Howdy! (This is B...) So this is my first attempt at blogging of my own free-will. I had to do I it a couple of times at A&M for business classes. This time, however, I just wanted to tell you all about our Christmas adventures, because when you get married and move accross the country in the same summer, the dynamics of Christmas change dramatically.

Ashley and I had our first Christmass together this past Saturday in Pensacola. Ashley got me some pretty cool stuff. Then on Sunday morning we packed up for the long drive to Texas. We spent Sunday night in Houston with my family before waking up and driving to San Antonio to see her family. Last night we had dinner at the Norville household and my Dad and his parents drove down from Marble Falls to join us...and we're not even half-way done with Christmas stuff yet.

And by the way. My wife is amazing. She is the best helper I have ever met. She is encouraging and joyful. She is my best friend. And she is Hott!

revisiting what i'm learning.

Hey all!

Thanks so much for all the comments and words of truth and encouragement with what I shared a couple of weeks ago. I am so thankful for you. I wanted to revisit that subject with just an update on a little more of what I am learning.

After that week of uncovering some of those thought patterns, I was able to read some encouraging words from mentors and friend and got to talk through some of it with a couple of other dear friends.

One of the ladies I was talking to has actually been dealing through some of the same things, but in a different stage in life, as a mommy. Even my mom, a pro at parenting and being a wife, shared that she has dealt with the same thoughts recently in her new stage of life! Its amazing what common threads we all have as women. With so many of us desiring to feel purposeful and do valuable things, its pretty safe to say that God made us to desire purpose and value.
(if you have no idea what i am talking about and are completely confused read a couple of entries down, titled "what i'm learning.)

Our value and our purpose, our worth and joy can only come from Him though and being in His presence.

I like to have all the answers and to have everything figured out. I have been very blessed to have so many wonderful ladies pour into my life over the years, starting from birth w/ my mom and extending throughout the church body, especially during those teenage years when it wasn't cool to tell your mom all your secrets/thoughts and during college when I was away from my family. I have gained a wealth of wisdom from all the older women in my life who have poured their hearts out to me and covered me with prayers and truth.

And I always think when I am with them, man, I am going to remember what they are telling me so that I don't have to struggle with this sin or with that sin.

In my simple mind I start to think, wow, I am going to be an awesome wife, mom, etc...because these great women are telling me everything I need to know!

ha if only that were true :)

but when I don't do things right, I often feel like I am disappointing the Lord. I think, I know how I am supposed to do this! why can't I do it perfectly now!

however I am coming to learn (through the wisdom of a dear friend) that God is not about me doing things perfectly, especially not the first time. A lot of times I want Him to be about that, because I feel like I can do something to earn His love. I get frustrated when I am not His perfect daughter. But the fact is that He loves me, and He loves you, regardless of how awesome (or not awesome- as is often the case) I am.

And more than that, He wants to refine me, to train me in godliness-- and that takes time.

So even though I may know that being a wife to B and loving him daily are very valuable to God, and that I am valuable simply because God says I am, it is going to be part of the journey. It is going to take time to really believe God when He says those things.

He is taking me on a journey, and I believe that it is a delight for Him to do so. He wants to help me and walk with me or carry me through this. He doesn't want me to have all the answers (darn :) )

but thats ok. because the journey is much sweeter, training is much better than an instant superhero mix. sometimes I want that mix--but that's not what God wants. He wants me to fellowship with Him, to need Him and to spend time with Him in His word, to love Him.

So, I am still on the journey, but I think I will be on one all my life! I am just glad to know that He wants to do it w/ me :)

Christmas Time in Florida

We are home again, home again in Pensacola, FL. We got back on Friday afternoon after B's graduation. We had the whole weekend to spend with each other because he didn't have to report back to the base in Pensacola until Monday.

In our excitement to finally come home, we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach (its about a 10 minute drive from our apartment- i know you're jealous). There was hardly anyone on the beach in the middle of December, even though it was still sunny and just a little on the cool side. ( I don't think we'll be seeing snow in Florida this year)

Here's some documentation of our day!

We recruited the one girl on the beach to take our picture :)

the water was cold on my feetsies

ben found a sand dollar!

ben found a bigger sand dollar!

ben's face anytime he sees a flying object :)

priceless.

He's my handsome flyer!

waiting.

We are officially counting down our last week in Alabama. It really has been a fun six weeks and I am so glad that we have gotten to do it together. Some wives don't get to come to this training with their husbands, so we are very blessed in that.



B just finished up his last test (even outside of college station he couldn't evade finals!) and passed! He is so smarty! and we had some great prayer warriors praying for him this morning :)


So on Friday, B is going to Gradutate himself (no typo, thats just what we call it) and we will head back to Florida, for good! well, sort of.



We will actually only be in Florida for a week before we head home to do a tour of Texas for Christmas break :) San Antonio, College Station and Houston are on our hit list. We only have about 10 days so we are having breeze thru them all quickly, but it will be so worth it to spend Christmas with our families. And we get to see J-Rog and Keri get married!! That will be fantastic!
It kind of feels weird to be going "home" to Florida. We have been there so on and off now that it is hard for our brains to really comprehend that we will really be living there the next year and a half or two. I think we are both excited about it, but there is also a sense of wonder as to what our time there will really have in store for us. What will we be involved in? where will the Lord use us? and who will He have us surround ourselves? Questions like that fill our minds, knowing that we really are going to live there for a while. We are learning to seek the Lord together for the future; B is learning to lead in that and I am learning to follow while we communicate to each other what we are sensing from the Lord.
It will be neat to look back on this time in a year or two and see a clearer and perhaps bigger picture of what the Lord is training us for right now and the circumstances, places and people He will surround us with. But for now, only He knows!

what i'm learning.

In my time with the Lord this morning I was just so struck by the lies we believe, and how destructive they can be in our daily walks.

I was telling/crying to B yesterday some of the things I had been feeling lately, that I knew just weren't good at all. I was telling him that I have just felt really purposeless lately- and am struggling to see the worth and the value of what I do. Its hard for me to put value on doing the dishes and the laundry, balancing the check book and cooking our meals. Its not something I am used to equating much worth to. Before I was married, I didn't do any of those things very often because I had things to do outside the house that I saw to be of greater value. I was hanging out w/ my little girls in Bryan or meeting someone for coffee to talk or pray. So as I hope you can see, its been kind of difficult for me to readjust my mind in this area. I have a husband now. And I never have had one of those before. I'm not used to equating a lot of purpose to loving and serving a husband. Yet, the highest calling I have on this earth in serving my God is to serve and to love him....so why are all these things floating around in my mind? Why I am doubting the significance of all that I do? As I thought about this and shared it with B, I realized what an effect these thoughts had on my daily walk. Its easy to sulk around or feel worthless when you are letting yourself believe that the things you are doing aren't of any value!
So why have these thoughts come up lately? Well one, as I said earlier-these just aren't the things I have ever put any stock in; and two- these are exactly the things I am supposed to be doing! Of course the enemy would want me doubting my value in this area!

Titus 2 instructs older women to "train young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled,pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled"

Two of the very areas that we are to be trained in so that the God's Word is not reviled, are the very things that I was having such a hard time seeing worth in. Don't get me wrong, I love loving my husband, and I love being at home for him and taking care of things at home while he is gone, but I just don't naturally attribute much value to them. But they really are a HUGE deal. God wants us to do these things so that His word is not reviled, or despised! Thats a big deal. These are areas that I do not want to take lightly or to disregard as being enjoyable, but unimportant areas of my life. They are essential parts of the woman God is training me to be! I am not saying that a woman must stay at home all day and never leave or do anything else, but it is definitely an area to be regarded much as far as the Word of God goes.

B of course, is wonderful and is constantly reminding me of how important I am to him...I think he tells me 200 times a day that he loves me (and I wouldn't want it any other way). I love serving him and being his best friend. He serves me a lot too.

These are my musings for the day. friends, you can pray that I would really take hold of the purpose I have in being B's wife- that I would see through clear lenses God's great design and not let myself think on those lies.

O Christmas Tree!

While our family was in for the holiday, B and I decided to chop down our first Christmas tree. It wasn't as extreme as it may sound because THE Christmas Forest of Pensacola is located just a mile down the street from us. Who knew that Florida had its own Christmas Forest! The trees are actually grown in the sand, one is called the sand pine and the other is the Leeland cedar. We scoped out the best tree and with a hacksaw and B's muscles, took it home to our little apartment! The tree looks HUGE in our apartment, when we were in the tree forest, it really didn't look all that big. But its perfect! We were so excited about our first tree that we enlisted all of B's family to help us deck it out with lights and ornaments.


We actually made our own ornaments, with a little help from the inspiration of Starbucks :)


We took styrofoam balls of all sizes and wrapped them in different colors of yarn. We even found a styrofoam star to put on top! It looks sooo cute and was really fun to do with the whole family!


We even have a baby sitter for our tree while we are in Alabama this week (we are very good at giving Christmas trees a nice home). B is finishing up his last two weeks of training in Montgomery so we should be going home for good around dec. 12th. Here are some pictures of the tree and ornaments.