Mail Call. And no, my grandmother is not a mail-order bride.

I thought about doing a weekend update so far…but I think my Sunday may hold some more excitement, so I can’t spill all the beans today.

Until then… here’s a little teaser.

Envelope 1

These are my grandparents… 50 years ago on their wedding day.

How beautiful is this?!?! 
One of my deepest heart wishes is to celebrate 50 years with Music Man.
If he doesn’t keel over first, I think we’ll make it. I’m stubborn.

Honestly though, my heart is giddy about this beautiful invitation. The end of July marks 50 years for my grandparents, and my mother and her siblings are putting on the ritz for them!
There might even be some pimp my buggy rides going on.

Some days it’s hard to think about what we’ll be doing next week, or where we’ll be next year, let alone the life Music Man and I will have in 50 years. But that’s such the fun of marriage.
Every day proves to be an adventure, but when we walk side-by-side with God at our center, those days seem endless.

My grandparents are such an inspiration to me (as are my own parents married 28 years this year!)  and I know that this day will truly be such a celebration: of them, of love, of their life, and of their legacy.

You can bet I’ll be posting about it come the end of next month.

Envelope 2

Um… I think I may actually give this one a separate post.
I’ve got some ‘splaining to do

 

Passing the Baton: Am I the only weird one who gets super excited every time I unlock my mailbox? (I think this habit started in college…) Do you enjoy or dread the mail? Anything exciting this week? What magazine should I start subscribing too?
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Seek Peace. Choose Joy. Live Faith.

Thought for a Thursday: Gratitude

It’s been an interesting 3.5 weeks.
Sometimes I take for granted that my husband is still a soldier, and so, when he has to leave for training, it really makes me think about the life we have together.

And yes, it’s far from perfect.
And yes, we’re back to being poor, married, college students with a dog for our kid.

And I may or may not be going through a quarter life crisis because my “life plan” has changed.
And there are many, many days when I wish we had a house of our own, we were settled in careers, or we could vacation in Hawaii.

But now that I’m learning to breathe, I stop and realize that all that wishing/wanting can sometimes make me forget the great life we do have.

 

We have a roof over our head  that’s a place for our youth group kids to come and hang out at and we have neighbors who are the most wonderful women.
We may not be headed to Hawaii this year, but I have plans for fun… you just wait.
We may not have careers yet, but we’re both pursuing our passions. And I’m writing.
And we may not be rich monetarily, but we are truly rich: in Grace, in love, in friends, and in family.

 

This past weekend I got to escape to visit my family for the weekend, and of course I took the kid with me.

And it was such a nice little getaway from my hermitness.
I spent time with my mom and dad who I celebrated on Dad’s day, and I got to visit with my brother and talk about his upcoming wedding and first full time job he just landed.
But the best part might have just been movie time with Wonder Woman.
I mean… I’m not a huge Cruise fan, but for almost 50, he sure rocked it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve firmly decided that if my own Music Man ever becomes a Rock God, I’ll definitely be his groupie.
I am a musical NERD, and it’s something I share with Wonder Woman. We had a ridiculous amount of fun, and I contribute that to her and my dad, because if it wasn’t for their musical taste, I wouldn’t have grown up with this music.
And I LOVE sharing in things with family.
Both my nuclear and in-laws. There is so much debt to Music Man and I’s family, and someday when we do bring children into it, they will be the most loved and weirdest beings ever.

I’m learning that it’s the small things.
It’s not the fancy vacations, or the two story, blue shuttered home, or the career or even having my blog overflowing with comments that brings gratitude.
It’s the things and people and passions and love I have in my life that are constant and unchanging that bring an outpouring of gratitude.

Because those things last.
And Hawaii, well, pictures only do so much.

Passing the baton: What are you grateful for this week? Have any little things just brought an overabundance of joy to you this week? What made you smile?

___________________
Seek Peace. Choose Joy.

Congratulations! The blog way.

Hey Little Brother aka Farm Boy
Seeing as how we have a history, you didn’t think I‘d let your college graduation come and go without our usual, would you?

Remember that time you graduated high school and we took this picture?

And then it sort of became our standard picture, but what happened?
We looked weird at my college grad?
Were we replaced by robots or something?

Never fear. We banished the creatures  at my wedding, and reverted back to our normal looks.
I know for a fact that Mom holds this picture near and dear to her heart. It’s proof she birthed two beautiful children.

Let’s do this at your wedding, and every family function from here until eternity.
Ps..
Dear future sister-in-law, Buttercup. I’m glad he doesn’t make you do silly faces.
At least not at your college graduation.
But if I can warn you about anything from his and my 23 year history, it’s this:
The goofy faces are just a weird brother-sister thing. When we were kids and fought with each other (I pummeled him until he grew bigger than me) Mom always warned us that our frowns or sad faces would freeze that way.
We never really grew up. We’re still trying to see if it works.

I promise when you get married, he won’t do that during your fancy pictures.
I’ll pummel him if he does.

Love you both!! And I am super proud of all your hard work these past couple of years!!
Congratulations on being a college grad!
Welcome to the world of unemployment.