Family Time
This weekend I was blown away by the sheer amount of love and joy I experienced. Thursday I was able to have lunch with my sister Jami and after class I took my niece Madison to a movie and out for ice cream. Both times made me overwhelmingly grateful for these new family members and the joy they bring to my life. Madison is quite the dog lover, so on a routine visit to walk the dogs at SPCA, she and her mom Linnea ran across a dog that caught their attention. It was a young pekingese named "Precious". They saw something special in the dog (who is now renamed 'Mia') and decided to foster it until the "perfect" owner comes along.
Sweet little Mia
Fitness and Friday
Friday was a bit of a "catch up" day for me. I tried out a new class at the gym called CX30. It was intense but just long enough. I am really looking forward to joining this new gym (Adrenaline Fitness ) because they offer LES MILLS classes which are, in my opinion, the best group fitness classes available. When I worked at a gym in Athens, I was preparing to learn how to teach Body Combat , which is hands down the most exciting group fitness class I've ever taken.
Friday evening Daniel and I ate dinner at a cute restaurant called MoSaIc . It has an adorable cottage feel to it and the food wasn't too bad either. The price is decent if you have a Scoutmob discount, otherwise it's a little high (in my opinion).
A very random & awkward picture of us after dinner :)
Adoption Hope for Sage
Saturday we started the day at The Social House for breakfast. They just came out with a ScoutMob and the restaurant is extremely close to where we live so we were very excited about the new 50% off deal. After breakfast, we started the process of finding our fostered dog, Sage, an adopted family. We took him to Pet Smart to meet a woman who works for a Buckhead Pet Adoption agency. She spent some time with him and introduced him to other dogs. Much to our relief, she said that they could work with him and he seemed to be very adoptable. She did remind us that the process could take awhile but we are just so grateful to have a first step in place. She also taught us some tricks to help Sage obey and so far it's been extremely helpful! Please pray we will find the perfect home for him. One of us will be at PetSmart in Buckhead almost every Saturday from around 12-2 so feel free to send any interested individuals our way.
He's such a handsome dog!
A Special Saturday Evening Surprise
Saturday afternoon I spent some time reading in the living room because Daniel was very clear that I was banned from the kitchen area. Apparently he was planning something for our evening and didn't want me to know about it. Around 7 pm, he packed up the car and took me to a spot overlooking the city. It was the place where we had our first kiss and it was a beautiful night. He pulled out a bottle of wine and some sparkling water for me and began to set the table with my grandmothers china and an entire meal prepared by him.
About halfway through the meal, he pulled out a little booklet. He reminded me that our vows were important, but they were so formal and they were written before we had a chance to truly see what the other person really needed. Now that we have been married a little over a year, he wanted to show me that he took the time to create an additional "covenant" list of all the ways he desires to love and serve me throughout our lives together. At that point, I was crying (and laughing because I was crying, which is how it usually goes for me). It was such a beautiful picture of how God desires a man to love his wife daily and I felt so undeserving but thankful.
The table set up
Great view of the city
The great thoughtful one!
After dinner, Daniel pulled out some dessert (swiss cake rolls in a crystal glass!) and we spent some time reminiscing and being thankful just to be together. It was truly an amazing night.
Gotta love the swiss cake rolls in crystal!
First page of the little booklet Daniel made for me...
Beautiful sunset
Who makes you nervous?
This morning we headed to church and I was blown away by the sermon. In summary, our pastor spoke about how Christians are now known in popular culture for 2 things: What we don't like and who we don't like. It broke my heart that we are known more for what we are NOT rather than what/who we ARE. This is a concept that permeates all areas of life, in my opinion. If I am consistently focusing on who I am not, it's harder for me to focus on who I AM. I believe it's important to know the distinction between the two but it's important to become an individual whose love and integrity is forefront, rather than the things I dislike or disagree with...
Upon leaving, we were challenged to seek out individuals who make us nervous. I believe that is beautiful way to live- constantly letting God stretch us and teach us about our judgments and stereotypes. We all have them but it's what we do with them that matters.
The rest of today was filled with errands and cleaning. Not exactly blogworthy, but then again, I'm not writing to a specific audience. One thing that IS blogworthy, though, is the new steam cleaner I purchased today. It literally sanitizes your floor with steam. Yes, I am becoming ridiculously domestic. I have been waiting to buy this steam cleaner for almost a year and today I finally felt a peace about purchasing it. I took my 20% off certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond and came out with this beauty:
After using this, I literally said (out loud), "This is SICK!" It was that awesome.
And now, some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, prayer time with Daniel and my new favorite worship song to top off the weekend...
