Newlywed Retreat

This past weekend Greg and I went to a newlywed retreat with our Sunday School class. We had a blast! It was at an adorable Bed & Breakfast in Roundtop. This place was huge! Each couple got their own room. There were 3 different houses on the property that the couples stayed in. There was plenty of land outside to explore and play, and a small lake/pond. Greg and my room was called the Voss Snugery. Yep, it was pretty snug. If you can't tell from the pictures, the bed touches 3 walls. We are taking up all the standing area.

Here is a picture of the main room where we had all of our sessions. It was was really cool - 3 different levels, with tons of old chairs, benches, and couches.

The speakers were really great, and provided really good teaching on building your marriage and learning to love each other better. I realize that it requires continual effort to love your spouse well. I can see how bad habits can form early. Maybe even start small. Like the way I talk to Greg or use sarcasm. I need to work on speaking love and encouragement and truth to him. Also to open up and share my heart and connect through deep conversation. Greg and I are such great friends and have so much fun together, but sometimes it is hard for me to open up and talk about the deep stuff. Marriage is so dynamic and I am looking forward to growing in at as we both learn and grow as people throughout life.

We also really enjoyed the fellowship at the retreat. I had such a great time laughing and getting to know other couples in our class as we stayed up way too late playing mafia, pictionary telephone, and catch phrase. I think Greg and I got way less sleep than we would on a normal weekend, but it was well worth it!

Here Comes the Bride

My sister is now married! She is Mrs. Cody Kimmel. She got married this weekend in Austin and she was such a beautiful bride! Here is a picture of 5 Grosse women at the wedding!

Ok, now maybe I should start at the beginning of the weekend...

Greg and I left early Thursday morning for Austin. We grabbed some lunch and went to a park by the lake. We threw the frisbee around and hung out with all the dog-lovers watching all the dogs chasing their toys into the water. It was hilarious. It made me want a dog. But not yet. Not until we have a yard. Then we visited my sister & Cody's new place! They had it all set up ready to move in when they get back from their honeymoon. Complete with hammock on the balcony. That night my sister had her bachelorette party and Cody had his bachelor party. We went to dinner while the boys went to dinner and saw Batman. It started at 12AM! That is a late night for Greg now that he is an old married man. We had such a great time.

The next day we got our nails done and then headed off to the rehearsal and dinner.

Check out Cody's face below when my dad gave a toast to having lots and lots of babies. Cheers!
And here is a picture of Greg and I.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful. The reception was a blast!! Here are some shots of the dancing.

Greg bustin a move.

Dad and Aunt Christina get down.

Bryan before.

Bryan after.

Pure class, dress socks and man calves.

Relax Mom and Dad. Wedding season is over. GREAT JOB!

Camping

So it has been a while since I've blogged. Things have been busy. Real busy. This past week was Houston Project - our church week long mission to serve our city through vacation bible school, activities for youth, and adults. It was a great time to love on kids and get to work alongside so many different people in our church. It was a wonderful (exhausting) week!

Now all of a sudden it is Sunday night. And Greg and I are....camping. Our water went a few hours ago. Right in the middle of cooking dinner. I was making chicken parmesean (my friend Kari gave me the recipe, so good!) and was about to put it in the oven and then start to boil the spaghetti. Um, what? No water? So I filled up the pot with ice. But that wasn't enough. So Greg suggested, why not add a little chicken broth? My husband is a genius. So I dumped that in too. Dinner was good, but now all of our spaghetti smeared plates are sitting in the sink getting crustier by the minute. Sick. I managed to brush my teeth by rinsing with the tiny trickle of water left in the faucet. And I used a wet wipe to wash my face. Greg is all running around exciting yelling - "We're camping!"

On a totally unrelated note, I came up with an invention today. Please don't try to steal this and create a prototype and begin marketing it. Ok, drumroll......a Remote Controlled Back Massager. You just lay on your stomach, place the device on your back, and then hold in one hand a small remote controlled device that will move the back massager all around your back. I think this is going to be a big hit. I hope Brookes Brothers hasn't beat me to it.

Couple Dating

Moving from the singles Sunday school class to the newlywed Sunday school class has definitely been a transition for me. It felt a lot harder to get plugged in and get to know other couples well. The newlywed class is huge (well...so was the singles), and we didn't know most of the people coming in to it. It is harder to plan get togethers with couples when you are working around twice as many schedules, and both the guy and the girl have to click with each other. Our friend Thomas described it as dating. So true. First you begin to hang out and "notice" another couple. Hmm...they look friendly, maybe we should ask them out. What do you think honey? Will they like us? Would it be awkward if it didn't work out? Lets just wait and try to drop some subtle clues that we are interested. Then comes the asking - "hey, um, would you guys like to go to dinner?" Should we take the plunge and ask for their phone numbers now, or keep it casual and just stick to email? First dates can be a little intimidating, but fun. Then at the end you must make your intentions known - "this was fun, we should do it again sometime". From there it just gets easier.

Recently we have gotten to hang out with several couples from the class that we have gotten to know through bible study and core groups. I have really enjoyed getting to know new people and hear their stories. Monday night we got to have dinner at the Alleman's. They were so sweet to have us over for dinner. They even busted out the nice china. I thought that was awesome. Why let it sit on the shelf for 15 years? It was great to have a nice dinner for no particular reason. Then we played wii. Wow. I need some practice. And this past weekend we got to hang out with our core group, and enjoy fajitas and rock band. We had a blast. And who knew Ben Cooper was former lead singer of the Beastie Boys?

I have also really been loving our summer Tuesday night bible study. It is a pretty large group for a bible study, but still seems like an intimate setting and so much good discussion takes place among the groups. I look forward to Tuesday nights every week. It is such a good way to get to know other couples and be encouraged by hearing what others have learned on the fruit of Spirit.

Husband Experiments

Sometimes I like to conduct experiments...on Greg. Here is my latest one.

I begin humming or singing a song when I am around him. Just a couple lines here and there throughout the day. Something catchy, and upbeat.

And then I wait to see how long it takes...

Until he (without realizing it) starts singing the same song. And then I proudly declare...Transfer Complete! One song downloaded from my head to yours!

I think I have successfully downloaded 3 songs so far.

Table Talk

Here is an actual conversation from the other night.

*As a disclaimer, we are not planning on having kids just yet...and we don't know how many, if any, God would choose to bless us with.

Greg: What would you say if I quit my job and went to work for United Way?

Me: Um, did you still want to have four kids?

Greg: Four is kind of......A LOT.

But five is a much more round number.

Me: WHAT?

Greg: Oh you know, it just sort of gets lost in the rounding. It's like "How many kids do you have?" ... "Oh, four or five."

ps - Lauren: don't get too excited just yet. Greg and I haven't agreed on 4. I know you and I sort of entered into that little "pact", for family-expansion purposes...but maybe we should think about lowering the quota. I mean, we have both married into mid-sized families. No need to start populating a small country with Kimmels and Matterns running around everywhere. But then again...we could have the Christmas we always dreamed of.

How do I know God's Will?

This is a question we have all asked. How do I know God's will for my life? Am I in the right job? Am I doing what I am called to do? Do I need to pick up and move to Africa?

The Bible is clear on God's will in some areas. His moral will, for example. He has given us commands. We clearly know his will for us in moral situations. We know we should not lie. We should not worship anyone or anything besides the Lord. We should not speak badly of others but build each other up. We know His will for us in these areas.

We also know His will for us in a general sense.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thes 5:16-18.

"It is God's will that you should be sanctified." 1 Thes 4:3a

But these don't speak to any specific situations which involve non-moral decisions. Decisions that do not have a right or wrong answer, but as our Pastor puts it, a right or left answer. Should we live in this neighborhood, or that one? Should I work at this company, or a different one? How are we to know? I have often wondered these types of things. Scared that I am possibly missing out on God's will for my life. I ask God to speak clearly to me because I am not really sensing His leading. Do I just choose one? Is there only one outcome which is God's will for me, and if I don't choose it then I am not in God's will?

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Rom 8:26-27

After studying these verses in my Romans Bible study, God really started to teach me what they meant. For the believer, the Spirit is praying for us, when we do not know what to pray. Even though I do not know God's specific will for my life, that is OK! The Spirit does know it, because He is the Spirit of God. And if He is praying God's will to GOD, then that prayer will of course be answered. How encouraging is that! The Spirit is praying God's specific will for me and His prayers are always answered.

In the study on these verses suffering was also discussed. My human reaction to suffering is to get out of it. To pray for healing. To pray for the suffering to be over. And that is not wrong. Jesus Himself prayed 3 times for this cup to pass from Him. BUT, He prayed for God's will to be done. In His heart, He desired God's will more than wanting the suffering to pass. He made His requests know to God as we are instructed to do. But we know that suffering is sometimes God's will.

Suffering could be for the purpose of correcting. When we have fallen into sin.

It could also be for the purpose of sanctification, or spiritual growth. Paul says that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.

It could be for the purpose of bringing glory to God. If you are sick and God heals you, it brings many to people to prayer, and God gets praise and glory for the healing.

So when we suffer, maybe we should be asking God to give us grace to endure, since we know sometimes His will is for us to suffer (which we know works for good). Paul had a thorn in his flesh (which we are not exactly sure what that was). He prayed for healing from God. God's answer? My grace is sufficient for you. I pray that my faith would be solid so that when I do experience deep suffering, I am able to have this same mindset, and not just my human reaction of wanting out of suffering. I want God's will done. I may not even be able to express that. But I can rest in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit knows exactly how to express what I cannot, and is praying that very thing.

Bottom line is, we don't always know how to pray. We don't know when to pray for healing and when to pray for grace to endure healing. But the Spirit of God that lives in believers knows exactly what to pray, and is helping us in this weakness. How amazing!