1. We’ve been so busy!

2. We’ve found a new apartment! It’s near where we are now – not too much of a change, but looking forward to our new digs.

3. Grant’s mama and my mama have had birthdays! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

4. Last weekend we spent Sunday in Helen, GA with Grant’s family – it was so nice hanging out!

5. This weekend, we’re headed to the lake – and hopefully seeing my parents.

6. Coco and I have a standing Tuesday night date – we’re going to try out all the places on Scoutmob until we’ve been all over the city trying chic new places for 50% off. Last night we went to Gekko Sushi in Old Fourth Ward – awesome! We tried 3 different rolls, fried cheesecake and fried bananas, a la mode. Scrumptious!

7. Our small group is doing a study of Song of Solomon and we’re loving it.

8. It’s spring break around here – several friends are on mission trips!

9. I have the best husband in the world.

10. We have so much stuff to pack up before we move the 15-16th… I should get back to packing…

This weekend was crazy busy but filled with fun.

Friday Grant and I headed to the lake – moved a dresser and lots of clothes (no more packing to take off to the lake! we have stuff there permanently!) We woke up, got in the hot tub in the early morning grey, over looking the water – perfection.

At Grandmama’s house in Athens, we found some photos of Mama and Daddy in college – so fun! – some letters from Granddaddy to Grandmama during the War – priceless – and other memorabilia from mine and Stahler’s childhood – precious. All in all, we worked a lot, played a lot, and laughed a lot.

Back in Huntsville and showered, we 5 visited Grandmama at Big Springs before heading to dinner at Watercress – delectable! – where we celebrated both Stahler’s and Mama’s birthdays (March 7th and April 4, respectively).

My longtime friend, Tinsley Davidson, is getting married! To help her celebrate, Grant and I attended an engagement party in her honor on Saturday night.

Isn’t she lovely?

We think so, too!

The party was lovely and we got to see a bunch of old friends and reconnect with several family friends I hadn’t seen in ages.

Sunday morning we went to my parent’s Sunday School class and heard Mark Stearns speak about a local mission opportunity. Lincoln Village is a rough patch of Huntsville that one could never know exists, never know needs help, never know could be redeemed. It’s awesome and I completely support what they’re doing. Check it out – they are truly being Christ’s hands and feet on this one: http://www.lincolnvillageministry.com/Home.html

After lunch and seeing Grandmama again, my friend Emily had a baby shower for her soon-to-be son, Lochlan Edward {I love that name. lovelovelove it!}. We had the best time.

I gave her the Anthropologie pop-up book: The Little Prince. It was Em’s favorite in high school French.

Loch will certainly be a little, awesome, rough-and-tumble prince.

So that was our packed-to-the-max weekend.
Huntsville still feels like home.

This was painful to experience but funny to write about. Here’s a peek into my day.

Sometimes (against Grant’s wishes and my better judgment) I go to the Starbucks drive through in the morning on the way to work.

Do they have exceptional service? Not particularly.

Do they have exceptional coffee? Not really.

But they are on the way to work and that’s about it: convenience wins.

This morning, they filled my grande skinny vanilla latte to the brim (and then some). I asked for two splendas and got them with no stirrer and no napkin. I proceeded to pull out of the line and to the parking lot exit, where I thought I would doctor my coffee.

Nope.

Someone was immediately behind me – and waiting to pull out on a Friday morning at 8:00 does not make for a happy driver. So I exited the parking lot and pulled up to the red light.

I thought I’d just slip the lid off, dump in my splenda, replace the top smoothly, and continue with my morning.

Not happening.

What did happen was this: at the hint of freedom, the coffee spilled raced over the edges of the cup, drenching me, my jeans, my car, my seat, and even my shoes with scalding hot coffee and foam – lots of foam.

It was completely ridiculous. My mind jumped for a moment to that lawsuit about the guy in the McDonald’s drive thru… it made me laugh.

I did, however, have to return home before work – I was not going in with a coffee-smelling stain on my jeans… and my shirt… and my shoes….

Happy Friday!

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Do you ever have those purely perfect moments?

Each of these moments have happened over the past couple of months for me, and despite the circumstances—grandmother in poor health, Grant studying intensely for the GMAT, people not making room for us in their lives, continually searching for a new place to live as we prepare to move out of our apartment—they have provided me with a little peace and a lot of perspective. Most days, things aren’t all good and they certainly aren’t all bad, just busy and tiresome—but these moments bring me back to the love story into which my Love has called me… and it’s perfect.

Like when you’re driving in your car on the first day of spring—windows down, sunroof open, and the heat’s on (because it’s not really warm enough yet). Your favorite song is on the radio and you singing loudly, hair flowing wildly—you don’t care. It’s the kind of freedom that brings back the vitality of youthfulness and sheer joy; the kind of rare liberation that takes you to a time and place where you had less responsibility, fewer obligations, and a more open calendar—a simpler time that you can only taste again for a moment… and it’s perfect.

Like when you wake up on Christmas morning and you look outside and see—much to your surprise—thick tufts of snow coming down, covering a winter wonderland. White snow blankets everything in sight, making it clean and pure… and it’s perfect.

Like when you take the first sip of coffee of the morning, sitting out on your back porch with a blanket and a good book, ready to wrap yourself in the warmth of the still quiet and crisp pages. You can escape for just a moment… and it’s perfect.

Like enjoying a really great date, and after dinner, drinks, and easy conversation for hours, it starts to sprinkle. As you dash out towards the car he grabs you and reminds you that he can still surprise you. He sweeps you up in a kiss in the rain. The world stops for a minute… and it’s perfect.

Like when you’re determined to hike a mountain to watch the sunrise and you step out into the early-morning grey, anticipating nothing more than a little exercise. As you climb, you realize that God is painting a picture just for you. And with every minute and each step His brush creates a new color—each one more stunning than the last. And as you reach the summit, breathless, the sun bursts forth in all its radiance. His love is relentless and overwhelming… and it’s perfect.

Like when you realize that you two have created an elegant dance out of your morning ritual—like two planets in orbit that move in relation to one another, pulled ever close by patterns and habit. The comfortable ease that exists between you makes even the most basic of things special. And as you brush your hair, and he his teeth, the loveliness of it washes over you and you realize in that moment what love looks like … and it’s perfect.

I think moments like these, however few and far between—and illusive—can give us enough perspective to continue on in the day-to-day. I think they give us peace and contentment and joy even in the midst of joyless circumstances. I think they provide our souls with a little piece of heaven and our minds with a respite long enough for a reprieve. I think they give us the ability to breathe deeply, if but only for a moment, savoring the present, regardless of the past and (especially) the future.

What are some of your perfect moments?