Let me count the ways...

Thanksgiving day was our 4th anniversary. We were with his family and this year they decided to go to the beach so I didn't get to post this earlier. Blogging has been slow around here anyway due to said Christmas production in previous post, but I didn't want this one to slip by. Too important.

I always have so much to be grateful for. I feel like God pours down buckets of blessings on us constantly, and so I'm a big fan lately of cultivating thankfulness in my heart...to both praise God for his mercy that I certainly don't deserve and also to keep my heart from becoming prideful and numb to how staggeringly good He is to his children.

That being said, this year it seems even more real how sweet God is to me as I think about the last 4 years of being Josh's wife. And though this list is far from complete, I want to try to capture some of why I'm so grateful for my precious husband.

--He has one of the most tender hearts I've ever known.
--He's gentle with me.
--He has eyes like two gorgeous little oceans and gave me a son with the same eyes.
--He can play the sax, the flute and the clarinet....like really play them.
--He makes me laugh at myself at the most inconvenient times (like when I'm really mad or crying).
--He truly has a heart for the Lord and makes me want to know Him better too.
--His love for digging deep into the Word is contagious.
--His love for theology translates into how he lives...it's not just knowledge.
--For as long as I've known him (10 1/2 years) he's had strong accountability from another man.
--He loves his momma!
--He's a cuddler (even more than me!)
--He still loves Tom and Jerry, The Little Rascals and Charlie Brown.
--He can fit a whole cheeseburger in his mouth....and a double decker moon pie (see pic).
--He fights hard to grow in areas he's weak in and asks for help from others all the time.
--He loves his little boy SO much (and that little boy loves his daddy SO much)!
--He comes home from a long day of teaching 12 yr olds math and wrestling to a frazzled wife and immediately asks, "How can I help you, baby? Here, I'll do it...go sit down."
--He genuinely loves jazz and can give anyone a passionate discertation on why Kenny G is not jazz.
--He loves my family dearly and they know that.
--When Wanda (the custodian who cleans his room) called the school yesterday to say that her father had just passed away, she only wanted to talk to Josh...he stepped out into the hall and prayed with her on the phone.
--He is quite possibly the most compassionate person I have ever met.
--His students love him.
--He was a great friend to me for 5 yrs before we started dating and pushed me toward Christ even then.
--He has proven his character to me time and time again.
--He dresses well.
--He helped me endure 6 yrs of the music dept in college....it was intense.
--He understands that my hair gets frizzy in the rain so he walks me everywhere with an umbrella while getting drenched himself.
--He works hard at our marriage.
--He's almost always the first to reconcile an argument.
--His southern drawl increases 10 fold when we go to his parent's house.
--He sings the theme song from King of Queens to me everytime he hears it.
--He shares my heart for the nations and has gone to several of them with me.
--He's gracious in helping me deal with my sin.
--I really could keep going!

An Invitation

You are invited to

a special presentation of...

"Meet Me at the Manger"

Presented by

the grammar school students

of CCS

December 6th, 2007

7:00pm

CCS gymnasium

(see me for more details)

Psalm 19:1 from my back yard tonight

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handywork."

Bock, bock...

I know it's long gone, and though I'm not a halloween fan, I still wanted to show you our little chick-a-dee. These were taken at a local fall festival. His costume was a last minute, day-of purchase from Old Navy for $6!

Friends of ours: Cole (a lion) and Laney (a Laney-bug)

What Jeff Foxworthy says about us....

My Mom sent this to me, and honestly, a bunch of them weren't that funny to me because I didn't know other people in the country were any different. You transplants should get a good chuckle though :)

What Jeff Foxworthy has to say about people in North Carolina............

--If you go to "cut" off the lights instead of turn off the lights, you may live in North Carolina.....
--If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you are fixin to go anywhere, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you've worn shorts to a Christmas party, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in North Carolina.
--If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Myrtle Beach for the weekend, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you measure distance in hours, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in North Carolina .
--If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in North Carolina.
--If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you find 60 degrees 'a little chilly', you may live in North Carolina.
--If you and all your friends live for basketball season, be it high school, college, or Pro......you may live in North Carolina.
--If you know that Charlotte is not really the State Capital, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you know three different recipes for baked beans, and which one to take to a funeral, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you know two of more friends named Trey, you may live in North Carolina .
--If you can name two hurricanes that blew away your neighbors trailer, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you think that all students who graduate from Duke move back home to New York, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you think that the tobacco barn out front is part of your home, you may live in North Carolina.
--If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with your North Carolina friends and others, you definitely live in North Carolina .

What's in my cart....

Ok, I have to add another website that has been an integral part of our date night rotation....restaurant.com. Dee and Stacey have both been a walking commercial for this site for awhile now....and rightly so!

Basically, you find the restaurant you want to go on their site (not all restaurants use them, but a lot do!) and can either buy a $25 gift certificate for $10 -or- you can opt for a $10 gift certificate for $3. The fine print is that you usually have to spend a minimum of $35 or $15 depending on what gift certificate you buy, and sometimes you have to use it during the week instead of the weekend....BUT it's still a really good deal.

And right now they're having a 70% off sale until Oct 31st. Just enter "treats" in the discount box at check out. I'm about to buy four $25 gift certificates and one $10 gift certificate for $12.90!!! You just print them out and frolic off to your date night with your sweetie!

Here are a few places we want to try:

Lulu.... it was voted "Most Creative Menu" by Charlotte Magazine last year and the gift certificates have been sold out already for October. You should look at their menu!

Maddi's Southern Bistro.... it's a restaurant and art gallery in one. You shop for locally handmade jewelry, wine glasses, etc and then feast on what sounds like true southern food (in a swanky atmosphere)! I'm eyeing the low country shrimp and grits. It's at Birkdale, so some great window shopping after dinner! It's another one that has sold out until Nov 1st.

Brazilian Buffet Boi Gordo.... A little more off the beaten path and the name means "Fat Ox". Apparently, you pay a flat rate and they serve you an entire dinner featuring many different types of meat that the servers will come and shave off onto your plate. Josh and I ate at a similar place in South Africa and it was really, really good!

The Ibis.... another high recommendation from Dee and Stacey. It's a new Caribbean place in downtown Concord, that is struggling because of it's location, but who's food is, "unbelievable!" We definitely need to keep good, independently owned restaurants open in Concord.

Fuji San Japanese Restaurant.... it's sushi on a conveyer belt, ya'll!!!

Tijuana Flats.... Tex-Mex is always a safe bet with me and this place looks fun and lively.

Two websites I visited today

I am already feeling stressed about Christmas. Though there were definitely many sweet moments last year with our families, there were also things that we hope to do differently this year to take some of the stress off we felt last year. Hence, my thinking about it now.

Josh and I were talking the other night about a financial plan we're striving towards....that also MAJORLY cuts our Christmas budget. We have A LOT of family....and it happily grows every year. My gift list now stands at 23.

Sooo..... I've found some new tools I'll be using this year. Here they are :

http://www.organizedchristmas.com/

http://www.christmasorganizing.com/

In the meantime, I am currently taking suggestions and brown, paper bags :)

Vintage Blowing Rock

...pics from last year...

Blowing Rock

A couple weekends ago we got to go to Blowing Rock! Josh's parents have a time share there and couldn't use it, so they sweetly let us (we went last year too). As always, it was gorgeous! We weren't there very long, but we spent a day walking through downtown, peeking into shops, getting coffee at Kojays, eating great soup, playing at the little park there, soaking in the hot tub, talking, reading and enjoying the amazing Chetola resort. It was a great little getaway! Thank you, Grammie and Pops!

It came at the perfect time because Isaiah hadn't been feeling well (as you can tell in some of the pictures), so he and I had been stuck in the house for awhile and I was about to lose it.

(Unknown to us, he was cutting 2 molars on top and two teeth on the bottom!)

what are these things???

some of the scenery at Chetola
quiet time on the patio
sequence of desire...
determination....
and satisfaction!

embarrassing me in Kojays weeee

Isaiah takes his safety warnings very seriously

sooo tired

not having it...

Cousins

almost like having a sister

lashes

"sharing" Max's ball (sorry Stacey!)

nap time
peek-a-boo

Ugh....it fit yesterday!

Karis and the shiney "no-no"

Let's put our heads together and think....

...and then you do this....

My little Einstein

Quick prayer request

Sorry for being MIA lately. First we lost the cord that I use to get pictures on here (and I have lots to post) so I delayed....we found it right when things started really picking up here at school. I will try to do better and get some pictures up too!

My kids at CCS are doing a Chirstmas musical this year and I'm told it's the biggest one they've done so far....of course......the girl with a one year old who only works 2 days a week has once again bitten off more then she can chew.

Anyway, all the auditions for the speaking and solo parts are this afternoon and I have quite a few kids coming and few parts to offer. I am so blessed by these kids enthusiasm...they don't take this opportunity for granted. They have definitely stepped up to the plate, but despite my numerous warnings against pride and taking our eyes off of Jesus, I can just see their little hearts wrapping tightly around hopes of getting the big part that comes with the spotlight.

If you think about it today, would you just pray for their hearts and for wisdom for me to lead them well through this process in a way that would cause this Christmas season to really be about Christ in their hearts?


I'll post more about it later....

Playing with large produce

Sounds odd, but Isaiah sure likes it!

Date night

Josh and I just recently joined a date night rotation at our church where each couple in the group takes turns watching all the kids for an evening so we all can get about 3 date nights a month with free babysitting....what a beautiful thing! We are really excited about it, even though our group has been battling the stomach bug the last couple of weeks making it a slow start.

Anyway... so, we've been thinking about date nights a lot lately, but probably even more about fellowship with each other. Our couples small group has been talking about what is true fellowship and the one question that really stuck out to me was whether or not we are experiencing that fellowship in our marriage.

If I'm honest, I would say that hasn't come nearly as naturally as I thought it would before I was married. I thought, "I fellowship with God, he fellowships with God, we'll just do it together." Not so much the case for us. And having a small child has made it even more difficult...there is a lot more tiredness, distraction and scattered thoughts and a lot less intentional conversations, prayer together, even complete sentences. We miscommunicate a lot. We default to lazy recreation a lot. We have a lot to grow in.

So, my prayer is that this carved out time each week to be together for the sole purpose of being together will lead to fellowship. I easily fall into just wanting to get out of the house and "doing something fun" which, in my mind, doesn't involve formal, sit down conversation and I'm beginning to clearly see how much we need that. I even spoke with a dear friend today about how big of a role fellowship plays in her marriage...with big rewards and consequences on either side of it. And I know that this fellowship is my husband's heart for us.

All of these rambling thoughts led me to Covenant Life's "Family Room" blog which is chock full of great posts and resources along with some fantastic questions for each other to go deeper in connecting to the heart (click the Date Night link on the right). I will pass these along to Josh (as I clearly have more time to roam the internet) and maybe they'll inspire some good conversations on your marriage too!

Here's just a small sample of what was there. These are questions from Paul Tripp:


What things did you see in [me] that made you want to marry [me]?
What were your goals for [our] marriage when [we] were engaged?
What things in [our] marriage make you sad?
What things in [our] marriage make you happy?
If you could press a button and change [our] marriage, how would it change?
In what ways do you think God is honored by [our] marriage?
How would you characterize [our communication]?
Describe how [we] arrive at decisions.
Describe how [we] resolve conflicts.
How would you describe [our] spiritual life as a couple?
Are there couples you look up to? What do you respect about their marriages?
In what ways have we struggled as a couple? Why?
What do you see as the strengths of [our] marriage?
What do you see as the weaknesses of [our] marriage?
What do you think [we] need to do as a couple to get from where [we] are to where [we] need to be?
Describe the marriage of your dreams.
What could [I] do to greatly change [our] marriage?
What problems in [our] marriage do you see as your responsibility?
What do you think God is doing in [our] marriage right now?
What are some obstacles that may keep [us] from solving . . . problems?
Describe how [our] marriage has changed over the years.
When you are hurt or angry with [me], what do you do?
How do you communicate dissatisfaction to [me]?