Awakening

Over the past two weeks, spring has finally started to emerge from the depths of the cold gloomy New Orleans winter. The sun is shining more, the temperatures are becoming milder, and the flowers are beginning to bloom. It's as if everything is coming alive from the sleep of winter. I've been so excited for the change in season. My mood needed a season change. I was starting to feel as gray as the cloudy skies. I've noticed since the change in weather that I've been happier, more content about life in general.

Then, yesterday at Vintage we sang a new song called "Awakening", Chris Tomlin's new song off the Passion 2010 album. This song spoke to the way I have been feeling and has been on my heart and in my head since yesterday morning. My favorite lyrics (from the chorus):

"Like the rising sun that shines
Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
From the darkness comes a light
Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
Like the rising sun that shines
Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
Only You can raise a life
Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing"

It's awesome to realize that in this same season as the earth begins its spring awakening, my spirit is beginning its Easter awakening. I am so excited to enjoy the beauty of the season for next few weeks as I prepare my heart to celebrate.

Photo of the Week

Here's a quick pic from yesterday afternoon at the park. We had a great time hanging out with friends on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Little Moments

For the past couple of months, it has been ridiculously cold in New Orleans. Please no comments from all our friends further north. There is no argument that is even colder where you are; it's just that New Orleanians are not at all accustomed to freezing temperatures and thus have not equipped their houses to handle sustained periods of cold. This explains the fact that in our apartment only one of our two window units supplies heat.

Tuesday of this week was a particularly cold, dreary, blustery day. Both of us spent the day out of the apartment. I was in class and working all day and Matt spent the day in the library working on a research paper. So by the time I got home on Tuesday around 9, it was pretty chilly in our place. I immediately turned on all possible warming units: the heater in the bathroom, the window unit with heat, and the stove. When Matt got home about 30 minutes later, dinner was ready and the heat was on full blast, but it was still FREEZING. We began to fix our plates and sit down at the table when Matt jokingly suggested that we eat in the bathroom, which, at that point was the warmest room in the apartment thanks to the room's size and the super-efficient heater/fan attached to the light. Despite his obvious jest and the ridiculousness of his suggestion, I took him up on the offer. We carried our dinner and 2 kitchen chairs into the bathroom and closed the door.

So there we set for the next 30 minutes, knee to knee in our tiny bathroom eating dinner, sharing stories about our day and generally enjoying the experience. When we were finished eating dinner there was a definite hint of sadness, partly because we were going to have to face the arctic temperatures in the other rooms of the apartment but mostly because our 'little moment' was over. We were about to start working on other more serious things like studying, writing papers, filling out reports.

Over the past couple of days, I've thought about our dinner on Tuesday night and how easy it would have been for us to miss that moment. I could have easily teased back with a "Yeah, right", and we would have eaten dinner quickly in the cold kitchen and hurried into the slightly less cold bedroom/living room to begin our night's work. I am so glad we didn't miss that chance to break from the drudgery of our day, and to truly connect with one another, because that little moment is a memory we will cherish forever.

So today I'm grateful for all the little moments that sneak into our days and embed themselves in our memories and make life more fun.

About that whole "In Sickness" thing...

The Bricks are back on the blog - for real this time! More on this later...

For the past 3 weeks we've been battling "the crud". Matt got sick the weekend of Mardi Gras, which drastically toned down our celebration at the end of a crazy couple of weeks. Then, in the past week, I've started feeling it: stuffy nose, coughing, etc. I mention all this not so that you can get a glimpse into our snot-filled house and pity us, but because it has been teaching me a so much about marriage - and about God.

As you might know, at our wedding Matt and I decided to write our own vows, so we didn't exactly promise to love each other "in sickness and in health", but we did promise to be there for each other during the tough times. These past couple of weeks have been tough for us. Let's face it, none of us are really at our best when we feel sick. So imagine having two sick people trying to take care of each other, all the while feeling pretty rotten themselves. Suffice it to say that we've each had our moments. But the truth and beauty in all of this is the comfort I have in knowing that Matt still loves me completely, even when I'm at my grouchy, snotty, coughing worst. Even when I am my least lovable, he has promised to stay by my side, to help me get through it.

What's even cooler is how this applies to even more than the cold we've been sharing lately. I think the truth in it is that we are both sick - all the time. We are sinful creatures, and you can't get much sicker than that. But God has led us to each other: to live together, to love each other, to encourage one another through our sickness and sinfulness. What a beautiful picture marriage is of Christ and his love for His church! Today I am so thankful for the truth that my husband and my God both promise to stand by my side, even when I am the worst version of myself.

As awesome as these lessons are, I really hope we get over this cold soon.

2010 Started with Blast!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of posting, but our city is going nuts.

We've been wearing the official team shirts for 2 weeks now

"Our City, Our Home, Finish Strong."

Video from our NFC Party @ Vintage Church

Man we love our city, our home, our church and especially our Saints!!!

Who DAT!!!!

Cabo Thank You

Hola!

Video:

We also wanted to share a few quick pictures to show you some of our favorite memories from our fabulous week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It was absolutely beautiful, and we enjoyed a week of relaxation, sun bathing, snorkeling and just loving life.

The Arch & Lover's Beach

This is the point where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet.

Lover's beach is the only beach in world that touches two oceans. Pretty cool, huh?

On a Boat....

... after snorkeling on Thanksgiving Day. What a fun experience.

Sunset dinner on the beach <3

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

The typical 'Beach Shot'

Flex <-- look at those muscles ;)

Feet (of course)

Dinner

This was the night the man at the table beside us asked if we were Honeymooners. Guess we were too obvious... at least we got some freshly caught Mahi Mahi out of the deal.

Hope you've enjoyed getting a glimpse of the Honeymoon. We're praying that all is well wherever you are. Thanks again!

Shower the People You Love with Love

Holy freakin crap! We’re getting married in just over a month!!! And, we haven’t updated our blog in way too long…

So, to recap what we’ve been up to since August. Sarah moved down to New Orleans into a cute apartment in Uptown. (More details about that to come). Both of us started a new semester of school – Sarah’s first at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and Matt's 5th semester at Seminary. We’re both working as well. Sarah works as a Graduate Assistant in the Accounting Department at UNO, where she is a jack of all trades. Matt is continuing his work at Vintage Church, where he currently oversees the administrative and operations of the church. He also serves as the Missions Coordinator, leading teams who come in to serve and love New Orleans. So, we’ve been just a bit too busy living life to actually write about it. But we’re glad to be back on the blog.

We’re so excited that our Big Day is coming up so soon, and we wanted to say thanks and share with everyone some pics from our triathlon of showers in Knoxville before we headed back down.

First up was Sarah’s bridal shower, hosted by her fabulous bridesmaids, at Tate and Kelly’s house. It was so fun to be able to catch up with good friends – girls I’ve known since I was 4, and girls who I’ve known for 4 years, who have become lifelong friends. We played the obligatory shower games (though I admit they were pretty awesome). By far the best game was the toilet paper bride contest.

Sarah with the TP Bride contestants.

Sarah with ‘The Team’ after the shower.

There was a mountain of gifts, among them a coffeemaker (which has already been put to good use), lots of Fiestaware, a crockpot, and cooking utensils. The gifts were wonderful, but so much more than presents, I am thankful for the relationships I have with all of these girls. They are blessings to me.

The second shower we had was hosted by Matt’s Aunt Elaine and took place at the John Sevier Lodge in Seymour. It was a gift card shower, so we got LOTS of gift cards (which have already started to come in handy) but also lots of gifts. The standout of the shower, though, was a gift from Matt’s Ging. She presented him with the quilt she made for him years ago. He suggested we bring it down to NOLA and use it as soon as possible as a blanket for the couch. That suggestion was declined swiftly and certainly. Clearly he doesn’t understand the idea of protecting keepsakes… men!

Us with Ging, and the beautiful quilt.








The bride and groom, and the madres. Apparently it was required that the mothers wear coral…









Our final shower was hosted by Sarah’s aunts, cousins, and church family. It was at Asbury UMC (aka Ground Zero for Nov. 21). It was a drop-in shower with a laid back atmosphere. We got to catch up with family and friends in between opening even more gifts.


Trying to not break the bows


















No, Sarah’s not pregnant – stupid flowy dress!!

Until next time.....

33 days!