Insomniac

It's 3:36 am. I can't sleep; I think I have insomnia. Right now the light is so bright, I am only looking out of one eye, that is squinted. My sleeping schedule has been so weird lately. I am listening to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Iz (it's the song Mark and I had our first dance to). I love this song, it's so beautiful. It's the perfect mix between my love for the Wizard of Oz and beach-style music. I think it is so well written because it's such a simple song, that allows you to dream; I'm mean, how the heck are my troubles going to melt like lemon drops? What the heck is a lemon drop anyways? I guess it doesn't matter, it'll be melting!

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

-PASSED OUT on the couch- Yes, this is normal!!!-

I sing this song to Bella all the time. I imagine when we have children this will be the only song they'll ever hear. haha. Speaking of Bella...tonight Mark and I watched a movie (well, I fell asleep) but when the movie was over, we were going to bed. Like I have said in previous posts, Bella is spoiled rotten and gets carried to bed and tucked in every night. So tonight we thought it would be funny to see if she would come to bed on her own...and she wouldn't!!! We called her name for 5 minutes, and no sign of The Bells. So I walked into the living room and she's laying on her blanket, probably thinking, "Are you kidding me? You KNOW I am NOT walking to bed!" So I picked her up, she passed out, and she was carried to bed...just like she is every night. haha...

Tomorrow, well today, Mark and I are headed up to Stockdale to spend sometime with the Holmes Family at Grandma Dorothy's house. I am so excited about going! Mark and I are taking our guns to do a little target practice in the country. I told Lisa that I was going to let her shoot my gun (that will be the cutest thing ever!) I am so excited!

Well, it's 4:33..... and still restless.

xoxo,
L

Vacation!

Mark and I got back from our Holmes Family vacation at Port Royal. We had a great time as usual. The beach was so beautiful and the weather was amazing. We enjoyed spending lots of time with the family and eating LOTS of food. Emily was able to come this year and we spent most of the trip together; we had a great time! When we first got there on Friday, Emily and I decided that we were going to go down the slide to get into the pool. So we started our race...and then right as I was about to come out of the tube, my legs were jerked from underneath me, I was thrown up to the top of the tube, and belly flopped at the bottom of the tube. My head was hurting REALLY bad...and I was kind of in a daze. So when I got to the bottom I was staring and Emily and she was like, "are you ok?" and I said, "Uh, I don't think so." So she took a second look at me and realized that I had blood running down my face. So to make a long story short... I didn't need stitches but it looked pretty crazy for a few days~and I had a TREMENDOUS headache! Good times at Port Royal! On Saturday evening, we had Randy's famous shrimp night. It was awesome! We all ate shrimp until we thought we were going to pop. We love Shrimp Night at Port Royal...it is definitely the best! Anyways, on our way home, Mark and I got to talking about all the places our families had taken us to when we were kids and we both realized that we hadn't been to the Midwest. So we planned an entire road trip in an hour! We are calling it, "Wild West Spectacular 2008" haha! We are going to travel to New Mexico, Colorado,Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, and few more on our way back. We will be stopping at a few major landmarks and a few national parks. And the best thing about it all...we are taking Bella!!! Mark and I both laughed so hard at the thought of having Bella's picture taken in front of Mount Rushmore. Haha.. it must just be an inside joke! Anyways, I have been taking pictures at Vacation Bible School this week and I need to go get ready to head back up to the church!

Moving Away....

The one and ONLY Shelly!!! She is the most amazing friend! She gave each of us a beautiful Medallion Necklace to remember her by! I love it- I wear it all the time!

-Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha and Carrie-
This was taken by our waiter who had just called us the "Sex and the City girls"- We all LOVE Sex and the City- so we thought it was hilarious how much we do resemble them!

-Here is our action pose! Haha!-

Today was interesting. I got a few things done around the house, and then did a little packing (we are going on a vacation to Port Royal, in Port A. with Mark's family for the weekend). Tonight I had the chance to hang out with my beautiful friends from college who I haven't seen since the wedding. Sadly, Shelly is moving to Germany for four years...yes, FOUR years. So I started to cry as I told her "see ya later"...then I proceeded to cry the entire way home. She is such an amazing person and SUCH an amazing friend. She is NEVER (has NEVER) been judgmental towards me for me being who I am. I love the handful of people I know that really love me for who I am! I have always appreciated her for that. She will be missed SO much! I need to stop talking about it before I start to cry again! We had a fun girls night tonight. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, then coffee at Coco's. Every time I'm there I think about Shelly. I know she's going to open the most amazing little coffee shop someday! I told her if she does, she has to name a drink after me...something cool... haha =)
Anyways, about our weekend getaway, Mark and I are SOOOO excited about Port Royal. This is our 4th consecutive year to go. We love it! Randy and Lisa spoil us with great food, specifically the shrimp fry night. Since we have not been married every year that we have gone, we always got the living room....all I'm going to say is we are SO excited about having our own room this year! We are always joking about this because every year something happens that makes me sleep anywhere but the living room (such as a closet or the balcony) haha. Either a baby is crying, a clock is ticking, some one is snoring (to the point of almost ear piercing...) or someone's cell phone is dying...so we are SO excited about being in a quiet room where we can sleep! As funny, or annoying as those things might be, we always love Port Royal... it has never been a show stopper for us...but it does give us slightly humorous stories to talk about! The only thing that could make Port Royal 100% perfect is Bella was allowed to go...but she is going to spend a few days at her "weekend estate" (as my dad says), at "Grandma and Grandpa's house" (aka. my parents). They love her to death and I know she is ALWAYS in good hands with them...and just to let you know... YES, Mark and I treat Bella like she is our first born. Sometimes we argue about who gets to carry her to bed and tuck her in. She's one lucky little girl! =)
Well, I need to get a few things done..sleeping would be one of those things!!!
Love you!!!
L

We Will Dance

As I clean the house I always put on the playlist on Itunes and listen to my favorite songs. So tonight the song "We will dance" by Steven Curtis Chapman came on. It gets me everytime. Here are the lyrics:
____________________________
I've watched the sunrise in your eyes
And I've seen the tears fall like the rain
You've seen me fight so brave and strong
You've held my hand when I'm afraid

We've watched the seasons come and go
We'll see them come and go again
But in winter's chill, or summer's breeze
One thing will not be changin'

We will dance
When the sun is shining
In the pouring rain
We'll spin and we'll sway
And we will dance
When the gentle breeze
Becomes a hurricane
The music will play
And I'll take your hand
And hold you close to me
And we will dance

Sometimes it's hard to hold you tight
Sometimes we feel so far apart
Sometimes we dance as one
And feel the beating of each others hearts

Some days the dance is slow and sweet
Some days we're bouncing off the walls
No matter how this world may turn
Our love will keep us from fallin'

And we will dance
When the sun is shining
In the pouring rain
We'll spin and we'll sway
And we will dance
When the gentle breeze
Becomes a hurricane
The music will play
And I'll take your hand
And hold you close to me
And we will dance

The music will play
And I'll hold you close
And I won't let you go
Even when our steps
Grow weak and slow
Still I'll take your hand
And hold you close to me
And we, will dance
_______________
This song is so emotional for me. My Grandpa danced with me to this song at our wedding. He whispered in my ear, "I had to dance with the most beautiful girl in the world." Then he went on to tell me how much he still loves my Grandmother, 53 years later. I began to cry. I pray the Lord protects Mark and I, and someday when our future Granddaughter marries, he will be able to whisper the same thing to her. In the second verse, I danced with my dad. This song perfectly describes our relationship. We haven't always been close. The farthest away at times. But sometimes the friendships that are the hardest at first become the most sustaining ones. I love how songs can be interpreted to reference my relationship with the Lord. His love for me is always unconditional. He is always there for me, waiting to listen. I can honestly say that I don't know where my life would have gone if I didn't know the Lord. Those who don't know Him, miss out on the greatest friendship one could ever imagine. Love everlasting. Peace. Hope. Joy.

Today I have felt God's love for me. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened; I just slowed down to listen.

I love how the smallest things today brought me the most joy. As a lot of you know.. I have an unstoppable love for plants. That's right... plants. When we have a house someday, it will be like a garden out of a fairy tale...I assure you! My mom started me on that. I used to think she was crazy. But then I realized that we could be crazy together....it's bliss! It's nice having someone to talk to when my plants are having a bad day ;) ... So here lately my plants got this horrible fungus, and it spread to almost all of them. I really thought I was going to lose them all...my mom assured me that I wouldn't. I was so sad. I treated them, and I just looked out today and there are lots of new blooms; that brought me lots of joy. I loved the rain today; joy! I watched Bella run her little heart out at the park today; joy!

So all this to say, if you ever need a little joy in your life...start to look at the things that most people don't think don't matter. This is where you will find your greatest joy!

;)

~L

Relaxing!

Hey everyone! It's been a nice past few days! Mark has been off for a few days (he has been working every other day for a while now) so we decided that we were just going to relax, watch some movies, eat lots of homemade macaroni and cheese (Mark loves it when I make that!) and have our friends over for hamburgers! SO, now that it's Sunday night and Mark is at work, I have some time to write. I just came home from Lisa and Randy's house. Lisa and I are throwing a cute little diaper shower for Kelly, my sister in law. We are both so excited to do this for her and we are having a blast doing a few projects to prepare for the big day! As some of you already know, I just recently joined on the communications team at church (Sagemont). There are about 25 of us who have chosen to volunteer to put together a magazine that will be published monthly. We are super excited about seeing all of the fruits of our labor! The magazine will hit the doorsteps the first week of September. At first I thought I was going to write, photograph and help design the magazine, but thankfully there are more writers that photographers. As much as I really like writing, I think that I will leave it to those who are Uber- passionate about it...and leave more time for me to focus on the awesome graphics and the designing process! We have a really great group and I am so excited to have found a place to serve that I really think I will enjoy!
Anyways, last Sunday my parents came over for lunch and gave me an awesome present...a Springfield .40 !!! It's all black, and the sights glow in the dark!!!!! Mark is SO jealous! He actually has the same gun, but the top of his is silver. So, my dad and I decided that we would spend the afternoon together, and go to the gun range. He bought the ammo (which by the way is ridiculously expensive now) and then I paid for the gun range...which I would say is not a very fair deal...but that's what he wanted to do =) ! So we get there and I'm really nervous to shoot my new gun. My dad hangs up my target, shows me how to load my clip and then he says, "Ok, it's active, take a shot!" I start sweating and I'm telling myself, "You can do this Linda, You can do this.." then BAM... I fire it...and I am NOT kidding... I hit the upper top left of the X ! My dad was like, " WHAT?!!" haha.. then he starts laughing... so I'm like- "Ok, I'm gonna do it again!" So I do and it's in the same area. I could tell he was really proud of me...and that made me really happy! So after I shot for a while, I thought I would take a break to watch him. I stick my head around to his stall and he's just firing away...and all hitting the middle, practically in the same place! So this Mexican kid was standing there watching my dad with his jaw open and he says in really broken English, "I not going to break in his house" haha... I was like- "Yeah...that's probably not the best idea!" We had such a great time together and I will always remember that! When I got home I pulled out my target and showed Mark. He couldn't believe it.... so all this to say...I hope no one breaks into our apartment....because this Annie Oakley will take you down!!! =)
Well, I told Mark I would put some of the pictures I have taken of him on to his myspace...so I will write more later!

Thank you cards FINALLY in the mail!!!!!

Hello All,
The thankyou cards have finally been sent out! Yeah!!!! Hopefully everyone will be recieving them within the next few days! Thank you all for being so patient (and knowing how greatful Mark and I both are for all of the wonderful wedding gifts that you blessed us with) as it took me FOREVER to get the cards sent out! When we were moving everything into the apartment, I felt so overwhelmed that so many people blessed us beyond measure! I never thought that plates and silverware would make me this happy! Which by the way, Mark and I love to entertain...so if you ever need a free meal... or just want to hang out with us...please let us know! Well.. my plans to make this post a little bit longer were just cut short...seeing that it's past 3am... and Mark is (or was) sleeping in the other room and aparently he can hear me typing! He has to be up in two hours...so maybe I can write more tomorrow!