Reason #23 Why I Love Him So

Crowded Gym, sweaty bodies, loud grunting sounds coming from the free-weights section, music with a rhythm to keep us going, long line at the drinking fountain, my husband in the center of it all. Women. Beautiful, tanned, toned, strong women in hot yoga pants with tight tank tops. Agonized I turn to him knowing I don't look like that. He is staring straight at me from the opposite end of the room. He slowly lefts his right hand and points his index and middle finger toward his eyes and then extends his arm and points his fingers right at me. Satisfied, content, and full of appreciation and awe I continue my workout. I know exactly what his signal meant.

He has eyes only for me.

Oh, the Knowledge

Yesterday evening Luke took me on a date to Bayou on the Bay. It was our first Creole cuisine experience together and Bayou will definitely be seeing us again. Not only is the restaurant in the heart of downtown Bellingham which always makes a fun environment, but they really captured the Southern/French atmosphere. I could easily picture us eating out in New Orleans, Mobile, Guthrie, and so on rather than Bellingham in Northwest Washington. During dinner which consisted of Alligator, crawfish, prawns, fried potatoes, vegetables, rice, seared tuna, and cornbread I started listing off to Luke the new experiences I have been through because of him and the things that he has taught me. Here is my list, not a complete list, but the list I came up with over dinner:


Luke has taught me to:

• Drive a stick shift
• Grill a steak
• Ballroom dance
• Sing "O Holy Night" on key
• Barter with street vendors
• Bench press
• Stand up to sleazy men
• Shoot an assault rifle
• Mix drinks
• Replace car brakes (saves a couple $100)
• Change the oil in my car
• Buzz heads
• Wakeboard
• Play video games
• Make the perfect gravy for biscuits and gravy
• Gourmet cook
• Tell the difference between quality furniture and cheap furniture (he takes everything apart right there in the store!)
• Play poker
• Never give up
• Chill out
• Sit still

Luke has given me an Appreciation for:

• Hockey
• Fine Wine
• Any and all types of Seafood (minus oysters)
• History
• Fancy clothes
• Muse (music band)
• Opera
• B&B's
• Watching movies not in fast forward mode
• Filmmaking

Luke has inspired me to:

• Become the best cook EVER
• Pray more
• Whine less
• Be content no matter what
• Run a marathon (or ½)
• Be spontaneous (Luke is very spontaneous)
• Give up my pettiness
• Eat healthy
• Trust God more
• Stay calm in the midst of strife
• Not take it personally

Like I said, this is what I came up with over dinner. I'm sure there is more, but this is a good start.

My Small Part

For my future children…


Background
 Apart from God and my family I love my church most. Most people ask themselves "Is it Friday yet"? I always ask "Is it Sunday yet"? Perhaps this is because more than half of my growing up years was spent as a pastor's daughter. As a pastor's daughter I would attend church regularly. There was Sunday school, Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service and prayer meeting on Wednesdays. I loved it all. At first I loved it because it meant seeing friends and getting to color and sing songs, but as maturity set it and my faith became my own I fell in love with the teaching and learning aspect of church. I still remember the first Sunday when I actually sat still and listened to the sermon. I was about seven and that morning I told myself I was not going to fall asleep, but I was going to listen to Daddy preach. I was hooked from there on out. J

Service
You hear about service allot these days in the church - Having a servant's heart, a servant's mindset, putting yourself last and other's first. I love this dynamic about God's people in His church. I was never one to quickly volunteer. My sister Kristi always took care of that. When we were kids and the grownups were in a church business meeting, Kristi would rally as many of her friends as she could and go tackle cleaning the church basement. What would I be doing? Drawing on the chalkboard or playing tag with the boys. Service was her thing finding a husband while playing tag was mine. As I grew older I gave myself the excuses that there weren't any service opportunities in the church, I wasn't good at anything, and no one needed me. However, I couldn't get over the fact that the Bible clearly says we are to serve one another. So little by little I started stepping out. Once I stepped out of my selfish and self-centered bubble I was shocked by how many places there where to serve. There was Nursery, cookies for Fellowship Crossing, Meals Ministry, Neighborhood Outreach, Greeter for Titus Two and so many more. As I started off slowly with these simple tasks I realized my love for my church was growing. Serving others and forgetting about me has brought such joy to my life. 99% of the time service acts go unnoticed. But if I were doing them just to be noticed that would cancel the point of doing them. Recently I was given the opportunity to be in charge of door prizes for a church function. I know I can't sing, I know I can't bake half as well as others, I know I'm awful at decorating, but I sure as heck can come up with random questions and cute prizes!
Don't ever give yourself reasons not to serve. Don't try to justify it like I did for too long. If you think there are no service opportunities, you're wrong. Look harder and step further out of your bubble. Christians serve one another. It's as simple as that.


Galatians 6:10 "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

Catch-up

The wedding blog post will have to be postponed for a little while. My computer which holds all my wedding pictures is slowly dying. We have to twist the charger just right and then hold it in place while we use it. It's pretty inconvenient having to type one-handed! That little laptop has seen me through high school and college and the fact that it was a gift from my employer helps me not to be upset that it is in its final stages. Eventually we will have a new computer and then I will blog about our wedding day.
I guess you can call this post a "catch-up post", a rundown on what we're up too and where life is taking us. First let me say that I am in love with being in love. Growing up I would hear grownups talking or read books about "hitting the wall" in your marriage. According to these sources "hitting the wall" is supposed to take place shortly after your honeymoon. I can honestly say that I have no idea what they were talking about. On my wedding day I couldn't imagine being more in love with Luke, and then the months started to go by and my love for him kept growing. We hit our first year anniversary and it was stronger still and now here we are. Hardly past the newlywed phase, I know, but it still keeps growing stronger. Sometimes I'll ponder how this can be possible with a girl like me in the marriage. For those of you who know me well, you know that I have a quick temper, an even quicker tongue, feelings that are easily hurt, and a tendency to be lazy. My emotions can be up and down, I "must" have my way, and selfishness is my constant enemy. So how does this add up?
Simple: Lots of grace, lots of forgiveness, and lots of chocolate chip cookies on both our parts.
A huge blessing that happened since my last blog post is that Luke received a promotion at work. The best part of that promotion was the fact he was able to work day shift for four whole months! Oh what a vacation that was! During those four months, our condo wasn't the cleanest, our laundry not always folded, and dinner was often toast with peanut butter. That's because we were having so much fun being on the same schedule for the first time in our lives. As soon as work was finished we would be out and about and all over the county. Our date budget probably tripled during that time, but at least we saved on our grocery and energy bill! Luke is now finishing up three months of swing shift. I was dreading swing shift with all that was in me, but surprisingly, it is not half bad. I'm able to accomplish so much in the afternoons when I'm off work and I simply stay up until Luke get's off. I average about 5 ½ to 6 hours of sleep a night and believe it or not, but I haven't gotten tired…yet. On swing shift, our condo is definitely at its cleanest and our budgets have been lowered because I have the time to carefully plan meals around coupons and specials. Soon though Luke will be back to night shift and I can't quite remember the exact pros and cons of night shift, but I'll soon find out.

 
So this post wasn't exactly the catch-up or rundown post I was hoping it would be, but it's a start. One of my resolutions is to post more on my blog. Since I don't keep a journal, this blog is the only source my (in-the-future) six or seven children will have to read. So really, this blog is for my sons and daughters and I will try to keep up on it for them.

Celebration

Luke and I are celebrating our first-year anniversary today! I think it is about time I blogged about:

Our Rehearsal
Our Rehearsal Dinner
Our Wedding
Our Honeymoon
Our First Year Firsts

There will be many, many pictures soon; consider yourself warned!

Now excuse me while I go find that husband of mine and give him one big hug and lots of kisses!

Our First Date (part 2)

Luke opened the car door for me, and we were off. Our conversation flowed easily and consisted of the normal questions you would have for a stranger.

What school are you going to?
What's your degree in?
Where do you work?
Do you like basketball? You don't?! On no, turn the car around, take me back, take me back!
Where do you live?

And so on and so forth. Traits I discovered about Luke immediately where: He was gentleman through and through, he knew how to hold himself in a conversation, he was confident, he was humorous, he had great sense in style, he wasn't afraid to accept nor give compliments. I was really liking this strange man already!

Before I knew it we were in Fairhaven. Ahh Fairhaven. The most romantic spot, especially at Christmas time, in Whatcom County. He parked the car, told me to sit tight while he ran around and opened my door and we started our walk up the snowy, Christmas lit street. With the snow falling softly it truly looked like a winter wonderland.

"So where are we going?"

"Oh it's this great restaurant I know called Toppas Bar."

I stopped dead in my tracts, refused to move another inch, and glared at him.

"If that's where we're going then you're talking me home right NOW!"

Unfortunately I had misunderstood him say the name. Instead of Toppas I heard Toppless. Yup, I thought he was taking me to a topless bar and I was so close to boiling over with fury. Luke stared at me for a second and then laughed softly and pointed to the sign just a few feet ahead. There it was Flats Topas Bar. Not a bar, not anything risque. Just an adorable, fine dinning, Spanish cuisine. We laughed at my misunderstanding and hurried inside. It was such a picturesque restaurant and romantic too. Luke asked me where I would like to sit so of course I chose the balcony.

Dinner was delicious and our conversation was lively. We were having such an enjoyable time in fact, that after dinner, Luke suggested we head across the street to Skylarks Hidden Cafe for dessert. They had a live jazz band planning and an incredible delicious dessert selections. Before dessert however, we sat outside bundled up with scarves and mittens and drank our coffee by their fire. Skylarks also had a balcony and once again we headed up to it to enjoy our dessert and music. I was content, I was happy, Luke looked happy. And then...

"Hey, do you want to dance?"

"Haha oh no, I'm fine really."

"I saw your feet tapping; I can tell you really want to dance."

I was getting nervous now...

"Um really, I'm fine. I uh, don't know how to dance."

"What?! You don't know how to dance? Everyone knows how to dance."

"Yeah, well my family isn't exactly into dancing..."

"Oh come on, it's so easy I'll teach you."

Reluctantly I got up and took his hand. Up until now everything was going flawlessly and now I was going to look like an idiot on our first date since I really had no clue how to dance. I tried to listen to the beat, but with jazz music they don't really have a beat. I tried to concentrate so hard, but was failing at it miserably. Luke even had to inform me that my hand goes on his waist not his shoulder (I had accidentally taken the man's part in the dance). Luke soon came to realize that I really did have no clue how to dance and we sat back down to finished off our dessert. Soon my mortification eased and we got back once more into our lively conversation.

We finished the night of at Lairmont Manor which is drop dead gorgeous in the dark at Christmas time. We admired the pretty lights, their Christmas tree, and fountain. What we were really doing however, was stalling for time. Neither of us wanted the evening to be over. When Luke did drop me off safe and sound back home he gave me a big smile and asked:

"So if I were to ask you out again, what would the chances be that you would say yes?"

I smiled back and walked inside.

"I'd say they would be pretty good, but you'll have to ask and find out for yourself."

There it is. My first date with my husband. An absolutely wonderful evening. I was so happy and excited I wanted to tell my family everything. I walked into my parent's room, but they were sleeping. I walked into Kaylie's room, Kelsey's room, Josiah's room. All were asleep and Karin was at work. I walked into Kristi's room and she was wide awake reading her Bible. I sat down on her bed and told her all about it.

"Do you think he's the one?"

She whispered softly.

"I think he might be."

I whispered back.

Our First Date (Part 1)

It's nearly been three years since our first date. Call me nostalgic, but I want to write it all down before I forget any part of it.

Excitedly I sat by the window. Waiting. Watching. I remember being thankful that there was a mirror in our china cabinet that stood next to the doorway. I would alternate looking out the window and glancing in the mirror just to make sure nothing was out of place. I gave my outfit that Kati had helped me pick out one last glance hoping it was suitable. My entire family was gathering in the living room so I did my best to act as nonchalant as possible. I heard Josiah whisper to Dad:

"You're letting her go out on a date? Since when do you do that?"

I had wondered the very same thing and to this day I have no idea why my Dad agreed to let me go. I do know it took some help from Kristi who was the one who actually knew Luke and his family. But still, it was so out of the ordinary to be allowed out on a date under the circumstance that none of us really knew this mysterious man. I was hit with the fact that my parents were showing a lot of faith and trust in me and there was no way I would disappoint them.

My heart did a tiny flip-flop as I saw headlights start down our driveway. I wasn't nervous. I honestly wasn't. I was purely excited. I was going on date with a person I had, had a crush on when I was fifteen. A person who thankfully didn't even remember me sitting next to him at DQ (I was very odd looking at age 15). This may sound shallow, but since I had no idea if this would be my first and only date with this man I was determined to savor and enjoy every single second of it no matter what the future held. I threw my Dad a pleading look and asked him if I could run outside to meet him rather than have him face all 9 of us at once. My Dad graciously agreed and out the door I flew. (Note: On our 2^nd date Luke very politely requested that I do not meet him halfway. He said it was proper for a man to always speak with the father before taking the girl out.)