Learning sometimes takes time

And in our case it seems we are in a learning phase on a few things in our life, but we haven't quite it all out yet.


We have learned:


- That it is OK to be lazy on Sunday afternoons sometimes :)


- That it is even more OK to be passionate about your job and actually like going to work early/staying a little late


- It's NOT OK to dislike your job and dread going to work


- A beautiful woman from Africa can make your day, week, month and that you can feel overwhelming love for someone you've never even stood face to face with


- Sometimes you do have to practice a little patience and wait until God reveals His plans. 


- And most of all that learning takes time and sometimes you don't have it all figured out, but if you keep praying and seeking God's will He will give you the strength to keep learning. 


We are loving life and family and friends these days, but we are definitely having to practice a little patience in our lives to wait and see what the Lord wants us to do in some areas of our life.  


We joined a small group today at church and we liked it a lot! Please keep us in prayer as we try to meet new friends and get involved in our church! We are excited for what that holds for us and the things we can learn from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 

I love...

I love the sound of Jamey playing the guitar at the kitchen counter


I love that I finished my first test in grad school tonight


I love that I came home to a wonderful husband who held me close as I vented about my stressed work/school schedule


I love that Hewitt has cuddled with me all day today


I love that my husband is so pumped about mountain biking right now that he got online and bought me mountain biking equipment so I would be more prepared when we go haha! 


I love THIS  blog right now. (If you know me well you know that I get obsessed with blogs a little too much and I've been following some of my favorites for over a year now...hmmm... now we all know where this whole thing started) 


I love my Starbucks Keurig k-cups that I drink EVERY morning


I love that I got to chat with one of my best friends Saturday morning unexpectedly


I love lists (can anyone tell this??) 


I love lunches with my coworkers


I love wonderful Sunday sermons that make you on fire for the Lord


I love the kitty that I passed this morning on my walk to work. He already had an owner much to my dismay. He was on a little leash and had a collar and was owned by the homeless couple that I see often on my way to work. He was a new addition to their family. 


I love that I'm about to go get in my comfortable bed and have sweet dreams


And most of all I love my hubster who holds my hand and my heart in his hand and never lets go.

Life Takes Over

It seems as though we have been living in a sort of fog where life has just taken over and we are merely along for the ride. Our household has been a busy one with late nights at the office, school, weekends trips, and more school and work. It all seems so very normal except that if I really sit back and think about so much has changed in the last six months.

Jamey turned to look at me as we started back to Birmingham from Demopolis and said "Hey, do you remember what today is?" I had remembered earlier but in the hustle and bustle of the day forgot to mention anything to Jamey. Sunday marked six months of marriage. Just six months ago today we were in Jamaica enjoying our first few days as a married couple and now we have slipped right into married life and time has passed quickly. I know time always passes quickly, but it seems the more I get into a routine the more quickly it passes. We have both loved every minute of the past six months (well except late days at work and starting school back) Everyone says that college are the best years of your life and I don't disagree completely, but I really think that since I didn't get to spend my college years with Jamey these next few years will mean so much to me. I loved all of my college experiences and so did Jamey and I love the memories and friends that came out of it, but there is just something special about waking up every morning next to your best friend and figuring out all the ins and outs of bill paying and adult life with someone. We have had a blast and I think these past six months have definitely been the best of my life.

We did get to take a trip to Demopolis this past weekend to visit family, celebrate my sister's birthday, and celebrate her baptism. It was a wonderful weekend with all our family and we had a blast celebrating with my sister. Her baptism was beautiful and such a God thing in every way. Her pastor at her church teaches through the Word each week. Basically he begins in a book of the Bible and preaches through that book then moves to another one. I say that to say that the pastor didn't plan where he was preaching out of to fit the events of the night, but the Lord sure did. The chapter of James that the preacher was preaching out of was about faith and works, so he spoke on how can be dangerous sometimes when we have all the "works" together and we know what we are supposed to do and say, but don't have a relationship with the Lord. Which, was a beautiful picture of my sisters testimony. The pastor was able to share my sisters testimony and back it up with scripture. I won't go into all the details of her testimony, she can share with you if you want to know more, but in a nut shell my sister was baptized in the same church that she attends now many many years ago. She grew up knowing all the right things to say and do and I like many others would have probably sworn she was a Christian. But one day she attended a conference with our grandmother at my grandmothers church the Lord spoke to her in a way she couldn't deny. She realized that while she was doing all the "christian" things she didn't have a relationship with the Lord, so she spoke with the Pastor and prayed to the Lord for her salvation. Then later she told her church that she wanted to be baptized as a sign of her salvation. Now I don't know a more brave thing to do. Growing up in the South being saved and getting baptized is almost a rite of passage. Not to demean those things AT ALL, but there is a lot of pressure to do that as a child growing up in a Southern church, and to come years later and say to some of the same people that watched you be baptized so many years before that you don't feel you were truly saved before and now you are is a BIG deal. I have so much respect for my sister for that and for all the others that do it too. Hearing the pastor share her testimony like that and then be able to watch and celebrate with her as she was baptized was definitely on my top ten favorite things in life. Knowing that she is my sister in Christ and we will spend an eternity together makes my heart jump and I couldn't be more excited. I know she is going to do so many amazing things for the Lord. She already has such a huge heart and just listening to the Christ centered things she wants to do makes me filled with joy. I love you sister and look up to you in every way!!

Now I'll keep the next part short since I'm sure I lost most of you a long time ago!

The things we've learned....

- School is still pretty terrible even if you do take a six month break...

- Taking a few minutes of personal time each day when you are stressed and busy from work helps keep your sanity (otherwise you may want to throw a piece of lawn furniture at your boss...)

- Small spontaneous trips to Sonic, or really anything spontaneous, makes all the difference in your attitude, marriage, etc.

- Sometimes you need vacations from your vacations.

- The Lord does amazing things when you least expect it and it is always beautiful.

- A simple prayer and knowing that there is someone there encouraging can make hard situations a lot easier and even enjoyable.

- Speaking with your best friend and an African sister in Christ unexpectedly on a Sunday afternoon driving home from church lifts my heart more than I can even describe.

- Learning the organization of your kitchen will help you out when you are trying to cook dinner for your wife.

-If you do your job right people will eventually notice.

- My dad lives in a pretty cool new place.

- And MOST OF ALL: We can't take out work stresses on each other, it only stresses the other person out and makes for an unhappy household.

Right now....

Right now I would like to eat the other half of the blackberry cobbler that is sitting in my refrigerator and play Jamey's video game....yes, sadly he has gotten me hooked on those things and no, I don't know how this happened. Also, I currently feel awful that I didn't wish my sister a happy birthday until about 3:00 this afternoon. I'm literally the WORST sister in the whole world.... I just honestly had no idea today was even the 7th and I was actually was looking to see what the date was so I wouldn't miss it...only to look and realized I had missed it...So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALLORY!! Instead I am writing this blog while cooking Chicken Marsala and waiting on Jamey to get home. His current ETA is sometime after 8:00.... I really wish our busy seasons were at the same time. I'm not sure our puppies would appreciate that though. I should also be picking up the stuffing that the dogs have scattered all around the floor and making up our bed, but since I'm cooking dinner instead of eating cobbler I'm giving myself a reward.

Somehow I became nurturing while I wasn't looking. I don't really know if you call it nurturing really, but one of my favorite things is having supper on the table when Jamey comes home. Now don't get excited anyone, at the last kid talk I decided I wanted to wait 10 years before we had our first kid and when I ran it past Jamey he said that sounded fantastic, so my nurturing will stay contained to our two dogs and Jamey. That brings me to the musing of this post though, I always said I didn't want kids like REALLY didn't want kids and somehow I've gotten so far as to say I want kids in ten years. But it has made me think about all the things I want to do before having kids, some are personal goals, some are marriage goals, and some are adventure goals!

My personal goals are too numerous to name them all, but I really thought about a few and even talked with my friends about a few. One really has made me think long and hard. You know when you have kids you are responsible for a life like a real living breathing creature is depending on you for literally everything. Now don't get me wrong I am totally freaked about just having to keep a tiny human alive, but what makes me freak out even more is that I will be responsible for a humans emotional and spiritual needs as well. I mean the things a parent teaches their child literally dominates that child's personality and behavior more than anything else especially in the first years of their life. I mean, come on, lets all admit that in some way our families have scarred us a little and also have helped us tremendously. I also know how my mother helped me grow in a Christian family and taught me what it means to have a relationship with Christ and part of me wants to do that, but a larger part of me is terrified that I don't know enough and I don't walk closely enough with the Lord to teach anyone those things. Well I've taken in on as a challenge. In the next ten years I will grow closer to the Lord everyday. I will grow in my walk and in my wisdom. I know that I have to because when the Lord finally prepares mine and Jamey's heart for children I don't want there to be any question as to wether I will be able to raise them in a Godly home. I will be praying for my kids until that time comes and I will be praying for me and for Jamey and for our marriage. Our children will come into a home bathed in prayer and teeming with the Love the Lord has for us.

I don't know what the next ten years or more have in store for our family, but I want to grow every day and I want to be walking in the ways the Lord has for me every day. I want to be making sure that my marriage is what the Lord wants it to be. I want to make sure that I am what the Lord wants me to be. Because one day the Lord is going to twist our lives upside down and I want to be ready and the way  I can do that is to do whatever it takes to live in His will and love others like the Lord loves me.

Although I want to do many things in the next ten years, even if no children ever come, the one thing I want to do every day is to put the Lord first in my life and to walk in His ways.

The Things We've Learned.

My sister gave me the idea for this post and because this idea is cool and because my sister is cool I decided to go with it. The idea is that maybe once a week I'll post the things that Jamey and I have learned that week. Hopefully they will be funny at times and insightful at times, but we will see....This first one is going to be on what we learned in the past couple of weeks since I haven't posted recently! So here goes nothing!

We both learned that we have waaaaayyyyy more stuff than we ever thought we did....and so did my sister and my dad when they helped us move into our new apartment from 7am to 10pm. (THANKS Y'ALL!!)

We learned that having a big kitchen makes your marriage a lot more enjoyable....and maybe a big bed too ;)

Jamey learned what it means exactly to run a photo shoot for Summer Classics aka a LOT of leg work.

I learned that beginning a tax return 2 weeks before it is due is not fun... and it keeps you up late at night and makes you go into work before 7 in the morning.

We learned cooking with siblings is more fun that cooking alone! We also learned how to make AMAZING chocolate cake and pretty darn good beef stroganoff with our siblings.

We learned our way to the nearest vet clinic and a heck of a lot about intestinal parasites...

Jamey learned that Mass Effect 3 is definitely the coolest of the 3 video games.

We learned that a surprise dinner with you aunts, uncles and cousins is pretty sweet (in Jamey's words) and also much needed and appreciated family time. (Thanks for the dinner family!)

I learned that sometimes knowing a beach trip is waiting for you at the end of the week can help you get through the hardest work week of your life.

We learned sometimes quality time with family looks very different (car rides, moves, and quick last minute lunches) but it doesn't mean that it is any less important or any less enjoyed!

I learned that sometimes the best way to learn something new is to put a deadline and a goal on it and you will master it faster than you thought possible.

Jamey learned a little more simultaneous harmonica/guitar playing (and serenaded me with it when I got home!)

We learned that unexpected guests for dinner is sometimes a great thing on a Sunday night.

I learned that best friend chats are ALWAYS awesome and ALWAYS needed, especially when those talks involve Jesus and help pass the time on a long drive.

I also learned that my hubby is a pretty good picture hanger and also loves me enough to surprise me with newly hung pictures for when I come home from vacation because he knows it makes our house a home.

MOST OF ALL we learned that it is good to have some down time and sometimes it doesn't have to to look the same for both of you, but it is wonderful nonetheless. :)