Nate

As I went about my business doing housework today, I got to thinking about my husband and how great he is. Actually---great is an understatement---but a stronger adjective escapes me at the moment.

I am in awe by this guy. Here's just a couple reasons why (if I listed them all--this post would be insanely long):

• His hard working nature---if you know Nate, you know that he works hard. He is committed 100% to his students and always tries his hardest to do what is best for them. It's really inspiring to me. Though he won't admit it, he's had great success in his job. Each year he's been teaching he's had students selected for multiple honor choirs and this week he was asked to hold a leadership position with the Nebraska Choral Directors Association. For the past two years he's been working on a Master's Degree in Music Education from UNL so he can better himself as a teacher. Not only does he work hard at his job, he works hard at home, too. Whether it's yard work, dish duty, paying the bills, etc---if it needs done, Nate does it. I'm so blessed to have a husband who shares in the housework load.
• His support---I give him crap a lot for not being as sentimental as he was when we were dating, but he really is a sincere and supportive guy with a big heart. The past three years have been rough as we've struggled with the emotions of infertility. But Nate has never once made me feel like my emotions are too extreme or over the top, and he's always been willing to listen or hold me when all I can do is cry. He's also been so supportive with me this year as I've taken many steps (which inevitably means more commitments) to further my career. He's the one person in my life who I know I can count on 100%. Not only is he supportive of me, but I also see him lend this same commitment to his family. His mom, sister, brother, brother in-law, nieces and nephew are so important to him. Though we live far away and don't always get to be at every celebration or get-together---he tries hard to make sure these people know he cares for and loves them very much.
  

I am so blessed to have him by my side!

Learning To Love

The image on the left is the word Agape in Greek. Nate and I have been talking about getting tattoos for months now--and this is what I would want on my left wrist if I could bring myself to spend the money. We also have this word engraved on our wedding bands. Agape is an unconditional love, an active love, one that seeks to edify others...it's the kind of love God has for mankind.

Lately I've really been thinking about this term, Agape, and the concept of love. A friend and I had a great conversation last night about how hard it is to love some people. We both described people who just annoy us by the things they do (or don't do), the things they say, the way they look, how they talk, the shoes they wear, etc. But our conversation slowly moved into how important it is to love even those who annoy us the most. It's hard and completely contrary to human nature and what the world or society would have us do.

Last night and tonight I started digging into scripture to find some sort of insight to help me love those who are hard to love. My friend led me to Romans 5:8:

"But God showed us his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Now this is an obvious display of love and a perfect picture of loving those who drive us crazy. I am a flawed person who screws up a lot...I can't imagine how hard it is at times for my husband, friends, and family to love me. This verse is a real kick in the face--God gave up His son, and Christ gave up His life for me--even though I annoy Him with my sins.

Tonight I read a few chapters in 1 John and the following verses jumped out:

"Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth...." (1 John 4:18-19).

It's so important for use to demonstrate love--to be active in our love. It's a good testament of what we believe--Christians have a bad rep because we don't do a good job of loving people. We tend to be selective in who we love. I can think of many times where people probably thought I was a huge hypocrite for proclaiming to be a Christ follower and then treating someone like crap five minutes later.

But...I keep coming back to this idea of how hard it is to actually do this. It's so easy to slip into a mindset of revenge when someone has wronged us. It's easy to ignore those who annoy us. But we've got to find a way to love. We won't ever have a perfect love, but we can strive for it. We can use Jesus as a model, study scripture to find out how to love, pray for strength and wisdom, talk with others about our struggles, and get it tattooed on our bodies so we have a constant reminder (that suggestion is a joke...kind of :) to love even the unlovable.

December happenings

December is cRaZy!!! It seems like this month has been so stressful; I've come home many nights and have been so mentally and physically exhausted. Oftentimes it's been a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning--BUT this month has had quite a few high points. Here are a few of them:

An ugly sweater party...

Little suprises from my husband...on Saturday our school hosted the ACT and my room was used as a testing room so all of my posters and bulletin boards were either covered up or taken down and my desks were shuffled out of order. On Saturday Nate went into my room without me knowing to re-organize it and while he was in there he left me this huge parfait dish of candy and a sweet card. Then today as I was bragging to the secretaries about how my husband did the grocery shopping for this week and has even made two meals so far, I spotted a beautiful bouquet of flowers. To my suprise they were for me from Nate!

Great happenings at OHS...this week I found out I was awarded an $1100 grant that I had applied for earlier this year from the Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation. The grant will go towards the purchase of digital cameras and video recording equipment to use in my classroom! And--tomorrow we are having a large Christmas dinner during the lunch period. We'll set up banquet tables in the gym and have ham, potatoes, and the teachers all bring pies and salads. Nate and I spent tonight making turtle pumpkin pie and a salad that didn't turn out so hot. I'm SO excited :)

Doing what he does best...

I haven't blogged for awhile, because the end of October to about January (actually--until about March when speech season ends!) is our craziest time of the year. In the past few weeks Nate has had a high school concert, a middle school concert, was the clinician at a festival choir of 150 middle school kiddos in Julesburg, Colorado. This month he has the Nebraska Music Educators Conference and the All-State Choir--he has 5 kids who made it this year! That is more than the school has had since the 90s! January brings him many honor choirs all over the state. Although it's a crazy time, I LOVE every minute of going to all of these concerts. Nate is an excellent teacher who truly has a passion for music--you can see this in him as he conducts. It's really refreshing to watch him do what he does best.

Members of the OHS Chamber Chorale

Nate directing all of his middle school students...seriously--look how relaxed he is! Who can be that relaxed around that many hormones?!?!

Nate directing 150 middle school kids in Julesburg, Colorado

Little things

During my plan period today I walked into the office and was greeted by one of the custodians who was putting together a new desk chair.

"You owe me for this" he muttered.

"Owe you for what? That's not my chair...I didn't order one," I replied.

From behind the secretary's desk I heard a giggle and then she said, "Your husband's looking out for you!" Apparently a few weeks ago he had gone into the office to order a new one for me....what a nice gesture :)

It seems like such a lame thing to be excited about, but my old chair really was undesirable. The arm rests were at two different heights, the back was so flat that I had to put a pillow on the chair so I could sit comfortably, and the lovely maroon cotton fabric always rubbed off onto my black dress pants. I had thought about ordering a new chair, but since it was my first year I didn't want to make a fuss out of it.

This really did make my day...it proves to me that the little things in life can really have quite an impact....thanks for looking out for me, Nate!

In The Spirit of Valentine's Day...

As I was driving to school this morning I was listening My Bridge Radio...the Christian station in our area. They advertised this little thing they were doing to celebrate couples who have been married 5 years or less. They asked for couples to share stories about what God is doing in the lives of couples across Nebraska...so, when I got to school this morning I figured I would type something up to submit. I thought it would be a nice way to start my day...to think about what God has done in our marriage so far. Anyway...this is what I came up with:

My husband and I married young...I was 20 and he was 23. He was in his first year of teaching and I was a junior in college...needless to say, our first two years were very hard. Thankfully, we began our marriage with a strong (yet young) faith in Christ. Divorce runs rampant in my family and without our foundation in God, I don't know if we would have made it to where we are today.

Marriage is tough...especially those first few years. Throughout our nearly 3 years of marriage, God has really taught us what it means to love unconditionally...an "agape" love. He has taught us to speak the truth in love, to be trusting, and most of all to be reliant on Him. I have seen my husband grow into a beautiful man of God who I know without a shadow of a doubt will be with me until God calls us home.

Flowers.

Today Nate and I both decided to spend time at our schools. I was having sort of a rough day...I had a headache and was feeling tired and overwhelmed with all I needed to get accomplished before the start of the new semester. But when I got home this evening, there were beautiful flowers on the table with a sweet little card that said:

Just because I love you and I was thinking of what a blessing ou are to my life! Hope you enjoy them!

Now, we are not a "gift-y" couple...we have only bought each other a few gifts, we like to give each other cards and spend quality time together...so this was a huge surprise. Nate is an extremely patient man who is so loving and caring...I am lucky to call him my husband!

My fantastic husband...

I mentioned in my last post that it has been a crazy week....it truly has! A combination of a large school load, coursework for UNK, and trying to be a good wife and housekeeper has left me frazzled this week. I've recently come down with a killer cold (I always get stress-induced colds!), so last night when I got home from school I took a long, hot shower. When I got out of the shower, I noticed that Nate had left me a little message on the mirror :) If you can't read it, it says "I love you" on both sides. He has been so supportive and understanding this semester. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I was not that supportive when Nate was in his first year of teaching. I didn't understand the load that teachers (especially first year teachers) bear. Nate has been so gracious with me! He doesn't complain if I'm at school from 6:30-6 or if last night's dishes are still in the sink. He doesn't complain if I only make eggs and toast for a meal and he's willing to go to school with me on a Saturday to help me organize my classroom. On top of all of this, he goes out of his way to leave me a nice note on the mirror when he knows I've had a terrible day. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband. Nate, thanks for being so understanding! I love you!