Brook and I are off to Oklahoma for the week! These cute people are getting married on Friday…

I’m so excited to get away for a few days and spend time with friends and family! I’ll be back next week!!!

I’m going to be an Aunt!!

I’m so excited! My brother just recently got married.  His wife Stephenie has a 4 year old daughter named Tallie who is one of the cutest kids I’ve ever known.  So I kinda became an aunt by default, but now they are pregnant and I get to be a real aunt!

I’m really excited to be the “cool aunt”.  I promise to always have gum in my purse and buy the fun stuff that mom and dad wont by them.

Hooray! Maybe this will help with my baby fever for a while? Nah…probably not.  Nothing cures that

A couple weeks ago I blogged about “random acts of kindness”.  I was mostly talking about what we can do for other people but didn’t really talk about them being done to ourselves.  Brook and I came home last night from running some errands and our lawn had been mowed! He was planning to mow today because it was getting pretty tall from all the rain, but someone nice mowed it for us.  

We don’t know who did it, and I think thats great. That person has a good heart and just did something that took a few minutes and made my day! (I’m sure it made Brook’s day too…) 

 
Good stuff.  Has anyone done anything like this for you lately?

Positive reinforcement.  Living in a society of always being right or always wanting it our own way, it can become very difficult to submit and follow our husbands.  Here are two ways I see that help in positively doing so: 

1) Say nothing. When he’s telling a story about something that happened and has tiny details wrong, why correct him in front of all your friends? When he put something in the wrong drawer, why correct him? Stop and think before you say anything to ask yourself if it’s worth it.  The last thing I EVER want to do is correct my man or make him “wrong” in front of people.  It’s all about respect.  And shoot, I can move the spatula to the other drawer, it’s pretty cute when he tries  

2) Say something positive: short and sweet. When he wants to do something, get excited with him.  He asks to watch the last 30 minutes of the game and there is some chick flick on Lifetime, say SURE! or YOU BET! Be happy for him and sit with him during his game.  The more you can respond with a positive short answer, the easier it becomes.  Sometimes it may not always be something we want, but in the long run you’ll be thankful that you got to share that time together no matter what it was you were doing! And you are practicing submission to him, which in turn is really submission to HIM! 

All this is easy for me to say, I have an easy husband.  It is a joy for me to submit to him and follow him. I’d follow him to the ends of the earth and he knows it. But I’m learning everyday how to be a better wife, and in turn be a better follower of Christ.  

Thoughts?  

I love marriage.  I sure do.  It could be that I married the greatest man alive, or the fact that the whole thing intrigues me. I like to study what smarter people than me have to say about it too.  Umm especially since we are just in month 6 of marriage I figure I’m no expert.  

I was reading tonight on “submission”.  That scary word that freaks most women out.  Well…I love it.  I think it’s great, and I’m so thankful that God created me to be a woman who has the ability to submit to my husband.  It was put in a very interesting way that I hadn’t really thought too much about before.  Husbands are called to be the “head of the house”, the leaders.  And wives are called to follow their leadership. Someday my husband will stand before God and will be accountable for the leadership of our family.  And I will also stand before God and be accountable for how I followed his leadership.  OUCH! I think it’s much more difficult to follow than to lead (not that men have it off easy at all).  We all want things done our own way, but I don’t think submission is something expected in just the large things.  

When we are able to constantly submit and follow in the small things,  the larger things will become easier. For example, I may not like the bank my husband chooses to keep our money at.  But because he’s my leader, I will submit to his decision and follow it.  And I trust that God will honor that and put money in our bank account for it.  Ok bad example but you get the point.  God will honor us for doing our roles and following HIM which is the main purpose of it all.  

Good stuff… I have more to come later.

Hope.  It’s not just a word that’s on some painting at Hobby Lobby. Or some random city somewhere apparently.  

Nope.  

It’s a real live thing.  

Brook and I have been through a lot in the past year-ish and one of the things that constantly gets me through is HOPE.  
 

Hope in the future. 

Hope knowing that my God will never leave me.

The faith to keep on keepin’ on.

I love how God works that way.  Every time I feel I’m at the end of the road, He gives me something to keep me holding on.  I KNOW he has an amazing plan, it’s just the waiting for it that’s difficult sometimes.  

I’m so thankful for the little glimpses of hope He gives me everyday.  I especially like the big glimpses:) 

Good stuff.  

How does He give you HOPE?  

So in our Lifegroup this week we got on the subject of “random acts of kindness”.  Actually at our last meeting together, they discussed it and everyone was supposed to seek out a random act of kindness and then share it with the group this week.  We missed last time because we were at the doctor for Brook’s ear infection, so we got in on the tail end of the discussion basically.  It is interesting to me to think about seeking out a random act of kindness.  Why isn’t our every action out of kindness to others? Why don’t we always let the person in front of us on the highway (I know…i live in Texas and people don’t do that)? Why don’t we always mow our neighbors yard just for the fun of it? As Christians we are supposed to love one another and show love the way Christ did.  I believe if we were going to truly live out the way we TALK about it, we would do things quite a bit differently.  Am I wrong? 

This has really been on my mind a lot this week.  I want to strive to constantly do things without being asked, help people out when they least expect it, and basically do a little extra and hope that the love of Christ shows through that.  I have a dear sweet friend who has 4 kids.  Oh, did I mention she’s like 8 months pregnant with #5? My hero! I hang out with her kids sometimes while she goes to doctors appointments and stuff.  Yesterday, I cleaned her kitchen for her.  If you know me, you know I’m a freak and enjoy cleaning, especially kitchens.  But seeing her face when she saw her clean kitchen, was enough to brighten my day and know that I made her day a little easier so she could relax and enjoy her beautiful children instead of worrying about cleaning.  Doesn’t get much better than that.  

What can you do to help out someone you love? Better yet, someone you’ve never even met? It’s amazing how the simplest things can impact people.  

Thoughts?

Married couples share things.  Some couple like to run together (can’t figure that one out), some couples share a love for reading, hiking, shopping, etc.  Brook and I share a love for TV. And in the last couple years, a love for our DVR.  Call us lazy, but there is hardly anything I look forward to more than curling up on the couch with my man for some primetime television (recorded of course because we are too impatient to watch the commercials).  

Prison Break started last night.  This got me REALLY excited for what is to come this fall for us.

A few of our favorite things: 

• Prison Break
• 24
• Terminator
• The Office
• Life
• Family Guy
• Grey’s Anatomy (me)
• The Unit (Brook)

And can you say 90210?? WOW! That’s almost as good as Saved By The Bell coming back!

Oh, and I’m pretty sure Brook shares my love for Michael Scofield.  In a manly sort of way.

What do you and your significant other share?