A few more

You may be sick of seeing pictures of Brian and I by now. If that's the case . . . look no further. But I wanted to follow through with my word on a previous post and show you more pictures that Heather from Sprouts took. She's just so good at what she does! Here are a few more of my favorites:

Dreams

I think about dreams a lot. Not the kind you have when you're sleeping. Dreams: as in the desires of your heart, what you'd love to do or be if you could do or be anything. I believe God has purpose in giving us dreams. Dreams are gifts that are to be offered back to God. Several times in my life He has required me to lay my dream upon his sacrificial alter, allowing me to wonder if it will be burned or given back to me to live out. In any case, the very act of laying it upon the alter says to God, "this is your gift and I entrust it to you. It is not mine to control or hoard." This act of releasing your dreams is what I think God is after. It can be excruciatingly painful when God asks us to give up a dream permanently. But He is worthy of our trust. He has proven it over and over and over. He is trustworthy. I found this poem moving as I read it today and I think it explains things a little better than I just did.


Dreams die hard,
And they should.
But not so the dreamer.

Dreams are the stuff that living is made of,
And what keeps us reaching and growing - and glowing.

Dreams are that part of us that hitches to a star
And sprinkles whatever darkness may be with hope.

Dreams are at once fragile and resilient,
fleeting and persistent,
comforting and disturbing,
magnificent and absurd,
possible and impossible.

They must not be held too tightly,
for they need room to breathe.

They must not be held too loosely,
for they need the nourishment of loving attention.

Yet not all dreams were meant to be.
Some serve a higher purpose in dying.
And as with any death,
The survivor often loses heart.

But the dreamer must not die with the dream.
The grieving must become the altar upon which to offer the loss
and ask for grace to dream again.

And when the grieving has done its purifying work
The dreamer will emerge to find
that the death of one dream gives birth to another,
Another perhaps in every way more usable in the kingdom.

Yes, dreams die hard,
And they should.
But not so the dreamer

For when God possesses the dreamer,
He will mold the dream,
AND IT WILL BE RIGHT.


- Verdell Davis
(from her book "Let Me Grieve but not Forever")

I must give a "shout out" to my good friend Heather Knowles who just started her own photography business! I was so excited when I heard that she was doing this! For some time now, I have been wanting to get some pictures made of Brian and I before we start expanding the family with kiddos. Getting Heather to take our pictures was great because she is reasonably priced and I love her creative modern style! Check out her website at Sprouts By Heather. She has taken some amazing pictures! In fact, there are a few photos of Brian and I on her site that aren't posted here on my blog. I'll post an update with more pics by Heather in the days to come though. Until then, here's a little glimpse at her wonderful work:

See, what had happened was . . .

My mom and I were in Mary Jo's Fabric store the other day when I kept overhearing one of the workers. Her southern accent was heavy. Well lets be honest, she down right sounded like the biggest redneck you've ever met. For those of you unfamiliar with Mary Jo's, it's like the Mecca of fabric stores (at least around Charlotte anyway). The selection is enormous. So the first conversation I overhear with this Mary Jo's employee and a customer went something like this:

Customer - "Wow, you guys have a really big selection of fabrics."

Redneck employee - "Yeah . . . if you can't find it here, you don't damn need it."

The next conversation took place between this same worker and my mom, and went something like this:

Mom hands the lady a roll of fabric to cut and then asks,"Do you have one of those charts that tells me how much fabric I'll need to re-cover a specific kind of chair?"

Employee, "You're going to re-cover a chair with this fabric?"

Mom - "Well, yes. Do you think it's too thin?"

Employee - "No, I just don't think it's suitable."

Mom - "Well you haven't seen my room!"

So then Mom decides she won't use the fabric for the chair, she'll just get enough to make some accent pillows. When the lady goes to cut the fabric Mom asks, "Are you going to measure and cut from where the pattern in the fabric actually begins?"

Employee sighs, obviously disgusted with Mom's question and asks, "Are you Baptist?"

Mom - "Well as a matter of fact I am."

Employee - "It shows."

Runner Up!

I forgot to tell you that I earned one of the runner-up awards in a photo contest that Erin Carroll had on her blog last week! I had a hard time deciding what picture to submit, but I finally turned in the one below. The rules stated that it had to be one you took yourself - no professional shots! There were some really neat pictures submitted. You can see the winners and the runner ups on Erin's blog, Blue-Eyed Bride


I have entitled this photo, "Like father, like son."

Good to Be Home

Ahhhhhh. It's good to be home. I love the fact that we really do have a home of our own, not just an aparmtent that we're renting, and I can actually say "home" and mean it.

After a full day on the road, Brian and I got back to Charlotte last Wednesday night and walked into a clean townhouse with a stocked pantry (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law!). We were so thankful to not have to look for an apartment, move our furniture in, etc. Now I just need to decorate our home, but that's the fun part!

The day after we got back we celebrated Brian's birthday (on October 2nd)! He's 31 now! That day was pretty relaxing, and we liked it that way. We ran a few errands together, grabbed a pumpkin to carve later, went for a walk, I made dirt pie (one of Brian's favorite desserts) and cooked steaks for dinner. The next night we went out to eat at Maggiano's with Darren, Wava, Jerry and Marilyn to celebrate. We had plans to go see the movie, Fireproof, afterwards but our food didn't come quick enough and we missed it. I'm sure we'll go see it another time.

Brian will have a week to enjoy the house before he has to leave to go play baseball in the Dominican Republic for a week. They have a winter league down there and are having their "spring training" right now. They need pitchers to come down and give the hitters some competitive practice. If they like Brian a lot, they may offer him a winter job, but it's not likely because most teams already have their rosters set. The benefit for Brian is that he gets a paid vacation. He's staying at a five-star Hilton Resort (see pics below). All his meals and travel are paid for, and they give him a little pay for pitching too. I'm a little sad that I don't get to go with him, but it's not a big deal. He'll only be gone for a little while, I can handle that. Maybe it will give me some time to go shopping for our townhouse! But it does look like a beautiful place doesn't it?

Let the Celebration Begin . . .

A few pictures from the championship and after party . . .