It was June 7, 1998 and my just married honey, John Mark, and I were headed to our beautiful honeymoon location in the Poconos. We could not wait to see the deal that we found online. Ok, that is a dead give-away that this might get interesting. We were both underage to rent a car, but we needed to get to the “resort.” We had to hire a driver to take us there. We load up our suitcases and our giddy selves and head off to our honeymoon paradise. The driver was quiet for the most part and as we got closer to our destination, we began inquiring about our honeymoon spot.
Author Archives: DesireeR
Behind the Shower Curtain
I was reading this blog post and it reminded me of my own pre-wedding trauma and I just had to write about it. It was 1998 and I was getting ready for one of the most exciting time in the pre-wedding planning — registering for all of the things that will ensure a great start to marriage which are blenders, towels, and silverware, right? I was just beginning to get excited about decorating our royal palace, which took the form of a 1960’s rental trailer for $350/month, when we began the registry process at WalMart. Now my fiancé and I were registering at a time before the cool little scanners existed.
Exercise Woes!!
If you are like me, which hopefully you are not, exercise is one of the things that I often put on the back burner of my life. If I had a daily video of my life you might see me wake up in the morning, examine my face in the mirror, recognize that yes, I am getting older. Then I would go to the coffee maker and you would see a thought bubble come up above my head that wishes the coffee were somehow an IV that I could just have a constant stream of caffeine coursing through my veins. After the thought bubble burst into flames because that is not a possibility, the next thought bubble would pop up, this time pondering if I should exercise before I hop in the shower.
Staying Bonded
This summer my family and I went on quite the adventurous excursion. In twelve days, we drove 4,000 miles to the Wild Wild West to visit Yellowstone National Park and back home. We made lots of stops along the way to see grandparents, sisters in two states and a newborn niece. We had an all nighter stomach bug, a stolen phone and it’s happy retrieval, as well as several other mishaps along the way. To say we were happy to sleep in our own bed when we finally got home is an understatement.
My kids are nine and eleven years old and it’s sad to say, but we had not spent that kind of time together since our last vacation.
Warning, Pain Ahead
Recently, one of my children was told very specifically not to do something because they would get hurt if they did it. About an hour later I hear a wail coming from their direction. Sure enough they did exactly what I told them not to do and they got hurt.
I am not exactly a prophet like Isaiah was, but he told the people of Judah that God’s judgment was near if they did not stop what they were doing. He even predicted that the people of Judah would blame God for the problems that they were facing. Wouldn’t it be absolutely ridiculous if my child who was hurt after I told them to be careful were to blame me for their pain after they were careless?
Hold On Tight to Your Nair and Your Lord
Nair is my new best friend. I am thirty five and let’s just put it this way, I think I have more hair on my chin than my husband!! Now granted I can count my blessings that most of them are not thick, black hairs. But don’t get me wrong, the peach fuzz on my chin is an intrusion of my rights.
Over my 18 years of being a Christian, I thought I felt secure. I had the King of Kings in my life and knew that I was a princess, a child of the King. In a conversation last fall with a friend of mine, I (clear throat) told her that I did not struggle with insecurity.
Forget Loving Your Enemies
A few weeks back, my small group at church was studying the book, Radical. I have a feeling many of you have either heard of or purchased it at some point. One of the many topics we discussed happened to be loving your enemies which comes from the Beatitudes where Jesus is talking to His disciples about how they should live.
Matthew 5:43
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Catch and Release
Recently, my life has had a running theme of “Catch and Release.” A few years back, my husband and I took our kids fishing in a place that promised us glorious trout to no end. My logical husband said that we needed to let the fish go after catching them though because he knew that my daughter and I would not eat them because we detest fish. Knowing full well that I had no intention on eating these trout, I refused to let them go. I wanted to keep them, because I caught them. They were mine! I spent precious hours of my time luring these boogers in and I am not about to put them back into that lake.