Break

I'm going to be taking a break from this blog. I've been reading through it, and it bores me. You must agree if you have ever read it. I'm going to work on a different blog for a while and see how that goes. I'll come back to this one at least once a week to update it.

Visit my other blog - Commuter Musings. Hopefully, you will be better entertained there.

Weekend Away

We went to the beach for the weekend and spent our 6 month anniversary in Swansboro, NC. We had a great time, and it was nice to get away. We will have to work on getting a weekend away more often now. I'll recap our activities later today.

Clarity

Beauty is the realization
That six months in -
Despite compromise and disenchantment
Love is not your start or destination -
But your travel guide and dear companion.

Saturday is our six month anniversary. It seems impossible to believe it's been that long, or really that short. I wrote that little poem just thinking about us.

Working Together

Zach and I have been working on our closets in the evening after we get home from work. We have been trying to install a second pole in the closets so that there is a lower rack for pants and an upper one for shirts.

This process has necessitated removing the current pole and shelf in each closet and repositioning them to allow for a second pole. This doesn't seem like it would be a difficult project, and it really isn't, but the difficulty of a task is never an issue when Zach and I are working together. The issue is always our lack of cohesive teamwork.

Our methods for getting a job done usually involve the following:

• Me trying to tell Zach how to do something when I think that he is putting in to much effort, or that his technique will result in having to do it all over again

• Zach getting angry at me for trying to correct him, which results in him completely ignoring me and doing something wrong (or luckily, sometimes he does get it right)

• I step in and try to do it myself

and we never seem to get the job done.

However, our closet project was different. We worked as a team! We had some setbacks, but we never argued or got angry, and we got it done! I was truly amazed. I only changed my normal tactics slightly in that I tried not to tell him how to do everything. In turn, he changed his normal tactics and actually listened to me and didn't argue.

This is the first time that we have started and finished a project without arguing. This is a major mile stone. We are becoming a better team.

I think we are going to make it after all.

Moravian Sunrise

Zach and I went to a Moravian sunrise service this morning at Oakwood Cemetery. Oakwood is my favorite cemetery in the Raleigh area. It is an island of beauty and tranquility within the city that you never expect to exist. I actually didn't know about it until the first time I went to the sunrise service with Raleigh Moravian Church.

There is nothing more glorious than the Moravian sunrise service. We met on the grounds of the Cemetery, heard some wonderful scripture, sang lovely songs with solid messages, and were played through the grounds to God's Acre (the Moravian graves) by the brass band. It is a treat for all the senses, and connects you with the undeniable presence of God. I will always celebrate Christ's resurrection with Raleigh Moravian Church if I can.

Housework

Zach had to work this morning, and while I could have slept in, I made myself a list of things that I wanted to get done and attacked the house. I did laundry, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen, made a key holder, mopped the floor, organized, and played with the dogs. I got so much done, and Zach came home from work to a clean house. I felt like a good wife, and a good mom to my furry kids.

Good Friday

Crucifix and Sunrise ©iStockphoto.com/Richard Goerg

Fridays are almost always good, but today is special. Today is the day that we have chosen to celebrate that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins...

...and rose again on the third day to bring us eternal life. He sacrificed Himself for us - we don't deserve His mercy, and I am forever grateful.

My favorite version of the story is found in Mark, Chapter 15.

Jesus Before Pilate

¹Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

²"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

³The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."

⁵But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, ¹⁰knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

¹²"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.

¹³"Crucify him!" they shouted.

¹⁴"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

¹⁵Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" ¹⁹Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

²¹A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²²They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). ²³Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵It was the third hour when they crucified him. ²⁶The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁷They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save yourself!"

³¹In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! ³²Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

³³At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"אלוהים, אלוהים, למה יש לך עזוב אותי"—which means,"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

³⁵When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

³⁶One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.

³⁷With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

⁴⁰Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus

⁴²It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

These verses were found at BibleGateway.com, and are the New International Version.

Taken from dailyencouragement.wordpress.com

Thank you Lord for your unbelievable love and mercy.

Sick

In case anyone was wondering about there not being any posts the past two days, I was sick. Had migraines on Monday with a fever in the evening, and then yesterday more headaches and feeling under the weather during the morning and evening.

Today I'm back at work and just wish that I could be in bed. I'm still so tired.

Hallelujah!

He finally listened. :)

Another Saturday

The day passed quickly. I went to another Teacher's Job Fair this afternoon and had a pretty good experience. Zach was a good husband and raked the front yard. It looks so much nicer now.

This evening after dinner we went to our friend S's house to meet up with other friends and watch the basketball game. It was strange to hear a knock at the door later in the evening and have my friend Beth walk through the door. S never talks to Zach about their dating, and so I never know what is going on. S has been sick for the past few weeks and so I didn't know if they had seen each other much or not. Apparently they have. She walked in and was completely comfortable coming into his house and taking his seat in the recliner while he moved to the floor. It was interesting to have her added to the group, a new experience. It is usually our friends, all married couples now, and single S, but everything seems to have changed.

Zach and I were the last of the couples to leave at about 11:30. It was different to leave S's house with Beth still there. Leaving them alone together. Knowing that although she was once my best friend, we have grown so far apart that I will never be someone she turns to and tells about this new relationship. Even asking her about it to open the door for confiding in me would seem strange. Maybe this relationship will soon reopen that door though. I hope so.

Bored

"I am bored."

That is what I told him this morning before I left.

It applies to many things within our marriage, and all of them involve him not listening and following through.

It's one of those days when "forever" seems more torture than treasure.

Escape...

This is what I was thinking today.

I suddenly want to be in a train compartment, somewhere in Europe or traversing into the Balkans...looking out the window with a camera in my bag, a notebook on my lap, and a pencil in hand with its nibbled end resting on my lower lip.

Borrowed from Meg Pickard and her blog meish dot org: life, unfolding.