The Simpaticostic Life

Am I the only bride who feels like she could be so much better?

Well here's a tad of encouragement:

Josh puts it as "Shut up, (totally in a loving way, promise.) We're trying to squish two lives into one life. That's not going to be pristine and perfect all the time."

So ladies, it's not going to be pretty all the time. It's not going to be neat always. You won't always make the perfect dinner all "whambamthankyouma'am" or have clothes that you just happen to pull out of the dryer meticulously folded.

Its okay.

They love us. :-)

Ha, I'm just teasing with the title.

Today we got up at 11ish, to the sound of our doorbell ringing 20 times. See, we bought a wireless doorbell and stuck it on the door of the basement and the "ringer" is in our bedroom. Anyway! I had told my brother-in-law Dustin to ring it 17 times to make sure we awoke.
Well he went all "the extra mile" on us and did 20. Oh well.

We got up... quickly. Got breakfast and got dressed... then we prepared for what would turn out to be about a 3 hour airsoft game. It was so much fun! Josh and I were a team. And Dustin, Nathan and Michael were a team. I'd never played before, but they got "advantage" cause we had the better guns. The area was no wider than 50 yards at the widest and about 200 yards. Lots of trees, briers and a creek.

The scenario was "Capture The Flag". Dustin, Michael and Nathan had the flag and we had to capture it and get it back to our base. Flag was dropped if you were killed and the defending team couldn't move it.
And yes, we did lose. But we lost valiantly. We had done three attacks, keeping them close to their end. We had em with Dustin at 1 Kill, Nathan, 2 Kills and Michael, 0 Kills. And they had killed me and Josh once. (Three kills and you were out of the game. A kill came about if you were shot four times in any combination of limbs, 2 in the back or stomach or once in the head or chest.) But then they snuck up on us while we were reloading. I happened to see them by sheer luck. So we knew they were at our end, hiding, and generally (within 15 feet) where. But what we didn't know was Dustin was in the "raven", in water, with three fallen logs covering him. Scared Josh to death when Dustin opened fire. At first, we thought we were in some serious trouble. Nathan was on the bank and Dustin was in the raven with excellent cover and Michael was... somewhere. But I pulled a really risky move and ran around our cover, which was a couple trees and bushes on the opposite bank from Nathan, and got directly in Dustin's line of fire, with Josh offering cover fire (and a clear shot on him too) and then I opened fire. And man! I got him! I was so proud of myself. Josh and I had pinned him down good and I had killed him. Beautiful.

So now the score was Dustin-2, Nathan-2, Michael-0, Me-1 and Josh-1.

But then they came back, pushed us tight and killed us off. We were close to our regeneration zone, but we had no where to go to get cover.

So we died.

It was sad.

We are sore.

But we had a lot of fun.

:-)

The End

Hello literate friends,

Sorry it's been such a long time. I'm missing my "real life" journal, so everytime I've gotten on here, it's just gotten too deep and too personal. So I end up deleting it. No one needs that good of a map to my mind, except my husband and my God.

Gosh, "my husband". Those are beautiful words. How I love that man. We've now been married over a month and known each other 5 months.

Ha, we're a lot alike. But after a couple months, we started noticing our differences.
Well, a night or two ago we remembered how alike we are.
I'd already been asleep a couple hours, but I woke up. It was about one o'clock and Josh was still awake, poor darling. Well we'd been laying there a while, and I was thinking about how good a grilled cheese sandwich would be. I hadn't been craving them at all until that night. So I thought about saying I wanted one, but then I changed my mind. So after a little longer, I just randomly piped up "I'm going to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch." And Josh goes "I've just been thinking about how that would make a good midnight snack." We laughed, talked about it, and then got up and made them. They were wonderful.

Josh and I are doing quite well, to any who are concerned. We're falling nicely into life as a married couple. If we could just get our dang sleeping patterns fixed. lol. I hate sleeping til 12, but I can't seem to fix it. But that's okay. I'll even out eventually. :-)

We've gotten some job leads, so that's exciting. We're really seeking to keep our hearts open to God. We don't want to just settle into just any job unless that's where God wants us at the time.

Gosh I was so picky about how to word it. Christianity truly does train up some brilliant verbal gymnast. I mean, we could just say stuff the way it is, they could just walk across the mat, but no, they flip and flop and try to make it pretty, sometimes adding ribbons. Now, that's nice to watch sometimes. But all the time? How tiring. Ridiculous.

Well I'm off.

Later hombres.

Hello peoples :-)

(I wish there was a gentle smile smilie...)

I hope you are all doing well.

We had a really late night last night. Josh was a bit wired, and his hyper attitude was infectious I suppose. We talked until... well it was after 3, we'll just say that. (Thank God for Labor Day, right?) Uncovered more in an area of me that I'm painfully (not because of Josh!) learning I even have. I'll delve more into that in a minute. Because I was up pretty late, and its delightfully dark in our room and very quiet... well I slept in. Okay, so all that was really an excuse. I just plain slept in. I got up about an hour ago. And it felt wonderful. lol. And then I got some stuff together, cleaned up in the bathroom, emptied all the trash cans, and just tidied.

And now I'm sitting in the living room. I'm feeling very peaceful. I have Flyleaf's "Supernatural" acoustic version playing over and over on the speakers. I'm hoping to learn it well enough to sing it soon. The coffeepot, while not holding "hot" coffee (just cold,) is glowing nicely in the corner. And its just peaceful. I am planning on trying to have these quiet times in the mornings, before Josh gets up. Not because he is a deterrent to them, but because I normally wake up before him and it seemed a good use of my time. So the "planning" to do it, probably has helped my peaceful frame of mind.

I've been married for 17 days now. I can't really comprehend that. Last night I kept looking at Josh, thinking to myself, "He's my husband. That wonderful, handsome man, he's mine. And I'm his wife. We are married!" Ha, so it's still sinking in, yet I don't feel like I'm sinking. :-P
I'm already learning how I'm not the world's best wife, or the most easy to live with. But Josh is totally full of love and doesn't sit and fuss about it or put me down.
Its amazing how your heart changes and you want to be the very best for another person.
Also, more and more, I'm seeing the only way to do that, is to fall more deeply in love with Jesus. Josh and I are far from "perfect" Christians, but Jesus says we are saints to Him and righteous, right? Our honest, true desire, is to have Him at the center of our life. And that's far from easy, because our "dark" side, definitely rebels. But it is our heart, our main passion.

Change of subject, how does one deal with fear? I've learned a lot about myself, over the past couple weeks, when Josh and I are laying in bed at night, doing the couple thing and talking. (and the "couple thing" I'm referring to is the talking. :-p)
Anyway, while doing that, we've discovered I'm an extremely fearful person. And a control freak, when it comes to my body at least. Josh's answer, and as short as it is, shows his wisdom. "Don't be afraid. Just don't." I answered that surely it couldn't be that easy. But the more I thought about it, the Bible says "Do not fret." Not "Remove fear." Not "Do this and you will have no fear." Not "pray this." Just "Do not fret."
So I'm on a mission to not be afraid. Pray. lol. And if anyone knows some good verses to remember or something that helps them, PLEASE TELL ME.

I'm not really in the mood to blog about the wedding right now, but I'll sit down with Josh sometime and we'll write down our thoughts on it. :-) And I'll post a picture slide show or something and a link to the video. :-) Ha, I just realized, we'll have a guest next time then! Boy, that sounds like some sort of event that would happen in a well read blog. Okay, ha, back to typing about the wedding...

I will say this, it was beautiful. The wedding of our dreams.

So, I'm going to sign off of here now. I'll keep you all updated on the findings of fearlessness.

Oh, since many read this on there, I'm not going to be on Facebook for a while... until Sept. 21st actually. So if you want to comment on a blog, go ahead, I'll read it when I get back. Or you can post something on the actual blog site, which is http://simpaticosity.blogspot.com/. And if you have something really important to tell me, call or send me a text or if you can't do either, send me a message on Facebook and Josh will tell me about it.

I love you all!
Mrs. Christa Edmonds

I'm sorry! I know, I've been married 13 days and no blog! What's wrong with me!? Oh... that's right... I'M MARRIED!!!

YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!

So I'm not going to take a lot of time tonight to blog.... but I do want to say that I'm alive, thrilled, in love and safe.

We're currently living in NC. It's a pretty cool little place, and I'm loving being close to my in-laws and getting to know them. I have a really cool new brother too in my brother-in-law Dustin. Not to mention "cousin" Tony! :-)

I'm really enjoying getting into the swing of being married and "tending" (setting up house) I've learned a couple good lessons already (which I will post soon, along with more pictures.)

Well I love you all and goodnight!

The now MRS. EDMONDS!

I've been thinking a lot about what love is. And how people seem okay with a lack of love... I don't get that at all.

I'm very much a lover. Sometimes it doesn't feel like I can give out enough love. Like I'll get tired or testy with someone and often God stops me and goes "Yo, um, why aren't you showing love?" Like "Who do you think you are choosing who to love and when?"

Why are we not ALL showing EXTREME love to one another (and in that, everyone)? Why are we not known for our passionate love? What's been warped to make that feel "acceptable" to harbor hatred and resentment?

Not God's word. If we look there, we see that is dead wrong:

1 Peter 3:8 (ESV if yo wonderin')
"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind."

Psalms 133:1
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity."

2 Corinthians 13:11
[ Final Greetings ]
Finally, brothers, goodbye. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

This is a big one, but seriously, read it.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21
11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.
13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that For the love of Christ one has died for all, therefore all have died;
15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In view of all that, in view of the love of Christ, where the heck do we think we have the right to hold "hatred" in our hearts? We daily, to loosely quote "Remember the Titans" :

(Coach quoting the voices of the soldiers at Gettysburg:)"I killed my brother with malice in my hearts. Hatred destroyes my family." We should listen, and take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, just maybe we'll learn to play this game like men."

This goes deeper than mere respect. One of the best speakers I've heard, Josh McDowell, said "The best definition of love I have found is this: "To provide and protect"

We need to be providing for and protecting each other. NOT loving only when you are around them and then tearing them dowm when you aren't with them. I'm so guilty of that. I show love, but in my heart, I'm bitter and resentful or just plain feel as though I am above the person. Wow, and I claim to be an "ambassador of Christ" to the world. How screwed up. Christ showed love. He poured love. He spoke harshly to the religious leaders of the day, cause they were misleading his people. They weren't acting out of love. And that's exactly how it should be. God calling people out of love for a lack of love.

Here's what 1 Corinthians 13 says:

The Way of Love

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

LOVE is patient and kind.
(love doesn't just bear with someone or tolerate them. in patience, it is kind as well. it is loving.)

LOVE does not envy and does not boast.
(love doesn't envy what others have and it doesn't look to make others act out of a lack of love by causing them feel the need to envy it. or make them feel lower. [sidenote: if you envy, you are not rejoicing in their good fortune but resenting not receiving it yourself. and thus telling God he was wrong. its not against a person, but God.])

LOVE is not arrogant or rude.
(do I really need to expound on that?)

[hardest one for me... irritableness...]

LOVE is not irritable or resentful (also read "keeps no record of wrongs").
(love doesn't use tiredness as an excuse to not put others first. it doesn't allow another to make them upset. only righteous anger given by God is true. love doesn't hold back love for any reason to do with a grudge. {grudge keeping is a bitterness that wears the heart down. let it go. its not worth the price of the bricks to build that wall. freedom is so much sweeter to the soul.}

LOVE doesn't rejoice at wrongdoing BUT rejoices in TRUTH.
(love doesn't cheer on the friend for doing what they both know is wrong. but love does encourage the one who does right as often as possible.)

So that's my deal right now.

Stop being childish, stop feeling wronged, stop thinking we are above Christ and deserve to hate. STOP.

Love.

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." ~Matthew 22:37-40

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

9: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness."

1 John 2:3-6;9

Man, as of 28 minutes ago, its 10 days til Josh and I tie the knot. I seriously can't wait.

We had a little bit of a tough couple days last week... learned a lot. A whole lot. And the days after have been bliss. For real. I think the tough spots made us appreciate each other just so much more. I'm going to cherish falling in love with him more and more over the years. It's gonna be awesome, thinking about how much I love him right now, to be able to look back and go "When we first got married, I had no idea what love was..." (=

So I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately. Days are definitely blending together right now.


So the update on the to-do list:

• The cake design
• Getting the invites out
• Getting the last of the decorations
• Figuring out the groom and groomsmen clothing
• Getting the bridesmaid dresses altered.
• Finding my hairstyle
• Finalizing the menu
• Picking a overall theme

New To-Do List:

• Get rings ordered
• Apply for marriage license tomorrow
• Get Josh's flip flops
• Get my shoes
• Get Josh's shirt
• Finish packing
• Write thank you cards
• Find jewelry
• Pick out garter
  

Well, yes, I know I so should have had this done before... but I think I finally know the rings.

Josh's:

Mine (I hope!):



Unfortunately, while Josh's will be here on time, it doesn't look like mine will. So I will have to use a "filler" ring. But I'm okay with that, because to me, the ring isn't a huge deal. I want one that looks like a wedding ring, cause I want people to know I'm taken, but other than that... not too fussed. I just love this ring though!

The "company" is this really cool seeming couple in Tennessee who run the business out of their home. They have 7 kids from 4-13 and they homeschool. Which makes them winner in my book. And they also had a blue heeler until just this past week or so (poor thing got hit by a car) And by their blog, they just seem super sweet.

So honestly, I want to support them and its a beautiful ring. All of their work is very well priced. Another great thing, since it's got sapphire, it will perfectly complement my engagement ring, which as I've said, I'll wear on my right hand. So pray I get it folks. And please pray that by some miracle, it would get here by the Big day. I would have ordered it sooner, but I just found it tonight.


Hmmm... my "almost no sugar" diet is starting to work. Chugging the water and loving fruit and eating less... hard at first, but now, after not having a lot of sugar.... sweet things taste so very sweet. Ugh, I tried to eat a bowl of ice cream, just as a splurge, last night. My brother had been really cool and gotten ice cream and fixings. I couldn't finish it. It was just too stinkin' sweet.

On another note: we're done with counseling!!! Woohoo! Far less painful than one would think. Cool thing that Georgia does, if you've had counseling, you get the application fee waved. Really good incentive if you ask me. Not that we did it for that reason, but it was nice.

OH! And my mom found my flowers! We were debating over all different kinds, then I came home last night and she goes "look what I found!" And they are absolutely perfect! Soooo beautiful. Man I love my momma.

Thank God, everything is running smoothly. And I'd like to thank everyone who has offered their help. The support has been such a blessing!

And to anyone who came to showers... lol, I promise, I'm working on those thank you cards tomorrow. :-p

Well I better hit the hay... and after that exciting exercise, I'm going to sleep.

nite.