The Village

Danny and I attend church at The Village Church in Flower Mound, or Dallas (depending on our travels after church lately). We are not what you would consider "covenant" members  of the church but it is definitely "our church." One of our goals for the year has been to attend church every weekend and so far...so good. =)We love going to the Village and we love Pastor Matt Chandler.  "Chandler" if you will is a young 35 year old who started his teaching/preaching/yelling in good ol' abilene. I was first introduced to his teachings through Grace Bible Study in Abilene at the Paramount in downtown every tuesday night my freshman year of college. Even then, like the rest of the college kids there, i was immediately drawn to how he preached.

Little did i know that almost 8 years later he would be the preacher of over  6,000 people (this includes danny & i), and  lets not forget about the HUGE percentage of people who listen to his sermons online world wide. I know most people who go to church usually do love their preacher, so on that note this blog is not to brag about matt chandler even though we seem to think he's pretty amazing and believe everyone should come visit our church but...i really wanted to write a blog about what is actually going on with Matt Chandler at this moment.

The past Thanksgiving, Chandler had a seizure. There in his living room on thanksgiving day in front of his wife and 3 kids (ages 7, 4, and newborn). He immediately was rushed to the hospital, to only learn that he had a small mass on his frontal lobe. This later was diagnosed as brain cancer, he has a tumor in his brain that is not contained...meaning it has branches meaning its spreading. Theres another really long technical word to describe his type of cancer but i'll spare you the 17 letter long name. His tumor is a grade 3. Grade 4 being the most aggressive type of cancer.  After learning this, he immediately had surgery to remove as much as they could, however since this type of tumor has those branches I was talking about...it is very likely another one will grow in its place.

Long story short, Chandler has been doing radiation and chemo for 6 weeks now...tonight being his last night.  the life expectancy of this disease, diagnoses, tumor whatever you want to call it is 2 to 3 years. Chandler is 35 years old, married with 3 children including a newborn and has reached probably millions through his teachings and.... he has brain cancer. On a more inspiring note... He has not suffered from one negative side effect from the chemo or radiation. he is bald. since the seizure and surgery he has preached every weekend except for 2 services and most importantly he is "suffering well."

 Recently, Eric Gorski from the Associated Press, wrote an article about Matt Chandler and his suffering, it was covered globally. It was on the front page of Yahoo.  I want to encourage you to read it. Also, if you want...every Friday Pastor Chandler post a video from his home updating and encouraging his church.

Heres the link to the article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_re/us_rel_the_pastor_s_cancer_1

as for now this blog is...to be continued.

25 and counting

im getting to the age where life is real. its honest, present and real. im getting to the age where my funeral attendance will probably start increasing and the birth of a baby no longer means responsibility and a money sign but clearly a miracle of life. im at the age where i consistently see children acting like adults and adults acting like children. im at the age that i know marriage is more than a church, white dress and living together... and of all the books i've read its never been defined better than what is written in the Bible. im at the age where low cut shirts, tight jeans and mini skirts are not only unclassy but simply uncomfortable. im at the age where getting paid doesnt mean i get to buy something, but rather i get to "save" for something far more important than a pair of jessica simpson shoes. im at the age where my choices no longer reflect  sitting on the bench, being grounded from the phone, or fighting with my best friend for 48 hours but yet losing my job, jeopardizing my marriage or doubting my faith are just a few of the many consequences i now face. im at the age where yes life can be hard and unbearable but im also at the age where i can choose to believe that the Lords grace is enough, suffering does make us stronger, and hope will always be present.

*please pray for my grandfather who was placed in the hospital this afternoon. he is not a Christian, so i ask that you pray specifically for his salvation and that somehow, someway the lord will intervene.

Goal update

So since its a new month i thought i should let you guys know how i'm doing with the goals i set for 2010.

1. Do laundry twice a week instead of once a month.
well, all im going to say is right now our guest bed is unseen due to being covered with laundry. i was really good at washing it all...its just the folding and putting away that i seem to be struggling with. And actually, when im done with this blog entry im going to go fold it all... hopefully this will keep me accountable.

2. Read for at least 30 minutes everyay
this has been very easy for me! I have been reading a lot lately... probably everyday (with the exception of this past weekend...for obvious reasons). I actually even finished up my latest book, Keeping Faith, so I'm starting something new tonight.

3. Blog more intensely
well you tell me? i think ive done pretty good with keeping up with my blogging and trying to be a little more creative in my writing. hopefully year 2010 will be more entertaining...

4. Have Carrie Underwood/Jessica Simpson hair...
hmmm things were going very well until this past friday night when i burned/fringed my hair on the fire in our hotel lobby. (more to come on that)

5. Be halfway finished with my LPC internship
well my test is next month. i have been taking many many many practice quizzes and studying with flashcards via world wide web.  prayers are still needed that information will be retained and learned! I plan on studying 2 hours a night all the month of february...which happens to start tonight (right after i do the laundry).

6. Stay under 115 pounds.
still looking good..even after this calorie infested weekend. I weighed myself this morning a total of 112 showed up on the scale. however i just ran to weigh myself for "honest" blogging and 114 popped up. not sure where those 2 pounds came from....maybe i need to go pee.

7. Learn to like salad, beer and give up dairy products.
no such luck on the first two. but as far as dairy products i have done  okayyy with cutting back. I recently purchased almond milk instead of regular ol' cow milk and have eliminated cheese unless its mexican food...heyy you have to have cheese on mexican food. =)

i promise sometime later in the week i'll blog about the rest of our anniversary weekend... waiting to upload pictures.

happy ground hog day!

one year.

dear danny honey, 

well we did it. not like there was any doubt that we could do it but just sounded like a good way to start this letter blog off. Usually i'm pretty good with words especially if im writing them but this morning its a little different for some reason.  As im sitting here in room 1811 of the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington, while you are still asleep and the only light i have is from the computer screen and the full length window that is letting the days overcast come through. I'm sitting here and wondering and pondering about our first year. I say wondering because something happened in our first year that very many dont live to write  blog about and I'm wondering how we did what we did. You see, the moment we got engaged after all the congratulations and shower giving people started giving their real opinions on marriage. The one thing I would always here without a doubt is "your first year is the hardest." well if our first year was hard then i think we got the next 60 made. 

i think its funny how just last night while we were at Olanjacks eating our 5 start meal chicken & steak dinners we were talking about life 20 years from now. Living on the top floor of a high rise hotel, with 3 kids, hopefully still a murph and how crazy & young we were when we decided to get hitched. Just 2 kids fresh out of college making the most important decision of their lives and not a care in the world of divorce rates or stock market crashes; we loved each other and thats all the mattered. 

i love being your wife, danny. i love how every morning before you leave for work you kiss me, hug me, and tell me to have a good day. i love how every morning when you hug me for that 5 seconds i say a quick prayer that the Lord will watch over you, protect you, teach you, and bless you. I love that after you have been at work for 45 minutes, knowing your coffee has settled in, you text me with "good morning beautiful princess, how did you sleep?" i love how at 4:33 pm you call me to let me know your on your way home and want to know how my day was. I love how at 5:05pm you walk in with a smile on your face, lunch box & state farm cofffee bottle thing in hand, and come hug me. I love how this entire winter you have taken murphy out to walk because you know my toes will freeze and could possibly fall off. I love that no matter what i cook or what the result of that cooking is, that you eat it, ask for seconds and take it for lunch the next day. i love how when you pray everyday you know exactly what im thinking you should pray about. i love how you ask me "what do you want me to pray for you today?"  you spoil me in every way. i am blessed beyond measures. There are times when im driving or alone in our apartment that i cant help but cry tears of joy that i was able to marry you. that you picked me. you asked me to be your wife. i told you this one year ago today and i will tell you again... because of your love, i know that god loves me.  (i think i said that a lot smoother a year ago but...that was the idea.) 

thank you danny for being my husband and my best friend. for being a man a God and upholding your duties of what a godly husband looks like. you are a great provider which brings me great security. i am so proud of you and admire the man that you are and excited to see what the Lord has in store for you. thank you for this weekend, it was perfect. now, i think its time you start waking up so we can go have breakfast in the VIP club access lounge =)

 i love you honey!!

our first date

 Last night was the start of our one year anniversary weekend celebration! Friday night was my night to do the planning, which was very hard to not make it a surprise when danny does all the driving. =/  Anywho,
last night we ate at Outback, i know to some outback isnt that "grand" of a place to eat but Outback was where danny took me to eat on our very first date.

December 14th, 2006 i met danny at his house only because we were going to be hanging out with friends for a christmas party afterwards. I was wearing destroyed jeans with navy tights underneath with a white collard button up blouse paired with a baby blue pullover vest topped off with a navy blazer. Danny was dressed in jeans and a red stripped button up shirt...  finished off with a freshly done hair cut.

We arrived at Outback which is located across from the poor abilene mall and were seated quickly upon arriving. I ordered a water and danny had a beer. I orderd the kids meal "grilled chicken on the barbie" with steamed vegetables and danny had a 8oz steak with a salad and baked potato. I remember when the waitress brought us our food i wondered if danny would say "grace" or not. this was always a small test i secretly had whenever i went on dates. Danny passed the test. he took my hand and bowed his head and gave thanks for our food and for this particular night. i liked that. During dinner, danny nervously yet remaining "cool" and collected said, "so...since were on a date, doesnt this mean were "dating?" and there you have it. I snagged myself a boyfriend.

After eating, we left with a to go box and hand in hand. we entered as singles and walked out as a couple with me wondering if this was the man i would some day marry and with danny probably thinking about the seasoning on his steak and why i was wearing navy panty hose.

the next adventure on our night, that i wasnt aware of, is a trip to see santa clause at the mall! we had our picture made with santa and each told him what we wanted for christmas. After the mall trip, we went to target to buy stocking stuffers for the christmas party we were going to.

And that my friends was our first date and the significance of outback. Last night we ordered the exact same meals we ordered on our first date! it was sooooo good too! i love outback!

well i didnt mean to get into all that but now im too tired to actually write about our night last night...so that will have to wait until tomorrow. =)

*pictures to come!

still learning

3 days till our one year! woo hoo! And technically the celebration starts tomorrow and will end Sunday! Tomorrow night is my night to do the surprising, planning, gift giving, food preparing etc. and then danny has reserved saturday and sunday for his part! it is normally very hard for me to "accept" surprises, even though i love the idea of danny planning a 2 day itinerary, it secretly makes me very nervous, only because i know "details" can sometimes be missed my men...but i know without a doubt whatever it is he is planning will be super sweet!

As far as my part in the planning...well i cant tell you quiet yet because danny might read my blog before tomorrow night.  Hopefully i'll be able to get in a post or two before the weeekend ends.

So, like i promised from last night, here is a list of the few things i still havent learned from our marriage...

1. how he showers, dresses, eats breakfast, walks the dog and kisses me "bye" every morning in 15 minutes.
2. why my questions sometimes never get answered.
3. the importance of a flat screen tv... in every room.
4. how he always get places faster than me when we are "following" each other (in cars)
5. how to cook like his mama =)
6. the comfortable-ness of being naked. (possibly blog inappropriate, sorry family)
7. why he never wants new clothes...makes no sense to me.
8. the need for a remote control car, video games, and other child-boy like gadgets
9. how to discuss a conflict or disagreement without talking. (refer to #2)
10. his self discipline. he works out almost every day, im so proud of him...but i still havent figured out how he does it ;)

what ive learned

On Sunday will be our 1 year anniversary. Wow. I cant believe i'm actually blogging about our 1 year wedding anniversary. I have always been the one to force danny to celebrate our "month" anniversaries while we were dating and we even celebrated monthly our first 6 month of marriage but after 6 months everything went so fast that we sort of stopped "celebrating." And now...its finally here...a real life actual anniversary, i have waiting my whole life for this. haha well maybe not my whole life...but for a long time.

For the next 4 days or week...I plan to blog about our past year.  For starters I thought I would make a list of some things I have learned about marriage our marriage in the past year.

1. If I want ice cream, tell him i want ice cream...not "do you want to go get some ice cream?"
2. Football, baseball, basketball, golf, snow skiing, etc...is more than just a game.
3. His plate must have more food on it...unless its dessert then i get more =).
4. The "squelches" of sudden fear of a wreck are not going to make him drive better and/or slower.
5. Never make fun your husband in front of family or friends anybody...its disrespectful.
6. Video game playing is not as bad as half the things other husbands do for "fun."
7. Just because he doesn't notice i have new clothes on, doesn't mean Im allowed to not tell him that i went "shopping."
8. Saying Please and Thank You...go a long way.
9. i'm not fat and he will never tell me i'm fat, even if i do get fat.
10. sometimes "talking" is overrated.

Tomorrow I might make a list of the things " I still havent learned..."