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!