Hollywood is calling for the movie rights...

Saying "baby, let's keep in touch, hey baby, let's keep in touch"

I have had that song in my head for 2 days now. Thanks Blues Traveler, for singing such a catchy tune that it sticks with you for days and days.

It's a new week. We had a great weekend. Michael and I had a chance to lead the "More than a Marriage" weekend for engaged couples at Pinelake. Even though we don't attend church there anymore, we were invited to come back and do this. It went great. There's something about spending hours talking about marriage and dealing with topics like communication, Love Languages, conflict resolution, and why God wants more for your marriage than just the vows and commitment that keeps our feet to the fire and makes us stronger. Michael and I came away from it better able to talk about some things that needed to be addressed in our own relationship. We both are committed to not just being married, but consistently striving to make this the best thing either of us could do after following Christ. It was fun to relive funny moments from our own newlywed days...our honeymoon story is always fun to tell, and now we can finally laugh at it. When your hair goes up in flames on the second day of married life, it takes a while to get over it.

Sunday was a great day. I am thrilled, excited, tickled to death about the direction that our church is heading. I am excited about how Michael and I can serve. I'm excited about how my children will be affected spiritually. I'm hopeful that new families will come serve with us and excited about the prospect of making new friends.

As much as we've moved in the last 9 years, it's been hard to form lasting friendships. I still pray that as we invest our life in this place that we will find people to invest in. Both of our hearts are big enough for lots of people. We want to constantly be expanding our circle of friends. I realized recently that I tend to open myself and my heart up quickly when I meet new people. I love being around people that make me laugh, or make me think. I don't have anything to hide, and I have no problem stating my faults, so I just jump into friendships without a second glance. I think this is a wonderful part of life. I mean, we make friends every time we change schools or neighborhoods or cities as a kid. But as an adult, we tend to keep the friends we made in college or right out of college and just kind of hang there. I just never got to really do that. I LOVE my college girls dearly, and would do anything for them. But we've never lived close since those days. So now, I'm over 30 and finding myself dealing with the "new kid" syndrome much more than I expected I would. And being the person I am, wearing my heart on my sleeve, I probably trust too easily, open up too quickly and my feelings can be hurt. But I'm learning to brush off the dirt, and move on. It's all part of the experience of life, right? Learning to love others, be a godly, trustworthy friend, and finding the ones who will stick. Ultimately, I probably think about it too much. I think about everything too much. Therefore the reason for this blog. If I get it out and share it with you, my mostly anonymous readers, then I don't have to think about it anymore. It's therapeutic.

Michael got his golf clubs today. I'm happy for him. He got some really nice Callaways that are just slightly used. Tomorrow is the kids' school fishing trip. All of us are going, and Michael will fish with the kids, and I'll try to keep Paiz from jumping in the reservoir. Oh, at the top is a pic from the trip to the Ag museum...this is Molly posing by the flowers. I just love a 3 year old that can "smolder".

"Like a game show contestant with a parting gift, I could not believe my eyes..." There's that song again.

I guess that means I need to go to bed. I'll go sing Blues Traveler to Michael. He'll love it. By the way...singing with Randy was probably the highlight of my year so far. So. Much. Fun. I honestly am so grateful for that opportunity. It really blessed me and the song we sang, Livin' in the Rain, was so true about this time in my life. So many blessings, I feel like I'm standing in a downpour of God's goodness. So much mercy, so much grace, so many wonderful people and opportunities. I love my life.