Category Archives: Storytelling

Curse Words

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There once was a girl whose speech was pure.  And then one day she met a handsome prince.  They enjoyed a fairy tale romance until the muck within them poured out.  Each of them carried different sets of dirt and with their dirt combined a slew of swear words broke free.  For a long time they lived like this, dishing out choice words when arguments reached a boiling point.  These words were specifically chosen to stun or wound the other.  And as time went on the words became easy to utter – a dangerous common place.

If you haven’t guessed, this tale is about me and, vicariously, Joshua. I reached my breaking point as I realized my curse words became easy for me to say – I no longer flinched each time I said one.  Truth is, from the very beginning I felt convicted each time I uttered a curse word.  But I’m sure you too can admit there are plenty of times when the stubbornness of human nature trumps the goodness of the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  None-the-less, I finally started saying some half-hearted prayers about my bad habit.  And God is so good that he started slowly preparing my heart to ditch the dirty words – I felt myself getting closer to the day when I knew I would cut them out and never go back.

That day came a few weeks ago.

When I told Joshua about my commitment to ditch curse words for good he decided to come alongside me and ditch the angry words as a family.  I didn’t expect Josh to join me so wholeheartedly from the beginning, but I did know that by telling him of my conviction I was using the power of confession and accountability to drive me towards my goal.  Now my words are purer, yes, but my thoughts are too.

And now I’m curious.  What is your take on swearing?  Is it wrong or permissible and why?

The Gift of Silence

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Yesterday I completely lost my voice.  I can communicate by whisper only.  I don’t mind.  However, this realization didn’t stop me from trying to sing along to Christmas songs on my 6 hour drive home from Minnesota yesterday.  I would whisper-sing, my voice would occasionally squeak from the effort, and then whisper-laugh at myself.

Actually, I’ve been finding people are better listeners and make better eye contact with me because they have to concentrate on what I’m saying.

I also find it ironic that the day my Haley doesn’t whine during the duration of a car ride is the day I can’t raise my voice at her.  It got me wondering that maybe her crying is partially due to the fact that I am not paying attention to her.  Yesterday, instead of talking to her every time she car surfed on center console (it’s what I call it when either of my dogs balance themselves on the front seat elbow rest and the back seat so they can see out the windshield), I would simply rub and snuggle her.  She didn’t make a peep.  Then this got me thinking that it is all too often we jump to using words when really an action, or simple silence would be best.

I am on day two of my forced silence and am still oddly thankful for the experience.

Marriage Tips

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I wrote The Makings of a Musical Marriage almost a year ago.  It is my top ten list of marital tips.

These tips here are more like little tid bits I’ve picked up here and there throughout this past year.

  1. Public encouragement.There is nothing like hearing your spouse talk highly of you to other people or getting that very public shout out on Facebook.  I know a lot of single folks actually loathe “sappy” statuses, but I’m hoping that if you think about it this way those statuses might become more endearing to you.  I would also ask why you loathe such statuses?
  2. Holding hands.Joshua gets all the credit for this one.  I admit, when we were first married, actually for the first couple of years, I was irritated by him holding my hand everywhere we went.  Funny thing is, I desperately wanted to want to hold his hand because I loved seeing other couples, young and old, holding hands.  It’s sort of like a proclamation of warmth between the couple.

    Then Joshua went on tour.  All I wanted after that was to grab hold of him whenever I could!  Thank you Jesus for fixing my heart.

  3. Join them in the Little Things.

    There are some things that your spouse wants to do that you think are silly and/or a waste of money.  But, the thing is, these things bring your spouse great joy and what does it cost you really?  For me that was going to coffee.  Josh gets giddy about going to get coffee together.  But I stood my ground more often than not because it was money we could be saving.  Then I went to church one Sunday.  The message wasn’t specifically about anything close to loving on your spouse by giving them the little things but there was a moment that Bill Hybels said something that convicted me of withholding simple joys from my husband.  See, Josh and I rarely push $5 at Starbucks on our coffee dates.  From there on out I relinquished my grip on money and asked my husband on a coffee date.  We’ve been going on them ever since and they are one of the best things we do for our marriage!

Anyone else have some helpful marriage tid bits?

Happy Thanksgiving

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Honest to goodness, I am most thankful for my husband and my photography business.

I really don’t mean to be to sappy for you folks who hate this kind of thing but I’m not a liar and I truly am more thankful for my husband than anything else on this earth.  He keeps me sane, makes me laugh, and makes life so much sweeter.  I am particularly thankful for the fact that we grow closer together and more in love every day.

Joshua, I love you and am so incredibly thankful for you!

I am also most thankful for a job I love and the best clients in the world!  I have adored each of my clients this year.  Each of you brought me so much joy both during the shoot and throughout the editing process.  I am so incredibly thankful for you and absolutely do not take you for granted!  Thanks for such a perfect year of photo fun!

What are you most thankful for?

Our First “Date”

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I love that my “Question of the Day” on Facebook sometimes inspires me.  Last week I asked the question, “What was your first date?”

Well, here was mine, and I didn’t even know I was on one.

By the way, this first date was my first date ever, not just with Josh.

Best part about this story is Josh remembers it best.  In fact, I should be asking him for the details because this is going to be a very short story.

I don’t remember what I was wearing or what he was wearing but I do remember that we were dressed up.  I don’t even remember what time of year it was or what sort of little moments we shared that night, only that everything was perfect.

We went to Olive Garden and I ordered Manicotti with white sauce and Josh ordered Alfredo of some kind.  Then we went over to the theater and took our seats for Smart People.  Good movie.

Perhaps the reason I don’t remember this date in great detail because we were, in fact, only friends at the time.  But who were we kidding right?  Only ourselves.

The End.