Our Backyard is a Lake

Currently, I am looking out our sliding glass door and into our backyard, which looks more like a swamp than anything else. Since about 9 pm last night, the rain here has hardly let up, so it looks like our 4th of July weekend will be rather untraditional (we will be spending it inside). Ironically, we were supposed to be in Houston visiting my family and the Greers today. After a series of miscommunications and sitting in traffic in Oklahoma for an hour last night, we decided to turn around and drive back to spend the weekend in Norman. We would not have arrived in Houston until at least 2 a.m. with the way our trip was going, and we would have had to drive back this afternoon. I was greatly looking forward to seeing our family and friends, but sometimes life just happens in ways you didn't quite expect.

Yesterday, we had our church over to the house for a cookout. Thankfully, the rain held off all day, and we had a great time. We had about 25 people over, a large portion of them being children. Church functions always remind me why I love children... and why we would like to wait to have our own. The kids at UFC are seriously cute and well-behaved, but Andrew and I realize more all the time how much our lives will change when we have them, and I think we'd like a couple more years to just be us.

The house has been a huge blessing already. I have always enjoyed having people over, but I enjoy it even more now, knowing that our space is much more homey and accommodating. We have had friends over several times already and are looking forward to having many more people in our home over the next several years.

Andrew turned 24 on Thursday. I think he would say that he had a good birthday, although it was not unlike any other day of the year. We met his parents for dinner after he got off work and then came back to the house. When I asked Andrew what he wanted to do for the rest of the evening, he said, "A puzzle." I tried to convince him that there are many more options of things to do on one's birthday, but he insisted that a puzzle was what he wanted to do. We did end up going to meet some friends later. Thanks, everyone, who made his birthday special. Your calls and messages did not go unnoticed!

In Christ alone,
Mary Rachel