Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Ben Skips Class

Can you believe it? It was the first time I’ve skipped class since my sophomore year in college. Yes, all who know me might be royally shocked, but I had to do it. I finally found a situation where I could justify it enough to not feel guilty. I came to the point where I realized that I had way more important things to do and the last 3 times I have been in this particular class, I have fallen asleep.


Sure, we all fall asleep in class, but I have been falling asleep in class and sleeping through the majority of classtime. So, what it comes down to is the fact that I could have gone to class, slept the whole time, and wasted 3 hours of my time. But instead, I stayed awake for those three hours doing stuff I really needed to. Hmm, now that I have skipped, shall I keep skipping so that my productivity shall increase?

Monday, February 14, 2005

V-Day #2 as a Married Couple

There’s nothing like a secretly planned Valentine’s Day dinner to start a good argument. Wait a second… isn’t V-day supposed to be all about love & being nice - not to mention getting presents that should include chocolate & flowers?


We like to keep things more interesting so here’s my version of what happened Saturday night… I was supposed to get off work at 5:00 sharp, Ben calls me at the office at 5:30 & tells me that we have 6:00 reservations, I ask him to bring me some jeans & he says I should probably just wear what I have on, he picks me up from work & we drive to a house nearby where several couples from our church are waiting for a special surprise V-day dinner that our husbands decided to put together for us, we walk into the house where all the other girls are wearing formals/very nice dresses, my feelings get hurt because I’m not dressed nice enough & didn’t get a chance to get all pretty so Ben suggests we drive home so I can change (which he really didn’t mean), I agree & we get lost on the way home & decide that we aren’t going back, we get home & I change my mind & decide that we should go back, Ben sulks the whole way because he tried to do something nice for me & I had really hurt his feelings as we proceed to get lost again, we finally arrive & have a wonderful time with our friends - whew!


We had a special homegroup last night focused on our marriages and the things we love about our spouces. It was very touching hearing everyone’s stories & goals for making their relationships better. Ben was proud that I was the only girl who didn’t cry. Today we took Cali to Shelby Farms. She had a blast & met a lot of new friends. We’ll be finishing our evening with our traditional Valentine’s Day dinner (toasted ravioli) & the movie The Notebook.


V-day card from Cali
Ben & Cali @ the lake
Monica & Cali @ the lake

Cali with geese

Friday, February 11, 2005

Beale Street & Earthquakes

Matt and Jayna came and stayed with us Wednesday night and Thursday night while on a recruiting trip for OC. We had a really great visit with them and a whole lot of laughs. Cali tried to eat them and woke Matt up early both mornings (sorry Matt). We can’t tell you how great it was to be with friends from our old stomping ground—especially these two crazy people.


Thursday night we went to Beale Street, ate at Alfred’s, and went to B.B. King’s joint to listen to some music. When we walked in, they were playing “Pick Up the Pieces” and I knew we were in the right place! There is always the chance at BB King’s that the man himself will show up to play, but he didn’t last night. This was the first time we had really been out on the town, and we loved it!


Thursday morning at 8:10 we experienced an earthquake! It was only a 4.2 on the Richter scale, so no damage was done. We are sitting on the New Madrid Fault, which is capable of producing a huge earthquake any day now. I guess we will just have to live like there is no tomorrow! No problem!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Parable of the Lost Ring

It almost seemed as though things were going too well for us, which is why I (Ben) must have subconsciously “lost” my wedding ring down the sink drain! The ring is definitely not in the trap under the sink, but I did manage to break the piping off the sink in the process. So now we are up to no ring and a broken sink; however, Monica assured me that the sink would be fixed today!


The worst part is the respect I lost from my wife because of the way I handled the ordeal. The ring I lost and the sink I broke were not worth what I lost with Monica. Wow, those two sentences make me kind of uncomfortable. I can get a new ring and new piping, but I can’t get back last night when I lost a lot of respect (which I deserved to lose) from my wife. I have a feeling others can relate to this experience. Since I am preaching instead of blogging, I feel like I should issue a challenge. Here it is: Next time something bad happens, react in such a way that those around you don’t think you’ve given up on trying to be a Christian. And especially for husbands—you’re wife looks to you as a spiritual leader and the way you act directly effects her faith and security in the Lord. Wives, remind your husbands that you look to them as a spiritual leader in the house so they know that they are responsible for showing Christ in their actions. If anyone would like to come forward, the song of invitation will be number…


And you thought the story was over!! I thought I could not be humiliated any more, but I was. I found the ring four hours after writing the preceding parable. It was wrapped in the dish rag I was using that somehow got placed across the room and on the dryer and I found it by accident. All my fuss for nothing, except a broken sink, which I have been reminded three times will be fixed today, but I have more important repairs to do that I have already started on.

Monday, February 7, 2005

We Have Friends... See!

We wanted to prove to our friends back in Edmond that we do have friends here… or at least people who would pose with us at the bowling alley. Tonight we had the pleasure of hanging out with two of our favorite people - Mr. Millionaire & Pink Lady (otherwise known as Craig & Merschon to those who don’t know their bowling nicknames). Our bowling nicknames ended up being ‘Preacher Boy’ & ‘Agent 39’ in case you’re dying of curiosity.


We’ve said it before & we’ll say it again - having friends no matter where you are in this world makes all the difference! It doesn’t get much better than three 99-cent games of bowling, lots of laughs & finishing up the night with a few coffees & some great conversation at Starbucks. What we would do without such great friends like Craig & Merschon - not to mention all the other wonderful people in our class at church (you know who you are) we don’t know.


It helps put our lives in perspective & it’s so amazing to see the power of prayer & the effect it’s had on our homegroup (go purple group!). With all of that said we’d just like to say thank you to everyone in Memphis who has helped make us really start to feel at home.

Friday, February 4, 2005

The Revealing...

Here are the long-awaited pics of our new silverberry bedroom! I told Ben we shouldn’t blog about it until we had put the room back together & had some pictures to put up - but he got blog happy:)


Silverberry 1
Silverberry 2
Silverberry 3

Silverberry 4


Tonight we went to Chili’s for dinner & when we got home we had quite a surprise waiting for us… the front door was wide open!! My heart jumped out of my chest while Ben just got this look on his face like, “What a surprise this happened to us in Memphis.” He always expects the worst so not much can surprise him. I started walking back toward the car ready to call 911 & Ben just walked right in yelling, “Hello?” I reluctantly came in & rescued Cali from the kitchen while Ben checked all the rooms & closets.


Apparently, the door wasn’t pulled shut all the way somehow & then when the wrought iron door shut it blew the main door open. Not a fun thing to come home to. So, Ben is grounded from shutting the door for awhile & we're crossing our fingers that we don't have someone living in our attic (the only place we didn't check).

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Could I Interest You in Some Silverberry?

We’re at it again, but this time in the bedroom… we decided to paint! After painting my office and seeing what $20 worth of paint can do to a room, we just had to take on another project. For some reason I (Ben) have always wanted a purple room. I think it stems back to the fact that I love the purple ceiling at Abuelo’s. Anyway, we went to Home Depot and found the color “Silverberry,” and thought about for a month before we painted this Monday night. We’ll post pictures real soon so you can get an idea of the color.


Here’s how painting works at our house: We go to the paint store after I have been dragging my feet about it and we get all of the stuff. Next, we go home and we both start painting away for a good 30 minutes to an hour. Monica uses the roller and I do the intricate stuff. After that, Monica decides we need to take a break and we get something to eat and she starts watching TV. Now, I want you to notice the change in person—I and I alone paint the rest of the room while my beautiful wife just watches and tells me how she should be helping me. Fortunately, this room only took from about 7 PM-12:30 AM.


Here is what I want you to get from our experience: change something about where you live. We always feel refreshed when we change something we’ve gotten used to and for some reason we get more energy. We are now excited about walking into our painted rooms. Something about making the old new again—seems like something that might be in the Bible (with a slightly different context, of course). Wow, I made it through the whole blog without mentioning Cali!