summer 2013

Since I have been an uninspired blog-keeper this summer, a general update.

This summer has been one of transition. To a new house. To a more-official floral design position. To parenting a new pup. To much-needed involvement. To a hint of normalcy.

This normalcy looks like full calendars - a personal [possibly unhealthy] love of mine. So full that is calls for mini family meetings and plenty of time spent plugging in reminders and appointments and events into the calendar. I know that this is a very normal thing in the life of the average American [and beyond]. But for the last twelve months, our weeks have been the bare minimum. When you are a new member of a church or a business or a community, involvement is limited. Read: people-time is limited. This summer I am beyond thankful for the Lord providing us with busy days filled with events that need florals, church ministry responsibilities, dinner with new friends, family that needs celebrating.

This time last year, I was going to the grocery store because it was my only source of human interaction while D was at work. I know now that that was a season with purpose. But these days I wouldn't be surprised if I saw someone I knew in the Piggly Wiggly or Publix or (dreaded) WalMart. A wonderful, welcomed change even if I'm in need of a good hair-washing.

Summer 2013 began with our move to the new house. Things are shaping up, and there may possibly be some pictures soon since I'm learning to rangle the shedding dog and mulching area rug with this and this.

Less than a week later, we headed south for Anna's [who is absolutely "the apple of our eye"] first birthday party. It was all hands on deck for decorations and favors and food. At one point, D was slicing apples and cutting tiny little hearts out of their centers for apple and peanut butter sandwiches. We're rocking his all-boy-family world one birthday party at a time.

June, and then again in August, was peak wedding season bringing plenty of design and learning time. I did my first solo wedding and had the opportunity to assist Sarah with several more beautiful events. We ended the summer with bang: a two-wedding weekend with five venues in two days. I can honestly say that I've never been more exhausted in my entire life. Granted I've never run a marathon or given birth or, you know, climbed Mt. Everest. But I was worn slap out, y'all. And thanks to a poorly-chosen maxi dress, I was shuffling my chaffed self in on my extremely sore feet. Here's to adrenaline and pure creative satisfaction for carrying us through.

A trip to Ruston brought wonderful time with family, a bittersweet cleaning-out of Mamaw Mc's house, fresh Ruston peaches, and a tearful meeting of my best friend's baby boy. The pace at which our lives are moving is overwhelming at times.

We lost D's grandmother midsummer. It was the most sudden of any of our grandparents. And it's still hard to think that she won't be there when we visit this weekend. We had, as always, a lot of sweet family time through that heartache.

August began with a trip to Florida to spend some time with my dearest Ashley before her big move to the Middle East. It was perfectly timed, perfectly planned by a God who cares about details and emotions and friendships. We spent some time on the sand, around the table, at the outlet malls, and [most importantly] in our pajamas. We talked about memories and what life will be like after the move, what is most saddening and most exciting. An unexpected but completely perfect project was taking Ash's pictures and laying out her prayer magnet. Isn't she a beauty? We completely failed in our "no tears, just say 'see you later'" plan. So we cried and hugged and cried some more. And since then, we're thankful for international texting apps and email and prayer.

To wrap up a summer full of busy weekends was Audrey's SIXTH birthday. She's SIX. Impossible. We had a tea party with enough flowers for a small wedding ceremony. That evening, the entire fam went to the birthday girl's restaurant of choice - Chick-fil-A - where it's not difficult to get a table for thirteen on Saturday nights.

Today we are headed south for the wedding of one of D's groomsmen. This weekend will usher in [in my mind] an official beginning to fall bringing with it pumpkin-flavored purchases and LSU football. Here's to looking forward to sweaters and mums and Christmas trees and filled calendars.

on 2x4s and community and anticipation

These days one of us makes a daily builder-hovering trip to the house site. Some days it ends with pure excitement, some days with an email to the builder explaining that that cable jack is in the absolutely wrong place. But when I walk our dust-covered floors, turning in circles trying to figure out what furniture will go where and what we'll need to fill in the holes, I don't picture the house photo-ready, but [hopefully] filled with people to share life with.

After almost a year of several unknowns, it's as if we've come to the top of the hill and can begin to see what is ahead. Or at least anticipate it - we've definitely learned that you never know what the Lord has planned. This season has been a beautifully trying one that has strengthened our marriage and taught us a lot about our little plans compared to God's big picture and how He's intricately aware of both. After these months, I'm happy to see its end only because it is replaced with the start of a new community in Lexington, South Carolina. And since we know this new house and community is a blessing of a gift from the Lord, we found it fitting to record those sentiments on our [pre-Sheetrock] walls.

[Got ahead of myself and left out a couple words of this important verse. Full text here.]

[This one appropriately went above the dishwasher.]

I guess you could say that I have high hopes for this first home of ours. That it would be a place where friends will feel comfortable, where stories will be told, where those soul-binding similarities are discovered. I hope it can be a spot for dinner parties and Sunday school get-togethers and DNow weekends and baby showers. I want it to be a place where parents and siblings and [one day] cousins and out-of-town friends will fill all the available sleep spots. Where friends know they can pour themselves a glass of tea without asking. Where people can be recharged over coffee and dessert. Where successes can be celebrated and burdens be carried.

We are thankful for new beginnings [even if we didn't choose them] and for the buds of friendships that we hope and anticipate to bloom into more vibrant ones. Until they discover how weird we are. Mostly kidding.

And I hope that some of that blossoming happens around our supper table.

a whirlwind wedding weekend

After we got our full brain function back from our wonderfully exhausting weekend in Providence, D and I joked that this must be what it's like to take a quick weekend trip to Vegas. Sans the hard partying, I guess. And there was no gambling to speak of. Except who thought Chris would combust first from pure joy of having so many loved ones in one place.

With so many Baton Rouge friends making the trip to Rhode Island, the wedding being in the hotel where everyone stayed could not have been more perfect. It made the weekend seem mercifully long, providing time for all of those conversations you never seem to have over the phone or email. It provided time for getting updates on how daily life has changed since we last laid eyes on them and for talking about how it's expected to change in the future. Which it always does, as we've all learned.

What I've learned from weekends like this, and what I hope I always remember, is that they are always worth the time and the expense to go. Especially after moving, that time to be with those that have been such a sweet part of our lives is priceless. And any effort to stay in contact with them and to let them know that we are not only interested in their lives when we live within driving distance is worth it.

We spent the weekend either bundled up to face the snowy streets of Providence or nestled around various tables engaged in four or five conversations at once or celebrating the union of our dear Chris to his new bride. There was even a little time to sneak in a meeting Mandy who asked that I coordinate her wedding in March [which I could NOT be more excited about].

And after everyone headed home on Sunday morning, D and I explored beautiful Providence and hoped to blend in with all the cool Brown students on campus. I don't think we succeeded. It was probably the camera.

Cheers to Chris and Hannah on their new marriage! You're going to love it. And thanks to everyone we got to spend the weekend with. It truly was priceless!

beach trip

From four different states, we brought with us countless memories and shared experiences that are bound to be relived: tinders waiting to be ignited by a mentioned memory or the tone of a voice or a familiar look.

Our trip reminded me of the goodness of quick vacations with your girlfriends. It's good because we get to live life together in a way that we don't normally get to share: pouring cereal next to one another, grocery shopping, taking naps on neighboring sofas, cooking dinner for multiple nights in a row, laughing until everything hurts. It's good because we get to hear those family and life and work updates all at once and face to face without several rounds of phone tag.

I like to think that we'll add this trip to the books. That we will one day talk about these soon vague memories and try to remember which trip that was - 2009? 2012? 2017? - and how we can't believe it's been fifteen years since that trip to Panama City Beach. That year that we watched countless hours of Olympics, ate lots of late-night frozen yogurt, and continued to face the growing changes headed our way all within our lovely floral wallpapered walls. And when we do, I'll be glad, as I always am, that we're still friends.

noah james arant

Welcome to the world Noah James Arant. Born to two incredible parents. Two parents who I feel privileged to have known from beginning to baby. He is beautiful and, since he has been born, I have decided not to move to South Carolina. This job can be a long distance things right? Sort of kidding.

Psalm 127
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.