Empty Your Shoe

"In marriage, the little offenses creep in and steal your joy if you don’t learn to overlook them (Prov 19:11). Like small rocks in your shoe, they begin bruising your heal and causing greater pain if they’re not removed. Your marriage is your ministry and you have a purpose beyond your immediate happiness. There are mountains to climb, and you must climb them side by side! How can you climb mountains together if you’re both agonizing about tiny pebbles in your shoes? Empty your shoe, get rid of the pebbles, and get on with life. " 

—Ryan Frederick, Fierce Marriage [read the whole post here] 

Amen and amen. This is such a good reminder that Satan will use whatever he can—including those tiny little things that shouldn't even matter—to try and ruin our marriage. He will do whatever he can to tear us apart. He will make anything and everything seem like a big deal if it will bring disunity and disharmony.

I think this is going to be our new code phrase for when we're feeling those little annoyances and frustrations. "Can you give me a minute? I need to empty my shoe." or "Hey babe, do you need to empty your shoe?"

Because we can't climb those mountains with a shoe-full of pebbles!

//photo via Availeth Photography

Weekend Wrap-Up: Sheep and Cowboys

Found this little treasure on a walk around my [soon-to-be] new neighborhood with a friend last night. We weren't exactly sure what was going on in the painting... a giant sheep being wrangled by cowboys?? Regardless, the colors were just too fun and inviting to not have a spontaneous mini photoshoot!

Loverboy and I are planning on having a relaxing evening-in after all the craziness of the last few days of him moving and me obviously having my hands all over the place. We are going to make this delicious sounding Shrimp & Avocado Pasta simply because an avocado got dropped during move-in and needs to be eaten... sounds like a good excuse to try out a new recipe to me! 

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And lastly I'm going to leave you with this tasty little gem. Yummm. I am definitely into the whole toast/open-faced sandwhich idea. The mango, lime, & fresh moz sounds intriguing, as well as the berries, basil, & cream cheese. I'm finding that as I rise earlier to go to work that eating filling and energy-filled breakfasts is really important. Otherwise I'm tempted to eat my lunch at 10:30 or 11 and that just throws my whole day off. Lately my breakfast of choice has been oatmeal since it's cheap and quick but I'm hoping to get into a better morning rhythm once I'm hitched and in my own place. And then I will definitely be coming back to this link and checking out what fun breakfasts are in store!

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Have a happy weekend everyone! Perform a random act of kindness, spend time with someone you love, or check something off that never-ending to-do list... but whatever you do, make this weekend count!