Wedding Christmas Ornaments

December 11, 2012 ~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

I am definitely one to attach sentiment to objects. I have several shoe boxes full of birthday cards because throwing them away feels like throwing away the person who gave it to me. After reading books like 7 and Organized Simplicity, combined with the hassle of packing and moving, I’m learning to separate sentiment from tangible items.

My wedding was the perfect test for this resolve. The decor was so intentional, and full of me and Tim, that it was virtually impossible to separate sentiment from all the little details. Throwing them away wasn’t an option. Many of the decorations now spruce up our apartment.

The floral aspects were a different story. Flowers are difficult to preserve. My bouquet was gorgeous, but the dried version was uninspiring and sat on my parent’s porch for months after the wedding. I thought that was the end of the road for my wildflower and twine spray until my mom visited over Thanksgiving.

She brought a special, handmade gift full of sentiment and love. My mom crafted two ornaments from wedding decor so that the memories could hang on our Christmas tree year after year.

One ornament is filled with dried flowers from my bouquet, the other is filled with miscellaneous wedding ephemera (I love that word…). She used clear, plastic ornaments from Michaels, which come in multiple shapes and sizes.

Each ornament top was wrapped with twine that had previously been wrapped around the base of my bouquet. My mom’s first married Christmas tree was decorated with red gingham bows so she also fashioned me a bow from the extra twine to put on my first married Christmas tree.

An ornament is the perfect way to preserve special memories and details. The stuffings are free, the ornaments are inexpensive, and the sentiment will be cherished every year.

Guest Posting & Crazy Connections

November 19, 2012October 29, 2015 ~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

Turns out, I guest post for people who I have random connections with. Last week it was Kayse Pratt {6 Things I Learned in 6 Months of Marriage}, who was my city-neighbor for a year, and today it’s Marie Osborne.

I connected with Marie on Twitter only to discover she is the daughter-in-law of my brother-in-law’s pastor (Pastor Larry Osborne at North Coast in Vista, CA). David, my brother-in-law, works at North Coast and knows all the Osbornes.

Crazy. Small. World.

So, I’m writing over on Marie’s blog as part of her new series called Living Out His Love:

This world isn’t perfect. We are fallen creatures struggling to learn how to give and receive this love. How to live out His love.

It’s a lifelong goal for all of us. But we can stumble along together. This series, “Living out His Love,” will be a place where we can talk this out. Share about our struggles, what His word says, what we learn in prayer and practice, really trying to live out this love. How we’ve been encouraged and how we’ve been wounded by others attempting to live out His love in our lives. Our hopes, our aspirations, our past. What we thought love was and how we learned it was different. How we strive to apply this love, in loving Him, our family, friends, enemies, community, ourselves.

My take on Living Out His Love revolves around my love of based-on-a-true-story sports movies. Thank you, Rocky Balboa!

Beyond Gaps

Aside from a hefty dose of chick-flicks and Jane Austen films, my movie collection is dominated by inspirational sports dramas. I’m a sucker for the underdog and can’t get enough of the comeback montages set to heart-moving music.

The likes of Remember The Titans, We Are Marshall, and Miracle make me cry without fail. Maybe it was the boxing factor or the endless sequels, but my based-on-a-true-story, sports film fanaticism never touched the Rocky collection.

Little did I know that lurking beneath all the blood, sweat, and punching, there were real lessons to be learned about love from the unlikely boxer. With a few short lines uttered in the company of his friend Paulie and a bunch of cold cows waiting to be butchered, Rocky perfectly illustrates the symbiotic nature of true love.

Read the rest over on… Marie’s Blog!

Six Things I’ve Learned in Six Months of Marriage

November 15, 2012 ~ Emily ~ 1 Comment

Tim and I celebrated our six month anniversary on Sunday!

In the process of adjusting to married life and consistent disorder, I’ve learned many new things about myself. Six qualities stick out to me as I reflect over my first six months of marriage.

I’m sharing the six things I learned in six months of marriage over on Kayse Pratt‘s blog: Live Authentically, Laugh Joyfully, Love Intentionally.

Even the blogosphere is a small world. Turns out Kayse and I lived in neighboring cities for a year without knowing hide nor hair of each other! Now we live in different states, but I’m excited to be part of her internet home today.

Read all about what I learned in six months of marriage and then poke around Kayse’s delightful and encouraging blog!

Vows

November 12, 2012 ~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

God never ceases to amaze me with His timing. I feel like a broken record because I’m floored over and over again about how He orchestrates life in a way that is undeniably His doing.

Last week, Tim and I attended the Friday and Saturday sessions of A Weekend To Remember, a marriage conference put on by Family Life. The nature of Tim’s work precluded us from going to the last day of sessions. Providentially, Coeur d’Alene Resort was hosting the conference two weekends in a row. Tim was able to skip out of church a bit early yesterday so we could complete our Weekend To Remember.

What started out to be a morning of rushing, hurt feelings, and silence was transformed into a special day because of God’s perfect timing and heart nudging.

Unbeknownst to me, every WTR concludes with couples renewing their vows. Unbeknownst to the organizers of WTR, Sunday was our 6 month anniversary. Six months earlier, Tim and I were exchanging our very own vows under a wooden arbor in Twin Peaks, CA.

So much has changed in a matter of months. The vows we made to each other before God, family, and friends six months ago offer security and confidence as we face the transitions, thrills, tension, and triumphs of married life.

In a sea of men and women standing hand in hand, our voices joining in the chorus of other couples, Tim and I re-pledged our love and commitment to one another.

I was reminded that Tim and I committed to a life-long journey that doesn’t preclude hurt and frustration. We vowed to remain united and pursuing Christ in spite of present pressures and tomorrow’s uncertainties.

Revisiting your vows is a great reminder that love is a choice, a choice that transcends circumstances.

The Beauty and Bounty of Passion

November 1, 2012 ~ Emily ~ Leave a comment

I lay in bed yesterday reflecting on what a hard working husband I have. He is dedicated to his job and puts himself into all that he does. God has called him to serve youth, and he does so with a gentle, caring, and wholly-invested heart.

He is passionate about students and Christ, and that passion helps him tackle the difficult aspects of ministry.

While I was snug in my bed, he was working alongside other students and volunteers to clean up after our church’s harvest party. He may have shed his Friar Tuck costume, but he was still laboring for Christ.

Our passions motivate us to do things that are tiresome, unsavory, and stressful. They inspire us to be selfless in our actions and attitudes.

This is best displayed in Jesus’ life. He was (and is, still) so passionately in love with us that He made the ultimate self-sacrifice. He died to save His children. In turn, our passion for Christ moves us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. (Matthew 16:24).

As witnessed by Tim’s passions resulting in service and sacrifice, the same pattern occurs on a smaller scale in our daily life. Let me rephrase that. It should happen in our day to day life.

But, if you’re like me, God ordained passions don’t always translate into selfless behavior. It wasn’t until I lay there last night, reflecting on what a hard working man I married, that I realized where the disconnect occurs.

I’ve been missing the action step. Those passions need to be expressed in motion and service. Selflessness is a practice – the more you do it, the more natural it will become.

I can see the evidence of this missing step in my relationship with Tim. I realize this may be stating the obvious, but I’m passionate about my husband. I’m not just talking about being passionately in love with Tim ,but being passionate about supporting his calling to youth and family ministry. I may not have the same calling, but I’m passionate about being an encouragement and a help to my husband as he pursues his passion for the Church.

In theory, my passion for Tim should spur me on to selfless service and support. To be honest, I haven’t been doing a great job in that department lately. I find myself consistently rebelling against opportunities to serve and put Tim first.

I am missing the action aspect working in conjunction with my passion to produce selfless fruit. It took my husband’s example to illuminate this disconnect.

I have been relying on feelings to produce selfless love and support for Tim, but feelings can be fickle. I must put my passion to work. Practicing love, patience, grace, encouragement, and forgiveness should work up a sweat.

A harvest doesn’t happen without tilling the soil, planting the seed, watering the plants, and reaping what was sewn.

Being selfless isn’t an automatic result of having a passion, but with diligence and hard work, passions produce God-honoring beauty and bounty.