You know what is HOT?

A man who LOVES his wife!


Often times I miss moments to give thanks because I am not looking for them.  I am too busy, mind is preoccupied, and I have a thousand things on my to do list.  All the while, I miss the moments to appreciate who he really is.  He's not perfect but he's real.  He's not here to please the world but he is here to please his Father in heaven and his actions make that evident.  He is my husband and I do adore him, but does he know that?

SO MANY TIMES - I peak out the window or step out to watch him working outside, sweaty and all, straw hat on, singing at the top of his lungs jamming out to some David Crowder - I notice the JOY he exuberates even if he is just mowing the grass or working in the garden.  This is one of the many things I admire about him - his pure & JOYFUL heart, even as he works in the hot sun. 

Of course I have snapped many pictures so I could remember these moments and even how good he looked. He ALWAYS grins from ear to ear when he knows I am watching him - that always gets him giddy.  I think of all the times he actually has NO idea I am watching him though?  Not to mention, why do I not LOOK for these moments to adore him more?

 

A wife can look into a moment and see more of her husband if she wants to but it requires looking.  When I stop for a minute and think about my life with him, I am one blessed woman.  And I may be a lot of things, but unloved is not one of them.

He shows me he loves me like this:

• It’s the extra stop on the way home to bring me my favorite drink or pick up a couple of items at the grocery store.
• It's his desire to fix whatever is wrong even when I don't know what that is OR his desire to understand me even when I don't understand myself.
• It’s the meaningful eye contact over a crowd of people.
• It’s offering to rub my back without even asking and if I do ask, he joyfully accepts.
• It’s one hand in mine, the other uplifted to God on a Sunday morning.
• It’s watching him love Jayden. 
• It’s catching him folding a load of laundry or putting his things away because he knows that rocks my world.
• It's seeing how he is never too tired to get back out of bed at night to get me a glass of water or milk.
• It's how easy he is to please at dinner time.
• It's the extra time he takes to make the bed on a crazy morning.
• It's the fun note he leaves inside the refridgerator.
• It’s forgiving my grumpy attitude before I have a chance to ask.
• It's knowing without a doubt that I am the only female in the world that captures his eyes and his heart.
• It’s noticing his love for Father, His word, and leading our family spiritually.

It’s so easy in this life to name all the things our husbands don’t do. And most days we could pick them apart if we wanted to.  Trust me, I do this all the time.  We can always find something when we look closely. But when I begin to count all the things he does, day-in-and-day out, the list grows long.  Really, really long. 

There is nothing quite as HOT as a man who loves his wife and let me add to that...

BECAUSE ultimately that LOVE is out of a heart to glorify our Father in heaven!

My man is definitely HOT HOT HOT!

 

...and I am LOVED!

Flowers & jewelry are great BUT I prefer how he tells me a thousand ways without buying a thing or saying a word.

Let's not miss looking for ways to adore our husbands and give thanks!

Life in Pictures

It's SO much easier to summarize LIFE in pictures over the last week! 

This is how we been rollin'...

• The few days I am working each week - we have a morning routine that involves me getting up around 4:30 or 5am and Rance getting up & waking Jayden up around 6am, changing his diaper, and dressing him for the day.  Then, I take over to feed him, make Rance and I breakfast, and get everything packed up and out the door.  Rance jumps on his school bus by 6:45am!  Jayden and I roll out around 7am!

dressed & ready at 6:30am

and another one!

• Last week, we came home to the pool being DEMOLISHED!?!?!  This picture still cracks me up.  It's not everyday you leave with a pool and come home to it being GONE!  I love the Crisp's!  They were having lots of 'pool issues' this past year so they decided to start over.

• Our days of course consist of some sitting up time, naked and bath time!

 

 

 

 

 

• Cross country is also a BIG part of our life right now!  I realize I am LACKING the 'guy team' pictures but I'm not actually taking the pictures below so you get what I get.

 

• Last Saturday, we were out and about the entire day!  Rance did not have a XC race to attend so we went with our church to a "Tabernacle" live tour (which was awesome), went to Walmart (such a big deal), and then to a wedding that evening!

Jayden is napping in the back!

Our family wedding photo

•  Getting out the door for church on a Sunday morning is always fun!  I'm so thankful for tag-teaming with Rance in everything! 

Why does he look so old?

• Week nights are made up of discipleship and Jayden gets all sorts of attention!  

LOVE how lil Frank loves Jayden!

• I love surprises!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!  On the 3 mornings, Jayden and I head into town - I have been swinging through McDonald's for a cup of coffee and THIS week they are giving away FREE SMALL COFFEES!  Oh me, it was like unwrapping sweet love & kisses from the Father!

• On Wednesdays & Fridays, Jayden and I thoroughly enjoy hanging out (or at least I do!).  My prayer is that I will go against my 'get it done' nature and really ENJOY just being with little man before he is grown and gone instead of focusing on 'what I can get done' those days! 

Sitting in a WARM towel from the dryer
while I fold the rest of the laundry!



PLAY TIME!



LOVE this discovery mode he is in!

 

There you have it for LIFE the last week!

 

 

 



Making Footprints - XC DEVO

Rance writes devotionals each week to pass out to the cross country runners to read on the way to the cross country meet!  I thought I'd share because it definitely challenged me and maybe it will you too...

Psalm 63 Joy in the Fellowship of God

A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
² So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

³ Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
⁴ Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
⁵ My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

⁶ When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
⁷ Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
⁸ My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.

V.1 May your footprints lead you to a place of personal fellowship with God where you daily find yourself declaring, “YOU ARE MY GOD!”  May you MAKE FOOTPRINTS early in the morning searching to spend time with God!  Often after practice we are thirsty and hungry and we dash to water and food!  May our footprints be found in a dry and thirsty land!  May our footprints declare that NOTHING in this world will ever SATISFY us the way God does!  May our footprints lead us to a place where HE ALONE quenches our thirst!  May our footprints lead us to a place where He alone FILLS OUR HUNGER!  May we have eyes to recognize times in life where our footprints have went/are going to a place where there is no thirst or hunger for God!  May we turn around and make new footprints back to the dry and thirsty land where only God satisfies us!

V.2  A sanctuary is a place “set apart.”  May you have a place/time in your daily life where your footprints are found going to your sanctuary!  A place set apart with no distractions!  No interruptions!  No people!  No phones!  Nothing to take your mind off your time with God!  May your footprints stay there for a little while!  May your footprints become knee prints as you set aside time in your busy life to kneel and declare you’re a deep Love and longing for His power and His glory!

v.3  May your footprints be at a standstill everywhere you go!  Footprints that have stopped moving!  Footprints that are standing in awe and praise to God because you are experiencing His loving kindness that is better than life! 

V.4-5  May your footprints become handprints lifted high in praises as you bless the Name of  The Lord!  May every detail of your life reflect your satisfaction in the LORD.  May you recognize people, movies, songs, pictures, time, social media, “likes”, self-centered thinking, and other desires that do not reflect a satisfaction in the Lord but rather a desire to satisfy self!  A desire to be affirmed or applauded by others.

V.6 May our footprints lead us to our resting place and may you be found remembering the Lord in your day.  May you meditate on Him and His Word.  Think deep, think long, conquer the battle of mind wondering.  Win the battle of thinking about people, places, things, drama, etc and be captivated by dwelling on the Lord!  If you find yourself constantly upset at a person or situation, often you need to forgive that person and even go talk to them.  Don’t let that person steal precious time of meditating on the LORD.

V.7  May your footprints find you experiencing God’s help.  But where would that be?  Where is the “Shadow of His wings?”  Think about it………ponder.  His shadow is right next to Him!  When you and I deal with all our sin, and run to Him declaring “You are my God” we can find ourselves in His Shadow beneath His wings!  The challenge is, do the words of our lips agree with what we really want?  “You are my God” is a declaration that we want God to be the supreme authority of every detail of our lives!  We are declaring that we want Him to have the say so (from His Word) to our every thought and decision!  We are declaring that He has the freedom to reveal any area of our lives that we are NOT allowing Him to be the “God” of!  Is there an area of your life that’s all about you?  Is there an area that you say “well that’s just how I am……compared to ________   _________ I’m doing a lot better….. etc)  Our flesh can find unlimited excuses to justify why we are doing what we are doing or thinking the way we are thinking.  We can even convince ourselves that it’s not really sin.  But if we ignore these areas of our lives, can we really  declare “You are my God” and mean it?  Can we still find ourselves REJOICING (experiencing God’s JOY) in the Shadow of His wings????  Read verse 7 again.  Can my sin dwell in the presence of God?  Wouldn’t it be easier to give it all to Him and declare Him the God of every detail of our lives and yearn for Him to reveal any darkness He sees so we can be cleansed!?

V.8  Then as God moves, may our footprints move and FOLLOW close behind Him upheld by His strength that never grows weary!

Ahhh, what a set of Footprints worth following!

*Fall Viewing*

Since it is the month of SEPTEMBER and Mama Gale gave me THREE new flags for FALL, we decided it was time to change the outside scene at the Shuler household!

Summer stuff is down....

....Fall stuff is out!

Pretty soon, everything pictured above will be COVERED in leaves!

*THREE months old*

Say what?!?!  How has September 7th already come and gone?!  This whole 'time flies' thing is NOT funny anymore.  I feel like Jayden is basically an adult from the pictures I've been taking lately and comparing him to when he was first born.  Have I mentioned I think breastmilk has miracle grow in it?

Let's see what there is to say about him:

• he is so content (thanks to figuring out he had reflux - that's a another blog coming) and continues to be mr. independent.
• he still sleeps amazing at night.  I have a hard time even accepting this because I did NOTHING to deserve it.  The last few nights he has not even woken up to feed once and sleeps a straight 11-12 hours?  What the heck? 
• he still doesn't nap much (although in this current moment he has been napping for an hour and a half SHUT UP!).  he'll take cat naps throughout the day (15 to 30 minutes) and wake up as if he just slept 3 hours!
• he still loves his bouncy seat and changing pad and fun mat!
• he LOVES to be talked to and LOVES to talk back (meaning make noises).
• he's very entertained by lights, fans and people.
• he is SO strong it's scary.  I've lost a lot of hair because when he gets a grip on it - I cannot turn it loose!
• he is fascinated with his hands and grabbing onto things.  I love the fact that we are playing with toys now!
• he loves to look at himself in the mirror (HA!)
• he still kicks and kicks and kicks those legs
• he lets me hold him more now as long as he is facing outward
• he is usually dosing off around 8:30 or already asleep
• he is a great travel baby still
• he will not hold back his fierce crying when he gets hungry and you are not responding to his needs fast enough
• he is discovering new things about himself everyday. 
• he tries to sit up wherever he is - I looked at him in his car seat the other day and he was literally trying to sit himself up and get out. 
• he is a hoot in the mornings when he is waking up.  It's my favorite time of the day because he smiles SO big when I start talking to him and he just smiles and smiles. 
• he continues to melt my heart...





HAPPY 3 MONTHS JAYDEN!

Friday Night Football

High school football is a BIG DEAL around here.  Let me rephrase this another way to get my point across - you will find the entire town of Robbinsville (literally the majority it seems) at Big Oaks Stadium on a Friday night to support the Black Knights playing football!  It's the 'thing to do' and where it 'all goes down' on a Friday night.  It actually blew my mind when I moved here that college kids even drive in on Friday nights for the football games.  This was hard for me when I moved here because back home - high school football is just not that big of a deal and it's actually not cool to go to a game on a Friday night. 

With that being said, our butts were parked on those lovely bleachers this past Friday night to scream and holler for the football team (or just hang out and chit chat with everyone there).  This was Jayden's FIRST football game and he was absolutely amused.  He even did well being passed from one person to the next, which is odd for a baby that isn't big on being held BUT I think it was the lights and people and noise.  There were a couple of times when the crowd reacted to a BIG PLAY and it got loud quick that it definitely startled him for a minute.  All in all, he stayed up past his normal bedtime because it was too exciting for him to go to sleep apparently. 

He ended up passing out around 9:45pm on our drive home, woke up at 7am to eat the next morning, and fell back asleep until 10am.  I do believe he was pooped!

Rance's cousin Skyler is a senior on the football team this year so Friday night was a family affair!



Kala & Jason - the newlyweds



Sweet Tayli!

Engaged in the game while Jayden rubs his eyes
considering getting sleepy

FAMILY PHOTOS!



Skyler with two of his biggest fans
(Trenli & Tayli)

Kenitra & Skyler



 

And there you have what a Friday night looks like in Robbinsville this time of year!

*Making Footprints*

Cross country season is in full swing which means Rance's schedule is CRAZY!  I am still trying to figure out what is wise when it comes to Jayden and I being at the races or not.  I want to be at every single race but that does not always mean we should be.  I must say Jayden thoroughly enjoyed his first race this week and all the entertainment the XC team provided.  Can you imagine the love and attention he got?  He was exhausted afterwards and slept the car ride home!

Every year Rance has a XC team theme and scripture that the team studies together.  As you may have already guessed by the title of this blog, "Making Footprints" is this year's team moto with the key scripture being Romans 10:15.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

 

 

That'll preach in and of itself will it not?!

 

I am a slacker taking pictures so here is what I got...

MUST capture God's promise

 

High School Gals + Abigail on the right!

On my drive home, yes, I stopped and snapped this!

Here is to a CRAZY season in life...

SEPTEMBER = BEGINNING OF FALL

I love love love love LOVE the fall!  I use to be this summer time gal year round always wishing for warmer temperatures but things change.  I'm not sure if it is my age OR if it is the fact that I live in the mountains of North Carolina and fall takes on a whole new BEAUTY.  Maybe it's both.  Maybe it's something else.  I have no idea but I am pretty pumped about the fall for all the reasons below and MORE.

Bring it on :)

....and please Lord, let it be fall, instead of skipping to winter temps the next couple of months!

12 weeks GONE...

It seems like just yesterday Jayden was born and 12 weeks later, as my maternity leave ended, I dropped him off for the first time to leave him for the day.  Oh my word.  I knew it would be hard but I did not know HOW hard.  It's not like he cried or begged me to stay - he just goes with the flow - but my heart was crumbling! 

As I said in the previous blog, I am focusing on TRUE thoughts and I really am thankful for Mama Long and the AMAZING home daycare she provides for a few little ones. 


Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things ~Philippians 4:8


Jayden's FIRST day...

You can only imagine how I was BUSTING to leave work to go smooch on those chubby cheeks!

And all the world was right! :)