i believe in auburn

...i just don't love it!

Christmas came early for John! He's headed to Atlanta to cheer on his team! Boda Getta??

five

Our fifth anniversary was October 15th. To celebrate, we went to one of my VERY favorite places...the beach.

Lucky for us, a cottage in Seaside was available which made for the PERFECT weekend get a way. Fall is my absolute fav-or-ite time to go to the beach, and the weather our anniversary weekend could not be beat.

                           

Thank you "self timer" for kindly documenting our dinner date! You can see the precious little spiral staircase in the background. The cottage was teeny tiny and I adored it! Downstairs was literally wide enough for a bed and us to stand at the end of it for this picture...upstairs was the cutest little kitchen and living room.

Each day started with John's favorite thing...coffee...and my favorite thing...coffee dates with John!

We made up lots of excuses to have to stop by the Market. It is just too cute to pass up and happens to have the most delicious cinnamon rolls.

I honestly don't know if I've ever seen the beach more beautiful. Perfect weather, perfect water, just PERFECT.

I set up shop here....

put my toes in this...

and listened to this...

while John was more focused on things like this...

I came inside to tell him Aubie was outside. He didn't believe me, and DID NOT lose his concentration in the game.

TOLD you Aubie was outside!

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon Mclaughlin, Atlantic (July 1965)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

35 years

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! What an example of hardwork, dedication and teamwork. 

I love you both.

the morning after the iron bowl

november 19th 2000

I was eighteen years old. A freshman at the University of Alabama. We hosted Auburn for the very first time (in 99 years) in our stadium, and cheered our hearts out despite our loss...and the freezing rain. My roommate, Ashley and I woke up exhausted. I had a call from Trai, a friend we met while visiting our dorm neighbors' hometown. He asked if I might meet him for lunch...and most importantly if I might bring Ashley.  Not the first lunch date for this "wingman girl". I rolled out of bed with a bad attitude, threw on a t-shirt and baseball hat without knowing that I was on my way to meet my husband. 

I met the man of my dreams at McAlister's. Maybe it was the wooden bead necklace, maybe the gelled hair but whatever it was I was hooked! ...and ten years later I'm still hooked. I can not remember who wanted to take this picture, or if we just stopped someone in the Tutwiler parking lot and asked them to take a picture of the four of us after meeting just hours before, but I am thankful for this picture. A tangible look at day ONE. We had no idea that was the beginning. The very beginning...of this love story I'm living.

I am thankful for the details God orchestrated that day. Again, thankful for a god who specializes in details. 

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns"

-George Eliot

"above ALL else, guard your heart"

Bob Flayhart is Senior Pastor of Oak Mountain Church, and author of The Bobosphere. If you have never read his blog, I encourage you to do just that. I am not a biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I was encouraged by his post and wanted to share.


Last week, his post was on the following verse:

Proverbs 4:23-"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

This is a verse that I "know", but I have not taken the time to really meditate on its truths. I must admit, this is one of those verses that I filed away in one of my life's little "chapters" and honestly have not thought much else about it. "Guard your heart" takes me back to the days of dating and Campus Crusade. The quiet times of "some day my prince will come". Not to make light of that time in my life, I do think it is important to guard your heart in the aspect of relationships, but I simply had not given it much thought beyond just that. I love the way Bob broke down this passage to share thoughts on the depth of each word.

Have you ever really thought about what your heart is? I haven't. How much more weight does this verse have in the context of your heart as the TOTALITY of your being?

Excerpts from his post:

"guard your heart"--I have to ask: what is my heart? My heart is the totality of my being, the very core of who I am. My heart is my intellect, my emotions, my will, my motivations, my joys, my priorities, the openness of my life to God and His truth and much, much more! I have a lot to guard...


"guard your heart"--hmmm, that must mean my heart is under attack! Constantly! I need to guard my heart from the lies of the enemy. I need to guard my heart from the mentality of the world. I need to guard my heart from the fallen pull of my own flesh. I need to guard my heart from living out of the pain of past woundedness. I need to guard my heart against living out of self-protection, self-preservation or self-indulgence.

Guard your heart from the mentality of the world. Wow. Well said. But even deeper, guard my heart from the fallen pull of my own flesh. Honestly, I've never thought about guarding my heart from the flesh, guarding my heart from myself, my own sinful nature that desires to live out of self-protection, self-preservation and self-indulgence. What a concept. A life changing, true concept.

"it is the wellspring of life"--I have been created by God and re-created in Christ to be a source, a wellspring, a fountain of life, to all those I come into contact with throughout the day. The life I am able to offer is directly proportional to the life in my own heart...life received from Christ, and His Word and His community. My heart is to be a wellspring of life for others and I need others to refresh my own heart as well."

Lord, let my heart be a wellspring of life.