God Provides!

The name of the game this week has been : GOD PROVIDES! From our time at the beach, to finding out about the availability to move into a new apartment, to dinner being made for us...it has been amazing to have our eyes open to the blessings of the LORD! 


Last week, we got to spend such a sweet, special time in Destin, FL with some of our most dear Nashville friends. Not only were we all at the beach at the same time (!!) but we got to celebrate the marriage of two of our favorites. The Lord connected us with our friend, Dr. Josh Axe, right after Brandon and I had just gotten married in 2008. He has played such an instrumental role in the way Brandon and I have changed our lifestyle for the better (eating, exercise, wellness all around) and is a dear friend of ours. I will never forget the conversation we had with Josh over two years ago -- when he specifically asked us to be praying for God to provide his wife. We even wrote that request on a post-it note and it was on our fridge for a year when God provided Chelsea. We could not be more excited for these two and it was such a blessing to celebrate them and their marriage this week! 

On a different note, if you've been to our "home" in Birmingham -- you know that we live on the third floor of an apartment. We love the apartment -- plus the extra amenities of having a pool, gym, and tennis court a short walk away. Well, with little Nelson on the way...we thought it would be smart to move into a walk-in level apartment (since the third floor location has no elevator - only stairs!) AND look for a three bedroom spot instead of two so that we can have room for guests plus Nelson! Our lease isn't up until June BUT the Lord provided a spot for us to move to the building next to us in APRIL. The details of the walk-in level, three bedroom apartment all fell into place and are a true answer to prayer. Also, it will be a blessing to go ahead and move in the next couple of weeks instead of waiting until middle of the third trimester and moving in the 100+ degree Alabama summer!! 

Last but not least, tonight the amazing chiropractor that I work for made us dinner as a "Happy Birthday to Brandon" treat! She knows that his "love language" is food and surprised us with dinner!! Needless to say, we were so extremely blessed by this unexpected gesture. Just a reminder of how the little things in life go a long way. Neither of us are picky eaters - and Nelson and I like anything and everything these days - but don't always have the energy to cook at the end of the day. 


Speaking of which, Nelson is doing great and growing right along! We're in week 22 right now and feeling well :) Last night as we watched the Kentucky basketball game, we could both feel him kicking!! It was the most precious feeling. Thank you to all who are so sweet to continually check in. 


We wanted to share with you all the sweet ways the Lord has provided this week but B is also wise to remind us to keep ourselves "on track" with the whole "marriage moment" part of the blog as well. What's the marriage moment that is most prevalent from this week? I'd say the one that sticks out to me the most is when we got down to Destin on Wednesday night and were both tired and hungry after the car trip. By the time we got our stuff unloaded to the condo and headed to grab dinner, everywhere (decently healthy at least!) was closed. It was quite the "I'd like to pull my hair out" type of moment and long story short -- we ended up making our way back to the condo to make some dinner out of the snacks we'd gotten at the store prior to arriving. That night before I went to bed I wrote out a list of all the things that had frustrated me from the past two hours or so (!!) and when Brandon came in to bed, we talked it through and he even apologized for the way everything had unfolded. Again, a lot like the blog post we posted last week of how sometimes you have some rough moments right before your "happy photos" are taken...it was a reminder that even though we're at one of our most favorite places with some of our most favorite people, life still happens. Marriage moments still happen. We're human! Where I've improved is after we've talked it through, dropping it and moving on...not analyzing it and making a bigger mountain out of a molehill. It was amazing to see how the Lord literally changed both of our hearts and did a true work in us with showing us how "His mercies are new every morning" and allowed us to walk in a state of forgiveness for one another from the moment we opened our eyes and our feet hit the floor the next morning...praise the Lord! 


Closing comment from the man of the house:  "So, like Whit said...life happens and I slip up and say something hurtful...I'm impatient and short tempered when I'm hungry and tired...and Whit knows that...and at times those two manifest themselves in an ill-timed statement... it is never OK and I pray for discipline in that area.  I'm thankful that Whit understands me and knows the situation.  That being said, men, when we say the wrong things to our wives, even if they know it's a manifestation of  hungriness and tiredness,  WE STILL have to apologize, repent, and ask our wives for forgiveness.  And then, my favorite part as Whit likes to say...let's MOVE ON quickly!!!