In Sickness and In Health, Through the good and the bad and the downright ugly!

I am laying in bed just reminicsing on the past year and a half. I feel like the days have gone by so quickly and I wish I could have made more of some of those days. I have no regrets though because it has all been a growing experience. Yesterday, I asked my husband "are you the man I married?" and his response "no I am better than the man you married, I am a grown version". How insightful!

I remember the days following our return from Ghana when I would be so upset because I could not work. Oh and at the time, we still had quite a bit of money so all I wanted to do was satisfy my addiction to shop.(Glad to report that I am on my way to being cured!...hehehe...I have a weakness for shoes)Not working has put my priorities in perspective and made me realize that even though I need to take care of myself and my family, there are lots of people less fortunate than I am and I need to be more thankful and grateful. Someday, I hope I will be able to bless and empower people so much so that my name will be synonymous with blessing!

Ok, I totally went off on a tangent there because this is supposed to be my valentine's day entry! I have thought about all the things that people encounter in their relationships and I have come to the conclusion that when you are saying your marriage vows, you should pay attention to each and every word you speak. They carry a lot of weight and therefore should not be taken lightly. I can say that we are going through part of the "the bad times" because we are living on one income and nobody knows about the nights when all we had was each other to hold on to. There have been times during this economic disaster when we did not know if Thomas would still have a job the next day. During those times we could hardly sleep and would ask each other "are you sleeping" from time to time. However, it is on some of those nights that we realized we were living the words in our vows that were difficult to imagine.

Again, no one knows how he brings me breakfast in bed on the weekends or how he steals glances at me when I am dressing up. Some of my happiest moments are when he would walk behind me so silently and tickle my belly till I can't scream anymore. And even though sometimes I pretend to hate it,I love it with all my heart!

I am not cynical about valentine's day, neither do I think it should be celebrated as if it was a holiday. I think especially for married couples with kids, it is an opportunity to reconnect because of the daily grind. For me it is a day of reflecting on my growth in love or stagnation and doing something about it. The teddy bears,chocolate, flowers, cards, jewelery is all nice but what is left when all that is gone? What will you celebrate if you can not afford all that?

My 26

1. I really enjoy nature…Rainbows, sunshine, changing leaves, beautiful sunsets all make me really emotional.
2. I am very much in love with my husband and I still get butterflies when he kisses me.
3. I miss my family like crazy and sometimes I wonder if we have missed out on growing up together
4. I am very proud of my sisters and love them all very much
5. My mum is an amazing woman who has made a lot of sacrifices in her life for her family
6. My family has never been rich or remotely well off. We have always lived moderately but we all love to look good!
7. My life is a story of God’s grace and abundant love and faithfulness
8. I think about God a lot and my thoughts are usually about God and how I can affect His kingdom
9. I am an extrovert once you get to know me but I can come off a little standoffish and uninteresting when you don’t know me.
10. I love food and I love cooking. My husband is a lucky man!
11. I miss working at the hospital and talking to my patients about their lives
12. I tend to have a little bit of a social anxiety at times. Sometimes, I don’t feel confident at all especially in social situations
13. I have few friends or people I call on a regular basis outside of my family
14. I consider my sisters my very best friends. I never really had a “best friend” before except for Janetta who has always been there for me :)
15. I love singing and worship music is my favorite.
16. I can not stand it when people try too hard to be something they are not.
17. I have never had Mac’N’Cheese
18. Sometimes I don’t know what I am doing in America
19. My dad is one of my favorite persons ever
20. I enjoy my devotions with my hubby
21. It makes me very happy to know that my parents are proud of me even though my accomplishments are not of epic proportions
22. It irks me when people look down on Africans or other ethnic minorities
23. Kind words and even innocent compliments from strangers bring tears to my eyes.
24. I Like shoes…a lot
25. I get a warm fuzzy feeling when someone tells me they are praying for me. It is one of my favorite things ever!
26. I love volunteering. It keeps me humble and grateful

Longest day

Well, here I was thinking I was going to be a better blogger this year and I have not accomplished that so far. Well it is still the beginning of the year yet. I woke up really early this morning.Well early for me since I am unemployed. I had an appointment at my doctor's office for a little infection my body is trying to fight. I was supposed to be there at 8:50am but got there at 9:00am due to an accident on I-96. I also had a hair appointment at 10:00am but I had left the hair extensions at home so I had to drive back home and get those and finally made it to the salon at about 10:30. Man, I hate wasting gas! That means I did not fill my prescription for the antibiotic as I was supposed to.

It took forever for my hair to be done. I do like the people who do my hair. They are funny and it is interesting to hear them speak thir Liberian English. However, I wish they would not talk so loudly sometimes and talk on the phone a lot. At times I seeth a little but don't show it. I also wish they knew how to handle nappy hair better instead of pulling it and combing from the base up. Black people need to learn how to take care of our nappy hair better. Drives me nuts sometimes but they are the only good place I know around here. They are really nice people though!!!...Oh well, can't have it all can you? So after like 6 hours, the hair was still not done.(Mind you, I have super nappy hair and it is very thick)I had to leave for rehearsal so I drove all the way back to Grandville to make it just in time. I grabbed a double cheese burger and a coke on my way. I haven't had a McDonalds in ages! I don't like meat a whole lot(especially beef!)

So anyways, rehearsals was done by 8:45 and I went back to Grand Rapids(Eastern and Burton) to finish getting my hair done. Anyways, long story short, it seemed like such a long day! Even though I spoke to Thomas(my hubby) a lot on the phone, I feel like I hardly saw him today and I missed him a lot. I need to learn to manage my time better and always be ontime or right intime to places because I really do not appreciate when people waste my time. I hope I can get my prescription for the antibiotic filled tomorrow. There is a lot on my mind right now. I guess there always is. I will have to keep my word and blog about them later. Adios! Vivir la buena vida!!!(Bye! Live the good life)