Marriage Part Uno

It seems that lately, I have been talking about marriage with several different people in my life.  And I recently went to a wedding, so there's that.  

Marriage is one of those wonderful and sometimes hard blessings in life. When it's good, it's so good.  And when it's bad...it causes devastation.  It really is a big, big deal.  

This past spring I got to do my first "Bridal Shower Devotional" at a church bridal shower.  I've been a Pastor's wife for 8 years, and that was my first time speaking.  Let that sink in a little bit.  I'm not a speaker.  I talk with my hands waaaay too much (always) and I don't like people watching me, and I sway back and forth.  A lot.  It's all terribly distracting, I'm quite sure.  I'll stick with blogging. ;)

But.  I thought, I would share with you what I shared with them.  As in Copy/Paste right onto my blog. It's like you were there...minus my awkwardness.  You are welcome.

But I want to clarify something first before I get to the actual devotional:  

Contract vs. Covenant

Whenever I hear someone refer to marriage as "Just a piece of paper," as in a legal contract, I can't help but cringe because it indicates to me that they already know there's a fairly simple way out of it, if that's what they choose. 

My cell phone: Contract.  Just a piece of paper.  They give me cell service, I pay my bill and we both live happily ever after.  But guess what's gonna happen if I stop paying my bill?  Legal contract void.  Sure, they'll still want their money, but eventually they'll be done with me.  When marriage is viewed as a contract, then we give ourselves a way out when the other person stops doing what they said they would do.  

Eventually, both of you will not hold up your end of the "contract" in some way. I promise you that.   Because we're all selfish.  And there's a good tendency to think we are always doing our part, while our spouse...not so much.  Right?  

 Marriage is meant to be a covenant.  I said vows.  I didn't say, "If you do this, then I'll do this."  Because, good luck with that.  I made a covenant to do what I said, regardless of my husband upholding his.  Regardless.   And Ben did the same.  Would I have been elated to marry a man that viewed it as contractual?  No. Way.   Because it reveals deeper heart issues going on. A covenant is not the same as a legal contract.  One really is just a piece of paper...marriage however, was never designed to be just that. 

So, this post has already reached my self-imposed limit of words.  Monday I will post my Four Musts of Marriage (which isn't original, whatever.)

Come back Monday.  But have a super awesome weekend first.

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Because Random is Best

I got nothing but random today.  Or any day.

• Blogger is not letting me put my instagram pictures in a post today and that is annoying.
• We have another Winter Weather Advisory.  Lame. Winter is wretched.
• Yesterday I signed up for a local race thing called the Triple Crown.  Which means I will be running a 5k in April, a 10k in July, and a half-marathon in September.  It makes me have that excited/nervous gut feeling.  
• I am in awe of what God is doing in our church right now.  And that is cool.  
• I mentioned Made to Crave the other day.  I'm down 5 pounds in 2 weeks, mostly because I realized how much I was going to poor-food-choices for wrong reasons.  I realized I have a few entitlement issues when it comes to sugar. The "I Want + I Can = I Should"  Bigfatlie. I'm learning to battle that with God's truth, which is so much different than battling them with self control.  It's that 1 Corinthians 10:23 idea that even though it may be permissible, it doesn't mean it's beneficial.  Changing my way of thinking and doing is going to take much longer that losing a few more pounds, I guarantee that.  
• Lucy just dug through all the cupboards because she didn't believe me that we were out of Nutella.  I wonder who she inherited that from? 
• The new way of blogging is still weird to me.  I'm not a fan.  I'm really uncomfortable with all the self promotion it takes.  It's totally fine for other bloggers...it's just not me.  I really don't care about page views.  I just want to write uninteresting stuff, with unprofessional pictures and offer very little "How-To's."  And that's what I'm gonna do. The rest of the internet calls it "How to Kill Your Blog."    So be it. 
• I love blogging. Old School.  
• You have a lovely day!

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Txtng

google images

I am, without a doubt, old-school.  Whatever that means.  Once I learn something, I want to do it that way forever.  I'm not opposed to learning new things, I'm just opposed to learning a new way to do them once I've already learned them.

Tracking with me?  

And if I learned to do something wrong in the first place, it's highly unlikely I'll be able to figure out the right way.  Ever.  My left-handed Grandma, taught my right-handed self to crochet.  Sort of.  I've still never been able to recover.  Re-train myself?  That's funny.

Maybe it's that I'm now 36 years old...or that my children are dangerously close to teenagerhood...or that I'm trying to figure out the new means of technology that is ever evolving...but I just need for everyone and everything to *pause* while I catch up.  

But maybe the issue is that I don't want to catch up?  Let's talk texting.

My introverted self loves text messaging.  It's short and quick and to the point.  Kind of.   But the abbreviated words and lack of punctuation?  It leaves me...highly irritated.  

What's the deal?!  Every time I see "Thx" I die a little.  And I think to myself, if they were really thankful, they'd write the 'anks' instead of 'x'.  *smile* Or '2' instead of 'to' I mean really, is the extra letter, so hard?  

Mostly I hate that it takes my brain longer to decode their short-cuts than it would to just read the full word.  Now, I do use shortcuts occasionally, I'm not gonna lie...but I have to be in a pretty big hurry to annoy.

Someone needs to invent an app that translates the abbreviations into real words, so that those who feel the need to abbreviate every word don't annoy old people like me.  Maybe, I just need an app that sends a message to the person texting me that my phone will only accept texts that contain less than 2% abbreviations.  

Until then, I've just added the abbreviators to my list of "People I Rarely Text" Instead, I'll call or email and then I can like them again.  heh.

I have a couple other issues with texting...but one post can only hold so much snark.  I'll save it for tomorrow.  

L8R *eye roll*

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Made to Crave

It's hard not to post about the weather...it was -50 here yesterday, and today is "warmer", but still frigid enough for the school to cancel evening activities...and for us to postpone the start of our new study. 

Add that to the list of why I love/hate Iowa.  

Tonight our Ladies Bible Study was supposed to start Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst.

I read the book awhile ago, and loved it, but this will be my first time going through the study.  It applies so well for all ladies.  Sure, not everyone has a weight problem,  but I haven't met a woman yet who didn't at one time or another, struggle with a "food" problem.  Or at least a craving problem.  

We were made to crave.  Oh how easily we replace what we're really needing with what we really don't need at all.  It applies to so much more than food.

So. Much. More.

I'm sure what I'm learning is gonna show up here, so consider this fair warning.  

Anybody read the book or done the study?  

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Organized Chaos

So the other day I swung by Staples and picked up some organizing stuff.  It is, after all, a new year and the perfect excuse to buy cute (over-priced) office supplies. Plus, I really did need a new planner.

I had previously found some cute printable calendars on Pinterest, so I decided to assemble my own planner this year.  I posted the above pic on Instagram and Facebook and ended up with several email inquiries so I thought I'd put together a blogpost. Because why not.

I will preface by saying this is not the cheapest route to go for planners.  That Martha Stewart is pricey...and cute.  But it was one-stop-shopping for me and that my friends is priceless.  

The genius of this planner is that you can assemble it however best for you.  It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted, and I'm still tweaking it as I go.  (Also, I *may* have 3 hole punched the wrong side of some paper sheets because I was watching Safe Haven on Netflix while "planning")

I've been using this basket to hold everything.  It helps in locating where I stuck my planner.  It also holds a bunch of stick-it notes, and pens.  The red spiral notebook is what I use for various notes and my grocery list.

It's kind of hard to see, but on the left inside of the binder I glued a Martha Steward plastic folder that can hold misc. loose paper.  On the right side, is a zip pocket that holds little stickers that I can place in the calendar to label events or whatever.  Also some washi tape to mark off weeks of vacation or stuff like that on the calendar.

The green thing I got at Target for $5.00.  It's a year long monthly calendar.  Originally I bought Martha Stewart pages that were kind of expensive, only to find out that I bought them for the year 2013.  Yeah.  Staples better give me my $ back. ;)  

And this is what the calendar looks like on the inside.

The next sheets are ones I printed that I found on Pinterest.  I paid$7.95 (I think) for the download.  You can go HERE to see it.  Also, the cute color tabs: Martha.

Daily checklist and then you will see below that it also has weekly and beyond.  I haven't filled mine out yet.  Irony.

 A weekly Menu planner (which I then use to make my grocery list)

The red tab holds a "Blog Idea" print out that I have not filled out yet.  Of course.

These calendars are from the download that I linked to above.  Yes, I have 2 sets of calendars in one notebook. :) This one is to keep track of daycare hours. 

That's it.  Now I just have to remember to keep using it.  I know from previous experience that the more I use it, the less scattered and full my brain is.  There is something calming about writing down the chaos. 

I didn't take a picture of it, but I also have a big desk-top calendar that hangs on the wall.  It's the go-to one for our family.  The notebook/binder one is more for organizing my every-day life of activity and things I need to get done.  

Organized chaos.  

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Barfing Preaches

Hello again!

Christmas in general is craziness around here (just like everywhere else.) Add into that sickness among all of us and..BLEH.  

I didn't drink coffee for four days.  That's how bad.  

But as I sit here, I'm sporting my 20 oz coffee mug and life is good again.  

Being sick does something really important.  It gives me a big-fat-dose of perspective.  It's like God's reminder to me of how weak I really am.  And how little I really do on my own.  Take my health away and I have little to offer as far as accomplishments.  Nothing actually.  

And this bout of sickness taught me something new.  Barfing preaches.  I got sick very late on Christmas night.  I'll spare you the details, sorta, but it was not nice.  I felt gross all night, and then in the morning the barfing finally came.

*and this is a side-note, but DUDE how does that stuff stay in your stomach for so long?!  I hadn't eaten for a good 15 hours and when the barfing started I thought, "Oh good, I haven't eaten much so I don't have very much to throw up" but NO. I was wrong* 

I feel like we need to talk about barfing for a sec.  There's different kinds of barfing.  The kind where you barf fairly soon after you eat and it's super gross because it's mushed up food and you never wanna eat that food again for as long as you live.  But then two days go by and you find yourself eating pizza again.  And then there is the acid-barfing.  Where you haven't eaten for a long time but your stomach is full of acid and bile and other grossness and when you barf that.  Ouch.  It burns like none other and leaves your throat super sore.

So, I had the acid-barfing.  *shudder*  Aren't you glad you stopped by today?  A few hours afterwards, I was super thirsty, but dreaded the thought of drinking anything.  I grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge, twisted the cap off and took a tiny sip.

It was the worst tasting water ever.  

Of course it wasn't really the water that was the problem.  It was perfectly fine and the same water that I always drink and have no problem with.  If my family were to grab a bottle, and give it a swig, they would think it was great.

The water tasted bad because of my circumstances.  My experience.  It tasted bad because of a very real event:  Acid barfing.  

And then it hit me.  A very real truth that sometimes the Gospel, Jesus...tastes very bad to people.  Believers and unbelievers alike.  Sometimes life circumstances or beliefs or whatever distort what really is.  

The water I was tasting was the same water as usual, its taste hadn't changed literally, but my taste for it had.  Someone could have argued with me about the taste of the water, but would that have changed how it tasted to me?  

Absolutely not.

Sometimes, we have to figure out what's distorting our taste.  Sometimes, we need to love people and give them some time to heal from the acid-barfing of their life so they can taste again.


Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8

Because barfing preaches.

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Easton

I am not really very good at "organized thoughts."  Especially when it applies to putting together meaningful words about people I love.  And because my words feel lacking, I just post-pone it.  

I am, after all, a fantastic procrastinator.






For the past eleven months I have failed to introduce this blog to one of my favoritest little guys on the planet.  Easton.  He was only a few months old when I asked his Mama if I could blog about him. She said, "Absolutley!" and then I did...nothing.  Because I couldn't find the words.  That ends now.

Last January ended up being a whacked-out month...the kind of January that makes you sort of freaked out about what the rest of the year might hold.  There were funerals.  There were marriages in crisis.  And there was Easton.








All the details are a little fuzzy now.  The combination of time, and the emotional craziness of all the circumstances seem to blend everything together in my head.  So the exact order of stuff may be off.  

I've done child-care for Easton's big brother, Ryder, for quite some time, and when I found out his Mama was going to have another baby boy I was thrilled.

Baby boys are so very nice.  And I always am up for a baby-fix.

The weather in Iowa last January involved lots of blizzard warnings.  Little Easton entered the world during some of it.  The weather made it impossible for me to get there right away to meet Easton, and then he was put in NICU for some breathing issues.  His Mama had been keeping me posted on how he was doing, and mentioned that they were going to be doing some tests...  

I'll never forget the phone call I got from his Mama.  I was in the middle of packing up the house of one of the crisis' of that month...and decided to take her call while sitting in my van.  The tests had concluded that little Easton had Down Syndrome.   She was doing her best to be brave and strong...but it's shocking news to take in. 

I remember her saying how much she loved him...and I tried to reassure her that he was perfect.  And God designed Him...perfectly.  And the only other thing I could think of was Kelle Hampton's blog.  It felt absurd as I heard it coming out of my mouth...to tell her to go read a blog.  But when the weather causes you to walk through some devastating news all alone in a hospital, I guess you'll take the blog idea. 

Kelle walked through very similar circumstances, finding out after birth that her baby had Down Syndrome.  And sometimes, you just need words from someone who really knows the pain.  And to see them survive and thrive through it.  

Last week I finished reading Kelle's book Bloom.  Easton's Mama bought it, read it, and then donated it to Tiny Town's library...where I meant to check it out for months.  Months!  *shake my head*  I read it in two days, bawling my way through it.  The first time I had read Kelle's story, was before Easton.  My perspective is so much different now, after having this little guy around.  

I am smitten.  He is changing all of us that are blessed to be around him.  That extra chromosome makes him extra awesome.  He lights up a room.  His life is a blessing.  I'm amazed at all the ways God has already drawn people to Himself through this little guy.   I see Easton, and can't help but think, God is good.  I am so thankful his Mama shares him with me.

Today, he had a cardiac catheterization, which determined he will need surgery.  So, if you're some of my praying friends, I know his family would appreciate those prayers.  

And there will most definitely be more of that sweet little guy on this blog.  He's the only one that likes to do selfies with me. 

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