The teapot whistled on the stove while I moved around the kitchen throwing dishes into their places and wiping up spills. We get home from work late because of Brandon’s school and work schedule and I always spend the first hour or two doing housework, cooking and packing lunches.

It’s herbal tea for me and Earl Grey for Brandon. He likes the tea sweet and I prefer mine sweet, but not as overpoweringly sweet as my coffee. I drink half the cup and then drip a few hot drops on my leg as I run up the stairs holding a mug in one hand and a computer power cord in the other. My pants will dry, right? Then I get distracted by carrying two loads of laundry upstairs to be dumped unceremoniously onto our bed for folding. The tea is forgotten and it’s okay, because I amuse myself during laundry folding by attempting to do squats between sock-matching. Exercise is a great idea. My legs hurt. It was also a bad idea, because remember that half cup of tea? It’s now all jumbled up in my stomach.

I think about things that jumble up my stomach and it’s always the things that jumble up life. Things that I can’t control and yet insist up worrying about. I told my sis that I should write a blog post about “Learning to Live in Times of Transition,” but really, I can’t. Because I’m not an expert and I haven’t yet attained. I do know that it feels as if the last three years of my life have been constant transition. They have been the greatest tests of my ability to trust in God. Now I do believe that God prepared me for years and developed my heart and showed His faithfulness over and over again, so that when I got to marriage and was faced with so many life changes and possibilities (jobs! school! internships! ohmygoshwhatwillourlifelooklikeintenyears?!?), He would make me able to live at peace.

Our newest transition is something we’ve been thinking about for months. It must have been the first week of the fall semester 2013 when Brandon learned that summer engineering internships in his department (Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering) were paid. And paid well. For some reason, we had always thrown that possibility out the window and understood that it would be more difficult for him to get a job out of college without an internship because he was working and going to school, because ya know, he has a wife and family (i.e. cat) to support. We just thought, this is one of those sacrifices we make. God will work it out. Well, God did work things out and continues to do that… though not in the way that we expected. In even better ways!

There were resume-passing out days and evenings when Brandon had to go to a few ‘information sessions,’ where he would talk impressively to recruiters—yeah, I think my husband is pretty impressive so I’m always happy when I notice other people noticing how impressive he is. Hehe. There were interviews. I don’t even remember how many. But I do know that by the end of recruiting week—actually about ten minutes after the recruiting time had closed—Brandon got a call from a large natural gas company recruiter with a summer internship offer.

It’s official, y’all--- we’re going south for the summer. Granted, it took moooonths for details to get hammered out and things are still being finalized (like where we’re gonna live!), but it’s official as it could be. We’re leaving after finals week in early May and will be back before the fall semester begins in late August. We are headed for Conway, Arkansas. We’re going to the middle of nowhere and that suits me fine. And yes, of course, I’m going with him. There was really no question in our minds about that; he talked about it in the interview. Where he goes, I go, cause that’s the way marriage works for us. And God’s hand is always working to be in our place of need before we even get there. I’ll be leaving my job that I’ve been at since I was 19 (it’s true!) to go with my husband hundreds of miles from the place I’ve called home for most of my life. Basically, I’m retiring or changing careers or becoming a domestic engineer or stay-at-home wife or something. We call it many different words, but always with wide smiles and happy hearts. Oh, I’ll surely be working… on something or at something. But we’re not sure what yet! And honestly, after being a full-time office worker + evening-and-weekend wedding photographer for years, I am ready for change.

I’m convinced that God always prepares us for times of transition. It may be just a feeling on the inside, a pressure of the Spirit, the gentle winds of change, the thoughts that turn to new pursuits, the heart that longs for new things. God is always working in our hearts. He is always guiding us through the maze of life, looking at the future which we can’t see. I feel like I have been prepared for this---this crazy idea of spending the summer in a new place. I feel like God is taking us there for a reason, that He is putting our feet in the path that He has carefully and perfectly laid out before us. I know that we are just discovering the treasures of His plans for us. We revel in the intricacies of His provision for us in this season so often. Things that could not have happened if we knocked on every door. Provision that couldn’t have happened without God’s oversight and us responding to His gentle instructions from even before our marriage. I could tell stories upon stories about things that we felt strongly about and so we did them, and they impacted our future. We couldn’t have known that simple actions would reap such harvests but they did.

So Arkansas. Yeah. We’re going to Arkansas.

It will be The Great Arkansas Adventure.


* My parents are the ever-supportive folks and also my dad has passed on his love of maps to me. They gave Brandon an Arkansas map for Christmas. Yay! I hate getting lost! I love maps!

I am a fan of Valentine’s Day. I always have been. I was the single girl that passed out red roses to fellow single ladies on Valentine’s Day so that they would feel loved. Love is amazing. God is love and we love because He first loved us and if Valentine’s Day reminds us of love--- pure, amazing, sacrificial love --- then I’m a fan.

So I am a fan of Valentine’s Day. I am not a fan of doing things just because everybody else does them. I am NOT a fan of the relentless advertising that tells men that their worth and their self-respect and their ego is all tied up in what they’ve done and what they’ve purchased for the lady in their life. Last week, I spent approximately 45 minutes attempting to watch the Olympics (gave up because the only thing on was some random preliminary hockey game that was not the USA and therefore we didn’t care) and was disgusted by the tone of commercials regarding Valentine’s Day. Brandon and I eye-rolled collectively at this and I knew our plans would be much more meaningful and much less expensive, so win-win for us and lose-lose for the corporate giants banking on taking our hard-earned money. So I’m sharing about our Valentine’s Day. Not because you should do anything like us or because it was better than anyone else’s, but because it was us and it was lovely and it was good.

We waited to celebrate until Sunday (February 16th), because as Brandon so eloquently told his coworkers, “If the greeting-card companies can create a holiday, then we can celebrate it two days later.” Hehe We know that Valentine’s Day was not exactly created by greeting-card companies, though definitely popularized by them, but you get the picture.

We decided to stay home and eat because a) too many people in the restaurants, b) we both love being home, c) Brandon loves my cooking, d) we could do Valentine’s Day nicer while staying within our budget. PS – I recently started using Mint.com again for money-tracking and I am LOVING it. Yay for fiscal responsibility starting in the home! ;)
My Valentine’s preparation started late Sunday afternoon. Brandon was still blissfully napping (Sundays are for napping), but I was too excited about décor-food-date-night to sleep! I started my little decoration rampage by rummaging through the guest bedroom closet and finding an odd dark red sheet (works for a tablecloth in a pinch!), then over to my room where I found the shiny white-and-silver scarf which became my table runner. Then I’m opening boxes of not-quite-put-away Christmas decorations and am victorious. After opening the fourth box, I find the red beads. They had adorned our Christmas tree not too long ago, but now I’m looping them into a heart-shaped pattern and dotting tea lights around. Added a few white tapers (apparently I stockpile candles!) and the table is set!

*sigh*. It’s so romantic. And let’s talk about the food. Main dish of shrimp linguini and broiled asparagus. I added some red pepper flakes to the tomato sauce for some kick.

I used a Wegmann’s dry bread mix for the no-knead garlic artisan bread on the side (so good for mopping up those tomato juices!). And I added fancy-ness by recreating a look I saw in a magazine: pomegranate seeds topping our sparkling white grape juice for Valentine’s-Day-appropriate color.

The crowning glory? My own creation of Nutella Tiramisu.

I knew that the combination of all our favorite things – Nutella, whipping cream and coffee – would make up the sweetest end of our meal. And I was right. It was so sweet and rich and delicious that we barely made a dent in our dessert dishes! Now the leftovers are at home taunting me as we speak….

The intangibles are my favorite. The things I can’t take photos of. The look of love in my husband’s eyes. The unendingly interesting conversation. Our shared laughter and joy as we look over the scrapbook I just finished. And the identical smirks and laughs that we give at the witticisms in Casablanca. The last part of our fun-and-frugal Valentine’s Day was a movie at home. Because you can rent movies for free at your local library. Oh yes!
Sweet end for a sweet date night. At home.

Maybe I should be writing about our recent fast-and-furious trip to NYC, but it’s not what I’m thinking about today so I’m going off-script (as if there is a script for my blog. There’s not.) Today, I was furiously pedaling, sweating and laboring through a cycling class at the gym and thinking just as intensely about doing hard things.

Some people mistake doing hard things for doing great things. Many times the hardest things are not great; they are not anything for which you will become famous. They are not publicly praiseworthy or instagram-worthy or begging for a shoutout on facebook.

“Hey guys, I did 5 loads of laundry today when I felt like watching TV instead! Applaud me now!”
“Hey guys, I actually went to the gym instead of buying more food. Booyah to me.”
“Hey guys, I managed to keep my mouth shut every time a coworker said something completely ridiculous to me. ”

Get the picture? Yeah, life is hard. Life is full of unglamorous, seemingly unimportant, yet truly necessary battles of self-discipline. When I say I’ve been thinking about doing hard things, I’m saying that I’ve been thinking about taking care of my daily responsibilities without complaint. I’m thinking about saying no to the candy bars parading through my office every afternoon even though I reeeeeally want to eat one. I’m thinking about ignoring that worldly voice speaking through various websites/magazines/etc., always saying to ‘love myself more’ and ‘do what you want!’ and my absolute favorite --- “you should buy this (thing/food/comfort), because you deserve it.” Nothing screams first-world entitlement like proclaiming that you deserve something. I don’t deserve things. I am blessed by things. I am thankful for things, but I am not entitled to eat dessert every meal or get a raise right now or be recognized or sleep in on Saturdays. Nope. Not entitled to those things at all. I was telling a friend recently that sometimes you just gotta do things you don’t want to, just to do things that you don’t want to. It’s self-discipline. I am convinced that one of the most valuable skills that you gain as you mature is the ability to say no to your desires.


Growing up means saying yes to working when you feel like playing.

Growing up means waking up when you feel like sleeping.

Growing up means giving when you feel like taking.

Growing up means studying when you feel like watching TV.

Growing up means recognizing that just because you want something is not a legitimate reason for buying it. Just because you think something is not a good reason to say it. And “because I feel like it” is actually the worst excuse to verbalize. 

If you’re thinking that I’m preaching to you, I kind of am. But you kind of deserve it because you chose to read my blog—which is like asking me pointed questions about what I think and actually listening to the answers. I gots lots to say, y’all. Hence the blogging.


However, mostly I’m preaching to me. I have been mulling over this concept for months. The continual challenge to me as a Christian believer is to sacrifice what I want for what God wants. There are clear commands in Scripture that tell me about my responsibilities as a Christian, as a wife, as an employee, as a fellow-follower-of-the-Way. Sometimes those commands include things that I don’t always feel like doing. And denying my flesh is hard.


Loading the dishwasher is hard. Eating the right amount of food (instead of too much food, which is gluttony) is hard. Going to work every single day to an accounting job is hard. I could go on and on and on, but I won’t. The point is that I am in the process of learning to do hard things, even when I don’t feel like it. 

“but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:27

 

All photos from our Maine trip in August 2013.
Climbing Beech Mountain at Acadia National Park. It was hard, but we did it.