Because I know you're all dying to know . . .

(Image from explodingdog.com. I should blog about that site, it's cool.)

I unfortunately was camera-less this weekend (I was loaning mine to a friend), but I thought I'd do my best to document our first Valentine's Day when Keith and I were a) in love, b) on the same continent, and c) able to celebrate. We, in our first year of marriage tenderness, take the simple route when it comes to holidays. Just for the sake of simplicity, which is dear to our hearts, and it's nice, developing traditions in our time. The ingredients for a sweet and simple valentine's day in the cozy Davis home go like this:

1. Play soccer with your friends for hours in the afternoon so you are good and tired. Good tired, hungry, and looking forward to an evening of coziness.

2. Whip out the mini gas grill your parents gave you for the first time, apply deliciously marinated steak, and let your husband experience the manly thrill of being the master of the grill. (And it's a nice touch if it's the first time you've had steak at home together.)

3. Invite your awesome 7 year old neighbor come up for an impromptu dance party when she hears your wedding-dance mix blasting from your open door and sees the two of you boogying on the stairs.  Proceed to dance through the soundtrack of Mama Mia, which she has brought just for the occasion.

4. Sweetly tell her to go home when dinner's ready :)

5. Gather all of the chunky non-table-intended candles you have from around the house and assemble a candle-lit setting complete with a new (my first) table cloth.

6. Thank God for your sweet and perfect-for-you mate who He has given you to enjoy and to grow you and soften you. Enjoy your tasty dinner which you have made together!

7. Cozy up on your red couch and watch a silly but sweet romantic comedy. (Our pick was Nick and Norah's Never-ending Playlist, which we enjoyed, but I think I'll refrain from recommending it.)

8. Somewhere during the course of the evening succeed in making awesome bread, especially if the first time you tried it, it was just okay, and you learned from your mistakes. This will make you wildly happy and your husband will be wonderfully supportive in celebrating your victory with you. 

. . . 

It was really nice. 

(I'll post about the bread, and some other projects, when I get my camera back!)

Monday Musings

Keith and I went to a lovely wedding this weekend and shared with our good friends Ernie and Alex as they became united in wedded bliss. It was really beautiful and an encouraging and challenging weekend for us. Ernie and Alex will be on full-time staff with IHOP Atlanta (which means International House of Prayer, not the pancakes, which would be a very different lifestyle indeed.) These guys, and so many of there friends from IHOP Atlanta and the original in Kansas city, are so passionate and have truly dedicated their lives to prayer and worship. And really, I think in one form or another we are all called to dedicate our lives to those things--obviously not necessarily in the form that Ernie and Alex have, but none the less...we learned a lot and were challenged by the way prayer, worship, and speaking words encouraging words to one another flowed so easily in and out of, and were intertwined with, their "normal" activities. I took some pictures on film, so hopefully I'll share them soon.

As we mingled, to my surprise, several people said to me, "I love your blog!" or "it's so great to keep up with you through your blog." And really, I had no idea that these people were reading. I have to admit, that in my little blogging world comments are great encouragement for keeping up with posting, so I'd love to know if you read my blog! All you phantom readers out there...show your face! It would be really encouraging to me, whether I know you or not, if you just said, "hi!"

In other news:

• It seems like everyone is doing this, and I don't want to do it just to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm thinking about doing a photo-a-day-for-a-month deal. I've been carrying my camera around with me everywhere lately, but the creative juices just are not pumping, and I haven't been snapping much of anything. I'd write about the pictures too, and I think overall it would be a good creative exercise. Lame or not-lame?
• I picked our first home-grown tomato this morning! Pictures coming soon.
• Interesting factoid of the day: Really smart people made a circuit board our of feathers and soy-goo. What will they think of next?
  

a wonderful weekend:

On the very day of our 3 month anniversary, Keith and I got to sing at my dear friend Katie's wedding. It was so fun, our first debut since leading worship together in high school :) Katie is one of five very special girls who made my last semester at Clemson a delightful one by sharing a blue house with me. Her wedding was up at Big Canoe, a gorgeous place in north GA. It did my heart good to see her fully enjoy such a beautiful occasion--one that she and Matt have been looking forward to for a long time. (They dated for 5+ years)! Seeing so many friends from Clemson was just so deeply fun and good. I'm so thankful! And I'm so looking forward to the other weddings we have coming up over the next few months.

And that's not all, we got to stay with a family that is so very special to us, the Rumbaughs. Eve (who was a dear friend of Keith's mom) and Will live in a wonderful house on top of a mountain in Jasper with their 3 sweet girls, Mia, Emma, and Zoe, who are adopted from China. They are truly a beautiful and inspirational family. They specialize in deep joy, love, and authenticity. Eve and Will are the most skilled and caring question-askers I have ever known, and I try to learn from them. They love to enjoy the good things about life--walks in nature, sharing in creativity and work, coffee and a spectacular view on the porch, trying new things, and learning. Their daughters are beautiful and smart and unique and you can see that their spirits just bask and grow in the deep love that is shown to them by their Heavenly Father through their willing parents. They are truly an inspiration, and we always feel like going to visit them is therapy and a sweet retreat.

We also got to stay with Keith's brother Kelly, which was so good, and even included a 11:00 am showing of Batman. I LOVE my family-in-law. I don't think I could say that enough to really express it. And all the hours of driving were so worth it to just get to spend time with my sweet husband. It really was a great and encouraging weekend for us.

Driving up to Kelly's house on Saturday night was weird and a little sad because we didn't go to "my" house. My family is settling in well in Kansas, and I am really impressed by their joyful and willing hearts...both my sister and my mom (who has had the hardest time with this move) have made lists of one thing they like about Kansas for everyday. You can check them out on their blogs.

well, I'm rambling, which tends to happen with an update style blog, but I wanted to share about such a great weekend. I keep wishing I had my own pictures to post, but I've been having too much fun to remember to take pictures!

In other news:

• One of the things that Eve taught us about was why she keeps a bin full of worms and moldy veggies under her sink.