Our sweet Texas town recently acquired a brand new burger joint imported from California!  You may have heard of it.  I haven't been yet here because it's so stinkin' crowded all the time but I have been while in California a few years ago.  Several around here have said they were slightly disappointed, noting "it's just a burger" but I think these Texans have missed out what most Californians know.  *whispering* There's a SECRET menu.  Try the "Animal Style" burger!  It's the best!  They add grilled onions and extra thousand island style spread.  Yummy!  You can get your FRIES "well done" (crispy) or "LIGHT" (soft & mushy).  Can't get that at McDonald's, huh?!   Also, check for the scriptures on the bottom of your cup, wrapper and other various places in honor of a Christian in the family that passed away in a plane crash.  He left his legacy for Christ for sure!  Looking forward to making it over there sometime this summer!

More fun facts about IN-N-OUT at this here website for you to ponder...

Day in the Life

• Brad took both kids to school today for me so I had an unusually leisurely morning.  "Leisurely" being very relative and thus, the reason for this post so that someday when my kids are grown and gone I can remember....a day in this life.
• Wake up to Moriah asking to read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" for the 347th time.
• Make a list of goals for the day over a cup of coffee and ready the Sunday paper for coupon clipping. (never actually got around to it....maybe tomorrow)
• Look over and add to a list of prayers and read "Jesus Calling" while Moriah watches Dora.  Post the previous blog.  (2 in one day.  When it rains, it pours I guess.)
• Get Moriah dressed for gymnastics and get her there by 10:30am.  Made it on time - yes!
• Watch her adorable pig tails skip and flip and roll around for 30 minutes while I text my realtor, talk to other moms with sweet babies and make a grocery list.
• Go by PetSmart to get dogfood. 
• Take an overdue book back to the library through the drive-thru. 
• Get a few groceries at Kroger to make sure kids have healthier breakfasts than the sugary cereals in my pantry and my husband has his ready supply of Diet Coke.
• Home to start laundry, put groceries away, get some lunch and let Moriah play for 20 minutes in the driveway in her new Barbie Jeep.
• Rest time.  She went with her blanket & fell asleep almost immediately.  I laid down on my heating pad and caught up on facebook, which is mostly about KU making the Final 4.  Eh.
• 2pm wake up Moriah and go to a doctor appointment, where they all know our family by name and we've only lived here 6 months.  Something is seriously wrong with that.  Played "I Spy" in the waiting room, then Moriah went to hang out with her favorite nurse while I had "my picture taken".  
• X-rays show that my back is fine and diagnosis is severe muscle spasms.  Severe is right.  Just thankful to not have to spend any more money on health, and also thankful for insurance.  Moriah was thankful for 2 lollipops and a princess sticker.
• Grace calls wondering why I haven't picked her up from school, so I call Brad to please go get her & Luke since I'm still at the dr.  He was coming home early anyway because he has a meeting tonight that could be late.  (9:15pm and he's still not here, so yep.)
• Go to CVS to fill prescriptions.  Call my mom to get a quick recommendation for the best allergy medicine and tell her how my x-ray went.
• I come home to continue laundry, make Moriah's lunch for preschool tomorrow and pick up around the kitchen.  She, meanwhile, has put on her bathing suit to go outside to play. Well it was 85 today.
• Brad leaves for his meeting and sweet friend from church, Kathee Sharp, brings taco & nacho fixings for our dinner.  Not the first sweet church member to come serve us since I hurt my back.  Soooo thankful!
• Eat dinner and watch DVR'd "Full House" episodes to veg out before the big STAAR tests tomorrow.  "You got it, Dude!"
• Give Moriah a bath, while other 2 kids fold laundry.  Efficiency at it's finest.
• Send kids to bed with prayers and kisses.  Sit down to remember this day.
• Oh.....and questions that came randomly throughout the day. (Moriah talks constantly by the way.)

• Am I FIVE yet?  --She just turned 4 on March 5th.  
• Want to play the guess that song game?
• Why are the hair on your eyebrows so weird?  (maybe it's time for a wax?)
• How do you spell Aunt Carrie?
• Why does my papa live in heaven?  (hardest one to answer by far.)
• Is it almost Christmas?  
• Is a puppy a person?
• So that's life with a 4 year old.  Never boring, I tell ya but so so blessed.

Waiting...

I have been feeling the overwhelming blessedness of His presence all weekend after a few weeks of pain and waiting on God for the healing & today my favorite devotion book "Jesus Calling" summed it all up.... "Waiting on God enables you to glorify Him by living in deep dependence on Him, ready to do His will. It also helps you to enjoy Him; in HIS PRESENCE is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11 Amen. Be blessed today, my friends.


What you can pray for me, if you so feel the Spirit lead...

• My back would heal completely and not cost as much as I'm afraid it will, being that I rode in an ambulance for the first time ever and wasn't nearly as exciting as you might think.
• I'm having my first colonoscopy this Friday due to very serious family history of colon cancer happening at a young age.  I'm apparently the type that can't go every 5 years or wait until I'm 40 to go, which really doesn't worry me as much as annoy me that I'm going to have to experience the preparation the night before.  (google it if you're lost.  details would be TMI, if I haven't gotten there already.) 
• I've also been told I need monthly shots of B12 which will give me more energy - Yay! - but shots really?  Pray I'll get over being a big wimp, I guess.  God knows with a 14, 11 & 4 year old I could use more energy!
• Pray for my 2 big kids this week.  STAAR testing takes place in Texas this week and it's apparently relative to the SAT/ACT.  They'll do fine.  Just pray for their endurance to get through it.
• We have a showing on our house tomorrow (Tuesday, March 27).  God is good.  He's got this. 
• I'm so very honored to be writing a devotion for a book full of devotions for Pastor's Wives by Pastor's Wives.  I've got one week to finish.  Please pray God will multiply my time and I can still give my family the "devotion" they need as well.  More details about the book later.

Waiting on God has been such a blessing.  I pray you are waiting on Him too.  How can I pray for you?

Moriah is 4

Time flies when you're having fun!  And she is nothin' but fun!  Oh and a tad cute, too.

Today while cleaning up toys....."Daddy, I can't pick up anymore.  Picking up makes me hot."

She is SO mine.  :)

Marriage Top Ten

My Top 10 Favorite Pieces of Advice on Marriage:

10. Give and Take nothin'.....it's all about the GIVE.
9. The opposite of love is not hate, it's selfishness. Deny self.
8. Regarding the remote: Get TIVO or a good book! 
7. Say when you're wrong, zip it when you're not. 
6. Pray often....("The Power of a Praying Wife") 
5. Have a mentor that's been there to share with, and pray for you.
4. What's going on in the bedroom, mirrors what's happening outside of it. 
3. Affirm, Encourage, Compliment, ACT interested!!!!
2. In times of desperation:  Find a Christian counselor and a get a marriage check up.  But also, get the movie "Fireproof" and the book "The Love Dare"....watch the movie together and then read/do the book!!!! 
1. Find out what his/her "Love Language" is, and speak it daily.

Like Spaghetti and Venus

He’s a morning person….I’m not.

He has a clean closet….I don’t.

He is a germaphobe….I wipe noses with my hands. (Not just anyone’s nose, btw.)

He lays down and is out….I lay down and wait for my brain to shut off.

He’s a verbal processor….I’m naturally contemplative.

I may think & then talk about problems….He finds solutions to problems.  Charge!

He’s an idealist…I’m a realist.  ("I don't think so, Tim.")

He’s competitive…I am not.  But it is quite fun beating him at cards.

He has a slapstick sense of humor, I have more of a dry, sarcastic wit.  *I'm smarter. Duh*

I’m an oldest child, He’s a youngest, but a firstborn boy.  If you know anything about birth order and you know us personally, you may have an "Aha!" moment.          

He apologizes easily and quickly; I need time to think.

He likes the dark; I like the light.

I love puzzles, games and books…He loves vegging in front of the TV...in the dark.

I’m strong-willed but also passive, He’s strong-willed and aggressive!  Guess who wins?

He doesn’t mind PDA, I do…gross!

I plan ahead…He likes to be impulsive.

He seems to thrive on change...I am learning it's not so bad, but heaven better be the next place I move to or there might be trouble, people.

I'm stubborn...He isn't.  Bless his little heart.

I multitask….He compartmentalizes. 

He likes books about leadership...I like books about relationships.

So what I've learned is I'm like spaghetti and he's from Mars?  Does it really matter?  We were created differently, but we're not from separate planets or in any way similar to pasta.  We were God's second try, with added details, emotions and outer beauty, but apparently weaker in the temptation department, based on our Great-Grandma Eve's flesh-filled need for wisdom.  **spoken like the Church-lady** And feel free to adlib her famous line here.  He was created to provide, care for and work the land.  Duh, duh, duh....Superman!

Yep.  We're different.  Time to get over it, celebrate it, embrace it or whatever you'd like to do with it...just don't use it against the other.  There's no point in trying to figure each other out, just go with it.  What God has joined together, let no one divide.  Amen.