Take the glory, Take 2

Over two years ago I wrote about a valuable lesson God taught me through running. He taught me that finding strength in him began with first acknowledging all he had given me. And it's taken me almost two years to learn how to apply that lesson to one of the most difficult trials of my life.

Two months ago I wrote about my struggle to find hope in God, and not in my own desires. A struggle that has been going on every month for closing in on two years now. This month especially I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. And then I had a little chat with a friend about faith that reminded me of this "Take the glory" principle I thought I had learned so long ago. So, this month, when I thought I could hardly bear the waiting and the hoping any longer, instead of pleading for God to be enough, I acknowleged that he IS enough. In the midst of all my anxiety, out of faith, I decalred, "Lord, you are enough." And, just like that, he was. No more pleading. Just the wonderful stillness and calm and trust in God I have been pleading for for so long now.

It was a major victory. My circumstances didn't change, but God allowed me to rest with a pure faith and hope in him. And I am so thankful he did. So thankful he has.

Have you been wondering why God isn't enough? Trust that he is, and watch and wait for him, with eager anticipation, to work.

"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."

--Matthew 17:20

Weddings, printers, and foolish pride

So. This time last weekend I was in a wedding. And not just any wedding, but the wedding of one of my closest friends. And it was awesome. I think, if it's possible, I was actually more excited for Leah's wedding than I was for my own...because now I know just a little bit more about what marriage is and what it means than I did...well, before I was married. You get the idea.

I wanted to do something special for Leah and Ty, particularly because I had such an attentive and spectacular matron of honor and because Leah added quite a few personal touches to my own wedding. The bar had been set high, and I was going to do everything I could to rise to the challenge.

When I first saw letter photography, I was pretty well entranced by it, and I always thought that Leah, as an architect, would appreciate it as well. Granted, it's a little more "trendy" now than it was when I first saw it a few years ago (trendy=not an architect thing), but I decided to make a name collage as a wedding gift. And now that I had my own fancy camera, I wanted to take all my own pictures. Well, the whole thing ended up being quite a bit more of a production than I had imagined, especially since I didn't always know (and still don't) how to use Photoshop efficiently and also because to accommodate seven letters I ended up going with a 10x30 print (which ain't exactly small!), but in the end I was a little too pleased with myself and how it came out. I know if I knew anything more about photography, I would not have been as prideful. Know what I mean? (But I'm still ignorant, so it's all good for now.)

Here's the final product:

Leah and Ty are triathletes, which explains the bike rack (W) and running trail (S) pictures. (You can't tell very well because this image is so small, but my running shoes are in the foreground of the trail picture.) Because they live on the Gulf, the A is a pier and the first T is a fleur de lis. The second T is the steeple of the church where they were married (also the church Leah helped rebuild as the lead architect after Katrina), and the E is part of the American flag as a nod to Ty's service in the Navy. The R is just a random arm of a bench because there aren't a lot of picture options for that letter, but it might actually be my favorite picture. I really like the texture from the grain of the wood.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but you can't really just order a 10x30 print from Wal-Mart. I actually considered several options for the print, including canvas. One idea I saw online and wanted to steal was to print each letter to its own canvas so the letters could be set on a mantle or a shelf as separate tiles. But I couldn't find a printer that would print canvases that small.

I ended up going with Color, Inc., and I was quite pleased with them. I hope I have a reason to give them more business again! They actually send you 5 free 5x7 prints before you place an order with them so you can be sure their prints match what you see on your computer. If not, you can make adjustments, which I didn't need to do. In addition to that, their shipping is free, unless you get something over 40 inches, I think it is. The print came via Priority Mail in just a couple of days. I couldn't believe it was that fast and free!

Plus they seem to be a Christian (family-run?) business, and they sent me this little "Thanks for signing up" note in the mail that I thought was a pretty cool little touch. So simple, and yet quite original. Look 'em up the next time you need a printer.

While I was sleeping...

Summer passed me by. Yes, this is one of those, "Wow, has it really been a month??" posts.

This summer has been busy, busy, busy, and we've only been home for about half of it. In July, my parents came for the 4th and we spent a couple of days in Hatteras (the southern part of the Outer Banks). Turns out we were some of the last tourists there for the year because Irene tore up the only road providing access to the island. The week after the 4th we were in NJ while Justin took a class for work. The weekend after that, I went up to Northern VA for Leah's bridal shower, and Justin left for 5 weeks in Montgomery, AL, for another work-related class. Eddie and I joined him a few days later. Poor Lily was stuck at home for a month, with kind friends checking in on her. We came back home at the end of August, just in time for our first hurricane! Irene left us without power for 31 hours, but it certainly could have been worse. Fortunately we did not lose any trees. Several houses in the area took some good hits. And this past weekend was Leah's wedding! We had such a blast celebrating with Leah and Ty and seeing good friends and family. We haven't had a reunion like that in years, and I don't know when we will again.

So now we have a couple of weeks at home, but just a couple of weeks. Justin will be headed to Instructor school in OK the first week of October. I won't be able to join him for this one, unfortunately, because there's just no good option for the pets. I will probably go out for the last part of it. His course should finish up a week or so before Thanksgiving, which will allow us to spend the holiday with my family. Then, in the new year, we will be looking at a possible deployment and/or a move. So as you can see, things are changing pretty fast around here! It's starting to settle in that we won't be able to call Goldsboro home much longer, and we won't even be here for a good chunk of the time we have left.

What? What's that you say? We're a military family? And that requires moving??? Oh right. I thought we'd met our quota our first year of marriage. How silly of me. But in all honesty, we are so blessed to have been able to be here for as long as we have. I'm not sure we could have had a better first assignment.