I'm not spoiled

On this brisk April morning, my mom and I are emailing each other. They are on their way to visit our house and are now about 8 hours away. I am so excited. In one email I shared with my mother that I am waiting for Jeritt to wake up so he can cook breakfast for us. This is our normal Saturday routine. I wake up around 7:30 am, drink my coffee, read the Bible and watch the news. Then, I patiently wait until 9 or 10 am to jump on our bed and beg Jeritt to finally wake up to cook our breakfast.

My mom says "You are spoiled." Sure, a lot of people looking at our normal Saturday routine could say that, and I am OK with that statement. However, my honest response to that is, "I am not spoiled, I am just loved." I don't know how other husbands are with their wives. I don't witness the day in and day out workings of other people's marriages. Yes, I had the opportunity to watch my parents marriage as I grew up and yes, I do believe my parents love each other, however, the manifestation of their love is expressed differently than how Jeritt and I express love to each other.

When Jeritt and I "found" each other and realized we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, we made a commitment to each other. Not just the commitment of marriage- til death due us part sort of thing, but we committed to the loving one another. It's a selfless love we try to express every day. It's a love where I put his needs before my needs, and he puts my needs before his own needs. Yes, we do "spoil" each other, and we have a blast doing it. We still hold hands, send each other love notes, and act silly in love when we are together. We keep that passion for one another alive. When we are in our sixties and seventies we still want to have that spark of love ever so present in how we treat each other.

I waited 34 years to find my Jeritt and marry him. Everyday, I thank the Lord for him and for knowing exactly what I needed in a husband. I thank Him for creating Jeritt for that purpose. Everyday, I am amazed by God's faithfulness. My husband loves to spoil me, to treat me like his queen and in turn I treat him like a king.

Today, we will continue in our normal routine. Jeritt will slowly wake up to make his queen breakfast. Then after we eat together and chat about our day, I will get up to take care of all the dishes for my king. This is our duty as husband and wife, yet it is also our pleasure and our deepest desire to fully care for and love one another selflessly forever.

Buzz

Ivy Hill Drive is buzzing with anticipation! We are expecting lots of family to arrive this weekend and next week to celebrate Easter together as well as an early birthday celebration. My parents, Mom Judy and Dad Phil will be driving here from Charleston, SC. I believe they plan on arriving either Friday or Saturday. Regan, Jeff and Carys fly in from Chicago on Tuesday. This is such an exciting time for us since this will be the first time Carys has been to our home, and the second time Regan and Jeff have visited us since we were married. Plus Mom and Dad can be here too.

Jeritt has cleaned the pool, the pool house, and the yard. I have cleaned both guest rooms, the guest bathroom and have prepared both beds for their arrival. Then of course we have purchased special items for our two year old niece Carys to play with while she is here. She has her own life jacket, a pink mini outdoor pool just in case the big pool is too scary for her, a bag full of goodies such as a bucket and all sorts of outdoor pool toys, a pirate cape/towel- thanks to her Uncle Jeritt and lastly, her own outdoor Adirondack chair in teal blue mini-sized just for her.

All we need now is for them to get here. It can't happen quick enough!

The plans for their visit is simple- relax and enjoy our company. Yet, we have discussed visiting the Fort Worth Zoo. It is such an amazing zoo and now they have just started a dinosaur exhibit, which sounds super. We will definitely visit one of our favorite restaurants in Arlington, Hoffbrau Steaks, to celebrate Jeritt's birthday early. We also have made arrangements for Jeritt's parents- Candace and Ricky to come over to visit with my family.

Lessons learned this week have mostly centered around preparations, hospitality and waiting. Jeritt and I want to make sure our guests are comfortable in our home, therefore we have gone out of our way to make sure everything is prepared for their arrival. Although our guests are family and they say they don't need any special treatment, Jeritt and I agree that anyone in our home should experience peace, comfort and hospitality. Besides, this is part of their vacation therefore, Ivy Hill Manor is now open to receive it's guests. I might even go as far as turning back their sheets and leaving them little wrapped chocolates on their pillows to find.

My prayer is that they have safe travels to Texas with no delays and that they feel the peace of Christ in our marriage as well as in our home as they are visiting us.

Breast Cancer Survivor

Have you ever had the opportunity to go through any of the blogs out there? I scanned through several over the past few months and one major word jumped out to me over and over again. CANCER. So many people have been touched by this terrible disease. Several blogs talked about loved ones triumphing over cancer, several talked about loved ones going through their battle with cancer right now, and sadly many shared that their loved ones had recently lost their battle.

After reading multiple blogs that focused on loved one’s cancer, I thought I would honor my mother by sharing her story. See, my mom is a breast cancer survivor.

In January 2008, I was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) here in Texas. Jeritt and I had just gotten engaged in December and had begun planning the wedding. One day, I remember clearly hearing instructions from the Lord concerning my wedding day. He said to me, “Merritt, I need you to pray for your mother’s health, if you want her to be at your wedding.” I thought this is an odd request from the Lord. Not that I mind praying for my mother’s health, but He specifically referred to our wedding. I wondered why? So being the obedient Christian that I try so desperately to be, I obeyed the command. Pray for my mother’s health- everyday- check… Will do God.

Then, a few days or maybe a week or so later the phone call came from my mom. Merritt, I just want you to know that the doctor thinks he may have found a questionable image (i.e. Lump) in my breast from my routine mammogram. I will go back to have a biopsy done on that area. I remained brave and told mom just to let me know the final report as quickly as possible, and then I called Jeritt to freak out about mom’s health. I shared with him what God had asked of me. I told Jeritt the recent phone conversation with my mother and the terrible news. Jeritt, who always seems to know how to handle me, so lovingly reminded me of God’s faithfulness. He told me not to worry until we knew the results of the biopsy.

The news came back, and yes, it was cancer. I remember standing in chapel at SWBTS, during worship just pouring my heart out to God, asking why my mom and why now? He did not answer my why questions, but He did remind me to continue to pray for her health as He had already instructed me to do. I remember selfishly thinking, God- I can’t get married without my mother being there. I just can’t… He once again said, you need to pray. I shared with Jeritt the news, and we both began to pray for her.

Thankfully, because mom did go to her mammogram appointment the spot on her breast was found early. It was early enough that the doctor was very sure of her quick recovery from it. They removed the spot and because it was so small she only had to go through radiation. No chemotherapy, what great news.  

I remember thanking God over and over again for His ability to prepare the hearts of His children for the future things to come. He knew how heart broken I would be if anything were to happen to my mom that year. He knew that I prayed for her health, but not every day- until He told me to. He knew about the cancer before we did, and He faithfully took care of my mother.

Yes, my mother is a survivor, in more ways than just a cancer survivor but nevertheless- she won this battle. And although we have so many wonderful advances in medicine that we can detect things like cancer early on… I can not and will not ever take for granted the purpose of God in this. I believe He personally fought this battle for my mother. I can not answer why God chose to fight it for her, and not for the hundreds, thousands, or millions that have lost their lives to cancer. I can only thankfully say that He saw mercy on us and saved my mom. My mom was at every event leading up to our wedding- wedding dress shopping, the showers, the rehearsal dinner, and of course the wedding day. She is still here today three years later and cancer free. Thank you God!

Jeritt and I have a family member who is fighting cancer right now and we are praying for her. James 5:15-16 states, “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” What is the lesson I have learned from this experience? To remember to pray for your loved one’s health, to know that God is in control, and to be thankful for the precious time you have with your loved ones. I hope you will do the same.  

Journey with God

This morning I woke up to birds chirping, the sun starting to creep in our bedroom windows and the brisk cool air in our home. Jeritt was already up preparing for work, therefore the warmth from him was now gone from our bed. As I laid there saying hello to God, I thought of how awesome He is and how much God has blessed us. It's been amazing this journey with God that we are on. As I was talking briefly with God, I was reminded to set aside time to write a post today.

Two friends of mine actually inspired me to start blogging. These two ladies have been blogging for some time about what God is doing in their lives and about their families. Every time I read their posts I am so blessed by what they share. They are so transparent in their postings. I love it.

Then one day it dawned on me- they are journaling their God moments. How awesome is that?! They are taking time out of their busy schedules to sit down and write about what God is teaching them. That one thought led me to say to Jeritt, "baby, is it OK to start a blog?"

Now, a few months later, I am sitting here remembering the encouragement from JD and Donna Smith to actually journal our God moments. They instructed Jeritt and I to begin writing down our God moments so that we can remember Him and share our God stories with others. Donna has journaled for many, many years. I have seen all of their journals full of what transpired every day in their marriage. They use these journals to help them remember. Then, the Smith's share their God stories- whether triumphs or trials. They do this to honor Him and to obey a commandment of God- to remember. They also do this as a means to teach others the lessons God has taught them and relate everything to the Bible.

In the Old Testament, when God moved in a person's life, that individual would place a pillar of stones on the ground to honor and remember God. These stones would remain in that particular area, thus whenever the individual returned to the pillar of stones they would remember Him. They would remember the times when He provides, protects, corrects, prevents, challenges, loves, encourages etc.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that blogging is our journal. Over and over again, Jeritt and I have attempted to journal. Yet, again and again we fail. For us it was not because of laziness, or disobedience to instruction but perhaps just the medium in which we were choosing to write. We have found that our blog allows us to remember what God is doing in our lives just like a journal would, yet we can share this lesson to anyone-even if they don't live here in Texas.

Our desire is to remember and honor God through our blog, yet in my mind I also hope it speaks to our friends and family if and when they read it. Jeritt and I are in a place of rest right now in our marriage. We have been so busy in the first two years of marriage, we needed a time of quiet, rest and peace. God has given us that gift now that we live in Arlington, however, we still desire to share our God lessons to those who are interested in listening.

We hope that our God moments will offer some encouragement to you.  Just as we were inspired through the faithful journaling/bloggling of our friends, we pray that you will be inspired to write down your journey with God, either in a journal, typing in a word document on your computer, or even developing your own blog. Most importantly, whether you decide to journal or not, we pray that you will Remember Him.