I'm encouraged

A few weeks ago the verse that I was meditating on was, Daniel 9:18... "We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy."

I have been thinking about this quite a bit. Its easy for me to get a bit prideful and self-righteous at times and more and more I am humbled by the grace God has given me. God has so much mercy and my righteousness pales in comparison.

I am encouraged to be part of a family that deals with the matters of our hearts. 

I am encouraged to be part of a church that is pursuing the kingdom of God. 

I am encouraged to have a husband who is fun and loving. 

I am encouraged to meet with people who are becoming a part of Visio Dei's community. 

I am encouraged to know that none of this is possible with out the loving creator who allows me to be a part of any of these things. 

Have you been encouraged recently? 

Hiatus

Sorry to be on a blog hiatus for a few weeks. I have been pretty busy and the inner workings of my soul have been either too deep or not together enough to expose to the vulnerability of the blog world... 

I'm not quite sure what to share... here are a few sound bites from my brain... 

I love all of my loyal readers! 

Vote Early! 

I have spent almost 5 hours in the last 2 days getting my hair colored and cut and spent less that $40! I will post pictures at some point, but its gonna be a shocker :) 

Jesus is more faithful than I could ask for or imagine and I am privileged and humbled to lead a community that is seeking to follow him. 

The pig races are the best part of the State Fair.

We finally turned our heat on last night! Matt's choice :) We will turn it back off when we leave for our Cruise... Bahamas here we come.

Laugh until your belly hurts

This weekend I had the opportunity on multiple occasions to laugh until literally my abs felt like they were going to bust in two. I attribute this mainly to my husband and his comedic banter with Jeramie Mullis. 

(by the way, check out the video on Jeramie's blog its hilarious too!)

While I'm giving shout outs... there wouldn't have been the opportunity for laughter if Jenny didn't have us over for gourmet smore's. We had special dark chocolate, cookies and creme chocolate, milk chocolate, ginger crisps and gram crackers, reece's cups, peanut butter, and hazelnut creme to choose from. Seriously, delicious ooey goodness in the mouth once again!

Confession, this also meant that I played Jenga 2 weekends in a row... and I loved it!

Then last night I got to be fully entertained by friends at Open Mic Night. Do you have friends who every day seem to surprise you with yet another amazing talent? I do! 

• Melinda-- You are amazing!!! 
• Jason-- how come I'm not surprised?
• Pat- seriously you are awesome... I think Machine Head was my favorite of the requests, but you couldn't have done it alone... Jon, Zack, & Jon... so awesome! 

I could go on and on, but Wow! What a weekend and its not even over yet. I get to go to the fair tonight and eat some fried oreos that have had my mouth watering for over a week. 

Life is good ;)

On being a woman

I don't consider myself to be a very big girly girl or anything, although I do like to look nice and consider myself to be beautiful on the inside and out ;) (Confident too!)

But, this morning I looked in the mirror and realized... I don't think I've done anything to my eyebrows in over 2 months... cause for concern... I started plucking, it hurts. I think I may have even made myself bleed... I need to get this professionally done, but time and money keep me from doing this on a regular basis. 

Anyways, I just wanted to vent because what do men "have" to do that is like this?

Warning: Sappiness in this post!

Yesterday was Matt and I's 3 year anniversary. Its crazy to me that 3 years ago today we were leaving Roanoke to head our mountain cabin. If I remember correctly the weather was about the same (minus the rain storm that pushed the ceremony inside).

Last night we went to Riviera. I highly recommend it. Its fairly new and has a great atmosphere. We were almost the only ones there when we arrived at 7, but several more showed up throughout the night. My favorite dish was their calamari because of the pile of ooey gooey peas, blue cheese and some sort of orzo that they came on top of... delish!

One of my favorite things to do with Matt is going out to eat, splitting a bottle of wine and just talking. We are very blessed to have the love that we do. I don't ever want to take it for granted. We were thinking last night, we have a pretty amazing life. I am very thankful for that!

Matt helps me in so many ways, he is patient (I am growing), he likes to relax (I don't even think that word was in my vocabulary before we met), he supports me (I like to do a lot of crazy things), he is consistent (I can be extreme), he makes me laugh (this really is one of my favorite qualities of his). I could go on and on...

Now its your turn, if you are married, what are you thankful for?

God Answers Prayers

This morning I was reading some scripture and thinking to myself, then I posted this. At the end I said that I want to work on listening to God more... 

Then my neighbor came over and we went for a jog/walk around the neighborhood. In our conversation I heard God speak... its funny how he uses other people to speak truths to us that we have a hard time convincing ourselves to hear on our own. 

My quest... continue to listen... then, obey 

My official endorsement

Okay, okay, so I know many people reading my blog have already assumed they knew who I was planning to vote for for President in a few weeks, but I don't think I've ever really come out and said what I think for sure... here goes...

I am going to vote for Obama-Biden, and here is the kicker, I think you probably should too... I say that with the recognition that many people have different major issues than I do, so I totally respect others views and will let you in on how I made my decision...

• I can't know it all and neither can they
• No one is perfect in all areas
• I still want to choose

*Confession: I have voted in 2 presidential elections in my life and both times I felt like I made an emotional decision or one based on the whim at the time. This time its different. I actually will be dissappointed if Obama looses the election

• I had to ask myself, what can I know about? and what do I care most about?
  
• For me the two main areas are education and health care

In both of these areas I believe the policies that Obama outlines are ones that I agree with. If I went into all the details on them this post would get even longer, so I'll spare you. If you are interested click the links above.

• This morning I went to my first ever political ralley. I felt very empowered and got more information about specific things that would affect North Carolina. This was the kicker for me. (In McCain's defense, this was an Obama event and I haven't been to a McCain one, but I don't think I need to at this point... however, I will go if invited).
  
• My only complaint about the event was that the invitaiton said 9AM and the speakers didn't start until almost 9:45AM. I did get to have some interesting conversations and a delicious cinnamon roll, but thought they could've been a little more prompt considering that a lot of people need to be working right now.
  
• I learned something new... In NC, agriculture is the biggest industry and McCain and Obama are very different on supporting local farmers. Obama has supported the Farm Bill and our state needs to have local farmers supported to contribute to our economy. I love going to the farmer's market and I want those individuals to continue to thrive.
  

All in all, I am just loving the process. We have a lot to think about. If anything, I hope that you find the issues that are most important to you and learn about how you and others will be affected by them.

I also believe that government is not the solution to all our problems. As individuals, we need to take responsibility for our actions. As the church, we need to live radically to practically offer ourselves as a beacon of Hope. Being involved in our communities and in the political process is only a part of this.

**Just in case you are wondering... my views in no way are meant to be representative of Visio Dei. The church I am a part of is pretty awesome because we have such politically diverse view points and I hope that we can continue that openness as a community because its important to learn from each other. I certainly do.**

The saga is over...almost

We did it! This afternoon we purchased a mattress from America's Mattress.

Thank you Scott for working with us. I felt a little sorry for the guy, I can imagine that most people are facing tough times right now and we don't want to take advantage of anyone, but I think we got a good deal.

The verdict: Queen Set Vera Wang by Serta French Twist Plush... free delivery, 2 pillows, 20 year warranty, comfort guarantee, tax included $900...

We get it delivered tomorrow between 2-4PM. I am hopeful that the only follow up I have to this is how much I love the mattress... we shall see :)

Thanks to everyone who gave us advice. Our list items, get the Honda fixed and the big oak tree in the front yard trimmed back....

Continuing the Saga

Thank you to everyone who gave me advice on the mattress finding hunt.... As you read on you will find out that we have not decided what we are going to do yet... Surprise! Surprise!

Although the only product we have brought home at this point is a case of wine, we have had some great adventures... read on...

• Prize #1 goes to: The Original Mattress Factory for their super sales techniques.

Have you ever had a salesman ask you to get in bed with him? I have! Here is the conversation...

Larry, "Lie on your back for me."

Traci, "Okay."

Larry (as he falls backwards onto the bed) "Can you feel that?"... "I weight 275 lbs., (again falling back onto the bed) I bet you can't feel a thing." (I am still lying on my back motionless).

Matt is on the other side of the store chuckling inside.

Have you ever had a salesman desuade you from buying something? We have! Here is the conversation...

Salesman Rowe (yes the salesman's name was Rowe)

Rowe, "Are you sure you want that one? You will have to buy new sheets." (we were looking at the most expensive mattress in the store.) 

Matt, "Oh, your last name is Rowe too. Where are you from? I have family in Michigan."

Rowe, "Oh, Wow! Really?"

Matt, "Do you have family from Michigan too?"

Rowe, "No." (thats it.. like we would be idiots to think that he might)

Matt, "Do you ever have people call you Row=e?"

Rowe, no response... 

(I think he wanted us to leave)... 

• Prize #2 goes to America's Mattress: (I think this is where the Hathaway's got their mattress)

We pulled up to the store and Scott is outside washing all of the painting equipment that he had just finished using.... "Are you still open?" Scott, "yes, come on in, don't mind me, I'm a mess." 

He did a great job leading us to the mattresses that we would like right away. We actually may purchase one from him (a Serta)... but, he said 3 times, "I know I'm sounding like a used car salesman and I'm not one... I'm just trying to get you a good deal."  

He took $500 off the price of the one we liked and included free shipping... we didn't ask to include new pillows yet! 

Just before we left he let us lay on the "perfect sleeper" ones... um... heavenly... but out of our range of possibilities. He said he could get us a deal on one of those too, but not as good as the other...

This decision is sooo difficult!!!

• Prize #3 goes to my Super Duper Friend Jessica:

Jess is going above and beyond to help us out. Its possible she will be able to get us an awesome mattress for a great price, but we have to trust that the one that the Ritz Carlton uses in its rooms is the one for us... 

Matt wants to hold out until we can go to High Point or Washington D.C. to lay on one. 

I give huge kudos to my friend for helping us out (and letting us sleep on her air mattress while we decide), but if we didn't have this option we would already have a bed...