What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday: Alternative Skillet

Remember this post from a few weeks ago on my Love Affair with a Skillet?  I ran across some wonderful (and interesting) alternative uses for cast iron skillets. 

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What do you think? Have I taken this obsession a little too far? Yeah, probably.  But you have to admit that skillet recipe holder and campfire cooking is brilliant! Simply brilliant I say ;-)

Marital Monday: Life of a Wife

Happy Monday! Can you believe this is the last week of August?!  Though I feel like I seriously say this every month, I really feel like this month has gone by way too fast! 

If you’re just getting here, every Monday this month we have had a featured guest to share their love story.  If you need to catch up, you can visit here, here, here, and here.  You wont be disappointed; I promise!  We have had so much fun this month with all our guests, and I’m super sad to see the month end.  Thank you to all of our visitors, your stories have been a delight to read :-)

To bring us home on our last week of love stories, Sherri from Life of a Wife is visiting.  Sherri always makes me smile, and she always has my stomach grumbling with her delicious recipes.  You must check our her blog asap.

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Caleb and I have known each other most of our lives, but it took us a while to realize we were meant to be together!  We only dated for four months before we got engaged, and then got married less than six months later.  Needless to say, we've learned a lot about each other this first year of marriage.  I think the learning curve in all new marriages is quite steep, but ours was maybe a little steeper since we didn't date for very long before getting married.

Such an old picture of us!  I was going into 9th grade and Caleb was going into his senior year of high school.  Who knew we'd get married one day?!

The other night Caleb and I had pudding for dessert; he wanted vanilla, I wanted chocolate.  As I was serving the pudding, I couldn't help but think, he is the yang to my yin! Oh, how many times I've thought that this past year!

photo credit: colling photography

We encounter our differences all of the time.  Caleb is easy-going and laid back; I am super-organized and a little uptight.  I don't like large groups of people; Caleb believes the more the merrier!  An ideal vacation for me is laying on the beach with a stack of books; Caleb gets bored at the beach.  Caleb is fearless; I take every precaution known to man.  I get easily excited, show every single emotion on my face, exaggerate, and over-react; Caleb is stoic, controlled, and stable.  I have such a problematic sweet tooth; dessert rarely even tempts Caleb.  I am grumpy in the mornings; Caleb is up and ready to go first thing! I'll be honest:  a lot of times all of our little differences drive me crazy!  They have caused a lot of miscommunication, unmet expectations, and even some disappointment.  But what relationship doesn't have those things?!

photo credit: colling photography

As we continue on this journey of life together, I am learning more and more about sacrifice and compromise.  Rarely do we prefer or choose the same thing, so one or both of us is always going to have to compromise, and we're working on that.  That means some nights we watch Audrey Hepburn movies, and some nights we watched documentaries.  Even though I'm not a huge pasta fan, I try to make pasta a lot because Caleb loves it.  For our vacation this year, we went to Yellowstone.  I am not an outdoors girl by any means, so this was a huge stretch for me!  But it ended up being such a perfect vacation because I LOVED seeing how much fun Caleb had doing what he loves!  I even enjoyed the hiking we did and all of the time we spent outside, because what really mattered was that we got to be together in an amazing place!

in front of the Grand Tetons

Even with all of our little differences, I have never doubted that Caleb is the one God has chosen for me!  We certainly didn't fall in love and decide we wanted to spend our lives together because of how similar we are; we just knew we would be better and happier together as one than as individuals.  We know we are perfect for each other because we balance each other out and make a wonderful team!  We push each other to try new things:  Caleb took ballroom dancing classes with me before we got married.  We haven't danced since our wedding reception, but I loved that he was willing to step way out of his comfort zone to make me feel special!  I had never been skiing before, but Caleb loves it, so I decided to try it.  I now know that I HATE skiing (I kept taking out little kids!), but it meant the world to Caleb that I tried.  Caleb is great at seeing the big picture, and I'm attentive to the details, so we work well together.  Caleb is super disciplined and has encouraged me to be healthier in my eating and my exercise.  Caleb likes to say I bring "spunk" to his life (read: never a dull moment with Sherri!), but he is the calm to my storm.  We love just being together, whether we're spending a quiet evening at home or traveling to a new place.

photo credit: colling photography

I have learned to be thankful for our differences, because it teaches us to love each other selflessly and serve each other joyfully.  What really matters is that Caleb is the man that best loves me, takes care of me, provides for me, balances me out, and most importantly encourages and challenges me to become more like Jesus.  I am so blessed to go through life with him as my husband!

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Thank you so much for sharing Sherri!  Arenty they such a gorgeous couple?! After I read her post, I told Sherri that her story was very similar to my love story with Phil.  I just love this!  You all most go and give her some bloggy love- aka comments :-)

Thank you all for participating in Marital Monday and sharing your stories!

Coffee Candles

Many of you have asked about how my master bedroom project is coming along.  Thank you so much for checking in on my hot mess of a project!  I’m just about finished and pictures are soon to come.  Don’t worry, you know I will show you all the new details :-)  I will peak your interest by saying that I love e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g about my new closet and bedroom!!!!

For now though, I have a different project I want to share with you.  When I was redoing the master bedroom I had this “brilliant” idea to rearrange the furniture.  (Why do I have to do every project all at the same time?! I annoy myself sometimes!)  Anyways, I moved the wicker furniture out of the solarium (just an overly-fancy word for a glassed-in porch; I have no idea why it needs to be called this), and moved some other wooden furniture onto the porch. 

Here is the empty corner of a sideboard on the porch.  The other side has plants on it.  To fill the blank space on the left side of the sideboard, I had another free project up my sleeve ;-)

Since our Christmas party last year I have had some decaf (yuck!) coffee beans sitting in the pantry.  Because they’re decaf so old, we have no use for the beans anymore. 

Soooooooo time to clean out the pantry & decorate!

I took two glass vases that I had buried in dust under the wicker furniture sitting around, filled them with the coffee beans, and put a candle in the middle. 

Easy!

Cheap!

Cleaner pantry & vases!

The porch smells so delicious when the sun hits it.  This may be more of a fall decoration, but fall is just around the corner so I think it’s ok to slowly start turning my house into an autumn wonderland.  I mean, it’s insanely hot in Houston still; so cut me some slack and let this gal dream about cooler weather with the sweet smell of warm coffee :-)

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday: Collars

For the past couple of weeks we have been waiting for Miss Tomlin to get a little bit bigger so that Phil could give her the new jewelry he bought her.  Keep in mind, it took me several years before I got jewelry from him and ‘lil T got it within 3 weeks. hmmmmmmm  I will tell myself it’s because her jewels are cheaper than my jewels ;-) 

So anyways, I wanted to show you some of the jewels for Tomlin that I have been drooling over.  Pun intended.

This is her new necklace from Phil.  Appropriate, considering her name don’t you think?

A friend suggested Mimi Green that custom makes collars for your pup.  I love the velvet flower accents :-)

I was walking Tomlin one morning, and being the social butterfly that she is, she met a stylish buddy wearing a bow tie collar.  How precious is that?!  If she were a boy you can bet she would have this in her collection ASAP!

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If you know me, you know that I have a thing for bees, so when I saw this collar I was smitten!

Pinky’s Pet Gear makes some gorgeous preppy collars in brilliant colors using Lily prints.  How could I say no to this cute collar?!

I also adore the collars from Pecan Pie Puppies.  I want to order the entire collection for her!  But seriously, can you really blame me with these gorgeous collars?!

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I also really *love* Bow Wow Couture.  I love the the clever bows and fabulous prints!

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Bow Wow Couture also has an adorable Hope for Somalia collar and flower set for sale (where 100% of proceeds go to the International Medical Corps and UNICEF).

 

When you see Tomlin next, please don’t hold it against her that she looks absolutely ridiculous in all these collars or that she has more “clothes” than I do. I accept complete responsibility, and I love every minute of spoiling her!

Marital Monday: Confessions of a Southern Socialite

Haven't you just loved all the love going on around here?!  I know that I have enjoyed all the stories that our guest posters have written.  To catch up click here, here, and here.  This week Joy from Confessions from a Southern Socialite will tickle your heart with the tale of her and Terry.  They are an adorable couple and you can see their love just radiate around them.  Joy is talented, hilarious, and amazing; I'm so blessed to have her as a friend.  I know that this story will bless you too :-)

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As a little girl, you dream about your wedding day.  You imagine all the people there as you are about to walk down the isle and then you see yourself walking down the isle to a blur.  Why?  Because unless you are picturing Bradley Cooper or some other actor, you can't see who that person is that you are about to marry until you truly know.  Well, I can tell you that I have had that dream many times as a little girl, into my teens and then in my twenties.  Only a few years ago after dating Terry for a few months, I had that dream again, but I saw the man I was marrying and that man was him!  And that dream has repeated itself with the same "groom" two more times since the first time I saw it was him.

I knew I was in love with Terry four months after we began dating.  I even said it first not knowing if he would respond or not.  He did respond and the feeling was mutual.  We haven't been apart since.  He truly is my best friend and the one I turn to when I'm sad, happy, stressed and blessed.  I'll try not to get all sappy, but I have to say that since I met Terry a few years ago, life as I knew it changed for the "gooder".  I don't remember life before him and can't imagine my future without him. We bring out the best in each other and enjoy celebrating the love that we have together. He loves the messes I make when I cook and how I like to use every. single. dish in the cabinets when I do so. Can you sense the sarcasm? But, he does love everything I cook... everything except that dessert he politely asked me to throw away because I used brown sugar instead of regular sugar.  HA!

Maybe I should start with how we met...

Our first picture of 1,432,946 in over two years.  We look like babies!!  lol

On May 20th,  Terry and I celebrated our two year anniversary to our first date. 

I woke up on a humid Wednesday morning excited and nervous about the day. Why so nervous, and yet excited? Well, that evening at six o'clock, Terry would ring my doorbell to take me out on our first date.

We were set up through a mutual friend who said we would be perfect together. Considering saying no, she promised he wasn't "weird or a freak." I agreed to a date, but I told her I was old fashioned and if he wanted to go on a date, he had better make the first move. Later that day, he asked me to be his friend on facebook to get my number. A day later, we sent each other text messages during my cousins dance recital and after the recital that night on the way to their house, I heard his voice for the first time.

Two years ago, as the day dragged by so slowly — the time finally came for him to pull in my driveway. As soon as I heard his truck door shut, my heart stopped beating. And as the doorbell rang, it started again and was about to beat out of my chest. After changing clothes over and over again, I answered the door in jeans and a black and white top. As I slowly opened the door, there he was — standing there in jeans, a teal blue polo with horizontal stripes and a beautiful rose. However, I was fixated on his dimple, his incredible smile and his shy, yet adorable eyes. I honestly couldn't take my eyes off of him.

Like a gentleman, he opened the passenger door to his truck and helped me in to head to Crescent City Grill. We got there early and were one of few people already seated to eat. Of course after we ordered, he excused himself to the restroom to wash his hands — as he walked away, I figured he was leaving me. However, I was relieved when I saw him walking back to the table. After a wonderful meal and great conversations, it was time to head back to my house. Once back at the house, he walked me in and left a few minutes later. As we said our goodbyes, I had butterflies and I didn't want the night to end. He gave me a hug, lightly kissed me and walked back to his truck.

I secretly watched him leave from the guest room window. And immediately, I got on the phone with my friends who knew about the date to give them all the information. I wondered would I hear from him again? Did he enjoy the date as much as I did? Could this be the one?

My first and second question was answered about twenty five minutes later when he sent me a text message telling me he had made it home and how he enjoyed our date and looked forward to many more. And in the same text, he told me to sleep good and he would talk to me soon. The next morning on my way to work, I heard my phone ringing and answered to hear him tell me good morning. Since that day, if we aren't together, he calls to tell me good morning. There hasn't been a day in two years that I haven't heard good morning come from him.

The third question has also been answered. I know he is the one. He is my best friend. He is my soul mate. He is the one I call when I have good news or bad news. He is the one I want when I'm sick. He is the only one I ever want to wake up with. He is who I plan my life with. He is the one.  You see, when you know, you just know.  I can't really describe it.  But, I can tell you that something inside you changes.  You no longer want to call your family and friends and tell them about how bad or wonderful your day was, you no longer think about big decisions as a single person, you automatically put their feelings and thoughts before yours because you care about them more than yourself — that is how you know he is the one.

He hasn't proposed and there isn't a ring on my finger, but one day there will be.  And it will be the happiest day of my life.  When your little, you do dream of that wedding, but I now dream about our marriage.  The life we will begin as we are pronounced husband and wife and the future we will share from there on out.  After being together so long, I feel like we have already gotten over what most couples go through the first year of marriage.  Are we perfect?  Heck no!  Do we argue?  Absolutely!  But, after we disagree, there is always laughter and we don't go to bed mad.  

When the moment is right for him and us, a proposal and a wedding will take place.  (This will make our families SOOO happy!  haha)  Will it change us?  No, we will still be Terry and Joy, only sharing the same last name.  (I'm secretly thinking he will take mine.  HAHA!  Never in a million years I'm sure!) 

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Thanks Joy for sharing your story!  Aren't they adorable!  Make sure you stop by Joy's blog and leave her some bloggy love!

Sleeping Tomlin

I have said this before, but I finally captured it on camera for you.  This is how Tomlin sleeps.

She just pokes the tip of her tongue out.  Isn’t it precious?! 

It’s a HAPPY Day: The Happy 101 Award

Guess what?!  Life with the Hawleys received the Happy 101 Award from my favorite crafty scientist!  Thank you so much Mel!  I’m so honored! :-) The Award Rules:

1. List 10 things that make you HAPPY
2. List 5 bloggers who brighten your day :-)

The first task will be easy for me, but the second will be a bit more difficult because there are so many bloggers that make me smile everyday!  Let’s start with the easy one: 10 things that make me HAPPY-

1. Jesus- He is not only the light of the world, but the light and purpose of my life. 
2. Phil- This man is by far the best man in the world, and I’m not just saying that because I’m married to him.  There isn’t enough space in blogland for me to talk about how a-mazing he is.
3. Tomlin- I never knew I could adore a dog as much as I adore this puppy.  We’ve only had her since May, but I honestly can’t imagine our family growing without her.
4. Good friends- I don't think I need to explain this one.  I know you know how valuable a great friend is and how much happiness they can bring to your life.  Thank you friends!
5. Coffee- Seriously, is there really a better way to start the day than with a giant cup of coffee?! Nope!  Well, unless that giant cup of coffee is accompanied by a warm doughnut.  Truth!
6. Crafting- I guess you probably could have guessed this one.
7. Autumn-  I regret that I never appreciated this season when I live in Virginia.  In fact, I don't think I ever noticed it until I moved to Houston; leaves on palm trees just don’t change colors <wamp wamp>  I make every effort to take advantage of this season now.  Some say I might be a bit obsessive, but I’m trying to make up for lost time.
8. The event of food- This may sound silly to some, but I absolutely love gathering around to eat with others.  Yes,  I love to cook, but that’s not my favorite part.  What fills me with the most joy is sitting down with others to eat.  I love to catch up about the day or what’s going on in someone else’s life.  Gathering to eat has become such a special time in the day when I get to love on someone else.  There is just something special about sitting around a table eating with loved ones; life develops and deepens over conversations around the kitchen table.  *love it!*
9. Traveling- I just love immersing myself in another country: seeing and learning (and eating, of course- see above) about another culture.  Places I have traveled to: England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Canada, the Bahamas, and St. Thomas.  Places that are at the top of my list for future trips: Spain, Egypt, Ireland, & Greece.
10. Christmas-  My family has joked about this forever; probably since I could talk.  I love Christmas and think about it year-round.  I never actually stop playing Christmas music (Yep, I’m one of those crazy people).  My Christmas movies never leave the DVD player.  I start my Christmas shopping in January and am finished by June.  I love the food, festivities, the gatherings of friends and family; I just love it all.

Five bloggers that never cease to wrap a big, goofy, cheesy, grin around my face:

1. Joy from Confessions of a Southern Socialite
2. Erin from Dishes & Wishes
3. Sherri from Life of a Wife
4. Danie from Embrace the Journey
5. Jessica from Housewifing on a Budget

These bloggers are amazingly talented and I cherish their friendships dearly.  You must click over to their blogs and see for yourself how wonderfully creative and HAPPY they really are!

Have a wonderful, and HAPPY weekend!!!!

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday: Adele

What have I been rockin’ out to all summer?

*Adele*

I just love this talented and beautiful lady.  Her music is power-packed with raw emotion!  Currently, I have two favorite Adele songs that I just keep on repeat…. all-day-long.  It may sound like a broken record to some, but I just can’t get enough.

You’ve got to check out my favorite songs.  You’ll fall in love; I’m sure of it!

Someone Like You- My favorite is the live version in her home just with a piano and her genuine honesty. 

Rolling in the Deep- I think we can all relate to these emotions at some point in our lives.

Don’t you love her?! Do you have it on repeat now? :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Passionately Rivalicious Winners!

The winners of the Passionately Rivalicious gift certificates are…

<insert drumroll here>

Morgan from The Dotsons

and

Crystal from Homemaker in Heels

Congratulations ladies!  I can’t wait to see what wonderful things y’all get from Passionately Rivalicious! I will be sending you an email shortly with your gift certificate.

Thank you everyone for participating in my first giveaway.  If you didn’t win this time, that’s ok, there will be other giveaways.  You can still visit Passionately Rivalicious and order your favorite item to get ready for fall and football season!

Winners were chosen by Random.org

Marital Monday: Dishes & Wishes

Welcome to another week of Marital Monday!  Yay!!!  Love stories just give me a huge goofy grin!   Haven't you just loved this series so far?  Danie and Jessica from the past 2 weeks have shared some gorgeous stories about how their marriages have evolved.  This week is no exception.  I promise, you wont be disappointed :-)  My gorgeous friend Erin from Dishes & Wishes is visiting today.  Erin is genuine, authentic, and hilarious.  I know you will love her as much as I do! 

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Here we go.

Marriage is a hard thing to write about. I still feel like a newbie, being that Jake and I have only been married for just under 2 years.

I hope that something good will come out of my hopeful ramblings to follow.

I never have, or will claim to have the perfect marriage.  Those who do are, quite frankly, delusional.

There is nothing harder than sharing your life with someone. And when that someone leaves his dirty socks littered around the house, chooses video games over a romantic comedy, and wants hamburgers on the grill every night.... It's even worse.

I kid.

(Not really)

Things with Jake are never perfect or squeaky clean.  In fact, our house is, most comfortably, lived in by a couple with a ornery cat and a teething puppy.  It shows.

Keeping a clean house, are really hard work. Honestly, if anyone tells me they enjoy cleaning a toilet or someone else's moldy milk glass I may have to ask for a mental health evaluation. Cleaning is hard enough.  Throw communication and a ring on top of it and you have marriage.

Marriage, for me, has been an interesting experience so far.  Jake and I were high school sweethearts. We met way earlier, but we started dating his junior and my senior year. We never had an 'a-ha' moment where we knew it was going to be a life long thing. We never shied away from talking about forever. It was as if we both knew this was it, right from the start.  Probably before, if you ask me.

Sure we disagreed on a lot of things.  We still do.

But our personalities compliment each other.

Before we got married, Jake signing up for the Army National Guard was one of those disagreements. I'm not too keen on someone else controlling my life, let alone a faceless mass of people who love to make life hell.  That's the army to me.

I fought with him about signing his papers for months before it happened. I tried to get his mom, who was in 100% agreement with me to influence him another way. I cried, begged and yelled.

That's when I told him that he had to start thinking about the two of us as a family, rather than just as two people who were dating and planning on getting married.

It was a comment that opened both of our eyes.

I had to let him make this decision for himself. It was a decision that would ultimately be for us, as a family. Something influencing our life more than anything else. Hardest of all, I had to let him lead our family.  He felt called, in a way that I never have (until more recently), to serve our country.  So I backed down and he signed away 6 years of our lives to the Army.

God had presented us with a challenge. One huge, digi-cam, combat boot, cadence calling challenge to overcome.

It was humbling for me. I see myself as an independent woman. (Throw your hands up at me.)

A feminist, of sort.  Someone who would never be ruled or dictated by a man.  Someone a man would respect as an equal.

To have to give the control to my, at that time, boyfriend. Someone younger than me, whose decision could change my life forever... It was hard. I knew my name was being signed, invisibly, right beside his. I knew that he couldn't just walk away from this. I knew that our life would not be our own until that contract was up... I saw all the negatives.

But God called me to stand by Jake's side and support the decision he was making.

He was calling me to step up to the plate and show wifely support to the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. To show Jake that I trusted him to lead our lives, as he should.

He was calling me to look at my priorities, my belief of who I was. To trust someone else with my life and happiness.  It was with that decision to allow Jake to do what was right that I set the tone of our marriage.

I'm still an individual. A sort of feminist. A woman to demand respect.

But I also submit to the will of my husband.

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.  “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  Eph 5:23-32

This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  Wives submit to your husbands and in return husbands honor and love your wife, right?

It's not a popular way to put it now a days, but in essence it's what I did, isn't it?

I gave up my control over my life in order to give us a chance at a life together.  I trusted him, submitted to him if you will, to choose the right path for the next 6 years of our lives.

His enthusiasm for Army life may have dwindled. I may resent the Army for making things harder than necessary for us, mainly with this deployment, but I never once resented Jake for making the decision he did. He was led to sign up and serve and through it there were many doors opened to him.

We can live without the dread of Jake having undergrad student loans.

We are secure in the fact that Jake's Army job has successfully transferred into civilian life. He is capable of getting an awesome job without putting in the 4 years of schooling other people normally do, all because of his army training. He is able to see this career as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, when others would see it as a perfectly good place to stay.

He still wants more out of life and his schooling and for that I'm truly blessed.

Yep that's right. He wants a better life for himself and his family and I know I'm going to reap all the benefits from that will and drive to succeed.

My only drive is to have a happy healthy life, with lots of children and a big family.  I'm not being selfish, just honest.

I don't have a bone in my body that feels the drive to pursue a prestigious, or even high paying, job.  I'm blessed to be in love with man who wants nothing more than to provide for his family.  It may not happen for a while, I may have to bide my time, but the end justifies the means.

We are going through the trials of his decision to sign up.  Being separated for three months for basic training, a year for AIT, and soon to be another year for deployment isn't exactly fun times.

Jake almost missing his sister's wedding was a huge batch of crazy.

Moving our wedding up 3 months before it's original date due to a deployment that was eventually cancelled wasn't exactly fun. (But totally awesome.)

Jake missing the birth of his first niece entirely and being forced from the waiting room for the birth of his twin brother's little boy, all for Army training, has taken it's toll.

Putting our lives on hold because of this deployment isn't easy. I want children with every fiber of my being. But it's not the right time, for Jake or for us as a family.

The end justifies the means.

While the idea of submission, obeying and all that comes with the classic Christian marriage vows may seem old fashioned and offensive to the modern woman. The thing is, Jake's confidence as a husband is astounding, all because he knows that I trust him with my happiness and he is better able to give me the love I crave and need in my life. He is a better husband, a better man, because of it.

Think of it this way.

Successful marriages are on a decline. Divorce statistics tell us that marriage has a 50% chance.  I have heard multiple times that the chance of Christian couples, who attend church regularly, divorcing is significantly lower than secular couples or Christian couples who don't attend church.  I would love to have that statistically backed up!  If living and nurturing a Christian marriage is the definitive factor.... How awesome is that?!

To find encouragement, advice, goals and enrichment in the words of the bible is amazing, no matter the subject.  Nothing thrives in a world with no moral or ethical guidelines.

As a Christian, I strive to live a life for God, using the bible as a lamp unto my feet.

It's hard to compare and contrast marriages.  Every person and relationship is different. With the statistics, being what they are, sometimes there isn't a clear example to follow.

What a relief to find marriage among the long list of things discussed, multiple times, in the comforting words of my bible.

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Thank you Erin for sharing your love story :-) Wonderful isn’t see?! Erin briefly mentioned that she has a puppy, Asher, who is simply adorable, so you must GO visit her awesome blog, Dishes & Wishes, and leave her some bloggy love :-) 

It’s Not Too Late!

Don’t forget about the Passionately Rivalicious Giveaway I wrote about on Wednesday. It’s not too late to still enter.  Click here for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate for all your school spirit style needs!  They have amazing apparel and accessories for women and children!

See what I mean?! So, what are you waiting for? Get over there and enter!