thankful thursday: flood edition.

my phone rang friday night around midnight as i was sleeping in a hotel in amarillo. it was our apartment complex in norman trying to calmly tell me that our apartment had flooded. hmmm... okay. feeling quite helpless 5 hours away, we decided to eat, drink, and be merry. we enjoyed the weekend's festivities, while trying not to let our minds wander to the busted pipe and the floating-in-2-inches-of-water carpet. we finally made the long drive home on sunday, and this is the scene we found:

oh and most importantly -- imagine the most rank mildew smell you can possibly imagine and multiply it by twelve -- that was our apartment. chris had to preach that night, so we just grabbed clothes and got out as fast as we could. sick.

thankful #1: the apartment complex put us up in the la quinta sunday night. so a) we didn't have to stay in that rancid apartment b) we didn't have to be in anyone's way, and c) we didn't have to pay for it. 

so on monday, they completely redid all of our floors -- carpet and wood. we came home at lunch to check on their progress and found some of our furniture in the rain. my goodness gracious.

thankful #2: our original carpet was clearly old and worn, so our new carpet is much better! and our new wood floors are darker and nicer than our orignal ones! yeah!

thankful #3: the maintenance guys left at 6 that night -- all of the floors were finished, but there wasn't a stick of furniture in its original place. i figured we would just set up our bed and figure the rest out later, but when i came home from my small group, chris had rearranged ALL of our furniture! everything was back where it was supposed to be! AMAZING!

we were so excited to be able to stay at our home monday night after a weekend away and a night at the la quinta, but unfortunately, we began to notice a few not-so-small problems: the air conditioner was broken, the dryer and oven wouldn't turn on, the internet didn't work, we had zero hot water... minor details, right? wrong.

thankful #3: the apartment complex has been super gracious through this whole thing and very willing to help. they sent out maintenance people on tuesday while we were at work to fix our long list of problems. yeah AC and hot water!!

on wednesday, we finally started going through the mounds of wet things they had thrown in our guest bathroom and bedroom. gross. our overflowing laundry hamper got soaked, but thankfully after our dryer finally got fixed, we were able to wash everything and the smell went away! slowly but surely, we're knocking out the hints of mildew smell and getting our little apt back to norm.

thankful #4: let's be honest -- when we were driving home from amarillo, we had no idea what we were coming home too. even though it's been the MOST inconvenient week and we've been exhausted and on each other's nerves most of the week, it really has been the best case scenario -- none of our clothes or furniture seem to be ruined. a few things that were on the floor in our closet or under our bed have been drying out on our porch all week, but man, it could've been MUCH worse. we are so thankful.

i'll leave you with this. since the maintenance and floor guys had our doors and windows open so much, we've got way too many flies flying around our little place. i mean, WAY too many. 

thankful #5: but have no fear... fly killer husband is here. he killed 4 flies in a matter of about 10 minutes and was SO proud of himself. unfortunately, i don't think he's had much luck since, but hey, at least we have this picture to enjoy.

sunrise.

chris was in a wedding in amarillo this last weekend, and on our early morning road trip home yesterday, we were driving due east -- right into the sunrise.

west texas at its finest.

i don't think there's anything as pregnant with expectation as a sunrise, and i don't think there's anywhere better to watch it than west texas. there's just nothing quite like it. we tried to capture the progression -- so much anticipation!

thankful for this visual illustration of the psalmist's thoughts in psalm 130:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning, 

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord! 

For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

thankful thursday.

so i missed last week's thankful thursday post. let's be honest, it had to happen sometime, right? october is proving to be a doozie and i'm having a hard time keeping up! but here we go -- things i've been thankful for this week:

1. ethiopia travels.

our friends, katelyn and walker, are in ethiopia this week with a group from their church. it is killing me that i'm not with them. they're staying in places i've stayed and working with people i've worked with... i just hope they're loving it as much as i have. i'm not-so-secretly hoping they decide to adopt from there and our ethiopian kids marry each other and we all become family and live happily ever after.

2. texas tech upset west virginia.

if you follow college football at all, you probably know that the texas tech red raiders seemingly out of nowhere defeated the west virginia mountaineers last saturday. this likely has no effect on any of you, but at the brister house, it means i've had a husband walking on cloud 9 all week. get your guns up -- peyoo peyoo! (he hates my gun noise.)

3. this blog post.

i've said this before, but i'm not much for politics, so when i stumble across a post that actually interests me, i get excited about it. it's no surprise that jen hatmaker had something witty and thought-provoking to say about the upcoming election. i love the way she thinks and writes, so of course i was thankful for how she communicated about this topic. also, follow her on twitter -- i promise you'll thank me later.

4. pumpkin muffins.

spice cake mix + can of pumpkin = pumpkin muffins. or, if you're feeling extra indulgent, put cream cheese icing on top and call them cupcakes. don't worry, it's only october 18th and i've already made these twice. yum. enjoy!

5. small town life.
my car battery completely died on our trip back from alabama this last weekend (yes you read that correctly). we bought a new one at o'reilly's, but they refused to put it in for us -- something about volvos being complicated. whatev. anyway, we pulled into a body shop only a few minutes before they closed and basically begged someone to put in the battery for us. sure enough, this sweet man volunteered and didn't even charge us! who does that?! thank you, small town. (i offered to pay him in pancakes at syrup, but unfortunately he was a no show the next morning.)

what are you thankful for this week??

needtobreathe.

syrup is next door to a local record shop, and one day i saw this poster in the window. needtobreathe in okc? yes please. so, chris and i got tickets and called it our anniversary gift to each other. (fun bonus: tickets = paper = the traditional one year anniversary gift. who knew?)

we waited in the will call line (outside in the cold) foreveerrrrrr, but the good news is, we got to see an incredible sunset -- easily the best perk of living in oklahoma.

if you're not into needtobreathe, you should be, and if you ever get the chance to see them live, you should go. they put on a really great show. i know i'm naive, but i just feel like they love what they're doing and it's so fun to watch. they just seem like good ol' southern boys singing from deep in their souls, not for money or fame, but because they just love music. okay i'm done. no i'm not -- their lyrics, y'all. they're just so good. okay now i'm done. for real.

i'm not good at picking favorites, but i think my favorite performances of the night were "the reckoning"(with drew holcomb), "keep your eyes open," and "difference maker." click the links to see videos of the other two, but here's "difference maker" for your viewing pleasure. enjoy!

for myself.

one of the first times i ever hung out with chris, we were on a walk and somehow it came up that i had never been to pappasito's. it's been his favorite restaurant for years, and he was somewhat appalled that i'd never been. so, sure enough, on our first date we split fajitas at pappasito's. he was so excited to introduce me to something he loved so much. we've been multiple times since, and now i can honestly say pappasito's fajitas are the best fajitas i've ever had -- not because of how much chris likes them but because i've tasted them for myself... and you just can't beat that garlic butter sauce, y'all.

in john 4, jesus hangs out with a samaritan woman at a water well. he says very jesusy things like, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (pretend you aren't sitting on the other side of centuries of sermons and commentaries -- pretend you just heard him say that in the moment -- what?!) then, he proceeds to know crazy things about this woman that no one should've known. so what's her response? like any girl would do, she runs and tells her friends. then comes the good part -- "Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me all that I ever did'... And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.'"

did you catch that? some came to faith because of what the woman told them about jesus, but even more came to faith because they actually heard jesus for themselves. the power of another's testimony is absolutely undeniable, but even more powerful still is actually getting to experience it for yourself. chris could tell me a million times how good pappasito's is (and he did), but i didn't really get it until i tasted it for myself.

have you personally tasted the Lord's goodness (psalm 34.8)? or do you know he's good because other people tell you he is? it's so easy to know God through other people. sermons, podcasts, blog posts, books, even conversations with friends... it's so easy to get wrapped up in what other people know about God, how other people relate to him, what he's doing in other people's lives... so easy, in fact, that i've recently caught myself settling for it. the lazy me loves it, the rest of me HATES it.

i want to experience Christ in intimate ways for myself. i want to know the power of the Spirit in my life. i don't want or expect these things because of who i am or anything i've done, but because of who he is and what he's done -- because he's worth it. i don't want to be lazy in my faith. i don't want to miss something he has for me because i'm too busy with things that don't matter.

may we be able to say like the samaritans, "we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

thankful thursday: hello, october.

i think october might be my favorite month. i love cooler weather, soup season, boots and scarves, college football, baseball playoffs (although my rangers are scaring me), and changing leaves. i just love fall. here are a few things i've been thankful for this week...

1. my fall candle.

it immediately puts me in a better mood and makes our little apartment smell delightful.

2. mondays off.

syrup is open tuesday-sunday and closed on mondays, so since i usually have to work there at least one day during the weekend, i've decided to treat mondays like saturdays... and it's awesome. i'm always thankful for the much needed rest.

3. thawed wedding cake.

we took a few bites of our one-year-old wedding cake on monday night... let's be honest, it was a little anticlimactic, but super sentimental, and actually kinda tasty! 

4. dinner with friends.

last week and this week we were invited into two different families' homes for dinner. there's just something so good about sharing a meal with people... especially when they have great senses of humor, good wisdom to share, and cute kiddos to play with.

5. leaves.

at our wedding reception, we had our guests write little notes on these leaves -- everything from verses to quotes to inside jokes -- and for a year now i've been trying to figure out what to do with some of them. when my fam was in town, my sister-in-law finally helped me pull the trigger on this creation over our bed. i absolutely LOVE it. i'm so thankful for the friends, family, and memories these leaves bring to mind. 

happy october! what are you thankful for this week?

1st anniversary!

one year ago this morning, chris and i said vows, exchanged rings, and became husband and wife. when i think about that day, i'm filled with so much awe and gratitude. it was just the best day ever. we were so moved by God's love for us and so overwhelmed by our family and friends who were there to support us. it was such a worshipful experience for us and hopefully everyone there. i wouldn't have changed a thing. (see the highlights here!)

but as thankful as i am for that perfect day, i'm even more thankful for the last 366 (leap year) not-always-perfect days. this last year has been a whirlwind of transition -- new marriage, new roommate, new town, new friends, new church, new jobs... no family nearby, no best friends nearby (thankful for whitney in okc for a few months!), no school (which consumed my life for the last 19 years), no girl roommates, no texas, no good mexican food... i mean, it's been an adjustment. but again, i'm so thankful. in all the transition, we've been forced to lean on each other. i wouldn't trade it.

our friends, katelyn and walker, celebrated their 1st anniversary recently, and i love what she wrote on her blog. i couldn't agree more, but i often forget: "Through this year of countless laughs and a couple of tears, we have realized it can be so easy to long for someone else's story. To desire a different path -- one that might seem more adventurous, more carefree, more romantic -- but at the end of the day we have each other and a chance to write our very own unique story, and it can't get better than that!"

i'm so thankful chris and i get to write our story together. he's the most patient, steadfast, funny, persistent (read: stubborn) person i know, and i couldn't be more thankful to call him my husband.

dear thawed cake, PLEASE be good.

 

 

{photos by whenitclicks}