Wonderful News, Bittersweet Song

I would like to send sincere congratulations to my sister, Lauren and her brand new fiancé, Romeo! :) He proposed to her last night in downtown Charleston, and I am just so happy for them!! Lauren is a great girl and has unfortunately had her share of bad apples -- but her prince Romeo has found her. YAY! 

 How cute is this picture? 

I love you guys! :)

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Yesterday while I was driving to work, I decided to listen to one of my favorite songs from the International Justice Mission's Freedom CD. It's called "When the Saints" by Sara Groves and it puts the spotlight on different aspects of freedom, as well as a sweet twist on the classic "When the Saints Go Marching In."

I've listened to this song many times, but yesterday was different. Yesterday, the lyrics hit me right in the stomach and brought tears to my eyes. Yesterday, God used this song to break my heart. It was sad and beautiful all at the same time. Has this ever happened to you? Has God used something like a song or a movie to break your heart? 

The lyrics below are what really got to me:

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see Harriet awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man's side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Happy Friday lovelies. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. :)

A Married Lover's Day

Our first married Valentine's Day turned out to be a great success. We both had to work during the day, but I arrived home to a clean house, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and Cadbury Bunny eggs. :)

(Cadbury eggs not shown -- they were eaten immediately.)

That night Keith and I cooked dinner together (steaks) and watched a wonderful movie, Life as We Know It.

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After the movie, we headed into the "Man Cave" and played a Mario Kart type game on the Xbox. It was so much fun playing video games with the hubs, and I think we'll need to start doing that more often. :) At the last minute we decided to exchange gifts this year. I ended up getting Keith a watch, and he surprised me with these bad boys. 

Beauty and the Beast on Broadway tickets! :) The show is on tour right now, and will be stopping in Charleston in April! I saw The Little Mermaid show in NYC and it was absolutely fantastic, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this show! (Yes, I know I'm 25. So what. :))

I hope you guys had a lovely heart day, and are having a just as lovely week. TGI(almost)F!!

A Lovely Miscellany Monday

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* I'd like to wish a Happy 1st Married Valentine's Day to my yummy husband, Keith. Baby, thank you for putting up with my sometimes crazy, mostly stubborn self. I love you more than you know...you are amazing. :)

* While last week wasn't the best, it really wasn't the worst either. It was just kind of blah. I started the week sick and ended it exhausted. School is really kicking my behind, but these classes will wrap up in two weeks. Thank God. (And thank you guys for your kind words on my "blah" post. They really made me feel better. :))

* On Saturday I received a magazine from Compassion. In it, I read some very alarming statistics about water. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I wanted to share these facts.

  

- 50% of the world's hospitalizations are due to water-related illnesses such as cholera

- One in five children worldwide die from diarrhea -- that's more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

- 800 million people do not have access to clean water.

- 1.5 million children die of waterborne illnesses every year.

I don't know about you guys, but these stats make me sick. It's hard to believe that in the year 2011, something as simple as clean water is causing so much sickness and death. To be honest, it's really hard to comprehend this. How many half drunken bottles of water do I throw away without thinking twice? How many nice, long baths do I take per week? Three or four? How many times do I let the facet run while washing my face without even thinking about how wasteful I'm being? 

These statistics definitely put things into perspective, but more than anything, they empower me to do something about it. Whether that's raise money, sponsor more children, or bring awareness to these facts, I do not know yet. What I do know is that something has got to change, and I'd rather be part of the solution than continue to contribute to the problem. (Sorry to be so heavy on a Monday, but it's been on my mind all weekend.) 

Hope you lovelies have a wonderful Valentines Monday!

Sweet Sunday

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Life is intricately and intimately linked with Jesus. In fact, Jesus is life -- He said so himself. So when we look for life worth living, we must look for it not in happy or heartbreaking circumstances, health, or even relationships. Life is in Christ.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Blah Blah Blah

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It has definitely been one of those weeks. I'm hoping for a better weekend.

I'll be back soon.

The Ceremony

Happy Friday sweet bloggers!

Another week has come and gone (rather quickly) and it's time for us to sit back and relax for a few days! :) YAY! This week has been a bit hectic for me with school, work, and editing, which has made for a slacker blogging week. :( I did manage to finish editing my wedding ceremony, and thought it would be a nice way to finish out the week.

A Positive Wordless Wednesday

all found here

Happy Hump Day lovelies!