New Beginnings

(sorry for the order of the photos! I can't figure out how to put them in order with my captions!)

Hi!

My computer is still resting in a box so I'm updating from my iPhone. We'll see how this works out!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. W preached his last sermon at our church in P-Town on Father's Day. They gave us an amazing going away luncheon and I cried the whole time.

The following Wednesday the moving truck took all of our belongings to our new town. I loaded up with Sam, Duke and all of our bedding for the trip over.

The church members came by the droves to welcome us to our new home. They brought tons of food and we had our first dinner in our new house that night.

Our first Sunday the congregation gave us a pounding. If you're unfamiliar with this practice, they (in theory) each bring a pound of food. Our cup(board) runneth over!

Yesterday some of our former youth (now all grown up college students) surprised us by coming over for church. They are the best!

The house is almost put together. We all love the space we've acquired compared to our old house. Which still has not sold, so all prayers appreciated!!!

Proof is in the Pudding

In our gardening adventures recently, Mr. L has been brave kind enough to let me have a go at the tiller. I love it! It validates this feeling I have for using large power tools. I will confess that although I have not taken down the fence around the garden, I may have come close. Turning corners and starting new rows takes practice. And I seem to occasionally forget that I must release the handle in order for the tiller to come to a stop.

When I first showed W the pictures of me tilling, he wasn't 100% convinced the images weren't staged. I can hardly believe he would ever doubt my tilling abilities :)

All in all, my countrification process is moving right along.

Seasons of Friendships

A few years ago (wow, maybe 10 years?) I read the book "The Five Love Languages" for the first time. I wasn't married, wasn't dating...just a girl in college. Several years later as W and I prepared for marriage, I read it again. I have always been "quality time" first and foremost in how I receive love. Coming in at a close second is "words of encouragement."

 

This still rings true today. I treasure notes that friends send me. I'm not going to pretend that I am uber classical, but in a day when e-mail and text messages are convenient, I appreciate the time and effort that is put into sending a card.

Friendship has been heavy on my heart lately. I've lost a friend in the last few months. I tried as best as I knew how to handle the situation with grace, all along praying "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20)" begging that this friendship be spared. 

It wasn't spared. And it hurts.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Esslesiastes 3:1

I've also been thinking of the above verse. I know that God gives us friendships for different seasons in our lives. And as He gives, He also takes away. I have several friends in my life that no matter distance nor time apart, we always pick up where we left off. We may rarely see each other and only have heart-to-heart conversations maybe 2-3 times a year. But, it always seems when we talk that no time has passed. 

And sometimes, it's more evident that time has passed.

I talked to my sweet friend Megan this week, who is now engaged to be married. (Meg, this is my confession to you!). We met in college and even lived together for a brief time before W and I were married. It was a time in both of our lives where our faith seemed to be unstoppable. It made me so sad that our conversation the other day was surface level and a wee bit awkward. Yet I'm not sad, because the time that our friendship was so intimate holds a special place in my heart. I know that though the friendship doesn't look like what it used to, it's still there...it's just a different season.

We moved to this town two weeks before T-Pup was born. Now, almost seven years later, we are preparing to start a new chapter in story of our life. W will graduate in two weeks with his Masters of Divinity. Shortly following that, he is to be ordained/commissioned as an Elder (still a 3 year probation period following this step) in the United Methodist Church. He will be the new pastor of a church about an hour from here. We'll move into their parsonage in June and a new season will begin.

I want to be a seasoned friend. I want to always encourage, never tear down. I want to send letters of "hey, friend!" without reason to make others smile. I want to be on my knees for sisters in Christ who are up to their elbows in their children's diapers or wedding plans or ministry. As I think about what my friends are to me, I'm convicted of the friend I have not been to them. 

I want to be a good friend. 

 

Lizard Love

T-Pup and SAM made a new friend today. They loved him to death...in more ways than one! They initially made him a "queen sized bed" out of a small leaf, only to be upgraded to a "king sized leaf."

I love that they spent over two hours with this little lizard, never missing the comforts of inside.

Mawwiage, wove.

Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam. And wove, twue wove, wiww fowow you fowevah and evah.

It's been far too long since I've last seen The Princess Bride!

Anyway, on the subject and mawwiage and wove, my sweet husband brought me flowers home today. My favorite, hydrangeas.

They may or may not have been from a funeral.

Wove, twue wove.

Girliness

I've recently added a few items to my daily regiment that I absolutely love. And women share these things with each other, right?

First item: Shampoo. If I could have it my way, I would constantly have this in our shower: Lush Shampoo. The specific kind I love is the "Cynthia Sylvia Stout". My sweet friend Megan came to town a few years ago and when we hugged I awkwardly stood there smelling her hair. I love to get Lush at Christmas or my birthday. Practically speaking though, I'm not one to usually drop $30 for shampoo alone.

Which brings me to my constant dilemma of which hair products to buy. I have thick, wavy hair. Pantene makes me itch and Dove weighs it down. I usually grab the Herbal Essences "Hello Hydration" but I'm always annoyed the combo of shampoo and conditioner nears $10. (Hello multiple personalities...you love Lush. Herbal essences is el cheapo compared to that!)

My sweet friend Bethany, who is in our women's Bible study, had a keratin treatment at the salon recently. I was more than intrigued. I did some research and talked to my haircut lady, and she said she feared the keratin treatment might relax the wave I have too much, but that I should look into some keratin shampoos.

I automatically thought of dollar signs. Then one glorious day, I see this at Wal-Mart: Suave Keratin Infusion. My hopes were not set high because, come on... it's Suave. The epitome of cheap hair care. I am here to tell you though, it's perfect. I bought the shampoo and conditioner (for a whopping $2.64 each). Highly recommend.

Second item: Facewash. I have finally met my match made in heaven. Neutrogena pink grapefruit foaming scrub. The first week I used it, it dried my face out completely. My skin even peeled. I was slightly mortified until the next week when it was so incredibly soft that I knew I'd use it again. I built up slowly only using a few times a week, but now can easily use it twice a day.

Third Item: Facial moisturizer. I've used Cetaphil (actually, the Equate version) for the last few years and it's been fine. But a few weeks ago I was at the Dermatologist's office with T (they've been treating him for a few warts) when I noticed their plethora of freebie samples. I picked up the Eucerin Daily Protection, and haven't thought about Cetaphil since then. It's light and not greasy at all, and a SPF of 30 is an added bonus for this fair skinned girl.

If you're in the market for any of the above, I hope I've helped :) Any lovely secrets you'd like to share with me...feel free!

Gardening Update

Big progress on our gardening front! Take a look at our cucumbers and tomato plants! 

 

An incredibly generous gentleman at our church, Mr. L, is teaching me the ropes of gardening. I've wanted to learn for several years now, but honestly just didn't know where to start. He is a brave soul for taking on this crew! Here is T raking out some rocks.

 

Sam spreading the spinach seeds. Her itty-bitty hands were the perfect size for this job!

 

 

The hard workers after the job was done!

 

And yours truly getting the tiller back to the shed. Mr. L actually let me till the spinach rows, but we didn't get any pictures of that lest the tiller run away from me and disaster strike!

 

 

So far we have our tomato and cucumber seeds growing inside, and outside we've helped plant potatoes and spinach. Mr. L has planted more potatoes, onions, and english peas.

 

In other news, have you heard of the game Draw Something? A former classmate of W's tweeted her user name for the game, so out of curiosity I looked it up on the app store. I went ahead and purchased it, and have had the best time for the past 48 hours playing with friends we never get to see. It is essentially like Pictionary via the internet/social media. W drew this picture, but misread the word. He thought it was "window" but it was actually "widow." Too funny.

 

I've been playing with my sister also. Here is one that she drew this afternoon that was fun.

 

 

One friend's word to draw was "Tebowing". I wish I would have snapped a screen shot of his drawing. Priceless! If you are on Draw Something, leave your user ID in the comments :)