While he's baking my husband asks:

"Honey, can you get me a ruler?"

Me: "For what?"

Him: "The directions say to cut this into 8 equal parts."

Me: ??????????????

Lesson: You can put the carpenter in the kitchen, but you can't take the carpenter out of the man.

Celebrating Christmas on New Year's with the fam. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday!

A year ago today I was preparing for my wedding. I'll spare you the whole, "I can't believe it's been a year already" spiel. But what I won't spare you is a little story about how I knew Garrett was the man I should marry. As you all know, Garrett and I only dated about 1 1/2 months before we got engaged. We knew each other less than 6 months when we married. For the record, I don't recommend this procedure for everyone, but for me it just made sense.

If you knew me well in the last ten years, you know how very much I longed to find that special man of my dreams. My heart ached for someone I had never met. But for those ten years I knew he was out there somewhere. Because, you see, I prayed for him. I am not saying I believe there is only one person out there that we are meant to be with, but I do believe God knows what is best for us and I figured if I was going to let Him guide me in any decision, this was the one it needed to be. I came up with a plan 10 years ago that I would pray for a sign so that I would know my husband on our first date. At first, I had the idea that this mystery man would bring me a rose on our first date. However, after a few years of watching “The Bachelor” and other dating shows, I realized this was way to cliché and even the tackiest of guys could do this. I then deiced it had to be more difficult than that. Afterall, I HAD to be certain. So, “God,” I said, “we’re gonna have to change it. A rose is just too easy, it has to be some other kind of gift, some small token that shows he knows what I like and thus shows he knows me.” And so from time to time I would pray this prayer, sometimes nonchalantly, sometimes with great urgency. I would remind God and myself of this prayer when I would go out on dates. I would try to make relationships work, knowing deep down they just couldn’t because the guys had not fulfilled their end of the bargain. (poor guys didn’t have a clue).

Then I met Garrett. We started emailing each other, IM’ing and calling. Then we set a day to meet. Realizing we did not know each other well, I didn’t want him coming to my house, so we met up in a neutral location. I got out of the car. He said, “I thought your hair was lighter.” (yeah not exactly the words that sweep a girl off her feet, but I forgive him. He was really nervous) We agreed on a place to go for lunch. That’s when he said, “Oh, I have something for you.” My heart skipped a beat. As he turned toward his trunk he said, “Now normally, it would be a rose, but I figured with it being so hot out, it would just wilt, so I got you this…” he held up a cute, old-fashioned looking Teddy bear with a little bow-tie around his neck. Exactly the kind of thing I would use to decorate my bedroom. Suddenly I felt my world spin. I thought. Okay, God, you are in control…bring it on. All I had to do from that point on was wait for Garrett to figure out what I already knew. I guess he always was a fast learner. I would have waited years, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.

I LOVE YOU MY DEAR, SWEET HUSBAND! YOU ARE TRULY A GODSEND.

So tonight i jogged/speed walked a 5k (that's 3.1 miles for the arithmetically challenged). About halfway through, my foot went numb and my back started aching. It was about 80 degrees and the humidity was high. Let me just tell you, I was ready to give up. I was way in the back with just a few older ladies behind me and I was thinking, what am i doing here.? With less that a 1/2 mile to go I was on the verge of tears. Then around the corner comes 2 others who had already finished the race, my supervisor at work and my preacher. They came to encourage me to finish. It was a kind gesture but i was still feeling pretty hopeless. Then as we rounded the corner i saw my husband walking towards me. He ran the last several 100 yards with me...in his sandals! Now if you know Garrett at all you know he is not a runner, not really a walker even. I have tried to get him to do this whole marathon thing with me and he just laughs and goes back to his video games. But as he ran that last little leg of the race with me and made me pose for a picture at the finish line, I realized a very powerful lesson about marriage. Marriage is not about doing every little thing together. It is not even about working on all the same goals together or going through the same struggles together. What it is about is supporting the other person in their goals and helping them a long when they just can't finish alone. Just beyond the moment I was ready to give up, just when I started thinking I was all alone in my struggle and I was never going to finish, my helper came to my side and guided me to the finish line. And I fell in love with him a little bit more. And I thanked God for showing me why He chose this man for me.

Please pray for my niece, Megan. She is 14 years old. She was in a 4 wheeler accident and is currently in the hospital. She had emergency surgery last night due to internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen (due to just recently having mono). She also shattered her wrist and had some pins placed in her arm. She is doing better today but is in a lot of pain . She is still in intensive care so keep praying. She just became a christian 1 month ago while she was visiting with me. She is one of the great joys of my life and I HATE that I can't be with her right now. She will also have some legal issues coming up because she was driving the ATV on the road with 2 other people on it. They were also injured but not as severely. So, please, lots of prayers for this babe in Christ, THANKS!

also I updated twice in a 24 hour period so don't miss my last post :)