February 2010

The month of February began with travel, as so many of our months seems to! David had a job in Columbus, OH for 2 weeks. Since he and his coworker, Denise, were driving, it was easy for me to tag along. While we were there our home in PA got pummeled with 2 back-to-back blizzards. Fortunately our neighbor cleared our driveway after the first one, and David's boss and another coworker cleared it after the second. We are well looked after! In Columbus we got to peacefully watch about 6 inches fall. It was beautiful and the roads were still clear. Clear roads meant I got an extra special treat...the 3 of us went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory...Godiva chocolate cheesecake is my weakness! David was sad to have missed his sledding opportunity though. The trip to Ohio was special for another reason, both David and I felt the baby kick on the outside for the first time that week (at 20 weeks pregnant).

I spent some of the downtime I had while we were there to partially re-read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I was yet again convicted about how often I let my faith become a passive moralism rather than delighting in Christ and exalting him in all things. Especially when juxtaposed with teaching, it can be challenging at times to see how dishes, laundry and sweeping show my delight in Christ, but I know they are a blessing to my husband, our guests, and myself. I'm looking forward to having a little one to nurture again though, because that's certainly the passion God has placed in my heart.

Despite being with David on the trip, the long hours meant I still felt I hadn't seen him much in the two weeks. While it was hard at the time, it made Valentine's Day especially sweet. Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was very low key. I made homemade sauce and we had spaghetti, garlic bread and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. David blessed me by giving me two bags of my favorite chocolate and an amazingly sweet card the basically told me he notices all the little things I do around the house to make life nicer for us : ) What a sweetheart!

After a week at home, David was on the road (or rather, in the air) again, this time to New Mexico for a training. He really enjoyed the conference and even won a trophy in a capture the flag (hacker style) contest. He also took some beautiful pictures to bring home to me.


By the end of February my baby bump had expanded to an even more noticeable size : )