Best Aspect

Victoria Feemster's Midnight Tea paperpack and Andrea Burns' All that glitters and flowers

I was looking through some of my old photos and found these three and just starting laughing. Our daughter has the cutest expressions.

So we found out today that we may not have the flat. It seems there is someone who can give a 'yes' right now and the owner doesn't want to risk us not being able to move in at the right time. We're still waiting to hear from our landlord so we're praying really hard. Wow.. I never expected this to be such an adventure. But God knows we need a place and what we need and will provide in His perfect timing.

Today we did a market run and it was quite successful! We all found several things for our trip to Thailand... some shirts for Mike, another bathing suit for Isabella and a dress for me. I'm nervous about this dress. It's so different than what I'm used to wearing but it's pretty and will force me to buy a new pair of shoes. LOL I guess Reef flip-flops just won't cut it! While I waited for Mike to meet me, we took a break at the Kowloon Walled City Park (a former slum city that Jackie Pollinger ministered to.) It was a beautiful park and of course Isabella had fun crawling around. I gave her something new today... mango juice... and she LOVED it. She kept coming back to me for more. It was just adorable. Funny thing though... we bought her a cup with a straw and she won't drink out of it. She'll only drink from an adult straw. LOL She definitely has her quirks at only 11 months.

So I was introduced to a Christian Women's Blog ring today and I was so excited. I love to read about what others are learning and grow from their experiences and was thrilled to find this. However, just minutes after finding the ring and joining, I got an email from the founder of this ministry asking if I would mind her posting some of my LO's in her magazine! How cool is that! Of course she can use them.... what an honor! The magazine is awesome too... you should check it out. The site is...

http://www.christianwomenonline.net/

Big Girl thoughts~
I just finished the Big Girl Wives chapter and it's incredible. It talked about significance, submission, independence, etc. These sentences caught my attention... "...the man and woman are to be complementary of one another. Where he is weak, she can be strong, and vice versa. A wife is given to the man to complete him, not compete with him. If she is going to be a completer, then she needs to recognize her own competency and insights that she brings to the table. A Big Girl believes that she can be one of the best assets her husband has, and she works to be just that. She also gives credit to assets of his that enhance her life."
I thought about this because I realized that to be a wife who complements her husband I need to be confident in who God has created me to be and be confident in the gifts He has given me. I struggle in this area because I always doubt my abilities and how effective I can be. Especially in a new situation... like moving to HK. I felt that I had really developed in MN but feel that I've somewhat reverted back to my insecurities. I also realized that reverting back doesn't just affect me, it affects my marriage and daughter and it's something I need to work. It's funny that this chapter brought these things up because Saturday morning during our Ash service, God was telling me the same thing. One thing I struggle with her is my music abilities... mainly because everyone here plays something and does it well and it's been months since I've been able to do much of anything. But I believe God has given me that talent and that He's asked me to use it for His glory so I need to be confident in what He has called me to do.
I moved on to the discussion questions in the back of the book and I really liked these questions...
What is the best aspect of your marriage?
How can this aspect inspire you toward an even stronger, closer relationship?

I think that one of the best aspects of our marriage is our dependence upon God. We both seek really hard to follow Him and His leading for our lives and I feel that's why we've had some awesome experiences and have grown from some very difficult ones. From an outsiders perspective, we could have easily given up on ministry, we could easily live closer to family, we could easily make more money (LOL) but deep down we know that we'd be miserable. We made the decision almost 5yrs ago (probably even longer than that) not to put God in a box and tell Him 'our' plans but wait on Him and see what He had for us. Because of that decision, we've never left ministry, we've never lived close to family, and never made the millions we'd like (LOL) but we've been blessed beyond measure. We have family all over the world, we've never gone hungry (although there were a few times in AL that we thought we might lol), and we've seen God work in miraculous ways!

Our dependence on God inspires a closer relationship because we know that the closer we are to Him, the stronger, healthier our marriage will be. We'll grow out of those little girl(boy) qualities as we grow in our personal relationship with the Lord which in turn benefits our marriage.

What about you? What is your marriage's best aspect?