Going for a Walk

 

The other day, it rained.  Once the skies pretty much cleared up, we were a little stir crazy, so we went for a walk.

Don't you love her red and pink color-blocking going on in this outfit? Such a trendy kid!

And before you think our life is all fun and games, here's what happens when little one isn't ready to go inside:

 

Some days, I'm actually pretty glad this is the extent of our excitement.

Random Theological Inspiration found in the pages of a Twilight book

Tonight, I am going to watch “Breaking Dawn, Part 1” with some friends.  Here’s my confession time: I haven’t gone to see any of the other movies since the first “Twilight” film.  I am not a “Twi-hard” and don’t even really hold any allegiance to either the “Twilight” or “Potter” camps.  I simply enjoyed the first book in the Twilight series, and then got excited when the first movie was released in theaters.  Then, after I saw the movie, I was pretty unimpressed, and decided I wouldn’t waste my or my husband’s hard earned money on the other movies.

I am in no way trying to insult the movies, or the book series.  I actually started re-reading the books last week, and finally understood why I didn’t enjoy the movies: the actor that plays Edward looks nothing like the Edward I pictured while taking in the story.  I’m not saying Robert Pattinson isn’t good looking, but he isn’t the actor I would have chosen to portray the male lead in this story.  If I were choosing, the first, and obvious pick would be this man:

However, my husband has no dreams of going to Hollywood any time soon.  I’m actually okay with that, since I happen to have a jealous streak and hate the idea of fighting off fangirls that are drooling over the man I married.  I guess my second choices for actors would be between Ian Somerhalder and Jared Leto (these names deserve to be Googled, trust me).

SO, with all that being said, and all those tangents traveled, I had a fairly big realization the other day while reading through the third book, “Eclipse.”  I’m always amazed at the seemingly random chances that God uses to teach me a powerful lesson.  There was a section in one of the middle chapters that describes the budding relationship between one of the characters and a girl he had “imprinted” on.  It’s hard to describe what imprinting means in the context of the book without you reading the series, so we’ll just say she’s his soulmate.  Here’s the section that impacted me so strongly:

“The whole pack was there: Sam with his Emily, Paul, Embry, Quil, and Jared with Kim, the girl he’d imprinted upon.

My first impression of Kim was that she was a nice girl, a little shy, and a little plain.  She had a wide face, mostly cheekbones, with eyes too small to balance them out.  Her nose and mouth were both too broad for traditional beauty.  Her flat black hair was thin and wispy in the wind that never seemed to let up atop the cliff.

That was my first impression.  But after a few hours of watching Jared watch Kim, I could no longer find anything plain about the girl.

The way he stared at her!  It was like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.  Like a collecter finding an undiscovered Da Vinci, like a mother looking in the face of her newborn child.

His wondering eyes made me see new things about her – how her skin looked like russet-colored silk in the firelight, how the shape of her lips was a perfect double curve, how white her teeth were against them, how long her eyelashes were, brushing her cheek when she looked down.  (Meyer, Stephanie.  Eclipse. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2007. P. 242)”

Here’s the realization that forced me to set my book down in the middle of reading, my eyes cloudy with tears: that’s how God looks at us.  It is so easy to look at myself in the mirror, and see the imperfections.    In a purely aesthetic definition of beauty, it is easy for me to pick out my flaws.  But when I consider “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:18b-19a),” then all I can focus on is how He sees me.  I can’t even see how undeserving I am when my vision is filled with how loved I am, and how incredible He is.

To take this thought one step further, isn’t that how we should see other people?  Instead of looking at someone and picking out all the ways they’re different from myself, I should be looking at them with the mindset that they are also loved by God.  Instead of creating reasons for division, I should be focused on the most important aspect in all of life: the fact that we are desperately, intensely, perfectly, inconcevably loved by our Creator.  If only the world could see that fact!

'Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays!'

The title of this post makes it sound like this Monday was not enjoyable. That is the opposite of the truth. I do admit, after this whirlwind of a weekend, it was a bit mundane. "What's that, Lexi, you want to watch ANOTHER episode of Blue's Clues?" But, life can't be full of adventure and excitement all the time, and down-time is essential for re-booting and taking on whatever comes next. Here's a quick run-down of what my weekend entailed:

Friday: I woke up that morning, and immediately shuffled my way to the bathroom to take my last pregnancy test and confirm what I thought was happening. The nifty little screen on my Clearblue test read, "Not Pregnant." I told Andrew, and we both got a little sad, but I had decided I was done crying over this, so I went about my day. Later on, I met with a few women from my church, including my big sister and mother-in-law, to eat some dessert and enjoy free childcare while we engaged in some grown-up conversation. It was an amazing time, and something I hope gets repeated in the future. In the course of conversation, I was asked what was "big" in my life lately. It was an ironic question, and I shared with these beautiful women what had happened. I had a miscarriage. I sat there and bawled, and told all of them I thought I was done grieving, and I wish I knew what God was doing, and allowed my facade of "being OK" to melt away. I cannot express, at least without starting to bawl again, how amazing these women are. I received hugs and prayer, and even more importantly, the insight that it was healthy to continue grieving my loss. A few even shared with me snippets of their own experiences, and overall, it was incredible to feel such a pouring out of love.

Saturday: I awoke at 6:30 to a fussy baby and groaned. My alarm wasn't supposed to go off until an hour later, and I needed all the extra sleep I could get. The night before, I had laid in bed, tossed and turned, and refused to cuddle with my hubby because it was "too hot and I can't sleep," until I finally drifted off about 1 AM. The reason for my insomnia? I knew I was going to have to get up early for a day of outlet mall shopping in Branson! My mother-in-law had set up a girl's day of shopping with myself, her two adopted daughters Lilly and Anna, and my sister-in-law Rachel. With the excitement still lodged in my mind, I pulled myself out of bed in the morning to warm up some milk for Lexi, in the hopes she would go back to sleep so I had time to get ready unencumbered. After she dropped off, I climbed back into bed for some cuddle time with hubby before my alarm went off and I actually HAD to get up. I got ready and said goodbye before heading out the door.

Once the two-hour drive, full of good conversation and the sound of two giggly girls from the back seat, was over, we hit the outlets, where I managed to score some major deals. I do have to give credit to my incredible extended family for the funding of my shopping, and I'm almost afraid to mention it since I might start bawling again. While we were eating lunch, my husband's great-grandmother (who we all call Granny) slipped me a few folded bills and told me she wanted me to "have fun today, since I understand what it's like to be just starting out in a marriage and not have anything extra." I slipped the bills into my wallet and gave her a heartfelt "thank you," before excusing myself to the bathroom to cry over her little act of generosity. Later on, my mother-in-law also handed me a gift card that had a remaining balance she wanted me to have, just in case I found something I really wanted for Lexi and myself. Suffice it to say, my shopping budget was a lot bigger than I expected it to be, and I definitely found some amazing deals to spend it on!

Sunday: In the morning was church, and I didn't want to go. Once again, I didn't want to roll out of bed, but I THOUGHT I was in the nursery that day. I probably wouldn't have complained if I had managed to fall asleep before 3 AM. Ah, the adrenaline high of having an incredible shopping day! Turns out, I wasn't in the nursery until next week, but I still got to hear an really good message and sing my heart out. That evening, Andrew, Lexi, and I attended a mini-concert/ichttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife cream social at my parents' church to hear George Miladin play piano. I never get tired of hearing his arrangements of songs, even though I had the privilege of attending as a child the church he pastored in San Diego. I visited with my parents and some other people I hadn't seen in a while before heading home to collapse after those busy couple of days.

Overall, I came to a very obvious conclusion: I love my family so very much, and am so blessed to live in the same region of the country as almost all of them! Not only that, but I've found an amazing church family as well, and I cannot stop thanking God for that. My only regret from this weekend is that I didn't take any outfit shots, but I will include a couple pictures of my nails. I made an attempt to mix a 'neon and neutral' color palette to try the trend, and I like how they turned out! (Please pay no attention to my teenie-tiny pinky!)




Nail Polish:
NYC 'Nail Glossies' in #233
A Perfect "10" in #376