Chatty Cathy

Sarabeth has definitely been watching "someone" talk on the phone. She is such a parrot and I have to be so careful what I say and do-I turn around and she's doing the same thing I am.

MHR-Friday

This week I got the sweetest email from my hubby. If you know me, you know I LOVE getting mail, email, whatever kind of mail. I love letters, cards, notes, all that kind of stuff-especially from Matt. When we were in college we used to both sit in the computer library and instant message each other from across the room...so goofy but I loved it! This month we started a Bible study together on Genesis-something I have been wanting to do for a while. Since we've been traveling a lot lately, we weren't able to meet to discuss our first week so Matt sent me an email to make sure we were still meeting this week to go over it. Here is part of the email I got:

Good Morning, Beautiful!

I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you right now, literally, as I do every morning. I don’t think I tell you often enough when and how much time I spend praying for you. I can say with conviction that God has heard and answered my prayers as He has protected you and is actively refining you in some very obvious and awesome ways. I sense a burning building in your spirit to seek God’s will and wisdom in His word and it excites me more than I can tell you! My conviction as a result of this is to always fan that fire by encouraging you and to keep myself from ever being a bucket of water thrown on that fire. I love watching God work on, in and through you! That being said… I have been spending my morning quiet times in the study we chose to do together and I wanted to make sure we were going at the same pace.

Matt makes my day, even when he's not trying!

Oh yeah, and he always fixes my car!

Now Starring

Here is a video of Sarabeth I took a few weeks ago. Of course she never wants to "perform" for me when I have the camera out but I was trying to get her to make her animal sounds-which she does so well. I had to help her out a little, which is a little annoying sounding on the video, try to enjoy it anyway! I have tons of video but I am still trying to figure out how to load it on here.

Will Run For Beans

Check out my new training site. This will be a place where I will post updates on my fund raising and training. I will also post pictures of the team and our events along with stories about our honor patient and others that are battling this disease. Follow me and tell others!

Role Call

A few weeks ago our Life Group teacher shared a lesson on what it means to "hear God's call" on your life. We hear people use the terms "God told me, or God is calling me" and I always wonder what that sounds like. I now understand that these sounds come from the heart, not the air.

God's call to me is ultimately to serve him by spreading the Good News in the role God chose for me, which is a wife. Although, that isn't my only job, it is the most important human relationship I will have. Let's look at Genesis 2:18 "Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." The word "helper" is translated into a Hebrew word 'ezer which is used in the Old Testament to describe only 3 people, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and woman. I'd say I'm in good company! What an honor to be grouped in with the most Holy God! A title of honor and worth! This is just proof that my role as my husband's helper is vital and the highest calling God has put on my life. This is not to be confused with being a slave to him or lesser than him. God calls us to come alongside our mate to help them, not in front of or behind-very important!

I value my role as a mother to my sweet baby girl, but I can't get lost in that being my only job. Although I love Sarabeth to pieces, I would be doing her an injustice by serving her first instead of God and then Matt. She will learn how to love and how God calls us to serve him in our roles by watching me serve her heavenly father and her earthly one. I have to understand that everything else in life gets ordered around that priority first.

I often get caught up in doing things the right way all the time and making sure I do enough for Sarabeth and teach her everyday and take time to spend with her alone, it's enough to make me crazy! I need to know that by honoring my 'Role Call' as a wife to my husband, that God will honor my time and give me those priceless moments with my daughter and everything else will fall into place.

My Husband Rocks Friday

It's been a while since I have posted MHR, not because he doesn't-just because we've been on the run every weekend lately. This past weekend Matt and I went to Weekend To Remember hosted by Family Life. We had been before, but neither of us were really in a place that would allow God to speak to us so we decided to try it again. Everything was pointing toward us not being able to make it this year! At the last minute we had to find alternate child care for Sarabeth and then I had overwhelming anxiety about leaving her overnight for the first time! The day before the conference, our friends called us and said their daughter's school was shut down for swine flu and wanted me to know just in case I didn't want SB going over there for the weekend, yikes! Luckily I'm not a media junkie and I like to trust God when it comes to crazy things like that and we dropped SB off bright and early Saturday morning to head to the conference. We knew God had something BIG for us this weekend-and He did.

Matt and I had an incredible weekend reconnecting and learning. We spent some time alone writing a letter to each other and praying for our spouse. We had some tough moments throughout the weekend, but this time we handled them with grace for each other and understanding that God was in control-not us. It's amazing that no matter how great you may think your marriage is, there's always room for improvement.

So after a weekend like this, it wasn't hard to think about all the reasons My Husband Rocks. Here are a few things that I brought away from the weekend-although they aren't new reasons, just reminders.

Matt rocks because He loves God, his wife, and his daughter-in that order.

Matt rocks because he knows what it means to be a man of God in this ugly world we live in and he knows he can't do it without God's strength and the Holy Spirit.

Matt rocks because he is a safe place I can go and be transparent without judgement.

Matt rocks because he fights fair, always seeing the big picture, pointing us back to God and being the first to ask for forgiveness and granting it to me so graciously.

These are nothing new to me, just things about Matt I sometimes overlook while searching for something wrong! Matt, I receive you as my God given gift of a mate and promise to treat you as such. You Rock!

Day Spring Plates

I was so excited to see this post today at Nesting Place! I seriously own a partial set of blue dishes that was originally a place setting for 4. They all have chips and were a bargain at Service Merchandise when Matt and I got married in 2002. It's time for an upgrade. I've been wanting new everyday wear forever but with so many choices out there it's so hard to decide. I want something that I wont' get tired of looking at in 20 years-and something that will last that long! I have narrowed it down to something all white so that I can add some fun pieces to it for different occasions. I fell in love with these plates on Nesting Place's blog. They are giving some away and you can go there to enter to win too!