Preparing to say "I Do"... 120 days left.

A few weeks ago, one of my sweet friends gifted me a couple of books as sort of a pre-marriage gift - One of them is by Carolyn Mahaney (C.J. Mahaney's wife - I love a lot of his stuff!) and is called "Feminine Appeal". I first heard about it when this same friend used it in a devotional she did for Jaquelyn's baby shower. It goes through Titus 2, which is such a great passage for women. Each chapter goes over one of the different principles/commands. I was very excited to start in on it and it has been so good.

Anyway, for this post I really just want to share some quotes with you from one of the chapters - "The Delight of Loving My Husband". Now, obviously I love Nathan so very much and this definitely is not something I struggle with right now, but there are so many wonderful points that I want to internalize so I can glorify God and love my husband the way He wants me to even when it might be hard.

This first quote is from the beginning of the chapter and really sums up why I think this is so important. The following ones will simply be random ones that spoke to my heart. I hope you enjoy!

"...We frequently observe women during courtship and maybe even into the first year of marriage who appear to be "madly in love." However, when we interact with these women several years later, the passion and delight seem strangely absent.

Their husbands are no longer "Mr. Wonderful." What happened? Why is there no longer any thrill and excitement? Is this inevitable? 

No! It's not meant to be that way!..."

"In the broadway musical fiddler on the roof, the main character, Tevye, asks his wife, Golde, "Do you love me?" In response she reminds him that for twenty-five years she's washed his clothes, cooked his meals, cleaned his house, given him children, and milked his cow... ...What is love? More importantly what does it mean in Titus 2 when it says we are to love our husbands? The definition couldn't be more different from Golde's...

...the word for love used in Titus 2:4 is phileo. This word describes the love between very close friends. It is a tender, affectionate, passionate kind of love. It emphasizes enjoyment and respect in a relationship..."

"...Sad to say, I have been guilty of neglecting this phileo kind of love on numerous occasions. I often become so preoccupied with the duties and responsibilities of my marriage that I fail to nurture tenderness and passion in my relationship with my husband. I get so busy serving him that I overlook enjoying him..." 

"...Paul didn't use agape in describing the love we are to cultivate for our husbands.

He chose phileo. In fact, in commands specifically related to wives,

agape is never used. Now this does not mean we have been released

from needing to extend this kind of love... ...I believe that Scripture's specific commands to husbands and wives regarding their duties in marriage attest to our respecting weaknesses..."

"...Women will often continue to sacrifice and serve their husbands even if all tender feelings for them have subsided. Author Douglas Wilson makes this observation: "Women are fully capable of loving a man, sacrificing for him, while believing the entire time that he is a true and in varnished jerk. Women are good at this kind of love."... 

...However, Scriptures mandate to love our husbands involves far more than merely doing  household chores. We are required to love them with nothing less than a passionate, tender, affectionate kind of love..."

"...We must love our husbands. As we learned in chapter 1, this ind of love commends the gospel. If we no longer have tender feelings for our husbands,

we must seek God's help to learn how to love them again.

First John 4:19 says we can love our husbands because God first loved us.

As we submit to God's command, He will show us how to love,

and He will make it possible..."

"...We must learn how to adopt this kind of love. We see this principle implied in our text. If Paul exhorted Titus to have the older women teach the young women

how to love their husbands, we can assume this love is not something that happens spontaneously. Loving our husbands - as biblically defined - is a learned response

through the grace of God..."

"...If we find that our affection for our husband is waning or has subsided altogether,

then we do not need to look any further than our own hearts.

Where sin is present, warm affection dissipates. Anger, bitterness, criticism, pride, selfishness, fear, laziness - all vigorously oppose tender love.

This love cannot survive in a heart that harbors sin..."

There are so many more quotes that share how to keep phileo love alive in marriage that have already helped me learn so much - I'd like to share them, but this post might be getting too long already... =) So part two will be coming after a while!

{Get this wonderful book here!}

Until next time...

New web address

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
 

Since I changed my blog address, it also changed my bloglovin' settings. I'd love if you could re-follow me using my new web address!

Steadfastanchorofhope.blogspot.com

Thanks dears!

Expectations {Coffee Date Vol. 2 Link-up}

{I'm linking up with sweet Rachel, over at 'Oh, Simple Thoughts' for a coffee date!}

This past week, I have spent a lot of time working through some things - I am just now beginning to understand some of the struggles I have, what they're coming from and mean. I have also learned some things about how I work. Not that I didn't already "know" but I didn't really understand. I would feel things but I didn't understand why I was feeling them. God has really been making sense of it all for me and I am starting to grasp how to treat my feelings. 

I have always known that I am a deep feeler. I remember things because of the way I feel. My muscle memory is never wrong and I always remember the small details because those affected how I feel. When I tell you about my day, it will always evolve around my feelings. I can spend a lot of time telling you stories that don't necessarily tell you what happened, because those are what are important to me. I know, the danger in all of that, is that it is so easy for my feelings to control everything I do; not always a good thing.

Also, because of how deeply I feel, I have very high expectations and dreams of how I will feel when certain things happen. Feeling the way I am expecting to is probably one of the most important things to me. When that is taken from me, meltdowns ensue. 

Last year, changes happened that tore down a lot of my expectations for the coming years. Ever since then, I've realized that I hold a lot more tightly to the expectations I do have - I almost can't handle them being taken away.

And you know what? I can't handle it - on my own that is. What all of this boils down to, is my lack of trust that God knows what's best. He knows exactly how I work, how I see life, how I function, and He knows best. He knows what is important to me, and He knows best. 

He is 

ABLE

to 

EXCEED

my expectations

You know how I know that? I've finally realized I needed to listen to God's word, not my own sinful voices. Listen to this AWESOME truth!

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,

forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV - Emphasis mine)

I'm trying hard, through His power, to apply this truth to my life. To let go of my expectations, because I know the ONE who can do far more. Each morning I'm trying to pray and leave my expectations at His feet, trusting that nothing I can imagine is better than what He has for me. I'd love to have you lift me up in prayer, and if you are struggling with something, I'd love to join you in giving it to Him. Feel free to email me at oodlesofzoottles@gmail.com or leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time...

Our Love Story - Part III

{You can read part I and Part II here and here} Continuing where I left off last time - The second week was so different and I feel like I remember it like it was yesterday! We were all put into small groups for the week of clubs. I was in a group with two girls named Hope and Melody. I haven't been in contact with them in forever but I have very fond memories of our times together. It just so happened that our group and Nathan's group were put in the same room, perfect! There were lots of butterfly moments for me, let me tell you ;) 

Right before training I had gotten a cast off of my left leg because I had broken my ankle. Again. (If you don't know I've broken somewhere around 12 bones, my left ankle bone 5 times and my right one 3 or 4 times, along with some toes and a collar bone, etc.) Now, either during the weekend or the very first part of the second week I was walking up the stairs to my dorm room in the evening. Somehow I misjudged or didn't see a step and fell, twisting my right ankle. Ms. Jane, who was pretty much my second mom while I was at training, called my mom and helped me into the car. The next day I went to get X-Rays to make sure I hadn't broken it. Thankfully I hadn't but wasn't able to walk on it. And because my left ankle was still weak from being in a cast for 6 weeks, there was no way I could have gone around on crutches - there is A LOT of walking at training. Enter - the trusty wheel chair! Mom took me back to training and they gave it to me to use so that I could get around. Nathan, being the only boy between our two small groups, was the gentlemen and began pushing me back and forth between small group times, meal times, and classes. He would help me get my food and clean up my dishes, he would always sit with me and I was. in. heaven. My little 14 year old heart had already begun to fall in love and there was no way I could stop it after spending almost the whole week with this handsome, kind, funny boy pushing me everywhere. We played "car" games together and had lots of fun. It was very sad when the week had to end...

At the end of training I was finally able to walk around some on my ankle and they ended up using "my" wheelchair in a skit a group of them did for our talent night. It was a hilarious skit and it went on for a few years in a row. Nathan was (the cutest) bad guy named "Sugar Rush" with his evil sidekick (a family friend of mine) "Disobedience Boy" (The skits were all about these two trying to mess up 5-day clubs by doing the things we had learned could happen and the super heroes, one of which was Acronym Man, would rescue the poor teachers.) Nathan used my wheelchair as a disguise for his evil character by dressing up as an old lady, haha! "Sugar Rush" would also gulp down energy drinks to fuel his evilness =O 

Everyone would also sign each other bags at the end and of course my dorm mates signed, Hope and Melody signed, and Nathan signed. Wanna know what he said? "You're crippled in more places than your ankle" What?? Are you serious?? Wow =P Such a romantic beginning... ;) I love that he did that though, makes me smile/laugh every time I remember! Mom says its like little boys when they throw rocks at little girls because they like them so much (Tim Hawkins quote anyone?). We were so silly =) 

My CYIA bag from 2007, lots of notes from lots of people, lots of memories...

Hard to read but here is the famous saying! "You're crippled in more places than your ankle"

That was pretty much how I fell in love with Nathan, although my love for him now is very different from then =) I know that he would say that was the year he noticed me (Obviously, unless he completely ignored the person in the wheelchair he was pushing =P) and knew he wanted to be my friend. =) In the next year our real friendship kind of took off. Next time we'll dive in there!

{Fine Print - I have done my very best to remember events how they happened and when they happened but I cannot say I am 100% on the when. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't want to be penalized if the time table is somehow a little different then how I recorded it here. All I know is that the main events definitely happened and I really am faithfully recording how I felt when they happened. You've been warned ;) )

Until next time...

Mother's day 2014

I hope you and all your family enjoyed this Mother's day Holiday! A lot of times, this time of year seems crazy with all the birthdays, mothers day, etc. and I feel like I'm trying to figure out gift ideas one after another. I was definitely drawing a blank on what to do for mom. I love her and she's a great mom, but sometimes it's hard to shop for her. She doesn't really like practical gifts, but I didn't want to just get her what we usually do. So, I turned to pinterest (woohoo!), and found a great idea! It was originally for Father's day, but was super easy to change.

Here is the original picture - 

http://avidaa4d.blogspot.pt/2014/03/sugestoes-para-o-dia-do-pai.html?m=1

All we did was cut out our own letters from card stock and a heart from red construction paper. I used a ruler and a pencil for the letters and I was super happy with how they turned out! Then us 5 daughters took pictures (This was nice because even though Jennifer is away in the Army, she was able to send us pictures to include), each doing 2. I changed them to black and white in PicMonkey.com and kept the heart red by using the little box that pops up when you change it in effects. Then using the collage feature put it together and printed it 8x8 using the Printicular app. Really you could use this technic for all sorts of fun collages! Might have to be used for some future gifts, shhhh...

I wasn't able to find the exact right size frame at target (Jo~ann's might have them...) but I did find a cute 9x12 and Ta-da! A perfect Mother's day gift!

We celebrated with Hayden, Jaquelyn, and Graham on Friday night. It was lots of fun and mom definitely loved this gift =D Mission accomplished.

Until next time...

My life lately

{clause: I wrote this yesterday, Wednesday, but just got around to posting today :)}

Happy Wednesday! So far my day has consisted of doing floors (woohoo) and breaking a mop in the process O_O some cleaning, devotions, and crocheting. Blogging seemed to be a good next step ;)

It's been a while since I've shared with you about what's going on in my everyday life (other than the birthday post) so I'd like to share with you some things that I've shared on IG :)

{All pictures number from top left around clockwise}

1. A delicious fruit smoothie that I made for a snack on Monday - frozen blueberries and strawberries, raspberry yogurt, and cranberry/raspberry juice mixed into yumminess!

2. This past Sunday, Hayden & Jaquelyn, Sarah & Shiloh (my younger sister and Hayden's younger brother just started courting officially!), and Nathan & I went on a fun triple date!

3. The date included going to see the new Spider-Man. I have very mixed emotions about it :) Not sure if I love it =) afterward we went to Applebee's, yum!

4. After church and before our date, we had crocheting at church - read about that here.

1. This past week out AC broke =\ not fun in FL 80+ degree weather. So dad sent Katheryn and I to chick-fil-a for a "cool" dinner.

2. Also because of our broken AC mom had me get Popsicles, of course I had to get the marvel ones ;) (thankfully our air has been fixed since!)

3. Thanks to my fiancé and sister, I'm going to Hope Spoken next year! I am super excited and cannot wait!

4. Baked up some chocolate chip muffins for breakfast last week.

1. Finally got around to transplanting out sunflowers. Sadly, they didn't survive the move... :(

2. Nathan and I attended a friends wedding with Jaquelyn and Graham on April 26th. It was fun! And my guy looked extremely handsome!

3. Still working my way through the Valley of Vision, so good!

4. And finally, I'm continuing to work on some more posts in my "preparing to say 'I Do' " mini-series. I excited about the upcoming one!

My life has been pretty good lately as you can see :) definitely not perfect! (Mostly because I'm not perfect by any means...) but I'm thankful for what each of these pictures represent :)

Until next time...

"One Square at a time..." A crochet ministry!

A few months (I think?) ago, I started following a lady on IG who did a lot with crocheted Granny Squares. She had a neat ministry going on where she made Granny Squares or people sent them to her, and she sewed them together into blankets to give to the homeless. The blankets came out so beautiful and people from all over the world, literally, sent squares to her. I toyed with the idea of making some to send, but she lives in the UK and I wasn't sure I had the funds to get them there. As I thought more about it, the idea started to form in my head that we should start something similar in my church family. Several of my friends already knew how to crochet and I was certain that between us we could teach people who didn't. Then we would meet up occasionally to work together and also be able to crochet at home. After getting the green light from the elders in our church, "One Square at a Time..." or simply "One Square" was born! 

Right now we have been meeting for a few months. In the beginning we met every Sunday so that those that didn't know how would be able to learn and be able to start making their own at home - now we meet about every three weeks or once a month and have the goal of making 3 or more squares a week at home. We have 8 ladies (including myself) and 4 younger girls! I loved that it was something almost any age group cold be a part of and its great having the three generations (older woman, younger woman, and children) working together. Our plan is to start off by making blankets for our local pregnancy center (won't have to be as big) and then maybe go from there to making adult sized blankets for the homeless. We are also going to donate a few blankets to our All Children's Hospital NICU on behalf of my cute nephew who spent a week there.

Our first "Elmer the Elephant" Blanket is almost completed! (if you're confused by the title, click here - I loved this book as a little girl!) And I am hoping on using it to update our church family on what's going on and also as encouragement for others to donate gift cards for us to buy yarn. Another thing I loved about the idea, because even if you don't want to crochet, you can still be a part of each blanket. We will see!

Nathan isn't usually a part of our group ;) But he came up for the day =D

We were missing some sweet ladies this past week - but it was still a great time!

Until next time...