Celebrating Love... and New Life

Twenty-nine years ago today the love of my life was born. He arrived here before I did, but I know the Lord had recorded all his days on this earth... and on one of them, 21 years later, we would meet for the first time.

Not as husband and wife. But as friends.

And we’re still friends.

What better way to celebrate the gift of love and new life than to indulge in the beauty of spring in the great outdoors?! I packed a yummy picnic lunch of curried tuna wraps, brie & crackers, chocolate-covered bananas and strawberries, and peanut-butter cookies and we headed for the trail.

The trail at Red Rock Wilderness, which overlooks the Potomac River.

We basked in the beauty, munched on yummy food, considered the ant, and celebrated the gift of each other.

It was a wonderful afternoon!

The beautiful Potomac overlook!

 

Yes... just some subtle advertisement.

We had so much fun watching these ants!

Doing the manly thing. Showin’ off to the ladies. Er, lady.

Happy birthday to my best friend!

For You, Babe

To My Best Friend,

On this day celebrating love, it is only fitting that I publically state just how precious you are to me. The Lord has blessed me above and beyond what I deserve. Every good and perfect gift is from Him, and that's how I know He brought me you. Thank you for selflessly, joyously, and lovingly serving me and your children. As you prepare to take the Virginia bar next week, know that we're rooting for you and cheering you on behind the scenes. And when it's all over, we look forward to welcoming you home with lots of love and hugs and kisses (wet ones from the girls :-) ).

Here's our song for you today:

"Family Man" from Trevor Little on Vimeo.

Happy 2010 from Our Family

My husband loves to bi-pass sending Christmas greetings in lieu of celebrating with friends and family the start of a new year. Last year we sent out our very first familial new year’s letter and photo... and this year...

Well, let’s just say that a new baby and studying for the Virginia BAR have all but taken up the time we’d hoped to use to send out our greeting. So we’re settling for the new age and somewhat impersonal blogger greeting. :-)

Here’s a brief synopsis on where our 2009 | 2010 goals stand:

2009 Resolution #1: Schedule a romantic getaway.
2010 Update – We had tried to kick off the new year right with our lovely :cough, cough: getaway to the DC Mandarin. A getaway it was. Romantic it was not. Strike one. We’re still dreaming of a second honeymoon at our fave Anse Chastenet. Probably won’t happen this year, though.

2009 Resolution #2: Re-evaluate the meaning of life.
2010 Update – We couldn’t quite figure this one out with our limited resources. We welcomed little Jadyn Elizabeth Marie into our family on 11/30. We’ll see if we can reach a conclusion using our expanded material.

2009 Resolution #3: Take over the world.
2010 Update – Still working on this one. Of course, given the direction our government is going, we just might sit back and watch them try first.

2009 Resolution #4: Matt decides what to do when he grows up.
2010 Update – Making some progress here. Matt graduated (finally) from GMU and is currently studying to take the VA Bar in February. We’ll see how that goes. Thankfully the Lord has blessed him with some friends from college who are also taking the exam at the same time... two’s company, three gets better grades... or something like that.

2009 Resolution #5: Find a way to scrapbook, take photos, do graphic design, and bargain shop all while sleeping.
2010 Update –Done.
And for five twelve easy payments of $19.99 I’ll show you how.

 

I lie.

2009 Resolution #6: Move. Somewhere. Somehow. Sometime.
2010 Update – Ah, still no progress here, but it’s very much a desire of our hearts. What can we say, the free babysitting (from grandparents) just sounds better and better every sleepless night we have. On a serious note, we’re taking steps... we’ll see if God blesses them. If you know of someone who wants to rent our 3 bedroom townhouse, let us know. :-)

 

From our house to yours, Happy 2010!

And may you discover the blessings of Christ in new and abundant ways this year!

Sweet Refreshment and Other Stuff

Who doesn't experience burn-out? During the season of motherhood the "cliffs" of weariness and discouragement seem to ever loom in the not-too-distant future for me to plunge over. And I only have one child! (At least for the next two months!)

This past spring, Matt and I initiated a new Mom's Time-Out on Saturday mornings. What refreshment I've found during that time! He graciously takes Morenna and I escape to the local coffeeshop for a few hours of alone time, followed by any necessary errands I need to run.

Are you feeling ready for a break? Let me encourage you to see if your spouse would be willing to give you some time away.

A couple of my friends have inquired as to what I do with my morning out. Here's a basic overview, in preferential order:

- Eat a slow-paced breakfast someone else prepared;

- Study God's word and prepare my heart for any foreseen challenges in the coming week;

- Evaluate my calendar and think through the events of the coming week;

- Menu plan: I usually do one week at a time and establish my meals based on a day's events. I can always switch it up if my day changes;

- Clip and organize my coupons and shopping list for the upcoming week;

- Balance my share of our budget

- Update my blog: yes, I admit, I only blog once a week. :-) I typically set my posts to run on future dates so that the fresh content pops up all week long; and

- Browse the internet :-)

It's amazed me just how refreshed I feel after being away just for a few hours each Saturday. Mentally I'm refreshed and ready to return to serve my family and my weeks run much more smoothly since I feel on top of things. Many thanks to my hubby for his support of such an outing! :-)

Do any of you do something similar?

Who Can Find a Woman of Strength - Part Two

This week I was able to move on to verses 13 and 14 of Proverbs 31. As you may recall, I felt the need to stay awhile in verses 10-12... and I'm glad I did. This past week I had the opportunity to put my meditations into practice regarding vs. 12.

I'm sure most of you can relate to a stressful morning when your spouse is all but preoccupied with issues of the day and his treatment of his wife and/or offspring leaves a lot to be desired. That was our Wednesday morning. And, like normal, I began to react with a cold, harsh, punitive attitude.

Immediately the Lord tugged at my heart and verse 12 ran through my head. With substantial effort, I attempted to switch gears: Warmth instead of cold; gentleness instead of harshness; grace, kindness and helpfulness in place of my punitive, judgmental attitude.

And what do you know? It blessed my husband! What victory! Less than 30 minutes later he returned to me with a soft, repentant heart. Though my purpose in blessing him was not to receive a grand apology, my blessing him ended up blessing me in the process. How kind of God!

My new study:

Proverbs 31: 13-14
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

Here we shift to this woman's more practical nature. At first glace, I didn't really feel like there was a lot here. It seemed a bit culturally out-of-date... but like all of the Bible, there was something to learn.

Verse 13

Perhaps I don't feel the Lord leading me to shear my sheep, (if I owned any) spin my wool, and shed some creative juices on my dust-laden sewing machine. (Yes, I have one. Does the simple possession factor count?). But at the very least, I am called to clothe my family.

Reluctantly, I think I could stand some growth in this area. My family is hardly running around naked, but my husband certainly doesn't look his best when he leaves for work in the morning. Why? Well, mostly for my self-created aversion to ironing. I own one. I try not to use it. End of story. Maybe I could actually turn it on sometime...

And once my husband's pants are ironed, what about hemming some of them? He's not the tallest tree in the forest and I'm stumped (no pun intended :-))to think of a pair of dress pants he owns that actually aren't baggy. It doesn't take a sewing expert to hem some pants... just a sewing machine and an iron. Ahem.

Verse 13b

I'm sure the Lord calls each of us to certain areas of growth concerning the above, but something that is relevant for all of us is the adverb: "eager". This Hebrew word actually insinuates doing a task with delight and pleasure. I hardly think I have to elaborate on this one. Yet beware: it holds the greatest punch of all.

Verse 14

1 Timothy 6:8 seems to reflect that food and clothing are the two most important things and it's not surprising that they are lumped together.

The ships in reference were likely the ships of Tarshish (Ez 27:25 and Is 2:16 and 1 Kg 10:12), which were known for their elaborate goods. The literal translation of the verse is that she is like these ships.

To try to reach some sort of clarification, I attempted to employ my college latin to translate the Vulgate passage. After shedding some blood, sweat, and translation toil... it didn't help. :-) Rats.

I think I'll spend some more time thinking through this verse this week. In the meantime, what basic facts I've been able to draw from the verse is this: she provides good things (and a good variety) for her family to eat. What do you think?

With that... I'm off to menu plan and visit the grocery. :-)

...Because the Days are Evil

"Look carefully then how you walk,

not as unwise but as wise,
making the best use of the time,
because the days are evil."
~Eph. 5:15-16

"Your tea is getting cold," my husband said to me one night. "Aren't you coming to bed yet? I'd like to spend some time with you." Anxiously I made a few quick clicks with my mouse. "Not quite yet, just a few more things to do." My eyes were glued to my computer as I immersed myself in a friend's posting on facebook. Definitely need to write her a quick encouraging note. And did I remember to scan the latest deals and print those Huggies coupons? I can't go to the grocery without them! Oh look, an email from so-and-so!

An hour later I sank into bed. There were so many other blogs I wanted to read and sites I wanted to visit, but I was feeling guilty. I snuggled up to my husband and started to browse through my parenting magazine. My tea was cold.

"Hooked Online." The words on the page jumped out at me. "Three reasons moms are addicted to the internet." Addiction. Addiction. I stole a shy glance at Matt. He hadn't took notice of the headline. Cautiously I continued reading; I had that feeling that this article was meant for me. Sure enough, the author's word struck a chord... and it wasn't good. Perhaps the most identifying passage was this one:

"I started following coupon sites and became so engrossed in finding deals that I neglected the important things, like time with my son, for a while."

I've done this!!! While the article seemed to focus more on a mother's need for social stimulation (no comment) what I gleened was more a recognition of time-consuming bad habits. The mother mentioned above pursued something good, but at the cost of what was best. How often am I unintentionally doing that?

~

These past few weeks I've been contemplating time. Certainly as a new mom I've started seeing time as my enemy. There's never enough of it to accomplish my tasks. At the recommendation of a friend, I began reading Shopping for Time, a marvelous book written by a woman I couldn't esteem more highly. Her advice comes right from scripture: look carefully; live purposefully.

Look carefully... make the best use... days are evil. So, I looked. There it was: my computer. It's on from morning 'til night. I'm on it for work. I'm on it for play. I have to have it to score the best deals. And where would I find half my recipes without it? It's all good. But it's not the best. It's become my distraction. My bad habit keeping me from wholely pursuing my duties. What's yours?

I've witnessed so many other friends battling with this type of behavior. Ladies, we need to be proactive about sitting down and recognizing our priorities. The days are evil, now let's wisely take them on. For me, that meant sitting down and listing my priorities, and deciding where the internet fit (or didn't fit!) with them.

1. First and foremost, I am a child of God. He is my first priority and my time sitting at the foot of the cross, studying His word and bathing my day in prayer is SO important. Nothing must distract me from that time. (No internet here.)

2. My household comes next, and with it several smaller categories. I can't help but recall the Proverbs 31 woman (Lord, help us all! :-)): She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. (Prov. 31:27)

a) My husband. He is my primary focus. As his wife I am first and foremost his help-mate. Now, I should start acting like it. :-) That means children, church... everything else must come after. (Internet only if I need to use it to serve him in some way.)

b) My children. Training them in godliness and teaching them is next on my list. (No internet here.)

c) My home. This includes cleanliness, meals - whatever it takes to keep my home in working, efficient order. This also includes keeping house the way that would best please my husband and serve my children. It also includes being a good steward of what resources we have. Here is where couponing, bargain shopping, etc comes in for me. Even here, though, some prioritization is needed. Cleanliness comes before couponing, etc. (Internet: limited.)

3. Work. This is a given for internet, but I must remember that it comes after everything else. For me, household things typically get done in the morning, then work follows after my devotions during Morenna's morning nap. (Yay for naps!) (Internet: yes, but for one primary purpose.)

4. Social Service. Hurray! Play time! Last but not least is my time for social interaction... playgroups, phone calls, facebook, email, blogging, you name it! And by the grace of God, here it is... right where it belongs. (If you're wondering about this post, yes, my chores are done for today, Morenna is napping, my husband is studying... FREEDOM! ) Whoops... now I have to go get lunch. :-)

There is such joy in looking carefully and evaluating your time. At the end of a weary day, you can look back and smile, knowing that what needed to get done, did get done. And like the Proverbs 31 woman, we can now laugh at the days to come.

Won't you join me in making the best use of our time?

Baring the Shelves

Two years ago this week I moved into then Matt's townhouse. (For those of you doing the math, yes I moved in before Matt and I got married, but it was all on the up-and-up: Matt moved into the guest bedroom and I stayed in the master with my mother. Yes. My MOTHER. :-).) He had been living there nearly a year with a handful of other bachelor guys. Yeah.

Since that time, I merely scooted all my food items into the pantry and that was that. Until last week. Spurred on by some spring cleaning posts, I decided to empty the pantry, clean it, and start from scratch. How fun.

Meanwhile... two hours later...

I was thrilled with the results! First of all, I didn't know I could store so much in such a skinny little pantry. Second, I didn't know so much spoiled food could hide there! Two of my more interesting artifacts were a 2005 box of graham crackers and a 2006 bottle of white grapefruit juice. Yum. I blame Matt. I don't drink grapefruit juice.

Now we have nothing but good food in there and lots of extra space. And no grapefruit juice. Yippee!

Baking Day

Yesterday was baking day in our house. A new phenomena, but definitely a keeper. Why not dirty up measuring cups, spoons and bowls all at the same time?! It's great!

So want to know what we made? Whole wheat waffles*, banana crumb muffins, oat bran muffins*, and breakfast hot pockets. (*Recipe below.)

It was great fun and now my freezer is filled with yummy, healthy, items M can grab and take for breakfast on workdays.

Best of all, Morenna was well-behaved and emptied and examined all the items in her play cupboard while I cooked. It's so nice to freely move around the kitchen without a little one tugging on your pant leg.

Whole Wheat Waffles 1 3/4 cup wheat flour 1 3/4 cup buttermilk Combine and let soak overnight. Then mix in: 1 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 2 eggs 1/4 cup coconut oil (or I use 1/2 cup of applesauce) Pour batter onto greased waffle iron. Best if served with fruit syrup.

Oat Bran Muffins 2 cups oat bran 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 1 cup milk 2 T. oil (or 1/4 applesauce) 1/4 cup molasses 1 egg Mix all ingredients together and spoon into a greased or lined muffin pan. Bake at 425F for 15-17 minutes.

A Night Away...

Gosh, a night away with my best friend sounded like so much fun! And so many of you agreed with me that the Mandarin-Oriental DC hotel looked like just the place to kick back and relax. Boy, was I wrong. Let me share our weekend with you...

We arrived at the Mandarin around 2:30pm after a leisurely morning browsing the stores at the Pentagon City mall. We had reserved a premiere waterfront suite with a view of the Jefferson Memorial. Our view was definitely beautiful, but our room looked very little like this picture that represented it on the website. It was nowhere near this large. Here's what our room actually looked like:
And what the picture fails to show is the lovely set of railroad tracks directly under the windows. Every 30-60minutes your room starts vibrating when Amtrak thunders past. Great fun. And the furniture was pretty ratty.

As I mentioned, the view was lovely, but the windows were so dirty I couldn't take any good pictures through them. Major bummer. Here's the best one I was able to capture:

The bathroom was very classy, but the marble in the shower had rust stains and the wood vanity was scratched and smudged a great deal. Not the thing you would expect when staying at a five-star hotel and paying an arm and a leg.

We had called in the morning to schedule our reservations for dinner at the hotel's well-known restaurant, CityZen. Having not heard back from them upon check-in, we inquired if we could make a reservation for the evening... and were practically laughed out of the hotel. Apparently that restaurant's reservations fill up approx. 2 wks-2 months in advance. Oh.

I really can't tell you how disappointed we were. I had purchased a special Chinese dress (from Shanghai) for the occasion and, well, there were many other factors this hang-up complicated as well. I admit, at this point I started pouting. Big time. But after a lot of strange events (it would take too long to recount them all) we ended up being given a table for the 6:30pm seating. Thank you, Lord!

The food at the CityZen was delicious (though not even comparable to the stuff we raved about in St. Lucia)! Perhaps the most notable event was that I ate rabbit for the very first time. And it was really good! We did enjoy our time there, although our waitress left a lot to be desired (lots of fun stories there, but I'll save it for another time). But hey, it went with the theme of our weekend. :-) I wasn't able to capture any good pictures of us or the dress, but this kinda shows the artistry of the silk cheongsam. My husband adored it... which was all the mattered to me. :-)

On the whole, we would heartily discourage anyone from going to the Mandarin. I've left out a bunch of stories about the poor service and all the ways they nickle and dimed you out of your money. Probably the real breaking point for us was learning they had a $15 per 24 hour fee for wireless internet. Uh, come on! Even Super 8 motels have that for free. We had a far better experience (and far better suite - a bedroom, kitchen, and living room!!!) at the Reston Hyatt where we spent our wedding night. And it was half the price.

But should you think my weekend tale is over, it's not. On Sunday morning we found out that my mom had experienced some troubling symptons similar to retinal detachment with one of her eyes. Long story short, we had to head home early so she could make a visit to the ER. (Good news, it was a vitreous detachment, and not as much a cause for alarm.) So that definitely brought our already awkward weekend to a dramatic end.

::Sigh:: I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. :-P

Home as a Haven

I was encouraged and motivated by two ladies who decided to challenge themselves in making their home a haven (see here and here) for their family. I know I could always stand improvement and godly counsel in that area. So following their lead, I thought I'd post about how I'm trying to make my home a haven, specifically in keeping it tidy.

I'm in no way OCD about keeping my house clean... but as I mentioned before, I can't stand major messes and crumbs on the floor. Keeping a three story townhouse clean has been a challenge, though. Not to mention I have a hard time devoting a whole day (or week!) to cleaning. So I created a six-week plan that helps me keep the whole house clean, and the other odd household jobs in order. It's worked great for me so far, but better yet, my husband loves coming home to a tidy house (most days :-) ). It's far from fool proof, and there are some days I just don't get things done (as visitors to my house can definitely witness), but it's been very helpful to keep me on track.

A best friend...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how precious friendship is, especially friendship in the form of a husband. M didn't have to love me (in the way one might perceive family would), but he CHOSE to. In my situation, my husband decided to love me even when I was unlovable (and told him to get lost. :-/). He chose to remain by my side for the rest of my life, not because of what he could get out of it.

One thing I've learned in our five months of marriage is how selfless true love really is. My husband continues to teach me more and more about the love that Christ has for His church. I have to keep reminding myself that my husband's love is only a shadow of God's love for me... what a blessed thing! M., your love rightfully puts me to shame... May I grow in selflessly loving others. Your love has been one of the greatest blessings in my life, apart from my salvation. I love you, M.

A reflection on Christ and the Church