happy february birthdays. lots of love this month.

if you know me you know that my february is full of birthdays.  it is weird how worked up about february i get-let me be honest. so instead of fretting over what to get who, and when i can deliver said gift, and how much they will like it, (do you love my worrying, im a natural...) i decided i would pay a little love to my february birthdays early, just to get everyone revved up for this wonderful month. please don't feel lumped together (i have been accused, by ahem, KURT) just feel loved this month in the month of L-O-V-E.

11



Allie



Allison Ferris is many things, but most of all, she is the kind of friend you pray God will give you someday.  There when you need her the most, in the best or worst situations. Not afraid to hold your hand when you are sick, able to listen when you need kind truth, and ready to enjoy life to the very fullest.  Her heart makes Valentines Day look like a drop in the bucket on the love scale.  She loves the people God has given her in her life, and if y'all are just now being introduced, give her 2 minutes and she will have made a connection with you over your mother's brother's sister-in-law, and y'all will be on your way to a sincere friendship.

16



Carrie (Momma) on the Left

I came up with a phrase the other day "Keep Calm and Carrie On."  When I get into a tough situation, I think about those words and think about what Momma would do.  As cheesy as it sounds, I want to grow up into her.  She amazes me with her ability to take any everyday thing and make it SO much fun.  She doesn't wait for the big party, or Christmas, or a wedding to enjoy herself. She has fun everyday.  Whether she is playing Words-With-Friends (which she is really good at. don't play her if you value your time/life. you can't beat her) or working at Parkgate, she is just having the time of her life.  Her life is not a walk in the park.  She is raising 6 kids (yes, I still count) and has had a life of getting spilled on, long nights sitting up with stomach-bug-children, going without so that her kids could have more, and just all-out-sacrificing for the ones she loves. But the thing is, she doesn't make it look like work. She LOVES life, the Lord, and gives everything and all the glory to Him.   

19

B-Ri

Ever since my brother Brian could talk, he had this habit of saying things under his breath.  He was always making funny comments so that a few people could hear.  He has the best sense of humor for a kid who is the youngest boy of 6.  He is tough & sweet at the same time.  I doubt he EVER reads this so I do not mind saying that he is going to make some lucky girl a hech of a man some day.  I am so thankful for our relationship and so proud to be his big sister.  He is truly like half of my heart.

20

Elena

Everytime I get to spend time with Lana or talk to her, or laugh with her, I end up just being like, Oh MY goodness she's the greatest! She has just a fun and refreshing way about her--so care-free and bubbly dancing on the beach type of person. But if you were to get in a bind, have her number on speed dial.  TRUST her with your life. You will not be disappointed.  She is Deborah-trained and her own brand of spunky fun that just makes her very special in every way. 

Kurt



What can I say about this guy? I think the picture honestly says it all.  Its how much I love him, that much.  Its where I would move with him (I feel like Ive already done that). Its how he makes me feel: free & easy.  Its how much fun he loves/needs to have on a daily basis. Its how much he doesn't care about what other people think. Its how hard he tries to be good at the things he signed up for in life. Its how seriously (not very) he takes himself.

If there was one human on this earth more opposite than me, I would really like to meet that person.  I really would. 

But the thing is, I am pretty darn sure I already have. God dropped him into my life, I fell in love, then I married him, now I am doing this crazy thing called living with him & trying to figure out what it all means...

What Madden football is, what tea he likes to drink and when, and what he is going to say or what story he is going to tell next.  Its kinda like that favorite CD that you have? and you can predict which track comes next because you listen to it on the daily. Its like that. One song finishes and already you are hearing the notes of another song. Not your song, but one you know by heart and can sing without missing a beat. 



Thank goodness for February.

oh well.

sometimes you just gotta laugh and say oh well:

-princess Ariel complete with red wig etc. this morning at Highland Villiage--that was ME. running around in a 2 piece finned costume at 3/4 year old birthday party. entertainment.

-wore two different socks to dinner tonight, knowingly. why would i care?

-applied acrylic nails for 5 dollars and proceeded to glue all my fingers together and then had to tear all the nails off because i felt like i had claws.

-mailed an envelope with three stamps instead of one-just to make sure it got there. who knew there was such a thing as too many stamps? return to sender.

-made cookies at midnight 2 nights ago,  just for the dough and then burnt the whole thing and ended up crying on the kitchen floor about how kurt didn't appreciate my love of chocolate.

-have been driving on empty for the past 2 days, hoping that Kurt would take my car out and get me gas. it hasn't happened yet.

-ate at waffle house on thursday night because we didn't have milk or bread because i hadn't been to the store in approxmately 2 weeks.

-told kurt that the basil ganglia was obviously that dangley thing in the back of your throat. wrong. its in the brain.

-wore two different pointe shoes today, without even knowing it.

-verging on running out of clothes because the laundry is piling up.

& you know what all that is okay.  if there is anything this far-from-perfect wonderful guy has taught me

scared?

its that life isn't perfect and it wouldn't be fun if it was.

 he confronted me the other day with something that really hit home.  he said, emily, look me in the eye and tell me you know youre not perfect. so i looked at him and said, kurt, OBVIOUSLY i know im not perfect. i am so far from it.  he said ya, but you honestly believe that if you try hard enough, you could be.

wow. that hurts! i think that a lot of times that is true. marriage. so here i am laughing and inviting all of you to too, at my silly silly mistakes and praising God that he is big enough - and strong enough - and has got the whole world perfectly in his hands. xoxo Em

"then he caught hold of me"

on Wednesday Kurt and I finally had a much needed together-day--after our first semester together--it was time for a Christmas break, and a break from Christmas even. . .well all the hulabaloo anyway--.

We went to see Chronicles of Narnia and I remembered why we worked so well. . .everytime Aslan came on the screen, as silly as it sounds, we both just let the tears run. Isn't it funny that a sweet old children's story can tear at your heart that way? i love the passage in the Dawn Treader book, in which Eustace discovers that he must be transformed not by himself but by Aslan. I remembered my dear Elena friend reading this passage aloud at some point, and when I saw it on the big screen the importance of the moment, as well as its meaning, came flooding back to me.  Though we try and try to transform ourselves, scrape away our ugliness, refine and reform, it is to no avail unless Jesus is also a part of this transformation. I can't say it better than C.S. himself (go figure) so if you care to get lost in a little Children's magic, and Christmas magic, read on :

love and merriest of 26th of Decembers,
em

Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.

The the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke - 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

The very first tear he made was do deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.

Well, he peele the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was Ias smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phoney if I told you how I felt about my own arms. I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them.

recent kurtisms

just thought i would share some of these silly things with a few friends.  this is what i live with. . . this is who i love:

"i think i'm going to get a p.o. box of my own. . .not because I need one, just because it would be cool."

"emily, do we have any vinegar?  i need to do a quick 5th grade science experiment."

"do you think that God finds out that the Duggars are pregnant again and says, "Man, do I have to come up with a new face for these people?"

"emily made me get a cat. . ."is kitty baby being sweetie?"