Catch UP

Last weekend we went to the mountains. I've never been much of a mountain girl, I love the beach. But, our friends have a cabin in Boone, NC and it was amazing. I jumped in Tim's car Friday afternoon, he had it packed with Mingus and a Spiced Pumpkin Latte and we were off. I was a little nervous driving after dark, since I thought for sure it was going to be difficult getting there. It was a breeze. (I did miss an exit, but thanks to the magic phone, we found an alternate route). We arrived and ate some homemade chili we'd brought and settled in. We woke up Saturday to temps in the 30's and gorgeous trees. We took Mingus for a walk and then drove around the mountains to get pics. Tim took a million. Then we just came back and hung out in the silence. We get so wrapped up in phone service and internet it was nice for the peace. I think it was tough on Mingus, he couldn't settle. On our way home we had some excellent seafood and were back to civilization.

Surprise Visit

Tim's birthday was Saturday and on Wednesday, he called from TX and asked if I'd like to come home too. So I did! I surprised my mom and dad @ 11pm after they'd been asleep for awhile and we had a great time!

Labor Day Weekend

Friday was an atrocious day at school - the children were ready to be at home as was I. So we went and hung out with the Eade's and then the guys went to jam. Saturday morning I go up and made eggs and pancakes. Then we went to Reedy Creek Park and took Mingus on a long walk. Then off to Matthews for the Matthews Alive festival. Nice! We got Adam's birthday present and had some great homemade soda. Then we went to look at TV's (what Tim wants for his birthday but isn't going to happen.) Then to the Apple Store to find out that a RAM upgrade would be $1200. No way. We'll buy it from crucial.com for $80. Ridiculous. Then back to the Eade's to teach them Mau. Sunday - back to 2 services, YEAH! and then lunch at home and Momentum (College home group) at the Fulghum's. I made cake pearls - coconut and carrot cakes and we had homemade ice cream. We played Mau until 1am. Monday we did nothing until we got it together and went to 3 chick-fil-a's for their free sandwiches. We took the extras downtown and gave them to homeless people and hope to really organize next time a restaurant does that and have a college challenge.

This morning, I took Mingus out to pee, and out of the corner of my eye, I see something moving. At first I thought the cat was caught in the garage door, but no it was a OPPOSUM! It's tail was caught and it was trying desperately to get free. I went inside hysterical and got the garage door opener and tried to raise it so it could get free. I had to raise it almost the whole way and then it almost squished him. Then his paw got stuck and finally it fell to the ground, landed on all four feet and stared at me. I whimper/screamed and it ran back into the garage. We live above the garage. If it's in there, there's probably more. What if it gets in? What if it messes with Mingus? Oh gross, we have to get this taken care of before Tim leaves or I'm going to have to sleep at the church!

September

So what's going on with the Groves? We're coming up on 9 months in NC. WOW! I'm on 1000mg of Metformin to help with the PCOS and insulin resistance. I also see a dietician every six weeks or so. Mingus is in his advanced training class. If he passes it we'll take the Canine Good Citizen test and he can be a therapy dog that goes into hospitals or nursing homes. I applied at an elementary school to be a teachers aid and the school district liked me a lot but have wait 20 days to see if there numbers will allow for a new hire. (fingers crossed) The weather is amazing. Monday, Tim and I agreed it felt like Christmas in TX. Hilarious. I'm ready for Christmas music and to go home in Nov. Tim goes home for his birthday next week. (Jealous!) So that's all we're really doing right now!

Ang

I went to the Dr. yesterday for a follow up on my test results. I did the glucose test 3ish weeks ago and we were seeing if that is what keeps us from being prego. My glucose levels were fine. But my insulin levels... at fasting a normal level should be 10. Mine: 120. After the drinking the glucose a normal level should be 20. Mine: 101. So I have extremely high insulin levels which determines I do have PCOS and an insulin blocker. woot. so I have started taking Glucophage which will slowly bring my insulin under control and help me lose weight (That's good stuff) But... I will be on this forever. I don't like that. I am a more likely than not to have a child with insulin issues. You are welcome baby Groves. That's my biggest beef with this whole thing. Me have issues fine. I don't want to pass it on. But here's my silver lining. I am not diabetic. If I can get this under control I will not have gestational diabetes and will be thinner. If we had not moved to NC we never would have known. While I loved my Dr. in TX, she was ready to send me to an infertility specialist (too expensive). Since this leans more towards a diabetes setting, insurance will cover it. If we had not moved to NC, I would not have run into people who knew exactly my symptoms and were so willing to help me go in that direction. God is amazing how we wait and pout but he is always on the same page. I'm also very thankful for the 5 1/2 years with Tim by ourselves. We've gotten to do a lot that had we had children wouldn't have worked and how many people want to be on the 5 year plan and never make it? We did! Now, we're still not sure how long this will take but at least we know what it is.

Angela's 6 month update

So we've been here six months, today! My how the time flies. How you miss your family but you don't miss the heat. I miss my Mexican food, but love being closer to the beach (eventhough we haven't been yet!) I love our new friends and church but miss the old ones too. Jobs? Mine - meh - take it or leave it! Tim's? Great! Mingus is doing great, he's in intermediate training and we're working hard. Babies? I have a follow-up appt. with Dr. Peacock on Monday. So we'll see. What a journey! How wonderful it is to see where we've come from and know we're on the right path.

Snow - the theological implications

As I sit here at 12:30 on March 2, I'm watching the back of a snow storm Charlotte is going through. We had something called "Thunder Snow" which, to me, sounds like the name of a really bad band from the 80's. What it is, however, is the winter equivalent to a Thunderstorm in the summer, complete with heavy show fall, thunder and lightning - it really is a beauty to behold.
Let me also say this, having been raised in Texas (which I am grateful for), I have never seen a weather occurrence like this. There's several weather occurrences I have never seen, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, just to name a few. Yet this snow fall was such a beautiful picture to me.
Aside from the flittering huge white flakes floating to the ground and landing in an exact pre-determined spot (okay, maybe not, but it's kind of cool to think about), there's the fact that the snow, especially when it falls in such a great amount begins to cover every surface it touches.

Wood, covered.
Plastic, covered,
Automobiles, covered,
Roofs, covered.

It doesn't matter what the surface, hard or soft, new or old, light or dark. The snow will cover it.

This is a picture of God's grace. His grace covers all surfaces, no matter how cracked and weathered, no matter how small or large. The snow doesn't look at the roof of a mansion and think "oh man, that is WAY too big of a surface, let's skip that." It falls where it wants, and in this type of storm, it falls EVERYWHERE. My car has more snow piled on it right now than it has ever had before. I hope it starts in the morning.
Earlier tonight, Ang and I went out to play in the snow for a bit (this included running around on the deck without shoes on and slipping and sliding all over the place.) It was a blast. Spontaneity keeps people young. After we made our places in the snow from tromping around, I watched, hour after hour as the snow continued to fall - that those spots in which we disturbed the snow were being covered up again. As if we had never been out there, and I began to see a new picture of God's grace.

God has given us a perpetual, unstoppable snowstorm of grace in our lives. He gave us this when Jesus Christ took on our sin and died on the cross. Now we live, not free of sin, but hidden beneath the snow of God's grace, we we no longer are slaves to our sin. When God sees us, He doesn't see our sin any longer, He sees us as undisturbed, pure white snow. This is God's grace. It doesn't matter what you've done, or how dirty or old or worn down your surface is, God's snow still falls on it and covers that brokenness with His perfection.

This would have been enough for me, but as I sat out here watching the snow fall just a few minutes ago I noticed how heavy the snow sat on the trees, how much it weighed them down especially when the wind would pick up. The way the trees lamented having the extra weight, you could just feel the stress in their branches. And I thought, "okay, smart guy, so how does God's grace weigh people down?" and maybe this part is a bit of a stretch, but track with me for just a moment.

Have you ever met someone that was so involved in everything? Every activity, every opportunity, every possible social, ministerial and community event that they had nothing left of themselves? Did it seem as though they were weighed down?
I have been in that place. Where I could not say no, where I was worried about not making the right people happy and pleasing their ideal of what I should be. I was weighed down, I wasn't aware of the freedom which grace allowed me to have.
Rob Bell puts it this way - the only thing I have to focus on is pursing my relationship with God to reflect His glory and discover how beautiful He is, anything beyond that is sin. So it is possible to be weighed down, maybe not necessarily with God's grace but with our perception of what we need to be or do in order to win God's grace. What we must realize is that God has already given us all the grace He can and all the grace we need. There is nothing more we can do to convince God to give us grace.

All we can do is accept it or ignore it.

If we ignore it we live life like those trees, heavy laden, lacking vibrance and energy and hanging our head to the ground.

If we accept it, we live life hidden underneath the snow storm, covered in a white, continual blanket of God's grace.

The snow has just about tapered off now, though there might be more coming, who knows. But I pray that we would all learn to live under the blanket of God's grace, not weighing ourselves down with the expectations others put on us,

My brother Trey, and I had a conversation when he first moved back to Texas a couple of years ago. He said "I don't have time to worry about what other people think about me or the ministry in which God has placed me, I have to focus on running after God."

Maybe Trey should write a book...