My baby you'll be

You are just what I need

You are

I know there is no end

to the depth 

of who you are

You make me feel like all kinds of lovely

The things you want for me make me cry

I want to make sure you know

I could never give you all you deserve

But I can love you 

I know you think I am stunning

Even when I am not 

I know 

I love our life together, even when I whine about it 

And I have never loved you as much I did today 

Tomorrow is a different story. 

I hope you know I loved even before I met you

9 years ago this November 

Falling for you was the best thing I ever couldn't help doing

And I still want to know all of you 

I always will

Come Fall, Come All

I don't know what my deal is lately...but I am so over this summer kick. I am ready to wear the better half of my wardrobe (the more feminine, put together, cold weather half) I am ready to not have to feel sticky all the time and out of whack with our schedule. The things I am most looking forward to this next season...
More cuddling
Our fireplace
Boots!
Soups for dinner
Getting most weekends off with my hunk of a husband
So long externship!
Cozy-ing up our already cozy home
Baking without passing out from heat exhaustion
The scenery ...see:

ahhh...so soon.

For now I am looking forward to working full time again, and visiting my original home town: Avalon :D Come swiftly fall, no one appreciates you like I do. I'll bake you chocolate chip cookies, and we can admire this guy together ;)

Twenty-Four

 

This song is for you J

You were born at 7:47 pm on July 24th, 1987

And you turn 24 today...your golden birthday!

Twenty-four years ago today God invited you into the world, into a world I was about to join too. He created you to be exactly who you are today, and yet still continuing to grow into the man of God you desire to be in your heart.  I cannot imagine this world without you in it. 

You have accomplished so much in your life. For each year of your life you have been many different things to many different people, but you always were my husband, even before we met. God has been doing a work in your heart since that joyful day twenty-four years ago, and it not something to be ignored. I am daily floored at the man you are. Thank you for daily seeking a relationship with the Lord and leading us in our marriage. 

Twenty-four years from now, we can celebrate the man you will be then, and I am so excited to know the you in twenty-four years. But right now, right now you are exactly who you should be. You have made people strive to be something better, something more like Christ, because they see God reflected in you. You lead as an amazing example, who a husband should be, who a man of integrity should be, what a son should be and a brother, what a man of humility is. 

 

Your views of life and your goals have changed, what you deem important, who you associate yourself with, all have changed. But the tender, strong, faithful heart of yours is the same, only growing.

Thank you for falling in love with me when I was at my dorkiest and thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for taking me with you. 

Here is to you my J. 

I love you

BFFs

 Thank you for staying up till 3 a.m. with me the night before I left for Ireland, and making me laugh so hard I almost wet myself

 Thank you for being 52 and still wanting to have legitimate sleepovers with me, sleeping bags, awful B-rate horror movies and all
Thank you for being genuinely happy to see me every time I walked in the door, even if I looked awful and had mascara running down my face

 Thank you for always sharing your great insanely ecstatic opinion about Justin, even though I rolled my eyes
Thank you for encouraging me to do anything I wanted, even if it was ridiculous

 Thank you for laughing at my awful jokes and impressions, and crying because you were laughing so hard
Thank you for always wanting to have a cup of coffee with me, even if it was midnight 

Thank you for being my best friend, even if you were my mom



I miss you

-Kori-do

Being The Help While Being The Awesome

Three of my favorite comments this month:
  1)    "So what do you do?"
         "I am a nanny full-time"
         "That's...interesting...do you at least have a degree?"
2)     "Wow, you look like a girl with your hair down"
3)     "Honey....I love you so"   

Needless to say, my husband has kept me sane these last few months, especially from the brutally elite of this area.

Ok everyone get excited! I am all kinds of sophisticated now! In the last few weeks alone I have:

Participated in a food and wine pairing
Joined a book club
Eaten at a real life Michelin Star rated restaurant (the kind you spend your mortgage  on dinner)
Attended (albeit at most an hour) a daisy scout party with all the Tennisplaying-tan-tooskinnytohavehadthreekids-velourtracksuitwearing-supermommies
And of course...joined a women's bible study (I know, my mother is rolling in her non-existent grave)

BUT I think the fact that I have also:

Eaten ice cream at 9 am
Changed approximately 80 diapers this month... give or take a couple hundred
Done this to my hair
Jumped shamelessly on a trampoline with a bunch of 5-9 year olds
And let's not forget the fact that my husband and I go thrifting quite often but can you blame us?! I mean....come on!

Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?
Oh well, I would still prefer to be this person

Over these people

 All that to say, I love who I turned out to be and I can confidently say it was all God's fault ;) My husband loves me because of it and  to all those in this area who glare at me walking down main street with a baby that is not mine (which they clearly assume she is), well ya'll can just DEAL WITH IT. I am fancy when I need to be (but let's be honest....who needs fancy when you can have awesome?) and down to earth when I want to be.

I am crazy in love with my God
madly head over heels for my husband
and no longer dealing with the sass of those who feel I don't belong.

On paper, there isn't much is almost nothing to say about me, but don't let that fool you. I am an intelligent, dare I say, beautiful woman of God and I have an entire life to live. I don't know where I am going next but I know Justin will be there. And I know my mom is proud of me. Most importantly I know my God is proud of me (even when I suck A LOT) Being where we are has been humbling to say the least ("sweetheart you are so sweet but this event is for parents ...not the help" -comment while attending a recital for the little girl I take care of) , but I laugh Every. Day. and I am well loved. I sadly can't say the same about those around me.

Everyone needs the Lord....even the wealthy.

even me.

random tip: visit this site often for AMAZING recipes and down right awesomeness from our food blogger and friend, Jenna!

For Justin's Sake

I have decided I am well overdue for a good blog post. I know he checks daily to see if I have posted anything, and for once, I have.

Justin and I have been married a year (Dec. 20th) and I am not doing justice to the year by calling it anything short of wonderful. I have learned so much and drawn so much closer to this man of God.

I watch Justin come home exhausted from a long day at school. I am so blessed to see him fulfilled in what he is doing, all by the grace of God. I go to work and come home tired but I think we both come home with a sense of pride in our day. Yet still, I feel like he has done more, worked more, cared more, and for this, I am jealous. Justin pour everything into what he does, no matter how insignificant it may seem and I know he is doing it for God and for our future and it is this selfless ambition that astonishes me. I have so much to learn from him. I hope one day I grow up to be just like him.

I have been collecting (very slowly) wedding pictures and editing them so that we can have an actual wedding album. As I go through these memories I come to tears at how absolutely beautiful our day was. I have never so close to God and His blessing for our lives. “I must have done something right” I think to myself.

I don't know if most people understand what our love is like because I don't know of many people who chose to do things the way we did (with the exception of those in our lives who helped set the standard). It is so hard to try and explain to people in my life who ask for my time that I “need to talk to Justin about it” or how if I haven't seen him for 14 hours my heart actually feels like it is breaking. We need each other, now more than ever. This gift, this man, is so far out of my league. I am speechless every morning to see him there “Father thank you so much for this man I don't deserve”

He is my best friend and knows me so well. I look forward to more crazy nights in making absolutely fantastic dinners, baking yummy desert, watching movies on our big tv, going for walks along the vineyards, playing video games until the console tells us “we noticed you have been playing nonstop for a while, maybe a 10 minute break would be good for you” (true story) or just listening to music loudly on a road trip.

People ask us a lot if we need “our space” or we “get tired of each other” and they are like shocked when we say “no”. If we have free time (which isn't often) we spend it together. We WANT to spend it together. I cannot wait to get home to see him and when he comes in the door he eagerly finds me.

YES, we do argue and have different opinions about things, but the good far FAR outweighs the bad.

Justin prays over me, over us, every night. He still opens my door for me. He still looks at me from across a crowded room. He makes me laugh so hard at just how SILLY he is. He dances slowly with me when we are alone. And THIS is why I am so in love. ALL these things and more make up what a perfect husband he is. Not a perfect man, but a perfect husband.

I am overwhelmed at his love. And I know, when we have lived our lives, I will have lived mine loving him, every day.

Only you called me "Kori-do"

You asked me once what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said,
"I wanna be like you momma! ...What do you want to be like when you grow up mom?"
"I want to be like you Kori-Do"

The smell of cinnamon and vanilla
The sound of all of my siblings laughing
Watching you baste the turkey while you looked up and winked at me
Tia making fudge while you and her made fun of Grandma Ruth
Cousins in the garage playing video games
Uncles, nephews, nieces riding dirt bikes, playing board games, watching movies
Praying as a family, in thanks, for the blessing God gave us of family

These are things I choose to remember momma. This is how you belong in my heart.  I hope someday I can create the kind of home you did, they way you did, with my own family, my husband, and one day our kids. I miss you so much, and I am thinking of you everyday. -Your Bean, Kori-Do