Two Years

Although technically our anniversary is this Tuesday, we are celebrating this weekend to avoid the crazy stressful packing, cleaning, moving craze. I can only say that these last two years have been the very happiest years of my life, and I still sometimes think I'll wake up from this dream of being married to such a wonderful man. The picture is a little hard to decipher...it's of my big belly!

Time Goes So FAST

Wow. Less than two weeks and I'll be unpacking everything in my new house. It's sortof unreal. And my little guy is growing so strong! I can push on his little feet or bottom and he'll move around...I'm falling in love!

The house has turned out as charming as I could have wished for. I'm trying to make myself do some packing every day...but so far I've only accomplished filling 5 rather small boxes. I just hate packing!!! I want to unpack!

Today I'm supposed to go pick out what I want for our landscaping...and I'll be honest...I don't really feel like doing it! I know...that's crazy because I love gardens and trees and everything. But I think I just am tired of decisions...but I know that if I don't pick out stuff I like, I might end up with something I don't. So, hopefully it'll be fun once I get going. I also get to pick out two trees for our back yard...now that I'm excited about.

Jonathan, Cecelia (his wife), their baby, and Jenny are all coming out today and will be visiting for just two days. I'm excited to have Jenny around for a day. We're going to go to Gong Fu Tea. And I don't really know what else we'll do, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it!

I could jibber on about more random stuff like the above, but really, I don't think it's so terribly interesting anyway. I'll have pictures in two weeks!

Big and over 3 Months to go!

It's a little fuzzy...kindof hard taking a picture of myself!

Elephants...who would've guessed!

Guilt: True or False

I've been stuck on a guilt trip. It's my beautiful house. My growing baby. My sweet husband. My easy life. Especially the house, though. It's so beautiful...so fun...so much nicer than anything I ever imagined having. And the truth is, I can't quite just thoroughly enjoy it as a blessing from God. I sometimes wonder if it will be more of a stumbling block than a blessing. Will I become too materialistic? Will it keep my family and friends at arm's length? I want so bad to be pure and to be un-infected by the world's standard of "the good life". Yet it just seems to fall in my lap, and what do I do with it? My whole life hasn't been this way. I certainly had my hard times....my broken cars and looming bills and difficult living situations and miserable jobs. But it's like that all got wiped away when I married Luke. Now, I am wondering how I can serve God effectively and love my family and friends so thoroughly that they do not feel the weight of my "things" and my "life". Oh, please pray for me that I won't drown in the stuff of the world. I don't want to be just a wife and a mommy. I don't want to be defined by a nice house and happy little family. I want to be a servant of God...something way bigger than comfortable Christianity.

Luke 11:13

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

This verse is just what I needed today. I long to be more empowered by the Spirit. And the truth is, sometimes I just don't think it's working. But this verse is a PROMISE. It's from Jesus' own mouth. How can I question it? And that also reminds me that those I love who are seeking for faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit will not be disappointed:

"because of his (or her) persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened." (verses 8-10)

My Famous Kitchen Stool

My feet always hurt when I'm working in the kitchen, so I finally found a cute little stool to sit on! The fun part is that when I purchased it (from a very cool antique shop in Des Moines' East Village), the lady told me it had just returned from a photo shoot for Meredith Publishing. So if you happen to see it in one of their home magazines, let me know!