The Ultimate Love Language

When I started in my small group this past fall, all of the women talked about this one particular book, and they talked about it A LOT - they said wonderful things about this book, talked about how it changed their life, etc. So, I HAD to have this book! What is this book, you ask? It's called The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. One night after my small group, I went to Hastings to see if they had it, and I even found a used copy! (even better!)

To be honest, I haven't really made time to read it until last night. Now, I can't stop reading it. If there was a way that I could read while I was driving, well I'd do it! It's so amazing, and it makes me see things that I have never even thought about. To get you caught up on the book, it's main purpose is to show women the power of praying - and applying it to your relationship. She challenges you to pray for your husband in the key areas of his life including his spiritual walk, his emotions, his role as a father, leader and decision-maker, his security in work and finances, his health, his faith and finally his future.

Last night I was reading about "The Ultimate Love Language" (prayer), and I would like to share this passage with you:
"When you pray for your husband, the love of God will grow in your heart for him. Not only that, you'll find love growing in his heart for you, without him even knowing you are praying. That's because prayer is the ultimate love language. It communicates in ways we can't. I've seen women with no feelings of love for their husbands find that as they prayed, over time, those feelings came. Sometimes they felt differently even after the first heartfelt prayer...The point in all this is that as husband and wife we don't want to be taking separate roads. We want to be on the same path together. We want to be deeply compatible, lifelong companions, and have the love that last a lifetime. Prayer, as the ultimate love language, can make that happen."

I am so excited to see what else this book has to offer - I have a feeling that this book is going to take my relationship with my husband to a new level, and I cannot wait to see what awesome things God has in store for us through prayer.

Have any of you read the book? I would love to know your thoughts...do you pray for your husband? How has it changed your relationship?

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." - Proverbs 31:10-12

A Merry Open House and Happy Birthday!

This weekend was EXHAUSTING!!!! But oh-so much fun :)

On Friday night, we celebrated the Christmas season downtown - well, I celebrated while I tied ribbons upon ribbons on Christmas cards at The Write Impression. (Thanks MEGAN for coming to see me - and thanks for bringing little Vance!) It was a fun night - although it is way to balmy outside for it to be Christmas! The rest of the night was spent getting the house ready for our open house! We stayed up until 3 a.m. getting everything ready - I left my camera at home, so I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. I am sad to say that I did not take a single picture during the open house - from 2 p.m. until nearly 7 p.m. I did not stop greeting guests and taking them on "tours" of our home! It was so wonderful!

Yesterday afternoon, I helped my mother decorate two houses for Christmas, and boy were we exhausted! We decorated for Mrs. Pull, who has the most adorable and meaningful decorations in her home. Plus her house is stuffed full of antiques - a dream for me :) She is a kind woman, and we had a wonderful time at her house. We then decorated for Mrs. Stephens who has a newly renovated home, and y'all, I think her tree may be the most beautiful tree we have ever done! We also decorated her granddaughter's ADORABLE room with a tree that Mrs. Stephens bought from The Write Impression. It was a long day, but it sure was fun!

On another note, yesterday was my sweet husband's 24th birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Brad! I can't believe you're 24! I love you very much, and I'm looking forward to spending more birthdays with you! Brad also shares his birthday with my younger brother, Nathan - so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATHAN!

This is a picture of Brad right before he started running the Murfreesboro Half Marathon!

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane!!!!

Tonight is the much-anticipated arrival of Santa Claus on the downtown square, as well as the lighting of the Christmas tree! I have been working on the Main Street Revitilization committee to plan the event - I was supposed to help with the horse-drawn carriage carrying Santa, but since I am on strict orders NOT to go outside, I will instead be working in The Write Impression! Come in and see me!

After the downtown event, I'll be driving to meet my grandmother who so graciously made her famous meatballs for me for my MERRY OPEN HOUSE which is happening tomorrow! Then, Brad and I will work on our adorable favors (can't wait to post pictures!) and making sure the house is SPIC AND SPAN! We have a lot of guests coming tomorrow, and I want to make sure everything is PERFECT!

After our Merry Open House, we'll be going to the Oaklands Historic Mansion Tour of Homes - I can't wait! I always want to go to this, but something always comes up! Hopefully, Sunday will be an easy day as I'm helping my mom decorate a house for Christmas!

I'm so excited about seeing all of my family and friends and letting them enjoy our new home! It's such a blessing to live so close to most of my family! Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

Merry Christmas and a DRYER New Year!

I completely forgot to tell y'all about the BEST gift I got on Wednesday morning. Santa arrived in the morning via a Lowe's delivery truck, and he brought a much-needed gift.....

A NEW DRYER!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!!

Actually, the gift was an early Christmas present from Brad's parents!

We had an okay washer and a HORRIBLE dryer at our last house, and when we moved we decided we would just LEAVE THEM THERE! Ha, our dryer was so loud that you could hear it on the other side of the house. Not to mention, it took about 3 hours to dry one load of clothes! Anyways, my parents gave us a fairly new washer when we moved into the new house, but we have gone the past month without a dryer - and it's been hard. I love to do laundry - especially fold clothes, so it's been a difficult thing. I've pretty much been doing all of my laundry at my momma's house.

So, Brad's parents decided that they would buy us a new dryer for Christmas, and I L-O-V-E that thing! It's so quiet, and I've been doing laundry like I'm the laundry queen! I don't think there are any dirty clothes in the house! THANK YOU to the Warnocks for making me love laundry again!

What a week!

So, I feel like I have neglected my poor little blog. Being sick with pneumonia will make you neglect your blog - trust me, I have learned this! Anyways, this past weekend was WONDERFUL (well, minus the getting sick part).

On Friday night, after I got off work at United Way, I went in and worked at The Write Impression. It was a lot of fun, and I got TONS of stuff done since we weren't that busy. Saturday morning, Brad, my mom and I traveled to Culleoka to my cousin Brenda's house for our annual Christmas breakfast. It was so nice to see all of my cousins - everyone has gotten SO big! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family. There was good food, too - of course! I rushed back to Murfreesboro so I could finish working the day at The Write Impression...we were really busy thankfully! I know it's getting to be close to Christmas because everyone is getting CHRISTMAS CARDS!!! My favorite! I have picked out a wedding picture for our Christmas card, and I can't wait to pick the perfect card to go with it! I started to go down hill on Saturday night, so my momma packed up her sick little baby to go home with her. Once a momma, always a momma. I spent Sunday in the doctor's office and then sleeping for what seemed like the whole day. Alas, I didn't get to go to the theatre to see Little Women. I'm trying to talk Brad into seeing it with me. Any of you Middle Tennessee girls want to accompany me? Just let me know!

A hard lesson I learned from getting sick was that I really need to start taking care of myself. For the past couple of weeks, my body has been telling me to SLOW DOWN. Did I listen? Of course not! I kept going and going and adding more and more things to my to do list. I should have stopped and taken care of myself - I should have taken the time to get better! This gal has learned a very valuable lesson. Now, I get to listen to my husband and my mother and all of my co-workers telling me to "take it easy!!!!"

Here are pictures from our Christmas breakfast...ENJOY!!!

My ADORABLE cousin, Tye! He has the cutest smile!

Brother and sister - Tye and Tessa! I love Tye's little crooked smile!

Brad and Tessa - I think Brad was trying to look sweet?

This picture makes me CRACK UP! It definitely shows my relationship with Tessa and Tye - I love them so much, but they treat me like I'm their jungle gym! Notice Brad sticking his head out on the side?!???

Definitely some family-loving sweetness :)

I'M BACK!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all of your prayers and kind words! I'm officially back to work today after 3 sick days! I'm feeling much better - although, I'm not completely back to my normal self! I have so much to post about, but I just wanted to start the morning off by thanking everyone! I hope y'all have a wonderful day!

Prayers needed.

It's not often that I ask for prayers, but tonight I'm really needing them! I write this post from my warm and cozy bed, after sleeping much of the day. This weekend has been busy and full of activity - much like every other weekend. Anyways, I haven't been feeling well, and last night, as my mom helped us decorate a garland outside, I began to feel really bad. I woke up yesterday morning to not one, but TWO pink eyes, and I have had a horrible dry cough. My body was about to let out. My mother was very worried about me, so she decided that she was going to take my to a walk-in clinic this morning. And boy am I glad. A quick check-up and a chest X-ray later, it was determined that I have walking pneumonia. I can't believe that I have let myself get so bad - this has been a lesson - I need to take better care of myself! I will need several days of rest to even begin to feel better. Please pray for a quick and thorough recovery - I do not want to spend my holiday sick, or even worse, in the hospital!

I have lots more to post about, but my medicine is beginning to kick in!

Blessings!