Our Story -- Part 1

March 15th was my six-year wedding anniversary.  To celebrate, I thought I'd share "Our Story" with y'all.  I've been It's something I've been wanting to do for a while and now I finally have an excuse!  Our Story is kind of a long one when told right, so I'm going to do it in parts.  (Also, I've been working on this post for almost two weeks.  Who knew that writing out Our Story would be so difficult?!)  Enjoy!

When I was fifteen, I got a job working at the Chick-fil-A in our town.  It was my first real job besides babysitting and I loved it.  At first, I could only work Saturdays from 11-3, but when I turned sixteen, I began to work the closing shift.

Shortly after making the switch from days to nights, the night manager put me in the drive thru window.  I guess I did a pretty good job, because working the drive thru became my full-time position.

One spring evening, this guy pulled up to the window, looked at me kind of funny, and said, "Are you the pastor's daughter at Crosswalk?"

You guys.  I'm not going to lie.  I was freaked out.  I had never seen this guy before in my life.  

"Yeah," I responded, as normally as I could.  My hands were shaking as I handed him back his card; I'm sure my face was beet red and my eyes all watery.  I am not exaggerating one bit.  That's a pretty standard reaction for me when I get nervous or embarrassed.

I don't remember how the rest of the transaction went.  I purposefully put it out of my mind.  It was traumatic, y'all.  I think I blocked part of it from my memory, and even now some things are hazy.  Like... I have no idea what he looked like or what kind of car he drove (although I thought it was silver).

Anyway.  A few days later, I'm hanging out at church after service, minding my own business, chatting with friends... when I see him.

My first thought?  He followed me here; I have a stalker!  

Self-centered and dramatic?  Yeah.  But hey, I was a 16-year-old girl and homeschooled.  I feel like I was pretty entitled to create a little drama for myself at this point in my relatively drama-free life.

I mean, the possibility that he'd been going to church for a while and I'd just never seen him was a little far-fetched, right?  I was the pastor's kid.  It was pretty much my job to meet new people.  Especially tall, dark, and handsome guys in crisp white shirts and slacks.

Right.  He had definitely followed me.

And so I did what any sane 16-year-old girl would do in this situation:  hide in the bathroom.

My bathroom-hiding continued every time I saw him at church over the next month or so, and then suddenly I didn't see him any more.  In fact, three or four months went by without so much as a glimpse of him.  Not that I'm complaining.  I was so relieved.

But then, one fall day, he returned. . .

. . . continue to part two . . .

Word for 2014

I started seeing "word for the year" posts in mid-January and was instantly intrigued.  Why had I never heard of this tradition before??  It's genius!  Rather than focusing on a bunch of resolutions, why not just one?  A quick Google search brought me to the My One Word website where I was able to read more about the vision behind picking just one word to guide me through the year.

The more I read, the more I liked the idea.  

And yeah, I'm two months late.  But that's okay.  I read that some people don't pick their word until February, trying different ones on for size to see what they're most serious about.  That appealed to me, too.  I know that if I had just picked one word at the beginning of the year it would have been grace.  Even in picking a word at the beginning of March I was tempted.

Not that there's anything wrong with grace!  Obviously.  My whole blog is kind of centered around the concept!  In fact, if I were ever going to get a tattoo (which I probably won't), I'd most likely get that word inscribed somewhere I could see it every day to remind me to have grace, to be grace.

But two months into this year, I've sensed God leading me to a different word.  A bold word.  A hard word.  A word that requires work and sacrifice.  

My word for 2014 is

He's been whispering this word to me for probably four months and it's always been like, "Yeah, I know I need to be more intentional." But then I never take any steps.  That's going to change.  This year, I need to focus on being INTENTIONAL in every area of my life.  Proactive, not reactive.

I'm going to make a list of what being INTENTIONAL means to me and try to work on one item every month.  It's going to be difficult, but if I take it one step at a time, I know I can change.  And I have the whole year to do it.

Wow, why haven't I done this before?!

This year, I made lots of goals.  And I still feel like I should probably make some attempt to complete them.  But they're not going to be my focus.

My focus is on becoming INTENTIONAL.

Sufficient Grace Print --- FREE

Happy March, y'all!

It was about time I redid the look and feel around here.  I'm surprised the last design stayed for over a year!  Usually I'm changing things up every six months or so!

Anyway… on to the real reason I'm posting…

I've got a free print for everyone today! :)

I love designing and have been wanting to do prints for a while now.  I have a few that I've designed for my home and thought it might be fun to offer some here on the blog for free!  I'm hoping to do one every month… hopefully that'll get me to post at least once a month!  (But don't hold me to it, ha!)

Anyway, I thought it would be fitting to have the first free download be the blog's theme verse!  Hope y'all enjoy…

Head on over to my etsy shop to purchase this print for $5!