What If I Prayed to Love Others Well

Unwise and Unhealthy Ways We "Love" People

1)  We please people
People pleasing is an idolatry: you are worshiping others...you are trying to find salvation by having others like you and accept you. People please is not benign behavior...it is malignant! 

"For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.  On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.   We are not trying to please men, but God, who tests our hearts.  You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a maskto cover up greed- God is our witness.  We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else."  (1 Thessalonians 2:3-6 NIV)


2) We control people
Controlling people is idolatry: we're idolizing ourselves...we are trying to find salvation by getting others to do what we want.  Beware of FORCING your good ideas on others.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  ...So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  (Matthew 7:7-8, 12)


3)  We rescue people  (I'm so guilty of this...though, I will say, not with my children)
"Short tempered people must pay their own penalty.  If you rescue them once, you will have to do it again."  (Proverbs 19:19)

Rescuing is idolatry: we idolize ourselves as we play God in other's people's lives by saving them...you are trying to find salvation by having others depend on you.

YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOUR CHILDREN BY RESCUING THEM FROM CONSEQUENCES.  YOU ARE ONLY HURTING THEM!  (...kinda wish I could frame this in my classroom)


How to Love Wisely and Well

• "Truth in love"  (Ephesians 4:15 NIV)
• "Grace and truth" (John 1:14 NIV)
• "Kindness and truth" (Proverbs 3:3 NIV)

Love keeps promises
Love is transparent
Love sacrifices



Awesome awesome word from one of our pastors, Paul Basden.  All of this blog comes straight from his sermon outline.   I pray that it blesses your life as it has mine, and please know that I am here to pray for you and/or with you.  The good Lord knows I need prayer also! 

Here are the lyrics to a song sung at the end of service...beautiful!

Like You Love Me- Nathan Tasker

It's a dangerous thing to act as though you know
Everything about another person when you don't
But I am trying to change
'Cause I don't want to be that way

And it's a dangerous thing to tell everyone your view
Especially when you don't know the truth
I am trying to change
'Cause I don't want to be that way

And it's Your love that draws me
And it's Your love that calls me
To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

And it's a harder thing to humbly bow the knee
Looking out for others not just me
But I am trying to change
Because I want to be that way

And it's Your love that draws me
And it's Your love that calls me
To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

Spoken:
The one who's been forgiven much, will love much
Help me forgive others, like I have been forgiven
Help me to love others, like you love me

To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

To keep the peace and turn the other cheek
Like You, love me
Like You love me

To love, to live and learn how to forgive
Like You, love me
Like You love me

You gotta keep the peace and turn the other cheek
Like You, love me
Like You love me

Like You love me
Like You love me
Like You love me

Nothin' but love.  <3

I'm Married to a Rock Star

In the Bible, the number 7 is considered the perfect number.  Here is some information I found online that best sums it up...

"The number "seven" permeates the totality of Scripture because the number speaks of God's divine perfection and perfect order. The actual number 7 appears 287 times in the Old Testament (7 x 41 = 287) while the word "seventh" occurs 98 times (7 x 14 = 98). The word "seven-fold" appears seven times. In addition, the word"seventy" is used 56 times (7 x 8 = 56). "

We love the number so much, we said, "I do" on 07.07.07.

Today, after 7 years, Randy gave his notice to a company that has been an indescribable blessing to both of us.  He started as an intern while he was at Texas Tech, and has grown into a Project Manager.  

They have been there for us during some of life's greatest memories...

-our wedding

-Randy's graduation from UT Arlington

-annual trips to the State Fair

-annual Christmas parties that ROCKED!!!!!!

-annual chili cook offs  (Randy has won spiciest chili for I don't know how many years!)

-the birth of our first child (we were overwhelmed by the amazing baby shower they put together for us!)

...and countless others. 

They were also there for us through some of our most difficult times to lift us up in prayer and encouragement.  They are such an awesome group of giving people both to their employees and families, and the community.   idGROUP will always hold a special place in our hearts.  Here are some photos I found that paint only a small picture of Randy's time with this unforgettable company.

Randy's birthday present from idGROUP.  His car was washed and "sanitized".  Hahaha!!!

I know today was a very hard day for Randy.  He told me last night about how difficult it would be to tell his bosses that he was leaving because of how much they mean to him.  idGROUP is like an extended part of our family.  So this transition is very bittersweet.  We can't thank everyone at idGROUP enough for these past 7 years.  Randy has gained so many awesome friendships...and as I mentioned before, extended family. Thank you Terri, Anne, Tom, his fantastic team members, and everyone at idGROUP for giving Randy a shot and helping him to grow.  There will never be another group like you.     

This group is indescribable.  We love you!!!

Now to the future...

Randy has accepted a position as a Concept Architect for YUM! in Plano!  It's about 15 minutes from home!!!!!!!  They are the corporate headquarters for Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC.  Randy will be working for Pizza Hut in particular.  Taking this position was something that Randy prayed about and truly put in God's hands.  It is a blessing for our family, and we are so excited for this new journey.  

Randy, I am so very proud of you.  You are such an awesome, Godly husband, father, provider, and best friend. You strive for nothing short of greatness in everything you do, and you never cease to amaze me with your accomplishments.  I feel like God chose the perfect time for you to take this new opportunity...after 7 years...a divine number of years with idGROUP. I know that you will always treasure your time with them, and the greatest part is that you still get to work with them!   I have no doubt that you will be nothing short of a rock star in your new position with YUM!  

And Baby Makes 4!

Where do I even begin?!?!

Randy, Kendall, and I are over the moon excited for Baby B!  (Kendall was Baby A...Randy's idea, and I think it's pretty darn cute).

Soooo, starting the first week of June, I started feeling....funny.  I was sooooooooo tired, and cRaZy HUNGRY!!!!   I immediately wondered if I could be preggo, but really was thinking it wasn't gonna happen based on a couple of things my doctors had told me.  I decided to take a test ::ahem:: 3 actually.  They were all negative.  Something in my gut (no pun intended) told me to take one more...

Ok, 4 more...

I walked into the kitchen where Randy was and said, "I'm pregnant".  His words?  "Prove it."  I lol'd and took him to take a look at the sticks where he took one that was unopened out of the wrapper to compare.  Hahahaha!!!  He looked stunned.  Then we hugged.  <3  

Then I called my mom.  She answered the phone, and I said, "I'm pregnant".  She was super excited, and said, "I knew it!"  She's always the first person I tell after Randy.  

Then I texted Kelly Lawler to take a couple of pics for us right away to use for our announcement.

She did an awesome job, and we are so thankful that she dropped what she was doing to help us out.  Thank you sooooo much!  Thanks to her sis, Katie for tagging along too.  She was the first person I told.  ;)  

Over the course of the week, we told a few close friends, my co-teacher, a few of Randy's co-workers, and my family.  I can NOT keep secrets like this.  I just can't.  

Except...I did remember that we were set to go to the Roughriders game this weekend to celebrate Mother's  and Father's day with my in-laws.  Thanks to a friend I met in my recent Bible, study, Katy R., her husband, who works for the Roughriders, put me in contact with their director of entertainment.  She was sooooooo excited to help us out with announcing Baby B to Randy's parents at the game.  She said she would put up our picture during the middle of the 4th inning during their "baby cam" session.  It's where they show cute babies in the audience.  I filmed it on my phone, but freaked out when I saw us live on the screen!  LOL!!!  You see us in the stands, and then I was trying to get Brenda and RC to look at the picture of us with the math on the screen.  So here's the video.  I'm so glad I got his parents' reactions.  Priceless.  

The crazy part is that right after they showed our picture on the screen, a foul ball came flying towards us almost hitting the woman sitting in front of us in the head.  Randy, luckily, saw it coming to some degree, and blocked it with his hand.  He got hurt a wee bit.  Kinda hard to see but his thumb was blue and puffy.  This was seriously like 2 minutes after our announcement.  Crazy!!!!!

We had an awesome time, and it was such a fun way to announce.  I am so grateful to the Roughriders for helping us out!  Here's a few more pics...

The rainbow towards the end of the game....God is so good!

We went public for the Facebook world today.  We are so excited that the word is out.  We believe that it takes a village to raise a child, and we need all of the prayers we can get.  That's why we don't wait until the second trimester to announce.  We, personally, want all of the support we can get from the beginning.  We've been down the scary miscarriage road back on 9/11/09, and we can't imagine going through that again alone.  It's tough, and we pray that this baby is healthy, and that this pregnancy will be filled with happiness.  That's why we photo bomb Facebook, and why I blog... I'm proud of my babies, and it's just the way I choose to celebrate.  We've experienced loss, and we have experienced life with our precious Kendall.  I saw this online the other night, and it was a very appropriate reminder.

While this baby was quite the surprise, we are so excited to expand our family.  We can't wait for Kendall to have a little brother/sister.  I have both, and there's no greater bond.  

We went in for a doctor's appointment on Friday, and found out that I probably ovulated late.  So, they were able to see the sac and fetal pole. I go in tomorrow to make sure my HCG levels are rising.  That means the baby is developing.  We go back on the 26th (the day before my birthday) when I should be 6, almost 7 weeks, along to get a good look at the baby.  It was just too soon and too tiny when we went in initially.  Here's a pic of what we saw.  Still so exciting.  

Thank you all so much for your prayers, support, and kind wishes.  You all mean so much to us, and we are excited to share this journey with you all!

We love you, Baby B!!!!

He's Still Got It

So I have been asking (nagging) for quite some time now that we never go on dates anymore.  I'm not talking about for an hour or two where we go to dinner and come home and pass out on the couch from being in a food coma...though I do enjoy this.  I wanted a REAL date.  I wanted to have fun and dress up and be spontaneous...yet totally well planned.  The biggest part?  I didn't want to plan it.  I wanted Randy to plan things like he used to.  Our first date we ever went on (please keep in mind that we were 17 and 18 and still in high school) was to dinner, putt-putt, go carts, and the movie, Serendipity.  Our second date we ever went on, he totally surprised me while I was at home still asleep, rang the doorbell with a white rose in hand, and said, "Get dressed.  I'm taking you out."  We went to a coffee shop in downtown Garland.  Then he said, "Get in the car.  I want to take you somewhere".  We drove to the lake where he pulled out a blanket from the back of his car where hidden underneath was a picnic basket filled with all sorts of yummy breakfast food.  We ate and talked and slow danced with the radio up.  It was just the 2 of us out at the lake, and it was the greatest time.  Pretty sure it was that day that I decided I was going to marry him one day.  ;)

Randy used to do stuff like that all the time!  He was the KING of romantic gestures and creative dates.  Then, well, life happens.  My nagging turned into desperation.  I had a cRaZy school year, and it was over this week.  I NEEDED to get out.  This song sums up my feelings...and yes, I sent it to Randy at work one day with fingers crossed in hopes he would get a clue.  Haha!

He certainly did!

As I mentioned, my last day of school was this past Thursday.  I brought my class inside from the playground, and there was a box from "Nothing Bundt Cakes". Inside was an assortment of miniature bundt cakes including red velvet, lemon, chocolate, and my favorite, white chocolate raspberry.  If you've never had these things, let me tell you...AMAZING!!!   My co-teacher and I had received several sweet gifts from our kiddos, and I thought surely that's what this was.  However, it only read, "This box belongs to Kelly McBrayer" (my name is always misspelled).  I went and found our assistant director/my friend from way back when, Katie, and she told me that Randy had called her earlier that morning for the school address and had it delivered.  I called to thank him, and he told me he wanted to make sure that I had a great last day of school since he knew what a tough year it had been.  Swoon.  

The next day, Friday, he had to go to Los Angeles for business.  So it was just Kendall and I.  We hung out around the house playing and cleaning.  

Saturday morning, we took Kendall to his parents' house in Sachse so that she could spend the day and night with them while we went out!  Woo hoo!  I was so excited but sooooooo nervous.  For those that don't know, I am a planner.  I'm not spontaneous at all.  I like to know where we're going, when, with whom, etc etc etc.  He told me that I needed to just trust him.  ::sigh::   OK.  Let's go.  

First, we ended up in Downtown McKinney.  We walked to the prison...ummm...what the heck???  I see this look of defeat on Randy's face.  Apparently, there was once this restaurant inside of the prison called "The Prison Bars and Grill".  There once stood 2 statues outside of the prison of the Blues Brothers, and each cell inside had been turned into little tables and booths where you would be served.  So cool!!!  However, it closed, and is now just a historical marker.  Randy looked so disappointed.  I made light of it all and said I'm sure we would find somewhere equally fun.  We ended up at this cute little restaurant for brunch called "The Pantry".  The food was awesome!  Home cookin' in a precious little old building.  

We decided to eat upstairs...just cuz.  I love places like this!  So, the other place being closed ended up leading to a great find.  

We also went and browsed the shops downtown.  I came across this, and it made me miss our little one.  What are the odds?!?

Then, on to our next place.  I had no idea where we were headed!

Randy was so mischievious and excited.  Cute.

 

We ended up here...

Ummm....ok.  Gotta tell ya.  I wasn't totally stoked.  Ha!

However, from the minute we stepped out of the car, there were butterflies EVERYWHERE!  It was beautiful!  We went on about a 5 mile nature walk, and the scenery was breathtaking.  We laughed and talked the whole time.  

We went into this enclosed butterfly pavilion.  However, there was ONE butterfly inside.  Looks like someone didn't read the sign.

Randy:  "Hey!  Look!  That must be for bats!  ...or Batman!

He was "falling"

Turtles!

Ummmm....snakes?!?!

We had to go around the mud.

I want these in my yard!

So pretty!!!

A kiss in the woods :)

That whole part of the date was something I know I will never forget.  

We loaded back up into the truck, cranked on the AC, and headed back to the house to clean up and get ready for the next part of the date.  I took a nap.on the couch.uninterrupted.  It was GLORIOUS!

I'd say we clean up pretty nice ;)

Sorry for the blur.  I was a bit shaky because I was so hungry!  

I loved that Randy asked that I get fancy for the rest of the night.  It's so fun to dress like this since I don't work in a place where it would be practical by any stretch to do so.  

Then we got in the car...still not knowing where I was going...and ended up at.....

Heck yes!  I have ALWAYS wanted to try it, and Mexican food is always on my radar.  Haha! 

Asada y camarones...in English, yummy!  The shrimp were bacon, cheese, and jalapeno wrapped.

Then, he ordered dessert!  We NEVER do this.

Apple pie with cinnamon ice cream topped with brandy butter sauce.  The best dessert I have ever had.

After good food and great company, we headed back out.  Again, no clue where we were going.

The movies!  Sweet!!!!  The last movie we saw was at this theater (635 and Webb Chapel) almost one year ago.  That's too dang long!

I'm wondering, "Why the heck are we out here in the hood?!?!"  Then it dawns on me.  A hotel where we used to stay is right up the street.  I ask Randy if we were going there afterwards.  He has this cheesy grin on his face and tells me no.  

Sure, honey, sure.

While in line to get a coke, he hands me a piece of paper.  I unfold it, and it is a confirmation page for reservations at...

Wahoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

But first, we have a movie to see, of course!

I know it got mixed reviews, mostly bad, but we thought it was hilarious!  We cracked up the whole time.  It was so much fun to sit there and be able to watch a movie, just the 2 of us...like we used to.  

Off to the hotel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ta-da!  The Hilton Lincoln Center.  Isn't it purdy?!?!?!

Here are some pics I took.

********************

This was such an awesome surprise...from the special delivery at school all the way through to the hotel.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  The best part?  The time we had together as a couple to rekindle the spark.  It's always there.  Sometimes you just have to get away from the noise to hear each other.  Life is messy.  I encourage all of my married friends to do something like this every once in a while.  Go away together.  Just as you see, we didn't fly away somewhere.  We stayed locally, but still got away.  Outside of the house.  Outside of the chaos and routine.  We missed Kendall, but we needed that time to better our relationship.  In the end, we want her to always know how much her parents were crazy about each other.  Because, that's exactly how we feel.  We've been married for 6 years this July (07.07.07), but together for 12 this November!  Wow!  

I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.  I love you, Randy.