Valentine's and Impacting the World

Every February brings the holiday that is known for hearts and roses, chocolates and balloons, and the obligatory "date night". I celebrate Valentine's Day, but I'm also a firm believer that love should be shown 24/7, not just once a year. I'm sure most people carry the same opinion. Everyone loves love, right? Well if you don't, then I wouldn't suggest that you keep reading, because it just gets "mushier" from here on out.

My Valentine this year, as has been for the past 8 years, has been my amazing husband, Brendon. (EIGHT years?! What?!) He's really amazing and if you've ever had the pleasure of meeting him, you'll agree. He's funny, he loves Jesus, he's driven, hard working, slightly sarcastic, and he's my best friend. Let me show you the card he got me, just to highlight everything I said about his personality.

Like I said, he's pretty humorous.

Everyone who knows me knows I love pictures, so here's some from yesterday.

                                               
                                      My Valentine's Day inspired nails.

  Pretty roses my hubby brought home, because all most girls love flowers. Guys, take notes. 

He got me this ring too. So beautiful!

We had dinner at Wasabi. N E V E R. A G A I N. The food wasn't bad if you could get past the massive crowds of people that stretched out past the front door. Next time, we're just going out to dinner the night after because the crowds were ridiculous. People who had reservations still had to wait over an hour to be seated. We saw waitresses crying, people angry, babies fussing, it was a mess. By the time we got a seat, Brendon wasn't feeling good and he was feeling nauseous so we just ordered and got our food to go. :( Poor guy. Good thing is, he's feeling much better today!

But before we left we had a really great conversation. Like, I said earlier. I love love. And one of the many reasons I love my husband is because he gives awesome counsel, especially when I most need it. So, lately I've been feeling like time is going way too fast. Sometimes, I feel like I'm being smothered by time. Almost like it's a wicked stepmother hovering over me and reminding me about everything I haven't done. I've always wanted to impact the world and sometimes I struggle with the reality that my version of how I impact the world isn't the same as God's version of how I'm going to do it. These past few weeks, I've really struggled with wanting to be an impact and being discouraged that what I'm doing is not enough. I shared my heart with Brendon and I love what he said, "Every act of obedience to God is an impact on the world."

WOW.

Every act of obedience to God is an impact on the world.

That was certainly eye opening for me. Thinking about it from this perspective also helps me feel better and encourages me to be obedient to Christ. For anyone out there struggling to find your purpose, all you can do is obey Christ and everything will fall in place. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that early that morning, I gave Brendon his Valentine's Day present from me. We didn't do big presents for each other this Christmas and instead we put the money towards a vacation, so it was really nice to be able to buy him something that he has been wanting. I got him an Aimpoint Pro, which is a high tech red dot sight for his AR-15. His reaction was really sweet. I can't seem to post the video on here, so here's the link for it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203252713104341&l=2996097952771447755

Here's a picture of him cheesin'. It turned out to be a pretty fun day and a great week in general!

Until next time!
Angie

You know you fight too...

This past Sunday, our Pastor said something that really made me think twice. It was this:

"When you and your spouse fight, you don't get hysterical; you tend to get historical." 

Sometimes for me it's both, but the majority of the time I do get historical. Things that happened weeks, months, and sometimes even years ago are re-hashed.

Humor me and imagine a fight between you and your spouse. Imagine being on a large battlefield. You on one side with your armor intact, your helmet in place, and your weapon of choice ready. For me, it would be the Barrett M82 (but let's be serious, it's priced at a little over $8,000; that's not happening anytime soon) and I would probably have a samurai sword on me too. (I mean, come one. Everyone looks good carrying one of those. Just think of Michonne on The Walking Dead!) And my husband would be on the other side of the field with a souped up AR-15 and a couple handguns on his person. It would be an epic battle---imagine one where nobody dies---and I'm sure if I was mad enough at him; I would find the slightest bit of enjoyment out of his pain. I can just see myself sniping words of insult across that field at him and having him retaliate with bullets of anger. I may even get close enough to lash at him with my sword of hate. Or, if I'm provoked enough, I may even grab some rounds that are many years old. Because, although they are old; they still pack a heck of a punch. 

This is a cartoonized idea of what really happens in the heat of an argument, but the idea is the same. We fight as if our lives depend on it and oftentimes we hold nothing back, digging as deep as years past. But in reality, it doesn't change things. It may make us feel better, but the feeling is temporary. I've done it so many times that I know. It's in my sinful nature to do so.

But there's always an alternative.

Grace.

 Grace: God blessing us despite the fact that we do not deserve it. Extending kindness to the unworthy. It may not work the first time, or even the second time, but it will keep the argument from escalating and I guarantee you that it will eventually provoke a loving reaction from the other party. And most times it's not something your spouse will be expecting you to throw at them. It'll catch them off guard, which it's always great to have the element of surprise.

I mean come on, it's always easier fighting alongside your best friend than it is against them, right?


"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

3 Year Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary this past August 14. They say that that's the end of the "honeymoon" stage, but I disagree. We've been together for a total of 6 and a half years and I can honestly say that each day we fall more in love with each other. Cheesy? It might be, but it's the truth.

When we first met, we were freshmen in high school. We didn't start dating until our sophomore year. This is the very first picture that we took together. I'm pretty sure this was taken in January of 2007.

WOW...I know, the hair. We looked so funny back then. Thank goodness it only gets better with age!

                I had to throw this in. I haven't seen Brendon in glasses in FOREVER.

2008 was a little better. This was our first movie date. And if you know us, you know we LOVE movies.

              Even though this was only a year later, the lack of hair makes it look like years had gone by!

This was a picture we took at the movies. 

And then came the long awaited senior prom. I was so excited, by then, we had been dating all throughout high school and we knew we were going to go together....it was kind of understood. So there was no sappy "will you go to prom with me" thing, but our prom pictures looked great!

And after that I was off to college! This a picture from our early college days. 

GO GATORS!!!

Brendon proposed on March 19, 2010. Here are two pictures from our engagement photos. 

Let's just say we were soaked  by the end of the shoot. 

We were married 5 months later on August 14, 2010 at the Budder Mathis House in Glen St. Mary. The venue was beautiful and the day was just perfect! Here's a link to our awesome venue, The Mathis House! http://www.theglenvenue.com/

Love this picture!

I asked Mom and Dad to walk me down the aisle. 

                                                 And...3 years later, this is us:

I'm certainly looking forward to many more years together. I'm so thankful God brought us together at such a young age!

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies."  Song of Songs 6:3