a bride, babies & encouragement

This last weekend we were in a wedding. It was slightly stressful, but worth it (?) for the outcome & to be involved in the lives of our dear friends. I love weddings & going to them to show support for the merry marrying couple. I'm a die hard who believes in staying until the bride & groom are off to their next destination before leaving a wedding celebration, no matter how many hours pass. I like to see them off & wave & make noise & be included in the farewell. It's important to me to celebrate these milestones & the serious intention & love shown in the guts it takes to enter into a marriage. Love it! :)
Here's a picture of Emily, the beautiful bride, before she married her best friend, David. I love her joy. :)

Yesterday two of my friends gave birth to their firstborn children. Lysha (married to Chris) gave birth to a girl, Zoey, and Amy (married to Luke) gave birth to a boy, Samuel. Andrew & I went to the hospital to visit them yesterday afternoon. Lots of our friends & acquaintances are having babies this month, an interesting phenomenon to us. I'm encouraging Andrew to expose himself to the newborns who will be in our lives (another one to come: Caleb, Corey & Bekah's son who's due soon). My intention here is to get him used to babies so when it's our turn, he'll be readied. Babies should be celebrated, too, I think, and it was an honor to be able to visit two in the same day at the hospital, hours after their mothers travailed to have them. God is amazing, by the way.

Here's a picture of Andrew & me having coffee in the hospital...seriously! This hospital was like a resort...best coconut soy latte I've ever had. Andrew got a punch card because of all of the visits we'll be making to our friends who are having children at this hospital. We may even go there for dates, it was that good...And then, there's encouragement. Three days in a row, starting Tuesday, I've had talks with people about Campus America (goodsearch.com it) the prayer initiative that I'm involved in & excited about. After each rendezvous with Joel & Krista, Ray & Becki, & Leslee, respectively, I'm left filled... :) Filled and thoughtful & thankful & wondering how God can love me so much. I'm glad, humbled, grateful, curious about the rest of God's plan.

Rich

I feel like a wealthy woman. Late last night Andrew was playing his guitar & writing down lyrics for a song he's working on, as I was baking a cake for a bridal shower/bachelorette party for my friend Emily tonight. As I sat on the couch, I was brainstorming ways to frost the cake this afternoon, when I looked at Andrew creating & looked around me & had the impression that we are wealthy. All of our needs are taken care of & we still are able to give away to other people. Seems like wealth to me.
Circumstances would argue. We're broke. We're also fighting that mentality because we have this crazy idea that we're going on a three week road trip to visit family starting next Friday, and as we were praying yesterday, we still thought it was a good idea. Time (a little less than a week) will tell, but we keep hoping. Monster Mammon doesn't like us right now, but he doesn't matter, I'm convinced.
So, as my 24-7 Prayer Facebook friend Carla Harding likes to say (wouldn't she love that introduction?), if you are of the praying to Jesus persuasion, send one out for us.
In the meantime, I am thankful to be so wealthy. This wealth must be from the One who is Beautiful.

Tony and other matters

We a portion of Independence Day hanging out with Tony (pictured above, far right), a soon-to-bee senior in the youth group who Andrew is mentoring. We went to a town called Harrisburg, where there was a 4th of July parade, and then walked along the riverfront, stopping in a park to eat hot dogs in the shade, talking about Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, sound theology, friends, and whatever else. Then we bought an elephant ear at some booths that were set up for the holiday, and we ate it!

Tony is an incredible guy. We've met with him after youth group for several months, to talk about what's going on in his life, our lives, and to offer any advice he asks us for. Sometimes some of his friends come with, sometimes it's just Andrew & Tony. When we drop him off at home, we pray for each other. It's been such a rewarding venture & we have seen God do amazing things through Tony & his friends. His high school is booming with hunger for God. Once, after the last performance of The Odd Couple, which Tony was in (he played Oscar), every cast member at the cast party at Tony's house asked Jesus into their heart! These were students who were turned off to God, but somehow through Tony & another girl from youth group, Katie, God made miraculous things happen.

After hearing that story, I was thinking, "I wonder if Tony would mentor me?" :)

We're learning a lot from this guy & he is such a blessing to our lives.

Above is a picture from burnPATTERN's concert at youth camp. I love this face Andrew makes.

And this...just a mushy picture of us that I like.

band wife

As long as I have been a wife, I've been a band wife. The band began in September or so, and after a lot of hard work & practices & hang out sessions, the album is finished and for sale. (A couple of blogs ago I posted a pic with Cory Emery passing the finished album to me in memorandumm of the event.)

This Sunday the guys had a five hour practice & the wives (all band members are married) went to coffee together. Something Bekah (Cory's wife) said stuck with me. It concerns Cory & Bekah's recent career change that is now focused on the band & doing music professionally, something God has been obviously leading them towards in the last year. Bekah tells Cory before a band practice, "Go and live the dream!" And when he comes back, she asks him, "How was it living your dream?" That was encouraging for me to hear & I want to start speaking into Andrew's dreams & endeavors more. Especially when he's using his gifts to be a blessing... So I am definately encouraged to do that.

Andrew's been away for almost three days (at youth camp, he's a counselor) and I miss him. He's coming home for the night, late tonight, though, & I'm thrilled to see him. Burn Pattern's concert @ camp is tomorrow night & I am really looking forward to it. The band wives got a taste of the song set when we dropped in on their practice on Sunday. New songs are already being incorporated, and one that Andrew wrote! I'm so proud of my man. :)