Category: mi familia

To my bride

“Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained” – C.S. Lewis

One year ago today I made a pledge and vow before (at that time) Laurie Janine Turner, before God and “all these witness” that I would love, cherish and adore Laurie as my partner and my friend.

I’ve learned a lot in the past 365 days. Most of what I learned was from the shared life experiences over the past year.

I think first and foremost I’ve learned that marriage is not a 50/50 partnership. It’s as Brian puts it, a 100/100 relationship. And even when you might feel like its more 100/50 or 100/0 Scripture still tells us to give that full 100% – and more – I only wish I could give more.

I think we typically want to approach marriage (and any other relationship) as “what can I get out of this?” but Scripture calls us to “lay down your life for one another.” Not only when you’re getting your way. Not only when things are happy-go-lucky. But day in and day out when the muck really hits the fan.

And I must add, that while we shouldn’t go seeking our own benefits in a marriage, I’m lucky enough to say that I enjoy every day I’m married to Laurie. And makes it so much easier to love her with her grace, mercy and gentle spirit. Her love outshines mine each and every day.

She understands me in many ways that no one else can. She accepts my flaws and mistakes with true love and grace. She brings me joy and laughter. Smiles and gladness. She makes me earnestly want to be a better man and husband. She encourages me and lifts me up and always has my best in mind.

And even with all this new knowledge and understanding I’ve learned over the last year (and what I’m certain is much much more to learn and understand) I can say this again today with even more boldness and clarity and understanding than I did on April 28, 2007 ::

“Laurie Janine Blundell, you are my wife. I love you as Christ loved the church. I respect, comfort and love you. And in the presence of God and before our family and friends, I have choosen you Laurie to be my wife and I promise you these things: I will laugh with you in times of joy, and comfort you in times of sorrow. I will share in your dreams, and support you as you strive to achieve your goals. I will listen to you with compassion and understanding, and speak to you with encouragement. I will help you when you need it, and step aside when you don’t. I will remain faithful to you for better or worse, in times of sickness and health. You are my best friend, and I will love and respect you always.”

walking

Interesting family event

I received an email from another Ancestry.com user today (boy technology is great).

The e-mail was in regards to Col. Cullin Earp. Apparently, he’s a Confederate Civil War veteran and his body is being exhumed and moved to a new/more respectful location.

I originally thought the e-mail referred to my 5th great-grandfather, Capt. Cullin Earp, who had been captain of a regiment in Washington County, North Carolina, in 1779. But I quickly realized either my information was off, or the information I received about Col. Cullin Earp was off.

Thanks to my mom’s cousin Mary we quickly (or so we’re led to believe) got things straightened out. Col. Cullin R. Earp is my grandmother’s first cousin thrice removed (that’s not confusing :-)).

My records showed Cullin Earp in our family tree but that’s about all the information I had on him other than his parents, and siblings. Had no idea he was a Col. in the Confederacy.

Well regardless, great information found through this crazy thing we call the Interweb.

Col. Earp (pronounced “Arp”) was just 37 years old when he died in 1865. As a young adult in his 20s, he earned a livelihood raising crops in the Gilmer area. But during the last several years of his life, he was thrust into a military maelstrom that transformed him from a simple farmer into a respected officer and an East Texas hero.

From 1862 through 1864, Col. Earp and his 10th Texas Calvary CSA participated in at least 21 Civil War battles or engagements, a number of which resulted in massive casualties on both sides. As part of the famed Ector’s Brigade, Earp commanded 10th Texas troops at clashes throughout the Deep South, including Vicksburg, Miss.; the bloody battle of Chickamauga, Ga.; the Atlanta, Ga. Siege; and the battle of Franklin, Tenn.

Given a 3-month furlough, he returned to Upshur County in February 1865, likely sick or wounded. In April, Lee surrendered to Grant, ending the Civil War and Earp’s military service. Six months later, he died, survived by his second wife but no children.

Read more about the upcoming ceremony for Col. Cullin R. Earp from the Gilmer Mirror.

The Alphabet Game

I don’t know how many other folks play this, but I always remember growing up and going on trips with my family and as soon as we (the kids) started getting bored, mom or dad would start the Alphabet Game.

Basically your goal is to find each letter of the alphabet on signs, cars, or other objects you can see outside your car window. You go from A to Z.

Apparently Laurie’s family played this too, but with slightly different rules from what I remember. In their family, they had to call out the word and letter they were using so no one else could use it. For example, “Apple – A, Cannibal – B, Cannibal – C, Drive – D.”

We played the game together several times on our trip to Memphis and I also played the game by myself several times while she was reading or napping.

All this to say – Q has got to be the hardest letter to find. I made it all the way to P this morning on the way to work and waited a good 20 miles before I finally saw a Q. And it was on a Quiznos right next to my bus stop.

On my block-and-a-half walk to my office I made it all the way to Z and then back again through the alphabet to X before I walked in the front door of my office. But boy – that Q can drive a guy nuts!

Today in review

Don’t do this too often, but thought I’d give you all a wrap up of today’s events…

a. woke up around 5:00
b. got up around 5:30
c. made some coffee and got a txt message from Smiley around 5:50 announcing the birth of their new baby boy, Aiden Sean (jump over to their blog and wish the new parents a big congrats).
d. took my time getting ready for work
e. rode the bus to work and sat next to my new bus-mate Judd
f. slow day at work – especially after lunch
g. walked the 4 or 5 blocks to DART headquarters at lunch to get a bus pass for April
h. watched the afternoon pass by in my cubicle
i. made plans with my wonderful life, Laurie, to visit Shari and Smiley and baby Aidan after work
j. Laurie calls on her way to pick me up to inform me that there’s a tornado warning for a huge area surrounding our house
k. realize everyone else in Dallas is apparently trying to get information from WFAA.com – because it no workie
l. Laurie picked me up and we made the short drive to the hospital and visited with our friends
m. came home and saw no sign of rain or thunderstorms in our neighborhood
n. made chicken sandwiches (not chicken salad but chicken breast – like Chick-Fil-A) for dinner
o. worked out at the gym
p. went grocery shopping
q. read some more in “Jesus for President”
r. thought about working on my “lesson” for our community group tomorrow night – didn’t want to turn the alarm off and then go outside in my PJs to get my book out of my truck
s. remembered i needed to take a pic for my 365days project
t. took the pic while listening to the Homebrewed Christianity podcast
u. decided to write a summary of the days events on podcast
v. now im jealous that Laurie is already sound asleep and i’m not
w. staring to feel some soreness in my back
x. xylophone
y. y? because i can
z. time to get some Zs

Three years…

I can’t believe it’s been three years already. It still seems like yesterday.

Amy we love you and miss you dearly.

Walk On – U2

And love
Is not the easy thing
The only baggage
That you can bring
Not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can’t leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it’s a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on
Walk on
What you got, they can’t steal it
No they can’t even feel it

Walk on
Walk on
Stay safe tonight

You’re packing a suitcase for a place
None of us has been
A place that has to be believed
To be seen

You could have flown away
A singing bird
In an open cage
Who will only fly
Only fly for freedom

Walk on
Walk on
What you got
You can’t deny it
Can’t sell it or buy it

Walk on
Walk on
You stay safe tonight

And I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
You can only take so much

Walk on
Walk on

Home
Hard to know what it is
If you never had one

Home
I can’t say where it is
But I know I’m going

Home
That’s where the hurt is

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
You can only take so much
Walk on

Leave it behind
You’ve got to leave it behind

All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break

All that you measure
All that you feel
All this you can leave behind

All that you reason
All that you care

It’s only time
And I’ll never fill up all my mind

All that you sense
All that you scheme
All you dress up
And all that you see

All you create
All that you wreck
All that you hate

new techie goals

I’m working on a new Intranet site for work today. Last week I was working on new WordPress themes for a possible encounter website redesign (you may have seen them on my Flickr stream).
While working on the Intranet site I’m using CasadeBlundell.com for “filler text” and it got me thinking about redesigning that site as well. It’s gotten a little stagnant.
All of this led me to think about a few goals/challenges I’d like to figure out/complete before to long (some of them are personal, others are work related).

  • Finish a redesign of the encounter website
  • Redesign CasadeBlundell.com
  • Redesign our departmental Intranet site
  • Find out how to combine multiple RSS feeds into one – hopefully without using third party software. I’d love to be able to let people subscribe to one RSS feed and get the latest from my twitter feed, Flickr feed and of course my SSL feed. I’d eventually love to have an option to combine all my RSS feeds with Laurie’s RSS feeds as well so people can truly stay up to date with what’s going on.
  • Get a better grasp/understanding of CSS – this is coming slowly as I build these other sites
  • Learn PHP language – coming along even slower

I think those are the main ones for now – but who knows I may think of several more on the way home – you can check my Twitter feed for updates on the way home 😉