A couple weeks ago I searched for this video in the nooks and crannies of our computers, and today I totally stumbled upon it when looking for this golden nugget...
And lucky me...I found both!
Tuesday, June 29
Embarrasing Videos
In honor of our college roommates visiting, and also because of my recent free time in the SUMMA I came across some old pictures and VIDEOS of us being total goobs. So for the next week or two (as long as it interests me and I remember) I will be posting some favorite pictures and videos of the girls and guys who made my college experience amazing. HOLLA!
A couple weeks ago I searched for this video in the nooks and crannies of our computers, and today I totally stumbled upon it when looking for this golden nugget...
And lucky me...I found both!
A couple weeks ago I searched for this video in the nooks and crannies of our computers, and today I totally stumbled upon it when looking for this golden nugget...
And lucky me...I found both!
Marsh Vow Renewal
Matt and I had a tricky decision to make recently: hang out with our college roommates for one more night while they visit and before many of them move far away (some even to Africa for 6 months) OR go to our pastor's vow renewal ceremony. It was one of those obvious choices, but still one that had a great opportunity cost. But after attending the rededication it was clear that this was an evening that forever changed the way we both looked at love, marriage, and the church community as a whole.
Because this was much more than a party to celebrate their 13 years of marriage, it was a gathering that was something that they had been looking forward to for years. You see, years ago, Adriane had Leukemia. And the party was to celebrate her life and the fact that she has been cancer free for five years. Which in the medical community means that she is officially cured since the chances of it returning are the same as you or I being diagnosed.
Watching our friend Travis, the very same person who married Matt and I 3 years ago look at the bride of his youth was perhaps one of the biggest challenges and blessings to our marriage. She was beautiful. Not because of her ivory dress or because of the flowers in her hair, but because she shone with God's love and hope while she sat in those hospital rooms years ago. Because even in her physical weakness, she brought the strength that he needed and the confidence that our church community needed during those dark times.
After their short ceremony, Travis invited us inside to watch a video that he has been painstakingly putting together over the past several months. It had pictures of Adriane as a child, a college student, a girlfriend, a bride, and a mother. It had interviews of their close friends recalling the time when the diagnosis hang heavy in the air. It had a video of their family going to the beach and burning all the paperwork associated with the disease that was so critical to keep five years ago. And it ended with Travis speaking on camera to his bride and his wife and his best friend. He explained to her for the first time that every time he drove to and from her hospital room he would listen to one of her favorite songs "Lady in Red." A song that she had wanted to dance to at their wedding but decided not to since it is about a man in love with his wife of many years. He confessed that he listened to it every time but never let himself finish it. He was waiting to finish it while they danced when she was healthy again. And he ended by asking her to dance with him.
Driving home that night Matt and I talked about what a real marriage should look like, and how beautiful God created it to be. We talked about how honored we were to be there even though we are newer friends. About the church when it is seen at its best. About love.
As we pulled into the drive, I saw my best college girlfriends sitting around our dining table talking, laughing, and looking at each other with discerning eyes that only come with time well spent listening and watching each other's lives. I sat down with them and cried tears of joy, sadness, and hope. And they cried with me. And we laughed and smiled at each other and repeated how much we love LOVE.
Because this was much more than a party to celebrate their 13 years of marriage, it was a gathering that was something that they had been looking forward to for years. You see, years ago, Adriane had Leukemia. And the party was to celebrate her life and the fact that she has been cancer free for five years. Which in the medical community means that she is officially cured since the chances of it returning are the same as you or I being diagnosed.
Watching our friend Travis, the very same person who married Matt and I 3 years ago look at the bride of his youth was perhaps one of the biggest challenges and blessings to our marriage. She was beautiful. Not because of her ivory dress or because of the flowers in her hair, but because she shone with God's love and hope while she sat in those hospital rooms years ago. Because even in her physical weakness, she brought the strength that he needed and the confidence that our church community needed during those dark times.
After their short ceremony, Travis invited us inside to watch a video that he has been painstakingly putting together over the past several months. It had pictures of Adriane as a child, a college student, a girlfriend, a bride, and a mother. It had interviews of their close friends recalling the time when the diagnosis hang heavy in the air. It had a video of their family going to the beach and burning all the paperwork associated with the disease that was so critical to keep five years ago. And it ended with Travis speaking on camera to his bride and his wife and his best friend. He explained to her for the first time that every time he drove to and from her hospital room he would listen to one of her favorite songs "Lady in Red." A song that she had wanted to dance to at their wedding but decided not to since it is about a man in love with his wife of many years. He confessed that he listened to it every time but never let himself finish it. He was waiting to finish it while they danced when she was healthy again. And he ended by asking her to dance with him.
Driving home that night Matt and I talked about what a real marriage should look like, and how beautiful God created it to be. We talked about how honored we were to be there even though we are newer friends. About the church when it is seen at its best. About love.
As we pulled into the drive, I saw my best college girlfriends sitting around our dining table talking, laughing, and looking at each other with discerning eyes that only come with time well spent listening and watching each other's lives. I sat down with them and cried tears of joy, sadness, and hope. And they cried with me. And we laughed and smiled at each other and repeated how much we love LOVE.
Bu5 Visit
All of our college roommates came to visit for an extended weekend and we had an amazing time. We went dancing, stayed up too late, went to lunch, stayed up too late, got haircuts from Bekah, went on a creek walk, swung on a rope swing, played Ultimate Frisbee, played with puppies, went to Sideboard, stayed up too late, had a huge pizza dinner, shopped, and talked for hours on end. Oh, and the boys played Halo. Gross. Here are some favs...
Friday, June 25
Kyle's Graduation
Kyle graduated from high school earlier this month and we had a great time celebrating him. He is going to Cal Poly, SLO in the Fall and we couldn't be prouder. Here is Matt and I waiting for the ceremony to start. We got there super early to get our awesome seats...guess after doing this two times with Kendra and I, my parents got smart.
After the ceremony it was a free-for-all on the field to try and find your graduate. Took forever to find Kyle but in the meantime, I found tons of other high school seniors that have been key parts of our youth group. So now looking through all the pictures that I was so proud of taking...I realized that I never actually got one of Kyle and I. Super. So here is a big picture of all (most) of the graduating seniors from the Refuge.
After the ceremony it was a free-for-all on the field to try and find your graduate. Took forever to find Kyle but in the meantime, I found tons of other high school seniors that have been key parts of our youth group. So now looking through all the pictures that I was so proud of taking...I realized that I never actually got one of Kyle and I. Super. So here is a big picture of all (most) of the graduating seniors from the Refuge.
Wednesday, June 23
Kendra is HOME!
My most fav sister has been studying abroad in Buenos Aires since February and she finally came home on Sunday. She was the perfect Father's Day gift for my pop. It's only because I have a cold that we have not been to Peet's for the perfect afternoon tea cooler yet.
Tuesday, June 22
VeeBS
AKA Vacation Bible School. AKA the reason why I have not posted anything for over a week. AKA the reason why I am now sick and stuck on the couch watching Scrubs reruns.
As co-coordinator of the two-session week, the ending was bittersweet. Bitter since VBS is a week where little kiddos get the chance to connect with older believers and fall in love with the Lord and I didn't want that to end. But sweet since it meant that I could SLEEP!
All in all, we took several risks this year with the program by making big changes from years past. And it was a success! For now, I will leave you with our group shots from the morning and afternoon sessions. So no, the photos are not duplicates. They show the 100 K-2nd graders we had in the morning and 70 3rd-5th graders we had in the afternoon. Plus about 50 volunteers at each session. Our church has been blessed with some amazing servants.
And I will continue to sit on the couch and relish in the fact that I do not have to answer five questions at once. Hooray!
As co-coordinator of the two-session week, the ending was bittersweet. Bitter since VBS is a week where little kiddos get the chance to connect with older believers and fall in love with the Lord and I didn't want that to end. But sweet since it meant that I could SLEEP!
All in all, we took several risks this year with the program by making big changes from years past. And it was a success! For now, I will leave you with our group shots from the morning and afternoon sessions. So no, the photos are not duplicates. They show the 100 K-2nd graders we had in the morning and 70 3rd-5th graders we had in the afternoon. Plus about 50 volunteers at each session. Our church has been blessed with some amazing servants.
And I will continue to sit on the couch and relish in the fact that I do not have to answer five questions at once. Hooray!
Tuesday, June 8
Window Coverings
I LOVE this! I had seen this idea a long time ago and knew I wanted to do it somewhere. The guest room seemed like the perfect place to pull it off. Since Matt and I have been trying our best to keep up with our wild backyard, we have a giant pile of sticks, branches, and old pieces of wood with giant nails sticking out. (Anyone want to come over for a backyard BBQ...no?) I marched right out there and the first branch I saw was PERFECT!
The next issue was how to attach the branch to the wall. I looked at a couple wall brackets hoping to find something like this:
However, the puny selection I faced looked a little closer to this:
So as you can imagine, I improvised since I vow never to use BRASS. Ew, even the name sounds grody. (Putting this into words means that the trends are automatically going to change and brass will become the hot item.)So I found some coat hooks and used them instead. I actually love how they look, don't you?
And then because I just can't help myself, I tied it back with twine. I think I would wrap our entire house in a giant ball of twine if Matt let me. And apparently I could be alone on this issue. Yesterday my brother-in-law came over and to my shock he totally loved my girlie room, but hated the twine. He recommended that I change it STAT. I am ignoring him though. Because I love it and it is MY room. OK, so it is Matt's room too, and I suppose your room too since it is a guest bedroom and I would love for you to come and visit!
Now the next thing is to case out the window like our front windows have been. But what the heck do you do for casing when someone else chose ALMOND as the window color? Who does that? At least our front windows are white. You will see them soony-soon!
Saturday, June 5
Matt is Home!
Matt was gone on a business trip this past week. A frantically-put-together-last-minute business trip if I may add. To Taiwan. What? So yesterday I took BART into the city to meet him at the airport, cuz let's face it:traveling is stinky, but it always helps to have someone waiting for you. I think anyway. He of course totally agrees. I went to the city a little early to spend some time in the MotherLand. Hugest Nordstrom ever. *Sigh* To bad everything is so expensive. *Double sigh*
And since I was already being a nerdy tourist, I decided to snap a shot of these guys lounging on a cable car.
And since I was already being a nerdy tourist, I decided to snap a shot of these guys lounging on a cable car.
Pops Concert
On Thursday I was lucky enough to get a front row seat at my little bro's choir concert. And since this is Pops, it means not just singing, but also DANCING! So basically it is like watching a live version of Glee. One of my fav shows.
So the first couple classes were not really like Glee at all since the poor kids were SO not into dancing...but of course my baby brother is in the top notch group so his performance was AMAZING! His class did Queen...so it's true. They rocked us. (Is that a funny joke?)
Kyle and a couple girls from youth group. How much do you LOVE their 80's grunge outfits? *Sidenote: Kyle ripped a gigantic hole in his pants because of his awesome dance moves, so now he can sympathize with SpongeBob.*
Sara, me, and Melanie. I would be an emotionally sitting duck without these girls as support. And of course my besties from college. More on those crazy kids later.
Wednesday, June 2
Dining Room Table Redo
I am trying to do a magical before and after with our dining room table, but so far, things have not worked out the way I planned. We have this cute old table with spindle legs and backs to the chairs, but the color just isn't our style. I had this master plan to sand it down and refinish it like this one:
But after about half an hour of sanding the top down, I realized that although all the other parts of the table and chairs are wooden, the top is a veneer. Boo-hoo. So my dreams of staining it a dark coffee brown got rained all over. So, I have a new idea, but it isn't done yet, so consider yourself TEASED!
But after about half an hour of sanding the top down, I realized that although all the other parts of the table and chairs are wooden, the top is a veneer. Boo-hoo. So my dreams of staining it a dark coffee brown got rained all over. So, I have a new idea, but it isn't done yet, so consider yourself TEASED!
Pink Chandelier!
So my lovely aunt (who totally inspires me specifically with her interior decorating) passed her cute wrought iron chandelier onto me last year and we have had it hanging in our dining room for almost a year. It was so nice and miles nicer than the nasty old one that had been hanging there when we moved in. Unfortunately, it hung there during my "I don't take any pictures" phase, so this flattering shot is the best I can muster...
Can you see it in the top corner? I know, there are a lot of distractions. The mess, the horrid blank walls, and oh yeah, I think Matt and I think we look really cute.
Well, here is what it looks like now. This is after removing the yellowed glass covers and replacing the old flame shaped lightbulbs with cute clear circular ones.
Oh, and pink spray paint. Did I mention the pink spray paint? People told me not to, and maybe in a year I will have wished that I had listened, but today, I LOVE IT! Just wait til you see the rest of the room.
Can you see it in the top corner? I know, there are a lot of distractions. The mess, the horrid blank walls, and oh yeah, I think Matt and I think we look really cute.
Well, here is what it looks like now. This is after removing the yellowed glass covers and replacing the old flame shaped lightbulbs with cute clear circular ones.
Oh, and pink spray paint. Did I mention the pink spray paint? People told me not to, and maybe in a year I will have wished that I had listened, but today, I LOVE IT! Just wait til you see the rest of the room.
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