Just found out that today is....

A picture from our engagement shoot,

taken by the talented Melissa Pearce with Tesoro Photography(then she was just Mel, my first friend in NC)

7 years later.

In the most recent family photos the talented Heba Salama took. She's family:)

If Noah and I are anything, we are people with attention to detail.

Mmmhmmm.

You got that right.

Dee-tail.

Which is why this morning's happenings were completely surprising to those who know us!

If you want a good laugh and a new standard by which to judge the success of your marriage,

listen to this one...

As you know, we have had an eventful weekend, what with our youngest being in the hospital with his own episode of "Medical mysteries" and all.

I just feel the need to preface that for anyone who wants to comment on what terrible people we are,after hearing this story.

I just dare ya...

Soooo, after our weekend, we spent yesterday settling in back home and cleaning the curdled milk cups off the counter, taking the trash out, doing the stinky dishes.

We had literally run out of the house Thursday morning in a mad dash to the ER, so we had quite a little mess awaiting our arrival.

And so we sauntered in to church this morning, quite proud of ourselves for,well,

arriving.

And arrive we did, 3 handsome princes in tow.

After the first service and on our way to drop kids off in their classes, a sweet friend from our small group came up to me.

She's sweet like honey sweet.

She gave me those sympathetic eyes and asked how we were doing,considering everything.

"Goooood." I replied, hugging her neck.

Such a precious friend, she is.

Then she looked at me with those compassionate eyes and those sweet as honey words and said,

"And Happy Anniversary!!!"

"huh?!"

"No, "I scoffed. "It's not my anniversary."

"October 2nd?" she asked. Questioning doe eyes locked on mine.

It took about 5 seconds for me to put the pieces together.

She says my anniversary is on October 2nd.

She is right.

Today can't be Oct. 2nd.

Oh, wait, yes it is.

Today is my anniversary.

I did what any normal person would do.

I doubled over laughing hysterically. Then yelled across the courtyard to my husband, in front of everyone,

"HONEY!!!! TODAY IS OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!!"

Then got the same look from him that I had given our friend/personal calendar.

"No, wait, oh. Woops."

We laughed.

And friends said things like, "Are you serious?!"

and

"I'd be concerned if it wasn't you guys."

Cause really.

I can at least speak for myself that I am definitely a "big picture" kind of gal and not a "detail" thinker.at.all.

All my attention to detail went into what I was going to wear this morning.

Can that be an excuse?

Big picture?

I can do.

Truth is I LOVE THIS MAN and would marry him for another seven years were I to get the chance.

And one of the things I love about him is that we could look at each other, laugh, and just "get" how this happened.

We get to share this crazy life.

And that is what it comes down to. The past seven years have been full of surprises.

Some good and some bad.

But all of them, we've faced together and there isn't a person in the world I want to share this journey with, besides my Noah.

I really think I could have gone with or without getting married.

Take it or leave it.

I was only willing to get married if the person I married was going to make me better.

And he has.

Recently, as we banged down the mountains of Northern Haiti, being assaulted with dust, and trying to keep from getting a concussion on the camper shell our heads kept hitting...

we just kept looking at each other and saying,

"We sure married the right person.

Who does this?!"

If I am crazy, I am so glad this man is willing to be crazy with me.

Cause I am crazy in love with him.

Better late than never.

"HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY, NOAH JOYNER."

Movie Night

Well, I am going to try not to rant, here. For any ladies who have heard my word on this topic, they know, I CAN RANT!!!  

I recently went to the movies with my sisters, which is a rare and welcome treat. I love the movies, I love

 my sisters, tada! Guaranteed fun!  It only made sense that we would see a romance movie, seeing as there were three ladies, without husbands. So we did. And it was pleasant. It wa

s enjoyable 

because of the company and of course there were some pleasant things in the movie like scenery, etc. By the way we saw "Nights at Rodanthe" based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. I am probably gi

ven too much pre- info. I do that a lot. So why am I mentioning this move or movie nights in general?

Mostly because I want us ladies, married or not, to be thinking in a critical and discerning way about how we interact with media 

and culture. Not just romance movies, but let's camp there for now.

I want you to think of the last romantic movie you saw that honored or glorified marriage? Did you leave thinking, "I want to be in a life long, committed relationship with one man, for the rest of my life no matter what we do that hurts each other?" no, probably not. Because that is NEVER the message. Did i say NEVER?!?!?! Go ahead, pick one. Ok, I will since I have spent a lot of time thinking about this. Well, we can start with  

"Nights at Rodanthe-"  Beautiful scenery, romantic, charming moments, the beach... message: It is far more important that YOU be happy and don't "lose" your self (or your love of woodworking) than that you love the man you once said "till death do us part" to in a sacrificial and selfless way. Or that you dare hope that  what is broken can be redeemed. No, don't bother with all that because Richard Gere awaits you and he is a doctor and you guys are at the beach alone. So ignore any sense of guilt that might hold you back. That is only deception. Affair on!

Romantic, huh?

We can go back a few years, let's see...

 One of my personal favorites

"One fine day"- 2 divorced couples, worn out and frazzled by the single parent lifestyle, find solace in each other (well, ok maybe not solace but they attempt to sleep together one night). But oh, how sweet, at the end of the night as they are preparing to sleep together,  they find their 1st graders hanging out watching wizard of oz, oh so precious, like 2 lives so flawlessly becoming one. See, divorce and remarriage isn't as tough as it is cracked up to be!

 And my most recent UN favorite

"Definitely , Mabye"- I am not kidding when I tell you that this is considered a romance movie. A dad, in the midst of a divorce, relents to his struggling daughter one night and promises to tell her the story of how he met her mom, his soon to be ex-wife. The only trick is that he won't tell her which one is "mom" and he will include his other 2 love interests before marrying mom. She will have to decide on her own. So throughout the telling the writer clearly displays one as infinitely boring, and dull, while the other 2 rise up as dynamic love interests. It becomes clear which one is the "love of his life." Big surprise... it's not his wife!!!! No she is the boring one. And we so do  pity this poor man who clearly got it wrong and married the wrong girl that we feel like the daughter does (not torn up and shattered that her parents and the family is shattered into unmendable pieces) but excited that the old girlfriend still lives in town.. and wait, dad, you and I can go to her apartment together!! (While mom is at home crying her eyes out over her marriage ending... oh, right that stuff can't happen. It's supposed to convince us that divorce is easy). So, where were we... going to the apartment together because, and I quote 9 year old daughter " dad, I just want you to be happy." Well, news flash folks, getting the right girl won't make dad happy. Only Jesus will. And I kid you not, the ending is dad, daughter and old girlfriend reuniting in an alleyway outside her apartment, with warm fuzzy music and lighting of course. Otherwise we would not believe that broken lives and betrayal and years of therapy and shattered hope is sweet or romantic. And yes, the title even hints at how we should look at marriage. Definitely! ... oh, wait, maybe she isn't the one.

SOOO, what I am trying to say here is that we need to watch movies discerningly, as woman especially. We are led heavily by our emotions. And if you see it as just light entertainment, without being on guard, you can very easily be buying lies that are straight from hell. And when your marriages hit hard times, I guarantee you that Satan is going to bring these perspectives back up into your mind. And unfortunately, it is then that we will see how easily we have been influenced by the world. Not to mention the tv shows that glorify singleness, divorce, infidelity. You simply cannot be married to the same man for long, especially not with children, and be happy. We call that "Desperate Housewives." 

When we all get together to watch movies, let's be critical and discerning about what we watch, and who we are watching it with. If there is a girl in the group who's marriage is struggling, lets not show her a movie that tells her if she could simply just go away to the beach and find richard gere, all the pain and struggling could be over and life would be "fixed."  This is NOT encouragement. Because this is what Jesus said to us and I have rarely seen this in a movie.

1 Cor 13

verse 4

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it's own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with THE TRUTH. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all thing, endures all things."

 Now, that would be a good movie.

 I will save Oprah, magazines and books for another time, but ladies, let us not be unwise. Let us live lives that don't open up the floodgates of our hearts and minds, the things which lead so many of our decisions in life, to satan's lies and deception. It is most often not obvious stuff, it is the subtle lies that if we don't battle with the truth of God's word

 will tear us down. 

The time before this that my sister's and I went to the movies, we were trying to decide between two movies and we asked a couple girls next to us. They recommended one  but added the warning, "but it also kinda sucks because it makes you want a man who doesn't even exist out there." We assured them that we were all married to those men and they do exist. 

So tell me ladies, do you notice this pervasive message in our romance culture? Does a girlie movie night often make you love your husband more or less afterwards?

Happy 4th Anniversary, Honey!!!

Happy Anniversary, My sweet man! Noah and I have been married for four years this October! And what a wonderful four years it has been. It was a busy week because Noah was preaching on Sunday , had gotten food poisoning early in the week and had two exams. But he still took a couple of hours to spend with me and celebrate. Ironically, I think it was our best Anniversary date yet. It involved dinner at a very fancy restaurant called "Jersey Mikes Sub's" which happens to be my favorite  place for sub sandwiches. Then, because it was so cold in the "restaurant, " we finished our meal in the car, where we just sat and talked about our marriage for a while. It was so wonderful to have a chance to discuss what God has been doing in our marriage, ways we can grow, ways we have seen each other grow, and to simply express our gratitude for each other. The rich experience of getting to know my husband more was so much better than any big gift or expensive meal.  So thank you, Noah, for taking the time out that I know you didn't have  and giving the energy I am sure you didn't feel to make me feel treasured and our marriage valued. I truly can't wait to be an old lady with you. As we learn to enjoy each other more and more every year God gives us, I can't imagine the depths and the fun we are to experience in this life. Thank you, my love, for choosing me.

An thank you to my sisters for so willingly watching your nephews  so that we could go out. You blessed our marriage more than you know.

And if anyone wants to see if God honored his sacrifice of study time to honor his wife, check out my favorite preacher's sermon from last Sunday. I think He did. 

 And as a side note, this picture is when we picked up the kids. How funny are Haddon's hands trying to get me to  pick him up?  And you can kinda see Baby #3 in their. yayy!