Royal Wedding!

Kate's dress was certainly beautiful with classic lines framing her petite figure perfectly. She wowed and waved to the masses of people as they welcomed their new princess with cheers and celebration.

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Royal Wedding: Lords and Ladies

Hello all! I'm not as obsessed as some people about the Royal Wedding this Friday... but, ok, I am a little excited. This doesn't happen every day; it's making history!

Mama sent told me about you have to have a Lord/ Lady name to attend as Gentry, so here's the formula:

Lord/ Lady
+ {a name of a grandparent}
+ {the name of your first pet}
+ hyphen
+ {the name of your first street address}


Mine could be one of the following:

Lady Lucille Lexi-Caplewood

Lady Mary Lexi-Caplewood


Stahler's could be one of the following:

Lord Herman Sasha-Greenwyche

Lord William Ledbetter Sasha-Greenwyche


Mama's would be:

Lady Beulah Fiddles-Madison


Pretty fun! What's yours??

Ok Go!

Remeber these guys?





Well they have a new vid out that could possibly be my new fave:



Amazing!

Enjoy!

Maybe you can relate...

7:25 - alarm goes off. Cuss - it's Monday.

7:45 - get up and look for toiletries

8:10 - four boxes later... no shampoo

8:13 - get in the shower... ice cold - look forward to warmth of hair drier

8:19 - shiver out of the shower... no hair drier to be found

8:47 - take care of Georgia. Look for keys

8:52 - no keys... call Grant (they're in his car - where else?) He'll come back home to lock new apartment while I use spare car key to drive to work

9:02 - take wrong turn out of new neighborhood. Realize I am going to be excessively late

9:12-9:37 - hit every.single.stoplight.

9:42 - stop to get ink - big print job at work today

9:59 - get to work. Discover I've left my computer somewhere between the two apartments - probably with my shampoo and hair drier

10:13 - meet Grant to get keys

10:37 - back at apartment. Find computer (and one great dane on our bed... bad girl)

11:09 - back at work

Item - Cost
Stress of moving - 1.5 grey hairs
2 hours in the car - 0.6 tank of gas
Embracing Monday morning with arms wide open - Priceless

Blessings

Have you heard the song "Blessings" by Laura Story? I love the lyrics:

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise



The Bible has so much to say about the "trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights" - {James 1:2-4,12, Job 42:12, Matthew 5:10, 1 Peter 1:6-7, 2:19-21, 3:14, 4:1,12-13,16,19, countless others} - producing such good things within us and around us, I have to believe that they are God's "mercies in disguise." My life and the scripture I read have too many examples of this to believe any different.

Spring Cleaning

We are packing up and clearing out.

This has been a great home to us for three years. I can't help but sing The Jefferson's theme song [Moving on Up!] in my head... but this is no penthouse ;)

The smell of pinesol lemon-freshness is pungent.

Georgia, of course, is completely terrified of the vacuum cleaner {ridiculous}.

I, of course, am completely terrified of the dust bunnies {around every corner}.

I have a mound of laundry to do and all I want to do is watch Netflix.

Ho hum.

Back to cleaning...

... and watching Netflix....

Secrets: Part 3

There’s a lot to being known—really, truly, on a deep and intimate level being known. But that usually only happens in a very few relationships over the span of a lifetime and under the veil of mutual trust and intimacy.

Facebook, twitter, blogs, and other social media would like you to believe otherwise: “Share every detail of your entire life with everyone—immediately!” it screams.

But you and I know better.

What would you rather discover: the details of everything your friend ate last night on her facebook status; yet another link shared by your friend on twitter; the announcement of a big event in your friend’s life—complete with pictures—on her blog; or a quiet conversation with your friend that no one will probably ever know about, discussing the details (big and small) of a piece of her life that very few others may ever get?

My friend Ben Reed already said it: blogging’s not cool anymore; too many people are saying too many things.

The speakers at Catalyst said it: slow down and quit posting your life before it happens.

Beth Moore said it at the Deeper Still conference: (re)learn the art of treasuring things in your heart (Luke 2:19, 51b)—don’t give the things meant to be treasured away to the noise and chaos of the world.

And now I’m saying it: there are secrets worth seeking out, hidden treasures, worth discovering—there are truths that God alone allows us to find.

I would rather know the well-kept secrets of a few good friends than the minute-by-minute life of a once-friend. Secrets grab something inside of us. Knowing that there's more - if only you could seek it out - makes you more involved than you would be otherwise; makes you invest more, care more, listen more. I think that's the point - and that's why "it gives God glory" to keep secrets.

Grant and I have a secret (no, we’re not pregnant). A few good friends will know it and the rest may discover it after the fact.

What conversation are you dying to hear?

What secrets of God are you seeking out?

Do you have secrets that only you and your friends/family treasure in your heart?

Secrets: Part 2

There’s a scriptural basis for this notion of secrets.

God has secrets (Deuteronomy 29:29, Psalm 25:14, Job 11:6a, Revelations 10:4, 1 Corinthians 2:10)—hidden treasures (Isaiah 45:3, Romans 11:33, Colossians 2:3). We can seek them out (Proverbs 3:32b, Proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 7:7).

We are hidden in Him (Psalm 17:8, Psalm 31:20, Psalm 27:5, Isaiah 49:2, Colossians 3:3). He delights in the intimacy we share, “You are My private garden, My treasure, My bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain” (Song of Solomon 4:12).

Wisdom is hidden (Job 28:20-21).

Manna is (still) hidden away (Revelation 2:17).

His power is hidden (Habakkuk 3:4).

God has had a secret plan since the beginning of time (Romans 16:25b, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 12:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:26-27).

There is a secret place of the Most High God (Psalm 91:1).

God says, “I will tell you new things, secrets you have not yet heard,” (Isaiah 48:6b) revealed like a “secret whispered in [your] ear” by God (Job 4:12). Just ask Him (Jeremiah 33:3).

He loves a good secret. In fact, “It is the glory of God to hide things in secret; the glory of kings to seek the matter out” (Proverbs 25:2).

How does it make you feel to know that it is the glory of God to keep secrets? It makes me eager to get on with finding them out.

I picture Him up there excitedly hiding Easter eggs like a child, vibrating with anticipation at which of His children will take the time to seek them out - to know the Lord and discover His secrets.

Secrets: Part 1

Father and son

At lunch today, I listened as the guy behind the counter called to most everyone who walked in by their first name—and smiled. Joe is very friendly and he, like the place, is loud. Several TVs with mostly sports and news were on and people sat around crowded tables conversing—happy to have a place to sit in the lunch rush.

The tables are close together, and I ended up sitting perpendicular to a father and son.

Their body language suggested the intensity and trust that comes only through that unique relationship (another post for another day). They were leaning towards one another over the table, arms folded comfortably on the table’s edge, and their eye contact was unyielding in an urgent but completely loving and accepting kind of way. There was a sports highlights reel playing, a pretty girl who walked by, and continual motion all around them—but it seemed that they were completely unaware of it.

They were honed in on one thing: their own private conversation.

This kind of intentionality is distinct in and of itself in this age where phones serve as mini-computers that constantly buzz, vibrate, and ding with social media’s latest distraction—there were no phones on the table that I could see. But their personal connection or lack of disturbance was not what drew me (not usually an eavesdropper) to their conversation.

It was their quietness—their stillness—and the distance between them and the world.

They were talking the entire time… I just couldn’t hear what they were saying. And that intrigued me.

I could hear 18 other conversations, but the one I wanted to hear was precisely the one I couldn’t.

They modeled what you and I already know: there is something more attractive than the obvious, than the easy, than the amplified. Less is more and sometimes the hidden things, the secret things, the treasures that you store up in your family or for yourself can be the most important, leaving the world in the dark.

There’s a scriptural basis for this notion.

Updates

1. We've been so busy!

2. We've found a new apartment! It's near where we are now - not too much of a change, but looking forward to our new digs.

3. Grant's mama and my mama have had birthdays! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

4. Last weekend we spent Sunday in Helen, GA with Grant's family - it was so nice hanging out!

5. This weekend, we're headed to the lake - and hopefully seeing my parents.

6. Coco and I have a standing Tuesday night date - we're going to try out all the places on Scoutmob until we've been all over the city trying chic new places for 50% off. Last night we went to Gekko Sushi in Old Fourth Ward - awesome! We tried 3 different rolls, fried cheesecake and fried bananas, a la mode. Scrumptious!

7. Our small group is doing a study of Song of Solomon and we're loving it.

8. It's spring break around here - several friends are on mission trips!

9. I have the best husband in the world.

10. We have so much stuff to pack up before we move the 15-16th... I should get back to packing...