25 Things about Me

This was a note that got passed around Facebook about 8 or 9 months ago. I filled it out and just read it again the other day and so I figured I'd share it with you. I have a bad memory and sometime forget all my quirkiness haha... Enjoy!

1. My husband's hand is as big as my foot. I don't know if that means my feet are big and his hands are small or if my feet are small and his hands are big.
2. I love being known. Having history with someone is invaluable to me.
3. S'mores are my most favorite dessert of all time. I could eat one every day.
4. My first baby doll was black. I picked her out myself.
5. I have received diamonds on 3 separate occasions from my husband: at our engagement, on our wedding night, and on the day he returned from deployment. But my favorite gift of ALL was when he taught himself to like coffee for me even though he found it absolutely loathsome. (Well the diamond from our engagement is pretty special to me.:) But just cause it signifies that I got to marry my best friend.)
6. I'm obsessed with the letter P, don't ask me why cause if I told you why, I'd have to kill you.
7. If I had the patience, I would shop only at thrift stores.
8. My 2010 new years resolution is to shop ONLY in thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales. Everything I buy must be recycled in some way.
9. I'm not very funny, but I thoroughly enjoy laughing.
10. I have a outie belly button and have this intense fear that it is going to pop out BIG time when I'm pregnant and look really weird.
11. I often cry when I think about my family. Out of complete amazement of who they are and what they mean to me. They are my favorite people in the whole world.
12. My vision is so bad that I'm considered legally blind.
13. I love friends who take initiative in pursuing me. I'm normally the one who does, so its refreshing when someone else does.
14. When I eat Oreo's, I scrape the out icing between the cookies. I only eat the cookie. So if you're an icing lover, I'm your girl.
15. I absolutely love wearing a shirt to bed and then incorporating it into my outfit the next day. It makes me feel in a small way that I never got out of bed.
16. I was proposed to while playing Catch Phrase in front of 60 of my friends. If you haven't heard the story, you should ask me. Its a good one.
17. I really don't do well with change.
18. I married a man in the military.
19. Eric and I have a tradition of making whole wheat banana pancakes (don't judge until you're tried them - they're AMAZING) every Saturday morning. It was probably one of the things I missed the most while he was deployed.
20. The first time I farted in front of Eric, it was literally IN his face. We were at the gym and he was holding down my feet while I did sit-ups. Yeah. That's right. DIRECTLY in his face. FAN-tastic.
21. I am very impatient and its the thing that scares me most about myself. No one can be a good mother and be impatient.
22. (Stick with me on this one - its worth it) I idolized Nadia Comaneci (she's the first gymnast to get a perfect score in the Olympics) as a child. And in the movie done on her life, she goes through of time of depression and tries to commit suicide by slitting her wrists. My parents edited that part out of the movie. So, I ignorantly walked around the neighborhood, imitating Nadia by wrapping toilet paper around my wrists blotted with red marker on my "bandages" from what I thought were gymnast injuries. I feel that was something my Mom should have stopped me from doing.
23. I read magazines from back to front. Don't ask me why. I have no idea.
24. I burp a lot. I mean, ALOT.
25. I am continually astonished at the fact that the King of the Universe and Savior of the world cares enough to know all these random facts about me, sees the depth of my dirty heart and still loves and pursues me as His beloved child.

My Stud of a Brother

This is my absolutely amazing stud of a brother. He's front and center holding the Virginia Tech flag and this is his unit. They call themselves the Six Pack.:) I LOVE IT! I am so proud of him for sticking it out these past couple weeks as he has endured his "freshman" year as a corps cadet. Its been rough - but he has persevered.

This is him and his buddies at the VT vs. Nebraska game. They march onto the field at every home game and man do they look sharp. I've only seen pictures, and I'm DYING to see him in person. Being a military wife makes this whole thing so much more meaningful. Seeing him in uniform is so precious to me, because I feel like he is apart of my world that much more. And I think he is so stinkin' handsome too. Definitely the best looking cadet that I've ever seen.;)

And this pic is just cause I miss him and love him so much. This was when he came out to Oklahoma for the College Life Ski Trip back in March and it was such an amazing time. I loved having time to just sit and talk and share life with him. I admire and look up to him more then any man apart from my husband. He is an example to me time and time again of a humble surrendered servant of Jesus Christ. He loves the Cross and all that it means and regardless of the tough times, seeks to cling to his Savior. John, I love you with all my heart and every time you come to mind, my heart aches. Partly out of the love and adoration I have of you and I never know how to express it adequately, and partly because I miss you so much and wish I could take the hardship and pain you have experienced lately. I know the Jesus holds you in His hand and you have to believe that you are FULLY loved, FULLY accepted, and FULLY pleasing to your Heavenly Father. He couldn't not love you anymore then He does in this moment. Nothing you can do or not do will ever change that. I love you Brother. Thank you for being a little bit of Jesus to me.

Home for a hot second... or a few days

Less then one week after Eric got home from the desert, we were on a plane to Virginia. His sister Sam got married and we went to join in on the celebration. But prior to going to Madison, we went to Harrisonburg, the town of our beloved JMU. Ahhh it was so good to be back. We got see some of our BEST friends, Brandon and Lindsay Spurlock.;) They are on staff with Campus Crusade at JMU and we had the privilege of talking to the students the evening we were there about what its like to be in the real world and follow Jesus. It was such a fun time and made us really excited to go back in October. The above picture is of us at our favorite bagel shop of all time - Mr. J's and the one below is the sign that was in Brandon and Lindsay's guest bedroom waiting for our arrival.:) Love her TONS. So much that I look like I'm smothering her and she's trying to get away haha.

Eric with his best buddy Brandon. It was so fun seeing them together - I feel like whenever we see the Spurlocks, its either me or Eric but never at the same time.Got to see Rachel - it pretty much made the entire trip for me. I miss her like crazy.

I'm a horrible sister-in-law and didn't get ONE picture of the bride! The whole reason we came to Virginia was to go to Sam's wedding. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect VA weather. This is me and my Stud lookin' fiiiine.

Isn't complete without a self-portrait.

The Miller Misfits. There are all the girls who have married into the Miller family, or will soon be joining us. From Left to right: Ann, Steve's fiancee of 2 weeks, Danielle, Chris' wife, me and then Katie, Jimmy's fiancee. They are lots of fun and keep me sane when the Miller boys get too loud and start trying to talk over eachother.:)

This is our niece, Emily - Chris and Danielle's little girl. She is so precious!!! She was a flower girl in the wedding and she was the only one that made it all the way down the aisle, and she was the youngest! It was so fun interacting with her.

The flowers Mom put by our bed when we spent our lastnight at their house. I love that. She is so thoughtful and reminds me of growing up. We have always had zinnia's around the house and she is so good about picking them and putting them in cute little vases for us to enjoy.

Java Heaven

Who would have known how much a cup of coffee would mean to me one day? Its just part of my everyday routine, not this deep moment I experience every morning. Until this past Saturday morning. Eric came home from the desert with the best surprise EVER.
You see, if you know Eric at all, you probably know that he absolutely despised, no LOATHED, coffee. Everything about it was completely repulsive to him. He has told me on more then one occasion that my morning breath is much better then my coffee breath haha. In the 3 1/2 years we've been married, I have mentioned from time to time how great it would be to have coffee in the mornings together, or over desert when we are out to eat. Anyway, while he was in the desert, he decided, out of a desire to love and serve me, to train himself to like coffee. He kept a journal, writing in it every time he drank had a cup, so he could document his journey so I could see and hear his heart through the process. He drank the cafeteria coffee BLACK, which in my head is absolutely disgusting. He said it was pretty bad, but he felt like if he could drink that, he could drink anything.
I sat at the kitchen table with him and read the journal out loud that Saturday morning, and just cried. His love and devotion to me, that he was willing to love me through a silly cup of coffee even when it was so gross to him, was so precious and blessed me more then I thought possible. Eric proves time and time again that his happiness is truly contingent upon my own. He loves so selflessly and with no reserve that I am continually amazed at the Lord's goodness over my life for giving me a husband that I truly don't deserve.
Making coffee for two. It was so fun!!!

Taking his first sip in our home that he didn't completely hate. He says he actually likes it, not just endures it.:) I am so blessed to have a husband that one, loves me so much that he'll do anything for me, and two, to have a husband that is HOME. It is amazing having him back.

Breathing deeply

That's exactly how it felt when I hugged him for the first time. Eric arrived home at 3:45pm Friday afternoon. It was a little bit of a crazy day. I received an email from the Commanders wife 2 days prior that told us to expect the men home at 4:40pm. Well, Eric first landed in Maine, went through customs and immigration, and then called me when they were about to take off for their last flight to Oklahoma. He called at 12:15pm and said that the flight was 3 hrs and 20 mins. Well, after I did my math, I realized that meant that they were going to be arriving around 3:45pm, a whole hour earlier then what we had been told. I called the squadron and they confirmed this, but didn't realize that the spouses were absolutely clueless as to the new arrival time. It was a little frustrating, thinking that if I hadn't called, or hadn't figured it out, our men would have arrived home with no one to greet them! Praise God that didn't happen!
Anyway, Ann, my mentor, came with me on base to take pictures and be my moral support. She was wonderful and I was so glad she was there with me. I wasn't too emotional, but when the bus pulled up, my heart started racing and my hands started shaking.:) When I saw his face, I took off, sprinting towards him. I jumped up into his arms for the best hug ever. Neither of us really cried, I think we were too overwhelmed. I have definitely made up for it the past couple days though.:) It just hits me at weird times and I just start crying out of pure happiness that he's home. The only outing we have taken since him being back was going to church yesterday. Otherwise, we've gone out to eat, gotten ice cream, made our Saturday morning banana pancakes, worked out, eaten TONS of stove-popped popcorn, and watched a lot of LOST, Season 3. It is SO wonderful having him home.

A deep breath of air

I once described to a friend of mine that having Eric gone is like being constantly short of breath. It is possible, living on only small intakes of oxygen, but is definitely not ideal, nor as enjoyable. No one could truly take pleasure in life, living continuously short of breath and constantly struggling to survive. I can live without Eric. I know I can. I just did for the past 4 months. But I most certainly do NOT enjoy it. Having Eric come home tomorrow literally feels like I'm about to inhale deeply and fully for the first time in 4 months. It may sound dramatic to you, but, hey, thats just the way it feels.

Race Day!!

This past Saturday, I ran my first race!!! It was so fun! Way more fun then I expected. I mean, sorry if I offend anyone, but getting up at 6:30 to run a 5k just isn't my idea of fun, but I was pleasantly surprised. I ran with a good friend of mine, Kelly, who I met working at Republic Bank last year, and two of my Biblestudy girls, Alex and Laura. My time was 29:44 - which isn't too amazing, but not too shabby either. I was nervous about my knee hurting because I've been having problems with it as I've been running, but we had no problems on the day of the race.
This is Kelly. She is awesome and ran with me despite the fact that she had run 16 miles the previous day for her training for the Chicago Marathon! She's a beast!
Being goofy with Laura and Alex. I don't really think I understood Kelly when she said to strike a running pose haha... I just look silly.
Love them! It was so fun to do together!!

I got one thing to say....

ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!

We call ourselves, The "I LOVE US!" Clan

So, I know I wrote about these ladies last semester, but here they are again. They're too important to not mention again! These beautiful women who are in my Biblestudy, have become so much apart of my world and I can't imagine it before I knew them! They are SO fun, SO precious and have become very good friends. In the back from left to right is: Carol, Laura, Courtney and me. And then in the front is Alex, Lauren, and Sarah. Ahhhh, I LOVE THEM! This is the I LOVE US Biblestudy haha. I'm not sure how we got our self-proclaimed name, I think it was from a subject I wrote in an email to them once, but we most certainly do. Not quite sure what I'm so excited about here, but I'm sure it has something to do with hanging out with all of them. Lastnight was our first Biblestudy and Laura made us all dinner since we meet at her apartment in Norman. It was so sweet of her and absolutely delicious. This is my goofy and extremely flexible Carol. We were all hanging out and all of a sudden we realize that Carol is in a human knot on the floor - she's so random and we are never bored of the things she does or says! She is a ton of fun and only an example of how crazy fun all of these girls are.

Eating dinner! I am trying to spend as much time with them as I can before Eric comes home (9 days!!!!) and am loving every minute of it. I could hang out with them allll the time. Seriously, I'd quit my job tomorrow. Thank you Jesus for blessing me so sweetly with such beautiful friendships.