As usual, I'm a little behind the curve. Most people did New Year's Resolutions long before they were a glimmer in my eye. In fact, most people did them YEARS ago.

I have never done New Year's Resolutions. Something about them has never appealed to me. This year though, with nothing "big" on the horizon, I feel like I ought to make some small, attainable goals. The last couple of years, I had some big milestones I was looking ahead to. I rang 2009 in in Amsterdam, doing a job I loved (but didn't appreciate fully!) knowing the upcoming year would bring with it lots of excitement (engagement, marriage!). When 2010 rolled around, I was looking forward to the first full year of marriage and figuring out what daily life together looked like. 2011 brought with it the knowledge that we were about to pack up our lives and move across the country to Colorado.

2012 thus far, holds no major milestone. Nothing life-altering is on the horizon, so this is the year, I think, to make small adjustments. Small habit changes make life changes, right?


Adjustment #1 - Work out one day a week in January. Up it to two days a week in February. (Adrian said if I keep going at this rate, but year's end I'll be up to 12 days a week. What an accomplishment.)

Adjustment #2 - Put my clothes away at bedtime. If I'm done wearing it, hang it up or throw it in the laundry.

Adjustment #3 - Spend more time in community. On Sunday, Bryan spoke about the early disciples truly getting community. We moved out here to be part of a community, but it's really hard to find the time. I'm starting to realize that in order to live life with others, it doesn't have to be hosting meals every night or calling a certain number of girls everyday. It's an adjustment, so I'm starting small by being more intentional with conversations, less structured with my "community" time and more open with relationships.

So, that's that. Start with small, manageable amounts and see what happens, right? I really just want to learn to be content and disciplined in this new year. I'm thankful for the upheavals in my life over the past several years, and I hope I can learn to be thankful and content without any upheavals this year!

What about you? Do you do resolutions, or goals, or adjustments? I'd love to know about them!

P.S. - Adjustment #4 is to get a cat ;)

Well, my first-ever Thanksgiving turkey has been bought. It's currently staying frozen on the garage floor of my in-laws house as a mild winter storm keeps the room at a cozy 24 degrees.

It's a little intimidating to be thinking about cooking my first turkey for a Thanksgiving meal, I'll admit. All my life, I have been surrounded by fantastic cooks at the holidays. My mother, grandmother, aunt, mother-in-law....all are whizzes in the kitchen and can seriously produce a delicious meal. For the last 10 years or more, it has been tradition for the Tuercranians to gather together and feast at Thanksgiving. Those ladies lay out a spread that allows us to feast for days upon days. I. Love. It.

When college started drawing to a close, and then when I was on my own in Raleigh, I was able to still enjoy these family feasts, thanks to a willingness to drive 14 hours so I didn't have to cook. A month after Adrian and I got married, I had a mild panic attack at the thought of having to conjure up a Thanksgiving meal for my brand-new husband all on my own. The panic fueled us to drive 6 1/2 hours to ride with my parents 9 hours to St. Louis, just so we wouldn't miss family Thanksgiving and so I wouldn't have to learn to cook a turkey.

Last year, our second Thanksgiving together, we were blessed to be invited to join friends from church and their family, so again, I was spared the horror of hosting Thanksgiving. I contributed a pumpkin cheesecake and called it a day. We enjoyed the week of Thanksgiving feasting on soups for the two of us and watching a Harry Potter marathon.

This year.....I've got my game face on already. As we've settled into our new home and our new life in Denver, we've had the opportunity to meet a TON of people who are as far from home as we are. Recognizing that it's way more fun to be alone together, Adrian and I are throwing caution to the wind. I'm rising to the challenge. All these little Thanksgiving "orphans" will be extended an opportunity to come and experience first-hand a potential Thanksgiving meltdown at he VanderHouse, courtesy of yours truly. Denver friends, if you need a place to spend Thanksgiving, consider yourself invited to the fiesta!

I have no idea how to thaw a turkey, cook a turkey, clean a turkey, stuff a turkey...I'm turkey-illiterate. But, with a week and a half to learn the ins and outs of turkey-making, I'm confident something will get figured out. Right?So....umm....any tips?

Either way, everyone knows the best part of Thanksgiving isn't the turkey. It's the family, friends and thankfulness, but mostly the stuffing and mashed potatoes and pie. I'm confident my friends will pull through :)

When I sat down to write this, I saw that my husband is a more consistent blogger than I am. What? Adrian blogs? Who knew?

Actually he doesn't, except for one time a year: our anniversary. Last year he hijacked my blog with a sweet video to me. This year, he tried to do the same, except that the video was huge and couldn't be uploaded. Thus, he is a more consistent blogger than I am - even if it didn't actually end up on the blog. He recorded the video and tried to upload it to share w/ everyone - that's what matters :)

Seeing his blog post in the queue reminded me that another anniversary tradition that is not consistent at the moment - OUR anniversary video. All growing up, my parents and grandparents used to get together and do a video at Christmas about what the previous year held. I wanted us to do that same tradition so our kids could watch us someday and be inspired by the wisdom we possess at such young ages....or laugh at our style, whichever. But, as I sat down to write this post and saw Adrian's video post in the queue, I was reminded that WE DID NOT DO OUR UPDATE VIDEO!! I reminded him of this the day before our anniversary, on our anniversary, the day after our anniversary, both days of the weekend after the anniversary...you see how it goes. Today is Monday. This ordeal started LAST week at this time. I just mentioned doing our video to Adrian (as we have friends over to watch sports), he's working tomorrow night, so perhaps Wednesday. An entire week after I wanted to do it.

Have I ever mentioned we procrastinate sometimes?

On the subject of our anniversary, we had a lovely time celebrating last weekend, thankyouverymuch. We had a little weekend getaway to Monument/Colorado Springs. This year, it was MUCH more difficult to find a good deal on a hotel. We knew we wanted to head West or South - Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains or Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods. Due to the fact that the places within our budget in Estes Park were ALL decorated like a pioneer museum, we opted to go for the nicer hotel in Monument. We stayed at the Sundance Mountain Lodge and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quiet, they gave me free margaritas :) and our little patio looked over the pretty waterfall and creek in the courtyard.

During the days, we went hiking at Garden of the Gods and worked through some ministry assessments with the hope of figuring out what the rest of our lives hold....Um. That didn't happen. Monday, as we were leaving the hotel and starting out for breakfast and home, reality hit like a bucket of ice water. Literally. It went from beautiful and sunny to about 38 and sleeting. Kind of reminded me of the week before our wedding when the weather was nasty and depressing and not encouraging for an impending outdoor ceremony.

Our actual anniversary dawned lovely and sunny and...early. I had to go to work (boo) but Adrian and I had a lunch AND dinner date together - pizza, a cinnamon roll and then Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Also in honor of our 2nd anniversary, Adrian wore his wedding suit, during lunch we heard the song I walked down the aisle to, and we got a flat tire - just like the first day of our marriage. It was a nostalgic day :)

So, now that we're into year 2, all I can say is - I. LOVE. THAT. MAN. The Lord has blessed me SO much with an amazing husband, an amazing marriage and a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful example of the Perfect Husband and Perfect Marriage to aspire to.

Now, if we could just aspire to making these traditional anniversary videos actually HAPPEN, then we'd be set...

Well, it's the day after Valentine's. Dare I mention it at all? I know the concept of Valentine's is a tough pill for many to swallow - I'm pretty sure it was for me when I was single. It's funny now, on this side of marriage, how my view has changed. Before, February 14 was a day of bitterness, when I imagined all the couples were happily celebrating their love by staring adoringly into one another's eyes and feeding each other chocolate mousse (of course food was on my mind ;) and a steady diet of kisses.

Reality? It's not really like that. Of course, my husband is an incredible man, so it wasn't that the day or weekend passed unnoticed, but on this side of the altar Valentine's seems like a bit of a cop out to me. He made me funfetti brownies with frosting, and built a fort (ahem* excuse me -  a canopy bed) in our living room, and bought me Reese's hearts, and took me out for frozen yogurt at Sweet Spoons (!), but it wasn't the box of chocolates and fancy dinner and dozens of roses that culture leads you to believe define Valentine's Day. On this side of the altar, I can confidently say that when you marry someone who seeks to serve and love you well every day of the year, V-Day is fun.....but not much different than other days. We went out for Mexican (I promise - we were the ONLY couple in the restaurant, unless you count the Daddy-Daughter Date going on), I had a migraine, and we went to bed early. See? Typical.

To place so much expectation and hope on one day of the year as the day for TRUE romance is a recipe for disappointment, I'd say. When marriage and relationships are based around the gospel, we recognize that you can't go 364 days lacking love and wooing and expect that one day a year to make up for it. To pin such hopes on Valentine's Day is to crush it - and your husband - under the weight of immense pressure. When those expectations of passion and romance on February 14 aren't met, it says to me you either have seriously out of wack expectations or you have a seriously out of wack husband. Men - are you constantly loving your wives as Christ loves the church or are you expecting that one day of romance is enough to make up for a year without? Wives - are you creating huge, unattainable expectations of Valentine's Day or allowing your men to be slackers by not wooing you 365? Singles - are you bitterly viewing Valentine's Day because you don't have romantic love in your life? Jesus Christ is your husband. He longs to love and woo you FAR better than anyone can do. It's not Singles Awareness Day - it's a day to celebrate the love of the Father that he has lavished upon you in the sacrifice of his son. It's a day to celebrate the love you DO have in your life of friends and family (our man-child kind of freaked out yesterday when I wished him a happy V-Day. Seriously? Chill. We love you. Platonically. Accept it. Duh.)

Is Valentine's a huge deal for you? Why or why not? I recognize that I am often wrong and I'm entirely open to being corrected if you've found my assessment to be way off. Don't misunderstand me - I'm not saying DON'T celebrate V-Day. We certainly did. In fact, if you were bitter and didn't celebrate - our fort/canopy is still up and there are still brownies to be eaten, so come on over :) Our door is always open! With that all said - I love Jesus. I love my husband. I'm thankful that my husband recognizes that Jesus is his example of how to love me well - he does a fantastic job, 365 days a year. I'm thankful we go on dates every week and I'm thankful he made this weekend's date extra-special with the brownies and canopy and presents and fro-yo....He's a stud and an incredible Valentine. Even though I don't deserve him, I've got him, and I love it.

Just an FYI for my Triangle-area friends:

Tonight (1/28) you can get a $.99 Joey Jr. burrito at the Moe's in the area. This deal is good for today only, so if you haven't eaten yet, go get a good, cheap burrito at the 14 Raleigh-area locations. While you're out, use this (MRC37H) coupon code for a free Blockbuster box movie rental. We both grabbed a Joey Jr., with chips and salsa, and Secretariat for a grand total of $2.16.


I don't know why my text is suddenly in bold, so my apologies on that. Maybe because it's such a boldly cheap date night? Yes??


Have fun and enjoy some cheapo things!

Well, as of Monday night, I am married to a professor.

Did you hear me? A PROFESSOR. If that doesn't just SOUND interesting, I don't know what does. My husband is so distinguished :)

He had an interview Monday to teach Adult Education classes at one of the colleges in Denver, and it appears that whenever we move, A will gain the title of "Professor Vanderburg." What a stud! He'll be teaching communications and maybe some Biblical studies courses. Wahoo! What a blessing, what an answer to prayer and what a good God to provide for us!!

As for things in the here and now, we both want to be more intentional with our time. As such, I signed up for the (aforementioned) Zumba classes, with the intentional of a) getting in shape and b) meeting some new people to build relationships with so I can hopefully tell them about Jesus! Also, as far as our time, we're going to start spending Tuesday evenings down by one of the colleges with our new church "family groups" so we can be intentional about building relationships with some people.

So, boring as I have felt, things are picking up. I'm thankful God gives us seasons - seasons of rest and seasons of activity. I'm thankful for Jesus.

I've been listening to a lot of Pink's "Funhouse" CD this week - it gets me jazzed up for whatever adventure lies ahead - kicking butt and taking names or conquering the world ...or you know, it may just get me jazzed up for whatever my trip to the grocery store will hold. Eh, tomato, tomahto.

So anyways, as I sit here trying to write a blog post today, one part of Pink's song "Please Don't Leave Me" keeps echoing in my head. Except, instead of asking, "How did I get so obnoxious?" I just keep wondering, "How did I get so boring?" Instead of regaling you, my dear blog readers, with witty tales of this oh-so-exciting life I lead, all I can do is apologize for being so boring and beg, along with Pink: "Please don't leave me." I thrive off your blog-love and comments. (Don't judge me - I'm working on thriving off just Jesus.)

Although there has been lots of little victories at the VanderHouse this week, nothing is really blog-worthy. I think I am recognizing that two truly are better than one. In the beginning of this blog journey, I told you stories of how ridiculous and awkward our adventures as a married couple were. In the 15 months since we've been married, we have apparently started to tame both our individual and our collective ridiculousness and awkwardness. So, instead of stories of running into barriers or getting pulled over sans driver's license, all that comes to mind is to share about our meals or our activities, and that seem so....normal.

This used to be a funhouse but now it's full of evil clowns....(thanks for the just the right words again, Pink). So, rather than bore you to death with little ditties about where we went for A's birthday dinner this week, or how we were too tired at 8:30 to watch a movie to celebrate, or my first Zumba class that got me hooked (12 years behind the cool kids), I'll just suffice to say, "So what? I'm still a rockstar. I've got my rock moves, and I don't need you tonight."

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Yeah, yeah....I realize I'm a wee bit late. My excuse box is full like my belly after two weeks of lots of food and very little movement. Seriously. FULL.

All I can say is that I'm sorry I have neglected this blog for 2+ weeks but now I'm back. In the office. Naturally, I post when I have time at work :)

So anywhoo - it's been a busy couple of weeks, full of food, family, laughs and snow. For all you East-Coasters who got to enjoy what was apparently a LOT of snow for the area, I'd like you to pause to recognize that there was already about a foot of snow on the ground in Wyoming when we arrived before Christmas and the good Lord decided to bless the area with another 8+ inches as we were trying to leave the Frozen Tundra, as I affectionately call my husband's homeland.

We enjoyed our break by spending time with my parents in TN, celebrating Christmas early, doing some last-minute shopping and birthday-celebrating, and of course - eating. Dad and I even got to ski for a day. It was a fun excursion, but a painful reminder that I'm getting older and that it's been a few years since I skied. My black and blue knee speaks to that!

We then flew west and spent a day with my father-in-law in Denver exploring our soon-to-be new neighborhood before we ventured north to the Arctic. Wyoming was nice, with sunshine and above freezing temperatures for most of the trip, although the snow and ice remained solid. We didn't get to go for walks in the mountains except for one time, but we did make sure to make eating at Su Casa (best Mexican food EVER) a priority - three times. We also enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with the family and Christmas day with Christian family at the Olsons' - the family that led my husband to Christ. I will forever be thankful to them for their spiritual legacy which has now affected MY family! They opened their home to us so we got to share in Bible study time, tons of tasty morsels and several rousing hands of Bingo, which won a new flashlight for my dear mother-in-law and a new 4GB memory card for me! It's good to be a Vanderburg. We win things.


Once we made it out of the blizzard (literally) in Wyoming and Colorado, we decided to spend an extra night with my parents in TN so we could celebrate New Year's Eve with them before heading home to OUR home.

It is good to be back. We love and miss our family, but there's nothing like a lazy Sunday in your own bed, football on the big screen and dominos and cuddling with OUR dog. We shared a bottle of sparkling white grape juice, a pot of chili and lots of snacks supplied by my mother.


So.....all travel news aside, I'm thankful to be home. Even though today marks the beginning of the last semester in NC for us, it's lovely to settle in for one more season of the familiar before the unfamiliar strikes hard and fast. 2010 was a great year but I am so looking forward to all the Lord has in store for us in 2011!

Day 9: A photo you took

Thanks to Swagbucks, I have been earning Amazon.com gift cards and stacking them up, waiting to redeem them for this little beauty - a sushi kit of our very own, at NO cost to us! :)


I figured, sushi is delicious, but SO expensive for how little you often get! So, why not get a kit and try to make some at home? So we did. It comes with everything except the fresh fillings and chopsticks!

Saturday afternoon, I started out by cooking the included sushi rice, a semi-confusing process that left me a little worried I'd screw it up big time. However, I finally figured out all it really is is boiling the rice, turning the temp down, turning the burners off, fluffing and re-covering with a towel. After cooking and cooling, the rice gets mixed with some really strong-smelling vinegar. Then, we covered it with a wet cloth and went to worship at our wonderful church.


When we came home - it was on.

A chopped the cucumber and avocado for California Rolls, and some cream cheese for Philadelphia rolls. He's so tough, with that knife and all.

Our first roll didn't look so hot! Here's why. First, the instruction booklet says to "Toast the nori (seaweed sheets) over a medium flame"....Um. We don't have any flames except scented candles. I didn't figure that would be wise. Instead, I put it in the toaster oven on about 200 for a few minutes to warm it up - no idea if it actually helped or not!

Secondly, they tell you to cut the nori in half....however, the "cut in half" dimensions matched the size it already was. So, with our first roll, we cut it in half and rolled it wrong. Thus, we didn't have enough to wrap the rice/fillings. It looked more like a taco shell. We're multi-cultural, even with our sushi.

However, it was delicious!! After watching some ever-helpful YouTube videos and getting frustrated about the mechanics of it all, we finally got some decent looking rolls!

When we finally sat down to eat our feast about an hour and a half later, we had a curious onlooker. Silly dog, sushi's for people.

Maybe he wanted some of our homemade egg-drop soup instead. (Who am I kidding? It wasn't homemade, unless you count dropping an egg into a boiling pot of pre-packaged mix as homemade!)

In the spirit of culture, we mixed some wasabi powder with water and a LOT of soy sauce (that junk is SPICY!) in our honeymoon mug from Mexico! And voile! Our sushi feast!!

We had enough left over rolls for lunch the next day, and enough rice left to make one more roll with some salmon, avocado and cream cheese. That was my favorite.

So, for those of you who have made sushi - tips for next time? Because there WILL be a next time!

Granted, we have only been married for a little over 7 months. I am by no means an expert on marriage, nor do I bring anything to the table that hasn't already been said by somebody, somewhere. However, a few encounters this weekend got me to thinking that maybe the kind of marriage A and I strive to have is maybe more unusual than I thought.

As we were visiting my parents' church in Maryville this weekend, the pastor who was preaching had everyone stand up and hug two people before he "preached hard words." I hugged the two people sitting next to me: my Mom, and then A. As my husband was giving me a big hug, a lady behind us said, "No fair! You get to hug her all the time" to which my dear hubby said, "And it's never enough."

She looked shocked for a second and then said she wished her husband had heard that. Is it really that novel of a concept that married people should want to touch and hug each other as much as possible? I adore my husband and we try to take any chance we can to hug one another.

The next day, my parents, A and I drove up to Gatlinburg for a delicious Italian lunch and some fudge :) As we were walking along the street, some man yelled out to us, "Hey! Are you guys married or happy?" Always quicker with the responses, A replied, "Both!" Again, another silence greeted us. Is it so surprising that people can be married AND happy with one another?

We believe marriage should look like the Bible portrays it: An amazing gift of the Lord. It is a spiritual union that brings two souls together for the glory of the Lord and the betterment of the husband and wife. Marriage is about our holiness - that is, becoming more like Jesus - than our happiness, and through marriage, we are brought into a deeper relationship with the Lord as we understand Him as our eternal Husband. Marriage is a portrayal of Jesus and the Church: Jesus loves His people desperately, with a sacrifical love, dying so that His people could become righteous. The Church, then, submits to Jesus, recognizing Him as the leader and the one who knows best.

My job, as the wife, then is to submit to and respect my husband as the church should submit to and respect Jesus Christ. I don't do it perfectly, or even well, sometimes. A's job, as the husband, is to love me sacrificially, and provisionally, leading me and discipling me. He doesn't do it perfectly, either. However, within our marriage, I have seen how A tries to love me in very tangible ways, such as leaving me notes in my lunch box (yes, I carry a lunch box), teaching me hard spiritual truths or doing other romantic things for me.

Last night was one such occasion of romance gone awry. After a long weekend in Maryville, we didn't really have any groceries, so rather than asking me to go to the store and shop and then make dinner, my sweet husband offered to make dinner for me!

Here goes!

So there you have it: Marriage and romance with the Vanderburgs. We may not get it right even half of the time, but it sure is fun along the way, and I'm thankful for God's grace and mercy that gets us through!

If you're interested in reading more about our views of marriage (which are apparently quite different than a lot of other people's views of marriage) can I suggest a reading list?

A) The Bible, specifically Ephesians 5:21-33
B) Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas

Check 'em out. I pray the Lord uses them to sharpen A and I in our marriage, and I pray he uses them in your marriage too!

A typical Mother's Day when I was growing up included my Dad grilling steaks and us having a wonderful lunch feast. Maybe we'd rent a pontoon boat and go cruise the lake, lay in the sun, and swim till we were exhausted.

Yesterday it became apparent to me that I'm "not in Maryville anymore."

Granted, no kids for the Vanderburgs yet. So, I'm not a mother yet. I understand that. However, whenever that day comes, I hope my body gets treated differently than how it did yesterday.

We had been planning on doing a bike ride all week. Yesterday morning we woke up and hit the streets atop our two-wheeled death traps, hearts all a-flutter (Who am I kidding? My heart was all a-flutter at the thought of exercising. My sweet husband had already ridden the route 3 times this week, so he was fine).

So anyways, we hop on and off we go - down Capital (one of the busiest streets in Raleigh), cutting through the Hardee's parking lot, until we're on a road that is one long continuous up-hill climb. We detoured off that road and took a lovely little bike path that I will now call "The calm before the storm."

After the bike path was the final push, aka a really big hill. Ok, it wasn't that big, but for me, it was brutal. In fighting terms the trip was like this: jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, SUCKER PUNCH. Seriously.

The good news is that we were at the end, finally. We arrived at Starbucks, I downed some water, we read for a while, and when the gnawing hunger in my body finally got strong enough, we climbed back in the saddle. Fortunately, the return trip was a lot easier on my heart and lungs and legs, as it was mostly downhill. Unfortunately downhill=speed=jostling, which, to my already incredibly sore butt muscles/bones, was not so pleasant.

When we got home, I slaved over a hot stove for a long time and produced a delicious meal of chicken parmesan, parmesan asparagus, salad (not on the stove) and bruschetta. It was a lovely feast. A did clean up for me, since our dishwasher is broken and I hate hand-washing dishes.

You'd think it would be time for a rest after that, right? Nope. I then did a good old-fashioned butt-kicking kind of cleaning job - scrubbing toilets, bathtubs, floors, sweeping, shaking out rugs, vacuuming, organizing, etc. We have a friend of A's moving in with us today, so I wanted to make sure everything was spic and span for his arrival.

Thus, the brutal body day. I treated myself (after a horrible ending to The Amazing Race) to a hot bath and an early bedtime. *Bliss*

In all seriousness though, we may try to make the Sunday morning bike ride a regular thing. We tried the Saturday night service at our church and really liked it a lot, so we'll probably make Saturdays our day of rest and worship, thus enabling us to do more bike rides on Sundays. Since we want to be church planters, I think it will be really beneficial for us to be out in the community when most believers are in church - trying to form relationships with non-believers and getting me out of my legalistic mindset that "Sundays are for church and if you're not at church on Sunday mornings, you're a heathen." I apologize for thinking that. I repent.

Hope all of my lovely friends - mothers and mothers-to-be alike, had a fabulous day. Praise God for the gift mothers are, and I praise God that mothers are merely a reflection of the character of our heavenly Father.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." -James 1:17

A year ago today, I had been off of caffeine for exactly one week. Although, I definitely fudged a little that first week and had a celebratory Dr. Pepper or two. Even though I've been off caffeine and most sodas (still have root beers occasionally) I have noticed zero weight loss in conjunction with it. Not fair.

A year ago today, I woke up an engaged women for the first time. I was in South Carolina, and went to church at the church where my fiance worked. I couldn't stop looking at my new bling - the unmistakable sparkle of an engagement ring on my left hand - which my sweet (then) boyfriend had placed on my hand the day before. Finally, we were engaged! What an incredible weekend and experience.

Six months ago today, I woke up a "Vanderburg" for the very first time. I woke up next to a new husband and started a life of new adventures. After our wedding the day before, we had embarked on this journey called life and started it off with a bang and a flat tire. Ah, bliss.

We celebrated two milestones yesterday (although I think they both were more significant to me than to him). The first milestone - a year of me having a ring on my left hand and the promise of unity and serving A and serving alongside A for the rest of our lives. We also celebrated six months of marriage - my, how they have FLOWN by! I never would have thought it would have gone so quickly, but it sure did. It has been incredible, and the best six months of my life. Marriage is wonderful, and such an amazing blessing from God.

So today marks the beginning of the second six months of our first year of marriage...Still following? I can't wait to see what happens in these next six months and how God uses our marriage to draw us closer to each other and to show us, even more clearly, Himself and his glorious gospel.

I was pretty perky yesterday, although it was Monday. I had had a good time in the Word, a visit from my friends Courtney and Laura and new baby Gavin, and enjoyed the giggles from my trip to the store. Despite the good things, I did have a headache, but that's par for the course for me after a day in the office.

When I went to Wal-Mart for the weekly grocery-shopping trip, all was going well until the bread aisle. I was squatting down, looking for the price on the whole-grain tortillas I wanted to buy, when I suddenly felt a pile of bricks hit me on the top of my head.

Ok, ok, it wasn't bricks, but it sure as heck felt like it. An apparently impatient woman couldn't wait for me to move and reached up from behind me to grab a bag of tortillas. An apparently huge bag of tortillas. 200 to be exact.

So after it hit me, I just sat there and started to cry. She said "Sorry!" and ran off. Her daughter giggled at me from behind the end-cap.

After I got up, called A and cried, I went back to see exactly how much the 200 tortillas that hit me weighed.

4.6 pounds. Nearly 5 pounds of corn and oil combined that whacked me in the head. Wow-sers.

To say it hurt would be an understatement.

Why do these things happen to me? I thought being a Crane meant I was clumsy. I have more mishaps as a Vanderburg than I ever did before. Gracious. When I got home though, a sweet surprise awaited me.


The night we first met, creative little me told A I liked to eat tortillas like this - making them into a face first. It was only one of the many quirky and endearing things I do that won his heart ;) I'm so thankful for him, how he cares for me, and the little things he does that make life with him oh-so sweet, even when things are painful.

This is the chronicle of our first Valentine's Day as a married couple!

Ok, ok, maybe it won't be a chronicle, as that would entail me probably telling you every little detail, and my dear husband is a more private person than I am, so here's the highlight reel:

Friday - We volunteered at the Special Olympics of Wake County basketball competition and had a grand time. It was fun to do something like that together and the kids were super sweet and so excited. We watched Couples Retreat (really good) while eating some fajitas (yummy yum yum) and then made a pallet on the floor and watched Zombie Land - which I also enjoyed, minus the face-eating (literally) scenes. Ben snuggled with us all night once we were on his level.

Saturday was a wonderfully slow day - slept in and took a walk in the snow before it melted. We started watching FlashForward, which we're both pretty much hooked on now! Did some cleaning and then made Adrian his chocolate Valentine's day pie and a spicy shrimp pasta for dinner. More FlashForward and then bedtime.

On V-Day itself, we went to the Summit, where we are starting down the road to joining, and then to dinner and a movie (I know you're surprised, haha). It's too cold to do anything random outside, so we went to the theater and watched Mel Gibson kick some butt in "Edge of Darkness." Afterwards was Carabba's, coffee at Caribou and grocery shopping. To cap it off, we watched the "Bride" episode of Smallville.....Um, we both thought it would be more along the lines of a romantic episode, not expecting the bride would be stolen by a beast on her wedding day. Weird.

All in all, it was a great time to relax and spend time together. It's kind of crazy to me how I don't get sick of hanging out with the same person all the time. In fact, I rather enjoy it! I'm so glad the Lord loved us both enough to stand in the gap for us, and I'm so glad he loves us enough to give us good gifts like amazing husbands. Oh, the blessings :)

As previously mentioned, we have date nights on Tuesdays. This month, we're seriously trying to attack our budget and be good stewards of our money, meaning we have none to eat out on. Never fear - Chick-Fil-A is here!

My in-laws gave us some gift cards for Christmas, so we used one for Chick-Fil-A last night. It was an experience, to say the least. As we pulled up, we noticed a lot of Valentine's Day decor - and I mean a lot. Except, included in the pink and red hearts and pink and white balloons was a healthy dose of black - for Valentine's Day....Bitterness? Not sure.

As we came inside the store, we saw guys standing around in tuxes, a table set up to make Valentines and a whole lot of commotion - including a harpist and an old lady reading children's stories.

Someone came over to tell us it was Family Night (it was Tuesday...right) but that they were also doing a special date night, thus the maître d's and the lady playing the harp in the dark section of the store. Don't worry about there not being any lights on though - candles set the scene for romance! Ha.

So there we sat, with our chicken sandwiches, candles and harp music. Lovely, right? It looked like the separation of family night and date night didn't last long though - soon enough, the lady reading stories asked for volunteers to sing and we were serenaded by a bunch of seven year olds singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, in between the musicians' 3 attempts at "Edelweiss."

It was a fun experience. A thought it was one of the best date nights yet - free food provided by the Vanderburgs and a whole lot of entertainment, provided by Chick-Fil-a and children. Here's a short clip to prove it all really happened. (Surprisingly, a video without Ben!) Please notice the bored looking father on the right side of the screen - staring off into la-la land while his daughter has a jolly good time with her balloon :)

Just so you don't think Ben has been neglected during this season of love, wanted to share a few pictures of how much loving he gets from Daddy. Who can resist these faces?

Well, just a little announcement: A and I had productive, snowy weekend and took advantage of our free time at home and gave birth to.......A SNOWMAN! (Come on, you didn't really think I'd say I was pregnant, did you?!)

We had a good snowy weekend filled with my parents, snow, together-time, laughter at Ben, and movies. In addition to playing our new favorite game (Aces & Faces) with Mom and Dad, we also took some long walks in the snow and watched Benny boy sprint around, played hide & go seek with him, and watched the first 2 of 3 Lord of The Rings movies. I'd never seen them, we were in the mood for a marathon, and I wanted something fantasy. We still have to watch #3 - the extended versions are all like 4 hours long, so it took the whole day Monday to watch 2 and make a snowman!

So anyways, here we go with pictures of the newest little Vanderburg, who sadly, was decapitated (not sure if it was intentional or not) shortly thereafter.

Hope you all had a wonderful, wintry weekend too, and thanks for all the loving on my childhood photos! Glad you enjoyed them :)