This is the attire you wear for:

A) Winter Weather

B) Fun

C) Giving your cat a bath

Yeah...

Good news: The fleas are gone.

Two Things:

#1: I have become my mother. This is not a bad thing at all; my mom is the most loving, beautiful, caring person I know. I'm truly blessed to have such a great mom. That being said, I did find myself at Wal-Mart last night literally stocking up on hosiery (the pun was unintentional). The thought actually occurred to me as I got dressed for work Friday morning and put on skirt that I felt extremely unprofessional with bare legs in November. Flashback to a March wedding my freshman year of high school where I fought my mom right down to the sanctuary entrance on the issue. Mom, you win after all! I think this means I'm official a grown up...

#2: I discovered fleas on Fergie, our cat, last night around 10:30 p.m. Suffice it to say, it has been a stressful weekend of bombing, spraying, cleaning, vacuuming and laundry. Of course, Patrick is out of town...how convenient. I called the emergency vet tonight to make sure I'd done all the right things and taken care of everything. Apparently, I treated them with the wrong (read: cheap) kind of flea killer. She suggested that I give both cats a bath before giving them the correct treatment. Seriously, lady...have you ever tried to bathe a cat?????

Conclusion:
Having proper hosiery=Good.
Fleas in your house=Bad.

On Humility and God's Love

So the last Bible Study that I participated in was called Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. It was such a thought-provoking study and really opened up discussions in our group on exactly is humility and how can we cultivate it in Godly manner so as to grow and humble ourselves before an all-powerful, yet all-loving God. Humility is such a hard thing because no one actually wants to be humbled. No one wants to be laying open and exposed with their faults spread out before them to be corrected and dealt with. It's just not a desirable thing. Yet the Bible continually commands us to be humble:

"With humility comes wisdom." -Proverbs 11:2
"Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life." -Proverbs 22:4
"When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: 'Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.' " - 2 Chronicles 12:7
"He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way." - Psalm 25:9

The list goes on. Humility is a good thing. It should be a desirable thing. But it hurts so much when it happens to you.

Today at work, I was humbled. I did something I should not have done. I went about asking for something in the wrong way. I really felt like I had not done a terrible thing and really it wasn't the big deal that some had made it out to be. But after praying and really spending some time just laying my thoughts before the throne of the Lord, this thought really came clearly: "Emily, you hurt some people and THAT is the fault. THAT is the sin. You got prideful and did what you wanted without thinking about how it would affect others around you." I heard God asking me: "What is it you're REALLY upset about?" The fact is, I was upset with the system. But I was even more upset and truly embarrassed that I had been called out. I kept saying to God, "I DON'T LIKE TO BE TOLD I'M WRONG! I DON'T LIKE HEARING WHAT I DID WAS A BAD THING." And then I remembered the sweet, sweet verse: "...because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." (Pro. 3:12)

What amazing love the Lord has for me and for us that he takes the time to correct us. I took the opportunity to change my tone right there and thank God for his unfailing love. For showing today to me (yet again) that through this discipline, he proves his love.

Oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound...

Patrick's artistic ability

I thought I would share this despite the fact that Halloween has come and gone. We enjoyed carving pumpkins with Cassidy and Ryan! Patrick and I both love having them in Salem (Cass and Ryan, if you're reading this, that is a subtle hint to stick around!). We even went old school and roasted the pumpkin seeds afterwards for snacking. Patrick decided that ours should be a reproduction of Butters from South Park. He did an outstanding job if I do say so myself:

Making a comeback...

So it's been awhile since we've blogged. We realize this. Actually, we're not sure it matters because we aren't sure that anyone is actually reading this anyway. I (Emily) almost gave up on blogging about our life. But the other night Patrick and I happened to be getting ready to go to bed and were talking about other people's blogs that we read. I reminded him that we have one of our own that we have never really posted anything on (except the glorious picture of our beloved cat). I said to him, "I'm not sure why I even started a blog. What did I think we would write about...all we do is go to work, go to church, hang out with friends, and watch Thursday night TV...we don't even have any kids to post cute pictures of!" That is when my brilliant husband reminded me that we know a lot of people here in Salem, and, really, all over the place. We are also in positions of influence because we touch so many people daily. (I teach 9th grade English, Patrick works with 9 other people and waits on customers all day, he also works with the youth at church, the list goes on.) So, we decided that there might actually be people out there that have some small interest in what we have to say. Maybe??? We'll see. But in the meantime, we'll post anyway.