5th Anniversary

We celebrated five years of marriage this past Friday on the 12th! I can't believe it has already been that long- time has flown. I am blessed to have this man in my life, whom I get the pleasure of calling my husband. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

We started our celebration with dinner at Suttons and then out to the arboretum for an outdoor theater production of Peter Pan. Not the best picture- but you get the idea!

On Sat we went on a canoe trip with Life Adventure Center on the Kentucky River

The water was a lovely shade of brown...

I have an anniversary tradition that I hope to keep up as long as possible. So far I am 5 for 5!

We were away on our first anniversary so I don't have a picture of that one...You'll just have to take my word for it!

For some reason I can't rotate it, but this was anniversary #2

#3

#4

#5

Baby Wentz

This is was the first and last picture of our baby. Our ten week ultrasound. We will treasure it forever.

From right to left- see the head, the arm sticking up, the body and the 2 little pegs on the left are the baby's legs. The white spot beneath the arm is the cavity where the heart should have been. 

This time God gets to hold our child before we do; next time we hope its the other way around. 

Miscommunication

Yesterday I was flipping through our wedding album when Josh came up behind me and said, "You look beautiful- then and now" So sweet, right!? Except I thought he said, you look beautiful- thin and now. It was an awkward moment for awhile...

Sleep talking

My last posting was pretty heavy (although I meant every word of it), so now I leave you something a bit lighter.

For those who don't know me too well, I am not a night owl. When the sun goes down, my body shuts down. This is especially depressing come the winter time when the sun sets at 6pm. I am not embarrassed to say that in the winter there have been times that I have fallen asleep at 8:30. I am, however, embarrassed to say that right when I fall asleep (and am still in the dozing stage), I tend to ask some pretty strange things. It usually occurs when Josh comes up an hour or so later and kisses me good night. Recently at that time (on three separate occasions) I have asked him: "What's your horse's name?", "Did you get to finish your breakfast?" And my personal favorite, "Which sun beam are you going to ride." All of these questions I can vaguely remember asking- and at the time were quite legit.

Radical

Okay so its been awhile. Josh was really impressed with my initiative to start a blog... needless to say he wasn't too surprised when it fell by the wayside. What can I say, I am not too surprised either! For the few of you who still have faith in my blogging capabilities- I present you with another posting...

We've been reading a book called Radical by David Platt. Wow is it challenging! We've only made it through chapter one and its already completely changed our mindset. Here is something that has been especially challenging to us: have you ever read Matthew 19:21-23:

21Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. 23And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven

I have read these verses hundreds of times. The image that always comes to my mind is that millionaire who has the beautiful house, sitting on acres of land, garages full of cars, the latest technology, the most up to date home decor, etc. And I would think: of course that millionaire has no idea what it is like to live like I do... How naive of me. I have food in the pantry/refrigerator and complain that there is nothing to eat that sounds good. I have a walk-in closet full of clothes and can't find anything to wear. I have a 3 bedroom house and kick myself for not buying a 4 bedroom one. I have a cell phone that I am embarrassed of because its not a smart phone. In the world I live in, its hard to imagine that there are people who don't have the luxury of choosing what to eat for dinner. There are people who don't have an abundance of clothes. There are people who live in one room huts. There are people in this world who don't have access to instant communication. And now all of a sudden I feel quite rich. And now all of a sudden those Bible verses above mean a bit more to me. David Platt says in his book, we have created a middle class, American Jesus. A Jesus that we have molded to fit our society to rescue us from our first world problems.

Shew. Challenging, huh. And scary too. Scary because now that my eyes have been open, I wonder what that will mean for Josh and I. We don't know yet, but one thing is for sure: change is inevitable.

A lesson on contentment

One of my biggest prayer requests this year has been for contentment. Do you realize how hard it is to be content in our society?! In fact, our whole economy is built on the foundation of NOT being content. We are told to want to newest, greatest, best “fill in the blank item” that money can buy.  I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with being content with what I have- just see my last blog entry. Here is another example, I love the show house hunters. Yesterday, I saw an episode filmed in the Atlanta suburbs where I am from. Do you know how much house you can buy in the Atlanta suburbs compared to Lexington!?! These houses were HUGE! And just like that, I caught myself thinking that when we get more money, I want a bigger house.  Ugh- contentment!

God has blessed us with so much, and yet we are too busy looking at the next- step- up to even notice. We are told to never to be satisfied. We are told to always want more. We yearn to collect the latest and greatest clothes, shoes, cars, TVs, I-pods/pads/phones, etc. We dream of one day upgrading to that mansion on the water and having a boat in the marina. However, I am guessing that when we die, God isn’t going to be all that impressed the square footage of our house or how many pairs of shoes we own.  God blessed us, not so we can acquire more things, but so we can bless others.  With that in mind and as we enter the week of Thanksgiving, I pray that you are mindful of the blessings that you have, and strive each day to bless others as God has blessed you. I continue to pray the same thing for us too.  Happy Thanksgiving!

$30 picture ---> $400 couch

I was shopping in Bed, Bath and Beyond the other day for a wedding gift. I love this store. I can always find a necessity that we need for our house (I should point out that Josh's definition of necessity and mine are quite different). Unfortunately for Josh, I was shopping alone.

Now I will say, that as a couple, we very rarely buy anything without consulting first with each other. (In Josh's case: we go home, check out consumer reports, read reviews online,  mull it over for 4 months, and then go back to purchase the item... whether or not that is a Wentzism is still being debated).

So this item, that I had to have, was a picture of a tree. If you looked straight at it, then the season was spring. If you move to the left, then it changes to fall. If you look to the right, then it changes to winter. Pretty amazing, huh? I figured Josh would love it. I mean the guy likes trees and he loves fall and spring (he's not crazy about winter, but I figured he could just close his eyes when it came to that season). I even contemplated getting it for his birthday; although, he's accused me in the past of getting him birthday/Christmas gifts that are more for me than him. Keeping that in mind, I bought it, not for his birthday, but as a "surprise it's Tuesday" kind of thing.

He didn't hate it. He didn't love it. He definitely didn't agree that it was a necessity. And he didn't know where we would put it. We tried 5 different spots in our house. It never looked quite right. Finally we decided that the best place for it is in our living room. All we have to do is get rid of the entertainment center, buy a couch, and put the picture over it. Easy solution. So now we are furniture shopping. Be sure to visit us in 4 months, so you can sit on our couch and admire our picture (although not at the same time)

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=16250384&RN=699&