About

Hi!  I'm Tabitha, and this is my little space in the blogosphere.

{Photo credit: Becky Davis Photography}

The first thing you should know about me is that I am a gigantic word nerd. I love anagrams and I'm always looking for clever ways to transform one phrase into another and have them both be relevant to whatever I'm using them for.

I am also slightly obsessed with the country of Romania. I'm not Romanian myself, but I've been there three times and it's basically my favorite place in the world.

Here's how my nerdiness and my Romaniaholicism came together in the naming of this blog. I was thinking about how I've wanted to get back to an attitude of joyfulness, because over the last few years I had slowly grown into kind of a pessimistic person. So I looked up how to say "be joyful" in Romanian -- "Fii vesel." Then I went to the nifty internet to see what anagrams I could come up with for that.

The first one that jumped out at me was "Isle Five" but of course, being a word nerd, I could NOT use the word isle -- when I know it should actually be aisle. I started looking for other similar phrases and then stumbled upon a video on Youtube of a Romanian a capella group singing a song called "Hai, fii vesel!" which means, "Let's be joyful!" or "Come, be joyful!" And lo and behold, there's a beautiful little "a" in hai! (Also, hai is pronounced just like hi -- which somehow makes it that much more awesome.)

And thus was born: "Aisle Hi-Five."

Now listen. I realize that "hi-five" is technically incorrect, since the term is "high-five." But somehow that was less bothersome to me than the "isle/aisle" issue. Don't question my logic.

You might be wondering how the phrase "Aisle Hi-Five" has anything to do with being joyful. And here's where you learn two more facts about me: I really like food, and I really like hi-fiving (yep, from this day forward I am officially omitting the "g" and the "h", thankyouverymuch). It's really hard for me to be upset when I'm eating something delicious or giving someone a hi-five. (And hi-fiving WHILE eating something tasty? Pure ecstasy!) And then I just got this picture in my head of walking into a grocery store and finding all of my favorite foods lined up conveniently on one shelf! Yippee!

Okay, I'm beginning to realize that maybe explaining every step of this thought process might be hurting my street cred a little. Moving on.

The point is, I'm seeking to be joyful in the midst of all circumstances (even when the peanut butter and the artichokes are on opposite sides of the store). I'm not saying this place is going to be all butterflies and popsicles. I can't always be happy, but I can always have joy if I'm focused on the things that matter and the blessings in my life.

My faith. My values. My husband. My family.

Even if I'm in such a dark place that it seems like everything is falling apart, I am ALWAYS blessed by the redeeming blood of Jesus. There is ALWAYS joy in that knowledge, even though there is also sorrow at the thought of a sinless man suffering mightily for ALL MY CRAP.

So here we go. Let's be joyful!

5 comments:

  1. I got chills at the end of this. Now that could be partially because it's freaking FREEZING in my office right now, but I think it's because I just love that through it all, Jesus brings us joy no matter what circumstances we're facing. Love ya girl! Excited to follow this new blog of yours :)

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    1. Haha! My office is super freezing too (and I'm wearing a skirt today). Thanks so much for reading, lady! :)

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    2. Haha I just came back to this comment, and it made me smile to think that now we're in the SAME office :)

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  2. I love the new blog (I loved the old one, too). Love the picture; love the About section that tells us your thought processes; love your first post; love you much and hope to read more from you. It makes the distance seem smaller.

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Thanks for your comment! I try to reply to all comments within the post itself so we can keep the conversation going.