Better Together

I cannot be more thankful for a husband like Dave than I have learned to be over the past couple of weeks. From showing up last minute to provide childcare for my MOPS group (and showing up with paper and colored pencils to draw spaceships and race cars with all the kiddos who totally loved him), to buying groceries for my family as we gathered to mourn my grandfather, he has been a strong support for me.

Yesterday, at my grandfather's funeral, the pastor reminded us of the specific blessing of having a spouse in our lives. It is a special blessing, an earthly picture of our loving Father's care of us as we care for each other in this life. I have not felt a deeper, more poignant love than this eros love that God gifts us through a marriage relationship.

Take a moment to praise God for His blessings in your life. Take a moment to tell your family how much you love them. And praise God for our eternal hope in Him.

Love

D and I had almost reached our 1 year anniversary... sans major accidents. However, last night we had the pleasure of our first joint ER visit. I didn't realize, until that point, that loving someone means that when they hurt, you hurt and even minor perils involving lacerations and stitches can make you think ahead to bigger and more major accidents and pray, pray, pray against them!

Christmas is coming...

Today I was busy getting overwhelmed by making a list of things I won't get done this year before Christmas...

-baking cookies
-writing cards and letters
-shopping and wrapping gifts

When the things that mean the most have been checked off and completed...

-spending time with D and I's wonderful extended families
-connecting with close friends
-thanking God for health and happiness
-telling D I love him EVERYDAY

Merry Christmas Everyone! May it be a blessed day!

Life is Winding Road

I can't see around the curves in life's road, and sometimes it's hard to keep the perspective that there is someone who can. But His strength is greatest in my weakness.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^a]">[a] you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to ^b]">[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Thoughtful Times

Being pregnant requires decisions that I never really considered until now:

Bottle or Breast?
Cloth or Disposable?
Work or SAHM?
Epidural or natural?

Praying to make the RIGHT decisions for this kid. Thankfully, I have someone else to lean on through all this. And He is very familiar with parenting! :)

So far...

Dear Baby,

You've had an adventurous life so far! This is your dad and I before we even knew you were on your way! :) So far you've climbed two mountains, backpacked for four days, re-shingled a house, and walked with me many a mile! I think you'll be a hiker too! :)

Love,
Mom

1 year

Some years blur together in their tedious sameness. Nothing changes. Some years rush by at warp speed, leaving you breathless and constantly trying to keep up. This has been one of those years. In the space of one year I have:

gotten engaged
bought a house
gotten married
gone back to school
gotten pregnant
...and all the living life in between.

Blessings all, don't get me wrong. But I occasionally need to give into the desire to just sit back and watch the world go by for a bit.