I'm moving!

So the more I have followed other people's blogs, the more I realize that I really like Tumblr better than Blogger. It has a lot more format options to customize your posts, so I'm converting. My new blog address is:

http://vmatheny.tumblr.com

Come visit!

Obstacles Welcome

Obstacles Welcome

by Ralph de la Vega

This book tells the story of Ralph de la Vega as a Cuban immigrant. He came into this country when he was 10 years old completely alone. He lived with strangers for 4 years before the rest of his family joined him in the United States. De la Vega went on to get an education and become successful in the AT&T corporation.

I thought this book was awesome. It had some very good, practical success principles to follow that apply in any area of life. One of the principles that stuck with me the most is that of vision. Developing a vision and a plan to achieve it. There was also a lot of good information about leadership and how to inspire the people around you. I liked the book because de la Vega does not just give you some ideas that should work in theory. He tells you these success principles, and then gives you the real-life example of how he implemented it in his career and how it helped him to get to where he is.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those looking to move up in the corporate world. As I mentioned already, it gives solid principles to follow that are practical and easily applicable to just about any situation.

For Good

This song is from the Wicked soundtrack, and it just might be one of my favorite songs ever. It reminds me that I have been so blessed to have made a few really close friends that have changed me for good. I didn't have the most friends, but the ones I had were definitely the best. =) Here are the lyrics.

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason,
Bringing something we must learn.
And we are lead to those
Who help us most to grow
If we let them,
And we help them in return.

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true,
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes the sun.
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

It well may be
That we may never meet again
In this lifetime,
So let me say before we part:
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you,
You'll be with me
Like a hand print on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have rewritten mine
By being my friend.

Like a ship blown from it's mooring
By a wind of the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
(Because I knew you)
I have been changed for good.

...

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better.
And because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
Because I knew you,
I have been changed
For Good.

Memories made and more to come.

A few weeks before our wedding, I had a dream (more like nightmare) that we were driving away from the wedding and I realized that I didn't remember anything that had happened. It was all just a big blank spot. Scariest thing ever when you're stressing about getting all of the decorations right, making sure everyone shows up on time, wondering if the photographer will get the right shots, etc, etc... Well, thankfully, that didn't happen. I remember a lot about that night. And since tonight marks the 2 year anniversary of that memorable night, I thought I was share with all of you what I remember. =)

-My bridesmaids were awesome throughout the whole process. They cut out and put together invitations and programs until they were blue in the face. lol. But I am very thankful b/c I never could've done it alone.

-Micah and half of the groomsmen showed up 45 minutes late for the rehearsal dinner. He's lucky I wasn't a bridezilla or I might've called it all off. lol.

-Gary, at the rehearsal dinner, with his unexpected variation of "Who gives this woman to marry this man?"

-For whatever reason, after we all got back to the house that night, I just had this random breakdown. I don't even remember what triggered it. I was working on the slideshow, trying to get the timing right. But I don't see why that would upset me. Maybe it was just all of the stress and anxiety building up. Whatever the reason, it happened. And the girls basically made me go to bed, and then let me sleep in the next morning as long as I needed to.

-All of the girls were supposed to go together to get our nails done that morning before heading to the church to finish decorating and getting ready. All but 2 backed out on me. And in my emotional state, it was a much bigger deal than it should've been. Micah had to come by and get something from me and when I went out to see him, he just let me cry. (He's good about that.) So Whit and Catey went w/me and we had fun, and I got over it. =)

-We ate McDonald's for lunch. We bout froze our toes off walking in and out in those little flipflop thingys they give you after you get a pedicure. lol

-The florist missed part of our order. The little things that our moms were supposed to carry their flowers in got left out completely. The florist was flipping out more than we were. So Daddy saved the day and told me and Mom, "if you want them, I'll go get them for you. Just tell me where." He was awesome. So he went down the road to another florist and got them. Yay Super Dad. =)

-Lauren and I went to the mall to get all of our rings cleaned around 2 or so. While walking through the food court, we saw those little trampoline things with the harnesses where you jump really really high. I'm pretty sure she kidnapped me and made me do it. lol. It was awesome though. Great for taking my mind off of all the stress. Although it hurts a lot more than you'd think. Those harnesses are NOT comfortable. lol

-My "something old" was my great great (great?) grandmother's 3 strand pearl bracelet. It was perfect. Matched the dress great. It broke. Like, an hour before the wedding. The clasp was loose, and it fell off. Pearls were everywhere. So here we all were, in our dresses, crawling around on the floor gathering up pearls. Of course, Dad (AKA MacGyver) had fishing line in the truck. And Alana had worked in a jewelry store. So they fixed it and saved the day once again.

-Micah took pictures with everyone first before I came down for us to have our "moment." I'm pretty sure I stood up there at the top of the stairs for like, 3 days. At least. It seemed like it at least.

-Joel acting like he forgot the ring when Gary asked for it.

-We wrote our own vows, but didn't memorize them. Probably because I didn't get it all in order and on paper until about 4 that afternoon. 2 hours before the wedding. lol. I had most of it in my head before then. But anyways. I had the paper wrapped around my bouquet during the wedding, and just had it folded up in my hand after I handed my bouquet off. Well...I didn't think through enough to figure out what I was going to do with the paper after we said our vows. I couldn't just hold this piece of paper in my hand while we exchanged rings and stuff. So I just put my arm by my side and dropped it. lol. Gary picked it up later and gave it back to me.

-My cheeks hurt so much from smiling by the end of the reception. I've never hugged so many people in my life. lol

-After the wedding, I could hardly catch my breath. In the video, you can see me just stop and take a huge breath every few minutes.lol.

-So for those of you who weren't there, instead of doing birdseed or flower petals or bubbles like most people do when they're leaving the reception, I wanted to go for a snow kinda theme. What did we come up with, you ask? Not the fake, biodegradable snow that costs an arm and a leg for the amount we were needing. No. We're much more economical than that. We used instant mashed potatoes. And they looked perfect. Looked just like snow. When they're thrown UP into the air. Notice the condition there. They don't look so much like snow when you're being pelted in the face with them. I didn't see anyone in the line b/c I had my head down the entire time. We had potatoes in our hair, our mouths, our ears...everywhere. We were still finding potato flakes days later in our clothes. Somehow. No idea how they got there. When I took my wedding dress off, we gathered a huge pile of it out of the bathroom floor. It was ridiculous. lol

I'm sure I could come up with a lot more memories from that night, but that's what stands out right now. Plus, this post is getting super long. So I'm going to wrap it up for tonight. I've still got some stuff on my mind tho, so I think I'll continue this tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, have a nice night!

Micah's Blog

Apparently I took over the other blog and made it a bit to girly. So Micah ditched me. He said it had become more of my blog instead of our blog, which was ok, but he wanted to have his own. I told him it wasn't my fault that he never posted anything. =)

So I thought I'd share his blog address w/yall so that you could follow him as well as me. =)

http://micahmatheny.blogspot.com

Reviews coming soon!

I got my first book to review in the mail the other day. I'm super excited. And it's a hardback! I was impressed! I'm 2 chapters into it, and liking it so far. It's called Obstacles Welcome and it's about (and written by) Ralph de la Vega, who is the CEO of AT&T. He is a Cuban immigrant. He came to the States when he was 10 all by himself. His parents were trying to come, but their paperwork was wrong. So they sent him by himself, hoping to join him in a wee or so, after they got their paperwork sorted out. He stayed w/some friends of his aunt who had already moved to the States. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis hit, and a week turned into 4 years. It's very interesting thus far, and has some very practical advice for overcoming obstacles and becoming successful. So be looking for a review in the next couple of weeks.

I just went and looked at some other books that I can request after I review this one, and it makes me want to hurry up and finish it. lol. One that looks particularly interesting is called Rediscovering God in America. And I'm super jacked about getting free books. =)

Things are slowly but surely getting organized around the new apartment. Still got a good bit to do in the office, but it shouldn't take long. It's just a matter of doing it. The main thing that we need that will help SOOOOO much is getting a pantry cabinet. All of our food is just sitting out on the counter now b/c we don't really have a place for it. I've got a perfect spot for a pantry. Just gotta get one. I'm wanting to have everything basically done by Saturday night b/c we're having some friends over for dinner and fun. The boys are going to bond over Xbox and we're going to work on Christmas projects. =) I'm excited.

Well, I think I'm going to go get some reading done. =) Have a great evening!!

This Everyday Love

"It's ordinary, plain and simple
Typical, this everyday love.
Same ol', same ol', keeping it new
Emotional, so familiar
Nothing 'bout it too peculiar
Oh, but I can't get enough
Of this everyday love."

This song is what comes to mind when I think about mine and Micah's relationship.
There's nothing extraordinary to it. It's the little things that make it what it is.

For those of you married people out there, have you ever caught yourself just getting caught in the day-to-day stuff that you forget how much you really love your spouse? I mean, you still love them. But it just becomes so normal and everyday that it isn't "special" anymore, ya know? It's just always there, so you take it for granted. Life can get so hectic and busy sometimes that you forget to just stop and be like, "Wow. I really love him and I'm so lucky to have him."

The week of Thanksgiving was super crazy busy. Hectic. Ridiculous. I can't stress that enough. On top of all of the normal crazy Thanksgiving festivities, Black Friday and such, we were moving. Genius, I know. So tempers were a little sensitive. We were both going on lack of sleep and extreme exhaustion. My OCDness vs. Micah's laidback-ness probably didn't help much in the move either. lol. (No, 'laidback-ness' isn't a real word...until now. lol)

And then, this week, after everything settled down and we've basically got the unpacking under control, although not completely done, I had one of those revelations. You know when you just can't be around someone enough? When you sit and watch a basketball that you really have no interest in until way after your bedtime just so you can sit next to him on the couch and cuddle?

And it's been little stuff that has made me realize this. No flowers. No romantic surprise getaways. No big presents.

It's him being completely goofy. When I realize that he would never act this dumb around anyone else but me. He's a complete dork, and I love it.
It's him doing anything he can to make me laugh. And it works.
It's him making me realize that it's stupid to be angry about something at work. (Even though that drives me crazy, I know he's right. lol)
It's him cheering for my team when until very recently he has had no interest in college football.
It's him giving me the cherry from his banana split. =)
It's him singing along with the Veronica Mars theme song b/c he's a dork like that.
It's all the inside jokes. Things that just me and him can laugh about.
It's him knowing when I need to cuddle before I ever say anything.
It's him making funny of me for all the goofy stuff I do.
It's us 'arguing' about which one of us steals the covers.
It's him sharing the dreams that he has for our life together.
It's walking in and catching him watching HGTV.
It's sitting and talking over Mexican about anything at all. Like politics, church goings-on, what kind of puppy we want, or an analysis of the latest episode of Veronica Mars. (Have you noticed a new addiction? lol)
It's just sitting and not having to say anything at all. Because just being in the same room w/him is enough for me.

I live for little moments like this. =)

Roll Tide Roll!

#2 Alabama defeats #1 defending SEC champs Florida 32-13. It wasn't even close. 22nd SEC Championship. Looking for National Championship #13.

What a wonderful day. =)

My Prayer for You

So the other day, I was reading through 1st Thessalonians and I came upon this passage that I'm not sure I've ever seen before. Of if I have, I've never paid much attention. Or maybe this was just a translation that really hit me. It's Paul's prayer for the people of Thessalonica. And I just thought it was a very beautiful prayer. It's in 1st Thessalonians 3.11-13.

"Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones."

Mental Health Hotline

I saw this today and thought it was hilarious. If you've studied psychology, you will also find it exceptionally funny. If you haven't, it'll still probably be pretty funny. =)

Hello and welcome to the mental health hotline.
If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
If you are codependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.
If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.
If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will transfer to the mother ship.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a small voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are manic depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, no one will answer.
If you have a nervous disorder, fidget with the hash key until someone comes on the line.
If you are dyslexic, press 696969696969.
If you have amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother's maiden name.
If you have post-traumatic stress disorder, slowly and carefully press 000.
If you have bipolar disorder, please leave a message after the beep, or before the beep, or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.
If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.
If you have low self-esteem, please hang up. All our operators are too busy to talk to you.

Hope you enjoyed that. =)

ABCs of Marriage

The move is going pretty well still, although we're not quite done. But we're doing better than we ever did at the last apartment as far as getting things unpacked and organized. I think it's b/c we don't have a hugemongous spare bedroom to just stack boxes and random junk in. We don't have the space to do that anymore, so we are being forced to unpack. We also don't have to room to leave picture frames and artwork laying around just b/c I can't decide where to put them. So I think we've already put more stuff up on the walls than we ever had up at the old place. lol. And it looks so good! Yay!

While I was unpacking a box in the office earlier, I found a bunch of random notebooks. I was flipping through them and found a bunch of interesting stuff. Like the notes from the college girls' class I taught at Juno one night. I was pretty impressed with myself, I must say. I'm not sure I could put together that good of a class anymore. lol. I'll have to post that one sometime later, b/c it's got some good thoughts in it. I also found the notes from the devo I gave in the girl's cabin at camp in Brazil 2 years ago. It was on Ecclesiastes. I got so much Bible reading done that week, mainly b/c there wasn't anyone to talk to besides Micah. So when he wasn't around and everyone else was talking and having fun in Portuguese, I sat all by my lonesome and read my Bible. And that's when Ecclesiastes became one of my favorite books of the Bible.

I also found the journal I kept from that first week at camp. I had forgotten how many mixed emotions I experienced that week. Like, I remember that it was tough, but reading it reminded me how much pain I was in that week. It was so overwhelming to me to be in a foreign country where I knew I would live one day, to be surrounded by people I didn't know who spoke a different language (which is stressful enough for me when they speak English), and to try so hard to communicate with people. I was mentally exhausted and on the verge of a massive breakdown by day 3 of camp. The breakdown came on day 4. lol.

I found something else in one of the notebooks that I don't remember writing, don't remember where on earth I got it from, but it's pretty awesome, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's the ABCs of Marriage.

Affirm him daily.
Be his biggest cheerleader.
Count the blessings I have in our marriage.
Don't criticize him.
Encourage his hobbies.
Fight for his reputation.
Give him my body, mind, and heart.
Help him with a project he wants to finish.
Inspire him to chase after his dreams.
Just gaze at him adoringly.
Kiss him all over his face and neck.
Love him in spite of his weaknesses.
Make sure he knows he's the only one you'll ever want.
New nighties never hurt!
Offer to rub his feet after a long day.
Pray for needs dearest to his heart.
Quit nagging!
Remember whey I fell in love with him.
Stay committed and faithful to him.
Take the initiative when it comes to sex.
Understand where he's coming from.
View him through God's eyes.
Write him a love letter.
eXamine my own heart daily.
Yearn for God and His Word.
Zealously protect my marriage.

Book reviews

So I saw one someone else's blog that she reviews books for Thomas Nelson Publishers. And when I looked into it a little more, I found out that anyone w/a blog can review books for free. They send you a book every month based on ones you request or genres you're interested in. You read the whole book, write a 200 word review, and post it to your blog and a consumer website like Barnes&Noble or WalMart. So I signed up. I'm always looking for new authors or interesting new books. And I figured this would be just as good a way as any to do that.

After I initially found out about being able to review books, it got me thinking. I think I'm going to make it a goal this next year to read at least 25 NEW books throughout the year. And I specify NEW b/c I like to re-read my favorites. I've read the Harry Potter series several times. Like, at least 5 times. More for the first few books. I'm about to re-read the Twilight series too. (We went and saw New Moon tonight, so it's got me wanting to read it again.) So yeah, 25 new books a year. And they can be any genre. Fiction, self-help, religious, non-fiction, whatever. Then if I do 25 w/no problem, I'll up the number. So now that I've decided to review for Thomas Nelson, that'll help w/my new book goal. I'm pretty excited. So be looking in the next month or so for my first book review. =)

The move is still going pretty well. Not quite done yet. We should get everything out of the old apartment tomorrow. Getting everything situated here is another story. lol. I spent about 3 hours on it last night after we got in from HSV and made a decent dent in it. I at least found our bed and part of the living room. lol. And Micah got our dryer working again! So we're also going to tackle this mountain of laundry tomorrow too.

Things have been super crazy busy this week, so Micah and I went on a date tonight to just get away for a little bit. We went to O'Charley's and then to see New Moon. I liked it better than the first one, although it still had some cheesy moments. New Moon was my favorite book out of the 4. =)

And now I'm beginning to crash after the extremely long week that we've had. Gotta get some sleep so I can work on moving tomorrow. I also have to get my class ready for Sunday morning, which might prove to be a little difficult. So I'm gonna sign out. Have a great evening and weekend!

The new place

So as I mentioned in yesterday's post, we're moving. We'll have the same landlord, which is good, b/c he's pretty awesome. And he's just transferring our lease for us. So that's good too. And it's just the next building over. So we didn't have to go very far. We're losing a good bit of space, but I'm ok w/that now b/c I'm realizing that the place we were in was just too big. We didn't have enough furniture to fill it up, so it looked pretty sparse. Not so in the new place! We're probably going to have to chunk a bunch of stuff, or put it in a yard sale.

We decided to move on Wednesday or Thursday of last week. Then as I mentioned, we were out of town last weekend, so we didn't get to do any moving then. I packed a few boxes and gathered a few things together before we left, but not much. So we got back Sunday night, slept in Monday to catch up on sleep, then went to Lowe's to pick out paint. The paint job was terrible in the living room. So I was adamant that I wanted it painted. Luckily, the landlord agreed to pay for the paint. But I got to pick out the color. =) So I started painting Monday a little after noon. Matt and Sarah (our Star Wars friends) came over around 4ish to help. The guys moved big furniture while Sarah helped me finish up painting. We got almost all of the big stuff, except for a big dresser, mattress, washer/dryer, couch, and a few small pieces. But we hadn't brought over a lot of small stuff yet. Maybe 10 boxes, some kinda small. I think it was mainly books. The only break we took was to watch the new episode of House while we ate supper.

So Tuesday I had to go back to work. Not fun. It was driving me crazy b/c I knew there was so much stuff that needed to be done at home. So I hardly slept at all the night before b/c my mind was all over the place. Got home and got to work again. Matt and Sarah came over again (they were lifesavers!) and the guys got the rest of the big stuff over, along with a probably 3 carloads of smaller stuff. We pretty much just brought it in and threw it down somewhere. We'll organize later. We're just trying to get stuff out of the old apartment as soon as possible.

Once again, I could barely sleep last night. And I had to go back to work this morning to my great dismay. When I got home, Micah was putting another load in the car. I cleared out the bedrooms upstairs so that we could vacuum. We were trying to hurry b/c the electricity was getting cut off tomorrow. But we ended up calling the electric company, and they're waiting til Monday to shut it off. So that'll give us some more time to finish up.

We're in HSV now, heading back tomorrow night. After work Friday, we'll work some more, and hopefully get the old apartment empty and clean. Then we'll spend all day Saturday trying to get the new place in order. That is gonna take a while, b/c we're gonna have to be stepping over stuff for a while. It's a disaster area. You shoulda seen us trying to pack this afternoon. lol. Stuff is everywhere. But I'm excited. Organizing and hanging pictures and moving furniture is my thing. I love it...no idea who I got that from though...;-) lol.

Well, that's the update. And I'm gonna wrap this up b/c this post is getting way too long. =) Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew!

Ok, so this isn't going to be a long post, but I just wanted to check in real quick. =) Things have been super super busy around here lately. And they aren't going to slow down quite yet. here's a quick run-down. I'll elaborate later.

-Went out of town this weekend. Left Friday night, got back Sunday night.

-I was off Monday, but it wasn't very restful. We decided to move into a slightly smaller apartment. It is owned by the same guy and is just in the next building over from where we were. So quite convenient. But before we moved in, the living room needed a coat of paint. The previous tenants had touched it up, but with a slightly different shade of paint. Genius. So needless to say it looked like junk. But the good news is that I got to pick what color to paint. =) So Monday was spent buying paint, painting, and moving a few things over.

-Back to work today. Came home, finished moving all of the big pieces over, and most of the little stuff.

-Took a break to eat pizza and watch our last Star Wars movie. So I'm fully cultured now.

-Back to work again tomorrow. Then home, shower, then off to HSV for Thanksgiving. Back here on Thursday night b/c I have to be at work Friday morning for the funnest day of the year! NOT!

-We had thought about going to Paragould for Thanksgiving for the weekend, but I'm not sure we'll survive another trip. lol.

And now it's bedtime. I'm super exhausted. I'll fill yall in on more details in the next few days. Happy Thanksgiving if I don't get back to ya by then!

Aspirations

Freed is now offering the Rosetta Stone software FREE to all students. You can take your computer by, they'll download the software, and then they can just add languages to your account. Now, I'm not technically a student, but they're letting me have it anyways. I called Micah the other day when he was getting it put onto his computer and the guy doing it heard how excited I was about it over the phone, so he agreed to put it on mine too. I was a student a few months ago, so close enough right? lol. I've been wanting the Rosetta Stone software for a while now so that I can work on my Portuguese. Well, the bad news is that they don't have Portuguese yet. If enough people are interested then they'll get it. So far, they offer Spanish, Italian, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Greek, and Hebrew. And they might be getting Portuguese and Japanese soon. Micah and I got the first four on that list. Until they get Portuguese I'll probably pick one to work on. I'm thinking either German or French. Spanish and Italian are going to be too close to Portuguese and it'll just confuse me.

So coming back around to the title of the blog: aspirations. One of my recent aspirations has become to learn languages. I would love to be able to speak like, 7 languages. I have no idea where the number 7 came from, but that's just what I pulled out one day. I want to be fluent in English and Portuguese (got one of those down! lol) and be able to at least somewhat communicate in 5 others. If I get Spanish, Italian, French, and German down, I've only got one more to go! I haven't decided what I want the last one to be. Maybe Japanese just to have something different. =) So yeah, I'm super excited about getting all of the software for free, because it will make accomplishing that dream a whole lot easier.

There are so many things I want to do in my lifetime. And I think all of them are definitely attainable:

-I want to learn to paint. I just want to do artistic stuff in general I feel like that is something I could be talented at, but I just haven't had the opportunity to express it. I just need practice. I would love to have an art room one day, just to do whatever I want. White walls, white floor. I can throw paint on the wall if I want to. It'll just be my place. I want to learn to make pottery.
-I want to learn to play the piano. I don't have to be great at it. I don't have to write my own music. I just want to be able to sit down with a piece of music and play it.
-I want to homeschool my children. There are so many things that I want to teach them that I don't think public schools can/will. I want them to learn music and art at a young age. I want them to be able to learn languages or whatever else they are interested in. I want to teach them about the Bible and instill in them the values that I wouldn't trust to anyone else.
-I want to travel. There is a teacher at school who leads a tour in the Middle East retracing the apostle Paul's steps. That would be so amazing. I want to go to the Louvre. I want to visit old castles in Scotland. I want to go see Auschwitz. (Morbid, I know, but that time period is so interesting to me.)
-I want to pick a subject from the Bible and become an expert on it. I know I'll never be an expert on the whole Bible or maybe even half of it. But I can pick one small aspect of it and learn everything I can about it. I don't know what that subject will be yet...I'm still thinking about that one.
-I would love to write a book one day. I don't know what it will be about. Maybe the subject I become an expert on. Maybe just about my experiences becoming a missionary's wife and moving to a foreign country.
-I want to take amazing pictures.

There are so many more, but this blog is getting long enough as it is. So yeah...I'm really excited about beginning to accomplish one of these aspirations. Hopefully I'll get to work one some more soon. =)

Everything begins somewhere...

I know I have been wanting to blog for a while now. Every time I blog, I say something to the effect of how "I feel the need to put my thoughts in written form..."

I seem to never get past that first post to put me on the path to writing. I tell myself that papers are where I am the weakest in school. That is the first problem right there, I tell myself I can't or I struggle with...

I was listening to John Maxwell on cd the other day. Someone was talking to him about how they wanted to start writing but that they did not know how he could do it. John told the person to just start writing. He explained that his first book took him a year to write and it was only a hundred pages long. Each chapter he wrote was only about 3 or 4 pages long and he explained that it was a stretch for him to write those short chapters. He says it himself his first book was horrible.

After writing his first book John found someone to mentor him in writing. His mentor worked hard with him for two years and look how good a writer he is today. Just start writing.

That made me think about other things I want to learn and accomplish. We make up reasons or excuses for why we can't do things and tell ourselves that to the point that they become true instead of looking for why or how we can.

Truth is everything begins somewhere. When will you stop making excuses and just start writing?

"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. =)

Bittersweet

Tomorrow is going to be an emotional day. The congregation where I attended growing up has sold their old building and is in the process of building a new one. Tomorrow it the last service in the old building and as the Memorial Parkway congregation. After tomorrow, they will be Chase Park.

It's exciting at the same time though, because it's a new beginning. And there are going to be a lot of former members come back for the last service, so it'll be nice to see people I haven't seen in a long time. But it's definitely going to be emotional. And I know that the church is the people and not the building, but's still sad. There will be lots of tears. I have so many memories from that building::

-Playing w/Loni Beth under the blue stairs before they closed it off.
-Sardines in the dark with the youth group.
-Mine, Joshua's, and LB's 3rd, 2nd, and 1st birthday at the Thomas House.
-Flag football on the back lot w/Paul.
-Senior receptions.
-Wednesday night 5th grade Bible class with Will Johnson and the green pencils. =)
-Painting the youth room that terrible yellow and green checkerboard. lol.
-Dragging my fingers on the ceiling in the foyer when Dad would carry me. (You can still see the marks. lol)
-Going to visit Mammer and Glenda in the offices during the week.
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the foyer w/Joshua, Jordan, and LB. Our secret lair was under the table at the far end of the foyer.
-The youth section.
-Lock-ins, watching movies on the big screen in the auditorium at 3 in the morning.
-Climbing the trees out front and next to the carport.
-Hanging out w/Tara, Maria, and Ashley in the pink bathroom upstairs.
-Hanging out in the "hot room" after services. lol.
-Climbing the poles in the foyer of the fellowship hall.
-Mother's Day Out.
-Playing on the playgrounds when I was a kid....and when I was a teenager. lol.
-Not to mention my wedding. Kind of a big deal. =)

So it's definitely going to be bittersweet. And I know that so many more memories will be made in this new building. But I'm still gonna cry tomorrow. lol.