~Proverbs 31:The Wife of Noble Character~

"A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life .

She selects wool and flax

and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships,

bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still dark;

she provides food for her family

and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about hr work vigorously;

her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that here trading is profitable,

and her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand she holds the distaff

and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

She opens her arms to the poor

and extends her hands to the needy.

When it snows, she has no fear for her household;

for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed;

she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

Her husband is respected at the city gate,

where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments and sells them,

and supplies the merchants with sashes.

She is clothed with strenght and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

'Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all.'

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned,

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate"

~Proverbs 31: 10-31

ok, so most of you are familiar with this passage and I think that most Christian wives do want to strive for this in their own lives. I hope so anyway. Am I this woman the passage is describing? Not yet...But, I belive this is the character that God wants me to have..the character He wants to build in me this next year. That excites me! For too long I have clung to the "I'm not good enough" or "I could never do that" that comes from fear and guilt (obviously not of God). Praise God! He has brought me out of that and has made me more sensitive to the spiritual warfare that is going on around me. Thank you:)

let's go back to Mothers Day 2008.....

....yep, this is what I woke up to on Mother's Day 2008:) totally took me by surprise...after all, I'm not a mother. But Mike was so sweet to buy me a beautiful heart necklace, a teddy bear and chocolate with a card from him and a card from Rose (our dog). It was so touching and one of the many thoughtful things he has done for me in the years we have been married. Just wanted to share:)

The Martyr's Song...and other stuff

Mike has been reading to me at night:) In case you can't tell by the smiley face...I really like when he does that. My dad use to read to us when I was younger and he still reads to my mom. I think that's why I like it so much....seems to be family tradition. It is just relaxing and nice to be read to....so much nicer than just sitting in front of the tv and letting my mind be turned to mush. Mike just finished Ted Dekker's The Martyr's Song . It was really good short read and even has a Bible study guide in the back. So go buy it! I think you can get it on Amazon for about $4, or at a Christian bookstore if you have to have it immediately. I like Amazon because it's nice to get packages in the mail:)

Now I need to find our next book to read! For Christmas Mike bought me New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series. I finished it in no time and then went and bought Eclipse as an early birthday present for myself. I haven't started it yet but I do plan on taking it to work tomorrow just in case it's as slow as I think it might be. I intended to read it today since I was off of work but I actually slept in today (8:45 is sleeping in for me) and then took down our Christmas decorations and then did absolutely nothing. Very lazy I know, but was nice.

Not sure what our plans are for new years eve. I think we will be doing something with our good friends Travis and Lalanya. Last night Travis, Lalanya, Selvin and Laurel came over for dinner (we had Taco's and Mike's delicious Taco Bake...yum!), games (Clue:The office edition!) and just talking about life and seeing what God really says about it....while you can argue with peoples advice, it's a bit harder to disagree with God's point of view! It was an uplifting time and I went to bed last night so thankful for our friends, for Mike and for the grace that has been given me by my Savior!

softball and the beach...2 of my favorite things:)

my first half marathon...whoo hoo!

Highlights

With Christmas over and a new year quickly approaching it's been nice looking over the past year...the highs, the lows, the good, the bad and the ugly. Did I accomplish half the things I intended to? Not by a long shot, but it's ok:) No need to beat myself up. The next couple of entries are just some highlights of the year:) Enjoy:)

~Highlights of 2009~ Daniel & Jamie's wedding-May 30th~

Almost here!

*so I'm not sure how this didn't get published the other day...*

It is hard to belive Christmas is only 4 days away! We have had a wonderful, busy Christmas season. Saturday morning my parents came through on their way to the beach and we had breakfast together (I made Autumn Eggs with Potatoes and Crescent Rollups and lemon poppy seed muffins...quite yummy if I do say so myself), and then we opened gifts. Mom and dad gave us the game Would you Rather. I also got an awesome pair of homemade knit socks from my mom (she is an AMAZING knitter!) and chocolate (can't go wrong there!) Mike got a really nice pair of gloves and...something else. I can't remember. I know, that's horrible.

Saturday afernoon we had Christmas with Leah & Shawn (Mike's step sister and her husband), Ron, Kathy, Noah and Ryan (Mike's step brother and his wife and 2 boys), Sheila, Kaitlyn, Cassidy & Chandler (Mike's sister and her kids) and Ralph & Wyanne (Mike's step dad and mom). We had a really good time! It's the first time we have celebrated with all of them....I hope it is the first of many years to come of celebrating our Saviors birth with all of them:)

That night we had a Christmas party downtown at Ben & Claire's. Their place was decorated so nicely, the food was amazing (I know, sounds like all I've done is eat...well, truth be told, that's all it feels like I've been doing!) Mike made a squash casserole and it was gone in no time, so there's another dish that is "his"

2:14:57...

...was the time it took me to run my half marathon! yay! it's over:) I had so much fun, I beat my estimated time by 15 minutes and was actually not in too much pain the next morning. I placed 178 of 322 in my division (Females 25-29) and overall I placed 1508 of 2688, so I am really pleased! I was able to run the whole thing and not take any walking breaks. After a short break I'm ready to start training for my next one- The Albany Snickers Marathon. Figure I'll do one more half and then train for a full.

It was interesting. I have never considered myself a runner before, even while training for the race. Well on Saturday morning as I was riding on the shuttle from parking to the start line it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day....it was cold but the sun was coming up and not a sign of the rain they had called for and I just felt God smiling, telling me to enjoy this, that I was a runner and that this was the day He had given me. I think I smiled nonstop for the first 6 miles...after that there wasn't much of a smile...after mile 10 I think I had a grimace on my face until about the end. lol.

Anyway, here's to goals being accomplished that you never thought possible just a year before!

T-minus 22 hours!

I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be at this point:) Tomorrow at 8:00 I will start my first half marathon. yay! I am super excited! I feel I've put a lot of work into this and I'm just looking forward to getting started and finishing it! I'm hoping to finish in 2 and a half hours...of course my main goal is to just finish and I have no doubt that I will! Tonight my good friend, Starla, and I are driving down to Kiawah Island, SC to stay the night and then she has been kind enough to volunteer to drive me home tomorrow (should my legs tighten up like I think they might:))

As excited as I am about tomorrow I am sad I won't be here tonight or tomorrow:( Tonight several of the girls from youth group are having a concert at their school and I really really wanted to go support them. Oh well. Sigh. Tomorrow is the ladies Christmas tea at church which is always fun and I wish I could be there for that. Again...oh well....and another sigh:)

Hard to believe Christmas is 2 weeks from today! Aggghhhh! noooo!!! I'm not ready! I thought I was, but I'm not...I don't have my Christmas cards out yet, I'm dragging my feet on the homemade goodies I'm making for people and I'm not done Christmas shopping! Guess I'd better get on the ball first thing Monday:)

Please Pray!

Last night I found out that a friend of mine is in the hospital. I had known she had a flare up with her Crohn's disease so I figured it was related to that....well, it was, but I was SHOCKED to find out she had had a stroke! What?! I did a double take when I heard it. Here is the email from her mother explaining it.

It's 3:00 am ,I just got home, and have to be back @ work in 3 hours, so this will be somewhat brief...please pass this email to the prayer chain and our Sunday School class...

Please pray for Lauren, our 17 year old. She had a seizure this afternoon which we learned this evening was the result of a stroke which the doctors believe was related to her Crohn's flare up last month. There is almost no blood flow going to the entire left side of her brain due to the very large clot that is forming. It is imperative to treat the clot before severe damage is done. The standard treatment for this is a "blood thinner". Making the situation even more critical is the fact that "blood thinners" and Crohn's disease are not a good mix...especially when the person is still recovering from a flare up as Lauren is. They will have to monitor her digestive system just as closely as her brain.

She will have a blood transfusion early in the morning due to her hemoglobin being 6.5 (a lingering and worsening result of her flare up). There are risks associated with giving blood as well since they are trying to "thin" the blood. So she is somewhat trapped in a very dangerous cycle right now, and she is being very closely monitored (they will be waking her up every hour to assess her).

The upside to all of this is that she is considerably stable. After her seizure she was very disoriented and confused for a couple hours. However, by the time I left her side tonight, she was "appropriate" (as we refer to it in the medical field). She looks and acts "normal" for the most part. She still looks puny as she recovers from her flare up, but otherwise she seems fine. The neurologist is amazed at the fact that she is so normal neurologically given the significant size of the clot...we know Who gets the credit for that! I never thought I'd be thankful for a seizure, but I have foudn that the Lord was gracious enough to send us one to give us a heads up!

Thank you in advance for your prayers for Lauren and her family!

~Questions for God~

~where did Lazarus go when he died? The Bible says it is appointed for man once to die. Can you imagine in Lazarus went to Heaven and then got pulled back to earth 3 days later. That would kind of suck:)

~Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the flesh? In Genesis it talks about God visiting Abraham (when they told him Sarah would give birth to a son) and it came in the form of 3 visitors...was it God and 2 men or God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit?

~What did you write in the sand? Before answering a crowd about stoning a woman who had been guilty of adultary you wrote something in the sand

~If Heaven was such a perfect place how was it that Satan sinned there?

~Where exactly is the ark of the covenant?

~What is my new name? (ok, so I know I won't have to ask. There is so much anticipation to hear Him call me that as I rush into His arms)

~what was the forbidden fruit? I get tired of people referring to it as an apple....well it might be, I don't know

~Can you explain the whole "time being no more" thing to me? My mind just can't grasp it. How there be no time?

~Did you really have to make snakes?

~will I one day taste manna?

~Am I doing enough? I know I am saved by grace and that my best is filthy rags compared to you. It is not by works .....but at the same time....faith, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

5 years ago....

.....I married the love of my life:) In all honesty we were strangers. We had known each other for a grand total of 3 months and for some crazy reason we thought it would be a good idea to get married:) I can say that we did have huge odd against us in the first year alone and it is only by the grace of God that we are together and closer than ever. I give Him the thanks alone and trust Him to continue to work in our marriage. My prayer is that we would glorify Him in our marriage and that it would be an example of the love of God.

When I look back on my wedding day I smile:) It was a gorgeous day...sunny and warm. Mike wrote and sang a song for me just for our special day...awww, how sweet:)We didn't spend a lot of money on our wedding (which I love...I tend to be a cheap skate!) My dress came from David's Bridal $99 sale, the only fee we had to pay for the church was the clean up fee, the church was already decorated for Christmas so we didn't have to decorate, a friend of Mike's made the wedding cake and grooms cake, a friend of a friend did our pictures and a friend of Wyanne's (my mother in law) did the catering. There weren't a lot of people that came and that use to bother me...looking back, it was perfect.

We didn't spend our wedding night in a fancy hotel. We stayed in our apartment before heading on our honeymoon the next day. We didn't go on any fabulous cruise or all inclusive resort. We spent our honeymoon in a small cabin in Hiawassee. It rained the whole time. We slept on the sofa bed in the living room so we could sleep in front of the fire. We made smores in the fireplace and curled up and watched movies. Not exactly what some would call an ideal honeymoon, but it was ours and I wouldn't change it.

The past 5 years have been full of ups, downs, laughter, tears, anger, joy, messy kitchens, walks with the dog, falling asleep in Mike's arms while watching a movie, parties, family get togethers, me grinding my teeth in my sleep, going to watch many softball and basketball games, putting up our Christmas tree 6 times, moving once, new jobs, bills, car troubles and everything in between. Even though we don't agree on certain things I can definitely say I would rather spend my life with him than anyone else.

Intentions

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes God has such an "annoying" way of bringing my true intentions to light. It can be something very noble or worthy and I feel like I'm doing it for the right reason....and then God weighs my heart and I see that my intentions were less than honorable. Today He chose to reveal it to me in the drive through of McDonalds. Poor Tiffany....I began getting some stuff off my chest and yapped and yapped all the way home. She was super understanding and was totally supportive though:)

Proverbs 21:2 -"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart"

Of course now I can't help but wonder if my intentions will ever be "right"?

Hmmmmmm. I think so. Although, I don't think I should ever be surprised in the future when my "good intentions" turn out to be not so good.