our first home (pictures)...

so i thought i would share with all my bloggy buddies (my new name for ya'll) a few pictures i took of my and the hubby's first home, a lovely little townhouse that we bought before we got married...the packing is going well, but exhausting as i am sure many of you are familiar with! here are the pics...enjoy!


the guest bathroom (everything a guest could want or need!):



guest bathroom again (my mom and i made this together!):

guest bedroom (dontcha just love the headboard?):

guest bedroom from another angle:

the living room (i have a thing for crosses as you can tell!):

more of the living room...the computer and reading nook:

the living room fireplace and my fave piece of furniture, the wardrobe (hand-carved in India by a Christian man!):

the french doors which lead to our back patio and the bayou (which i didn't take a pic of because it's messy out there with our stuff everywhere):

the couch again and bar area (those barstools were a gift from the hubby...didn't he do well?):

looking into the living room from the hallway:

from the dining room looking down the hallway, and the laundry room (where i spent a lot of time, haha!):

from the bar, looking into the kitchen, and into the dining room:

the stove area in the kitchen (that cross was a gift from Paul on our honeymoon to Belize):

the one side of the kitchen:

the second side of the kitchen (definitely would like a bit bigger kitchen when we get a house oneday!):

the dining room with some of my crosses and the laundry room again:

the dining room from the front door (most of the things in here came from both Paul's and my trips to Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, etc... before we even met!):

the front door from the dining room:

the hallway upstairs with our "library" (bookshelf):

the bookshelf/library again, and looking into the master bedroom:

looking down the hallway and stairs from the master bedroom:

the master bathroom:

the master bathroom again:

the master bedroom looking into the bathroom:

the master bedroom again...this is definitely my fave room in the house:

the master bedroom from another angle (and for some reason my curtains were falling down...didn't realize this til after i posted this photo!):

well, that's it!

thanks to everyone also for the encouraging comments on the last post! they blessed my heart so much <3

home is where the heart is...

last night at church the guest speaker spoke about brokenness, and that without being broken first, God is unable to heal our hearts...and when we are so broken we can't think straight, the best place to be is on our knees, where our heart is above our head

i have to be honest...my heart is breaking as i watch the days go by more quickly, and my mind is reeling...my husband leaves in 9 days for Iraqi training, and i will see him for 5 days after that at Thanksgiving, and 3 days after that for Christmas...then on January 2nd, he leaves for Iraq, and i won't see him again for another 10 months

i can't even begin to imagine what it will be like being away from him for that long...
i really and truly am scared, but i know there is hope...that this is only 1 year out of a lifetime together, and God is going to bring so much good out of this time...i am believing and expecting God to make miracles and to bring Paul and i closer through Him

today my husband and i are beginning to pack up some of our belongings...some of it (very little actually) will go with him to Iraq, some of it will go with me to seminary in January, some of it will go with me to my parents' house where i will live until January, and most of it will go into storage to be kept safe until my husband comes home next year

to me, this is a place of holy ground...our first home...where so many of our first memories were made

...where i first learned to cook my husband's favorite meals

where i first learned that doing 2 people's laundry, instead of 1, takes up a lot more time

where i first realized that home is not necessarily a place, but a feeling of warmth and security

where i first learned that marriage is more than signing a legal document

where i first invited friends over to entertain and show hospitality towards

and where i first learned what it REALLY means to love another person unconditionally and to be loved in return

our first home will always be sacred to me, and i plan on taking pictures of everything to show our children one day...

as i fight back the tears while packing up all of our things, i am reminded that everything we have is just that...a lot of things...and those things are not what make our marriage work, or even what make a home for us...

home is where the heart is...and no matter where i am, i feel safe and secure knowing that my God is the one who holds my heart in His hands, and my husband holds the key...

some cheering up...

so my hubby is gone again for another 5 days of Iraqi training, and life is SO NOT fun without him around

however, one of our favorite things to do is laugh...i really think laughter is such good medicine for the soul...and i know that when he is away, i have to find other ways to laugh and enjoy life

one of my favorite websites to go and get a crack-up from is http://www.reverendfun.com/

so i thought i would share some of my favorite cartoons from the site...

and my all time favorite:

hope you got a kick out of those as much as i did :) God bless!

the perfect marriage...

on Friday night, and again tonight with his family, my sweet husband and i went to watch the movie Fireproof, which i had really been looking forward to seeing for a long time, several months in fact, after i accidentally found the trailor on GodTube.com

i really, really loved the movie...my favorite line from it was probably when the young man's father said to him "Caleb, you don't know how to love your wife because you've never experienced real love in the first place" (i.e. God's love...for more on that, see my post series titled "love as it was meant to be")

with Paul leaving in about 3 weeks for Iraqi training, then for Iraq (plus 5 days this week starting Wednesday), we are doing everything we can to "fireproof" our marriage

it is the absolute truth that marriage not only survives, but greatly flourishes, when Christ is made the center of the entire thing...marriage was never meant to be just between 2 people, but between 3...as Ecclesiastes 4:12b says "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

however, even with the Lord in the lead, there is no such thing as the perfect marriage, and that was the only thing the movie didn't point out after the ending...and it got me thinking

there have been a few times people have come to Paul and i, asking us how have the perfect marriage, and our answer is always, "we don't"...then some people will say "oh, but you two always seem so happy and in love"...we answer, "yes, we are, but it's because of Jesus Christ...there is no other way we would be so happy"

it is true, we are very, very happy, and extremely "in love" (if you want to call it that...we don't though)...however, even with the Lord in the lead, there is no such thing as the perfect marriage...

NEWS FLASH: perfect marriages don't exist

i think this is just one reason (along with many others) that even godly, spirit-filled believers end up divorced...we go into marriage on the wedding day with the expectation that our spouse will meet every one of our needs, 24/7, without us having to ask, and we will always be happy, in love, and things will be perfect because we know the Lord

but if that were so, Christians would not end up divorced...there is a huge lie out there going around in the Church scene that people's lives will be perfect once they come to the Lord

NEWS FLASH: perfect lives don't exist

we are never going to have perfect lives...no such thing as a perfect marriage, perfect job, perfect house, perfect car, perfect anything, will ever be found...it just won't

one more tiny news flash: perfect people don't exist

Jesus Christ was a perfect man, fully human yet fully God, in every way...but his life, by our world's standards, was far from perfect...people despised him, rejected him in his own hometown...he had no home of his own, he was single, and the people he spent time with were the outcasts of the society...yet it was his un-perfect life that led Him to be perfected by God, through His obedience in death on the cross

i love my husband to death, so much so that i literally would die for him if i had to, but he is not perfect...neither am i...we make mistakes every single day, big and small

the secret to our happiness is NOT having the perfect marriage! why? because it forces us to get on our knees, to humbly ask for forgiveness, to seek God for help, and to lean on/trust Him with all of our hearts...our marriage, despite the tough things we have gone through and will go through, has been blessed beyond belief...it is NOT being perfect that has given us a strong marriage...because we rely on Christ, and are obedient to Him, even through our many imperfections, we are made stronger

Christian perfection doesn't mean that we won't fail, but that when we do fail (as we inevitably do), we ask God to change our hearts, which changes our actions, and in turn changes our lives...it is us sharing our lives with Christ, and Him working through us by the power of the Holy Spirit, that gives us the ability to live a life short of perfection, yet always striving for it...ultimately, we are fulfilled, and find our happiness, in Him...we put our hope in Him, instead of earthly, imperfect people and things...because of our relationship with Him, Paul and i don't seek perfection in one another, yet we seek perfection FOR one another through Christ's perfect sacrifice

are you expecting perfection in your self, from your spouse, from your life even? if so, have you ever attained it? apart from Christ, perfection is impossible...and even with Him, it cannot be attained while on earth...however, through Christ, the power to love beyond measure and to live a happy and fulfilled life, is possible

for those of you who will be/are married, remember: it is the NOT perfect marriage that is made perfected through Christ




"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

for future generations...

hey friends

sorry i haven't been here in a little while...i've been feeling awful, so your prayers would be appreciated...Paul (the hubby) and i are trying to get things ready for his deployment as well...plus i'm taking classes and we both are working...so it has been a bit hectic

i've also been waiting for this sermon from our church to post

Paul and i were in church almost 2 hours longer than normal after listening to the sermon last weekend...we stayed that long just to pray, to ask forgiveness, and for the people in our lives as well as the kids in Central America that we want to help set free...what Pastor Shane really spoke on was our hearts for the world

the sermon is posted below...it might take a few minutes to download, and i think it's about 45-50 minutes long...but it's worth it

please listen...it just might change your life:

Generational Transformation


"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14