New Address!

This is very lllooonnnngggg overdue- but if anyone still reads this blog, I've moved to a new address!

You can find me (and lots more posts since my last one on here) at:

christinaknotts.blogspot.com

Hope to hear from you!!

We're Having a Baby......!!

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
Psalm 127:3

Yep, it's true!  The Lord has seen fit to bless us with a baby! :-)

It has been an experience of a life-time, we can both assure you, from nausea to vomiting to feeling icky, to wanting to just stay in bed all day.  (I am praying that my time of morning sickness is fairly short, and comes to a close within the next two weeks, when my first trimester comes to a close.... ;-) )

The above graphic is of our baby, taken from www.WhatToExpect.com   Our baby is about 2 inches long now, about the size of a lime and growing very quickly.

Our God is totally awesome when it comes to making a baby... wow!  I am continually in awe of how He knits together a little human being inside of me.  Praise Him!

Prayers are greatly appreciated as we endeavor to remain in our Lord's will for everything surrounding a pregnancy and baby (due in March).

{11 weeks and counting}

Blackberries and Overdue Thank You's

As I write this, I am seated at my kitchen dining table where I have "temporarily" stored piles of letters and cards we have received.  I say "temporarily" but they have been sitting there as a small reminder for over 2 weeks!  All this in hopes of one day writing some much-overdue thank you notes to the many people who blessed us.

Yes, life does seem a bit hasty and too fast for me.... but making memories -- sweet memories -- has never been so beautiful, so exciting.  I have learned that I don't have to get everything done all at once.  Yes, I agree these poor people have been waiting for several weeks (going on months now) but I pray that they are so busy making their own sweet memories, they won't very much miss a thank-you card from us.... at least, I hope so. :-)

It is during these times of worrying about getting those cards out that my dear husband will suggest we go on a walk.  At first, I'd rather not go for a walk, but once it is underway and we are enjoying the beautiful scenery and each others company, I find I really did want a walk after all. :-)

A few weeks ago, we went walking down an empty lot that had several blackberry bushes.  We ended up using them in several smoothies; even though we intended to make a Blackberry Buckle with them!

Life is short.  That is an understatement.  Let us enjoy it singing praises to our Lord above and basking in His promises!

Home Sweet Home & Tortellini "Pockets"

So I made some Tortellini "pockets" last night and they turned out well!  I used the Better Homes & Gardens recipe for home-made pasta and then made up my own filling of sour cream and parmesan cheese, since I didn't have all the yummy cheeses like Ricotta.  But they turned out good!

Here's our home at dusk.  Very beautiful area, I am so blessed!

Ain't Life Grand

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ..."
Ephesians 1:3

Life, as a married woman, has been one huge roller coaster of fun.  Okay, so we've had to learn more about each others' communication skills through trial and error, but hey - what does one expect after living on one's own for 25 and 30 years?!?!

We have now officially passed the 1-month anniversary and are loving every minute of togetherness.  Nobody told me it would be this exquisite, this sweet. 

Something else nobody told me was how busy busy busy busy married women are!!  Foolish me thought that that busy-ness would come with children...WRONG.  I find myself with hardly enough hours in the day to keep up with little things that need doing.  Such as washing dishes (no dishwasher, but I'm not complaining), cleaning house, making meals, obtaining a new driver's license, helping grow our computer business, making our house a home instead of a camping cabin (!), and of course, spending time with my husband. In fact, it seems nothing else gets done because we want to spend all our time with each other!  Ah well.....

For those of you who don't have facebook, here are a few pictures from the wedding (April 28th).  My dear friend, Kristin Alexander of Daughter of Him Photography did an *excellent* job and I highly recommend her for any of your special events. (They are not in order, as you will soon discover...)

Mother putting on my veil (which she wore on her wedding day to Daddy 26 years ago).

 A beautiful end-of-April afternoon with Texas pecan trees overhead

Faith and Melody initiated the procession to make their way to the piano.  Faith played a beautiful song she worte, "Summer Waltz," while the flower girls walked down, and Melody played "Take My Life and Let It Be" as I walked down.

Faith putting my hair in curlers

Drinking some North Carolinian-yummy "Cheerwine Punch"

The flower girls: my sister, Abigail (13), friends Ashlyn A. (6) and Anna H. (1)

My handsome groom and the preacher waiting for my arrival :-)

My husband and I with my family (L to R: Johnny-18, James-16, Aaron-30, Joshua-10, Abigail-13, Stephen, Christina, Daddy, Mother, Faith-20, Melody-22)

Us getting showered (literally!) with birdseed!

 

This beautiful cake was given to us by the Pastor and his wife (whom I had the pleasure of working alongside at the local pregnancy center)

 The girls trying to make me act silly on my wedding day... :-)

Our rings.  My engagement ring (on top) is a vintage ring, probably circa 1940s, I'm guessing.  It's design, though, is quite Victorian (my Man knows me!!)

My dress, evidently home-made from about the 1930s.  My sister and I found it at a thrift store in a very small Colorado town about 9 years ago.  We instantly fell in love with it, scraped our money together and bought it for $12.  It served it's purpose extremely well!

To God be the glory; great things He hath done!

The Richness of God's Blessings

"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich; and He addeth no sorrow with it."

Proverbs 10:22

It's amazing how many twists and turns life presents. If you would have told me a year ago (or even 6 months ago!) that I would be engaged right now, I would have laughed in your face and called you a looney.  

But doesn't my God work in mysterious ways??  Isn't He capable of the seemingly impossible?  Why, then, do I sometimes doubt Him?

This past Summer 2011 was a particularly hard one for me, in regards to the "love" side of my life.  A dear friend of mine entered a courtship, and again, I fell into the awful slump of self-pity.  (Argh!)  It was Halloween night that, as I was talking to a friend about how I believed we single girls should be using our time wisely preparing for a future marriage, I felt an unspeakable peace wash over me.  It was as if the Lord said, "Why are you so fearful?  Don't you trust in Me to fulfill all your dreams?" 

I was greatly humbled... yet again.  Of course I had felt 'left out' and lonely time and time before; and of course, I cried out to the Lord time and time before; but this time was so different... I never felt such a peace engulf my every fiber like I did that night. 

I completely, unashamedly, whole-heartedly gave up my desires for marriage to the Lord.

The very next day, I got a facebook message from a guy I'd met 2-1/2 years previously.  He, in North Carolina, and I in Texas, well.... you can just imagine how many letters and phone calls we exchanged!  We talked about anything and everything, from favorite foods to Biblical doctrine.  It was amazing to both of us how we agreed on every issue that was brought up.

On January 26th, we received my parents' blessing to move forward into an 'official' courtship since we considered ourselves 'unofficially' courting since October 31st.  On Valentine's Day, I received a surprise vase of roses and fell madly in love. :-)  It was the first time any guy (other than my dad and brothers, of course) had given me anything for Valentine's and I felt uniquely special.

In early March, he came to visit us.  It was awkward at first, but then it wasn't awkward at all.  We had seen the Lord's hand in our relationship from the very beginning; even the tiniest details were a handiwork of the God of this Universe. 

Within three days of his arrival, we both knew (even without verbally saying it) that we wanted to be married -- and, more importantly, that God was calling us to be married.

Stephen is the first guy who asked to get to know me, the first guy I ever talked with over the phone, the first guy I've ever given my heart to, and the first guy I've ever said "I love you" to.

It has not been a bed of roses at all.  There have been very, very hard days while still other days have been so blissfully sweet.  The Lord has done a mighty work -- not only in Stephen and I -- but also in the lives of family and friends.  It is so sweet to sit back and watch my Lord Jesus at work!  I love the words of this old hymn because it rings so true to me now, more than ever:

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word;

Just to rest upon His promise;

Just to know, Thus saith the Lord.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er,

Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more.

I used to dream of the day a man would come calling for me; the day when he would tell me "I love you" for the first time; the day when I would be planning a wedding -- my own wedding!  Dreams are wonderfully sweet things, but they can become a pile of dust if your heart is not where it should be.  My heart was set on being married for the most selfish reasons.  But when I completely and utterly surrendered my will to become the will of my heavenly Father's, His dreams became my own, His heart's desires became my own.  And now, I am living in a heavenly dream come true.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; 

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 

they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; 

and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Psalm 37:4

"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."

2 Corinthians 9:15

May He alone be glorified in both of our lives.  In Jesus' Name!

My Portion

Several things in my life right now have caused me to wonder, where am I going?  Am I really doing what God wants me to do?  Have I been living my life for Him?

Today's devotion (in Daily Strength for Daily Needs by Mary W. Tileston) did so much to calm my fears.  It's funny how the Lord knows exactly what encouragement I need for that particular day.

"If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the trials and vexations arising from any change in His appointments, great or small, simply do not exist.  If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work here?  If He appoints me to wait indoors today, am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out-of-doors?  If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak, or 'show kindness' for His sake, or at least obey His command, 'Be courteous'?  If all my members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if today's appointment is some simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, instead of some seemingly more important doing of head or tongue?"

-F. R. Havergal

How easy it is to forget that He gives us one day at a time!  Just one day.... it is up to me how I will spend it.

"I love to think that God appoints

my portion day by day;

events of life are in His hand,

and I would only say,

Appoint them in Thine own good time,

and in Thine own best way."

-Anna L. Waring