Thanksgiving has officially come and gone (but hopefully the leftovers will be around for a little while longer). I must be the only blogger in the world who hasn't done a Thanksgiving post. I think I was too busy enjoying it! But as they say, better late than never. Here are just a few things I am thankful for.
1. My husband. As I am typing this, he is in the kitchen baking cookies. Yeah. Mixing ingredients like a pro and everything. My husband is sweet. He gives me many hugs and kisses every day, and is always telling me how much he loves me. He is silly, and he makes me smile and laugh. He is passionate, has big dreams and big plans, and works hard to make them happen.
It might surprise some people to hear this, but I feel like Art and I were stuck in rut for a while, and now we're finally coming out of it. During our first year of marriage, we were so happy, even though we had no money. In our second year of marriage, we both had jobs, and were in more comfortable spot money-wise, but I feel like we weren't as happy. I remember thinking, "We've only been married two years, and I'm already wondering how we get back to being more happy and in love."
It's not like our marriage was in trouble. I never felt that way. But I felt like we weren't as close. Something was missing. And now? I think we're closer, happier, and more in love than ever. And I think this baby was definitely instrumental in bringing us back to that place.
2. Which brings me to the next item on this list. I'm thankful for our baby. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I told people that I wasn't necessarily enjoying pregnancy. I have always loved this baby, and I'm not sorry that I'm pregnant. But for the most part, being pregnant isn't...fun. It's mostly a seemingly endless string of odd, random, and annoying symptoms. But that all changed when I started to feel the baby kick. Up until then, I still had a hard time believing I was pregnant.
Yeah, I peed on a stick and saw a plus sign. Yeah, I went to the doctor and their tests confirmed it. Yeah, I got to hear the heartbeat. But before I could feel the baby inside me, I wondered if I would have to wait nine months for my reward. I didn't. Those little kicks and punches and tumbles and wiggles are a constant joy, for both Art and me. It's so incredible, to know that there is life inside of me, and even more so that it's happening without my having to do anything (other than eat and breathe).
All those verses in the Bible that talk about God weaving together life in the secret place become more real when it's happening inside of you. With the exception of the ultrasound, I cannot see our child. I cannot control how fast he or she is growing. I have no say in the order the organs are made, or how many fingers and toes s/he will have (hopefully 10 of each), or who they will look like, or who they will become. God is doing it all, and I can't see any of it, but I can finally feel it. I get to be the vessel inside which God is forming His favorite creation. It is awesome and humbling.
3. I am thankful for my family. At one of the family gatherings for Canadian Thanksgiving, my relatives kept repeating how blessed we were as a family. I have a large extended family, and every one of us is a Christian. That in itself makes us rare. We're also all close. Many people expressed that we are family AND friends. So many families out there are feuding, or estranged. There is none of that with my family.
That's not to say that there aren't struggles. But I have never once dreaded a family gathering because of those certain relatives who cause tension or embarrassment. There is only joy when getting together with my relatives.
And now that I live here, I don't get to be a part of most of those gatherings. But I never feel as though I don't have family, because out here, we've created our own. There are Art's parents and his siblings, and then there are friends who have become family. It's a much smaller group than my family back in Manitoba, but it's comforting to know that we have friends who are so close, they feel like family. People we expect to be with during major holidays and celebrations, and also get together with whenever we feel like it.
This also means that our baby won't be without "uncles", "aunts", and "cousins". In the absence of an abundance of blood relatives, God has provided adopted family members as well. They started out as friends, and now they are so much closer than that.
4. I don't really have a fourth item. I could go on and on. I'm thankful for the beauty of Washington, I'm thankful to be living in America, I'm thankful for my job, and Art's job, and our apartment, and the car we just bought, and our gym....
God has been so good to us. How often I forget. Really, we should never stop being thankful. But since I'm so prone to forgetfulness, I'm glad that there is a time of year specifically set aside for us to remember God's goodness and thank Him for His blessings.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creators here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
November 27, 2010
November 22, 2010
Christmas Cards
Unlike (what seems like) the rest of the world, we have not been into the whole "sending out Christmas cards" thing. I love getting Christmas cards from others, and I like the idea of sending out our own, but I've never wanted to spend the money on it. Christmas is already expensive!
I started to change my mind after our trip to Manitoba. While we were there, we took family photos, and they turned out really nicely! Our photographer (the same woman who shot our wedding) took some of just Art and me. When I saw them, I thought that maybe this should be the year when we send Christmas cards.
And then my blogging friend Callie posted something one her blog that sealed the deal: Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers who blog about the promotion. You still have to pay for shipping and taxes, but I dare you to find a better deal on Christmas cards than the one from Shutterfly.
Callie also mentioned their incredible selection, and she wasn't kidding! I've only just barely poked around the site a little bit, and I'm already overwhelmed! I don't know how I can possibly choose.
[Actually, I do know how I'll choose. I'll ask Art, and he'll choose one. He will care what our Christmas cards look like.]
So thank you Callie for blogging about this deal. I'm pretty excited about it. If I can manage not to forget to actually put in my order, we'll be sending out Christmas cards for the very first time!
I started to change my mind after our trip to Manitoba. While we were there, we took family photos, and they turned out really nicely! Our photographer (the same woman who shot our wedding) took some of just Art and me. When I saw them, I thought that maybe this should be the year when we send Christmas cards.
And then my blogging friend Callie posted something one her blog that sealed the deal: Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers who blog about the promotion. You still have to pay for shipping and taxes, but I dare you to find a better deal on Christmas cards than the one from Shutterfly.
Callie also mentioned their incredible selection, and she wasn't kidding! I've only just barely poked around the site a little bit, and I'm already overwhelmed! I don't know how I can possibly choose.
[Actually, I do know how I'll choose. I'll ask Art, and he'll choose one. He will care what our Christmas cards look like.]
So thank you Callie for blogging about this deal. I'm pretty excited about it. If I can manage not to forget to actually put in my order, we'll be sending out Christmas cards for the very first time!
November 20, 2010
"I Want to Put a Cloud In My Mouth"
[The title of this post has nothing to do with what I'm actually going to write about. It's something a friend of mine said when we were talking about how whipped and smooth we like our mashed potatoes to be.]
Art and I returned a few hours ago from a "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" conference. If one every comes to your area, you should go. Both Art and I commented that our faces hurt from smiling and laughing so much.
There are a million marriage books and conferences out there, and they all have great things to teach you. What's different about this one is that Mark Gungor does it with humor. He's just a funny guy! Even when he's being serious, he's funny. I also like his style of being straight-forward. He doesn't tiptoe around the issues. He did a full hour on sex, and he was almost....graphic? Not graphic. But he speaks more plainly about it than any other pastor or speaker I've ever heard.
I like pastors who are willing to tell it like it is, even at the risk of offending people. Because if it's truth, it's truth, and they're not going to soften it for the sake of those who might get upset.
So yeah, we really enjoyed it. And not only was the conference great, but it was in a beautiful location. We had to drive a couple of hours to get there, and the conference was Friday evening and Saturday morning, so we booked a hotel room with a gorgeous view. We were actually going to make a weekend out of it (stay through until Sunday), but when we heard the forecast for snow, we changed our reservations. It's kind of too bad, because we haven't really gone away, for the sake of getting away, since our honeymoon.
But with the money we would have spent on that second night, we instead went out for a really nice dinner on Friday evening. We ordered a rack of lamb. I have never had meat that tender before. It was better than steak. There's a reason it's so pricey!
The other good thing about only staying one night is that we'll get to go to church tomorrow morning, and the Thanksgiving potluck afterward. Since we've only been going to that church for a little more than a month, we still don't know people very well. I thought the potluck would be a great opportunity for that, and I didn't want to miss it. And now we won't!
Okay, let me show you some pictures from this weekend.
This was our room. I only remembered to take pictures right before we checked out, so that's why the bedding is all crumpled.
On the other side of the wall from the bed was this room!
It had a TV (there were actually two TVs in the whole suite), a fireplace, couches, and a kitchen area. Pretty sweet huh?
And this was the view from our room:
Same view, but taken from the ground, later in the day.
The conference was right down the road from where we stayed, so we could just walk there. But oh my word, was it COLD and WINDY!!!! I haven't felt that bitter icy blast since living in Manitoba. It even affected the room we stayed in. We were on the fourth floor, and when we first got to the room, we cranked up the heat as high as it would go. And we turned on the fireplace.
An hour later, we were both still wearing our coats. In our room. Thankfully, by the time the evening session of the conference was over, our room was toasty.
The wind and snow and ice followed us home though. As I'm sitting here typing this, I can hear the wind howling outside. It's unusual for this part of Washington to get this winter weather so early, and it isn't usually accompanied by arctic blasts. Thankfully, this is supposed to be short-lived. It's going to get a little warmer during the week, enough to make the roads less treacherous.
So, in summary: Mark Gungor makes people laugh while teaching them things that will enhance their marriages, we still got to have a romantic getaway, even if it was only for one night, and the weather outside is frightful, and I hope it goes away soon. Although, I do love the snow. But I don't love the wind or the ice.
Art and I returned a few hours ago from a "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" conference. If one every comes to your area, you should go. Both Art and I commented that our faces hurt from smiling and laughing so much.
There are a million marriage books and conferences out there, and they all have great things to teach you. What's different about this one is that Mark Gungor does it with humor. He's just a funny guy! Even when he's being serious, he's funny. I also like his style of being straight-forward. He doesn't tiptoe around the issues. He did a full hour on sex, and he was almost....graphic? Not graphic. But he speaks more plainly about it than any other pastor or speaker I've ever heard.
I like pastors who are willing to tell it like it is, even at the risk of offending people. Because if it's truth, it's truth, and they're not going to soften it for the sake of those who might get upset.
So yeah, we really enjoyed it. And not only was the conference great, but it was in a beautiful location. We had to drive a couple of hours to get there, and the conference was Friday evening and Saturday morning, so we booked a hotel room with a gorgeous view. We were actually going to make a weekend out of it (stay through until Sunday), but when we heard the forecast for snow, we changed our reservations. It's kind of too bad, because we haven't really gone away, for the sake of getting away, since our honeymoon.
But with the money we would have spent on that second night, we instead went out for a really nice dinner on Friday evening. We ordered a rack of lamb. I have never had meat that tender before. It was better than steak. There's a reason it's so pricey!
The other good thing about only staying one night is that we'll get to go to church tomorrow morning, and the Thanksgiving potluck afterward. Since we've only been going to that church for a little more than a month, we still don't know people very well. I thought the potluck would be a great opportunity for that, and I didn't want to miss it. And now we won't!
Okay, let me show you some pictures from this weekend.
This was our room. I only remembered to take pictures right before we checked out, so that's why the bedding is all crumpled.
On the other side of the wall from the bed was this room!
It had a TV (there were actually two TVs in the whole suite), a fireplace, couches, and a kitchen area. Pretty sweet huh?
And this was the view from our room:
Same view, but taken from the ground, later in the day.
The conference was right down the road from where we stayed, so we could just walk there. But oh my word, was it COLD and WINDY!!!! I haven't felt that bitter icy blast since living in Manitoba. It even affected the room we stayed in. We were on the fourth floor, and when we first got to the room, we cranked up the heat as high as it would go. And we turned on the fireplace.
An hour later, we were both still wearing our coats. In our room. Thankfully, by the time the evening session of the conference was over, our room was toasty.
The wind and snow and ice followed us home though. As I'm sitting here typing this, I can hear the wind howling outside. It's unusual for this part of Washington to get this winter weather so early, and it isn't usually accompanied by arctic blasts. Thankfully, this is supposed to be short-lived. It's going to get a little warmer during the week, enough to make the roads less treacherous.
So, in summary: Mark Gungor makes people laugh while teaching them things that will enhance their marriages, we still got to have a romantic getaway, even if it was only for one night, and the weather outside is frightful, and I hope it goes away soon. Although, I do love the snow. But I don't love the wind or the ice.
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