A dying art...

When was the last time you checked the mail and got a personal letter? Not a bill or advertisement, but a heartfelt note from someone? It saddens me to know that this rarely happens. The mail has been replaced by the Internet. Even email is being replaced by things like Facebook! Don't get me wrong. I'll be quick to write on someone's Facebook wall or send them an email, but what about letters? I love mail. I love someone's handwriting on a card or piece of stationary. Think about the joy you feel when you are lucky enough to receive one of these rarities. Even birthday cards are becoming obsolete! When you did get one it's usually from your dentist!

Even as I blog about this I know that I used to much better at sending mail than I am now. I used to send a birthday card to everyone in my family...distant cousins included! I didn't even send my brother a birthday card last week. When Charlie and I dated I sent him letters in the mail. It may seem silly since we talked everyday, but I love having all those letters. It's a piece of history that can be preserved forever. So, how much longer until the post office is out of business and it is totally turned over to instant Internet mail?

I have a whole box of stationary in my closet and I hope I never find a reason to throw it out! Thursday is my grandpa's birthday. I have a card stamped and ready to be mailed...along with a few other "thinking of you" cards for people I love! :)

A thankful heart...

Just over a year ago, last summer, I remember crying. If you know me well, you know this is nothing new. I wondered what God was doing with me. I couldn't find a teaching job in Wilmington and I desperately wondered where my husband was. I had a desire to be married. I had even come to the conclusion that there were no Godly men out there who wanted to be married. I figured they just did it because they were supposed to. I thought, hopefully, God will put one of these men in my life and I would eventually get married. I had a strong fear I would be 40 before this would happen.

I broadened my job search and ended up in Fayetteville at a great school. I thought, okay, God will reveal to me a wonderful military man. Little did I know that was not his plan. A month later I met Charlie. It was a year ago today that we were hiking together at Raven Rock. Yesterday, was a year ago that we met at Chris' birthday party bowling. And tomorrow will one year that he asked me out for coffee in the parking lot of the Hibernian Pub. I knew the night we met we would get married. I don't know how I knew, but I did. I didn't expect it to turn out this wonderful.

Who knew that in a year we would be married? Even as I write this I am amazed at what a blessing God has given me. Charlie is in the other room singing my song. The song he wrote for me. And I am once again in tears. This time my tears aren't in sorrow. They aren't searching God wondering what he is doing with me. They are joyful, thankful tears. Not only did God give me a wonderful husband, he gave me one that adores me. One that I never expected or thought existed.

I try so hard to use this as a reminder. Just over a year ago I wondered where Charlie was. Now I have different questions, some new and some reoccurring...like a job. God is sovereign and his plan is great. It is better than anything I can want or imagine. In my desperate thoughts of wonder God is my comfort. He knows my desires and my heart. So as I wonder why I have these desires, why he isn't answering my prayers in my time, and why some things can be so easy for some people and not me, I remember that God loves me and knows me. He reminds me not to fret over these things, but to trust in him. He reminds me this everyday as I go to sleep in my husband's arms. Or when I kiss him hello. Or when Charlie tells me he loves me.

So, thank you God for loving me. Thank you for Charlie. Thank you for the reminder that you are in control. Even when I don't get my way, you remind me that your way is so much better.

Yum

Have you checked out my food blog?

Feed the Pig

A weekend apart

Today Charlie and I said goodbye for a very long weekend apart. No phone calls included! Charlie is off to serve as a youth leader for a Chrysalis flight. He will be giving a talk on "Faith" to a group of high school boys, hoping to lead them to Christ. He has been praying for months for a way for God to use him. This is the door that God opened. I am proud of him for his obedience, but I will miss him like crazy! I am home in Wilmington with my family. I love coming here and spending time with my family. They are a great distraction from my longing to see Charlie again in a few days. We haven't had one day since September 19th, the night we met bowling, that we haven't talked to each other. And we haven't spent a day apart since we were married 2 months ago. I miss him already and am counting down the minutes until we see each other Monday night!