"Marriage is like a pet boa constrictor..."

"...either you feed it every day or bad things happen."

I found this quote in a marriage article on MSN. Hilarious, but defintely some truth to it.

The article talked about 4 things to make your marriage spectacular. Here they are:
1. Understand each others' needs. Share your expectations with each other so that your spouse can try to meet those expectation.
2. Show him some love. Guys need affirmation. Pay him compliments.
3. Take 10. 10 minutes out of every day to just sit and talk. Not about chores or kids or bills. Anything where you can learn something will help you bond. Whether it's discussing what super power you'd want or recent political happenings.
4. Focus on the good. That doesn't mean you can't ever speak anything negative, but the good should outweigh the bad.

Now, I know that we have a lot to learn and there is always room for improvement, but I must say that I think we do pretty well at all of these things. It's just normal for us. But it's kinda sad because for so many couples, stuff like this is a big step. And it can do a lot to save their marriage. Like, this article didn't revolutionize our marriage by any means, but it could definitely do that for a lot of couples.

Even in the church today, so many people don't know how to interact with their spouse. It amazes me when I hear Christian women talking bad about their husband. Or Christian men talking down to their wives. In public! I mean, I know we haven't even been married quite 2 years, and that I'm still very young, but I know better than that.

Micah and I have talked about this a lot lately b/c we've been going through a class on marriage on Sunday mornings. And we've come to the conclusion that there is definitely always room for improvement, but that we have a better handle on our marriage than a lot of people who have been married for as long as I've been alive. And we've figured out why that is. We both have really good examples to follow.

My parents have been together since they were like, 14 years old. They got married young. In most cases, especially today, these marriages never last very long. My parents are still very happily married and flirt and goof around like they're still teenagers. I don't think I've ever seen my parents fight, which is something that is rare for anyone to be able to say. Unless you count the frequent wrestling matches. lol. *Funny story real quick:: I'm not joking about these wrestling matches. They happen quite often, and it's hilarious. Mom puts up a good fight and all, but she really has no chance. Sorry Mom, but you know it's true. lol. Well, there was one night years ago when they were wrestling around and Morgan, who was maybe 7 or 8, says "Why do yall fight so much? Yall are always fighting!" My reply was "Who are you and what family have you been living with all your life?" She didn't understand that they were just playing around. We still make fun of her for that. lol*

Micah's parents still have a very good relationship. They are another case in which, were it to happen today, it probably wouldn't last very long. I'm not sure the exact numbers, but I think they only dated for like 2 weeks before getting engaged. Ridiculous, right? lol. They got married like, 2 months after that. Crazy. Today, no one would expect that to last very long. But theirs has. Granted, I don't get to be around them that much, but I can tell just from the few weeks that I've been at their house or that they've been here that they have a great relationship.

So we're both very thankful for the examples that our parents have given us about how to treat each other and how to have a "spectacular" marriage. And I didn't need an article on MSN to tell me that. =)

"Good is the enemy of great."

This was Nick Saban's inspirational message to the Alabama Crimson Tide today. Apparently it worked. We beat Kentucky 38-20. Great game. 4 interceptions. It was a really exciting game to watch. I just thought that was a really good quote and that I should share it with you.

Today was a pretty fun day. Micah and I slept in. It was my last day to really sleep in before I have to go back to work. Sad day. So I took advantage of it. Then for brunch Micah made me a sausage, egg, and cheese omelet. It was pretty awesome. And we watched the Bama game together...well, kinda. I watched, Micah played WoW, and then watched the replays of the really exciting stuff. lol.

After the game we went over to Joel and Tansy's for a little while. Randy wanted to show us his presentation that he has been showing to the elders of the congregations he is visiting.

I guess with him being here raising funds and stuff, it's got me thinking a lot more about going back. Micah and I have been talking about it a little more often. I'm getting really excited about learning Portuguese and starting to plan our ministry. We've got to go back (again) next summer. Don't get me wrong, I love Brazil. The trips are a lot of fun, and I know that I'm very lucky to have been twice, because most people will never get to go at all. It's just a little frustrating that we have to go so often. It feels like we just got back, and now we're starting to plan our next trip. We actually don't have to go back until December 2010, but we'd rather go during the summer, than wait til the last minute and something come up. ((For those of you who don't know, Micah is a permanent resident, but not a citizen. That means that in order to keep his residency and his permanent visa, he has to enter the country at least once every 2 years. And tickets are so expensive and it's so much time travelling, it's not worth spending any less that a couple of weeks. We try to stay 3 when we go.)) But it's going to work out pretty well, because Micah has to do a field lab as part of his degree program, so he'll just do that while we're down there. (If I get to go and stay the whole time.) So I'm getting excited about what I can get involved with while I'm down there. We might go to camp again, which I would love. We spent 2 weeks as counselors at camp on my first trip down there. It was stressful, but still a good experience. If he ends up working with his dad, then I'll probably work a whole lot on my language skills, and also get more acquainted with the culture. I'm hoping I'll be able to go and spend the whole 3 weeks. If I'm still at Lowe's, it shouldn't be a problem. I've earned enough vacation time, and they like me well enough that I can get it worked out like I did for the last trip. If I'm not at Lowe's, there's no guarantee it'll be quite that easy.

Tonight we had J&T over to our place for supper. We haven't really gotten to hang out with them much since they got married. I cooked Mexican chicken, which is a recipe that their mom makes a lot, so Micah and Joel were really excited about it. As soon as Joel walked in, he was like, "It smells like Mexican chicken in here." Then we played Apples to Apples. Very fun game. We laughed a lot.

I guess that's all I have for tonight. I've been trying to keep my posts shorter, but I'm not very good at that yet. Maybe I just need to start posting more than once a day, but keeping them really short. Idk. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Remember: don't settle for good when you can do something great. Go do something great today. =)

Roll Tide!

So I got told by a 4-year-old today at church that we couldn't be friends anymore because I'm not a Tennessee fan. lol. His dad has already brainwashed him. Poor kid. His dad, Shane said that Levi (that's the kid's name) got in the car and was like: "Dad! Me and Mrs. Valerie can't be buddies anymore! She's not a Tennessee fan!" I think he had probably sat with us in church that day and he was coloring with an orange marker and he told me that orange was TN colors. So I told him that red was better because that was Alabama colors. He was like: "But why do you like Alabama and not Tennessee?" So I told him that I used to live in Alabama and he was like, "oh ok." I can't get him to say Roll Tide though.

Levi and his little sister Lauren are our little buddies at church. Levi is 4 and Lauren is almost 3. A month or so ago, their parents, Shane and Kara, invited us over for supper, and ever since then, we've been a little attached to the kids, and they've been pretty attached to us. Lauren has a little crush on "Mithter Micah" and likes to come sit with us. It's adorable. I have a Drawing Pad on my phone with the touch screen, and they love to draw on it. It's hilarious though because I always give them a mechanical pencil w/out the lead in it to draw on it, just for them to have something pointy to use. But they both think that the color actually comes out of the pencil, even though they know how to change the colors and stuff in the settings on the phone. Lauren will be drawing and will stop and look at the end of the pencil after she changes colors like she's checking to see where it comes from. One time Levi wanted to draw on real paper, so I just got the same pencil and clicked the lead out so that he could draw. He was like, "This draws on real paper too?!" He was so impressed. lol. Then he wanted me to make the pencil draw blue. I was like, "uhh.....it only does one color on real paper..." lol.

I'm super excited about not having to go to work tomorrow. It's gonna be amazing. So far the plan is to get up around 8 (which is sleeping in pretty good for me. that's at least 2 extra hours), work out, put together a grocery list, go to town to the grocery store....not sure what I'm going to do all afternoon. But tomorrow night I think Joel and Tansy are coming over. The new season of Heroes premiered last week, so we're going to catch up and then watch the next episode tomorrow night. I'm kinda bummed though because House also shows Monday nights at the same time Heroes does. So if this becomes a weekly thing w/J&T, I'll have to go back and watch House online later.

Well, I guess that's all. I'll probably be heading to bed soon. Even though I don't have to get up early tomorrow, I'll still probably be crashing soon. I can't stay up late anymore like I used to in college. I guess that's just a sign that I'm getting old. =) TTFN! (I've already had to explain to my uncultured husband what TTFN stands for. For the rest of you uncultured people out there, it's from Winnie the Pooh. Tigger says it all the time. It stands for Ta-Ta For Now.)