Solid Ground

The Christian idea of marriage is based on Christ’s words that a man and wife are to be regarded as a single organism—for that is what the words “one flesh” would be in modern English. And the Christians believe that when He said this He was not expressing a sentiment but stating a fact—just as one is stating a fact when one says that a lock and its key are one mechanism, or that a violin and a bow are one musical instrument. The inventor of the human machine was telling us that its two halves, the male and the female, were made to be combined together in pairs, not simply on the sexual level, but totally combined.…
What we call “being in love” is a glorious state, and, in several ways, good for us … It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last; principles can last; habits can last, but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called “being in love” usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably never was nor ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense—love as distinct from “being in love” is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit, reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both parties ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other, as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else. “Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.^*

^* Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1958), 81, 84–85.

Garage saling we go!!

Yes, I am one of those crazy ladies who will get up at the beginning of time in order to get a good deal. I wait anxiously for the weather to improve and the yard sale signs to start popping up. I get a high off of finding something that is unusual and one of a kind. And when I find kids clothes for for under a quarter a piece, move over cause I'm a comin'!!

So tomorrow starts my garage saling season for the year, and I am stoked!!

On my list for the summer:

-Wooden chairs for kitchen table
-Outdoor chairs
-Lamps
-Kids clothes
-Weed Whacker
 ......to name a few

I am also on the lookout for many of my friends, for some reason they think I love doing this or something........well I do! Plus who doesn't love drinking coffee, driving around with good company and saving a buck. Now if only I could find a way to get there without using gas at all, that would be great. But you have to spend a little to save a lot sometimes:)

Here is a chandelier(one of my fav finds) I found a few years ago for only 2 bucks, love it!!

Finding......

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die~but where you invest your love, you invest your life." -Mumford and Sons

Have you ever loved someone you didn't even know? Out of situation or circumstance you find yourself yearning for their life to be great, to know love, God's love. That is my heart for our friends who are adopting a baby from Ethiopia.

 A little back story: Our beautiful friends Cory and Shannon Church took the amazing step forward to adopt a child in Africa. This step comes with many challenges such as finances, laws and time. But through it all they have been hopeful and full of love for their little baby. They have such a passion the children there, and through them I have heard stories of such despair and sadness concerning the situation there and why they have such a urgency to do this NOW! Here is a just a run-down of some of them:

In General

• Ethiopia is ranked by the UN’s Human Development Index as one of the four poorest countries in the world
• Annual per-capita income is less than $1,000.00
  
• Over 65% of the population lives below the poverty rate

Population

• Population: 79,455,634
• Average Ethiopian woman gives birth to 5.2 children
  
• Population is expected to double in the next 20-30 years

Religion

• Christian 60.8% (Orthodox 50.6%, Protestant 10.2%), Muslim 32.8%, Traditional 4.6%, Other 1.8% (1994 census)
  

Child Health

• 1 in 4 women dies in pregnancy or childbirth
• 4 million children are orphaned, nearly 1 million by AIDS
• 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday
• 1 in 6 children die before age 5
• Over 50% of children are stunted
• Malnutrition is the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths

General Health/Life Expectancy

• Average life expectancy is 53 for men, 58 for women
  
• 1 physician for every 34,988 people
• 1 in 4 women dies in childbirth or from a pregnancy-related illness
  
• 22% of the population has access to improved drinking sources:  81% in urban areas and 11% in rural
  
• 13% of the population has access to adequate sanitation facilities:  44% in urban areas and 7% in rural

Gender Issues

• Unlawful kidnapping and forced seizure of young girls for marriage is common in certain parts of Ethiopia, especially in the SNNPR (13%) and Oromia (11%).
• 80% of women and about 50% of men believe that there are at least some situations in which a husband is justified in beating his wife.
• Rape is a serious problem.  A study on street violence among girls ages 10-24 in Addis Ababa found that 15% of the respondents had been raped, and during their first sexual activity, 43% had been coerced into sex.

HIV/AIDS

• Sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of the world. An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the region – around two thirds of the global total. In 2009, around 1.3 million people died from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and 1.8 million people became infected with HIV. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 14.8 million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.

But out of all this comes the hope of saving a child to a better and fruitful life. So as a community we have taken the burden along with the Church's to bring a baby home to them. I can't tell you the excitement and love that surrounds this little child. It has just been amazing to see people stand up and help, from tattoos,scarfs, jewelry, to gifts of love from complete strangers over the internet. It has been one of the most incredible stories to be apart of, so blessed by this family and community I find myself in.

For more information please check out their website @ http://www.findingchurch.net/ and help bring this baby home.

Won't it be amazing to see how this story unfolds, how this baby grows, and how this story will reach so many others, and unleash the love!!

Playing in the Dirt

I don't know about you but I feel like there is something theraputic about digging in the dirt. I mean since we were little we have been getting done and making mud pies or digging holes.

So this afternoon I got down and dirty in my garden and played in the dirt. And it was awesome, it no longer looks like a box of grass, it is now a bounty of overturned black, black soil. That little garden is just waiting to grow some fruits and veggies for the summer. But now I have decide what to grow! I did cucumbers last year and it they went wild and took over the plane!(well it felt like it) and sunflowers. Which technically is not a fruit or veggie, but are just so darn beautiful I had to plant them. My hubby on the otherhand thought the sunflowers were goofy cause you can't eat them and they just stay there and get bigger and bigger. Oh boys!! So I think this year I will venture into uncharted territories of squash, peas and maybe a tomato or two.

If nothing else I will just go dig a hole and call it good!:)

My little lady attempting to sing Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star in the car!!:) So cute!!