Birthday!

sunday was my birthday and i had such a great week{end} celebrating!

it all started last tuesday when cody mentioned that a church asked him to preach twice on sunday. this is somewhat of a normal deal & usually i am a supportive baptist wife and go with him. however, sunday was my first day to start volunteering in the nursery at our church, so i knew i couldn't go with him. so i called my parents up to see if they wanted to spend the weekend with us! {after all, no one should be alone on their special day!}

cody and i had our first celebration meal at red robin. sign up for their mailing list and you get a free burger for your birthday!



split it with someone and eat all the never ending fries you want and it makes for a rather cheap celebration! funny enough, all 3 booths that were around us at red robin were also celebrating birthdays! who know august 28 was so popular...

the rest of the week was busy with work, but i made some time to pick up the house for my parents. you can always tell if they're coming soon due to the condition of my microwave...



i scrub it till it's sparkling clean if mom's going to be in town!


while my parents were here, we finally introduced them to the goodness of lucy's burgers. for real. if you ever come to abilene, you have to get one of these burgers! they use some sort of sweet bread that is un.be.lieve.able. they also make homemade peanut butter ice cream that will rock your world!

saturday was filled with shopping, a picnic for cody's work and a delicious dinner at olive garden. my parents were super sweet and made reservations at perini ranch, which is a famous steakhouse that we're lucky enough to have in west texas, but breadsticks were calling my name.

cody put on a little show while we were there, serenading me with eric clapton.


{you look wonderful tonight}

my mom and i always split the chicken scampi. so delicious!



{my twinkie}



then we headed home for cake, ice cream and presents. only we were too full from dinner, so we started with presents. my mom used my dad's red shoe laces from his new tennis shoes to help in wrapping my present and they kept making a big deal out of the new red shoes they got me. i really thought they were just being ridiculous, but no, they really got me red shoes:


{just call me kendi}

i squealed when i opened them! i've been wanting these shoes for a while and haven't bit the bullet on them. bless my sweet husband's heart for telling my mom yes when she asked him if i would want them. i'm so excited! if you're thinking about getting them, be warned, mine are definitely coral orange, not red. like so orange that my mom spent many hours on the phone with u.o. saying they're not red. i will be taking them back to a store to see if they were mis-dyed. i'll let you know what the verdict is.

then it was time for my next gift. once again, my mom {and Bami!} hit it out of the ball park with this one!


{dishes by dayspring}

i've mentioned and showed these to my mom *several* times, but could never afford them, plus i couldn't really justify getting them since we were newlyweds and got nice stuff at our showers. it was so sad to see them on sale and know they were just out of my reach! thankfully, my mom and bami went in together to get me 8 place settings! i know i will love using these for many years to come!

bami did pull a fast one on me. she had my mom give me their card before we went to dinner. typically, we get money for our gift, but there wasn't any in my card. previously, bamps and bami did a large christmas gift for the cousins and understandably, didn't give us birthdays gifts that year. once i saw the empty card, i thought they must have started another no birthday gift year since we got the big trip from them in june. come to find out, they did get me a gift but bami wanted to make me sweat a little bit! {before you think i'm such a good person for just assuming our trip with birthday gift enough, i did ask cody if he got a gift from b & b this year! just wanted to make sure bami wasn't loosing her mind :) }

after presents, i then treated my dad to a quick round of night golf!


{11:50 p.m.!}

we had a great time {i won!} but i did keep saying... this would be so creepy if you were out here by yourself!

all in all it was *such* a wonderful weekend and i'm so thankful that my parents were able to come down. everyone did such a great job making me feel super special!  i'm excited to see what 27 holds!

Delighted!

Remember this post?

I found out Thursday that the Honors Program was expanded and he was offered the first spot.


Yes, there was lots of clapping, dancing and celebrating. {and that's just me. who knows what his family was doing!}


Sometimes it just takes a little longer to get where God wants us, huh?


The Lord directs the steps of the godly, He delights in every detail of their lives. Psalm 37:23

Uncharted

{don't mind the crazy girl running and bawling her eyes out... it's just me!}

Texas can be the biggest heartbreaker when it comes to weather. Last week we had beautiful skies and sunshiney days. Of course, as soon as Spring Break starts, it delivers a cold chill with it. It's been about 35-40 when we've left in the morning for work. I can't complain too much, because it has warmed up to 70's in the afternoon.

As we left work today, the weather was beautiful and Cody said he felt like running outside. I, of course, had no motivation to work out at all, whether it be in a gym or outdoors. I agreed to go home to "workout", knowing that I would probably forgo and clean the house. {does that show you how much I didn't want to work out?! I was willing to clean!!}

Despite my lack of motivation to do anything exercise related, I somehow found myself lacing up my shoes and heading out to run, mostly with the motivation to get it over. The last thing I expected when I was out running was to get hit with a huge dose of emotions. It started by listening to Sara Bareillis' "Uncharted" {which, in hindsight of reading they lyrics, are not nearly as moving as I thought!} Just thinking about the idea of how uncharted our future really is and how the relates to the here and now. One year ago today, my family and I finished wrapping up a tiring day of meeting with doctors and surgeons to go over the details for my surgery. We were headed to eat dinner, going through the motions to try and get ourselves through one of the longest nights of our lives.

One year ago, going out for a three mile run, no matter how slow or fast I did it, seemed nearly impossible. I had no idea how long my recovery would take or what exactly my recovery would entail. This past year has been uncharted, watching as every week and month milestone went by and we celebrated another victory. Last April, we celebrated when I was to walk for 10 minutes without stopping. In May, I was lucky enough to walk across stage to graduate with my Master's. In July, I finished my cardiac rehab and was released to exercise like I wanted. In September, we heard the best news of all to know that valve was no longer leaking and my right ventricle was back down to normal size.

It's a shame that it takes such a big event to really make you appreciate life. The ability to shop for groceries, the strength to carry your bags, taking a stroll around the block. Each month that has gone by has been such a gift that has accumulated to this week. And today, as I begrudingly went out for a run, I was so overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord and the favor He has shown over me this year. I am so thankful for life; to feel the familiar beating in my heart; to see the scar on my chest that is a physical reminder of this journey I have been on.

I have grown more spiritually in the past year than I ever dreamed possible. I am so grateful for the lesson's the Lord has shown me about His healing power, His provision, and His constant companionship through any trial we face. I am just as thankful that He is also present in the celebrating and know that my Happy Heart day would not be possible tomorrow had it not been for Him.

I'm thankful to have this year as a part of me and know that there are so many wonderful things still to come. Here's to the uncharted...