Like a dream, a lovely dream, my train ride and weekend in Charleston have come and gone, and I'm left with memories and mental images. Lucky for you, those mental images are accompanied by ACTUAL images of my train experience and time in S. Carolina. However, as I am in the process of trying to teach myself Lightroom and better photo-editing techniques, I'm not going to share the pictures juuuust yet. When I'm satisfied with the editing I've done, I'll post some here to show you, but until then - practice patience. It's a virtue.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to share some things I am excited about with the impending move to Denver. Although "impending" is often followed by "doom," that is not the message I wish to convey. Rather, I want to you to know that it's getting close and I'm EXCITED! Although we haven't really begun to pack (at all, actually) our things, here are some things I am mentally projecting I will be excited about when we land in the Mile High City. Because lists are always better in 10s, here are ten things (in no particular order) that I'm looking forward to!

I am excited about....
1. Not having to scroll through a gazillion state abbreviations that start with "N" anymore. No kidding - there are SIX state abbreviations that begin with "N" before you get to "NC." It is followed only by North Dakota's abbreviation - "ND." If North Dakota came before North Carolina in the lists, I'd seriously have to throw a fit - no one ever picks "ND," not a single person. They were paying people to stay in-state, so this is a proven fact ;)

2. Not having to deal with mold issues in our home anymore. Excessive humidity is a dastardly thing.

3. Going to eat at this place and this place, both of which were featured on Man vs. Food and look delectable.

4. Being so close to the beautiful Rocky Mountains and going hiking with my boys! That is, if I can tear A away from the Rockies baseball team to visit the Rocky Mountains. I guess I'm excited to go to baseball games too.

5. Learning how to snowshoe (Ang, teach me?)

6. Taking advantage of the proximity to fantastic ski slopes and hopefully skiing lots and lots and lots.

7. In general, I guess I'm looking forward to enjoying God's gorgeous creation.

8. Living life with this amazing community.

9. Being there with this lady and her husband for the beginning of baby Liam's life!

10. Living in a town with an IKEA come fall!!! I love IKEA with a fierce, shopping love and will have to restrain myself from shopping and filling our new home with lesser products until IKEA opens and I can shop till I drop :)

There you have it. If you've made a move recently, what things did you look forward to about your new city? If you're in Denver already, what things should I be excited about that I haven't mentioned?

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

Wow. It's been a while, huh?

We have had a whirlwind couple of weeks, it seems like. Three out of the last four weekends, A has been in SC working. Thankfully, I was able to go with him these last two weekends! We drove to Walterboro (where he used to live and work) last Saturday morning and then drove back last Sunday afternoon. A grand total of 24 hours, but packed chock-full. We stayed with one of the families at his old church, who added our two (three with Ben!) bodies to an already full and boisterous house. It was fun to hang out with them and grow in understanding of what life pre-marriage was like for my husband :)

When we got back, Monday and Tuesday we went to an excellent conference on church planting and revitalization of churches in the new South. It was held at our church, The Summit, and featured several topics, all centered around the need for the gospel to be faithfully preached in church in the South and around the world. Without the constant exposition of the Bible and the constant teaching on the gospel - central to our faith - our churches will continue to wither and die. We must do away with teaching "quaint moralism" and start teaching the gospel once again. It was refreshing for my heart, as a product of churches in the south, to be reminded that church is not primarily a moral training ground, it's the body of believers who have been radically saved by his grace.

On Wednesday, I returned to the office, while A went to a bootcamp held by the Acts29 church planting network. It was a great time of spiritual renewal and direction for him, it seems, and I can aleady see how the Lord is working through that church-planting training in our lives and futures.

Friday, we skidaddled back down to SC for another weekend (A was preaching the last two Sundays at his old church). We got in about 9:45 or so, after what seemed like a loooong drive. We were thankful to be staying with friends Cory & Jessie, and thankful that though they weren't there to meet us, they had left a key for us on their deck. Smooth-hands-Vandy that he is, A dropped the single key when he tried to unlock the door. It fell to the mat, bounced off, hit the deck, fell between the cracks, hit another board and landed in the dirt below. After about 40 minutes of searching with a flashlight, he finally found the key and tried to McGyver it by sticking some duct tape and a stick in between the boards to snag the key. No luck. The key is still snuggled into the dirt, but thankfully, Jessie came home and let us in :)

Saturday was a full day of sermon prep (for A) and a walk on the beach (for me), chicken fajitas for lunch, putt-putt, go-karts and arcade games at Frankies, and Hyman's for some tasty seafood! We were joined by Clay and Mikalah, former youth of A's who wanted to double date. It was great!

After church on Sunday and listening to my hubs preach, it was lunch witht the pastor and his family and then home.

I'm exhausted. I was tired this morning, and even more tired trying to write about it all. Conciseness is not my strong point. Anyways, if you're tired from reading the recap, I apologize. Go take a nap and think of me ;)

It's a tough world out there, and even more painful when you have a 6'8'' husband who inflicts pain on both himself and others.

Last week I commented to A that for some reason, my left ankle has been hurting unexpectedly. It's not like I've been exercising (mono), so I had no idea how or why I had hurt it. I only knew that several mornings when I took our dog, Ben, out to the bathroom, it was tender and stiff to walk on.

After I mentioned this, A paused and looked thoughtful for a minute.

"I might be doing it to you," he said. "Which ankle is it?"

I told him it was my left ankle, also known as the one closest to him in bed. *Lightbulb*

"Sometimes you sleep crooked. Like, your body is far away, but your legs are stretched out close to me. I know I've accidentally kicked you a few times lately when your legs were there and I didn't know it." Apparently, I don't wake up or notice being assaulted in my sleep. That is not comforting news.

However, he also unwittingly inflicts pain on himself. Take last night for example. I was in the bedroom folding clothes and he was at our dining room table working on the budget when I heard him yell and start muttering. I went out to see what was the matter and found my beloved laying in the corner with his head cocked awkwardly against both walls - sitting still after he broke one of our dining room chairs. Geez, Fatty. Kidding :)

The chair just crumbled underneath him, and being that he's so tall, his already-prone-to-pain back and neck suffered some serious discomfort from his little tumble. I wanted to comfort him, but didn't know quite what to say. I thought about telling him how I used to fall out of chairs all the time, but it was never because they broke when I sat down. I was never heavy enough for that :)

So anyways, we're going to try and start working out together tonight to get our bodies in better shape. We've been busy and eating poorly and sickly, so it hasn't been a priority, at least for me. He has been more disciplined. Obviously, our bodies could use a little more beating up (of the intentional sort) so that A doesn't break any more chairs or break my ankle. We want to be better stewards of our body so that those who don't know the Lord won't be turned off at the vision of His temple before they ever hear word of His salvation.

Speaking of salvation, yesterday was Resurrection Day (also known as Easter), and it was a great one for the Vanderburgs. We both really enjoyed serving coffee together at some of the services at our church, listening to a great message about the Gospel (four words: Jesus in my place), and then celebrating with over 90 people who decided to get baptized in big tanks in the field. It was a blessing to be there and see how God worked and got the glory. Afterward, we enjoyed lunch/dinner at Cheesecake Factory (2-year tradition now!). All in all, a fabulous first Easter for the Vanderburgs :)

As many of you know, I happen to like alliteration. This is why you'll often see me using it in my blog titles. Fortunately for me, today's was a no-brainer (score!), especially considering that the three alliterated things are all about food (double score).

Sunday A and I went to the 12:30 service at our new church, The Summit. We were planning on attending a meeting afterward about a new campus closer to us, so I figured I'd make us some BLTs before heading over there.

I've started cooking with real bacon, instead of the pre-cooked stuff that I used to use. It's cheaper and tastes better, but cooking it has proven hazardous. The first time I tried to make some of the real bacon, I put it on a plate in the microwave and ended up starting a mini-fire on the plate (the paper towels did it, I think), and the plastic cracked down the middle. Yikes. So on Sunday, I cooked the bacon in the frying pan, as I have learned to do fairly well.

All was going great until I dropped a fresh piece into the hot pan and SHAZAM! Bacon grease came flying out - straight into my eye. I started screaming because it hurt so flipping bad. A came running over and instructed my to stand over the sink and hold my eye open. He began throwing water into my face (not exactly my eye) to try and flush it all out. For an ex-baseball player, his aim wasn't so hot with the water! Ha. I don't think I made it any easier because I kept squinting and spazzing. Long story short(er), I ended up with no serious injury, except to my make-up, which had to be redone. A told me later he immediately began thinking about what life without sight would be like for me - thank the Lord, that didn't happen that day.

Another food mishap happened today while I was eating lunch in the office. I was watching a highly intelligent show on the computer while I ate (who am I kidding? It was Cougar Town) with my headphones plugged in. I turned my head to sneeze, and the cord for my ear buds knocked over my open water bottle, spilling water all over my desk, my pants, the floor and my lunch. I effectively ruined the second half of my PB&J and chips. After cleaning it all up, I got in my car to treat myself to a Bojangles chicken biscuit (It's been SOO long!). I got there, ordered and pulled the car up to the window, only to realize I had left my wallet on my desk. Stink.

I turned around, went back to the office, grabbed my wallet and went back for a delicious biscuit. Nothing was stopping me once I got that idea in my head! It tasted SO good.

So. There you go - life as a Vanderburg entails so many food mishaps.

Hopefully, this only applies to me, not my husband. As of next week, A will be started manager training at Bruegger's, where he will have access to lots and lots of bagels. College friends - you know what sweet music to my ears that is! I ADORE bagels. The job is really an answer to prayer in so many ways, and we're thankful and excited about it! As his friend Billy told him - "If you're going to bagel, bagel to the glory of God!" I'm looking forward to the new relationships he'll make, the new things he'll learn and all the bagels he'll bring home to me ;)