Real Life Fairytale

2007-05-01T20:31:00.001-07:00

2007-05-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time. 4 months from the big day. Lots has happened in the last four months. Phil changed jobs and is now a full fledged copier machine repairman. I completed my studies at SUNY Oswego and began my job hunt. We moved last month into our first apartment.

The Lord has been teaching us both through all of this how important it is to trust him. In the little things and in the little things and to the Lord they are truly little things. We know that we are where he wants us to be and that is what is most important.

Highlights. Well after the wedding we spent two beautiful days in Alexandria Bay. We returned to our temporary home which was Phil's grandmothers trailer. We were so grateful to have time to begin to adjust in a place that was familiar. She enjoyed some time down south and returned in April.

Phil enjoyed his first winter and I traveled each day to my student teaching placement. I also had a few snow days including one on valentines day. The winter was not especially kind to Phil but we survived, with snow on easter to boot. Thats the north country, green Christmas and White Easter...you figure it out.

We took a few field trips. Phil and I saw how maple syrup was made. We visited my Brother, his wife and my beautiful nephew just before his first birthday.

We started to get more settled in with our new church family in Dexter. They are all so amazing and have been helping us to grow in our walks with the Lord. Phil is looking forward to this summer when he should be preaching at the campground ministry his father started when he was just a boy.

His dad recalls that they used to tell the campers, "You don't have to dress up." One particular Sunday Phil accompanied his father and was reported to tell the campers, "You don't even have to wear clothes".

I have an interview with a local daycare, 4 blocks from our home, later this week. I am very excited about the opportunity to work there, one of the main advantages being that by taking this position we will only need one car which will really help out our budget.

In other news we had our first company over this week. It was lots of fun, even if Tom beat us at Settlers and our cookout with the girls got rained out.

Life is beautiful and Sweet.

2007-01-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy few weeks for me, to say the least. I grabbed some photos from Mel before she headed back to Guatemala so I am at the library trying to upload those. Winter has finally returned here, it took me 45 minutes to clear the inch of ice off of the car to come here.
On the way here I spotted a good friend of our family driving. I didn't wave though, he was driving the herse and I didn't think that was proper ettiquite. The boy was back to work right after the honeymoon and I have a week left till I start my make up student teaching. I have enjoyed sleeping in the last few weeks and setting up our temporary place. Anywho, on to the photos.

2006-12-08T14:04:00.001-08:00

Not so long ago I used to spend a lot of time here with that box....alone

That was until...

I know you miss me...but things are a little crazy in these parts......

2006-10-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't written here in awhile. So much has been going on. I have been busy. Busy planning a wedding. Busy getting over Mono. Busy starting a second quarter of student teaching. Busy learning lots of things.

One thing God has been revealing to me is the way in which we all need to be loved. I think we all need to learn to let the Lord love on us. We also can learn a lot learning to love one another.

Phil came into my life after a time of my being rooted in my singleness and God asked me to give up that identity and fully allow myself to be loved. The television is full of horrible examples of selfish love, love that is based on looks or getting. Sometimes it is easy to look on those and not understand real love.

What I love about Philip David is that he wishes to honor me in a way that I don't deserve. None of us really deserve love, and that is what makes love so great. We give love not because the recipient is perfect but because Love manifests it self when we give it away. It is his will that Phil and I love each other because he brought us together and we don't want to rob one another of that blessing. Everyday I thank God that he has blessed me with this man of God. I never would have believed this kind of selfless love exsisted, that I could recieve it or could be capable to give it away. It does.

I guess I have seen so much brokeness and grief sometimes it is easier to believe the lie of the enemy that true Love can't exist. If you are believing that I encourage you to let go of that idea. People are not perfect but Gods love is perfect casting out all our fears. His love manifest in his people, in all their relationships, leads to joy and love, not brokeness. He wants to bless you more than you know.

2 months!!

2006-10-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my world

2006-09-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

2006-09-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

The Irony of my life lately is not lost on me;

I am driving home last night on the highway and an shooting star falls directly in front of my car. After exiting and a little ways up I have to come to a complete stop to not hit a skunk.

I have begun student teaching only to realize that I have streap throat and later to have that corrected into a case of Mono. 110 days to the wedding and a semester of student teaching ahead of me. Don't worry I have been told it is very uncontagious. I can continue to do my schoolwork as long as I am able. In children it appears as a cold. Being in pain makes you appreciate things more, like eating and sleeping and those people you love who take care of you when you are in the sadest states.

I don't really know what tommorow holds for me. I can only trust whatever it is God is able to give me whatever it is I need to overcome even what seems like the most impossible things.

Well anyways. Better get back to todays goal of resting. We get the high speed next week when i should catch you all up on the summer adventures fit to print.

Shoes

2006-06-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

So, I got home the other day with these really uncomfortable shoes on. So I took them off and put my sandals on. It was better. So, then I got thinking about it. See, I like my sandals, dare I say even love them, but at that moment, it was different. It was better

It's like water when you're really thirsty. There's just something better about it. The things you love the most become even better after being without. This is what I contemplate while Katherine is away. It helps. Next time I see her it will be like comfortable shoes.

2006-06-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Where are you going?
Opelika.
Where?
Alabama.
Where?
Yes. I know. I'll be back before you know it.

Sweet Home Alabama

2006-06-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Feels Like Home

2006-06-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Gerogia Peaches and Sweet Home Alabama

2006-05-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

And this will be the story we tell them...

Laughing as we jump into the salty ocean waves

Sharing a warm peach in the car in Georgia as we drive out to meet your parents

Walking hand in hand home from church in the Alabama sun

Eating chicken and hearing tales of Fat-back gravy

The way you looked at me that night... the way it made me feel...I imagined it would be what it would be like to be drunk...had I ever been drunk...like I couldn't stand, like i had lost my footing but without the hangover in the end

And when we realized this was only the beginning

2006-05-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

In 48 hours we'll watch it together, ok?

ummm it's Tuesday

2006-05-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Oh, my soul, sometimes we don't know what to do
We work so hard at being tough on our own
but now it's me and you
Let's give it up, sad bones'cause we are following hard times
but you don't have to stand up all alone
just put your hands in mine
Climb on..a back that's strong
yeah, you can get what you want
climb on a back that's strong
If you could save me a place in heaven
with a clean well lighted room
I'd muscle up to armegeddon
Wave to you darlin' be home soon
If you could show me the story of loveI
would write it again and again
and then you could be the women you need
If you'd just let me be the man that I am
Oh, I don't know
sometimes we try to hard to see
but we've got one down and one more to go
that's when you say to me

-Caedmons Call

I'm in love, never been so sure of anything

Then again, could be a tumor in my brain

Tricking me into thinking that we were meant to be

Either way, I'm about to shock my family

And my hometown again

'Cause this time I'm leaving

Once I'm gone I cannot look back

I've got to trust this is right

Maybe I'm on my way to find you

Maybe I'm gonna make the mistake of my life

Since we met my life's been so up in the air

Here today but by next week I could be there

On the street struggling to support my newest vice

With a sign that says 'I will work for love advice.'
'Cause I will mow your lawn If you'll tell me what I'm doing wrong

But I'll leave the car runnin'

And I'll leave half the boxes packed

For the slim chance I'll go right back

THURSDAY

2006-05-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, THURSDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you didn't know the authors of this blog will be collaborating in person later this week. It is strictly, you know, for the good of the blog and the creative process and because Katherine loves riding on airplanes.

What did you think?

Oh wait.....in case you haven't heard....

I LOVE PHILIP DAVID SWEET

The couch is far too empty without him.

Because his Birthday is later this month and I was too excited to wait

2006-05-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Em
My hazel eyes were searching
C
For what I could not know
Em
The sun would rise another morning
C
Reflecting on a freshly fallen snow

Chorus;

G ----- ------------- ------- D
When His love builds our home
C
The rooms will echo with laughter
G----------------------------- D
All things will come together
C
Now and forever after

Verse 2;

Em
When we met the sky was foggy
C
It fell thick and grew
Em
When my hazel eyes saw you clearly
C
That night, with one look, I knew

Bridge;

Em
And as we grow together
C
I'll know it's only you

Words by Katherine Widrick, Music by Alicia Cronk

2006-05-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

Only about a million times this week....
When I was eating ice cream with friends on Sunday.
When I stared up at the sky and saw the stars, drinking oreos and a pint of milk, on a drive with a friend on Wednesday.
When I ran into the grocery store and big fat raindrops hit my face and while eating mango pineapple popsicles on Thursday.
When I woke up with the stomach flu and felt all alone on Friday.
Watching the sunset over the lake when I got out of work last night.

This girl needs a little grace....11 more days

2006-04-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

All of my life I have dreamed that somehow love would find me.
Now I can't believe you're standing here. If beauty is all in the eye of the beholder then I wish you could see what I see, the love for you that lives in me.

And you would know, you have my heart, if you could see what I see; that a treasure's what you are, if you could see what I see; created to be the only one for me; if you could see what I see

I know there are days when you feel so much less than ideal wondering what I see in you. It's all of the light and the grace your belief in me drives me to say that I promise you a faithful love forever true

And you would know, you have my heart, if you could see what I see; that a treasure's what you are, if you could see what I see; created to be the only one for me; if you could see then you'd understand why I fall down to my knees; and I pray my love will be worthy of the One who gave His life so our love could be.

If you could see what I see. If you could see what I see:
You're created to be the perfect one for me,
if you could see what I see

Geoff Moore and the distance

Both of Us'll Feel The Blast

2006-04-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Both of Us'll Feel The Blast lyrics

We're both dirty, baby- that's just the way it goes
We'll try to cut the fuses off before everything blows
And if it blows and both of us are standing real close by
Then both of us'll feel the blast and both of us'll die
But dying's overrated, it's a ticket on a train
And as long as i can hold your hand, i'll know that i'm still sane
Maybe i'm an idiot for thinking that that's true
But i believe that Jesus knew what He was doing when He gave me you

Lately I've been wondering- what are we gonna do
when we wake up in the morning and its just me and you?
Cause we ain't never done this thing but I guess that's how it goes
You breathe deep as it comes to you and hold tight when it blows
And if it blows and both of us are standing real close by
Then both of us'll feel the blast and both of us'll die
And dying's underrated, it's a ticket to the feast-
The one we're all invited to, from the greatest to the least

I hope we sit together when Jesus serves the wine
So I can look into your eyes when I taste it the first time
And I know there's no secrets when you're sitting at that table
But I believe we'll smile real knowingly when we read the label
And it says "passion sacrificed to keep from going crazy."
We'll tip our glasses to the Host who used to look so hazy
And drink it down all sweet and slow and slip inside His mind
And realize as it goes down- this is communion wine

This is communion wine
This is communion wine
This is communion wine

Waterdeep lyrics Album - Sink or Swim Date: 12/14/1999

We added this song from Waterdeep's live MP3 to our site. They say file sharing of live music is cool with them as long as no one makes a profit. You can read about it here and enjoy more music by them.

Love is made complete among us

2006-04-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

My mom just called. The cat is sick. We all hate the cat, the cat drives us crazy. So why am I crying? Because as crazy as she drives us, I love her. She has diabetes. She now becomes even more high maintanance and she might have to be put to sleep. Blast, and just like that I am crying and my mom just keeps talking about this that and the other thing, she finally stops and realizes I am crying and she is like "why are you crying?" and I am like, the cat, and she acts all surprised.

See all practicality says I should hate the cat. When she was a kitten and a young cat she used to chase me around and bite me. She hated to be held. She only would show affection to be fed. She would run off. She at times turned the house into her litter box. She is ornery. She is loosing weight and her hair and throwing up. She is, unloveable. Something though compels me to love her. To cry at the thought of losing her, the thought of her suffering.

It is raining outside and I think of a day not so long ago, running into the grocery store through the rain with the Man I love. If you ask me what it is that makes me love him, I could tell you, but in the same way, last night he said of his love toward me, "it is like trying to describe the sunset, music." It is true. After pondering awhile I decided to fall back on this metaphor, partly mine, partly stolen.

The way I knew he was the one was the same way you know you are home. You just know. Your home might be broken in places, the roof might leak. Your toilet handle might need a jiggle and you may never find the remote to the TV but there is no where more perfect. When you are away from it it is all you think about going back to. It is where you want to rest your head at the end of a long day. It is the culmination of all your hoping and all your dreams.

That is how it is with Phil. When I talk to him it is like I know that is where I belong. It is, above all things, impractical to love. It would be simpler, after all, to go on caring for just myself, to not spend effort and time building something new. I struggle as I see myself as the broken home and think I shall not ever be a place that anyone else would want to make their abode. I think that but then I realize, as I am at home with him, he is at home with me. That is how it will be, very likely, forever.

Sometimes we choose to love, but it is usually selfish. Sometimes love chooses us. Real love isn't rooted in perfection, real love is like coming home. Sometimes I feel like the cat, broken and unlovable. I realize though in our own ways we are all capable of being loved, even when it makes no sense. Why did God love me enough to send his son? Why did he love me enough to bless me with such a great man of God? Why will he someday welcome me, me of all people, into his arms and into the home he has prepared for me?

Love.

I will search all my life and never really fully understand it.

Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 john 4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

Silly Jesus. Loving passionately is for God

2006-04-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't write this, but I like it. It comes to you courtesy of my friend and brother in Christ Colin who used to run paintball and on rainy day occasion a very popular Philosopy class at the summer camp I worked at last summer. He would talk passionately to the mostly Jewish teenagers about many things.
Orange is for the stuff that stuck out to me in what he says about love. Feel free to check him out at My Space. I certainly have always felt cooler for knowing him.

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"I am convinced that God calls us to live passionately in all areas of our life. One of the most difficult of those areas I think is our relationships. After our hearts get broken time and time again, we instinctively want to withdraw, to be more cautious. We naturally want to protect ourselves from being hurt. We want to be safe. But Christ never calls us to a safe life, he calls us to a passionate and dangerous life of loving others.

Jesus loved his disciples and the people he came in contact with a deep intensity and passion. Now, if He was smart, he would have been a little less loving and a little more prudent. I mean, Peter is such a coward- he's never there when the going gets tough. Thomas never believes a thing You say. And Judas, well, there's just something about him that says he's going to stab You in the back. Yet, Jesus loved them all. What was He thinking?! Why did He willingly expose himself to desertion, distrust, and betrayal from his so-called friends, and then keep loving those who came back to Him? Doesn't He realize they're just likely to burn Him again?

Silly Jesus. Loving passionately is for God.

Again, like so many other things, we run into the "foolishness of the Cross." To make our relationships passionate is foolish to the world which values protecting ourselves over others. But in the eyes of God, loving passionately it is part of living life to the fullest. We love with passion. We grieve with passion. And in the end, we heal with just as much passion. We recover a zeal for being filled by God when we do not live safely. God will not just put band-aids on your broken hearts. He is the Great Physician. He will perform triple bypass surgery on them.

Passion is altogether a beautiful and dangerous thing, especially in relationships, but it provides the means of making a love between two people like none other. It should be there from beginning and the end. From the first conversation even to the break-up. We will always hurt, but not always heal. Passion through God is our only hope for real healing beyond the band-aids. I want something more than a broken heart falling apart at the stitches. I want a new and whole heart. And I really believe that can be our hope."

Timing

2006-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today, this guy came to speak to my Communication Seminar class. He talked about alot of things, involving his work in radio around the globe. Then, he got my attention (which had been wander to the people playing games on thier computers and the hilarious note taking of one Drew Allen) when he brought up his second wife.

Apparently, through a series of strange events, he met his future wife while he was in Guam. She was in Florida. Apparently he didn't feel like he could leave at the time, and he wasn't sure what to do. They continued writing letters, but his got shorter and shorter and he wonder if God really wanted them together. Then, in God's perfect time, He worked it out. She went to Guam and they married.

I just found it encouraging. It's so easy to stress over the distance, but really, God has everything figured out. He knows what is and isn't in his plan, and he knows how to work all thing out, not just for good, but for the best. His perfect plan is just that. God is so awesome.

Heartbeat

2006-04-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I found myself wishing he was here. I know it is silly but what I wanted more than anything was something I never knew I would like. You see when Phil was here and we would sit on the couch I would lean my head back on his chest and I could hear his heartbeat. It was strong and loud. I miss that. There is something tangible about his being here and close. Something I long for.
I trust that it is ok that he is in Florida and that I am here. I know that God has allowed us to be apart for this time. It is all part of his perfect plan. I also think that he understands my desire to be closer. I know that this isn't forever. Somedays are better then others.
We decided to start this journal as a way to stay connected and to document our journey. Friday marks three months for us. It will truly be "Good Friday." that's all from the NY office.
-Katherine