longevity

I am constantly amazed at my friends. Not just that they are there, that they have stuck around for so long but also at the people that they are.

When wedding is over, the one thing I will give thanks for is the fact that the whole business of organizing it has really shown me who my friends are. And I am honestly amazed.

I don't think I ever expected my friends to stick around for me for so long. I've known some of them 10 or 12 years now .... and I'm still thankful for them.

*

The only thing that amazes me more is the sheer amount of help and love Mr Grey and I are receiving from our church group. Mr Grey and I haven't always been in this church; in fact, all things considered, we're still new-ish and in the last couple of years, we've really struggled to settle in.

One of the things we confessed to each other not too long ago, was that we'd each made the decision to quietly give up one of our other extra curricular activities.... so that we could invest our whole heart in the church group. Otherwise it would be too easy to get distracted by another group and have it "fulfil" all our social needs and just simply go to church group out of a sense of duty.

Plus in between work and other commitments, if we invested our time in other groups, there simply wouldn't be enough time to go around to church group as well.

It's so odd that we both made the same decision without even consulting each other but I'm so glad we did.

on Christ and marriage

Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically; it is mainly about displaying the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Being united to Christ by faith is a greater source of material success than perfect sex and double-income prosperity.

So it is with marriage. It is a momentary gift. It may last a lifetime, or it may be snatched away on the honeymoon. Either way, it is short. It may have many bright days, or it may be covered with clouds. If we make secondary things primary, we will be embittered at the sorrows we must face. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Every one of them will be, not an obstacle to success, but a way to succeed. The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.

-- John Piper This Momentary Marriage

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I've had a trying weekend - what with Mr Grey being very sick and needing care and attention, trying to run errands and various other commitments.....

But when i look back, i wonder if i could have been more patient, less crabby about it.

I mean, i did everything i was supposed to but I don't think my attitude was very good - i'm a person who loves her creature comforts and having to tend to a very sick person isn't the most cushy job.

i think i wrote before that Pray for Ian is one of my favourite blogs but it didn't really occur to me until now .... what an enormous leap of faith and love .... for Larissa to marry Ian.

And yet. what a crazy display of Christ's love it is too. Self sacrificial, looking heaven ward the entire time.... in the time I've been reading their blog, I think I've grown to appreciate heaven so much more and I've started looking heaven ward more and more too. Not in a crazy fatalistic way but in an appreciative way, knowing that what is sick and wrong with this world can never be cured without Christ.

7 month itch

I have figured out the hard way that there is no way I can last more than 7-8 months at work without at least a 10 day break. By Month 6, I'm suffering from an extreme form of exhaustion, sleeping all the time on weekends and yet unable to get much work done.

Anyway. I'm holding out for just ONE more month before I get to .... run away somewhere but.... argh there is so much to be done in the ONE silly month!

At this point I just want to fast forward to the moment where i get to lie by the pool in a swimsuit and laze the day away.

However I take heart from the fact that things are moving, work has started on the long awaited kitchen and that I've found these cool recipes to try.

Easy sounding two step pasta

Lamb Tagine that doesn't require browning

Banana Cake

I suspect that the pasta might become a staple. I'm very fond of a quick and easy pasta for a weeknight meal - plus it sounds (sorta) healthy too.

My own kitchen! No more huntiing for spatulas and pots and pans through someone else's kitchen and having to ask where everything is! I will know! Because it will be MY KITCHEN!

Oh and Mr Grey's too of course :)


[insert appropriate territorial animal sound]

3 + 2 + 1

How sad is it that in the 5 week run up to my own wedding, I am thinking - not of flowers or make up or whatever - but about the fact that I have these hurdles coming up before the day comes:

3 days of trial

2 hearings

1 mediation.

They might need to peel my sleeping form off Mr Grey's shoulder at the reception.