Friday Reflections

I love this photo:
I was not one of those die-hard fans that got up to watch the royal wedding live - but I did catch it on YouTube, at a normal hour. With all the crazy stuff going on in the world today, it was a blessing to watch - a joyous celebration of something beautiful and good. And, the sermon by the Rev Chartres had some parts that really moved me. Here is most of the transcript of that sermon that he gave:

“Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Sienna whose festival day is today.

Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be: their deepest and truest selves.

Many people are fearful of the prospects for our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one. This is a joyful day. It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations. Because this is as every wedding day should be: a day of hope.

In a sense, everyday wedding is a royal wedding, with the bride and groom as king and queen of creation making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that He gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And in the spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to each other. Spiritual life grows as love finds it center beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this: the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul. The more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed.

In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life. It is of course very hard to wean ourselves away from self-centeredness. And people can dream of doing such a thing, but if the hope should be fulfilled, it is necessary that a solemn decision is made that whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love. You have both made your decision today, “I Will” and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving and which will lead to a creative future for the human race. We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely the power that has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence for life, the earth, and one another. Marriage should transform, as husband and wife made one another their work of art. It is possible to transform so long as we don’t harbor ambitions to reform our partners. There must be no coercion if the spirit is the flow, each must give the other space and freedom.

As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the west; there has been a corresponding inflation in the expectations that person relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden – we are all incomplete. We all need the love which is secure rather than oppressive; we need mutual forgiveness in order to thrive. But as we move towards our partner in love, following the example in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads on to a family life, which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can receive and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the spirit whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen. That way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day:

“God our father, we thank you for our families, for the love that we share, and for the joy of our marriage. In the business of each day, keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life, and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union, help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the spirit of Jesus Christ” Amen.

It was so great to hear those reminders, and to watch a young couple in love get married. I am a huge fan of marriage, as long as it is to the right person. I married the best man; I am really so very blessed!

So today's Friday Reflection is on marriage, and how it rocks. ;)
Have a great weekend, everyone!

A Quiet Easter Weekend

The dishes are done, mostly. We feasted for breakfast - natural ham, homemade from scratch corn muffins, eggs - better to have it earlier in the day than later. We read the resurrection story from the book of John in the Bible, as we sipped coffee. Amazing. I was kicking myself for not remembering to bring my camera to church today - the kids choir was so adorable. Matt and I stole little glances at each other as they sang.
As Matt typed away on a grad paper this afternoon, I tidied up the house, as I love to do. We spent most of Friday night and Saturday relaxing as both of us were not feeling too well. So it was nice to take a moment and catch the evening sky outside.
...and check on Matt and make sure he was still working on that paper...

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend! Back to the grind tomorrow...

Weekend Fun, Part 2

Saturday after we visited our nephew and extended family, we headed over to Matt's brothers house to play with our niece and join them for dinner. She is growing so fast!
How cool is that stuffed horse?

We had a great dinner with them and stayed overnight. Slept so good - really needed it! From there we drove up north past Seattle to Snohomish where a mini college reunion was to be taking place. It was at the home of my old college roommate, Krissi, and her husband Ryan and their little boy.
There was a new little guy there, my dear friend Mandy just had less than two months ago.
Kathryn and I met in college at our church young adult group. We went on a road trip together in 2001 after graduation, and drove all way to New York City! What a memory. Well, she is still an east coaster, and was here for a visit. Good reason for a little party!
It was really great to see some family and friends - it really filled our tank. The long four hour drive home was a reminder that we feel a little out of place where we are now. *Sigh*

Happy Tuesday, all!

There He Is!

My apologies for misleading any readers that thought we were expecting. Nope - just entertaining a two year old - and when I saw the picture (post below) that our niece Daisy took of us - I laughed so hard! Just thought it needed a funny caption :) Here is our precious nephew in his Mama's arms. Playing peek-a-boo again, "where did Daniel go? There he is!" Anne was a super wonderful host and though our visit was brief, it really filled our tanks up! What a goofball! I love his just-woke-up-from-my-afternoon-nap look. SO adorable! SO this was part one of our trip - part two is coming soon. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Needs Caption

Can anyone guess what we were doing here? :)

Then the Lawnmower Started Smoking

I suppose I let the grass grow a leetle too tall.... Hymph. Oh well...so it looks like the backyard got a bad haircut. Now I just need to figure out how to change the oil in a lawnmower...

We are off to visit family and friends this weekend! I am taking my fancy camera and hope to wear out the batteries. SO excited.
And, SO proud of my sweet husband. This guy got up every morning this week and worked out for 45 minutes, then worked on school stuff - knocking out a paper that was due. Now his weekend is free and clear! He is NOT a morning person, so when we got up to exercise, it was comical - we were half asleep trying to stay balanced on an exercise ball! So funny. I am a total klutz!

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY! I live for the weekends!

Whatcha doin' this weekend?

Finally, Photos!

FINALLY! I am putting up a long overdue blog post. I am excited to finally have some photos to share, too. I finally have my camera back...but no access to photo editing software, so straight - out - of - camera shots will have to do for today. Nevertheless, we are alive and very well! This past weekend we went to a birthday party and I had so much fun playing with a dear friends little girl! There are a lot of babies at our church right now...so much fun! I was excited to get out of the house on Sunday after a day of housework... Matt was excited to see some of his bro's. Now switching gears: the trash that has accumulated in our backyard. Thanks to the wind gusts we get here, there is always a nice resting place for all the trash in our neighborhood in our yard. I had hoped to tackle yard work on Sunday but it was still too windy... I found tulips growing in our yard! Wahoo! Flowers! Another random photo: my favorite pair of running sock. ALL WORN OUT! This represents about a thousand miles of runs. I had to take a photo before I threw them out....I ran both my marathons in those gems. Here is Matt hard at work on a paper this past weekend... And here I am, getting our files organized. Yes we keep them in an ottoman, because it is cuter than a filing cabinet. I remembered to take a (not so great) photo of dinner Friday night. The highlight are those cokes - real sugar ones that we allow ourselves to enjoy once a week. And this was when I got my camera back and wanted to see if it indeed worked....turned out a dirty sensor was the issue. All better now :) I just had to throw this picture in - Matt checked my oil before I headed out for a business trip last week. He is so cute to do things like that for me! We are in a nice season right now. We are both working hard, Matt is enjoying his grad studies and trying to move up the ranks at work. We are working out together four weekdays doing cross training and a long run on the weekend. We love being "back" in the running routine. The sunshine came out last weekend leaving me nice and pink! The festivities of the summer are fast approaching and we cannot wait. CAMPING = soon! I hope to visit some blogs today if my internet at work lets me - it is hit or miss... Have a great Tuesday, all!

Friday Happenings

Wouldn't this be a great April Fools? Do the "Blue Screen of Death" to a co-worker or friend? Hee hee I would never do such a thing. But Matt thought it was funny to post on Facebook this morning that we were "expanding our house by 2 feet" and caused an uproar. Mom asked, "Oh are you remodeling the garage?" LOL. No garage modeling quite yet, mom - and no babies either...(sorry everyone) ;)

I've been spotty on my blogging. Some days my work computer does not allow me access, that is most of my excuse. The other part is that we live for the weekends. Seriously this week our schedule was: coffee, work, exercise, eat dinner together, clean up, pack lunches, and relax before bed. We eagerly await the weekends: uninterrupted time together.

One HUGE praise this week is that Matt was assigned to a brainstorming/problem solving group at work, so he was not doing any customer service and just had a blast - and worked 9-6 instead of 11-8! WOO! We are still waiting to hear about the other position he applied for and are hopeful. I got my camera back so I am SO excited to take it out this weekend! It has a freshly cleaned sensor and the shutter was repaired so will be so fun to get out into the spring weather. I have a business trip Monday and Tuesday of next week so I am looking forward to seeing some dear friends and family while on the west side.

Other weekend plans? Organize the garage and attack an insane laundry pile. Matt and I exercised every day this week: lots of grubby workout clothes, ew! But, we are enjoying the results. We slept great and feel amazing. I am also eyeing more creative projects. I saw this candle decoration idea on a blog last week: I love it! Incorporating coffee into decor? Yes please!

I read all your blogs on Google Reader in the mornings and I hope to get better about commenting in the evenings next week when Matt goes back to working until 8pm. :)

Until then, have a great weekend, everyone!