Jeff playing with bubble wrap... you would think it gets old, but not for him
his and hers pipe wrenches - like I will ever successfully use one of these?
woo hoo! Thanks Stephen and Elyse!
Very cute honey
11.30.2007
couples shower
Some friends and family had a couples shower for us last weekend and it was SO fun!!
Jeff playing with bubble wrap... you would think it gets old, but not for him
his and hers pipe wrenches - like I will ever successfully use one of these?
woo hoo! Thanks Stephen and Elyse!
Very cute honey
Jeff playing with bubble wrap... you would think it gets old, but not for him
his and hers pipe wrenches - like I will ever successfully use one of these?
woo hoo! Thanks Stephen and Elyse!
Very cute honey
Merry Christmas from the future Priours
We went to Christmas on 5th street last night to hear Clay Walker and Chris Rice... it was pretty great!
11.13.2007
weekender retreat
Last weekend Jeff & I went on a pre marital retreat with Legacy Family Ministries - it was GREAT! I really wasn't initially looking forward to it - I'm one of those people that always hated retreats, especially ones with a bunch of random people I've never met and will probably never see again. Fortunately, Anna Beth & Keith went with us and that was WONDERFUL! It was really good for us to get to spend time with them. I'm so proud of them for the ways they have chosen to respond to everything that has happened recently and not that my stamp means anything, but I TOTALLY approve them for marriage =o) So - back to why this weekend was great:
I've known (and probably the watching world has too) for a while that I have some pride, selfishness, and overall filth in my life that does not contribute to my future spouse's wholeness. I've finally repented over that. It is one thing to acknowledge, to confess even, but to really feel the weight of that and what it does to our relationship was good for me. I think that 80% of the conflict we have could be alleviated if not totally eliminated if I would choose humility and love instead of pride and selfishness. Byron gave a great talk about this - he had this great black and white picture of Carla in her wedding dress and talked about how as she walked down the isle he thought to himself 'this is going to be easy!'. He had no idea how their son would battle cancer as a toddler for 2 years and all of the hardship they would face together and as a family. As he shared about ideals and how we all go into marriage with this idea about who our spouse should be, what marriage should be like, the expectations we've been building for a lifetime.... it really is necessary to tear those things down in order to hold on to the person. As he shared this he ripped up the picture of Carla on their wedding day and talked about how he could choose to hold on to the ideal and be unhappy that they haven't reached it or he could rip it up and hold on to Carla the person. I mean after all isn't that what God did for us? He could have held us to the unreachable ideal and punished us all for not being who He created us to be, but instead he ripped up that ideal in Jesus Christ so that He could hold on to us as we are. And I have the same choice in front of me for the rest of my life. I can tear apart Jeff for his 'failures' to meet my expectations, or I can rip up the ideal to hold on to Jeff just as he is, even when it isn't what I expected. I'm so excited about that and so necessarily humbled. Jeff has graciously forgiven me and I think we love each other even more coming out of this weekend. I can't wait to get married!!! Only 6.5 more weeks! =o)
I've known (and probably the watching world has too) for a while that I have some pride, selfishness, and overall filth in my life that does not contribute to my future spouse's wholeness. I've finally repented over that. It is one thing to acknowledge, to confess even, but to really feel the weight of that and what it does to our relationship was good for me. I think that 80% of the conflict we have could be alleviated if not totally eliminated if I would choose humility and love instead of pride and selfishness. Byron gave a great talk about this - he had this great black and white picture of Carla in her wedding dress and talked about how as she walked down the isle he thought to himself 'this is going to be easy!'. He had no idea how their son would battle cancer as a toddler for 2 years and all of the hardship they would face together and as a family. As he shared about ideals and how we all go into marriage with this idea about who our spouse should be, what marriage should be like, the expectations we've been building for a lifetime.... it really is necessary to tear those things down in order to hold on to the person. As he shared this he ripped up the picture of Carla on their wedding day and talked about how he could choose to hold on to the ideal and be unhappy that they haven't reached it or he could rip it up and hold on to Carla the person. I mean after all isn't that what God did for us? He could have held us to the unreachable ideal and punished us all for not being who He created us to be, but instead he ripped up that ideal in Jesus Christ so that He could hold on to us as we are. And I have the same choice in front of me for the rest of my life. I can tear apart Jeff for his 'failures' to meet my expectations, or I can rip up the ideal to hold on to Jeff just as he is, even when it isn't what I expected. I'm so excited about that and so necessarily humbled. Jeff has graciously forgiven me and I think we love each other even more coming out of this weekend. I can't wait to get married!!! Only 6.5 more weeks! =o)
A History of Oppression, A Legacy of Hope
This is a painting I did for the Global Celebration at Woodway this week. It is about the Kurds of Northern Iraq. The theme is in the title of this post. The idea is this: the Kurds have endured a lot of pain, horror, war, and terror in their history. The left side of the painting shows the darkness, pain, blood, and struggle they endured. The pictures on the canvas were taken by Cody Fisher (Michelle's boyfriend...smile). Cody even went on assignment and took a picture of a statue in the city, that is the pic in the middle of the canvas. The pictures were all printed on fabric and then attached to the canvas so they didn't come out as clear as I had hoped but wanted to add a consistent texture to the work. The picture on the top left is of one of the weapons left at the 'Red Prison' in Northern Iraq - you can see the prison in the background. It is one of the largest prisons he built while he was in power and hundreds of thousands of Kurds were murdered there. The second picture is of Aras, one of the children in need of a heart surgery. While Aras is receiving funding that will hopefully lead to a successful surgery, there are still thousands of children who are dying because of a lack of medical care available in Iraq (re: www.buyshoessavelives.com). The tree in the painting is there because I wanted to link the two sides, oppression and hope are not independent - they usually work together. Part of the beauty of the Kurdish people, their brokenness and openness lies in their pain ... but there is so much hope on the horizon. The right side of the painting is slightly larger than the left, because there is always more hope than oppression - because of Jesus. The statue in the middle is of a woman who had shackles binding her arms but she has her arms over her head and it is as if she has just broken the chains of oppression! I love this statue, it is a constant reminder that even in dark places in the world Jesus still wants to bring freedom to the captive and has asked us to do the same. The pictures on the right side are more hopeful. The one on the top is of a bunch of children, I think they are refugees living in a camp that Cody visited. The bottom was not taken by Cody, but a friend of his and it is this older couple and on the wall behind them there is a heart that says 'luv' in it.
There are a lot of things I would love to tell people about the Kurds. They have a history certainly... but they also have a legacy, and it is my prayer that it will be full of hope, love, and Life in Jesus Christ!
11.06.2007
welcome baby Micah!
Micah William Courtney born November 5, 2007 at 9:45 AM
We're ablas again! ... Or am I a Teyze? Or an Ablayze?
10.23.2007
pictures and songs
I was looking through my recent pictures thinking about how they all remind me of song titles, so here they are with their respective songs...
song: 'Gotta Gettcha Some' by: Alan Jackson
song: 'Danger, watch yo'self' by: Some Rapper
song: 'I'm Not Afraid' by: Bebo Norman
song: 'You Picked Me' by:A Fine Frenzy
this one's not as obvious... see, Jeff loves his truck - but he also loves me and knows that I love the world and want to drive fuel efficient vehicles and be environmentally responsible. He's hoping Dodge will come out with a hybrid by the time we come back from being overseas. He still picked me, and will sell the truck even though he knows he could keep it. Isn't he wonderful?
song: Against My Better Judgment by: Futher Seems Forever
song: Always Better When We're Together by: Jack Johnson
song: 'Gotta Gettcha Some' by: Alan Jackson
song: 'Danger, watch yo'self' by: Some Rapper
song: 'I'm Not Afraid' by: Bebo Norman
song: 'You Picked Me' by:A Fine Frenzy
this one's not as obvious... see, Jeff loves his truck - but he also loves me and knows that I love the world and want to drive fuel efficient vehicles and be environmentally responsible. He's hoping Dodge will come out with a hybrid by the time we come back from being overseas. He still picked me, and will sell the truck even though he knows he could keep it. Isn't he wonderful?
song: Against My Better Judgment by: Futher Seems Forever
song: Always Better When We're Together by: Jack Johnson
10.09.2007
learning curve
I know I haven't talked much about my life recently and I think it's because I'm not sure where to start. Being engaged has been fun - and not fun, but I didn't quite anticipate the feelings that I've had and the issues that have surfaced. It's funny, I thought that by the time I got married I would be someone different than I am now. Not that I wouldn't be me, but that I would have figured out more by now about service and selflessness. If I've learned anything in the last couple months it is that I have so much room to grow and that God chooses to use your spouse to refine you more than anyone else. Somewhere in my brain I knew that cognitively, but experiencing it has been really significant for me.
There is something healing about just knowing that Jeff is committed to me forever, no matter what....he chose me. I feel so honored by him and am so excited to have the opportunity grow beside him. He is an excellent sharpening iron. I'm sure that he has been all along, but for lots of years I just kept trying to shape and mold him without allowing who he is naturally to sharpen ME. I can be SO arrogant, it should be illegal. I don't think I've fully understood what unconditional acceptance, grace, and love is available to me in Jesus until I received that from Jeff. That in itself has transformed me - hopefully forever.
It is such a unique blessing to have the opportunity to become more like Jesus by getting married. I like to think that I have loved people for a long time, and loved them well. But, somehow marriage brings a completeness to it that I didn't have before. I loved to spend time with people (occasionally), to go out of my way for them (sometimes), to meet their needs (when possible)... but what I didn't understand was the complete otherness of the marriage relationship. I don't get to quit when it isn't convienient for me, when I'm tired or busy. Marriage in a way that honors God is completely selfless and beautiful. Marriage isn't about making me happy, someone probably told me that before - but I didn't believe them... however, marriage is wholly about making me holy and I'm SO excited about that. I fully expect a lot of 'failure' as Jeff & I enter into marriage and becoming more holy, but I'm really excited about growing together. There is NO ONE I'd rather fight with and for than you, Jeff - I love you.
There is something healing about just knowing that Jeff is committed to me forever, no matter what....he chose me. I feel so honored by him and am so excited to have the opportunity grow beside him. He is an excellent sharpening iron. I'm sure that he has been all along, but for lots of years I just kept trying to shape and mold him without allowing who he is naturally to sharpen ME. I can be SO arrogant, it should be illegal. I don't think I've fully understood what unconditional acceptance, grace, and love is available to me in Jesus until I received that from Jeff. That in itself has transformed me - hopefully forever.
It is such a unique blessing to have the opportunity to become more like Jesus by getting married. I like to think that I have loved people for a long time, and loved them well. But, somehow marriage brings a completeness to it that I didn't have before. I loved to spend time with people (occasionally), to go out of my way for them (sometimes), to meet their needs (when possible)... but what I didn't understand was the complete otherness of the marriage relationship. I don't get to quit when it isn't convienient for me, when I'm tired or busy. Marriage in a way that honors God is completely selfless and beautiful. Marriage isn't about making me happy, someone probably told me that before - but I didn't believe them... however, marriage is wholly about making me holy and I'm SO excited about that. I fully expect a lot of 'failure' as Jeff & I enter into marriage and becoming more holy, but I'm really excited about growing together. There is NO ONE I'd rather fight with and for than you, Jeff - I love you.
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