Lights of the Ozarks

November 20, 2010

Last night we attended the lighting of the Fayetteville Town Square for the Christmas season.

One of the Duggar's was emcee or special guest or something. I guess it was Jim Bob because he's the only one we saw...and he wasn't with the rest of his family. Someone later that night mentioned that his daughters recently performed at a music recital, but he wasn't in attendance.

It was pretty funny.
Zach: So, have you seen any of the Duggar's around here yet?
Me: *whispering although I'm pretty sure I'm being overheard* There. is. one. right. behind. you.
*We look at Jim Bob, and he smiles, but I don't know if it's at us, or if he always smiles. The Kool-Aid, ya know.*


Colored lights can look a little busy at times. But I LOVE this tree with the red bells. I took some more pictures of the parade and the lights (see below), but I don't know if it was my camera, the fact that the lights were captured in motion (either they were moving or I was), or a combination of the two, but this was the best shot. I'm glad it turned out, but, Lord, I NEED a new camera sometime soon. :)

I guess the Christmas season has officially begun in NWA? :)

The beginning of what we saw of the parade

Chik-fil-A Christmas Cows

It's all about the Hogs, even at Christmas!

a snowman

wonderful picture of Zach, terrible picture of me: my hair hadn't been washed and was wind-blown, and I have a pixie look here because my hair was pulled in a ponytail. Ick.

Gingerbread House, or, according to my husband, a chicken coop stuffed with small children

I thought this was Snoopy--that's why I took the picture--but it doesn't look it?

Last time I checked, there aren't Hogs in the Baby Jesus story, and they don't work at the North Pole either.

Save a horse, ride a Hog.

~*~Hope~*~

September 24, 2010

First of all, I found this beautiful marriage prayer during my daily devotional here (http://lysaterkeurst.com/2010/09/the-wedding-prayer/?#comment-101493) and decided to insert our names:

Father in Heaven, thank you for this husband Zach, and wife, Ashley, and their commitment to Christian marriage. As we look ahead, we pray that their future will never lack the convictions that make a marriage strong.

Bless this husband, Zach. Bless him as provider and protector. Sustain him in all the pressures that come with the task of stewarding a family. May his strength be his wife’s boast and pride, and may he so live that his wife may find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.

Bless this wife, Ashley. Give her a tenderness that makes her great, a deep sense of understanding, and a strong faith in You. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, that eternal youth that is found in holding fast to the things that never age. May she so live that her husband may be pleased to reverence her in the shrine of his heart.

Teach them that marriage is not living for each other. It is two people uniting and joining hands to serve You. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, knowing that You will sustain them through all of life’s challenges.

May they minimize each other’s weaknesses and be swift to praise and magnify each other’s strengths so that they might view each other through a lover’s kind and patient eyes. Help them every day to be kind and gentle, more like Thee. Give them a little something to forgive each day, that their love might learn to be long-suffering.

Bless them and develop their characters as they walk together with You. Give them enough hurts to keep them humane, enough failures to keep their hands clenched tightly in Yours, and enough of success to make them sure they walk with You throughout all of their life.

May they never take each other’s love for granted but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims. “Out of all this world, you have chosen me.” Then, when life is done and the sun is setting, may they be found then as now, still hand in hand, still very proud, still thanking You for each other.

May they travel together as friends and lovers, brother and sister, husband and wife, father and mother, and as servants of Christ until He shall return or until that day when one shall lay the other into the arms of God. This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, the great lover of our souls. Amen.

I leave you with this:

[photo courtesy http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/9043-begin-to-hope.jpg]

"This is how it works:

you're young until you're not;
you love until you don't;
you try until you can't;
you laugh until you cry;
you cry until you laugh,
and everyone must breathe until their dying breath.

No, this is how it works:

you peer inside yourself,
you take the things you like
and try to love the things you took,
and then you take that love you made,
and stick it into some, someone else's heart,
pumping someone else's blood,
and walking arm in arm,
you hope it don't get harmed,
but even if it does,
you'll just do it all again..."

-"On the Radio"