Observations from a small town

Having grown up in the big city of Austin, sometimes I miss the big city life. But today as I was driving around my small town I made some observations:

Top 10 reasons to live in a small town:
10. Driving all the way across town requires a huge committment of 15 mintues.

9. There aren't very many restaurants to eat at so the decision of where to go is greatly narrowed. (Jonathan and I have a hard time picking a place so this is a plus for us)

8. If you feel lonely and need to see some friends, you can just take a trip to Wal-Mart and find a few to talk to.

7. Things like vehicle registration and anything else done in a government building have no lines, or if they do, they consist of one person in front of you.

6. I am direcitonally chanllenged and a small town has less places to get lost. (But it is also more embarassing when you don't know where something is!)

5. The time that you spend at the mall with a teenager is cut in half because there just aren't very many stores, as my niece Brittney says, "Your mall has issues!"

4. You can find just about everything that you need on main street (luckily our neighborhood is right off of it)

3. You don't get bored with just one street name for every street. They all have a regular street name and an FM number (people always have to translate into street names for me, those numbers drive me crazy)

2. There are two main starting digits to remember for phone numbers, so really its kind of like college when you give out your last four digits.

1. People are generally nice in a small town and the pace is a lot slower. Plus I guess this is where God wants us to be and he has blessed us with some wonderful friends!

Would you care to die on that hill?

I recently had the opportunity to serve on my first curriculum committee. We got paid extra because it was not in our contract and I got to have a say about what we are teaching. It actually kind of made me feel a little old and responsible. Music teachers who are of a like mind with me seem to get really passionate about certain songs and the opposite also hold true. We tend to be very passionate about songs that we think are rubbish. So I figured that we would go back and forth during the week arguing about songs and philosophies, but our curriculum coordinator started the week off with this thought. "Is that a hill that you want to die on?"

She made me think not only about the task at hand, but also about my own life. Too often I tend to get caught up in issue and get my panties in a wad, if you will, about stuff that in the whole scheme of life, doesn't even really matter. I heard a preacher a couple of weeks ago who was talking about a certain tradition in the Church of Christ that there is a lot of controversy over (Instrumental music). He was very closed minded about the issue and in my opinion was taking a tradition and turning it into something else. We tend to often find hills that we want to die on within the church. Where the kitchen is going to be located, how the service will be run, should we split into 2 services. I know that I am taking the liberty to speak my mind, but I don't feel like any of the above are sin issues. Do they really influence our walk with God, or do we merely let them influence our walk with God?

So the next time you are feeling passionate about something, think to yourself, "Is that really a hill that I want to die on?"

Top 10 Reasons I Like Summer

This is my first Top Ten, so give me a break, they might get better as I learn.

10. I have no excuse not to exercise, read my Bible, clean the house or make dinner; wait that might be a reason that I don't like summer.

9. I get to make dinner every night if I want to.

8. I don't resent Jonathan for not cleaning the house or doing the dishes because I have been home to do them.

7. I get to really get my house clean, even in the corners.

6. I have learned that sleeping late really just makes me more tired. So I have decided to get up when Jonathan leaves and get started with my day, then find time to take a nap.

5. I will finally get to have my nieces and nephews up to visit from Austin.

4. I can go out with my girlfriends to get a coke.

3. Belton Christian Youth Center for Bryan! He goes almost everyday, I just have to tell him that I need to run errands like Wal-Mart and he asks, "When are we going to leave?"

2. I have been perfecting the one song that I can play on the piano, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma. On Friday I started learning a second piece, "The Surrey with the Fringe on the Top."

1. I have not spent all of my patience at school, so I am generally pleasent to Bryan. I also actually enjoy serving my husband when he gets home and I finally have the energy to spend quality time with him.

Are You a Hick or a Prep?

I saw the weirdest thing on my way home from Dallas Saturday night. It was a hummer with a horse trailer on the back. I know it is stereotypical, but I associate hummers with preps and I associate trailers with hicks. I wish I had a picture, I know that would add a lot to this post, but I was driving and I decided that it wasn't safe to climb in the back of my car to get my camera while the car was moving.

Sister Time

I went up to visit Karen this weekend. She had a personal shower Friday night so I got to go to that. It was a lot of fun! We had chocolate covered strawberries and a little wine. It is true what they say that strawberries bring out the flavor in the wine. Jonathan and I tried to find that out on our honeymoon, but strawberries were out of season.

We played lots of games at the shower that I probably shouldn't mention on the blog, they might make some grandmothers blush. And I also took some pictures that I probably shouldn't post, so I won't, but they are good.

Then Saturday we got to do what we do best, shop! First we went to Garden Ridge to look at wedding stuff and I bought lots of stuff. We don't have a Garden Ridge here and I hadn't been to one in quite some time. Everything was on sale! Then we went and picked up Scott and headed out for some furniture shopping. I found the sofa that I want, but I haven't gotten Jonathan's approval yet. I am working on that.
This is the color that we want (or should I say I want?)
We are looking at getting the large couch, oversized chair and ottoman.

It will be our second big purchase for our new house. We want something that is solid so that it will be easier to match for curtains, rugs, etc.

We also went to Wild Wings for lunch and it was very good. I had to keep my coke close so that I could recover from the spiciness, but I really liked it. I got a "mild" one and Karen and Scott's were quite a bit spicier than mine. We had to all trade a piece.

Then we rented a movie and recovered from our day of shopping. I left last night so I could get back to church this morning. Jonathan stayed home and had some little guy time with Bryan-they watched lots of movies! I really enjoyed seeing Karen and Scott. The wedding is so close and I am so excited for them!

I'm in Heaven!

Bryan and I were jamming to KLove this afternoon while I was folding laundry. I accidentally knocked him over with a white sheet while we were playing. He exclaimed, "I think that I died, I'm in heaven." He then started running around the house with the white sheet saying, "I'm in heaven, I'm in heaven." He told me that i needed to go and get a white one too so that I could go to heaven. I suggested that we take a picture of us in heaven and he said, "Yea and then you could write a story on your computer!" We have been talking about God a lot and when we will get to see Him. I can't wait until I can proclaim, "I am in heaven."

The Prayer of a Child

Nothing touches my heart like Bryan's prayers. I will try to remember the one that he prayed as he went to bed tonight.

Dear God
Thank you for this day and thank you for all of the people in the whole world. Thank you for my new school (Belton Christian Youth Center daycare). I had a lot of fun playing pool. Thank you for my family and thank you most of all for your blessings.

In Jesus' name
Amen

If we could all pray like a child.

Laundry

Why is it that there is always laundry to do. Lately I have been doing at least one load a day and there is always at least on waiting. I remember in college I would do laundry once every two weeks and every once in a while I would have to do it once a week. I know that there is more than me to worry about now, but still geez. I know this post was not life altering, but those are my thoughts for the day.

Oh how times have changed.

Bryan got ahold of my camera and went to town. When I was a kid, pictures were very expensive and we were not allowed to take lots of random stuff, but times are different now. Bryan doesn't even usually ask to print the pictures out, it is enough just to know that they are on the camera I guess. I had to pick some of my favorites from his 11 snapshots, oh to be a kid again.



This is my favorite, a picture of a picture!



On another note, Bryan says some really funny things. The other day after we went out to eat, Bryan and I were waiting in the car for Jonathan to get in. All of a sudden, he piped up that he better move away from the right side of the back seat. I asked him why and he said, "Its kind of grouchy over there!" I laughed so hard.

Eew Gross!

Jonathan came home last night with his first on the job injury. A forklift somehow jammed his ring finger on his left hand. He was in throbbing pain when he got home. I gave him a couple of advil and he soaked his finger in warm water. He then proceeded to poke a hole in his nail to relieve the blood. I thought about putting a picture on the blog, but I decided against it.