also made a ton of bow ties. For all my hipster friends of course. I doubt any of them will actually wear them in real life, but it sure was fun to make them.

IMG_3286Ethan was a willing model for my very first bow tie.

IMG_0293The map head acted as a model as well. Doesn’t she look fabulous?

IMG_3470Colton was my final mode. Ain’t they cute?

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I made these paper bag envelopes to wrap the ties in. They came out so great and they were super easy.

IMG_3334I made these mittens out of an old sweater from goodwill. They didn’t turn out perfect, but its a great idea and I’ll definitely be creating more things out of old sweaters! Great way to re-purpose! 


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I got this great frame at an antique shop in Kansas City and sketched this octopus for Virginia. Last handmade gift for this year! What did you make for Christmas? I’d love to hear about it!

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