A Mighty Cleaning

We spent the last two Saturday's cleaning Dave's house and making it our home. It was exhausting, but very rewarding to sit back and see how far the house has come. If you were to ask his last two roommates, I am certain they would tell you that Dave is a clean guy. He had a cleaning rotation schedule that included dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen. Dave makes his bed everyday and keeps his room picked up. He also cares well for his yard; keeping it mowed and the leaves raked. From the outside and the inside surface, it seemed clean. No need for much more work. But if you were to look deep inside you would see all the traces of life (hard times and everyday activities) - from random splatters on the kitchen and living room shutters to the base boards covered in dust and dog hair. Life takes it tolls. But we cleaned and cleaned these last few weeks and it looks great! I am very thankful for the energy we were given to get so much done.

Through all this I was humbly reminded of life. How from the surface we often seem well maintained and groomed. We can have the appearance of keeping it all together and even if you were to look just inside, it might seem that way still. But if you had the privilege of digging deep in to someone's life, you would see all the effects of life. The effects of choices made, of messes left unattended, of people only passing through and so on...like the hands we used this weekend to scrub and wash clean, God dives into our lives to wash us clean. The beauty of His cleaning is that in the end we are as white as snow. Dave and I will never get our entire house as white as snow, but I bet we spend many years trying. There will always be something to clean, something that needs to be healed, and something that needs some loving attention to make it better than before. And we hope that people will enjoy the efforts we put in by coming to visit, but we realize many will not notice that the shutters are clean and the microwave vent is dust free. Thankfully, from experience I can say that when the Lord does a mighty work in our lives, others notice. It’s inviting, it’s welcoming and others want to know how to get it themselves. Not everyone will know the details of the cleaning, but it’s worth it. It takes work. Even though the house received the works of our hands alone, healing and change in our lives takes work on our part as well as God's. Work in our lives requires us to receive the work of His hands and ours at the same time. It is definitely worth all the efforts! Just like we feel when we sit down and enjoy our clean home, Our Father enjoys our cleansed heart through His partnership with us. And like the house, the work is never done. But joyful times are had in the midst, much like the small gathering of friends we had over to celebrate the upcoming events.

Through all this, I’m encouraged to keep pushing towards the goal to win the prize. And like Paul said in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Amen…keep pressing on. In the words of a dear, dear friend and mentor…“Believe, it’s worth it!”

8 Days...

The wedding is quickly approaching and I could not be more excited. People keep asking me if I am nervous and I must admit that I am not. Of course I might get there, but all I feel right now is such joy, excitement and peace for all that is ahead. I am looking forward to becoming Mrs. David Phillippe before my family, friends and The Lord. It is only by His grace that I will stand before such an amazing man in 8 days and say "I DO". We have an adventure ahead of us, no doubt. But with our eyes on Christ and him as the center of our lives, we have hope for a marriage that honors and glorifies The Lord.

"For faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we can not see." Heb 11:1

Hydrangeas

We thought the front porch could use some color, and Lowes had a sale on hydrangeas. Stephanie's new favorite color is hot pink, so we got one!

Moving Along

We moved nearly all my stuff into Dave's house this week. Just my bed and some cloths remain at my house for the last 3 weeks so that I can still live there until the wedding. It's fun to see my stuff become our stuff and Dave's house become our home. We are looking forward to getting it all settled and opening it up to family and friends.

30 days to go!

Wow, the last two months have flown by for us. Now the wedding is almost here and we are finishing up all the little details.

We had some engagement photos taken by Stephanie's friend Ari and I wanted share some. There will be more to come once she is finished developing them. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dave

30 turned out to be a great year for Dave...he met me :)

Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you!!

Sleeping bag beauty

We picked up a sleeping bag at REI recently and Stephanie decided to try it out when we got back to my place. I had to pry her out of it because it was late and she wanted to sleep in it!