A Godly Wife (and a Kaden update!)

My job description has changed these days. I'm still staying at home, but I'm not content to just be a stay-at-home wife. I seek to be a godly wife to Brett. My daily goal is for him to see the love of Christ through me every day. Headaches, dirty dishes, overloaded washing machines, and clogged toilets (sorry for the visual!) will happen, but through it all I know I have MUCH to be thankful for.

I stopped in at a small local store on Saturday and bought a small canvas to hang in the kitchen. It wasn't just the colors or design that caught my attention, but the words. The two sentences printed on it sum it up quite nicely, in my opinion. Thank God for what you have. Trust God for what you need.

Thank you God for my wonderful husband.
Thank you God for my loving parents and fabulous in-laws.
Thank you God for my awesome friends who are more like family than mere friends.
Thank you God for a pastor who truly loves our family and is always there for us.
Thank you God for the means and ability to enjoy our hobbies.

Yesterday C and her mom brought Kaden over to our house for a quick visit. Kaden is fast approaching 6 months and is already starting to scoot all over the floor! He's doing really well and we're all very thankful for God's healing and protection. His "big" urology appointment is on September 2 and I'll be riding down to Mobile with them to lend moral support and plenty of laughs! Please be in prayer for this appointment.

Kaden had his first experience with grass yesterday afternoon and it was so cute. He seemed fascinated with the fact that he could pull it up!

A little of this, a little of that...

I've been reminiscing a LOT lately. The past few years have had a lot of ups and downs, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't change a thing. I know that sounds a bit trite, but each of those experiences (and several Max Lucado books!) has helped draw me closer to the Lord. With His help, I've been able to overcome the bitterness that I've been carrying around for 3 years.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter or who are on my Facebook, this will be old news, so just bear with me! My dad, Brett, a good friend of ours, and I drove down to Mobile a couple weekends ago and came home with a Kawasaki jet ski. Our lake cabin is right on the edge of the lake and the river channel, so we have two completely different waterways to ride on. Brett prefers the open lake and I love riding up the river. There's something about riding 50 mph through the curves of the glass-smooth river. Each time I go out on it, I always forget to bring the camera. The sunsets out there are just incredible!

Please pray for my mom as she goes in for surgery tomorrow morning at 6:45 CST. We hope that she'll be able to come home Friday (or Saturday morning at the latest).

There is a time for everything...

A lot has happened since my last blog post, but I've been hesitant to post about it here or on any other public forum. As of yesterday afternoon, I'm no longer employeed with THSC. I enjoyed my job and most of the people who worked there so in a way I'm upset, but after months of prayer I feel like God opened another door for me. I'm going to use this time to get some much needed organization done around the house and focus on my ancestry research full time until God leads me elsewhere. Brett has been absolutely wonderful throughout this and has supported me every step of the way.

I have a complete feeling of peace that can only be from the Lord. Even though my thoughts are all jumbled and I'm having a hard time focusing on anything right now, I pray that He will use this situation for His glory.

Proverbs 22:6

I took a much needed break last night and jumped on the four-wheeler (barefoot!) for a ride in the back pasture. I haven't done that in several years and I was amazed at how young and carefree I felt as the wind whipped through my hair and the grass slapped against the bottom of my feet. (Yeah, I tend to kick my legs out and not use the foot guards. I know that's totally not safe and I don't advocate anyone riding like that!)

Things like that make me realize just how blessed I was to grow up out in the country. I used to complain about watering the garden, spending my Saturdays cutting the grass/bush-hogging, and waking up early every single day to feed the horses, but I'm grateful for every minute of it. When I was 18, the only thing I could think about was getting out of our small town as fast as my car would go. I never knew how much I would miss our little country church with Fall Festivals and hay rides, Sunday dinner with my whole family, riding the horses down the old dirt roads, and sitting down with a good book under the shade of the old pecan tree.

As Brett and I get closer to starting our own family, I look back on all these memories and I realize how important it is to me to be able to provide those same experiences to our kids. As I was riding the four-wheeler last night (watching the fireflies - which is pretty rare around our place!), one of my favorite verses came to mind.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Thankful Thursday

I am so grateful that we have had many opportunities to spend time with our out-of-town family, both at home at and down in Fort Morgan, Alabama. They say that pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go! I promise to have a better update here in the next few days!

Wordless Wednesday (Well, almost wordless anyway!)

Our family spent Father's Day at the lake riding the jet boat, grilling steaks, and just enjoying each others company. Sophie finally was allowed her first ride on the jet boat, too! I really thought the noise would scare her, but she proceeded to march herself up to the front seat in the bow and take her rightful place as co-captain. This baby LOVES boat rides! Brett and I have a secret hope that she'll be Sawyer's new girlfriend, too! :)






I have a very important "unspoken" prayer request that I'd like to post about. Us Southern Baptists are very familiar with our "unspokens", but for those of you who aren't, please know that I'll post details as soon as I possibly can. At this time just know that each one of your prayers can make a HUGE difference in this situation.

Thankful Thursday

This week has been full of unpleasant surprises and irritations and I've really felt the Lord gently reminding me of all I have to be thankful for. Today is the perfect day for a Thankful Thursday post!

I am very thankful for some of our wonderful new friends. They really exemplify the meaning of "the Lord's vessel." Thanks guys! :)

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, even when we don't see eye-to-eye on everything I think we should. He has always been my rock and I love him more everyday.

I'm thankful to hold a full-time job in a less than desirable economy. We're very blessed and sometimes I think we really take it for granted.

What are you thankful for this Thursday?

Wordless Wednesday

These are a couple of my favorite pictures from the past couple weeks. :)

Famous Ancestors

I've spent the last few hours playing around with Ancestry's Famous Relatives search option. I'm astounded to see the eccentric mix of entertainers, artists, writers, presidents, and royalty.

On my Alsabrook side I'm related to:

Judy Garland
William Faulkner
Truman Capote
Audrey Hepburn
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
Bette Davis

On my Rawls side I'm related to:

Emily Dickenson
John Steinbeck
Elizabeth II
Eugene Delacroix

On my Merrill side I'm related to:

Emily Dickenson
Samuel Adams
Julia Child

There are a few more that I'm checking out to be sure they're accurate, but the list so far is pretty interesting! :)

Flip Flops, Sunblock, and Ziggy Marley

What do those three things have in common? Summertime! At least summertime around our neck of the woods, anyway. :) We kicked off summer a bit early this year by finishing up our jet boat and taking her out for a couple spins up the river.

This boat was the last project that my dad and I picked up together before I moved down to Florida. We bought her in January 2004 up in Wetumpka, Alabama while my mom was up in New York for a couple weeks. She came home to yet another project that needed a friend (or six!) Dad got the boat running in 2006, but pulled that motor out after only a couple weekends. She sat in the garage for the past two years collecting dust. Dad and Brett got the itch to bring her back out a couple weeks ago and we all finished up late Saturday afternoon. Here are some pictures from her maiden voyage! :)