It's the End of the World as We Know It

And I feel fine!

Well today isn't over yet, but it almost is.  I feel safe enough to say we survived!  I'm so glad the world didn't end today, seeing as how I hadn't seen my husband or sweet boy since Thursday morning.  I would have been really upset if the world ended and I didn't have Ryne and Adam here with me!

Today for me is finally over though.  This week is finally over as well!  We've had some crazy weeks here recently and I'm hoping that it starts to calm down a bit.  Last Saturday, Adam and I attended the wedding of his coworker, or his office wife, as I like to call her.  She is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met and it was such a blessing to be part of her Big Day!  After the wedding, Adam and I met Mom and Dad to pick up Ryne.  We put Ryne in the bed for a few hours and then Adam and I started packing the car for the beach.  Adam slept for a bit on the couch, but I stayed up because I was going to drive the first leg of the trip.

Side Note:  I had a late night run to the post office that night and on my way home, I came up on a street fight...on a very bad part of the road.  I ended up having to call 911 because a guy was getting the snot beat out of him, right in front of my car, in the middle of the road.  At one point the fight moved into the other lane and an oncoming truck came around the curve and almost hit the two guys fighting.  I was trying to give a play by play and description to the 911 operator, but all I could get out when I saw that truck coming was "Oh my God!"  Now I am waiting to see if I have to go testify as a witness.  Fun stuff.

Back to the beach trip:  Adam and I were supposed to split the driving roughly half and half.  Well, sleeping beauty looked so comfy in the passenger seat and I felt sorry for him, so I drove five and half of the seven hours.  We left at 12:30 am and didn't stop until 6 am.  I got roughly one hour of sleep as Adam drove the last hour.  I figured I'd get a nap once we got to the beach house, but noooo, there was too much going on to stop.  So over a 38 hour time period, I had one hour of sleep!  That's dedication, people!

The beach was nice.  It wasn't very warm.  A few days were spent laying out with a light jacket on.  The wind was just too cold.  Ryne had a blast!  He loves the water, but doesn't like getting his hands very sandy.  He will play in the sand but the salt water/sand mixture that got on his hands near the water seemed to freak him out a bit.  He fell down in a puddle and got up without touching the ground with his hands, which were out by his side like an airplane!  Ha ha!

If you read my last post, then you know I took a flight back on Thursday to make a cake for a very good friend of mine who got married today!  Originally Heather was supposed to get married last Saturday, but there were issues with the church so they moved it back a week...after I had committed to make her cake and after we had already planned our beach trip.  I'm a woman of my word, and I will do just about anything for my amazing friends, so I flew back on my $11.99 plane ticket to make the cake!  That's friendship, people!

Heather was an easy bride, so to speak.  All she asked for her cake was that it be square, incorporate her color (plum) and have purple roses on it, like her bouquet.  I kept it simple, especially since I was under a bit of a time crunch, but she and her husband loved it.  Michael came up to me at the reception and said it was the best wedding gift they could have received!  That warms my heart!

I'm so glad I got to be witness to another happy couple getting married today!  It makes me value my own marriage more, since I was the first of my friends to tie the knot (almost 6 years ago!)!  My high school Latin teach was at the wedding and said she has been married 48 years!  Whoa!  I can't imagine, but I guess I have 42 years to think about it!

I've heard a lot of advice about a lasting marriage the past two weeks and here's the summation of it:

Keys to Long and Happy Marriage:

1.  a sense of humor
2.  a short memory
3.  fight like cats and dogs (ask anyone who's been married over 40 years and that's what they'll tell you!)

And my favorite wedding toast:  "May all your pains be Champagne!"

Thoughtful Thursday: 4:8 Your Mate

This week's Thoughtful Thursday is all about your spouse/partner/mate, etc.  As I've mentioned a couple of times before, Adam and I kind of lost track of "us" in dealing with all of Ryne's issues.  So we've been working hard to get back to a place of us-ness!  Last night Adam and I decided to 4:8 each other!  Have I caught your interest yet?!

I recently read the book,  The 4:8 Principle:  The Secret to a Joy-filled Life, by Tommy Newberry.  This book is based off of Philippians 4:8 in which the apostle Paul tells us to think positively and focus on the good stuff in life!  This book has been a great addition to my library of positive and motivating books and CDs!

At the end of the book in the Afterwards section the author lists questions that will help you continue to think positively.  He calls them the 4:8 Questions.  There are different 4:8 questions for the different aspects of one's life.  Adam and I chose to review the 4:8 Marriage questions.  We actually sat down and asked each other the questions and discussed our answers!  It was so refreshing!

So this Thursday, be thoughtful towards your marriage.  I challenge you to check out the 4:8 website, print off the 4:8 Your Mate questions under the "toolbox" tab, and discuss them with your mate.  You may be surprised at the answers you get!

Mawwiage!

Recently I was going through our wedding file to find a copy of our marriage certificate to send in with my passport renewal for the cruise.  I came across our Marriage Preparation Expectations Inventory from our Marriage Prep class.  It was great to look back at what Adam and I were thinking five years ago!

Adam and I were each given the Expectations Inventory and told to fill it out separately, and then share what we wrote when finished.  We were supposed to respond as honestly and thoughtfully as possible!  So I thought I would share some of the responses!

Describe several instances when your future partner demonstrated real love toward you during the last month.
Adam wrote:  the way she looks at me

[side note:  awwwww!]

Give the ways you and your future husband or wife differ.
Adam:  She's more free spirited.  I am more practical.
Me:  money and hobbies

[side note:  in every way imaginable!]

Give the ways you and your future husband or wife are alike.
Adam:  passionate, stubborn, no money, intelligent
Me:  we are both stubborn.  we love each other

Describe some specific things your future partner has "bugged" you about recently which you could have corrected but didn't:
Me:  taking the movies back on time.

What are some of your future partner's weaknesses?
Adam:  her future partner
Me:  stubbornness, being with me

Some areas where I feel lack of freedom with my future partner are:
Me:  watching Brad Pitt movies

Major source of conflict in our money matters are related to:
Adam:  we ain't got it
Me:  me buying candy and useless items

Describe several things about your future partner's parents that you really like.
Adam:  WOW!  What a couple of loaded questions
Me:  They take care of me, feed me, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, my future partner's parents:
Adam:  are like night and day
Me:  are wonderful people who I respect

For me the ideal child:
Adam:  is obedient, respectful, fun-loving, ambitious and makes me some $
Me:  anything Adam and I create


So obviously, we didn't take ourselves too seriously and thank goodness Father didn't see some of the things we (I mean Adam) wrote!


Wuv twue wuv!

P.S.  My Top 2 Tuesday is below!

The Year of the Wood

Today marks our 5th Wedding Anniversary!  I can't believe it's been five years.  In a way, if feels like time has flown by, but in a way it feels like it has been longer than that - maybe because we've been together for 8 years total!  That's a lifetime in Hollywood!  When I asked Adam what he was going to get me for our anniversary he asked why and I told him that this year we are supposed to give each other the gift of wood.  His response was less than poignant!  He went on to tell me that that was just a way to get people to buy each other stuff for their anniversary.  Um....yeah, exactly!  Apparently the travel anniversary gift for the 5th year of marriage is airline tickets and/or cruise.  Check and Check!  We depart for our cruise in less than 40 days!

The past five years have been wonderful, yet challenging!  Adam and I have really never had it easy or remotely so.  We were both still in college when we got married.  Why you might ask.  We had been engaged 2 years and were so in love, and my grandmother was dying with cancer and my brother was home from his tour of duty in Iraq.  I knew I couldn't get married without my brother there, and there was no guarantee.  Also, I wanted my grandmother to be there if at all possible because my engagement ring and wedding band were made from the diamonds of a ring she gave me.  So we got hitched!

Adam commuted to Chattanooga to school twice a week during the first 5 months we were married.  It was hard, but Adam and I had sort of had a long distance relationship from the time we started dating.  I was just starting UTK and he was just starting grad school at UTC.  We talked by phone every night, Sunday through Thursday.  Then we saw each other EVERY weekend, even when we both took summer courses.  But still, being newlywed and not seeing my husband two days out of the week was hard.  Then 15 months after we got married, my dad moved in with us temporarily for 17 months, when he moved back to TN to be closer to his kids and to look for a job.  Ryne was born two weeks before our 4th anniversary, so there has not been a lot of "just the two of us" time in the past five years.

Sometimes it seems like a miracle that we've made it this long!  When I look back, sometimes I wonder why we didn't wait a year until we were both done with school.  But then I see the picture from my wedding of my grandmother's smiling face in the blue dress and blue hat, and my brother looking so handsome in his dress blues and it makes all these years of hard work and hard times worth it!  Obviously every marriage is hard to some extent and every marriage takes work, but Adam and I took our hits pretty early on.

Sometimes it's hard to remember why you got married, or how you felt when you got married.  It's easy to lose sight of that when life starts to set in and take over.  It's true that people grow as the years go by and some people grow apart, but remembering why you joined in Holy Matrimony in the first place is so important.  Adam and I have vowed to work on communication this year.  Our communication has become consumed by how the baby is doing.  We realized that we weren't asking each other enough about each other.  Not that Ryne isn't important, because he is.  However, we want Ryne to grow up with his two parents in the same house who love each other and communicate well with each other.  We are people who wear many "hats."  We were finding it hard to balance the husband and wife hats with the new mommy and daddy hats.  I guess we will have plenty of time to wear the husband and wife hats when we go on our cruise...without my little Watermelon Ryne!  Until then, it's a work in progress.

Speaking of works in progress.  I am giving Adam some form of wood for our anniversary.  I'm not done with it yet, so I'm a little late (oopse).  I would post what I am doing but Adam has actually started reading the blog.  Hi Honey!  So I'll have to keep it under wraps for now!  

Happy Anniversary and Happy Friday!