October Weekend.

Dear Boyfriend,

I can't tell you how glad I am we share a love of Chinese food and fortune cookies. I say we incorporate this into our list of goals, maybe.. eat at every Chinese restaurant in Georgia? P.F. Chang's in Birmingham was good, but we obviously have to test out the one in Atlanta sometime.

The bakery and deli were obviously my favorite parts of my first visit to Publix. nom nom. Perfect way to start my arrival in Georgia.

 

You always said Georgia is beautiful in the fall, and you were so right. Wow.

Only we would eat lunch in your car in the Publix parking lot before my big interview. I'm almost positive the DP Ten (and the dance party) helped me in the interview. The creepy smoker guy who stared at us from his car, not so much...

 

I'm glad you understand and/or encourage my love of photography. It's nice to have someone help you choose good photography spots, rather than grudgingly follow along. Photo adventures are the best way to kill time, even in random towns we don't even know our way around.

And I finally got to go to my first corn maze! Even if I was horrible at it... oops. But, the hay ride was fun :) Maybe next year we can do the jumping pillow... Any reason to be with Glorieta family and you at the same time!

Amicalola Falls is going to a be a frequent spot for us, I can already tell. But, next time I will make sure and bring proper hiking attire, instead of moccasins. I also enjoy the fact that we blatantly ignored the "stay on the trail" signs. We're such big rebels. 

Us in this picture > the group of old people we took a picture of, in terms of cuteness.

I hope we have a backyard someday, so we can just lay around in the grass, relaxing in the shade. But, if any more dogs run up to us, we're putting up a fence. I don't care if that dog was only the size of my foot! 

You and your chef's hat... adorable, really. I think I'm going to have to design some signs for the kitchen to match.

Another fall first - carving my first pumpkin. Okay, really, you carved most of it while I sat there. Just means I have to practice and carve a pumpkin every year. We can roast the pumpkin seeds, and then spit them at each other on the porch... it'll be a yearly tradition, unless the neighbors report us.

Church is a rare occasion for us, due to the flight schedules. But, it's a favorite of mine when it does happen. Your church has prettier surroundings than mine :)

 

Leaving you is always the worst part of the weekend. This trip home was even worse thanks to that Dallas fog. But, hopefully that'll be the last time it happens.

Love you, miss you, see you on New Year's Eve :)

Many the Miles.

There are some things in life that people don't understand looking from the outside in, and currently I have something I deal with daily that people don't understand.

Long-distance relationships.

"It's not real, it won't last, it'd be different if you were closer, etc."
And I'm not just talking about dating, I'm talking about friendships as well.

For some reason, 21 years ago, when the big guy upstairs created me, He put in a wire labeled "can-handle-being-away-from-the-ones-closest-to-her" or something along those lines. Away from my boyfriend, some of my closest friends, and I'm not a homebody so I hardly go home to my parents.

My best friend and I have known each other for over ten years, and yet have never spent more than one consecutive week together. How do I call her my best friend with such little time together? Because we communicate like there's no tomorrow. Text, phone calls, skype dates, letters, emails, etc. We've done it all. Oh, and the in-between dates - like hanging out in Wal-Mart for a few hours because that's the only way we can spend time together.

If anything, my communication skills have improved over the last few years. Communicating long-distance is not only important, but I firmly believe it strengthens the relationship. When your only option is to talk... you focus on that, and use it as much as possible. That's why Ellie and Aaron know me so well - both the good and the bad parts.

Is it frustrating? Do I wish I could hang out with them every day? Do they miss special things like birthdays and holidays? Yes. Does that make our relationship any less real or important? Not even.

It's not ideal, and it's not easy, but don't underestimate the strength of long-distance relationships. 

August Weekend.

Dear Boyfriend,

Just as it gets harder to say good-bye everytime, each visit is more and more enjoyable. I think one of my favorite parts of this past weekend was how we did all these new things together.

Lunch was complicated, and made me grumpy, but that was some gooooood pizza. It never fails that I end up in the ghetto in almost every city I visit, so just get used to that. And the shopping syndrome... sorry about that too. Someday I'll enjoy shopping like a normal girl.

Dinner on the other hand, was fabulous. You can never go wrong with Panda. :)
 

  

I've been to a few baseball games (two, to be exact) but this was by far my favorite. Minus the people behind us sloshing beer on us. That wasn't cool. 

 

Ziplining = favorite. Even better that we got to do it at the same time (on different lines, just to clarify). Those harnesses were so attractive, I might add. Maybe next time we can both hit the pole... or not. Also, that mulch area is where I taught you how to two-step, and Alex taught us how to pretzel. Good times, keep working on it though... 

 

We always talk about our big roadtrip around the U.S., and traveling the world. I guess you could say this is the beginning. A day trip to Colorado, with a quick run to the Utah state line. Two more down! I wonder if all states have the repeated cow signs, reindeer signs, tractor signs...

 Date night. Date nights are always my favorite. Even though I'm a t-shirt kind of girl, a black dress once in awhile is good too :) I think this picture conveys how fun we are, and ridiculous. Never forget how ridiculous we are! Another visit to San Francisco Bar & Grill, walking around the plaza, sitting on the back porch in rocking chairs... pretty nice way to celebrate a year together. The diamond necklace and earrings helped too ;)

 I love you. 

Thank you for the laughs this weekend, and the new memories.
Especially when you took me to see the sunset :)

One Year Anniversary!

"How do you measure a year?

In daylights,
in sunsets,
in midnights,
in cups of coffee,
in inches,
in miles,
in laughter,
in strife...

How about love?"

Has it really already been a year with Aaron? Yes, yes it has.

Last summer included: a trip to the zoo, an Iron Maiden concert, him giving me DDP and peanut butter, a drive-in movie, a date to the opera, lots of Panda Express, star-gazing, watching a sunset from atop a hill, and of course... many nights of playing Rock Band. After all that, we became an "official" couple.

Then started our long-distance journey. A hard year, but an amazing year.
full of Skype dates, phone calls, letters, texts, flights, driving...
full of inside jokes, uncontrollable laughter, Bible study...
full of DDP, Taco Bell, flowers, surprises, Chinese food...

We keep each other accountable, we challenge each other, we're genuine and real with each other, we laugh (a lot) together, we pray together, we read together, and we trust, respect, and love each other. The only "don't" in our relationship is we don't fight - one year, and a not a single fight. Yes, it's tried our patience, and Satan's tried to trick us with doubt... but His peace surpasses it all.

Neither of us were expecting to leave last summer being in a relationship, but God works in unexpected ways when we're least expecting it. A lot of people say our love isn't real, that it's not conventional, that it wouldn't work. But, anything is possible with God - and geography does not stop Him.

The longest we went without seeing each other was 16 weeks (and two days).
The shortest, 5 weeks.
But, the time flew (most of the time) with as much as we talked.

"Distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It's for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It's for those knowing a good thing when they see it, even if they don't see it nearly enough..." 

One year down, many more to go... :)

Weekend.

Dear Boyfriend,

I hope while watching me wander around in circles in confusion, the airport security officers laughed as much as we laughed at Furr's. Speaking of security, anybody shine a flashlight in your face lately?

Now you see why I love my job and why we love Oscar's. Sorry, I had the better burrito. :)

You weren't kidding when you said the five-year-old you was going to come out in the Discovery Center. The bubbles were my favorite part, in case you didn't notice. The light show with 80's graphics was my least favorite though - I still get nauseous thinking about it.

And I don't really care what my parents say, I think two trips to Orange Leaf was necessary this weekend. I enjoyed our eating-only-at-local-restaurants (minus Taco Bell) and always eating dessert.

I'm glad I now know how to make fettuccine alfredo.
Your cooking skills are slowly rubbing off on me! Don't give up on me yet, please!

You really love helping me finish my 101 list, don't you? This was probably one of my favorites, besides the really long roadtrip (since I was driving to see you...) Maybe someday we can ride a Tonto and Durango instead of Peanut and Rascal.

Although I don't do it very often, I'm glad I had a reason to wear my little black dress. I'm also glad you didn't judge me for how much bread I ate at Napoli's. And if you ever wear a baseball cap like those dumb high school prom dates though, we will have problems.

Two of the things I miss the most about being away from you is not being able to go to church together, and hanging out with my family. I'm glad my parents got to be part of your first-time-at-Braum's experience.

You proved me wrong when I said boys aren't very creative, and this weekend you proved me wrong on your predictability. Seven flowers each given separately, even one in the sock drawer? You're pretty sneaky, mister.

Thanks for walking around Wal-Mart with me while I finally got my oil changed, and then helping me wash my car for the first time in a year. I enjoy even doing the mundane things with you. Although it wasn't mundane, I also appreciated the help for my photo project. :)

I already miss you, our tickle fights, reading the Word at night, and randomly saying parsley... :)

Dating...

So, I went back and read some articles about dating I read this summer. Many of you were not reading this blog, or maybe missed it at the time.


My favorite line of this article:
"Marry a vibrant growing Christian woman, and you have Christ's promise that he is committed to making her more and more beautiful, spiritually beautiful, with every passing day."


I love it, I love how much Christ loves us to continually grow and change us. I love that the focus of this article, and of the related articles (they're at the bottom of the article) is about not finding the right one, but BEING the right one. Even as Christians, we can get caught up in this selfish thinking.

Outside Dating Advice.

If you are dating someone, or heck... even if you just want advice on Godly dating/marriage, go here. I follow this blog regularly, they do a variety of topics, but this last week they started one on marriages. Real good. :)

Boundless #7.

I love my grandma. She means the world to me. Our seventh task was to talk to an elderly person about relationships and whatnot. I talk to my grandma every week, so today when I called her, I told her about this challenge and then we got to talking about the subject.

She said that dating now and back then is so different. Back then, relationships were a lot more committed (as in, not just casual dating and dating around). Which, I thought was more Biblical than how most people date nowadays. I don't believe that "guarding your heart" aligns with dating a different guy every week, or every month. I read something the other day that talked about dating, and whether or not you should only date someone you think you will marry. The author said that that's not the idea of dating, but you shouldn't date someone you can't picture marrying. The purpose of dating is getting to know one another, and seeing if finding if it's God's will to be together.

My grandma also said that morals were a lot higher, to which I laughed, because it's sadly true. A sermon I heard about a week or two ago said, "No one wants to hear about your God if you can't keep your pants on." SO TRUE. Morals/actions should be honorable to God and reflect your faith.

I don't completely agree with how people date nowadays. I mean, to each their own... but I think it's kind of sad what dating has come to now. I guess call me old-fashioned?

Boundless #3.

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one in another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Today's Boundless challenge is to meditate on this passage from Romans 12, and write down how we think this reflects on relationships.

Although I know the challenge is more towards "dating" relationships, the first sentence really caught my attention. Sincere. Meaning: honest, pure, true. As believers, we are to love one another. This is something I struggle with sometimes. My friends, I love to death, and have no problem encouraging them and pouring into them. People I don't necessarily get along with.... that's a different story. There are some points at which I try to be nice to the people I don't like... but I know it's not sincere, sadly. I've been praying lately that God would just remind me of how much love He has shown me, and that I would be so overwhelmed with that reminder that I just pour out that love to others.

"Honor one another above yourselves." With the reading from Friday, this sentence stuck out to me on the dating front. The "dating" relationships we start/have are to be God-honoring. And as the article had said: to not get too emotionally attached, not share every detail about our lives in the first week, have boundaries, etc. To me this means to actually watch what you say/do, so that you don't cause the other one to 'stumble' and become more attached and whatnot. If both people watch their actions/words not only for themselves, but to guard the other person's heart as well... the relationship should stay at a healthy level. And, I think when both parties stay at a healthy distance, then we don't become distracted from serving God... "never lacking zeal."

I've never looked at this passage in a relationship aspect... but I'm glad He gave me a fresh eye for this! Really opened up my eyes and heart to new things.

Boundless.

I'm doing this challenge.

I'm kind of behind, because I haven't done day one.

But, day two has already sparked my interest. Today we're to read this article about dating written by Scott Croft, and write any comments we have about the article.

1. I love when he says, "...we cannot simply state that the Bible doesn't mention dating or courtship, and then think we're off the hook to pursue this area of our lives either on the world's terms or however seems best to us without diligent, submissive reference to God's Word." I know a lot f Christians who think there are certain areas of life that God doesn't care about or have anything to do with - wrong. I know there are areas in my life that I try and control, even though I know God wants control, which is something I work on daily.

2. The part where he compares modern dating to Biblical dating - awesome. I especially enjoyed the part where it talks about spending time together. This world thinks you're supposed to spend all your time alone, but biblically, group hang out-age is encouraged. Which I wholeheartedly agree with.

3. The section titled, "Are You Ready to Date?" was very interesting. I think it's true, that we, as believers, should not date just to date and have fun. I'm not sure if I agree with you being ready to date equaling you picturing yourself married within a year. I think it's good to evaluate where you are spiritually, and that telling you whether you're in a place in life where you could date. I think it would be hard to evaluate myself, and say, "yeah, I could date" without being prideful. I also think it would be easy to justify or lie to myself and think I'm ready to date, because it's what I want - and not what God wants.

I will probably have to read this article a few more times to fully comprehend all the information. But it's solid. I agree. It's something prevalent, especially in my life right now. And I believe it's so important to seek God in every area of my life.