Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
you love me the same
{you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same}
i have sung this line a time or two or ten or maybe a hundred. i have never felt the reassurance of grace in that lyric as much as i did sunday singing in church.
{you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same}
i find it difficult to fathom the measure of that love. more so than any of my dearest friends, god sees the depths of my heart. he sees my jealousy, my anger, my unkind and impure thoughts, my struggles, my insecurities, my flaws. though some of these depths may go unspoken to those around me, god still sees them. he sees those depths and fills them with grace and love, not judgment. not for a moment does his love waiver.
this reminds me of a quote i recently stumbled upon by a.w. tozer: "the goodness of god is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend." i am quite uncertain that we will ever fully and truly comprehend all of god's goodness, including the depths of his love.
as much as we often claim to love our family and friends unconditionally, i wonder how much our love could actually bear before we bend and break and our love begins to waiver and weather in the storms. i would love to sit here and claim that my love would be and is unending, but i am not certain that i could promise my love would surpass all the depths that life can bring if i was truly put to the test, at least not in my own human want or strength. but peter encourages us to "be full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds" {1 peter 3:8}. in order to love as god loves, we must be near to him, to know him, to know his love.
i have sung this line a time or two or ten or maybe a hundred. i have never felt the reassurance of grace in that lyric as much as i did sunday singing in church.
{you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same}
i find it difficult to fathom the measure of that love. more so than any of my dearest friends, god sees the depths of my heart. he sees my jealousy, my anger, my unkind and impure thoughts, my struggles, my insecurities, my flaws. though some of these depths may go unspoken to those around me, god still sees them. he sees those depths and fills them with grace and love, not judgment. not for a moment does his love waiver.
this reminds me of a quote i recently stumbled upon by a.w. tozer: "the goodness of god is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend." i am quite uncertain that we will ever fully and truly comprehend all of god's goodness, including the depths of his love.
as much as we often claim to love our family and friends unconditionally, i wonder how much our love could actually bear before we bend and break and our love begins to waiver and weather in the storms. i would love to sit here and claim that my love would be and is unending, but i am not certain that i could promise my love would surpass all the depths that life can bring if i was truly put to the test, at least not in my own human want or strength. but peter encourages us to "be full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds" {1 peter 3:8}. in order to love as god loves, we must be near to him, to know him, to know his love.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
new couches
"a couch is something that understands your past, believes in your future, and supports you just the way you are" {quote mildly edited by chezmk}
chezmk is the treasured residence of yours truly and my dear friend, kristi. i originally introduced chezmk in one of my earliest blogs, but thought i should refresh your memory. it is incredible to think that we have now been in this house for nearly four and a half years. we moved in fresh out of college and have been accumulating memories ever since. being as we were fresh out of college, our bank accounts weren't exactly overflowing with milk and honey, so we were fortunate to settle for some hand-me-down couches. old or not, these two couches were so comfortable. we grew to love them and hold them dear to our hearts (and our sunday afternoon naps!).
some things cannot last forever, though. it came to a point where every time someone sat on the futon, a bar would fall off, literally. the solution each time was to stuff more magazines under for support. at one point, papa w (our lynchburg dad) made us a block of wood, painted black to match the end tables and tv stand, to provide better support than the magazines. a little over a month ago, though, we realized that the couches were just on their last magazine. the futon had officially become a safety hazard. so, it was time for me to start shopping around for big girl furniture. i shopped and shopped some more, but i had my heart set on grey couches and grey couches were proving hard to find. long story short, i found some couches, ordered couches, and waited for the couches to be delivered (and waited some more).
call me crazy, but it was sad putting those old couches on the side of the road. good change or not, change is difficult for me and i knew i would miss those comfy, old couches. (i was also shocked that those couches were gone before i even got home from work...one man's junk is another man's treasure.) well, the couches finally arrived and to say the least, i was disappointed. i did not like them in my living room. they were just too bulky. after some rearranging and some other updates to the living room, i finally fell in love with my new big girl living room.
now that i have babbled about couches (i even cut out some babbling), enjoy the before and afters...
chezmk is the treasured residence of yours truly and my dear friend, kristi. i originally introduced chezmk in one of my earliest blogs, but thought i should refresh your memory. it is incredible to think that we have now been in this house for nearly four and a half years. we moved in fresh out of college and have been accumulating memories ever since. being as we were fresh out of college, our bank accounts weren't exactly overflowing with milk and honey, so we were fortunate to settle for some hand-me-down couches. old or not, these two couches were so comfortable. we grew to love them and hold them dear to our hearts (and our sunday afternoon naps!).
some things cannot last forever, though. it came to a point where every time someone sat on the futon, a bar would fall off, literally. the solution each time was to stuff more magazines under for support. at one point, papa w (our lynchburg dad) made us a block of wood, painted black to match the end tables and tv stand, to provide better support than the magazines. a little over a month ago, though, we realized that the couches were just on their last magazine. the futon had officially become a safety hazard. so, it was time for me to start shopping around for big girl furniture. i shopped and shopped some more, but i had my heart set on grey couches and grey couches were proving hard to find. long story short, i found some couches, ordered couches, and waited for the couches to be delivered (and waited some more).
call me crazy, but it was sad putting those old couches on the side of the road. good change or not, change is difficult for me and i knew i would miss those comfy, old couches. (i was also shocked that those couches were gone before i even got home from work...one man's junk is another man's treasure.) well, the couches finally arrived and to say the least, i was disappointed. i did not like them in my living room. they were just too bulky. after some rearranging and some other updates to the living room, i finally fell in love with my new big girl living room.
now that i have babbled about couches (i even cut out some babbling), enjoy the before and afters...
n + d
natasha + dennis = newlyweds.
they are the crew's newest married couple. congratulations to them! they had a beautiful outdoor, barn wedding. it reflected the couple's personalities perfectly.
they are the crew's newest married couple. congratulations to them! they had a beautiful outdoor, barn wedding. it reflected the couple's personalities perfectly.
we call this lineup the dream team:
and this, this makes me immensely thankful and blessed to have these friends in my life.
so, friends, who is next?!?!?
designing my man
if i was a a better writer and could formulate words into eloquently written sentences more, i would describe to you all of my mixed emotions and feelings about being content in my singleness versus my desire to be in a relationship. mixed emotions about sums it up, though. seriously. maybe at some point i will actually take some time and try to explore the crevices of my heart and express those feelings, but not now. right now you are about to get something completely different.
i cannot count how many times i have been asked this weighted question, "what is your type?" my type? i suppose my type should be the equivalent to if i could design the perfect man... is that what that question means?!?! i never know how to respond to that question, but over the course of this last week, i have shared some fun moments with some friends that are beginning to mold my type, or at least what ideally sounds promising. i will continue adding to this list, and maybe someday we'll see how much of this becomes reality. enjoy...
{older, more mature, career-established man}
in other words, a dentist. though they would argue that the conversation developed a little differently, some married friends of mine decided i need to marry an older, more mature man. to the wife, this meant a dentist. to the husband, this meant a guy with an established career. my interpretation = my friends think i'm high maintenance and need someone rich. i'm sure this isn't exactly what they were thinking, but there may be some validity in that argument either way.
{hot and tall}
here is how this one popped into conversation.
me: kristi, how would you like your PSL?
kristi: hot and tall.
me: that's how i like my men, too!
i'll admit that there is certainly truth in this one. i may be short, but i'm no size two, so i've always wanted a guy who will make me feel petite (and secure and protected). and why not have some good looks to go along with that security, right?
{miranda lynn alexander}
how regal does that name sound? i likey. okay, maybe this one is a little too specific, but fun nonetheless. in watching the news last evening with a couple of my friends, this attractive gentleman was giving some report about the election. he may have caught our attention. to clarify, his looks caught our attention, not his report. we're being transparent, right? the girls decided i needed his last name. our initial response was to google him to determine his age. i typed this in the search box, "peter alexander..." (go ahead, google him. i'll be honest though, he was more attractive on tv, than in some of his google pics.) before i even hit enter, the first automated search line that appeared was "peter alexander married." i guess i missed my chance with that one and apparently so did a number of other interested women in america. sorry, ladies.
i cannot count how many times i have been asked this weighted question, "what is your type?" my type? i suppose my type should be the equivalent to if i could design the perfect man... is that what that question means?!?! i never know how to respond to that question, but over the course of this last week, i have shared some fun moments with some friends that are beginning to mold my type, or at least what ideally sounds promising. i will continue adding to this list, and maybe someday we'll see how much of this becomes reality. enjoy...
{older, more mature, career-established man}
in other words, a dentist. though they would argue that the conversation developed a little differently, some married friends of mine decided i need to marry an older, more mature man. to the wife, this meant a dentist. to the husband, this meant a guy with an established career. my interpretation = my friends think i'm high maintenance and need someone rich. i'm sure this isn't exactly what they were thinking, but there may be some validity in that argument either way.
{hot and tall}
here is how this one popped into conversation.
me: kristi, how would you like your PSL?
kristi: hot and tall.
me: that's how i like my men, too!
i'll admit that there is certainly truth in this one. i may be short, but i'm no size two, so i've always wanted a guy who will make me feel petite (and secure and protected). and why not have some good looks to go along with that security, right?
{miranda lynn alexander}
how regal does that name sound? i likey. okay, maybe this one is a little too specific, but fun nonetheless. in watching the news last evening with a couple of my friends, this attractive gentleman was giving some report about the election. he may have caught our attention. to clarify, his looks caught our attention, not his report. we're being transparent, right? the girls decided i needed his last name. our initial response was to google him to determine his age. i typed this in the search box, "peter alexander..." (go ahead, google him. i'll be honest though, he was more attractive on tv, than in some of his google pics.) before i even hit enter, the first automated search line that appeared was "peter alexander married." i guess i missed my chance with that one and apparently so did a number of other interested women in america. sorry, ladies.
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
family visit
i hinted a couple of posts ago about a few highlights that have happened over the last few weeks. it is about time that i actually share those with you. so here is the first of a few posts...
my sister and two of my nephews came to visit. love that! it is always a highly anticipated trip before they head back to school and the boys always have two things on their to-do list while they are here: putt putt and go-karts!
we had a fun week. a few of the items i had on my idea list did not happen due to weather that was uncooperative, but we will try to save some of those ideas for the next trip.
take a look at some of the fun we had:
i also had the boys fighting over who got to mow the lawn. can you imagine that?!!? unfortunately, i didn't get to take advantage of that because it rained, but maybe next time.
love my boys and sister so very much and thankful they made the six hour journey down to see me! what i love more is that they can still enjoy aunt randa time. they are growing up far too quickly.
my sister and two of my nephews came to visit. love that! it is always a highly anticipated trip before they head back to school and the boys always have two things on their to-do list while they are here: putt putt and go-karts!
we had a fun week. a few of the items i had on my idea list did not happen due to weather that was uncooperative, but we will try to save some of those ideas for the next trip.
take a look at some of the fun we had:
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| we painted pottery! this was the first time for them. |
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| fun at the splash park in town. |
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| the boys played at the bounce house while it rained and rained outside. |
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| we played putt putt, raced the go-karts, and challenged each other in a game of laser tag. skylar thought he was going to finally be tall enough to drive the go-karts on his own. he didn't quite make it, but next year...watch out...cause he'll be on your tail on the race track! |
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| lastly, we made funny faces while eating frozen yogurt for dinner. |
love my boys and sister so very much and thankful they made the six hour journey down to see me! what i love more is that they can still enjoy aunt randa time. they are growing up far too quickly.
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