a Friday flashback (by Aaron)

That's right, friends. It's time for another guest blog by my one and only husband. Enjoy.

Let's flashback to...

July 2009...

Whitney cries sometimes.  It’s not often, but when it happens it’s because she is really, really upset.  Or extremely happy.  Or sad.  For example, the time we watched Disney’s “The Fox and the Hound” I think she cried for 65 minutes straight. 

Or like the time she cried during the uplifting, musical number “Hakuna Matata” when we watched “The Lion King” because she was still reeling from Mufasa’s death (which she had witnessed 48 times before in her life).

So, let’s flashback to July of 2009.  This is the time Whitney cried in front of me because I lied to her.  I lied to her face.  And it was completely necessary.

One day, back when Whitney and I were dating, we stopped off at Chick-Fil-A to eat cheaply.  While there, the conversation of getting engaged had come up.  It had been in talks here and there for a few months.  I had, after all, told her that I loved her in February of that year.  So, the next big landmark would be me dropping on one knee and asking her to marry me…with a ring…a diamond ring…in hand. 

There was just one hang up.  I was poor.

So, somehow the conversation came up.  It usually came up tied to something completely random.  She would bring it up, slightly.  It probably went something like this:

“I’d still let you buy comic books if we were married.”

Now, while that is a major plus for a true Batman fan, I also noticed the slight hint of, “if you’d stop buying comic books and saved your money, maybe you could afford a ring and propose already!”

This is where my response would always turn to the negative.  Intentionally.

“So, what you mean is if I’d just make more money and not spend it, I could buy you a ring?  I’ve told you, I’m trying to save for it.”

She defends: “No, I wasn’t saying anything like that.  I just really want to be engaged to you.”

I know.  And I did too.  In fact, the ring was already purchased a few months ago.  It was hiding in my bedroom closet.  But she couldn’t know that.

I continued, “Look.  I feel like you bring this up all the time (she didn’t) and it’s always about money (it wasn’t) and I can’t afford it right now (I could).  I just feel like you are pressuring me (she wasn’t) and the idea of talking to your parents freaks me out (I had already talked to them).”

Cue waterworks.

She cried.  In front of me.  And I had to let it happen.  I had to.  As much as I wanted to say, “Just kidding.  There’s a ring box buried under my socks at home.  Your parents LOVE me.  Let’s get married!” I couldn’t.

We left there, after a while, and I dug some change out of my pocket.  I placed it in the center console of my car.

“There.  This will be the ring fund.  Any change, or any spare cash, I’ll put in here.”

For the next several weeks, I would add more change and say, “For the ring fund!”

I think it was up to about $5.28 on the fateful day when I placed a humble diamond on the girl of my dreams. 

She cried then too, but it was the happy kind. 

Those kinds of tears, I don’t mind so much.  

The End.

about my sound machine

Have I ever told you about my sound machine? I can't remember and I don't feel like researching it. So just skip this post if I have.

This:

is my sound machine.

It was a gift from Aaron at Christmas that was a huge surprise. I hadn't actually asked for it for Christmas, although I had mentioned it to him several times. I never thought he would actually get me one.

When I was a nanny for Bensen and Keyen, they had these same magical sound machines that produced the noise of a very loud fan (AKA sleep heaven for me).

In the meantime, Aaron constantly complained that he hated that our bedroom fan had to be on high in the coldest months of the year. I told him every time he brought it up that I didn't necessarily care for the cold air produced by the fan, but I had to have the noise it made to sleep.

I, obviously, would always win that argument every time and the fan would stay on. But, I would give him the option of buying me a sound machine like Bensen and Keyen had. I had seen it by chance in a SkyMall magazine on one of our trips and even pointed it out to him.

Well, he finally surprised me with it like I said.

Now he loves it just as much as I do, and we take it with us whenever we aren't sleeping at home.

Just add it to my list of wins, I say. ;)

about summer patience

Today I am wishing that adults had summer break. 

Weren't those days of summer break wonderful? Before you were old enough to have a job and you just had the whole summer to do nothing.

Unless, of course, your parents signed you up for camp or something equally awful. In which case, I am sorry.

But, for me, summer when I was a kid was always just one long vacation. It was spent going to the pool and visiting grandparents and having sleepovers.

And, lest we forget, sleeping in every day.

It does sound nice right about now. But, instead, I will totally settle for a week on a cruise ship that cannot get here soon enough.

I am really practicing my PATIENCE [waiting until later for what you want now] these days!

a Penny post

We went to get ice cream this past weekend, and when we were getting ready to leave they asked if we wanted some vanilla ice cream for our dog.

Well, who would turn down free ice cream anyway? Penny, of course, loved her ice cream treat.

about Pullen Park

Friday night, we went on our monthly date with my best pal since 4th grade, Renee, and her husband Derrick.

They live in Fuquay, which is forever away from Wake Forest, so we usually try to meet in downtown Raleigh. 

We had dinner at Tir Na Nog, an Irish pub that we love. Then, we decided to drive over to Pullen Park to walk around.

We hadn't been to Pullen Park sans kids (the boys) in a very long time. And Renee and Derrick hadn't been there since they were kids themselves.

(Sorry about Aaron's finger)

about seeds and faith

I cooked with mustard seed for the first time this past week. I wasn't even sure what it looked like until I bought it.

It's pretty tiny. I couldn't help but think of what Jesus said about mustard seeds...

"What I'm about to tell you is true. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it is enough. You can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.' And it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20-21

Wow. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like I'll be moving any mountains this week. My faith must be so, so small. Definitely smaller than a tiny mustard seed.

So, how do I get more faith? Well, He knows the answer to that too...

So faith comes from hearing the message. And the message that is heard is the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17

It's as simple as that, but it's easy to make it seem so much harder. I pray that I can be faithful in the small things like just spending time each day reading His Word. So one day I can have faith in Him to do really big things.

You know, like asking mountains to move and such...

something, finally

Hi.

I have suffered from severe writer's block this week. Every time I've wanted to sit down and write a blog, I just had no inspiration whatsoever. So, I decided not to force myself to write and take the week off instead.

Here we are then, a week later.

The summer weather is here, which means the pool is in our plans whenever possible. The water was a nice temperature, but then it was little cold outside for a couple of days and now the water is cold again.

Our cruise is coming up in just two weeks. We are so ready. These past few months have been fun, but we would be lying if we said we weren't tired and ready for a week away. I keep saying to Aaron, "I want to be on a boat in the ocean with you." Like I said, two more weeks!

Aaron is loving student ministry and I am getting more comfortable with it. Teenagers are much different than the preschoolers that I'm used to! It is still keeping us extra busy, but so far, it hasn't kept us too busy.

Other than ministry stuff, we haven't been up to too much else. Just hanging out together, per usual.

Oh, and with Penny.

and reads

You know, this is a relaxing way to read a book...

a Penny post

We just love this puppy so much...

about the season finale of FX

This past Friday night was our last FX of the season. I am pretty sad they are over for the summer, because they're so much fun. But I know our actors and dancers are excited for a little break!

Friday night we talked about PATIENCE:  waiting until later for what you want now.

I don't know about you, but I don't like being patient. Example: it killed me when the iPhone 5 came out and I was nowhere near my next update. Stupid two year contracts.

Anyway, Friday was our best FX yet. Everyone did such a great job and there was not a single thing that went wrong.

I'm a little biased, but one of the best parts of the night was my crazy husband. He played the role of a Shakespearean actor playing the roles of Jacob and Esau. He was hilarious.

It's always a little strange for me to watch him act because I wasn't part of that phase of his life. There were five years that he was in college and living in Pittsburgh acting that I had no interaction with at all. I know that he's good at it and that he loves it, but he doesn't let me watch many of his shows and I rarely get to see him act on stage. So, I'm always a little taken aback (in a good way) when I see him act. He's really good at it! :)

 

Anyway, FX was so much fun, and I can't wait to kick it back off in October!

about my nanny reprise

A few weeks ago, Bensen and Keyen's mom asked me if I would be up for watching the boys on a Friday while their nanny took the day off. I, of course, wanted to, and after checking the calendar we scheduled it.

I was so happy to spend a day with the boys just like old times.

I went over, and we were all excited to see each other. Bensen got to stay home from school to play with us all day.

Aaron came over a little later and we headed to the park.

I love, love, love these boys and am glad that we see them so often. We had a great day. Aaron and I were worn out though...I'm not sure how I did that every day for two years! :)

about King's Dominion

I'm not quite sure how we made it through this past weekend...

Friday, we babysat Bensen and Keyen for 8 hours (more on that tomorrow), then we had FX Friday night (plus dinner after). Saturday, we got up at 5am and spent the next 17 hours taking a trip to King's Dominion with Middle Schoolers. And of course Sunday was typical plus Mother's Day (church, lunch, dinner).

We crashed Sunday night after our fun-packed weekend.

Fortunately for me, I get to skip out on the High School King's Dominion trip this coming Saturday (have fun, Aaron!). Here's some pictures from King's Dominion this past weekend...

We had a great day and the kids got to ride everything with not many lines to wait in. It wasn't crowded because of predicted rain. It did rain HARD for 10 minutes, but that was it. Luckily, I brought an umbrella.

Hiding from the rain (hence my nervous look...it was pouring).

a Friday flashback

Hey guys. I hope you've had a good week. We have. 

On Monday, Kevin, Aaron's longtime friend and now my friend as well, came to visit for one night. We had so much fun with him. So, in honor of Kevin's visit and Friday flashback, I bring to you something from the archives. Aaron wrote this one long, long ago.

Let's flashback to...

January 2010...

This past Sunday, Whitney and I went back to my house after a morning at Journey.  Per our usual routine, we ate lunch and then decided to sleep for an hour or so, because we are always exhausted.  Sometimes we fall asleep watching a lame movie.  Other times, I am too tired to even bother with the attempt of picking something to watch and instead grab a blanket and conk out.

I woke up (after sleeping for three hours) and checked my phone for what might be coming on TV that night.  We usually don’t watch that much television.  On Sunday night, we usually just watch the previous episode of The Office.  But for some reason I checked the listing anyway.

On the CW (you know – that network that no one watches) there was a showing of the 1993 cinematic treasure “Untamed Heart”.  This is a flick starring Marisa Tomei and Christian Slater.  I had never heard of it before so, like most movies I know nothing about, I turned to IMDB online.  There I saw this plot summary and read it aloud to Whitney after seeing how ridiculous it was.  Keep in mind, this is a plot summary written by someone who has seen it.  Thus, the amateur writing:

All of Caroline’s boyfriends seem to leave her or cheat on her. On her way home from work two men try to rape Caroline. An introverted man from her work, Adam, rescues her. Adam is an orphan and he is told that he’s got a baboon’s heart. Adam opens up to Caroline and together they make sense. Adam and Caroline are very happy together but the rapists try to get back at Adam and not everyone accepts an outcast like Adam.

Now, this was just not enough information.  So, like any good internet savvy person, I turned to Wikipedia for more answers.  There, the plot summary was similar:

Caroline (Tomei) is a young woman working as a waitress who is always unlucky in love. Adam (Slater) is a shy busboy who saves Caroline when two men try to rape her on her way home one night. She then gets to know him. They become close, but she finds out his past, and the attackers come after Adam for revenge. As their relationship progresses, Caroline discovers that Adam has a heart defect, though he claims he has a baboon heart.

At this point, Whitney says: “Oh – you mean he really has a baboon’s heart?”

I say: “Yes…that’s what it said…what did you think it meant?”

She says: “I thought it meant like…he had the heart of a baboon.  You know like he loves people with a baboon’s heart. Like the expression ‘heart of a lion’.”

At this point, I laughed.  A lot.  I think we spent the next 20 minutes laughing about it.  I thought of all the ways you might could say it to people.  For example, on Valentine’s Day you might say: “I love you with all the love of my baboon heart.” Or you might say of someone else, “You know, he’s a great guy.  He has the heart of a baboon for other people.”

We came up with other ways you might say it and then we questioned if baboons are actually loving creatures.  I recalled from watching Planet Earth that the chimps are actually quite mean – and sometimes even eat each other – far from the love a true baboon heart should express.

Later we went to her parent’s house and I read them the plot summary.  I then asked, “What do you think it means when it says he has a baboon’s heart?”

Their response: “That he has a baboon’s heart inside of him.”

Whitney was hoping that they would also see the veiled expression “heart of a baboon” as a character trait becoming of an individual, but they didn’t.

Next, we had to call my friend Kevin.  Kevin is one of my very good friends, and it is always a great danger and pleasure talking to him on the phone because we will spend about 90 minutes on the phone and nearly 60 of those minutes are spent in laughter, to the point it hurts…a lot.  So, I thought this would be a good question to ask him.

After reading the summary, I asked the same question: “What do you think it means when it says he has a baboon’s heart?”

Kevin:  “I guess, you know, like he has a great heart.  Like he has the heart of a baboon.  Though I’m not sure what that looks like.”

Whitney had found her kindred spirit on the matter at last.

We then relayed all that we had discussed on what it meant to have “the heart of a baboon”.

Kevin then told us about baboons he saw in Kenya some years ago:

“They were kind of cool.  They were just chilling in the towns and stuff, and along the road and it looked like they would just come on the bus with us and hitch a ride.  Except for when we threw them food.  Then they would beat each other up.  In those moments, I don’t think they were truly displaying the heart of a baboon.”

So, for good or bad, keep your baboon heart in check...

Thanks, Kevin, for having my back even back then. Hope to see you again soon.

about Aaron's handyman day

Remember how we can't hang picture frames or fix things or own real tools?

Well, people, we are just defeating all odds these days.

Aaron's Honda, Mr. Feeney, has been sporting just the one brake light for about a month now. But, his inspection is due, and we knew it needed to be fixed.

Aaron was sure he could do it himself. And I believed in him, I did. But it was kind of like in the Bible, you know? "Help my unbelief..."

Aaron looked up "How to change the tail light in an '07 Honda Civic?" on YouTube this past Friday and we were off to buy a lightbulb and "maybe this tool thing they had in the video that I don't have."

We were planning to go the an Autozone or something, but we were at the Walmart anyway and thought we'd just check to see if they had any lights for cars.

After browsing through the hardware aisles for a couple minutes, I struck gold.

They not only had light bulbs for cars, they had a fancy computer thing that helped you find the bulb you needed.

There was no way we could fail now.

We pressed all of the correct information until it told us exactly what model bulb we needed.

We found it with much excitement and proceeded to check out. We looked for the above-mentioned tool which Aaron deduced was some sort of wrench. But he didn't see it and figured he could manage without it.

We got home, and Aaron set to work.

He begrudgingly let me snap some pictures.

And, after only a few minutes, I pressed down on the brake and ta-da! It worked!

I was very proud of him. Good job, Aaron. 

Before you know it, we will be hanging our own pictures and caulking things.

Or something like that.

a Penny post

Do you ever feel...like a plastic bag? Drifting through the wind? Wanting to start again?

No?

I didn't think so.



Stupidest. lyrics. ever.

about the MSO retreat

Last weekend, we purposefully got in the car to spend the weekend with 40 middle school students.

It wasn't long until we became a little unsure of our decision.

But, as we drove through the pretty countryside and neared our destination, our worries ceased.

We arrived and were more assured by the fun group of kids we brought.

And despite the questionable meals.

And creepy cat curtains.

We had a wonderfully, great weekend.

Truly. I love those kids. I did not want to come home.

We played games.

We explored the outdoors.

THERE IS A SNAKE IN THIS PICTURE.

And, most importantly, we worshipped Jesus and learned how important it is to pause in our every day lives to spend time with our Creator. Out in the beautiful country it's easy to free ourselves from distractions. I mean, this place had no cell service or WiFi. It's a social media-ites nightmare. But it freed everyone from worrying about what was going on in the cyber world to look around and realize so much more was going on in the relationships around them and in the beautiful world God created.

de la fiesta

Happy Saturday.

We are sitting at home. It's a good day indeed because we have absolutely nothing to do today.

Yes.

It's a day to do nothing.

It was a busy week, per usual, but fun as always.

It ended with a lot of fun because last night we had a Mexican fiesta with our friends Patrick and Vesal and Justin and Katelin. We went down to Patrick and Vesal's townhouse (aka Wayne Manor) which is where Patrick, Aaron, and Justin were roommates before everyone got married.

Wayne Manor originally consisted of Aaron, Patrick, and Justin. It now consists of Patrick, Vesal, and my brother. How did this happen? Well, Tyler, my brother, took Aaron's place in Wayne Manor when we got married. Justin married Katelin a year later, who lived in the same neighborhood. So he moved in with Katelin a few streets over. Patrick and Vesal got married and she moved in to Wayne Manor a few months ago. Tyler still lives there to help with rent and has his own room downstairs so it's not weird or anything. 

So, anyway, it was a reunion of roommates last night and the first time the six of us have gotten together.

We had Mexican food, Mexican music, and played Mexican Train Dominoes for our fiesta. Vesal also made fun mustaches and provided a poncho and sombrero.

One of the most fun parts of the evening was a game that Justin and Katelin brought called "Telestrations." It's a mix between the games "Telephone" and "Pictionary."

The best one was this:

Everyone has their own book and starts with a different word from the card they draw.

You then draw a picture to represent your starting word and all books get passed.

Next guess what was drawn without looking at the starting word. 

  Pass books again for another drawing of what the previous person wrote down.

The next person guesses what the third person drew. (This says, "Attila the Hun with a hotdog")

And it gets drawn again.

And the last round is a guessing round. The books then gets passed back to the original owners who show the progression and everyone laughs because it is usually morphed from the beginning. i.e. "viking" to "mushroom hotdog"

Obviously, we had a good time. Or should I say bien tiempo...