I'm so glad!!! Our home computer is still dead and I simply don't have time to figure out the chrome book right now, so I'm really thankful my blog app is working again! Praise the Lord!!
These days have been incredibly sweet!!! We're busy packing and getting quotes from painters for the new house, spending time with family and friends, shopping for couches in Atlanta, teaching Puggles on Wednesday nights, line dancing, spending lots of time playing with the little boys and swimming in the blow up pool, etc. It's really, really sweet!!
Jasper worked really hard this last week or so, doing lots of money chores to earn money, all of which he put in the Coweta County Baby Bottles (which go to the crisis pregnancy center). His heart was so sweet and he really wanted to help the "pregnant mommies who needed money for their babies". He worked selflessly and gave sacrificially toward this ministry, and his sweet example strengthened my heart with grace.
Brody continues to talk and laugh and be spunky and bring MUCH joy to those around him! He loves to have fun and thrives off of any general energy in the air. The other day, I was changing his diaper with Jasper out in the kitchen, and Brody said, "I need my baber!!" I said, "you need your Jasper?" To which he replied, "yes." I said, "why do you need your Jasper?" and Brody said, "becuzz he my fwend." It was seriously so precious! Joyful little Brody bug is completely smitten with his"baber". Randomly, I also find a nickel in his diaper tonight while we were getting the boys ready for bed, and both boys thought was hilarious! They love to laugh and have fun, but it's not without some occasional bickering or head-butting (both literally and figuratively) from time to time.
Andrew is doing exceptionally well at his new job!! He's doing positively great!! I'm saying this for several reason: 1. Because I'm totally biased and think he's the greatest man on planet earth. 2. Because his bosses told him so, and 3. He excels at all he does. I love him and I like him and I'm so thankful he's mine. The longer we're married, the better it gets. Don't get me wrong, over the past decade, we have had some rough times. We have had some pretty big communication challenges. And occasionally, it has been just plain hard. But that's OK, because it's in the "rough" that the grace of God shines through. It's in the big communication challenges that we talk with each other less and with God more. And the "hard" makes us love and appreciate both each other more AND the One who gave the good gifts in the first place. I'm so thankful and humbled by the grace of God in our marriage.
I'm doing well! Like one would expect, I'm experiencing a lot of emotions as we prepare to start a new chapter in life. I'm happy, excited, elated, sad, overwhelmed, nostalgic, weepy, awed, and back to elated again. And I typically experience all of these emotions... in the full realm of the spectrum... every single day. Have I mentioned how thankful I am for the grace of God and the patience of my husband?? Incredibly thankful. Also, in other random news, I've had fajitas for 4 meals in the last 3 days, and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I told Andrew tonight that if I get stuck on a deserted island with only 1 food for the rest of life, it must be fajitas. But as soon as I said that, I started second guessing myself and thinking that it might need to be Nutella instead. I haven't had nutella on a regular basis since we lived in Ohio, and that's a problem I plan to remedy this week. We had the Saturday night line dance party at the community center last night, and it was truly a blast!v one been researching interior design crazy and have found that I LOVE it. Like, I really really love it. I've spent countless hours pouring over my research and my Sherwin Williams color wheel, and after much prayer and thought and discussion and Pinterest-ing, I've made the "final" decisions on our new paint colors. Until tomorrow comes, that is. Hah! No, for reals. I think this is it. I've really, I mean REALLY, been enjoying my morning devotions the past few weeks. I've been reading through the book of Matthew and using a commentary by Charles Erdmun to help me think deeper and better about what I'm reading in Matthew. Yesterday, I read about when Judas made a deal to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Charles Erdmun said something to this effect: Judas wasn't a monster. He wasn't a crazy eyed creature with 2 heads stomping all around the earth. No, he was a dear friend of Jesus. He was close and in intimate fellowship with Jesus. In fact, he spent every day for years with Jesus, spending time with him, eating with him talking with him, listening to him. The only difference between Judas and the rest of Jesus' disciples was that Judas failed to renounce and master his besetting sin. Let that be a lesson to us, to take our sin seriously, to truly master and renounce our besetting sin, lest we, like Judas, be tempted to betray the majestic King of the universe for the mere price of a slave.
