Wednesday. Word.

My Man's Birthday

Today is a big day around here.

Why? you ask....

Well it just happens to be Benjamin's 23rd Birthday (about time if you ask me...I don't like being the "older woman" in our relationship haha)

23 reasons I fall more in love with Ben everyday.

1. He is almost always in a good mood, and handles any challenge with optimism.
2. He likes listening to music at all times of the day.
3. He usually is willing to try anything I bake/cook. Unless it contains vegetable chunks.
4. He is always willing to warm up my coffee in the microwave when I forget to drink it before it cools off.
5. He actually enjoys vacuuming. (how lucky am I!?)
6. His pet peeve is when I leave time left on the microwave so he can't see clock as it scrolls "press start"
7. He has kindly allowed my sewing and crafting stuff to take over a good chunk of our bedroom.
8. He patiently and graciously puts up with my random moodiness and tears.
9. He has learned how to use our coffee maker finally...so that he can make me coffee on occasion (he doesn't drink it very often and our coffee maker is a little complicated to inexperienced coffee makers)
10. His smile.
11. When he hugs me in his arms and refuses to let go until he is ready to
12. His competitiveness. Boardgames get intense with the two of us...just ask our family.
13. His willingness to encourage me in all my dreams and aspirations in life.
14. He lets me watch a chick flick with him every once in awhile
15. The way he reaches out to hold my hand even when we are only walking down the stairs of our apartment.
16. The easy way he laughs.
17. How he always makes sure to call me and text me while at work when our schedules don't allow us to see one another.
18. How he makes me feel beautiful even when I know I'm a scrub at times ;)
19. His unselfishness.
20. The way he never even mentions my books stacked up on our coffee table, sewing projects lying across our kitchen table and coffee mugs left just about everywhere I would think to place them and then forget.
21. The way he has to pace around the apartment, in and out of all three rooms, while he talks on the phone to anyone.
22. He is never afraid to dance.
23. He never hesitates to show his love for me, and for that I am truly grateful. 

Happy Birthday Ben. I love you!

The Most Amazing thing.

The God of the universe loves us.

and wants us to know him.

How exciting is that?

 

This morning I got up at five with Ben to make him breakfast and spend some time together before he left for work. I didn't have school today but it was worth waking up early to spend some time with him. After he left for work I took some time for myself. Just God, my Bible, the book Crazy Love, and my coffee. I haven't had a quite morning like this in quite awhile so it was such a filling time. The sun is rising now as I write this and I am overcome with how Big my God is and how insignificant I am. In Crazy Love, Francis Chan writes about how the Creator of the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars desires for us to know him. I am amazed at how I can feel like it is so hard to see God at times, when the truth is he is in everything around me. Everything was created by God and for God. The beautiful frost on my patio outside and the warm colors bursting from the sky, and even the coffee that warms me every morning. God finds so many ways to make us feel loved and yet we often forget he is the creator of it all. It is too easy to wake up in the morning and forget who has given me the life I am living that very day.

It is frustrating sometimes when it seems that I cannot love God in the way that I know he deserves.

"Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful?"

"When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is."

Francis Chan writes:

 "we need [reminders] about God's goodness. We are programmed to focus on what we don't have, bombarded multiple times throughout the day with what we need to buy that will make us feel happier or sexier or more at peace. The dissatisfaction transfers over to our thinking about God. We forget we already have everything we need in Him. Because we don't often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved."

...and the hardest part about trying to understand God is that I know he is too incredible to every fully understand. Chan also talks about what it means to be Holy. God is Holy therefor he is set apart and distinct from us. We can never fully understand who God is be cause he is so Holy. My mind will never be able to truly wrap around the entire concept of who God is. I love how Chan also talks about how comforting it is to know that we worship a God that we can not exaggerate. Anything I have to say about my God is an understatement. This is such a blaring reality when I compare this to the numerous exaggerations I could make about myself. Even thinking back to the resume I recently created I am struck by the pathetic exaggerations that we write down on paper. I have failures everyday. God, however will never fail me.

Out of my knowing I can never exaggerate God's goodness or love comes a desire for me to know him further. I need to realize that no I will never fully realize God's characteristics, but that to love God from my true self I need to strive to know him better each and every day. It may seem like a daunting task since It will never be completed, but I'm okay with that. In reminds me once again of God's graciousness. I will never know him perfectly, and he knows that...but he is also encouraging me to give my life to knowing him as complete as I can.

Happy (late) Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day was lovely. As silly as the holiday is I can't help by enjoy it when it comes around.

I got to sleep in while Ben and his mom went and got groceries, and then I got up and did a little homework while I drank some coffee.

Then back up to school, which means a nice 4 hour long drive to listen to music and talk about life.

Then a little unpacking and off to our dance class. We had a good laugh about how it sounds like we are 7 and then our mom should be dropping us off...but we managed to take it somewhat seriously and learned a few swing moves. More practice is definitely needed, but overall it was a fun time.

Then off to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The food was delicious! In fact, there is some leftover pasta and chocolate cake in the fridge which will be calling my name by the time I get home from classes.

I am so thankful that I have my best friend to love me everyday. We have fun doing anything, and even without a fancy dinner and dance lessons I still would have loved every second of being with my valentine.