Flowers and decor and yarn, oh my!

Casey and I made it back from our trip -- we drove almost twelve hours on Thursday, but it really wasn't all that bad. Case is a very easy traveling companion! We had decided to make Saturday our official Valentine's Day because I was so sick on the actual day. We joked about Casey bringing me medicine instead of flowers.

Well, folks, that husband of mine walked in the house on Saturday afternoon with a dozen multi-colored roses! They are the most beautiful flowers I've seen, so gorgeous in fact that I spent close to an hour yesterday afternoon taking almost one hundred digital photos of them! I had forgotten how enjoyable still life photography was, but I don't think I would have stopped except that I ran out of room on my digital card. Then I had so much fun showing all the photos to Case on the TV screen last night, and he oohed and aahed along with me. Ideally, we would like to use a lot of the photos to decorate a room in our house -- yes, I said OUR HOUSE.

We are in the process of buying our first house, but won't move in until June. Things aren't final, but they're headed that way (the For Sale sign has been taken down). There is so much thought and figuring and asking and deciding that goes into a thing like this, but it all seems to be working fairly well, thankfully. Buying a house is something that seemed to be so far in the future, but it is here and now. And it is quite exciting, I must say.

And now I will jump from one very big topic to a very small topic: knitting. I found a project to start after my Valentine Heart Cloth. Woohoo! I was so excited to find this Northern Lights Wrap. Yarn can get pretty expensive, though, so I have only ordered six skeins of ten so far, and just figured I could start on it and take my time. After all, spring is nearly here, so I don't really expect to use it until next winter. Ten skeins of yarn sounds like a lot, and if you'll check out the link you'll see that the scarf, or wrap, is 12 x 70 inches! I want to post pictures of the beautiful Moonlight Mohair Glacier Bay and Trellis Ocean yarn (that came in the mail Friday from Discount Yarn Sale.com) before I begin, so hopefully I can do that pretty soon!

Don't miss me too much! =)

Casey and I will be heading out of town for a bit -- not a true vacation, but still a vacation from here I suppose. We will be driving twelve hours...which can test a relationship, but for the most part I think we do well. Makes me wonder how we would handle all the traveling and direction-giving if we were contestants on The Amazing Race. I really do like that show, just to see all the places they get to travel and the obstacles they have to overcome. It's very interesting, and one always wonders, "Could I do that?" I'm afraid I might be a little cranky, but I know that Casey and I would have lots of fun. I'm not saying we are applying to be on the next show or anything -- just saying it would be fun. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Satan is real, but God is still victorious

I came upon a blog today that is basically a contest to win a person's soul to religion -- any religion. I considered posting the link here, but I don't really want to look at it again, and I don't want anyone else feeling the way I do right now, which is...sad? I don't know. Disgusted is probably closer to the truth. I honestly do not know what brings a person to the point where they say, "Hey, I'm an atheist, and I think I'll start a contest offering $1,000 to anyone who can convince me to be a believer in any supernatural being." Although, reading the rules, you find that there will not be a winner -- this person just wants to intelligently and politely argue religion and politics. And she is very intelligent, no doubt, but reading her arguments I realize that she is not looking for religion or God, but seems to want to show just how smart she is. Point taken, Ms. Atheist. But my heart aches, because I believe that our God, our loving and merciful God, loves this woman and died for her, and she is throwing it away. I'm no better than her, I know that, but I am different than her in that I believe in the God who loves me in spite of all I've done, and who saved me from my sins. Please know today that God loves you and wants you to know him!

Heart-Tugs and Head-Thumps

I attended our ladies' retreat this past Friday evening. We stayed at a beautiful retreat center and had a wonderful time. Now let me tell you, the one thing I told myself and Casey before I left was that I would not be in that group of women that stays up late into the night talking and playing games. I needed my rest, and I was determined to head off to bed at a reasonable hour (my normal bedtime being at 10:30). So of course that's NOT what happened -- I actually ended up being one of those who stayed up later than everyone else. I spent the evening talking with two wonderful girls, Carla and Brandi, about...well, just about everything. We could have cut the time back just a bit, but all in all I am very thankful for the time we spent laughing and getting to know one another so much better. It reminds me again of how God has truly blessed Casey and I in this job that he was offered last March. I feel as though I have grown more spiritually in the past year, and I can attribute that to God placing us here and showing me where I can give encouragement and be so encouraged myself. Thanks Carla and Brandi for your your open hearts and beautiful spirits! What began as a weekend in which I thought, "I am so tired. I don't know if I can or even want to do this (the retreat). I want to be at home with Casey!" ended with, "I am so thankful I was able to spend that time getting to know people better and getting to pray for and with my Christian sisters. I loved talking with Carla and Brandi!" If you give me a choice between going out or spending the evening at home with Casey, I will always choose Casey. It is a difficult thing for me to step out of that secure, protective, safe environment into one that is still all of those things physically, but not always emotionally. I knew deep down that I needed this retreat just as much as I wanted to be at home with Casey. I have found that, every time, God will change my attitude from "I don't want to do that" to "I really needed to be there". And sometimes he is subtle about it, giving your heart a tug, while other times it is very obvious, like that thump your mom used to give you on the back of your head when you were talking too much during the sermon (actually, it was my friend's mom who gave me a thump on the head). This one leaned more on the heart-tug side, but somehow I knew ahead of time that he would show me something, so it really wasn't a surprise. Thank you, Lord, for gentle reminders!