Moving In, Moving Forward, Moving Up

So Dan has lived in our apartment since July 10th, almost 5 months ago. We started gradually moving my stuff in shortly after that. We've been married almost 3 months now. And I am so super-excited about what I FINALLY did last night...

We put our first holes in the wall and hung up a picture!! :D This is the first item to go up on our walls. I've put out plenty of knick-knacks and photos on shelves and tables, but this was the first to require holes in the wall! I had the biggest grin last night after verifying it was level and getting off the step stool. :) The frame was given to us as a wedding gift from one of the families that I stayed with frequently while Dan and I were dating. I thought it was appropriate then that their frame would be among the first hung. :)

I actually used what are called "Hercules Hooks" to hang the frame. For those that don't know about them, you can check it out here. I found them at Bed Bath and Beyond and thought I'd give them a try a couple of years ago. While each one is supposed to be able to hold over 100 lbs. I've never come close to that limit. One of the things I love is there's no hammer or stud finder required which is great when you want to hang stuff at 10pm without upsetting the neighbors and/or when you can't find your stud finder (both in my case).

I love this feeling of getting settled into our new place and beginning to decorate. Don't get me wrong there are still PLENTY of boxes hanging around that needed to be unpacked and sorted through but last night's picture-hanging made it all worthwhile and helped me to believe that there really will be an end to the boxes at some point! The boxes still stress me out, but now I can point to that picture on the wall and claim that progress has been made...well, that and the small stack of empty boxes next to the door waiting to be taken out for recycling. :) Now to work on tackling the rest of this mountain of cardboard...

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we join together with family and friends today, may we remember what we have to be thankful for and who we are thankful TO this Thanksgiving! :)

1 Chronicles 16:34 (and repeated many times in the Psalms) "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 69:30 "I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving."

Psalm 95:2 "Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."

Psalm 100:4 "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

1 Corinthians 1:4 "I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus."

1 Corinthians 15:57 "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians 9:15 "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

Philippians 1:3 "I thank my God every time I remember you."

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

1 Thessalonians 5:18 "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Philemon 1:4 "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers..."

Just had to include this after my history buff husband referenced it Tuesday night...

Original Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln (emphasis mine)

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.  To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.  In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.  Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.  Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.  And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

Happy Thanksgiving!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Meghan 

In this life of living...

I know...again, I've been a bad blogger :p I know I keep saying I'm going to get back into writing but, seriously, with boxes everywhere and a new life to adjust to things have been busier than I anticipated. :)

We still have boxes everywhere in our apartment! AAAHHHH!! They drive me crazy sometimes. We're slowly working through them and gathering boxes and bags to donate/recycle/get rid of/etc. but the piles never seem to shrink (even though my wonderful husband assures me that we are, in fact, making progress). We got two new bookcases from Target and I love them! One was filled up within two hours of assembling it and the other still has some room but I'm sure once we find all the errant books hiding in other boxes that it will fill up too. It reminds me of the scene from "The Incredibles" (one of my fave Pixar movies) where Helen calls Bob at work. I wish I could find a clip of it for you. She calls to tell him that after two years, they are finally, officially moved in because she has finally unpacked the last box. Hopefully, I can do so in under two years! :p

Well, time to go unpack more boxes, get lunch and tend to a sick husband. Poor guy :( Hopefully this little update will be joined by more soon. I'm learning from friends' blogs that I don't always have to have an idea in mind to write about and it certainly doesn't have to be something grand. Sometimes, I need to just write :)

Have a blessed Sunday! Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

New BookSneeze.com Material!

So now that I have posted my review of the Chronological Study Guide to the Bible (look down a couple of posts), I was able to choose a new item to review for the BookSneeze.com program. For those who don't know about the program, it's run by the publisher Thomas Nelson. In exchange for an honest assessment of the material I request and posting it on my blog and a consumer website (i.e. Amazon), I get to keep the item. After reviewing two books (and taking forever to read them and write the reviews), I was excited to have the opportunity to do something different when I logged into BookSneeze and saw some DVDs on the list.

So for my next review, I will be watching "The Least Among You"!

I will admit that one reason this one won out over the other DVD (no longer available and I don't remember it's name) is that Lauren Holly is in it. For those who don't watch or don't remember, she played the director and Gibbs' former partner, Jenny, on the TV show "NCIS" for several seasons before they killed her character off. Here's a synopsis of the movie as provided by BookSneeze.com:

"Leaders are not chosen, they are called. Inspired by a true story.
Arrested in the 1965 Watts riots, Richard Kelly (Cedric Sanders) must serve probation at an all-white seminary. Although encouraged to break racial boundaries by its president Alan Beckett (William Devane), the school wants black followers not leaders. Even former missionary, Kate Allison (Lauren Holly), initially rejects Richard. A prison sentence looming, Richard meets Samuel Benton (Louis Gossett, Jr.) -- 'the gardener in the basement.' As Samuel guides Richard through his many trials, Richard must choose between his dreams and his destiny."

So there you have it! :) My first DVD review will be underway shortly! It arrived in the mail earlier this week and I'm hoping to have it watched before the end of the weekend. Not sure if I'll write the review right away or watch it a second time before writing it, but definitely hoping to have this review done much sooner than I've had my book reviews done! I hate that it's taken me months after I've gotten the books to write the reviews so definitely hoping this one is faster.

If you're interested in joining BookSneeze (only requirement is to have a blog and be willing to write honest reviews), click on the link here -----> BookSneeze.com

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday..."

I'M MARRIED!!! :D :D :D I want to scream it from the top of the hillsides and proclaim it in the town squares! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! :D It's been 17 days now and we've had fun celebrating each new milestone along the way (For example: Tuesdays!! ;D)

Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Julie, who snapped a few photos (including this beauty) and Uncle Jim (Dan's uncle, who captured the one below) while we were doing photos with the photographer. I will post more once we get them back from the photographer (should be sometime next week). Seeing people's photos on Facebook makes me all the more anxious to see what our photographer captured!

It was truly one of the most beautiful, happy days of my short life. Most of the day felt like such a dream. We were up at 5:15am and the hair and makeup team arrived right on time at 5:45am. The photographer arrived at 6:30am and started capturing moments. The guys arrived at the church at 8:30am for photos and the girls followed in the limo a little before 9:30am. Pictures (lots!), fellowship, friends and prayer dominated the time before the ceremony began at 11am. At 11:30am we were declared husband and wife and at 11:31am shared our first kiss as husband and wife (Thank you Ledfords for writing this down!). Then the party started! We left the reception around 4pm after revealing to our parents where we were going on our honeymoon (Kaua'i, Hawai'i). After a few more photos with the photographer, the day was done! Hard to believe eight-and-a-half months of planning later that the event went by so fast! It all fell into place so smoothly. We had such a great time and loved getting to see family and friends! God blessed us with such a wonderful day!

(Thanks to one of Dan's groomsmen, Gary, for capturing this shot!)

All in all, it was a truly wonderful day though it went by way too fast (just like everyone says it will)! I promise to post some of the professional pictures as soon as we get them back. Our videographer dropped our DVDs in the mail today so I can't wait to watch it later this week!

For now we are settling into domestic life and I hope to get back to blogging a little more. The BookSneeze.com reviews will continue (look for a new post soon about my new item!) and I'm hoping to pick Factual Fridays back up soon too! Thank you for being patient, dear readers, during this season of wonderful change in my life.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan Clark (!)