Sunday was one of the nicest days that we have had here in North Carolina in over a month and a half. It was one of those days where you debated - just for a second - whether or not to wear pants to church. I was able to take the dog outside without sweating to death and actually wanted to sit out on the porch. The high was only 87, with a real feel in the 90s. SO much more pleasant than the typical 105+ we've been dealing with daily for weeks.
This pregnant momma was in heaven.
After church, we became rebels and went to Harris Teeter for the first time instead of Kroger. I am sad to say, for Kroger, that my loyalty to them has come to a current halt as I fell in love with Harris Teeter.
We ate lunch and Ryan cut the grass.
Dean loves to watch Ryan cut the grass. But from afar...very much afar. I'm not quite sure why he is afraid of the lawn mower - or the vacuum - but he thoroughly enjoys keeping his distance. This is truly a miracle for me though. I am able to sit on the front porch and not have to chase a toddler around, because he's too petrified to move from the top step of the front porch.
Once Ryan finished the grass, I took Dean upstairs for his nap, and came back downstairs to find a very rare sight - Ryan relaxing on the front porch.
I went outside, nudged Ryan over to make room for me (this pregnant girl needs a little extra space these days), and he looked at me and smiled.
We started talking about Facebook - that was what Ryan was doing when I found him - and I finally said, "Are we ever going to talk about the Supreme Court ruling this week?"
Ryan is up to date on everything. It's scary really. There have been, oh, perhaps three times in 8 years that I have come to him with, "Oh my gosh! Did you hear about..." that I didn't hear from him that he read about that hours ago. Wahh wahhh. Fail.
So it is funny that days had passed and neither one of us brought the topic up.
I love listening to Ryan talk because he is so well educated and has so much insight and depth to his opinions and beliefs.
So we talked. About God, the Bible, our culture, how we want to represent ourselves in this life, etc.
It was by far one of the best, most spontaneous talks we have had in a while. We just sat on the front porch steps, looking out into our beautiful neighborhood, and talked about life.
And I came away from our front porch talk - that lasted Dean's entire nap - with a thought that occurred to me, and I'm not sure why it didn't until then.
I always like to know why things happen. What was the reason behind this event happening? It could be considered a flaw of mine, but one that I can never get over. I just like to know.
When we first made the decision to move to North Carolina, it took me a while to understand that this is the path that God was leading us down. In one of my initial posts on here, I mentioned that Ryan had said to me, "we pray for God to bless us with good health and good favor daily. So when he opens one door for us, we're just going to say, 'Sorry. We don't like this one, please try again.'"
So I figured that the entire reason that God opened this door to North Carolina was for Ryan's job. That made sense to me.
But after our front porch talk, I realized that it could be as simple as, God wanted to bring us closer to Him.
I'm not quite sure why I hadn't thought of it before. But then again, I know I'm supposed to learn and grow which will help me understand. But it makes complete sense.
Ever since Ryan and I started going to our church down here, both of us have said to each other, multiple times, how much we have learned. During church, Ryan will lean over to me and say, "Now THAT is what I've been trying to say my entire life!" and I look at him and say, "I never thought of it like that!"
It's as if our eyes are continuing to open and it is a really amazing feeling. I grew up in the Catholic Church and never knew anything but that. But now that I'm out on my own, and Ryan and I have finally found our church, my eyes have been opened to so much that I never knew or learned about before. It's quite freeing actually.
Who knew that when I sat down on the front porch with Ryan on Sunday afternoon, that our conversation would be what it was, and that my eyes would be opened even more as to what God's plan is for my life. I surely didn't. But I couldn't be more grateful.
What I'm trying to say is...well, to be quite honest, I'm not quite sure. And that's okay. I spent an amazing afternoon connecting with my husband and talking about life - a rarity now a days. And I walked away with even more insight into my life than I had before I sat down. I'd call that a successful afternoon.
Here's to those days that begin perfect and end perfect.
Or maybe it was the fact that we went to Harris Teeter instead of Kroger?...Just kidding.
