Merry Got Me Thinking

On Christmas Eve, Seth Godin (an excellent marketing blogger that you should follow) wrote a short blog called "Merry." The point of this little blurb was "you can't be merry by yourself."

"Merry" got me thinking. You really can't be merry by yourself. One of the greatest gifts that God gives us is other people -- both people that we know and people that we don't know. I don't personally know Seth Godin, but he impacts my brain, in a good way, I think. Sometimes we are blessed from a distance by the presence of other people. It must have been the same for Joseph and Mary. Two people, probably not with a lot of friends after (what seems to be) a pregnancy scandal. However, the birth of a child -- a Savior brings a little "merry" to the scene. Shepherds come and wise men come from afar, bringing good gifts to people they do not even know.

I would have to say that the Christmas season calls us to be merry for more than just the simple idea that Christmas should be a time filled with charity and warmth. It seems scriptural for us to be together. As Godin writes, "merriment requires a group" -- whether that's a group of rejoicing strangers or close family members. So, let us choose to be together this season and always, celebrating the mystery of merriment as we rejoice in Christ.

The Hunger Games

Today my lovely fiance decided to fart on me....again...probably for the millionth time ever. Then, I remembered a blog that I was going to write about him, but never did. So, here it goes.

Back in November, prior to Thanksgiving, we were in Tampa the night before we boarded our Carnival cruise (My grandparents took us on a cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary). While we were in Tampa, my whole family (cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents included) went walking downtown to find a restaurant. We found a fancy, organic pizza restaurant and all went in to order. Everyone seemed to either order something personally or we were paired up with "pizza buddies," as I like to refer to them. For some reason, I volunteered to be paired up with Kyle and my brother, Brent. Together, we would share some organic, thin-crusted pepperoni pizza. When the pizza arrived, I was talking with my parents about something and I was also waiting on a plate. The rest of this story happened in slow motion. There I am talking, and I look over to see a ton of this pizza demolished -- gone, nihil. My jaw dropped and my Maslow's Hierarchy of needs crashed. Food!!! They were totally taking it from me. Not just some of it -- all of it. So, I started yelling, "Hey! Hey! Let me have some pizza!!" So, they gave me one, small, square piece. Oh no, I wasn't having this. I demanded another piece, and then, the pizza was gone.

There I was, failing at this hunger game. So, in short, Kyle farts on me and deprives me of food. No, just kidding. I just like to give him crap. I actually really love him and am excited to marry him :). Speaking of Kyle, he just woke up from one of his notorious naps. Guess what he dreamed about? Pizza. Not kidding.

December Update

This semester is coming to a close! Hard to believe. After visiting Asbury Theological Seminary back in October, I decided to apply. I just found out on Tuesday that I was accepted to the seminary! So, it looks like Kyle and I will be moving to Kentucky in August. We are both pretty excited about it. We've talked about living somewhere else other than Kansas, and this seems like the perfect opportunity.

Kyle will be student teaching next semester and I will be finished with classes in December. I will finish out a minor degree next Spring and be around to work on campus ministry and chapel. Kyle and I will both graduate in May and then we will be wedding hopping throughout the summer. One of my great friends gets married in May, Kyle and I get married in June, my roommate gets married in July and then by BFF gets married in August! And I am in all of the weddings. I can't believe it! It's fun and crazy. So, for the time being, I will leave you with some wedding inspiration from my brain, just so you can see what's up. More to come in the future....