Home Sweet Mississippi, Home Sweet DC

I know its been awhile since I posted, but I was in the South, celebrating the holidays with those I love!

It was so fun to be back in Mississippi last week.  We enjoyed many of the wonderful aspects of Mississippi -- homecooked meals with families, joyful reunions with friends, coffee, desserts and gifts by the tree, christmas eve communion at a small country church, meals at favorite local restaurants, drinks and laughter at small cozy bars and mornings spent in the woods hunting for big bucks (well, for Dave atleast)

Our week was full, happy, joyful- but not restful.  I was on the road the whole week and then wrapped the week off with a weekend full of wedding activities for a dear friend! Dave and I spent the holidays together, but spent a good portion of the week apart - while he hunted and we both saw family and friends. Then we had a LONG travel day including cancelled flights, delayed flights and finally got home at 12:30 am on Sunday evening/Monday morning. Yes, a HAPPY TIRING holiday!

I always hate January --its a dreadfully boring month and I always turn a year older despite my best attempts at preventing it.  It's cold and dreary and the holidays have ended.  The lights come down, the trees are packed away and there are less outings, parties and events.

And yet....this year, I am excited for January! I am imagining a month of movies and sweats and cuddling, cooking new recipes, curling up with good books and warm steamy cups of cocoa,  possibly a little organizing . WE ARE WORN OUT FROM THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS-- and a slow dull month is just what the doctor ordered! I already have a list of movies I want to see and books I want to read!

Going home to Mississippi was good. The first few days were hard as I realized how much I missed my life there.  I also teared up numerous times with the realization that I didn't have time to see or enjoy everyone and everything I love about home!! But, even so, at the end of the week, Dave and I both admitted that although a few more days in Mississippi would have been nice, we were ready to get back to DC.

DC doesn't have as many people we love and it doesn't have as many memories, but it is the life we are making together- and we love having a life that is "ours". It is good to go home to Mississippi, AND its good to come back home to DC!


A few pictures from our time in the hospitality state!

Annual Game night with 2 families in town!



Sunday Christmas lunch with one side of Dave's family

Sunday Night Girls Dinner

Mele Kalikimaka party (including a round of "cards against humanity")

Jack's first Gingerbread House which he claims he built, but I think Uncle Bubby may have done most of the building!



 Christmas Eve with Dave's family at the Cedars Plantation (This picture should sum up the differences in our two personalities -- Dave's festive wear includes a green polo, mine includes a sequin skirt ha!)

Christmas Morning with Dave's family

Christmas Afternoon with my family



Lunch with some of my favorite Highlands Pres folks!



 I couldn't help but take a pic of Jack napping. Adorable.

 Lindsey's rehearsal dinner

 Drinks at the Library Lounge after the Rehearsal

 Wedding Day! (Isn't she lovely??)

By the way, Dave and I celebrated 6 months of marriage at the wedding. 6 months sure seems like it went by quickly! Excited for what the next 6 months, 6 years, 6 decades bring!

 I know it's 2014 already (Happy New Year!)  so I am a little late on the "2013 memories" and "2014 goals" blog posts, but they will be coming soon....just a little late. Bear with me, its  been a busy month!

Memories, Parties and Homecomings

A random Holiday blogpost.....

First, one year ago YESTERDAY, Dave proposed to me.  Such a happy day for us, and personally for me, such a day of God's redemption and grace.  Saying yes and marrying him was the best decision I have ever made! I bet that as years go on, I won't always remember this date (as its not our real anniversary), but I sure hope I do-- it's a good reminder that life can change in a year. On December 20, 2011, I was heading home for the holidays and had gone through a few different failed dating relationships in the past 18 months....and I was thinking I will never meet the right guy.  I met him a couple weeks later.  On December 20, 2012, we get engaged.  And on December 20, 2013, we are happilly married and living in DC (getting ready to go home for Christmas!) How much life can change in a year!!! (always a thought I hope to remember when discouraged -- things usually get easier or better with time!)  You can read our love story HERE.

 

I thought I'd share a few Christmas and non-Christmas articles that I've recently read that were encouraging or fun.

• Dissapointment at Christmas
• Buying Kids Presents at Christmas (I am not saying I agree with the whole thing, but I love a lot of what she says: Her kids don't get gifts because they are "good", they get gifts because she loves them and wants to give gifts and also because she wants her daughter to learn to give with generosity)
• Why you should eat the cookie
• Pregnant with Christmas
• BOLD Prayer lists
• God of the Impossible  -- and my thoughts on the topic
• Jesus is for those that hate Christmas (and for those who are just suffering through it this year or any other year)
• Christian Christmas Grinches 

Also, along the way, we've had a few Christmas parties and I thought I'd share pictures :)  One night, Dave was sick so we skipped a couple parties and spend the night in, watching a holiday flick and decorating a gingerbread house.  I tend to get mopey as the holidays come to an end-- there is always a whole lot more that I wanted to accomplish compared to what I did accomplish.  I wanted to see the lights at the zoo, go to a Christmas play, walk around Old Town Alexandria and see the decorations, go ice skating in Georgetown, etc. But, there were really only 3 weeks of Christmas before we flew home...and one was spent on our weekend getaway. Not too much time to get things done.  However, I am grateful for the fun things we did do....curling up on a snowy day to watch Christmas movies by the tree, managing to send out our holiday cards on time, enjoying the lights that we did get to see, celebrating with friends, listening to Holiday music and making a few Christmas sugary treats, doing our advent devo daily.  It's been a good year -- and things I have failed to do this year will just be done next year....many more Christmases to start many new traditions (and keep old traditions as well!)

Dave's Office Party in Middleburg at Red Fox Inn

 

My office party in Georgetown at the Ritz Carlton

 

Our Community Group party at our apt.

 

 The architect at work (My side is very planned out, his is very artsy and free form -- typical!)

 

 

Final Product!!

Finally, I saved the best news for last...we are going to home sweet Mississippi TODAY.  We've been counting down -- it's been 5 months for me and 6 for Dave. It is my belief that Mississippi is one of America's best kept secrets.  We know that some of our history is bad, but at the same time, many many people (of all races) in Mississippi will love you, welcome you and talk your ear off! I sure miss the South and am eager for a week at home.  We have a busy busy week ahead with the annual game night (with my family and 2 other families), caroling, Tacky Christmas at the deer camp, family Christmas and Christmas Eve traditions, seeing friends and a wedding of 2 sweet friends! I'm so excited to go home tomorrow, but I am almost a little sad to be going because I know we've been looking forward to this week and the week will go too quickly, ha! 

How special to go home at Christmas. My friend Emily posted these words on Facebook the other day (from the advent readings by John Piper which are wonderful!).

"Do you feel restless for home? [Coming home for the holidays] feels good. I think the bottom line reason why it feels good is that [we] are destined in the depths for an ultimate Homecoming. All other homecomings are foretaste. And foretastes are good. Unless they become substitutes. O, don't let all the sweet things of this season become substitutes of the final, great all-satisfying Sweet...ness. Let every loss and every delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven. Christmas. What is it but this: I came that they might have LIFE? ... That you & I might have LIFE, now and forever. Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmas by drinking at the fountain of FOREVER. It is so near." 

 

 I've been reflecting on this all week. Other than coming home from college, I've never had a holiday "homecoming". All of my post school life until now, I have lived an hour away from my parents - and have celebrated with them all season, so this year I have tried to reflect on how my eagerness to go home (including our countdown!) reveals my even greater need and desire for an ultimate homecoming!! Isn't it wonderful how all the sweet and wonderful feelings and experiences during the holidays are good in and of themselves AND good because they point us to eternal everlasting concepts?

He Came.

We spend a good amount of time during advent discussing that Jesus came, died, rose and will come again!! What wonderful joyful news! Certainly Christmas and Easter tie in together so perfectly! But, sometimes I think we focus so much on what He came to do that we miss one of the biggest blessings of Christmas -- the fact that He simply CAME.

 
Don't get me wrong, Jesus accomplished a lot in his 33 years of life, death and resurrection, the gospel should be celebrated -- at Easter, year round and of course at Christmas, but let's not only look to what all He later accomplished and overlook the simple (yet not so simple) fact that he came.


He came into a messy broken world that he didn't have to enter, a world full of harsh words, hurt feelings, rejection, sin, illness, temptation, physical pain. He went from being God to being a helpless baby dependent on others for food and shelter. He went through all the hard things we go through - except He went through that pain willingly (we don't exactly have a choice like He did) and He walked through earthly trials perfectly and without sin.


Knowing how broken the earth was, He still came. That is just so amazing to me. Life is full of many blessings, but it is also full of trials and the choice to enter into the mess and filth of the people He loved is incredibly sacrificial.
 

Modern day evangelicals focus so much on the "God" aspect of Jesus that we might overlook the "man" aspect. Fully God, fully man. The combination of the two is so extremely comforting -- as we walk through life, we serve a God who overcame sin and death by entering into (and experiencing) our world of sin and death.
 

Each broken heart, each moment of rejection, each day that seems full of frustrating moments, each betrayal, each sickness, He knows and understands. He knows because he experienced this messy broken world. He experienced it because HE CAME.

The Impossible

I've read a few articles recently about not romanticizing Christmas and not getting our hopes up just because it's the holiday season. Some say that we have some hallmark view of miracles, changes, MAGIC!!  Instead of hoping for a magical holiday (full or surprises, provisions, etc) , we should focus on the real meaning for Christmas -- Advent - and rejoice in our REAL hope, not our earthly view of hope (that something magical or IMPOSSIBLE will happen at Christmas, just as it does on every Holiday movie you watch!)

Although I 100% agree with placing our HOPE in the Lord, not other people, situations or circumstances, I think this viewpoint of not believing in miraculous or impossible at Christmas is a bit sad. It's sad not because I want "holiday magic" over the hope that comes through Christ, but because in a way, this view encourages the concept that we as Christians can't want or pray for the impossible- because what if God can't or won't accomplish these impossible requests?

Advent should actually ENCOURAGE us to bring our IMPOSSIBLE hopes to our Savior...after all, ADVENT is all about the Impossible. GOD BECAME MAN! A VIRGIN BIRTHED A BABY!  ANGELS ANNOUNCED THE CHILD'S BIRTH!  AN ELDERLY WOMAN CONCEIVED A BABY (John the Baptist)!  A HUMAN BEING LIVED A PERFECT LIFE WITH NO BAD ATTITUDES, NO SINS, NO HURTFUL WORDS! And, later, this same man, DIED AND THEN ROSE FROM THE DEAD!! This is all impossible. Very very impossible.

Advent gives us HOPE eternally and HOPE now.  Christmas can be quite hard on many -- partly because it's a time of family and friends, so if you have struggles or loss in those areas, you feel the loss even moreso during the Holidays.  For me, personally, Christmas has be difficult in the past because its a milestone (alongside New Yearks) representing another year has passed - yet another Holiday season and this prayer hasn't been answered or this goal hasn't been met. And yet, I always find hope at Christmas through the realization the Christ came and died and rose again, but also in the realization that Christmas is full of miracles.  Advent always reminds me that our Savior is capable of THE IMPOSSIBLE.

So, as you pray for those hard situations in your life this holiday season, know that God is capable of handling even the most impossible situations. He brings healing, babies, husbands, jobs, answers, salvation - even when it seems that those answers could never happen.  This doesn't mean that He will answer every  request (sometimes His plans our different than ours), but HE CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE - and CHRISTMAS displays His love of doing impossible things!! That, alone, should give us hope that no situation is trully hopeless or impossible.

I loved this article on God doing impossible things at Christmas. He stated...

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”Are you facing an impossible situation? Do you look at it and see no earthly way it could change? Maybe you look at a family member who seems to have no interest in God at all, and it seems like he or she is just too far gone to save. Nothing will be impossible with God! Maybe you can see no way for God to provide financially for you – remember Jesus fed crowds of 5000 and 7000 from a few fish and loaves of bread. He spoke to typhoons and calmed the winds and waves. When he needed money for the temple tax he told Peter to go fishing and he’d catch a fish with a coin in its mouth.

Nothing will be impossible with God. Maybe you feel like you can’t break out of a sin you are ensnared in. You’ve tried to quit and you can’t. Nothing will be impossible with God. Whatever you are praying for, unless God has made it absolutely clear that the answer is no, then keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking. Maybe it’s a sickness you’ve had for years. Keep asking, knocking seeking. Yes, God is sovereign and he takes us through afflictions and he promises to work them all for our good. Sometimes he doesn’t answer in the way we would like, but don’t quit asking! "

The author ended his post by stating, "Don’t give up! Nothing is too hard for our God. Nothing is impossible to him. Who knows, this may be the Christmas he answers your prayers."

I sure relate to that last sentence. I spent a few years and a few Christmases praying that I'd meet a godly husband (and preferably soon) -- and two years ago, right after Christmas, God answered my prayers :) And this year, I have a couple situations that seem impossible to me, but I am reminded through Advent that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD. 

I pray we all find the HOPE that comes at Christmas -  the hope that our Savior came to save us and the hope that He can fix impossible situations. While we may not need to believe or hope for magical, as Christians, we should always believe in the accomplishment of the impossible!

Just the Icing on the Cake

Yesterday I shared about our little Holiday getaway that Dave surprised me with and how, although I loved his romantic gesture, it was just the icing on the cake.

I was excited when Dave told me his first surprise -- that he bought me a massage (because I have been complaining of tension in back and neck for months and always saying that I was going to get a massage with money from Christmas and my birthday). I said "You are too good to me" and he responded by telling me the massage was just icing on the cake. What he meant was that he had also booked a night at Founder's Inn for a getaway and I was going to find out this surprise soon.

But, when I heard that, my thought was "yep, his romantic gestures are just icing on the cake"

You see, most days aren't romance....although I suppose they are a bit more romantice when you have only been married 5.5 months....even cooking together seems romantic early on! But even for newlyweds, most days are bills, chores, dinners, tv shows, work, sickness, movies, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. You want to be married to a good kind person who you respect and love and can be loyal to when life is rough and difficult - or just boring and typical.

It's easy to say "You are too good to me" when there's a surprise, flowers, nice dinner out. But Dave is just as good to me when he does the dishes, works hard to pay bills, offers to make his sick wife soup, chases my nephew around, picks something up from the store on the way home.  He is goot to me when he is patient with me and forgiving. He's good to me when he swallows his pride and apologizes and he's good to me when he carefully calls me out on my flaws and sin. He's good to me when he reads our morning devo or reaches for my hand in church or cooks Saturday breakfast.

I always hesitate to ONLY show the exciting moments of life on this blog (although I don't exactly take random tuesday night pics of us cleaning the apartment ha) - because I don't want to portray that this is always what life or marriage is like, atleast not for me. I thought that alongside the fun exciting moments it life, the boring moments are good too, although not as exciting. I enjoy the exciting moments and surprises - and Dave's romantic gestures sure make me FEEL loved, but I KNOW my husband loves me based on his actions on a random monday night. The rest is just icing on the cake :)

Along the lines of this post, check out this article on BORING MEN. I have been wanting to post it but don't have much to add to it -- I've only been married a short while so I don't have too many of these "boring" stories yet, but I do hope years from now, when its easy to lack appreciation for eachother, I respond the same way and remember that boring isn't always bad. The author states....

"Who am I willing to take the reeking garbage out for and clean out the gross muck ponding at the bottom of the fridge? Who am I willing to listen to instead of talk at? Who am I willing to hold as they grow older and realer? Who am I willing to die a bit more for every day? Who am I willing to make heart-boring years with? Who am I willing to let bore a hole into my heart?

...Life isn't not about one-upmanship -- it's about one-downmanship. It's about the heart-boring years of sacrifice and going lower and serving. It's not about how well you perform your proposal. It's about how well you let Christ perform your life."

Oh, I hope I have a boring marriage like that -- with the occasional icing on top!! Seriously, read her whole article, it will make you long to have a boring committed spouse like that and hopefully, it will make you long to be that type of spouse as well!

Holiday weekend getaway

Life is so full of JOY these days, but the past month or so has also been frustrating as we soon hit the 6 month mark on marriage and time in DC and I feel like I'm not as established here as I long to be....with job, lots of friends, church home, etc. Things certainly aren't awful but I had idealistic hopes for where life would be by now. And...I'm tired and need a rest from always being "on" (a week of vacation will do me good I think!)

And I guess Dave sensed my frustrations needed a little cheering up because this past weekend, my precious husband surprised me with an overnight getaway as an early Christmas gift. Nothing extravagant or ornate, just much needed time away from the city, enjoying the holidays and time together. He sent me emailed clues all week (and email reassurances that he wasn't spending a ton of money, that he got bargains and I need not “fret” over prices--he knows me well!) It was our first married getaway together (minus the honeymoon) and we had a great time!!

We left early Saturday and stopped at Fredericksburg to walk around the shops, then stopped for lunch and a massage (for me) in Richmond, and then arrived at our hotel in Virginia Beach, Founders Inn. We enjoyed dinner at a pizzeria on the Boardwalk then drive through the 34 blocks of Christmas lights decorating the boardwalk. We spent a lazy Sunday morning in the hot tub before going to see my childhood home (you may not have known that about me -- I spent part of elementary school living in Chesapeake/Virginia Beach) and then heading to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around and enjoy the carolers, decorations and history.

It really was a fun weekend away-- with all the holiday decorations, Christmas music and time spent discussing our favorite family holiday traditions, I feel very MERRY now!! . It was good to get away and remember my blessings (Dave, having work, family, etc)  instead of thinking about what I am still waiting on.

Also, this holiday surplice was also particularly special because Dave is not Mr. Romantic on a daily basis. That's not a complaint, it's an observation and he would tell you the same thing. He’s kind and good and serves and works hard. I like that better than tons of Romance…but when he does do something romantic a few times a year, it’s always sweet and “icing on the cake”, but more on that tomorrow!! :)

Here are some pics from our weekend getaway....

Window Shopping in Fredericksburg

Dinner on the Boardwalk

Boardwalk Drive Through Light Show

Hotel Decorations



Childhood Home



Williamsburg



What a fun weekend with a sweet guy - now all we have to do is make it through 4 more work days, enjoy another Holiday party, pack and head home Saturday morning. I've been humming "Christmas in Dixie" all day!

ADVENT: Peace when life has "loose ends"

This week, Advent focuses on peace.

Therefore, by default, I think Advent focuses on trust...because the only way to have peace in life is by trusting the Lord even when the situation seems unsolvable, unmanageable, uncontrollable. Funny how we (and by we, I mean me!) often think peace and calmness and stability comes through very controlled, manageable circumstances.

We want answers and certainty and all of our loose ends tied up.  I hate unresolved friendships, relationships, work situations. (It's true, although happily married, if I were to think too long on any exes, I would probably became anxious- not because I "lost" them, but because many breakups never have closure or answers and I hate feeling like the whole issue will always remain unmanaged and unresolved).  One of my life mottos is that I'd rather know the answer, even if it's not an answer I want to hear. (The truth is I'd rather never know bad news at all, but if I know there is news, circumstances, etc that someone is withholding, I just feel I'd rather know than guess!)

Life has been fairly pleasant this year, but even so, there are "loose ends" I wish could be tied up: friendships that have suffered this past year and may never be the same, a job hunt I wish would go ahead and end with some certainty of where I will be for the next year, clarity on which church should be our church home, an established group of friends like I had in Mississippi.  Nothing major, just tiny little annoyances that I want to fix and solve and manage....but I can't.

Many people go into "manage" mode during crisis or tragedy.  "Ok, the circumstances didn't turn out as hoped, but here's what I've got, how do I make the best of this?"  I actually think this is a great way to be - to try to assess hurts in a way where we salvage good from bad, but this tendency to manage and fix should only come after prayer and deep trust in the one who controls and manages all circumstances!

I'm pretty bad at trusting.  Ironically enough, I don't struggle with trusting the Jesus came, died, rose again and will come back again for me.  I don't doubt that the Gospel is true.  I don't ever question that Christmas occurs because of the birth of our Savior or that in the grand scheme of things, God is who says he is....So, when it comes to eternal perspective, I have a lot of peace and comfort that my God loved me so much he came to this world and that he has saved and redeemed me.

BUT I do (like most humans) want to control my life, and by default, I don't always feel peace in regards to my daily life.  I feel worry and stress and anxiety.  We often fail to trust God to tie up the loose ends even when we don't see them being tied up, to control the situation even when it seems out of control.

Advent may be a month long preparation for Christmas, but the concepts should apply all year long....after all, we are in constant waiting for His second coming. When struggling to trust, perhaps its best to look back to Christmas and see how God was in control of the little details.

Seriously, how many tiny details did the Lord have to carefully work out - there were lots of prophecies about the Lord's coming.  God worked out a census to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in order to fulfill one prophecy.  He knew an inn would be full so He provided a stable.  The Lord was in the details.  He managed what seemed a little unmanagable.  Until that point, it probably felt to many of God's people like there were a lot of little loose ends that had yet to be tied up - prophecies yet to be fulfilled, a Savior that had not yet come.  The Lord is trustworthy with the details -- be at peace!

Finally, Advent should direct us to peace in our daily lives because we know that Christ has come and overcome the world.  We can have eternal peace and we can have daily peace - trusting that God can overcome and redeem whatever problems and hurts caused by our sins and the sins of others, caused by the harsh disappointments and realities of life, etc.

Peace is hard to obtain.  I doubt anyone has it all the time. It comes from trusting - and trusting comes from remembering -- remembering God's faithfulness, remembering God's promises.  Advent is all about remembering and gives us the perfect time to reflect on God's goodness and perfect control of situations. So, seek peace this advent -- seek it by choosing to remember the Savior's birth and be remembering the Lord's provision.  Remembering the Lord's goodness and sovereign control over biblical history and our own lives will make it easier to trust Him for our daily peace.