Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today...

Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...

And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv.  

Impressive Clergyman ~ Princess Bride

Marriage is a blessed arrangement,...  It is also daily hard work, somedays it is even harder.  Many days it is ultimately the choice to love the other person rather than rely on some twitter pated feeling. 


That dream in a dream.  Interestingly here frequently I forget that Ric has a dream too and not always does my dream mesh with his dream.  


And love, true love will follow you forever... For me some days I wake up and don't even like Ric, however I have entered into a covenant with God and Ric.  So I choose to love him.  In my humanness I can only attempt to mimic God in loving my husband as God loves me even when I do not "feel" like it. Thankfully God doesn't ever not "feel" like it.


So treasure your love.  In the past year I have read a really great book it is called Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.  In his book he points out, Ephesians 5:33 But every husband must love his wife as he loves himself, and wives should respect their husbands. The surest way to show love to your man is to respect him just as the surest way for your man to show you love is to cherish you.  Now honestly ladies I can say that when I read "RESPECT" shows your husband love I thought oh how LAME!  Then I put it to the test.  My sweet handsome husband reacted in ways I never would have anticipated. Treasuring means you take care of, you work to help it thrive.  People who treasure money make sure not to spend it un wisely, and to invest carefully.  That takes time, effort and research.  If I treasure my husband I am going to invest my time, my effort, and I am going to study him to know what makes him smile and what makes him frown.  Then I am going to do my best to make him smile.  Oh I am not saying being some door mat.  I am talking about investing my time in loving him.  And for Him ... the male ... that is RESPECT.  ( alternative words; honor, appreciate)  


I think all of us want what we see in pictures... you know all smiles and happiness.  The reality is:

We only see the good times in pictures, but it is the bad times that get us from one photograph to the next.

 ~ Just Married

  

Really how many of us frame pictures of our selves fighting or angry?  I don't have any of those kinds of pictures in my photo albums.

Then there are those moments... those beautiful moments!  The ones where everything just "fit."  Or the times that we are talking and no one else really understands because we are talking thru our own experiences.  Marriage is one of the sweetest hardest things I have ever done.  Thank God HE is with me... I couldn't do it on my own.

Stories of Faith, and Courage

Stories of Faith and Courage  from the war in Iraq & Afghanistan  is a a day by day reading thru the year.  The days are about different people or situations, and sometimes continuing situations. The stories are about 2 pages long, each day is ended with a short prayer and a scripture.   It is written by Jane Hampton Cook, Jocelyn Green, and John Croushorn.

I think that the "Dedication" sums up the book very well " Dedicated to those who live loudly for liberty in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families."

As a Chaplain's wife, I appreciate that the stories and adventures of our soldiers and their families are being shared.  Some of the stories made me cry, some made me laugh, and appreciate the sacrifices.  The stories made me think and consider how God would have me handle situations in my own life.

I want to THANK AMG and netGalley for the opportunity to read this on my iPad complimentary for review purposes.

Gluten Free Cookbook

Quick-Fix Gluten Free is written by Robert M Landolpi.  
The title is pretty self explanatory, this cookbook is specific to cook without Gluten.    


Mr. Landolpi's wife became ill and after some long searching and many incorrect diagnoses she   was found to have Celiac Disease.  He began creating recipes and then was inspired to share what he had learned the hard way.  Many are finding ways to make the original (wheat based) into something gluten free, such as cinnamon rolls, southern-style chicken and dumplings, spinach and ricotta cheese eggplant roulades or swedish meatballs.  Others would be gluten free naturally, such as bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with almonds and goat cheese, or tangy thai baby back ribs.  I like how he has noted if he has found something works especially well, like a spice or a beer for battering.  He has a few recipes from breakfast thru dessert with interesting stops at teasers, tasty comforts and international flavors to name a few.  Mr. Landolpi also goes into a list of likely needed items in the gluten-free pantry, substitutions, and techniques.  


I recommend this book for people who have gluten issues at all.  Since I am gluten intolerant it  is very useful to me.  


I want to thank Andrews McMeel Publishing thru netGalley for being able to read this on my iPad complimentary for review.

Honor Begins at Home Courageous

Courageous is a novelization by Randy Alcorn, based on the screenplay by Alex Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick.
  It begins with the carjacking of a man named Nathan that turns out to be a law enforcement officer.  His new co-workers become close friends and surprisingly another man who is not in law enforcement is added to that number.  Their friendship lead to decisions to be the men God has called men to be.  Some of the choices they are left with are painful, some are hard, but they are all defined by a Resolution they take "witnessed by their family and their God."
I highly recommend that men read this book.  It draws a person in from the 2nd page.  I really like the moral of this book, which is that men need to be involved in their children's lives to effect a change in the world.  In short ... WOW!  Twist, turn, and MAN UP!
Here is my favorite paragraph in the entire book.
 " Nathan folded his hands on the table.  'We can't surrender to the culture.  We've minimized the role of fathers, so we've created a generation of barbarians--children who become men without growing up.  They stay in boyhood through their twenties and thirties, sometimes their whole lives.  They think of themselves first, indulge in pornography, do what they feel like, and leave their wives and culture and churches to raise their children.'"
I want to thank Tyndale House Publishers for my complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

More Pink

I love pink!  I have always loved pink from the moment I remember picking a color.  When I was a little girl my Gram painted me a picture of a rose in my favorite color... PINK!

Our 2004 Christmas Ornament from Germany

Here are a few more items in my collection, and the flowers left from our 25th Anniversary.
Thank you to Beverly from How Sweet The Sound for hosting Pink Saturday 


Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.

Moving

My father is so gleeful that he no longer moves his momma's piano!

This move has probably been the most stressful one I have ever encountered.  In part because we decided that I would come with Ric pretty late in the game.  We had planned that I would stay with the house until it sold.  Well after almost a year deployment being apart for even a few more months of our own choosing just was not realistic.  So while Ric started school I stayed back and prepared the household goods for pack out.  The packers packed us out in 2.5 days!  That is the quickest we have ever been packed and loaded!  Packing started Wed. and they left on Friday at 12:30.  As soon as they left I finished packing my car, locked the house up, and drove like a mad person to beat the movers to Leavenworth.  By 15:00/ 3:00pm they were unloading!  Today the movers came and picked up the empty except for paper boxes.

With many thanks going to my dear friends Shari and Ms Barbara for coming and helping me during the pack out.

Stealing Jake

Stealing Jake by Pam Hillman               This book quickly drew me in!
Livy's childhood left her feeling untrusting and fearful.  She has in the past few years come to know God, yet her past continues to haunt her.  The new life she has been living leads her to make sure other children do not grow up with the same hardships she did.
  The story of Livy's childhood is interestingly unwound as you move thru her present.  An interesting point that is an under theme is that God makes a way thru if we just will trust.
Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers for making this book available to me thru NetGalley.