'Welcome Summer' Picnic

Have you ever started a friendship with someone with heart to reach bless them and then discovered you receive the biggest blessing yourself?!

This is the story with my Iraqi friend, Sheima.  

We meet through my bus driving job several months ago, but as Sheima opened her heart and home to me, we became fast friends.  My heart hurts as my eyes have been opened to the terrible thing the American media has done.  It has slowly prejudiced our minds to a truly beautiful culture that they can be.  It has created their hijabs and distinctively Mediterranean faces to be synonymous with 9-11.  It has tainted our view so we are afraid to build relationships with them.  It has convinced us that they are the ultimate evil in the world.

I thank God that He has used my friendship with Sheima to open my eyes to truth.

Truth that Muslims love their beautiful families just like we do.

Truth that they desire a relationship with God just like we do.

Truth that the large majority of them hate the terrorists acts just like we do.

And most of all, truth that they need Jesus in their lives, just like WE do.

And the fact that they barbeque kick-butt chicken and make adorable babies sure doesn't hurt them either!

This was our first summer picnic to celebrate friendship and truth.

Happy Tuesday de la Short Week, lovelies!
xo

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Much Love, Mariah

read how the Much Love, Me Project started right here

then read and be blessed.

I started dating my husband when I was 16.  I'd never been anyone else's girlfriend, never kissed anyone else, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  Fast-forward 5 1/2 years, and I'm saying "I do".  

Boom!  I was a wife.  You'd think, with all those years of girlfriending logged, I'd know how to wife properly.  You'd think wrong.  We were happy to be married, and we knew that we belonged together.  But Oh!  We had no idea that it would be hard to be married.  

We married, honeymooned, and moved within 8 days, to a town we'd never been to.  Our nearest relatives were 400+ miles away.  It was just him & I.  I was a graduate student (read: poor) and he was starting in the real estate market in 2008 (read: worst idea ever, i.e. - poorer).  

We survived the first year, owing mostly to a conversation I had with a friend.  She told me she made it a point to not yell at her boyfriend and to treat him better than she treated her other friends.  It should have been obvious, treating your best friend best, but I had been letting my emotions and stress levels take hold of my mouth.  Note: That's always a bad idea.

The second year, my husband decided that he wanted to try full-time firefighting, which included 8 weeks at an academy, quitting real estate, and a job search.  It also included me embracing a new lifestyle.  Pagers and radios moved into the bedroom so that he could wake up for a 1 AM call, and I kissed a good night's sleep bye-bye.  

Worry should have been the worst part of it, but it wasn't.  I had married a man who loved an adrenaline rush, who lived a little risky; I knew that.  The hardest part was the waiting.  Waiting on God to provide a job for this crazy man; waiting on this crazy man to get back from a fire call so we could eat a cold dinner; waiting 6 months between trips home, which seems an eternity when your nieces and nephews are growing.

It took another 9 months for him to find a job.  Many times I asked God what “more” we needed to do right in order for him to bless us, as though He is some great vending machine in the sky and I just wasn’t hitting the right buttons.  It took me many months of crying in the rain in pure frustration to realize that he means it when he says

“as the heavens are highabove the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts, and my wayshigher than your ways”

My crazy husband loves his job now, and is working on becoming a paramedic, something he might not have done at a different fire station.  We have good friends and are really starting to feel settled in this little town.  And I am still learning about wifing, but I’m loving being married, and excited to wait and see what God has planned for us next!

Much Love,

TFW

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More Much Love, Me Posts

Stacey, Kari, Julie, Cara, Malisa , Elizabeth

Remember

Are you ever afraid you will forget the most precious moments in your life?!

Of course you will remember your wedding day

your first baby's birth

that big job you landed or

signing the papers on your first house

But what about the most precious little moments?!

The little fire for roasting marshmallows on the concrete in the backyard

the early morning sunrise while driving to work

the feeling of Husband kissing my neck

teaching him to make spaghetti

six weeks of 'camping' on the floor in our living room

the piles of laundry forgotten on the floor because we are spending time together instead.

Will I forget these little snippets of time when life is truly at it's best?!

Blogging has become my own little place to record these very things . . . 

so when I'm old I won't forget sweet things Husband does like this or this

or a little date night like this.

I also want to remember the things God shows me like this.

Sometimes I get caught up in the silly bloggy-mind-games. . . 

like who un-followed me today

why yesterday's post had so little response

or why I can't be a one hit wonder 

{but seriously, what is it about the clothes you put on every morning or the food you ate for lunch that makes every dadblameperson and their grandma follow your blog?!  never mind. . . }

But then I remind myself that those things are really not what's it's about.  At least not for me.

I will choose to embrace the little moments in my life and allow this blog to be truly honestly just for that. . . and whatever happens beyond that it just an extra bonus.

PS

The little moments I want to remember right now

from our little walk around our tiny little town last night . . . 

I want to remember our yummy peanut parfait with two cherries and plastic spoons.

I want to remember the shivers from the cold breezes blowing.

I want to remember how the sky looked like perfect, blue cotton candy.

And most of all I want to remember how Husband and I argued over his smile in that last picture.

He said it was cheesy.  But I'm convinced it's the darnedest sexy-cute smile I've ever seen.

Happy beautiful lovely long weekend, lovelies!

xo

Do

I am constantly dreaming of new things is want to DO

My current list looks something like this:

• create homemade books from homemade paper
• paint more stuff with chalkboard paint
• sew a skirt from fabric I purchased in Mexico
• create headbands with my new hospital-wall-photo-inspiration-idea
• write write write

. . . the list goes on and on.

Somehow between leaving the house at 5:30 in the morning, driving bus trips all day, keeping my chin above the heap of laundry and attempting dinners resembling something other than pizza, I feel like time keeps slipping away.  

Then I remind myself that life is more than that.  

It is more than apple scented dish soap that seems to be in constant use.  

It is more than rumpled, unmade bed or the pile of papers on our mint green table.

It is memories.

It is adventures.

It is loving.

It is seeking Truth.

It is chasing dreams that my Creator has placed on my heart.

Today I was blessed to come home between routes.

Today I chose to chase a dream.

A dream of paints and little brushes and one bright white canvas.

Because you never really know what you may discover you love until you try.

Happy beautiful long weekend, lovelies!

xo

linking up here and here today

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this

this is the bus i spent most of my day in. 

this is my new water bottle.  it is glass and blue and sexy.

this is my bag of goodies to keep busy during all day bus trips.

this is my healthy snack.

this is my unhealthy snack.

this is a van load of our cool youth group kids.

this is our emergency ice cream stop.

this is a new hair style that takes 2.56 seconds.

{and this is husbands hair-growing-project}

this is my favorite person in the whole world

and this is me thanking God for our crazy sometimes messy beautiful life

Three Words

Thanks so much for being so encouraging after yesterdays posts.  You girls are literally give me hugs everyday through your emails, your comments and your encouraging words.  I am so grateful for that.


Husband and I had an awesome night last night talking through a lot of stuff.  I literally feel like if I never learn another thing in our marriage, I hope I remember the lesson to never stop talking, never stop communicating and never stop pursuing our relationship.  It can truly be the life or death to a marriage.


So in honor of my sweet, loving boy, I wanted to share one of my favorite stories from before we were Mr and Mrs.

---
It was a hot summer afternoon in Kunming, China.
The volunteers were resting their tired bodies from multiple days of chasing their orphan buddies at camp.

The kids were taking naps in their cool hotel rooms. . . supposedly.

Adam had asked me earlier in the day if I wanted to take a walk with him.  Of course I wouldn't pass up a chance to connect with my boy between the busyness of a day of chinese summer camp.

We met up and headed out of the hotel compound towards a secret area he had found earlier that week.
As we passed the concrete buildings, a lush green area seemed to draw us in.  There were small ponds with massive floating lilly pads.  The transplanted trees were propped up by thick, round sticks.  And one rickety stick bridge was our only way to reach the large pagoda in the center.

We stood in the pagoda wrapped tightly in each others arms, admiring the stretching green expanse that lead to Lake Dianchi -- or the green lake as it is so aptly named for the massive overgrowth of algae.

Suddenly out of Adam's pocket came a card.  And as I opened to the card, my heart starting so fast my head was swimming.  Inside were two simple lines.

I love you

我爱你

To anyone else, this would seem like just another love note, but to me it was special beyond words.  You see, we had been waiting to say those three words to each other.  Not because saying them is wrong.  Rather we wanted to make sure we could save them for the person we would be with forever.  

So for me to think that Adam Neesby chose to give me his first I love you was sacred in it's own great way.  Because truly loving someone and choosing to spend the rest of your lives together is one of the greatest miracles God ever does.  And that is worth celebrating.

{in the love pagoda}

Happy Wednesday, lovelies!
xo

Mr Perfect?

Maybe I'm the only wife that does this. . .

I am frustrated at Husband about something.
I fume just a little bit deep inside the ugly corners of my heart.
Then suddenly before I know it, I am comparing my very own precious Husband to a silly concoction in my head of Mr Perfect.

The mental conversation goes something like this.

If he was really on top of things, he wouldn't have let that light bill become past due.

If he really wanted to take care of me, he would have made sure the gas tank was full.

If he really wanted to be a leader, he would have asked me what I thought of Sunday's sermon.

If he really thought about me, he would have planned months in advance for my birthday.

If he really loved me, he would make sure I was perfectly happy and taken care of 24 / 7 / 365.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit all things thoughts I've sadly thought over the last year of being married. Embarrassed because of how much selfishness it reveals in my heart.  Embarrassed because it shows how much I can allow a nit-picking-spirit to take over.  Still I choose to share. . . because maybe you have been here too?!



The last two days, I've been struggling inside with this very thing.   Yet as I was sitting on my bus this morning, I felt God convicting me.


Nicole.  Are you willing to trade the joy in your marriage for a silly desire for Adam to become something that doesn't even exist?!  Are you willing to jeopardize your relationship because you cannot accept the flaws in the person I gave you!?  Are you not willing to except these struggles as my way of preparing and changing your heart?!  And because everyone has flaws, which of his would you like to trade for a different one?!

Sooo yeeeaaah. . .
. . . .

God - 1, Nicole - 0

Tonight you will find me spending time with Husband, continuing to work on our relationship

 and thanking God that He is still working on me.

Happy Tuesday, lovelies.

xo