What a Weekend...

This weekend has been one of those rare near-perfect weekends. The perfect balance of friends and family, travel and staying home, eating out and cooking at home...I really couldn't have asked for more. Well, I could have done without the crazy bay bridge traffic that took me an extra hour and a half to get home, but other than that I'm all good! Still, even with the crazy traffic, I'm thrilled because I got to enjoy views like this!

I also got to spend time with my dad, who I rarely get to see (my parents moved to Oklahoma about 3 years ago), enjoyed seeing Baby Reagan roll over for the first time (wow!) and general good times with the family...

This weekend also marked an important milestone for Aaron and I...our 1 year anniversary! We can hardly believe that much time has passed - it's been a crazy, but fantastic year together. We're so thankful that we will finally be living in the same place as of this coming weekend and are getting married in just 4 and a half months!

I started the day off for us by making homemade pancakes and oven-baked bacon for breakfast. So easy and delicious - I swear I will never cook bacon on the stove again! We celebrated by going to see a baseball game...we both love the game, plus it was what we did on our first date a year ago! We also saw Prince of Persia (fun movie) and grabbed some dinner to satisfy our intense burger cravings. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life, here's to many more anniversaries to come!

This Saturday is my official moving date...heading out to the Eastern Shore permanently (ok, well at least the semi-permanent future) and moving into Aaron's parent's house...I'm so excited and have that weirdly sad twinge I always get when I'm moving onto something new. I'm really going to miss seeing Kate, Cam and Reagan every day and I'm going to have to get used to the fact that I might miss out on moments like this:

...and never going back to the dollar store

Ok, so I was doing a "good deed" for my sister and stopping at the dollar store on the way home from work to pick up some garage sale sticker labels for her...yeah...NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!

*SCENE*
Em is browsing the dollar store aisles looking for an impossibly small and obscure item. A large man approaches, who will now be know as "Creeper". She is wearing a summer dress and strappy black platform sandals.

Creeper: "Nice shoes"

Em: "Umm thanks." (thinking - hmm...gay maybe?)

Creeper: "What size feet do you have?"

Em: (becoming more disturbed and trying to increase the space between herself and the Creeper) "An 8 or 8.5 maybe."

Creeper: (displaying shocked surprise) "No way! They look way smaller!"

*Uncomfortable pause for Em...Creeper is seemingly unaffected*

Creeper: "Can I touch them? I used to be a physical therapist."

Em: (!!!!!!! Was that before or after you were arrested for molesting people's feet??? !!!!) "NO!"

*Em beats a hasty retreat from the Creeper and dollar store, never to return again*

Out of the Mouths of...well...Camerons?

Ok...so I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what to blog about. This is the problem with waiting too long in between blog posts is that I can't focus on what to blog about...so here are my choices:

1. My upcoming major move to the Eastern Shore, new job, new place, etc.

2. How God is persistently teaching me to be patient and rest in His peace.

3. My fiance's fascination with Legos and the awesome Lego-filled weekend we had.

4. A hilarious thing Cam said today and the random other comments it spawned for us around the dinner table.

Of COURSE I pick option 4 because seriously? Best. Cam. Quote. EVER....are you ready for this?

"Mommy, why is Iron Man black?"

DEAD SILENCE...followed by hysterical laughter by the adults in the household.

Explanation: He was looking at Kate's Dr. Pepper can, which is promoting IronMan 2 featuring Don Cheadle as "War Machine" and, yes...both the actor and "War Machine" are black. Cam isn't old enough to really get into the Iron Man story or see the movies yet, so he doesn't know who War Machine is. He just recognized the Iron Man suit and read the can.

Wow.

Of course the next comment was Andrew's (his dad), "Mommy, why is Iron Man that guy from Hotel Rwanda?"

This might be Cam's best quote week yet! Earlier, he came up to Kate (his mom) and announced we should get VIVA paper towels because they're better to clean up with. Holy marketing effectiveness batman!

Stay tuned for a new blog later this week that tackles one of the other subjects listed above. Feel free to weigh in on your opinion of which one it should be.

...and He continues to provide!

Why do I ever doubt that God is listening?

Why do I ever doubt that He cares?

Why do I ever doubt that He will provide?

God has amazingly moved in mine and Aaron's lives and provided a job for him in his field at a hospital (Atlantic General) in the area we want to live (Eastern Shore) less than 3 weeks after he was laid off!

I really shouldn't be surprised, right? So I'm shifting from surprise to gracious thankfulness for His provision and praising Him for yet again taking care of us! Thank you to everyone who has prayed us through these panicked, difficult weeks.

I also am interviewing for what could turn out to be a really cool job on Monday (17th) ALSO in the area where we want to live and nearby to Aaron's new job. God is AWESOME! So please keep praying for us, God is doing amazing things in our lives and I know I have some incredible support from those consistently praying for us. Thank you so much.

Also, please let me know how I can pray for you. I am really trying to learn how to become a better "prayer warrior" and bring my friends and family before Him daily. If there is any way I can lift any of you up in prayer, please let me know either by commenting or emailing me at greeneyed.em@gmail.com.

God is good!

Bad Chi Strikes Again

So it has been awhile since I've posted about my ridiculous bad chi, apparently it was just biding its time before striking a severe and appropriately random blow! Below is a photographic re-telling of the tale...













"Is that my rearview mirror coming un-attached?!"










"Holy mother of crap - that IS my rearview mirror coming un-attached! What in the world?!" (Imagine fierce dodging while trying to avoid being hit in the head/arm/neck with a dangling rearview mirror WHILE DRIVING) "WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD THIS HAPPEN TO OTHER THAN ME?!"













The shockingly empty windshield and sticky spot where the mirror was...













...the mirror's current resting place until I can find a way to FREAKING RE-ATTACH IT!













"Damn you bad chi...damn YOU!"

Be Still...

"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10

Such power packed into such a tiny sentence and such a struggle for me! I've never been especially good at being still. Even when I'm physically still, my brain just doesn't shut off. My mind is constantly moving, sorting through information and never resting. It's exhausting! I don't think I ever realized how exhausting never being still really is until recently.

Last night I was lying in bed - completely tired and ready to sleep - but my brain wouldn't shut up! Part of not being able to sleep was that it was insanely warm in my room, but mostly it was my stupid "un-still" brain. I wasn't anxious about anything and most thoughts were good, busy thoughts, but not ones that needed to be "thunk" (as my Mom would say) while I was trying to sleep!

So this morning (after only getting 4ish hours of sleep) God impressed this verse on me. Tonight I'm going to make my first concerted effort at "being still" and hopefully will get a good night's rest and coincidentally obeying God all at the same time!