Worth the Stink

Over the past few weeks I have discovered what my very least favorite smell is... mulch. It even sounds gross. It is gross. Mulch has the kind of smell that seeps into your nose and then gets trapped up there and you smell it in your brain for the rest of the day.
Well, Louisville likes to mulch. Apparently it's the price they pay for all the greenness.
However, something began to change....
When I walk around all the flower beds on the Seminary campus, instead of feeling repulsed by the smell of mulch at 8am I am seeing something bright, something yellow, budding from the aforesaid grossness....
DAFFODILS!! HURRAY

I love daffodils! Coming from Texas they are rather rare... or atleast rare in my world. I remember my mom used to always plant daffodils and we would take our pictures on Easter morning with the daffodils trumpetting the risen Lord behind us!
That's what's so great about daffodils... they trumpet! Here all the daffodils lean slightly forward with their little noses, or whatever you call that middle part, stuck out to the sky.
In my mind they are worshipping. They are thanking God for the sunshine and warm weather and even the mulch that helps them grow. They are asking him to be glorified by their beauty and praising him through it. They are obviously happy, anything THAT yellow has to be happy. I want to be like a daffodil.
Also, Daffodils tell me something about God. God is so specific and careful. A god who merely throws a universe together and rules it with an iron fist would never, ever, ever create daffodils. They are so intricate... I mean they have a little trumpet budding out the middle! Also, God gave me the daffodils to reflect on him, as a sign of love and care and purpose in this world. God's not waiting to love us when we get in heaven... he loves us now, just like he loves his son!
I know what you're thinking... how does this girl get this much from a daffodil... well, lucky for you, this is how God made my mind... COMPLEX! (ask my husband! haha)
Also I was thinking... Daffodil is a really really weird word. There's not many words like it... so I began to think of words that might be like it that some one would present to me to prove this theory wrong... the only good one I could think of was Daffy Duck... lots of Ds, two Fs and an A... then I thought... why on earth is Daffy's love interest/wife (who ever knows what their relationship is anyways?!) named DAISY?! Those cartoonists must have been pretty silly to not see that the flower that best goes with Daffy Duck is OBVIOUSLY Daffodil Duck. So from now on I will refer to this female duck cartoon as Daffodil Duck and in years to come I will teach my children that and chuckle when other kids emphatically correct them... and my children will very plainly state the obvious. hahah
It's nice to have a Friday where I actually have time to think about these things.
And yes, I did well on my Greek test and actually finished all the homework (it was a toss up this week)

In other news for those of you who are neglecting many other things to actually have read down this far.... we are having a BIRTHDAY PARTY for DREW tonight at our apartment... it is totally last minute due to conflict of birthdays within our group of friends but tonight is the night! We are having fried chicken, sauteed green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, bread and sweet tea... it doesn't get much better than that! Then we are going to finish the white chocolate cake I made for him and our community group yesterday and eat it with BLUE BELL ICECREAM.... that we now have in Louisville... it's a big deal!
So you are invited, come one come all... celebrate the wonder that is Drew and the wonderful God that made him and has loaned him to me very temporarily to love and cherish!!

Ecstacy!

No I am not on drugs or thinking of trying drugs....
However, the feeling that I am feeling right now might be better than any drug out there!! I have been studying, literally, nonstop for atleast a week... or ever since I found out that I not only had a Systematic Theology III Midterm but the next day I was going to have a Greek midterm. Well, those tests were yesterday and today and it is such a relief to have them over with. The Systematic Test could've gone better, but I did know all the material.. I just had a hard time getting my thoughts on the paper b/c the questions were so elaborate and confusing! However, I swam off that test and started hitting it hard for Greek. I cannot express adequately the benefit of keeping up with vocabulary and the like in a language class. I got sick last night with some sort of brain overload or something and had to go to bed way earlier than I had planned.. however, I had studied all day and with a little review this morning I think I aced this test! I know I missed a couple of points here and there... but I also got some extra credit... so I'm hoping for the best!
Then as if that weren't enough to praise Jesus for, it is such an amazing day! It is 70+ degrees outside and not a cloud in sight. I did a little homework outside and ate a grilled cheese and then had an apple. Can you say perfect? Well, it gets better.... I decided to go for a little bike ride before work and discovered that my usual pre-wednesday philosophy quiz doesn't exist this week! I don't know why, but I don't mind! Oh and I got a nap! (It was on accident, which almost makes it better!)
Now I'm headed to work but I just thought the world should hear that I am doing well right now and could stand for this to be my situation all the time! No tests, fun in the sun and food that reminds me of being 5 (pre going to school!).
Hope every one is having a wonderful day too!

Hello World...I'm Working on a Better Title

So, when I was playing a game of Catch Phrase tonight I was thinking about some things. For starters, why was my team getting beaten so badly and a close second to that, how is it that my team is not picking up my slack since I am terrible at the game. After I got past that I started to reflect on life and all that has been going on these past few months (not really but it sounds like a good transition right?) and this is what I came up with.....
If anyone ever tells you that getting married, moving to a new state where you know almost no one, finding a brand new job (perhaps your first full time job ever), your spouse starting grad school and working part time, and trying to find and get involved in a new church all within a couple months of each other is easy, slap them in the face and call them a liar. Seriously though, I never would have thought that working full time in a secular job would be as hard as it has been. Let alone all the other crazy stuff going on...like marriage, which, for the record, is way more awesome and life changing and growing than any little ol job will ever be. I just think I had it drilled in to my head a bit more about what marriage would look like. My wife is amazing and I totally don't deserve to have someone who loves me so much, cooks such great meals, cleans the house up all nice, learns tons of cool stuff that she shares with me, and on top of it all remembers daylight saving time (thats right people it is not savingS).
Speaking of daylight saving time, I don't feel like it is really saving me time at all, but more like robbing me of an hour of sleep my body is going to miss dearly. I already get up entirely too early and now my body will feel like it is an hour earlier, which until last night was the case. Weird...did you notice that the word weird does not follow the i before e rule?
Life is great. The Lord is teaching us tons, and I hope and pray that I would be humble enough to listen to His voice and He leads us. My wife is wonderful, as previously mentioned, and challenges me daily to be a better man. The job is a job, but it is such a provision from the Lord. So all in all, the guy you slap might not be too far off if you are going to listen to the Lord's leading.

Too Easy To Complain!

With life whizzing past it's so easy to focus on all the hard things that are going on or all the things you wish had gone different... so I'm taking this moment to celebrate the good things!

1. The fact that I'm able to blog shows I am done with my Greek homework
2. It has been clear and sunny this whole week
3. I got to work out last night
4. I've had a coke everyday this week
5. I can have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or a grilled cheese every day if I want
6. We can afford groceries and all our bills
7. I am married to a man that loves me all the time... and if you know me, you know how amazing that is!
8. I slept through the entire night on Tuesday night
9. I have really warm fuzzy slippers
10. I have a job that let's me not only teach school but teach Jesus to teenagers

There are so many more littler things I could think of, and want to think of more. The main thing is... no matter how crummy or overwhelmed I feel and no matter how much our paycheck says, we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that from now on God calls me his heir and loves me as his own child. No matter how I act or what my grades are he is changing me from one glory to another and listens to my cries and answers them. He is a good God, He is the only God and that is enough to make my Spirit say HURRAY!

Think about the good when all you feel is bad!