ANNIVERSARY!

oday is our anniversary! Shawn and I have been married for 4 years as of today! Today is a celebration of our blessed union. It is truly blessed because the Lord called us unto himself -Calvinist alert!- after our engagement, but before our wedding, allowing us to begin our lives as a married couple in Him.

We have been married for 4 years, but in January we will have been a couple for 10 years! The crazy part is that is doesn't really feel like it's been that long at all. On one hand, it feels as though I have known Shawn all my life, on the other finger (inside joke), it feels as though it were only yesterday that we went on our first date.

Shawn and I have both done a lot of changing since we were married 4 years ago. We've grown a lot in Christ, that's for sure. We've strived to take on our God given roles. He has dedicated much of his time to studying the Bible and learning gentleness, as to be a godly leader for our family. I have been putting much practice into keeping my duties at home in order and being Shawn's helper. It's been a challenge for both of us. The desire is there, but the change didn't happen over night.

The great thing is that marriage is pretty easy for us as believers. We've got the same goals, same parenting ideas, same attitude regarding the past, present, and future. All of these things are laid out for us in the Bible. Once we know what God wills for our marriage, we can both press forward, not looking back, and take ourselves in that direction.

Trust me, we spent 5 1/2 years living together as if we were a married couple when we weren't. We shared a bed, bank account, toothpaste tube, and a closet. After we accepted Christ -Armenian alert?- Shawn moved out for 6 months until our wedding. So, I have 6 months in a proper engagement relationship... much more difficult after living together. 4 years of being married, back to sharing the closet... I can definitely say that our relationship as a married Christian couple has been much easier than either of our previous situations.

I think what it boils down to is that sin makes things complicated and miserable. Living in it everyday is bound to bring heartache. No matter how "happy" we were, we were never even aware of what true happiness is. The six months apart was agonizing, but we did it because it was the right thing to do. I think that it has helped us to tell others in our previous living arrangements; "If we can do it, so can you" although no one we have told has tried. =[

Now that we are properly living together (and sharing a closet), life is much easier. I love being married, and I have a lot to compare it with. This is the best!

Love,

The Mundies

oday was so BORING. I worked almost non stop all day. I kept a record of everything I did from the moment I woke up until 5:30 when I nearly collapsed from exhaustion. I did dishes, I did laundry, I cleaned out closets and cupboards. I rearranged, I dusted, I swept, vacuumed, and mopped. I made lunches, I changed diapers, I made bottles, and beat rugs, and hung clothes, and cooked dinner. My simple life.

I had a real case of the mundies earlier. Not the MONDAYS, although it is Monday. The mundies, as in, mundane. I realized that the highlight of my day was when I found a little fish tank decoration in the shape of an alligator and put it in Caleb's fish tank. It is a life like gator that blow bubbles out of it's mouth. It's jaws open and close and bubbles come out. Caleb loves bubbles. I found it cleaning out a cupboard and I put it in his fish tank while he was taking his morning nap. He was quite pleased when he woke up.

Okay, you see? You see what I am saying? Did you see how much I had to say about a fish tank decoration? For some reason that really bothered me earlier today. I was upset about how excited the little alligator made me. When Shawn came home from work, I kept asking him, "Did you look at Caleb's fish tank?" and he kept saying no. It was only then that I realized that it was not very exciting at all. He never did go look at it, even after much prompting. I can't say that I blame him.

Shawn's refusal to acquiesce to my fish tank viewing invitation hurt my feelings. Why? I dunno; it just did. He looked at the cupboards and closets and did a great job of pretending to be interested, nay, impressed; but the fish tank was my grand finale. It was the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, the pinnacle of my day; and it went ignored. How was he supposed to know? He wasn't. I got over the hurt feelings pretty quickly, and then I just felt like a loser.

Love,

Blog Hog

have been doing a lot of thinking about the memory verse that I decided on in last week's post. I had briefly touched on that verse when I was studying the book of Ephesians about a year and a half ago.

I was cleaning out our disastrous hall closet when I stumbled upon my notes. I had a bunch of jumbled up thoughts in my head about the verse, but none of them were anything that I could form into something coherent. After finding the notes, I sat down and focused more on studying the verse and not just memorizing it. I wanted to be able to meditate on it and understand what it really means.

What was the result?

A blog, of course. I put the blog on A Declaration of War because I thought it fit there the best. There is a link on my side bar to the homepage, but you can also click here to go straight to the post. It's a little bittersweet for me. I love contributing to Shawn's blog, but I don't love being the only one who does. I just hate to see such a good idea go to waste.

Love,

How I Study

here's a new post on A Declaration of War. It's a small section of some work I did on Acts 20:17-38 for a Bible study class at church. Actually, both "War of the Worlds" and "Shepherding a Flock" are both excerpts from the work I did in the class. The Bible study, "How to Study the Bible So You Can Teach" was taught by our pastor Greg. The "Study Tools" section are links to some of the resources I used to study the passage from the class and I liked them so much that I use them nearly every time I study.

I love to study the Bible so much that sometimes it's hard for me to just sit down and read it. I was finding myself getting one or two verses into reading and then grabbing my interlinear Bible and concordance right away to do a word study. I would do it so often, I could hardly get anything read. Now, when I read, I try to have a notebook with me so that I can jot down notes on things I want to look into further.
I also get distracted pretty easily. There are a lot of really loud kids in the neighborhood, and to add to that, my dogs bark at them. It seems as though things that I would not normally give my attention are a million times louder or more annoying when I am trying to focus on reading and studying. At times like that, I try to remember not to get frustrated or angry and I pray that God will help me to give my undivided attention to His Word.

One thing I do to help me is set a goal for how much I want to read. Unless something that demands my attention comes up, like Caleb waking up from a nap, I commit to meeting that goal. Once I start reading, I usually do really well, but actually sitting down to read is another story. There are so many things that seem to get in the way. Sometimes I will realize that I have just watched an hour of TV that I didn't even find entertaining. I just turn my brain off and sit in front of it. It would be far more profitable for me to have spent that time reading my Bible. In fact, I think I will assign some memory verses to myself today...

Ephesians 5: 15-17

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Love,

Jena's Blog is Working!

uper great news! Jena got her blog, Jena's Formal Hair Design up and running. There are some cool pictures up of updos she has done for special occasions, and a way to contact her for your wedding, prom, or homecomming. Pretty cool, huh? Check it out!

Love,

Refocus

ou may have noticed that I have slowed down on my blogging. This is because I have decided to try and focus my attention on blogging on A Declaration of War. It's been really difficult because I have to be sure that I am a good keeper of my home;
maintaining my duties at home before I focus my attention on anything else. I will still probably be posting on this blog more than A Declaration of War though. Writing this blog doesn't require research and study the way A Declaration of War does. So I hope to see you at the other blog and that you are edified by the posts there.

Love,