Pink

Boys and girls are different. This is something I have learned in my year+ in marriage. I do happen to have the most amazing, caring and wonderful husband on the planet but sometimes he doesn't understand me. It's not bad, it's usually funny.
It is a steadfast rule in our house that if Drew is cold I am sweating hot and if he is hot I am fine or cold. Seriously. When we get into bed at night I am usually freeeeeezing and my body has a wind chill. Drew is usually radiating heat at this point, which is great for my cold legs and toes but not so great for his warm self! Then the night begins, we sleep, I sweat, I wake up, I am soooooo hot!! I can't take a hot shower, I hate blow drying my hair and take frequent trips to stand by the fan to cool off. Drew wakes up freeeeezing... the first place he likes to go is to the thermastat (sp?) and I cry...noooooo I am sweating! He wears an undershirt, shirt, coat jacket, robe and blanket when he's reading in the mornings and is cold. I am wearing...less... and I am sweating. It's seriously weird!
I love tradition and having rituals about my life. For instance, I love tea. Cold or hot. I love it. So every night and some mornings in the winter I like to have my constant comment green tea with 1/4th of a packet of splenda. I like to have a Dr. Pepper or cherry coke (light on the cherry but please put real cherries in, thanks!) in the summer. I have limited myself to one coke a week, which is huge, but this little beverage lights up my face with out fail. I like to go together. I like to drink (non alcoholic) together. Drew doesn't mind this about me but he is not like this. He could do something different every day and never care or feel bothered.
I love Chick Fil A. I am not a picky eater. I love most if not all vegetables and I even like to cook a lot. However, sometimes I just get these cravings... and they are always for Chick Fil A. Luckily, this is actually a cheap date so Drew doesn't mind obliging me my non-fast-food-good-for-you-fried-chicken!
The final example I will give you is what really inspired me to write this. I love pink. If I can buy it in pink I will. Right now I am wearing pink underarmer and have on pink running shorts with pink adidas and pink socks. I have pink bike jerseys. I have a pink scarf. I have a pink Bible. I like to wear pink all the time. I never liked pink until part way through college and it was like I caught a disease. Don't get me wrong I also love green. Purple is growing on me and blue is great in certain shades. But if I know I am going to have a hard day, I will wear pink. I know the Lord is my first sustainer and I do rely on him more than pink in a major way... but just give me some space here.... I love Jesus most of all.... I am talking about one zillions levels lower than that kind of love and reliance! So... I wear pink and it makes me feel good. I feel happy and cheerful, even if it is just a plain pink tshirt. Wow, get to the story already. Well when I started at the Seminary I was carrying a pink bag, had a pink bible, pink water bottle and pink spiral. Since I had all guys in my greek class they noticed my color and started to tease me about. I really hadn't noticed that I wore pink so often or had so much of it... until one day they started clapping when I walked in with no pink. Still if I see certain of these boys they will comment on the pink or lack of. Every semester I have had a different pink or colorful binder or spiral. This semester the stores are lacking. I have held out. Where was the binder that I was going to be willing to take to every class for a semester, through thick and thin. I have to like it if it's going to be around me more than my husband. So I found it in Texas... it's a notebinder or something like that by five star. It's like a collapsable binder, no thicker than a spiral... and it comes in pink. But I figured I would just get it in Kentucky. Kroger, Target and WalMart didn't have it or anything pink that would work! Finally today, on my fourth trip I found it... the pink notebinder. And I bought it. And I am very happy. I think that since I know my happiness is not bound up in this spiral but just appreciate the little things in life, that it is okay for me to get this. It wasn't any more expensive and I can reuse it over and over by just refilling the paper or small notebook. YAY. Thank you five star.
My husband is still shaking his head that I didn't buy the black one at Target... or any one.... that I really walked out empty handed....at more than one place. HAHA!
So maybe boys and girls aren't so different and I am just extremely weird... but I thought every one (or the literal one person who reads this) should get to laugh with me or at me, your choice, and be happy that I found it!!
pointless blogging...yes...but that's how I have to do it to get back in the swing of frequent blogging...

Holinetermbirty

That's Christmas Holiday, New Year, JTerm, birthday and party abbreviated!


(this is the whole Lewis gang... sadly I don't have one on my computer of the Thompson clan... cough cough mom you should send me those pics we took!!)

We had such a Merry Christmas with all our family and a few of our friends back in Texas. We love Texas a lot and really enjoy the chance to see our families and are so thankful they live close to each other! However, each time we go back we realize anew that Kentucky really has become our home. This is weird, but it's also a huge blessing because it is only by the Lord's blessing that we have found such an excellent apartment, church, friends and school!! He has blessed us more than we ever imagined coming out here a year ago!
We spent Christmas going back and forth between Fort Worth and Dallas and no amount of time in either place ever seemed like enough. We were overwhelmed by the sweet and thoughtful gifts we received and so excited to give our gifts... especially the ones we've had for months! I think one of the most rewarding gifts we gave was to one of my sisters. I was so unsure what to get and doubted every single thing I picked out for her. I wanted my gift to show love and thoughtfulness but to also be from me and my personality (and Drew's) too. So one of the things she (and actually both sisters) got was a CD from a couple at our church. They are the most awesome musicians in every way that I have ever seen. They are so talented and their music is very thoughtful... and it's very ROCK! So I thought my sister would appreciate the talent and the lyrics both but was so unsure. We gave this CD to all the "kids" in our family b/c we just love it that much and wanted to be giving our money to a good cause if we were going to be spending money on gifts. I wasn't sure if any of them would listen to it or even give it a try since they hadn't heard of it but then I got a call from this sister the other day and she mentioned in passing that she loved the CD a lot. This made my whole Christmas (even thought it's over).
We didn't do anything for the New Year but it did give us time to reflect on all that God has done for us and to us this last year. We are overwhelmed with blessings in the form of an amazing church, community with other believers, a place to live and money to be able to go to school... this is very similar to the list above! haha. It also challenged us to seek growth and change in our lives this upcoming year and not to coast. We want to be ever growing and learning. I want to be a better wife and helper to Drew. I want to lift him up and help build up our home and not tear it down through criticism or neglect. I want to keep in better touch with my close friends and with my family so they can know how much I care.. because I do care even when I neglect calling and emails... but actions speak louder.
The Monday after we got home was my birthday but was spent in an intense JTerm. This Jterm almost consumed my life for the complete week. I didn't even get to check all my phone messages (much less call people back) or my email on my own birthday. It was pretty sad. But the Lord got me through the whole week without over stressing or worrying but just diligently working every minute I was awake (which I did). The class taught me so much about how (even in the Old Testament) Got is primarily concerned about our heart. The law is there because we do sin and need guidelines but the truth of the matter is the heart. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, constantly points to this fact by pointing to the law and then intensifying it by revealing the heart that has to be behind the work to make it matter. It was truly challenging but also encouraging. So often I worry over the details and I have always been such a rule follower... but this truth frees me to instead focus on purifying my heart and mind and focusing on God and then making a decision in that mindset instead of looking for the written way. Not that I will be breaking all the rules any time soon, but this helps in those decisions that you have to make for yourself with the Word in your heart. The great news is, if I mess up and if my heart leads me astray b/c it isn't perfect, there is more grace and more learning up ahead! It was great and exhausting!
After my final on Friday morning I went to hang out with my mentor... while I was there my husband called (way too early for him to be off work) saying he was at home and my bag was packed and I needed to get home right now. So I headed home and we took off east for a birthday adventure. He had wrangled some of our friends into the adventure and so we caravanned east. I had no clue where we were going and didn't try to figure it out and he ended up taking me to a cabin in the woods at the Red River Gorge! It was so beautiful and amazing, I couldn't have thought of a better way to end the week or celebrate my birthday. We relaxed with friends, slept, hiked and ate ate ate and watched movies!! It was so beautiful on the trails and so relaxing in the beautiful log cabin!!


(this is the loft in the cabin where we slept!)

WAY TO GO DREW! He is truly the most caring man! Then when we got home on Sunday he had arranged for all of my friends to come over off and on between 2-5 and had some amazing bakers make me chocolate birthday cakes (thanks Bethan and Chris!). Then we ended by going to church and had a wonderful worship service and sermon on Romans, which we will be in for the next year. It's so great!!! This weekend will be a memory I cherish forever!


(perfect nap spot on the trail...haha)

Now I am cleaning house, catching up with friends and getting ready for a new semester to start. I am taking a counseling class, anothey systematic theology w/ Dr. Moore, a greek exegesis of Colossians and Philemon and possibly church history II.
Errands are calling my name........