Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Envy

I read the following in an email devotional this morning, and I found it touching. It is based off of the following blog entry: A Battle Plan for Fighting Envy.

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Nicole: What do we do with a good, yet unfulfilled longing that won't go away? First, we thank God that by His mercy we desire one of His good gifts.

However, we must also regulate our desires. We must not love or long for one of God's good gifts more than we love or long for God Himself. If we do, then we have essentially made an idol out of this good desire and we are worshiping it instead of God. As teacher David Powlison paraphrases the eminent John Calvin: "The evil in our desires often lies not in what we want but that we want it too much."

One sure indicator as to whether or not a good desire has morphed into an idol is how we respond when someone else gets the very thing that we want but don't have. When a close friend--who was perfectly happy to be single--up and gets married, and we are, literally, left behind. Or when, as is the case for a friend of mine, we know five other girls who are pregnant and we are not.

And what about the woman who gets married younger than us, whose job is more glamorous than ours, whose house is bigger than ours, whose marriage is better than ours, whose life is easier than ours, whose children are more well-behaved than ours, whose popularity is brighter than ours, whose intelligence is greater than ours? Need I go on?

Envy is a sin common to women. But do we always see it for the rancid evil that it is? Several months ago, I found myself envying another woman's happiness. My husband encouraged me to study the topic of envy, and gave me some material to read. In the course of my study, the following string of thoughts by Cornelius Plantinga hit me straight between the eyes. Buckle your seat belt, for these are hard, yet necessary words.

"What an envier wants is not, first of all, what another has; what an envier wants is for another not to have it...The envier has empty hands and therefore wants to empty the hands of the envied. Envy, moreover, carries overtones of personal resentment; an envier resents not only somebody else's blessing but also the one who has been blessed."

Upon reading those words, I didn't want to admit that was me, that what I actually wanted was to empty someone else's hands. But that was the truth of it. A good desire gone bad is often characterized by these wicked motives.

No wonder Scripture commands us to "Put away all...envy!" (1 Pet. 2:1) What wretched women we are! And yet, as Paul exclaims, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:25) We who have repented of our sins and put our trust in Christ are no longer bound by the sin of envy. We can receive forgiveness and cleansing and grace to change--grace to truly rejoice with those who have been blessed!

How do we get there?

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Then Nicole suggests reading her mother's blog entry, A Battle Plan for Fighting Envy.

Check it out. :)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Some Puppy Pics

I've been taking a few pictures of Maggie and Rogan lately and they haven't made it to the blog yet, so I thought it was about time I share. :)


Showing support for their daddy's ultimate frisbee team. :)





They're definitely cuddlebugs.



Dave found a pair of baby socks in a dresser we bought off of Craigslist.
We thought we'd use Rogan start practicing for next spring.

Yes, we also made her do tricks in them.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

So close to done...

Our house is nearly finished!! Our closing date is September 17th...less than four weeks away. I absolutely cannot wait. :) We now have all the floors in (carpeting and vinyl upstairs, hardwood downstairs), lights, all the appliances (except the fridge which we bought separately), and even plants in the yard. Grass (sod) will come before the move-in date.

Here are some updated pics for all of you who have been inquiring. :)


upstairs hall bath


gameroom...there's even carpeting under the tarp



master bathroom shower with a bunch of weird stickies all over it


master bedroom


our front yard tree and some bushes


plants on the right side of the front of the house
(I'm so excited!! I love plants!!)


we have a mailbox now, too!


Friday, August 21, 2009

Frisbee in Seattle

This past weekend Dave and I flew to Seattle for an international ultimate frisbee tournament. It was pretty fun. :)


downtown Seattle


I didn't really get any good action shots. I left my good camera at home to avoid
the bulkiness of it while traveling so far with so many people. :(


Dave in the game vs Columbia


Columbia liked to circle up with the other team after every game.
It was cute.


Brian, I-can't-tell-who, and Dave in the crazy new Ring jersies.
Not sure what I think of them yet. ;)


Dave prepping to throw


Go Ring!


our last night in Washington


beautiful sunset


flying home over the mountains!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Life Updates

Hey everyone! Just wanted to provide a few updates, since I haven't been the best at blogging lately. :)

1) Our friends Casey and Jason are now parents to a beautiful baby girl named Adilyn Elaine. She was born Saturday evening. Dave and I went to see them at the hospital yesterday, and I got to hold Adilyn. It was so wonderful. She's adorable. It made me so excited for ours to be born in February. I'm so happy for Casey and Jason!! I can't wait to raise our babies together!

2) The house is coming along. It now has hardwood floors in the downstairs. The only thing that appears to be missing is the upstairs carpeting and a few electric outlet covers. I would assume that next comes the yard. They're doing sod, trees, and bushes. I'm pretty excited that all the greenery comes with the price of the house. :) Oh did I mention that they put at least one, if not more, incorrect light fixtures in the house? Hopefully that will get fixed soon. They're also redoing the doorway to our downstairs half-bath. The put the door on opposite of what the floor plan showed, and Dave and I both felt that the way they did it was an awkward arrangement. Luckily, since the floor plan showed it the way we wanted it, they're changing it after-the-fact for us. I will have to post pictures soon...we've been peaking through the windows instead of getting the key to go inside, so i haven't taken many shots lately. :)

3) We now have a few items for our nursery, which I'm pretty excited about. You can keep updated with my pregnancy at my baby blog I've created for far-away family and friends. www.babybesido.blogspot.com

4) I'm planning a shower for my friend Emily who is pregnant and due in November. I'm super excited to plan something fun like this!! I was so sick of planning after our wedding, but it's been over a year now, so I'm ready for another exciting thing to do. :)

5) Dave and I have been going back and forth quite a bit about whether or not we need a new car for him before the baby comes. Although his jeep runs fine, it is old ('97), and the way it steers makes me feel uneasy. I also get very nauseous in it, even in the front seat. (It is a very wobbly, swaying vehicle.) Since my tC may not be quite big enough on long trips for us, a baby, and two dogs, the jeep would have to be our main family vehicle. This has been a concern and we've been going back and forth, back and forth, on what to do. Finally this weekend a decision was made that we'll probably buy his mom's and step-dad's 2005 Suzuki XL-7 from them. It's a very decent vehicle, and we know it's in good shape.

(ours will be white)

6) I still need to post pictures from my brother's wedding on July 25th. They're on my fancier camera and more difficult to upload, hence the reason I haven't done it yet. Hopefully I will get to it soon. :)

7) Sorry I've been so slack at writing posts and reading friends' posts lately. Work has been beyond insane, to the point where I've been in tears trying to keep up. We can't always get internet at the apartment, so my only time to write is if I take a break at work to do it. Obviously, that hasn't been in my schedule much lately. And when I do have time to take a quick break, I usually write in the baby blog to help keep my family updated so they can see my growing belly. :)

8) Dave and I are still on the search for a church home near our new house. It isn't going too well so far. We've tried several, but nothing has felt like a good fit. We want something contemporary but with challenging, very biblically-based and theological sermons. The size doesn't really matter, although we'd like there to be many people our age. It needs to have really good praise music. We're also picky about a few theological beliefs (that I won't go into on here because I prefer not to cause disputes). If you have any suggestions, let me know. :)

Alright I think that's about it for now. I might add more later. :)

God bless!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Updated house pics

Just a few updated pictures from the house. They repainted the whole inside, thank goodness, so it's no longer yellow.


The kitchen with countertops, a faucet, and a dishwasher. (The dishwasher is
actually stainless steel. It's currently covered with a white plastic covering.)


On the left, you can see a little of the variation in the cabinets, although not near
as much as appears in person. Dave and I like them better than we were expecting.
On the right, all our light fixtures, waiting to be hung.


Yay we have toilets now!



A view from just inside the door to the garage, looking toward the back of the house
into the breakfast nook.