Familiarty

Home. A good place to be.

A couple of weeks ago, Daniel and I battled the rain/ice storm and drove to Ruston. The purpose for our trip was to see a friend of mine from LA TECH who was having an engagement announcement party. I hadn't seen Lauren since well before I went to Egypt, so it had been at least 3 years. We went back and forth, deciding whether or not it was wise to travel in the bad weather, but I think the what kept pushing me to want to go was just a longing to be "home".

I guess when I lived in Egypt, I knew that going "home" meant an expensive plane ticket for a relatively short visit. However, now that I'm in Fort Worth, going home just means a couple of tanks of gas and a 4 hour drive. I hadn't been home since Christmas, and I was just really feeling a longing to see my parents and be in our house and see the rest of my family.

So, home we went. And it was so nice. Short, but really good to see my granny, mamaw, papaw, Seth, Vanna, and my parents. We enjoyed mamaw's mmm... mmm... good cookin' Saturday at lunch. You're mouth will water just hearing what we ate: roast beef, deer sausage (links and patties), cornbread, black-eyed peas, and mashed potatoes. OH SO GOOD!!

There's just something about familiarity. In my world that seems to be so rapidly changing - from being KIM, the free, independent spirit to becoming KIM, the partner in ministry and in life, my heart was longing for a taste of what I've always known.

Life is definitely in a mode of change for me. Some days I welcome it with open arms. Other days, I'm just a bit scared. But God revealed something to me this past week. He has been keeping me in a state of change, year by year, since I graduate from college. From Ruston to Cairo. Cairo to Lebanon. Lebanon back to Cairo, then to Morroco. And one more time back to Cairo before landing back in America. But the change didn't stop there. Ruston for 4 months, then Fort Worth. I've been here a little over a year now. It's time for another change.

God revealed to me a scripture that has been familiar to me in years past. Yet, somehow, last Friday morning when I read the passage about worry in Luke 12, it was like I had never read it before. Oh, how the Lord LOVES His creation! He said that Solomon in all of his glory didn't compare to the BEAUTY of the lillies of the field. In his gold and ornately woven robes, etc., that beauty didn't compare to God's handiwork in the fields. God loves me. He cares for me. When everything around me seems to be changing, He is not. He is consistant, constant God and Father. I am HIS creation and He is taking care of me. He is what is familiar to me. Hm...what a BEAUTIFUL GOD!

THE KNOT

We have a "the knot" website if you'd like to check it out.

Valentine's

The day of love. I wrote a blog on Valentine's day and when it was uploading, it got lost in cyberspace, so I thought I'd try again.

Tuesday morning Ashley and I woke up early to go to the gym before my 8:00 class. We stepped outside that morning to see a beautifully painted sky - hues of blues, shadowed with gray clouds. After our workout, the blues had turned to shades of oranges and yellows and the bright sun was blaring through the white clouds. "Thank you for the beautiful day," I said aloud, an expression of joy. As we rode back to the house I thought, "How romantic, that God would paint such a lovely morning on this Valentine's Day." How He longs to romance His children. If we would only stop for a minute to recognize His pursuit of us. If we would only take a few minutes to breathe in the air around us, notice His artwork all around us - in nature, in our friends, in our families. He is constantly romancing us, His bride!

The day kept getting better. After my class Daniel came over and we made breakfast. It was my first Valentine's day to actually have a Valentine. It was nice to enjoy the day with Daniel. He brought over a bundle of balloons that he had stuffed each with a poem. They each were marked with a certain time for me to pop them and read the surprise inside. So sweet...that God would romance me through an amazingly thoughtful and loving Daniel.

MUSHY, GUSHY...I know. Sorry for that.

I'm thankful today for a God who knows our most intimate thoughts, our deepest needs. Open up to Psalm 139 today and let His Word minister to you. HE KNOWS YOU and knows how to meet your every longing. Notice Him all around you today and let Him minster to your soul.

We Dream of This Day From the Time We're Little Girls!!!

Last week was a busy week and at the end of it, I whined to Daniel about not feeling like we had gotten much one-on-one time together. He suggested we spend the day together Monday since we both have Mondays fairly free. I thought it was a great idea!

Little did I know, I walked perfectly in to the plan he had for that day. And my whining just made it all that more natural for him to suggest that we spend the day together.

The plan was to come over around 11 and go to the Botanic Gardens, here in Fort Worth. It's a nice place. We were going to have a picnic, walk around the gardens. We've gone before. Didn't seem too out of the ordinary. So, we get out of the car, spent some leisure time walking around, talking, taking random pictures. He says he wants to walk through the woods, so off we go. As we get off the beaten path, he tells me he wants to tell me a story. The story went something like this:

"Kim, back before we started dating, I came out here to spend some time with God. During that time I was asking Him about you and whether or not I should pursue you. I had some reservations because of your heart for Egypt and my heart for Turkey and I wasn't sure we were going in the same direction. So, I asked the Lord. I didn't want to pursue you unless this was going to be from Him. I felt as clear as I'd ever felt before that the Lord spoke to me at that time and said, 'Daniel, you're not expecting to hear from me. You're expecting to come here, talk with me about this, and feel peace that you've done so, but you're not really expecting to hear from me.' I thought for a minute. He was right. I guess I wasn't. Then He continued, almost like a dare and said, 'Go ahead, ask Me anything and see if I'll answer you.' So, I thought I'd swing for the fences. I asked, 'God, is she the one I'll spend my life with?' And I closed my eyes and got this sense of God smiling down on me and heard this resounding, 'YES!' I sat there for a minute, kind of expecting my mind to talk me out of all of this, but there was nothing. Nothing but peace."

As he got to this part of the story, we were walking up to a fallen tree limb that had made a natural bench in the middle of the woods. We sat down there, and he continued, "That was the day that we had the teachers' meeting at Catholic Charities." That evening before we left the meeting Daniel and I were talking and he was holding a big acorn. Before we were leaving he made a comment about the big acorns he had seen that day at the gardens. He non-chalantly said, "Do you want this?" and handed me the acorn. I took it, put it in the cup holder in my car and to this day, the acorn sits in my car. Several times I've looked at it and laughed, thinking, "Why in the world have I kept this acorn?" I've thought about trashing it on days when I've cleaned out my car, but I never have. So, yesterday as we sat on the log, Daniel continued by saying,

"I've never told you this story before and I thought that it would be appropriate to bring you here and tell you this story." He then reached down, picked an acorn up from off of the ground, got down on one knee in front of me, opened up the acorn and I sat there, my face painted with a huge smile, as I my eyes glanced back and forth from his face to his hands which were holding a cotton-stuffed acorn with a beautiful diamond ring setting inside, and listening to him say, "Kim, I have one chance to be the most outrageously happy man in the world, so I'm taking it now. Kimberly Ann Hood, will you marry me?"

My response was, "Of course I will!!!" And there came Joshua, his brother, running out of the woods with a dozen roses and a poem Daniel had written me in one hand and a camera in the other. (He had been the guardian of the ring while Daniel and I walked around the gardens, protecting the ring from any anxious squirrel who might have scurried off with it!!!)

What a GREAT day!!!