Tuesday, November 2, 2010

.Love Is…

This morning as a sat reading God’s word, I found my way to 1 Corinthians.  I haven’t really studied this since I got married so I thought it would be a good reminder.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ~ 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

[Biblegateway.com]

Then I decided to take it a step further and read my footnotes. [I have the MacArthur Study Bible, NASB…if you need a study bible I HIGHLY recommend this one!]  Here is what the footnotes on these verses say:

In these verses, the fullness of love is described, in each case by what love does. Love is action, not abstraction. Positively, love is patient with people and gracious to them with generosity. Negatively, love never envies, or brags, or is arrogant, since that is the opposite of selfless service to others. Never rude or overbearing, love never wants its own way, is not irritated or angered in personal offense, and finds no pleasure in someone else’s sin, even the sin of an enemy. On the positive side again, love is devoted to truth in everything. With regard to “all things” within God’s righteous and gracious will, love protects, believes, hopes, and endures what other reject.

Good stuff huh?! I love getting into God’s word and realizing new things about passages I’ve read hundreds of times!  Don’t be afraid to go deeper, to press in, and compliment your study with SOLID men who dedicate their lives to finding truth. [ If you need a few, ask and I’ll give them to you!  But I BEG you, please don’t assume that any person you find in a Christian bookstore, website, or even church is preaching the Truth because it’s not true. ]

Hope that blesses you today!

Love,

-H-

Sunday, October 31, 2010

.Our Niece and Nephew.

One of the newest additions to life since moving out to MA has been two of Mike’s cousin’s children… for simplicity sake we call them our niece and nephew.

Introducing Devin (AKA – the Cop)101023-211050 And Brittany (AKA – The Cowgirl, with my boots on :) )101023-210945Aren’t they cute??101023-210849

[Note: Sorry about the pic quality, these were just with my computer camera, having fun one night!]

Their life has been hard. terrible. beyond comprehension at points. The comforts you and I take for granted, they’ve barely had.  Yes, there are those who have had it rougher than they have, but the things these kids have seen, experienced and lived through blows my mind.

Their father got remarried and as soon as his new wife got pregnant, she decided she didn’t want these two around to hurt the new baby. So, they were sent back to live with their mother, who had no parents of her own, lives in the projects, and has no idea how to raise kids. 

Mike and I are attempting to be a small light in their lives, parents who love and discipline them, and people who show them the basic parts of living life [cleanliness, kindness to each other, sharing, allowing the adults to be the parents, etc.] 

It’s tough.  In some ways I feel like I’ve been thrown into parenthood WAY before being ready, even though it’s only one night a week.  Other times I realize my humanness.  And other times they melt my heart!

I love having them around, showing them how to be kids, and bring Christ into their lives a little at a time. So, I thought I would share them with all of you and thanks for your prayers over this part of our lives!

101023-210757

(Peace out!)

-Heidi-

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

.Here I go.

Here I sit… wishing that I had hours and hours to spend with the Lord this morning, because my heart NEEDs Him this morning and He is wonderful!

Marriage is a beautiful thing and my heart becomes more and more Mike’s everyday… to the point that 5 min. of seeing each other in the middle of a crazy day isn’t enough, or he walks out the door in the morning and before he’s down the stairs I already miss him. Crazy how life is, huh? 

For our honeymoon he got us mugs kinda like this:image

And in it, it says “I found the one my heart loves".” Song of Solomon 3:4. YES- I have!  YES! YES! YES!

I love loving him, knowing him, serving him, surprising him, making breakfast/lunch/dinner for him, cleaning the house so he has a cozy place to come home to… every part of being a wife!  It’s not always easy, but with Christ as the center, I know I’m truly doing it to glorify Him. With that in mind, it becomes easier [not easy, just easier.]

I start a job today with The Morning Star – a local Christian book store.  I’m excited because I see the Lord’s hand in bringing me this job, but saddened because it’s going to take away slightly from doing all the things I mentioned above, that MUCH to my surprise, I’ve come to enjoy the past month!  On top of this, school starts again on Monday for me… another bittersweet addition to life.

Life is about to change. I hope I’m ready and pray I made the most of the last month at home – setting-up house, building daily “wifey” disciplines, and most importantly reaching into the depths of Jesus Christ and making sure He is my sole focus!

It’s with both joy and sadness, I step forward into my day… here I go!

~H~

P.S. Aren’t we a cute couple?

image 
{7.31.10 – before we were married, helping at Tara [Janik] and Chris Klefsaas’ wedding}

Monday, October 11, 2010

.Viewing God’s Word.

I’m going to have to interrupt my season of reflection and looking backward, to share about the here and now of life.  This is actually something I was just journaling about yesterday morning.   Reflecting on all that the Lord has done is extremely important, but how often do we [me especially] forget to savor the here and now.

What a RICH season I’m in… YES - because I’m a newly-wed and LOVING being married, but it’s more than that too.  I’m back among a fellowship of believers that are constantly blessing, encouraging and challenging my walk with the Lord! I.missed.this.SO.much.

My heart is hungry more of the Lord, yet so often I forget to feed it or only get a little snack – for the WHOLE day!  Imagine what your body would do if this happen, yet SO many times I do it to the ONE part of me that will live forever!  YIKES!  We need to be DESPERATE for the Lord, on our knees daily begging the King of Kings to change us and mold us to be more like him.  How BEAUITFUL!

Hearing and reading TRUTH, being picky even in the Christian realm of what you let into your head, makes a HUGE difference!  My eyes have been opened to the fact that so many times the Church and its leaders pick something they want to learn or know  and find scripture to back it up.  I’ve been guilty of this [Father, forgive me!!] and it rips me apart to know I have led people into this people-centered study of scripture!  Scripture is GOD’s WORD to us, how dare we change it!  My spirit is 110% more refreshed when I read a book by someone like John Piper or John MacArthur who have spent YEARS researching scripture IN CONTEXT. Men who go to the WORD and say – God get rid of me and reveal yourself!  NOT – God, show me what I want to see today.  We’re all guilty of the second, but it is not God’s BEST.

With that being said… I’m starting another blog to share about my journey with the Lord and seeking out HIS truth, not my own.  It’s not quiet ready yet, and I don’t want to rush it… so be looking for it in a later post.

-Heidi-

Thursday, October 7, 2010

.Honeymoon.

And the next topic on my list of things to blog about is…. THE HONEYMOON!

I downloaded my pictures from our travels yesterday and sadly… there aren’t very many at all!  So, I’ll try and compensate by linking to the websites to all the places we were.

Our first two nights we stayed in a cute, secluded place near Pella, IA.  For those of you who don’t know where this is, it’s about an hour from where the wedding was, but well worth the drive!  For those of you who live in Iowa – this is a GREAT place for every married couple!  Here’s the LINK.

Next – we were off to Massachusetts! 

Our first stop was Chicago… where we stayed at the The Allerton Hotel.  It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in [we got it cheap on Hotwire.] AND they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite for FREE! YES! We had a great view of the city!  The next day we went to Navy Pier, Giordano's [for some GREAT Chicago style Pizza].

Then we drove to Sandusky, OH so that we could spend a day at… CEDAR POINT!  It’s one of the largest amusement parks in the U.S.!  This is something we both GREATLY enjoy but have never done together!  Although we quickly realized that our ages have caught up with us when we were ready to leave around 4 PM and hadn’t road all the rides yet… it was still WELL worth it!

That night we stayed with one of my good friends, bridesmaids, and her new husband – Tara and Chris Klefsaas.  It was nice to be in a home for one night at this point!  It was a time of relaxed, sweet fellowship!

Then we made our way home, but only for a night… because then we were off to the Brookshire Mtns of Western Mass.  My aunt and uncle had given us a week’s time share at Vacation Village.  It was SO relaxing and yet went by SO quickly!  We enjoyed cooking for ourselves, their free movie rentals, hiking the Mtns and sleeping!

We also visited the Norman Rockwell museum that was near by, here are a few pics!

Honeymoon 003 His Studio.

 Honeymoon 006

Us

Honeymoon 010 

My man :)

On our way back home we stopped at my first corn maze!  Sad, I know, growing up in Iowa and never going to a corn maze is not something I’m proud of!

Honeymoon 015Surprise for me!

Honeymoon 017Starting the maze…

Honeymoon 018   We made it out alive!  And yes, Dunkin Donuts is my new favorite place to go!

Then we were home for a couple more days and flew down to Texas for ESOAL… but more on that later!

Overall we had a GREAT time hanging out, exploring the country, traveling, resting and eating lots of good food!  It.was.PERFECT.!!

-Heidi-

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

.Fall.

… it’s one of my favorite seasons of the year… SO I decided to change the look of my blog.  What do you think??

Friday, October 1, 2010

.Wedding.

Time to start getting back into “real” life again… by blogging about THE most surreal day of my life.  Well… really the surreallness started the Monday before our wedding, when my Groom arrived in Iowa. [We.would.never.have.to.say.good-bye.again…]

The week flew by, but yet was pretty low stress… my goal was to take a nap everyday, which was mostly successful.  There were days when I just laid there and prayed and pondered, but I slept for 30 min. the day before my wedding!  Everything was done and I had nothing else to think about!

CELEBRATING       .L.O.V.E.

[Note: I don’t have the professional pics yet, but you can see them here. The ones on this blog are all taken by a good friend and photographer – Ria Thurston.  You can see her blog here.]

Getting Ready – Starting at 8 AM, the girls met at Bridge City Design Studio… where we all had a blast getting our hair done and fellowshipping together!

Ri Photography-13(Not quiet done… although there was talk of me leaving my hair like this, what do you think? ) Ri Photography-17(My beautiful sister and wonderful maid-of-honor!  I’m a blessed woman to have her in my life!) 

BUT before we got started there, a few of us made a quick coffee run to “The Lucky Rooster” and started our day right :)!  There we were standing at the counter, fully focuses on what flavor we wanted to get… and I hear the door open.  SO, naturally I looked over to see who was coming in!  And who do I see?  But my wonderful groom!!! *Time seemed to stand still as he walked towards me*  It wasn’t until he looked up and saw me that reality clicked in and the flurry started! We decided not to see each other until the ceremony! One of my bridesmaids jumped in front of me, while the other escorted my shocked groom outside to see what he needed.  No one told him I was going to be there… and he was simply trying to deliver the following card and rose to someone to give to me [How Sweet!].

Ri Photography-11

It was a fun moment and one that still brings a smile to my face and certainly brought a smile to the face of the coffee shop workers!

The Ceremony – it was perfect. full of joy. focused on the Lord. and blessed others.  Words cannot describe what I felt was I was FINALLY the one wearing the white dress, sneaking in the back door of the church.  I had enough coherency to sneak a couple small subway sandwiches [meat, cheese, and bread only… I’m not THAT crazy!]  Several influential women prayed over me and as several men did the same for Mike (in another room, of course!) … it was such a blessing to have each of them there!  And then…

The Music started!  Reality started to sink in… and then I turned the corner, took my dad’s arm, and started walking.  Seeing a few people along the way, and then my eyes were only for one man at the end of the isle.   IT.WAS.PERFECT.

Here are our vows – perfect reflections of our hearts and desire for Christ to be the center:

I, Michael John Batista, take you, Heidi Marie Abigt, to be my wedded wife. As is Christ to His body, the church, so I will be to you a loving and faithful husband. I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, and my most tender care. I promise I will live first unto God rather than others or even you. I promise that I will lead our lives into a life of faith and hope in Christ Jesus. And so throughout life, no matter what may lie ahead of us, in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health, I pledge to you my life as a loving and faithful husband.

I, Heidi Marie Abigt, take you, Michael John Batista, to be my wedded husband. As you have pledged to me your life and love, so I too happily give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your headship as to the Lord. As is the church in her relationship to Christ, so I will be to you. I will live first unto our God and then unto you, loving you, obeying you, caring for you and ever seeking to please you. God has prepared me for you and so I will ever strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, throughout life, no matter what may be ahead of us, in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health, I pledge to you my life as an obedient and faithful wife.

Then communion. Unity Candle. Our parents prayed over us (another beautiful moment)… and then… we got to kiss and be pronounced…

MR & MRS MICHAEL JOHN BATISTA

Ri Photography-35

The Reception -  was a wonderful time of fun, fellowship and food!

Ri Photography-44

Our first dance was to “Love is Not a Fight” by Warren Barfield.

Cutting the cake was an adventure… let’s just say he had more self-control than me [I got him good!].  However, at our reception in Massachusetts, this was not the case.  I had someone come up to me after we cut the cake here and say “I’ve seen alot of things, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bride run from the cake table like you.” Yea, it was fun!

Ri Photography-43

Then we escaped into the night, in a very tastefully decorated car [click to see pic].

There are many more stories I could tell of blessings we received, funny things that happened, or about how we appreciated EVERY person that came… it was OUR perfect day!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

.Revisiting the Beatitudes.

“With each beatitude another nail is driven into a coffin. Inside the coffin lies the corpse of a false understanding of salvation. The false understanding said that a person can be saved without being changed. Or: that a person can inherit eternal life even if his attitudes and actions are like the attitudes and actions of unbelievers…you just make a decision one time and then it doesn’t matter if your merciful [or do anything the Bible commands].”  - John Piper

I am slowly working through a sermon series by Piper on the Beatitudes.  It’s SO refreshing, basic, foundational… I wish I would have listened to this sooner and really dove into the depths of this passage.

If your times with the Lord have been dry lately… I suggest starting here again.  Don’t give-up pressing towards Christ.  He is SO worth it ALL!!!

Mike and I have also been reading “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith” by R.C. Sproul.  A quote from last week that continues to resonate with me:

“It is infinitely more important for my heart to be right before God than that my theology be impeccably correct. However, for my heart to be right, there is a primacy of the intellect in terms of order.  Nothing can be in my heart that is not first in my head… the more I come to understand that character of God, the greater is my capacity to love Him.”

For those of you, like me, who have found themselves saying or thinking “I don’t need to read the Word today, I just want to love Jesus through prayer and worship.” Please ask yourself, why must they be separate?  Prayer and worship are good and often more “fun” or “emotional” that reading the Word, but the Bible is our DIRECT source of God’s wisdom, love and character… It’s SOO important!

Someday I’ll become a consistent blogger, but until then, I hope these things challenge you as much as they did me!

Love,

-H-

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

.A Light to the World.

More times than I would like to admit, in the past 2 yrs, I have not “felt” like a Christian.  When the world surrounds and begins to slowly penetrate life, we become SO blind to it.  It’s the small things like not “feeling” like getting into the WORD in the morning, not taking ONE thought captive, or even watching a movie that had a HINT of unGodliness in it.

At church on Sunday we watched a video for the sermon, and I had a slight issue with the first part {which the pastor ended up bringing back to Christ in the end, but the first part ruined it for me}.  His daughter was interviewing him for a paper she was writing and her question was “What is the single most important thing you do as a Pastor?” and he thought about it, and responded “I keep myself encouraged”.  My heart sank.  What a MISSED opportunity to remind his daughter of Christ alone being our sole focus… not how we feel about him or life! [Perhaps this is one of the small non-truths we let in.]

I have felt VERY discouraged at many points in life, especially over the past 2 years, but I THANK GOD for those times that allow me to see HIM move in and mold me to be more like HIM.  I’m not sure where we get the idea [and we all have it to some extent] that Christians should “feel” encouraged all the time and life should always be great in the moment… because that’s not what the Bible promises.  Our great PROMISE is an ETERNAL salvation! An Unconditional LOVE for all eternity! [Praise the Lord - David, Paul, and Christ himself put their hope in the eternal salvation, not the affliction or encouragement of the moment!!!]

I’m not saying it’s wrong to feel encouraged, those times are important too!  I’m just saying being “A Light to this World” is NOT about how we feel. [Even though that’s what so many churches are about these days.]

Easier said than done, I know, but HE is working in us to make it possible!

-H-

Friday, June 11, 2010

…Being A Woman…

Most days I go through life as a woman… just living.  Then there are times, not too often, where I love to fully enjoy and indulge  in womanhood and the things that women enjoy that men will never fully understand [It’s OK guys…there are things I’ll never understand about you, it’s the way God made us :)]….

  • Bubble Baths
  • Candles
  • Relaxing Piano Music
  • Dark Chocolate
  • And a Romantic Novel

These make up my evening. I love being a woman.

What do you enjoy?

Love,

Heidi

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

.Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes

1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to
him, 2and he began to teach them saying:

3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.   - Matthew 5:1-12

My heart keeps coming back to this passage. Simple. Deep. Profound. Soul Searching. LIFE ALTERING [if you allow it]!! Have you ever prayed – Lord, I want to be more like you!!  But don’t know what that looks like?  Are you  a list person like me?

Compare your life to this verse!  My doesn’t even begin to compare.

Lord – Mold me and make me to be more like this! I am clay in your hands, mold me according to YOUR will, not mine! Love, Heidi.

I hope you have a great day in the Lord!

Heidi

Friday, May 7, 2010

On-line Religion

I'm at work, but was just reading this artcile... how sad...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/07/millennials-finding-religion-online/

Love,
Heidi

Monday, April 26, 2010

..Affliction..

Why?

The first question many people ask when they hear this word or stories of people in other countries being persecuted. It’s not fun. or enjoyable. There will be people who think we’re weird. crazy. naive. are those things so bad though? NO! Why? Because it means that we are being “ambassadors for Christ'” desiring to be like him on this earth, knowing this is not our home!

YES – we will face afflictions and persecution – not always physically, but in any and everyway subtle and obvious that distracts us from being like Christ.

WHY do we have to face it? Because everything in this world is contrary to our God, Creator, Lover, Father, and Savior and his Name and Glory are at stake! It has NOTHING to do with us, and everything to do with Him!

HOPE – He does not leave us alone to face these things on our own! 2 Corinthians 1: 3-7:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all
comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Longing for more of Him,

Heidi

Thursday, April 22, 2010

.. Worry ..

I was reading this sermon this morning, by John MacArthur. It brought up several good points on worry that I could not keep to myself!

First of all, consider this:

“…the Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. and they had a little feature in there that was telling about fog, and what was the composite element of fog. And this I thought was fascinating, a dense fog that covers a seven city block area one hundred feet deep, and by that they mean a very dense, thick fog seven blocks and a hundred feet deep, is composed of less than one glass of water, divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is really there at all, but it can cripple an entire city. And I think that's a pretty good illustration of worry, put it all together and you don't have much more than a glass of water, but you can sure mess up a whole lot of people.”

How often do we let worry in our lives OVERTAKE everything?! Just like less than a glass of water can cripple a city… hmmm….

image{Photo}

And besides that, 4 times in this passage, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ commands us not to worry:

"Therefore, I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; neither yet for your body, what ye shall put on….Therefore, be not anxious saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be, therefore, not anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will be anxious for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." – Matthew 6:25-34.

I know, I know… easier said than done, but that’s not an excuse to not try, right? Don’t go around looking like this:

image

{Photo}

Instead, trust and hope in Christ to provide EVERYTHING!

Monday, April 19, 2010

. A Comparison .

Found this in my drafts yesterday… not sure if it was complete at the time, but it’s still good food for thought now…

Mercy~

  • Dictionary.com - compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner
  • Heidi – Not getting the consequences we deserve.

Grace ~

  • Dictionary.com -
    1.elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
    2.a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
    3.favor or good will.
  • Heidi – Receiving God’s favor that we don’t deserve.

Many times I get these two things confused. The chapter I was reading this morning was on Mercy, so it caused me to once again ponder the difference and eternal implications of these two things… won’t you ponder with me?

Love,

H

Saturday, April 17, 2010

.Life Lately.

I know the last couple of posts have been on the heavy side of things. So, I think it’s time for a simple life update. Here are some things that happened/I discovered this week [In no particular order, just as they come to me]:

  1. I’m a SENIOR in college. Because I’ve been taking classes on-line the timing gets a little fuzzy in my head, but it’s official by credits!
  2. Mike and I were not liking the idea of not seeing each other until May… so WE BOUGHT A FLIGHT! I get to see him next weekend! {This was only after much prayer, checking bank accounts, and finding a GREAT deal on flights!}
  3. As of Sunday I’ll be half-way through another set of classes {I take 2 classes every 8 weeks}. Time seems to be FLYING by!
  4. 133 Days until the wedding… WHOA! I go back and forth, but today I wouldn’t mind if the countdown would slow down just a little!
  5. I got my wisdom teeth out last Thursday and the recovery seems to be going well! No dry sockets, infections, or bruising. Still just a little swelling and regular doses of pain meds. I would not have been so optimistic last weekend, I cried several times, but now I’m glad I did it all as once and NEVER have to do it again!
  6. Finally, and most importantly, the Lord is moving in new ways in both Mike and I. It’s SO refreshing and encouraging to go through this as a couple and not alone. Our God is TRUELY faithful, wise, and SOVREIGN in every way. I’m excited to see what He has in store!

To End- a few engagement pics. I realized I never put these on here. I never grow tired of seeing these! It was a fun. lovely. exciting. day! 068

008

084207

All credit goes to Ria, with Ri Photography. She did a GREAT job!

Love,

Heidi

Friday, April 16, 2010

..Surrender..

This is something it seems like I used to think alot about, especially when I first moved home, has come up in my life again.

Do you ever wish that you could take the “Chalk-board” of your life and wipe it ALL clean? To start completely over. To SURRENDER everything to Christ.

I’m not sure if I would do anything differently, really. But I look at my life - the way I think, the things I believe – and I see areas that need lots of work. My mind, actions and speech are swayed so easily by the world I live in and what society dictates is the “Norm”. I wish I could have a right view of Christ, Prayer, the Holy Spirit – all the things of God that don’t always make “sense” - not tainted by the comfort of my home, abundant food, and the society I’ve been trained by my whole life.

I just want to surrender it ALL…image

and only get back His thoughts, ways, and life.

~Heidi~

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Significance.

Mike was asking about my day earlier and my reply was simply “Good.” Nothing else. Which started a longer conversation in which my wonderful fiancé said something that stood out to me that I wanted to share. I’m sure I’ll butcher what he [actually] said, but here’s what I walked away with…

“ There are significant things that happen daily in your life, but because it’s your life you’re not aware of them. If we fail to see the significance in our lives, then we will fail to feel significant and forget we are called to make an impact with everything that we do.”

image

Life at work today felt just like every other day. Life at work tomorrow, will [hopefully] feel a little.bit.different.

Side Note: Part of me wants to make blogging apart of my everyday life. It’s necessary {for me at least} to process life daily {in some way or another}. We’ll see how that goes!

Love,

Heidi

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Learning to LOVE Simplicity

My thoughts often wonder to the simplicity of my life these days…

*The Lord

*Mike

*Work

*Family

*School

Many times I wish there were more things like, sitting in coffee shops for hours counseling my girls or journaling or talking to mentors, but there simply isn’t. Which is simply beautiful in it own way and I want to start FULLY treasuring this season for what is it, because I know someday, I’ll wish I could have it back!

image

Simply,

Heidi

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Prayer

image My heart keeps going back to this prayer from “Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ” by John Piper, a book I’ve been slowly working through because of the meat in it. This is from the chapter titled- The Incomparable Sufferings… read it keeping in mind all Christ suffered for your sake:

A P R A Y E R
Father, what can we say? We feel utterly unworthy in
the face of Christ’s unspeakable sufferings. We are
sorry. It was our sin that brought this to pass. It was
we who struck him and spit on him and mocked him.
O Father, we are so sorry. We bow ourselves to the dirt
and shut the mouths of our small, dark, petty, sinful
souls. O Father, touch us with fresh faith that we might
believe the incredible. The very pain of Christ that
makes us despair is our salvation. Open our fearful
hearts to receive the Gospel. Waken dead parts of our
hearts that cannot feel what must be felt—that we are
loved with the deepest, strongest, purest love in the
universe. Oh, grant us to have the power to comprehend
with all the saints the height and depth and length
and breadth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
and may we be filled with all the fullness of God.
Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind
and foolish into vain and empty excitements. Life is
too short, too precious, too painful to waste on
worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is
too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter
around on the porch of eternity. O God, open our eyes
to the vastness of the sufferings of Christ and what they
mean for sin and holiness and hope and heaven. We
fear our bent to trifling. Make us awake to the weight
of glory—the glory of Christ’s incomparable sufferings.
In his great and wonderful name, amen.

Kinda puts everything in perspective, huh? Yes, as you can see from my post on Monday, life isn’t always easy, but it is “…too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst.”

Heidi

Monday, March 29, 2010

It’s a Hard-Knock Life… for me?!?!

I have just come to a freeing realization…and it’s weird to admit to the world, but I’m going to anyway, because it’s true and I’m learning how to be honest :-)… I’m not a big fan of my life right now! “Gasp! Heidi - how can you say that?? You’re engaged that’s one of the most wonderful seasons out there!” (which I do agree with, by the way) Well… for several reasons:

  1. Working full-time, going to school full time, preparing to be a wife, and planning a wedding all at the same time does some CRAZY stuff to my emotions! I didn’t think of myself as an emotional woman until now! And now, not only am I trying to understand it all, but I have to try and explain what I don’t know and understand about myself to a man…rough stuff!
  2. No matter which of the above things I’m doing I always feel like I should be doing something else or want to be doing something else. It makes it VERY difficult to just BE!
  3. My heart still longs to go back to the simplicity of life at Teen Mania, it was fast and full, but grounded and rich! Life in the real world takes a whole new level of faith and dependency on Christ… which are wonderful and amazingly difficult characteristics to work on in your own life.
  4. Yet, while my heart looks back with that deep longing, it’s also looking forward with GREAT anticipation, excitement and fear towards August 28th, 2010, where nothing will ever be the same again! So many new adventures and things to look forward to… and so many unknowns I will never understand until they’re upon me!
  5. The more time Mike and I get to spend together… like in the same place, at the same time, enjoying the same things… the more dissatisfied I become with going back to only having a phone or Skype to communicate on. *sigh* someday this will not be the case anymore!

So, as WEIRD as it feels to admit all of that, I realize that it only means… I’m human! And a woman with CRAZY emotions at that! And even though I’m not a big fan of life at this moment, when I take a step back and see ALL the RICH lessons the Lord is teaching me, the character HE is building, and the WONDERFUL life He has given me…. I chose to be thankful and give all praise to the ONE who deserves it all, because without him, I am NOTHING!

Thanks for listening while I seek to understand my current world a little more :)

Heidi

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Relationship with Christ

Hey Bloggers! 

The Lord has been doing a lot in my life lately, so much so that I haven’t been able to figure out where to begin to blog about it!  He’s been taking me to a deeper intimacy, submission, obedience, and selflessness… definitely hasn’t been an easy journey!

In my time with Him this morning I read this in “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers and it really blessed me!  I hope it blesses you too, it’s worth your time to read!

“Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. [Yikes!] A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— "What a fine person that man is!" That is not being a true "friend of the bridegroom"— I am increasing all the time; He is not.

To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is [not ours!]. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the "friend of the bridegroom." Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends "of the bridegroom," we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.”

So – where does your life point?  To the one who created You and died 1,000 deaths for your salvation… NOTHING else matters!  NOTHING else is worth the challenge of living a righteous life!

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Lord- INCREASE in my life! Help me to decrease.  It’s a scary prayer, because I have NO idea how you’ll answer it, and it probably won’t be with roses and chocolate, but it’s what my heart yearns for anyway!  Your will be done Father!  Amen!

Love,

Heidi

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Comfortable In My Own Skin

The Lord has been doing a work in my heart this week, and it hasn’t necessarily been an easy, enjoyable journey. Insecurities in my own life have been rising to the surface, like grape skins do when you’re boiling grapes to make grape jelly.. .like this picture… a favorite childhood memory of mine. :)

imageAnd just like when making Jelly, it is important to skim this stuff off the top and not ignore it… cuz if you ignore it you’ll have to deal with it again, it never truly goes away.

For me this has come to the surface in the planning for engagement pics., invitations and really everything having to do with the wedding. I want it ALL to be PERFECT and WOW the world for years to come. In doing this though, I have walked down the treacherous path of caring more about what others think or the latest fashions than 1) The Lord… yikes! and 2)Being myself and comfortable with who I am and what I enjoy. This is a path I used to walk down alot, and by the Lord’s grace hadn’t been walking down, until now :).

So, I am slowly growing comfortable with the fact that 1) what I wear in my engagement pics. doesn’t have to be the latest fashion, because fashion really is what you make it, not trying to copy the latest trend… SO out come all the scarves I LOVE!

2) I am a big town girl, living in a small town world - which offers it’s own unique classyness for pictures and wedding locations! It may not be the nicest places, with the best food, but it is where I grew-up and thus uniquely part of me.

With all this realization, I can’t wait to share more of ME with the world and be comfortable with every part of who the Lord has created me… in my own skin :-).

Saturday, March 6, 2010

8 Months of <3

I woke up in one of the most wonderful ways this morning… to my mom bringing in flowers! She told me to go back to sleep, but once I realized what they were, my mind started trying to figure out if they were for me or my sister (who is home with her BF for the weekend and sleeping in my room too). As my brain started to wake-up I realized…. It’s Our 8 month Anniversary! And then, falling back asleep, was NOT an option!

My mom HAD to get her camera out, she loves being apart of these things!

Here’s they are, with me on the phone with him in the background!

8 months 248

She’s SO creative! I love these:

8 months 2408 months 241

My wonderfully hubby-to-be called my parents at work yesterday and had them pick these up. He knows me so well…A Dozen Purple Roses…my favorite color!! He told my mom he wanted me to see them first thing when I wake-up…. so romantic! And little did he know, but the filler greenery they used (the buds before they bloom) is what is going to be in the bouquets for the wedding! PERFECT!

What a great way to start the day!… the only thing that would have made it better was it he was here to delivery them himself!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Hodgepodge of Topics

Life~

As I sat down to write this blog, I was pretty unsure of what to blog about today.  You see, these days, my life doesn’t change that much from day to day.  It’s simple, yet full.  Before leaving Teen Mania one of my mentors spoke over me that this coming season would be a “Pit-Stop” in the race of life for me. A time of refreshing and renewal.  Has it been those things?  I would say, Yes.  Not in the way I was originally anticipating because “His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” Humans life is NEVER what we expect right? The important thing to remember is our life is ALWAYS what He, Christ, expects it the be!  How freeing, peaceful and rich is that?? It gets me excited! And reminds me SO much of how much I really do need his grace, EVERY SECOND!

Preparing for Marriage~

I was reading this sermon one morning this week “The Beautiful Faith of Fearless Submission” in it Piper talks about the four parts of a  Powerful  Womanhood:
1) Unshakable Hope in God – not her husband or her looks, but in the promises of God!  
2)Fearlessness – grows out of Hope. She knows whatever comes, will come and therefore does not fear the future. 
3) Internal Adornment – focusing more on beautifying her heart and mind, rather than her outward appearance.
4) Submission- he defines submission as:

Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts. It’s the disposition to follow a husband’s authority and an inclination to yield to his leadership. It is an attitude that says, “I delight for you to take the initiative in our family. I am glad when you take responsibility for things and lead with love. I don’t flourish in the relationship when you are passive and I have to make sure the family works.”

Beautiful. Refreshing. Empowering. are the words that come to mind after reading that.  I feel like in today’s society that submission might as be a four-letter word, because they don’t see the other 3 parts of womanhood. But like anything, when it’s done God’s way, it’s wonderful! 

Fun~

On another note – Mike is going to be here in less than TWO weeks!  We have lots planned already, but the biggest plan is for this beautiful lady- Ria Lenzen- to take our engagement pictures!  I am SO excited!  What is it in women starts planning  for these kind of things weeks in advance… the clothes, hair, make-up, shoes, jewelry, etc? I enjoy being a woman and delighting in these things, but planning for engagement pics takes it to a whole new level, I want everything to be perfect!!  Guess I need to keep in mind what Piper said, while I make my plans, right? Anyone have any tips for Engagement pics?  Bring ‘em on!

Until Next time!
Heidi

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Preparing for Marriage

This season of engagement has been beautiful! A time for preparing, discussing and anticipating marriage… the great times, the normal times, and the hard times! Deep introspection and getting all the weaknesses out on the table… not easy but SO good!

Last weekend when Mike and I were together for Valentines day we started down this road. Our first assignment is to read “This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence” by John Piper.

image

We have books but we also have it on CD, so on our way home from the airport we listened to the first couple of chapters and discussed them. Then, at Mike’s church they have been working through Eph. 5, so Sunday morning’s sermon added to and confirmed what we had already been learning.

I’ve been trying to journal about this, but honestly it’s hard to hand-write this all out! So, here are my thoughts/journaling on what I’ve been learning:

“It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on [after the rings are exchanged], the marriage that sustains your love.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Quote in Momentary Marriage)

The covenant nature of marriage is not founded on the emotions or romance… even those are SOO wonderful! For me it has been the undeniable work of Christ bringing us together in such a way we cannot deny it’s the work of God. Then, we walk obediently into the unbreakable covenant with each other and Christ as the center."

“The ultimate thing we can say about marriage is that it exists for God’s glory. That is, it exists to display God. Now we see how: Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display.” – John Piper, Ch. 1

Just as Christ sacrificed his WHOLE life for the sake of His church, so we must sacrifice our WHOLE lives to put the other first. We must be willing to lay down our life for the other. Our bodies are no longer our own but belong to the other… just as Christ is the head of the Church and we are part of His body in perfect unity with Him!

“…is it a deep, deep mystery, to think that Christ cherishes you as His own body, that Christ considers you as His own body, that Christ welcomes you into His own body; that to touch you as a member of Christ’s body is to touch Christ.” - Jeffrey Costa (Mikes’s pastor/friend)

“And you see that this means that when there is discord in marriage, when there is disunity in marriage, when there is a lack of love from a husband to a wife, and a lack of respect and regard from a wife to a husband, it isn’t just a tragedy at a human level—though it is…it’s a tragedy at the divine level, because in marriage we’re supposed to be displaying that glorious, incomprehensible mystery of our union with Christ.” – Jeffrey Costa

And just as Christ would never leave His wife, the church, we must never leave each other. Instead we must extend to the other the same grace that both are given by Christ...

“when, in fact, a husband and a wife do many things that they should be ashamed of – [the key to not being ashamed] is the experience of God’s vertical forgiving, justifying grace bent out horizontally to each other and displayed to the world.” – John Piper, Ch. 3

Ultimately – Christ must be the center of everything we do, say, and think! So many times in marriage the husband and wife look to each other for completion and healing, but instead they must look together towards Christ and keep their eyes focused on him!

image

Easier said that done… I know!… but such a deeply profound and important reminder!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Valentines Day Weekend

It was a weekend full of adventure and crazy flights, but so worth it all to see MY love!

We got to spend some time together, but Sunday morning is when I got the camera out :) Here are some pics from while we were at Battleship Cove. Someday we want to go back and actually tour the ships, but this day we just enjoyed being together and in Love!

My Favorite of us!

V-Day 001

It was windy and I had the bright idea of taking the pic while we were looking into the sun… oops!…

V-Day 004

By the battleship…. the wind came up behind me! Crazy hair!

V-Day 005

This little river was beautiful! I took it from inside so you can see my reflection!

V-Day 007

And a couple of the battleships…V-Day 002 V-Day 006

This cove is in Fall River, MA - the town that Mike and I are going to live!! That realization became such an exciting reality to me this weekend! I can’t wait to go on walks with him by the water, explore more of Fall River, take trips to the big cites - Boston (1 hr.), Providence, RI (20 min.), NYC (4 hrs), and Hartford, CT (2 hrs)! I LOVE the architecture and depth of history of the East Coast and someday I’ll get to explore it all with the man I love… someday :-D.

The Lord has been giving me more revelation on Eph. 5… more on that to come!

Blessings!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

10 Years from Now…

I WON an AWARD! Thanks Ria! It’s been SO fun to dream and then get to share it all with my followers!

Ok, here are the rules (I guess)…

* Link back to the blogger who sent you this award
* Post where you would like to be in 10 years
* Pass it on to 10 other special bloggers! (Not sure I know that many yet :) )

In 10 years… wow… I guess all I truly know is that I hope and pray that I’m right in the center of God’s will, whatever that may be!

Here are some of my dreams for the next 10 years:

~Be MARRIED to the most WONDERFUL man in the World… Mike Batista (198 days!)

image

~Finish my BS degree in Psychology and then get my Masters in Marriage and Family Counseling.

~Counseling couples and families towards healing and COMPLETE restoration!

~ Mike having his own THRIVING Electrical Company, through which he can bless many people and have bible studies with the guys that work for him… SO cool!

~ Have two biological children, many more in the Lord, and maybe even ADOPT! Adoption has been a dream of mine for years… I have a hard time with the thought of bring lots of my own kids into the world when there are SO many out there who need a family!

image

~ Falling more in love with by Savior

~And growing old with My Soon-To-Be-Hubby :)

image

*sigh* I can’t WAIT to see what the Lord has in store! I’m sure it’s exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever ask or imagine!

OK… I now give this aware too…:

Skyla

Marsha

Natasha

Emily

Liz

I’m still trying to figure out people’s blog names and how to follow them, SO I think that’s all for now!

Love,

Heidi

Saturday, February 6, 2010

“Life Chapter” for this Beautiful Season

The more and more I read Ephesians 5, which has been daily lately, the more I want my life to be modeled after this chapter. The last section hasn’t really applied to my life until now. I hope and pray I can live my life this way…

Excerpts from Ephesians 5 - NIV [source]

“1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and 2 live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God…

8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. …. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you
."

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil….19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…

Wives and Husbands

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything…”

Such a high calling for any Christian and we could not achieve it without His Grace! We all need to be comparing our lives to scriptures, to make sure we’re living up to the standards and truths of Scripture… it’s not easy, it hurts, it’s gross sometimes… but it is SO WORTH IT to become more like our savior everyday!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I did something CRAZY today!

So… I was having a hard time dealing with the thought of being away from MY Valentine on the first year that I’ve ACTUALLY had a Valentine! That on top of the fact that it was a 3 Day weekend because Monday is Presidents Day!

Today, about 1:00 PM, I jumped on Kayak.com JUST to see if I could find anything remotely close to inexpensive for a flight from Des Moines to Boston… because both are on the small end for airports you ALWAYS have a layover and flights are not cheap!

Do do do… drumming fingers … I plugged in the airports and dates and times… *sigh*… probably won’t find anything. The prices start appearing… NOTHING under $300 for the times I’d specified sooooo, I widened the search a little more…

$220 for a flight for GOOD times, not the best but still good! SO… I text Mike… WHAT DO YOU THINK? We prayed/ thought/ checked our budget, and I don’t have to take vacation timeIT FIT!

So – I’m GOING TO SEE MY LOVE in 10 DAYS and be with him ALL day on VALENTINES DAY!! WAHOOOO! My heart is SO happy, being in a long distance relationship is hard when you don’t get to see each other often!

***Those of you that know me, know that I’m not usually a last minute, spur of the moment, BIG trip taker… but this I could not pass-up and Engagement is the season to do crazy, spur of the moment stuff like this…RIGHT?!?!***

--- A Very Happy Lady ---

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Life As of Lately…

Ok - here's the long awaited update on most of life!

... done after I discovered this SUPER cool tool that Windows Vista has that helps you create your blog offline and then publish it... making adding pics and hyperlinks MUCH easier! It's a little thing but I was excited!

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Wedding planning - going very smoothly!! I made a lot of the “Big” decisions pretty quickly so, now I’m down to a couple smaller decisions a day! *whew* I know that if I kept up with the pace I was running before school started AND had to do school, burnout would be inevitable! The most recent decisions I’m contemplating is this dress for a bridesmaid’s dress:

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To see other pictures, especially the SUPER cute back go Here.

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School – let’s just say this is going to be a challenging semester! The first 8 weeks I’m taking Physiological Psychology… the class is 10 times harder than the name, if you can imagine ;) and Exceptional Children… INTERESTING! This second one makes me think about being an Educational Therapist or some sort of counselor within the School System. Children need people who love them, believe in them, and are willing to do anything to see them succeed!

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Family – my season of living in Iowa is 207 days away from coming to an end… it’s sobering and exciting! To make the most of the little time I have left, my mom and I have made Monday nights our “Date Nights”! Every single girl, living near her mom should DO THIS! We go out to dinner, wherever our hearts desire, and then to a Small Group where we’re discussing:

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Last night was the first night, but it’s a diverse group so I think it’s going to be SUPER interesting and worth it to spend some time with my mom!

Blessings Blog Readers!

^^ Face Lift ^^

When I should be studying... I decided I couldn't put up with the template look of my blog any longer!

Check-out the new style... LOVE IT!

And... don't learn your study habits from me ;-)

Friday, January 29, 2010

\\\\ Study Time////

Pandora - Check
Heater On - Check
Caught up on Facebook - Check

FRENCH Press coffee in Hand - DOUBLE Check!

Sorry I haven't had much time for updating, but I will soon!

Off to study Physiological Psychology... *internal groan*

Blessings!
Heidi

Saturday, January 16, 2010

...Sabbath...

This weekend is a weekend for resting in the arms of my Loving and Just Savior! For the most part I am *trying* to put aside all wedding plans, technology, and people to just BE with Him. It's a 3 day weekend and my last one before school starts again... perfect timing... don't you think??

It will be full of Journaling, Prayer, The Word, Worship and Reading this book:
http://www.desiringgod.org/Store/Books/ByTopic/46/464_Seeing_and_Savoring_Jesus_Christ/?gclid=CLDEgcS_qZ8CFQIhDQodjg-T0g

My Spirit is longing for more in this life, but that "more" can only come from THE Throne of Grace.

Scripture to Meditate on: 2: Corinthians 4:16 & 17.

See You Tuesday!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

It was a LOVEly evening… December 29th, 2009.

Note: The entire evening was done under the pretense of Mike planning an evening out for us to celebrate our 6th month anniversary. I had found tickets to The Lion King musical for our actually 6thmonth anniversary on January 6th. So, he wanted to plan a special date for us too. We had talked and as far as I knew we weren’t going to get engaged until March or later… so the proposal was a COMPLETE and WELCOMED surprise!

Now the long story that shows many wonderful sides of the Man I love...

His Servant-Hearted

Earlier in the week, I had founds some tall candle holders that I wanted to turn into lamps to put under some metal wall decorations in my room…one of the benefits of (at this point) courting an electrician! So, when I came home my mom greeted me at the door, said she had something in the basement to show me, giving Mike time to put a card and rose in the hands of my Teddy Bear.

So, when I finally came back up and walked in my room all the candles were lit (Thanks Mom!), it was completely rearranged, cleaned, wall decorations hung, lamps done, with a card and orange rose! It was EXACTLY how I had pictured it!

Before:

After:

Obviously he had been working hard ALL day, so we parted to freshen-up and change for our night out! The whole time I was getting ready, I marveled at how I felt like I was getting ready to go on a first date with a man I’d been courting for almost 6 months! We have gone on several dates but none that we’d really “dressed-up for” because of our distance apart… I was excited and almost giddy… ok, ok I was GIDDY!

Here’s a pic of us before we left for dinner:

Aren’t we the cutest couple??


The Romanic

We walked out to the car and in it was another rose (Purple) and a gift… the movie Enchanted, a favorite!!


Once we were in the car he told me where we were going, The PepperTree, a local favorite that I had never been to before! On the way we passed one of my favorite coffee shops and I said “Hey, we could go there after dinner, unless you have other plans of course!” He said “Yeah, we could.” We drove on to the restaurant… the entrance to which is not lit and about 300 yds before the restaurant… yet the man who doesn’t know the area AT ALL knew where to turn in! When I pointed this out he said “Oh your mom warned me.” I should have known better!

So, we got there, were seated at “Our Table” on which was a pink rose and my favorite picture of us in a frame (Obviously he had been here earlier in the day)!

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, just talking at enjoying being together. At one point I joked and said “So, are they going to bring the ring out on desert?” Little did I know what was coming!



The One Who Knows and Loves Me

As we leave the restaurant and start driving home Mike faked me out a couple times by asking if he should take the quick way to the highway instead of through town, by the coffee shop, I said “That’s fine, unless you want coffee.” So, we headed towards the coffee shopped and he tried to park a block early, which I correctedJ. Finally, we go in and order our coffee…

When they brought out our coffee, our waitress handed me a yellow rose… obviously he knew me and planned on me wanting a coffee… I guess I’m predictable! After a few sips I realized my cup didn’t have a sleeve and his did! I was curious and turned my cup… on which was a WONDERFUL note!

As we left, I asked if there was anything else, and he said “Oh, just one small thing.”



The One Who Never Ceases to Surprise Me

When we got back to my house, my parents had moved our love seat in front of the gas fireplace, there was a long-stemmed red rose on the mantel with a card, and Mike put on some of our favorite songs.

He told me he wanted to end the evening by completing one of our favorite games to play… 20 Questions! (We have a hard time finishing because we’ll get off on other topics or get too tired!) So we started to play, and for those of you who know me this won’t come as a surprise… by question 6 I was falling asleep! Mike assured me that I would be happy when finally finished a game and I assured him that I would be happy if we stoppedJ. But he was insistent so we pressed on!

About question 13 the kettle in the kitchen went off, so Mike (the servant) went to turn it off! So, I fell over on his side of the couch as a joke. This scared him because the ring was under the pillow I was now resting my head on! Ha-ha… it was innocent on my part!

Usually we trade questions, but I asked my last 5 all in a row (His idea to keep me awake) and then he asked his last 5 in a row, which were…

  • Question 17: Do you want to dance? I said… Of Course! So we danced to Our Song – Love is Not a Fight by Warren Barfield.

http://popup.lala.com/popup/504684650714636738

  • Question 18: Do you know what each Rose stands for? I love it when he tells this part, so…I'll let him tell it ;)

  • Question 19: He got down on one knee… as I was FREAKING out… and asked the question every girl wants to hear “Will you marry me?” What did I say?? “No! What are you doing? No! This wasn’t going to happen till March!” Reality set in… “Yes!”… Proceeded by lots of giggling asking “Really?” Then he goes… “You haven’t asked about question 20” I said “So, what’s question 20?”

  • Question 20: You wanna elope? To which I said strongly “NO!”

…followed by more giggling, telling my parents and calling/texting friends! Needless to say I was now awake and stayed awake until about 1 AM! And took many glances at the new bling on my fingure!


… I was entirely swept off my feet, surprised, and blown away! Ladies, I know every woman says this, but I’m telling you the most wonderful, romantic, servant-hearted, Godly man is now OFF THE MARKET!