Perfection is relative, I suppose

Sometimes I guess there are things that two people will never be able to agree upon fully.

Below is a picture that I consider to be perfect. So much so, that when I am lost in house work, or feel like I don't know where all of the house projects Travis and I are trying to do are going - I pull up this picture and it encourages me. I talk to Travis a lot about our "forever house." I think of it as the place where we will spend most of our lives -- you know; raise children, have dogs, and live out our lives. For me, our "forever house" is filled with baking, hot chocolate, and laughing. It is the place that is always wonderful.

And this is what it looks like.

So imagine my surprise when I show this picture to Travis and say "isn't it perfect?" He says "I don't like the wall paper. It looks like cotton balls, or pine cones." {I happen to think that this room would not be the same with any other wall paper}

The point of this is to ask for those of you who know us to help -- what do you think? Perfection? or Pine cones?

Reflection

Next Sunday Travis and I will have been married for one year!
I can't believe that our first year together has gone by so quickly! I thought that I would take some time to jot down the things I have learned while we are married:

1. Two really are better than one.
The author of Ecclesiastes really did know what he was talking about! Two are better than one in so many ways. First, in the way the verse was intended meaning that if you spiritually walk along side someone else they will keep you accountable and keep your eyes in the right direction. Also, in the day to day I have found how much I love having Travis to come home to! Its so much easier to do the things that I don't want to during the day when I know that I have Travis to see when I am done! Also, I never fully appreciated how wonderful it is to have someone to share the ups and downs of life with; I love knowing that Travis will support and help me now matter what is happening!

2. Boys make the bathroom messy.
I never really grew up much with boys in the house. Stephen and Michael were out of the house by the time I was seven, and so most of my life I lived either with my parents, with girls, or alone. Let me tell you; I did not know what I was in for! The one place that I can notice an appreciable difference in dirty-ness since Travis has moved in is in the bathroom. All of those tiny tiny hairs from shaving get ALL over our white bathroom and they are virtually impossible to clean up entirely! And I won't even talk about the change I have noticed in the toilet. Lets just say I'm needing my cleaning gloves much more frequently than I used to!

3. Being married makes you tired.
I don't know what it is about being married that makes you want to go to bed between 10 and 10.30 every night, but it seems inevitable. This didn't happen to me when I was single, but all of a sudden poof I got married and now I pumpkin at 10 pm. Travis has noticed no difference in his sleeping patterns because he has always preferred to sleep a good 10-12 hrs/night.

4. What a difference a year makes.
Travis and I have seen so much change and growth this past year. As a married couple you learn all of the good and bad about each other, and the trick is to love them through everything. Travis and I spent some time the other night talking about how different things were for us a year ago, about all of the things we have struggled with and how, ultimately, we have grown together because of it.Even though our conversation brought me to tears at times I was so happy to be looking back and to see how much we have changed and grown.

5. It really is about give and take.
When we first got married I wanted so badly to be the perfect wife. To me, I thought that meant looking perfect, having the house perfectly clean for my husband, and cooking healthy gourmet equivalent meals every night. If you haven't figured out, I learned quickly that all of those things weren't going to happen all of the time (who are we kidding, they didn't happen MOST of the time!) I remember a devotional that was in the brides bible Jim and Linda gave me as an engagement present that talked about how we all have a picture in our head of what it means to be a perfect spouse, but that it isn't about being what we considered to be perfect. Its about allowing God to mold us into the perfect fit for our spouse. I realize that I can never be the perfect wife, but I can be the perfect wife for Travis. And that doesn't really have very much to do with our house looking spotless or cooking the best meals in Lubbock. So now when Travis has to help me clean (like he did last night while I was at the hospital all night) I don't feel guilty that he had to help me; I just pray for an opportunity to be able to help him back!

Well that seems like enough for now, if I think of more then I will post Reflections 2.0

Surprise!

This year for my parents 60th birthday my brothers and I decided to give them a surprise birthday party. It was so much fun! My aunt volunteered her house (our 930 sq foot bungallow would have been tight) and we had over 40 of my parents friends and family there to celebrate!

A friend went around snapping some quick pics before the party started of the food and decorations. Later, I will post pictures of everyone having fun!


Our theme for the evening was black and white, in honor of their 60th birthday, with chalk and chalkboard details to keep it from being too stiff feeling.

We had black butcher paper runners and chalk so that the kids could draw and have funWe also pained chalk board paint stripes on the glasses so everyone could write their names on their glass and not get glasses confused.The food we had was wonderful! Prime rib sliders, tomato basil soup shots, asparagus rolls, caprese salad on a stick, and spicy sweet and sour chicken skewers!We had a dessert buffet with mini cupcakes, kettle corn, lemon bars, and rice krispie sticks for the kids!A year book picture of my Mother, she was voted "Most Beautiful" in high schoolTo drink we had an ice tea and coffee bar with peach, raspberry, hazelnut, and vanilla flavors!

The last thing we had was a place for guests to write a special note to Mom and Dad!

We had such a wonderful time getting to put this together for our parents, and we were so happy to see so many of our family and friends there to help us make this birthday special one!

When we aren't studying...

So, more weeks have passed than I care to admit since I've been able to post pics and update everyone on our lives, but I think that is the nature of life!

Travis and I are both doing well! Travis is working hard and studying a lot as well! I am about to finish my internal medicine rotation, and then we will both have off for Christmas break! Anyway, so the whole purpose of this post is to talk about what we are doing when we aren't studying.

We have quite a few projects that we are working on: we are reupholstering an old couch, repainting an old dresser, and working on other paining and buiding projects for our bedroom! I have promised pictures of the things we have going on now! So here we go:

This is the old couch we are reupholstering -with help from my Aunt. We have now taken off all of the fabric and our couch is getting the springs re-tied and the webbing restrung. We have ordered fabric that should be in soon, hopefully! So all that is left is to pain the couch and reupholster it (thats all, ha)!

This is the fabric that we are going to reupholster it in. Its really cool in person and not quite as dark looking!

This is the picture of the dresser that Travis and I are painting. We finally decided on Martha Stewarts, Weathervane, its a purple so dark it almost looks black. I think it will look great with our grey walls and shiny gunmetal bedspread!

This is the pictures of the mirror that Travis and I made back in September! I'm not able to describe it very well -- so here are the pictures finally! Anyway, I like this much more than most starburst mirrors that I've seen in catalogs and its much cheaper. Also, I'm not sure if you can tell, but this thing is HUGE! The mirror was 14" and the bamboo we cut ranged from 15" to 24" so it fits are large wall very well!

Here is the picture of the mirror on the wall! I think it looks great and I think it will look even better once we have the new couch with the funky fabric sitting below it!

Well; that is a quick update with some things that I have been wanting to share with ya'll!!

I promise I'm studying

But everyone needs a quick lunch break, right?

Here are some photos I found on Houzz for our Bedroom inspiration. We will have to see if I can talk Travis into it!

eclectic bedroom design by

contemporary living room design by san francisco interior designer Amoroso Design

eclectic living room design

Basically, I am wanting to do cool mix of grey, gunmetal, and purple. Something chic, pretty and moody. These pics mainly show the colors I want to use, but not the style. I am still loving the gorgeous, clean mid century look. I want to make a headboard, and of course I am dying to put up wall paper or paint wall paper or something. But I don't know that I have talked Travis into that either!

Ok -- back to studying!

What I want to do

Have I told ya'll about my impulse purchases recently?

Lately, Travis and I have been making some impulse purchases (read: second hand furniture that requires a lot of fixing up). For my birthday, Travis let me buy this gorgeous couch that needs a total over haul! And then last week we bought this wonderful old dresser that will work perfect for combining all of our things, but needs a good sanding and new paint job!

Anyway -- what I want to do right now is upload all of the pictures of my lovely couch and dresser, and tell you all about how my wonderful husband spent all of Satuday afternoon outside carefully trying to remove the fabric from the old abused couch, but I can't do any of those things because I have my board exam for OB/GYN friday and I need to study!

After my test on Friday, and after I get to hang out with Amanda B who is making the journey to Lubbock, I will post the pictures of our couch as we figure out how to take all of this fabric off in the right order. Have I mentioned that we are learning this as we go along! (uh oh) Oh well -- we are having fun!

Welcome Back!

If you are coming back to check on us after our long absence then we would like to say WELCOME BACK!

If you are visiting us for the first time, then WELCOME!

I started this blog last spring and in the midst of Step 1 I got behind. After step was over I decided that I wanted to customize our blog; so I have been working on that since July! So, now that all of that is out of the way I am free to blog away!

So, a quick update on our lives! If you look below you can see some pictures that I promised to put up, and then found out I didn't have camera cords. So, after a long delay I put those up! After spending the summer in Houston while I was studying for Step 1, Travis and I are back in Lubbock and working away! Travis is taking 9 hours and working part time at a structural and architectural engineering firm. He is doing so well -- studying away as I type this. He has had his first test already (and made a 95!). I am so proud of him, he is working super hard!

I started back to class in July -- and so far have spent time in Psychiatry and OB/GYN. I have gotten to do some awesome stuff, including delivering my first baby which was SO incredible! I am enjoying seeing all of the different sides of medicine and learning as much as possible!

Anyway, I just wanted to welcome you all back to our new and improved blog! Be on the look out for more fun posts to come!

Honeymoon pics teaser

Here are just a few pictures of our honeymoon. Justin was very generous and let Travis borrow his nice camera since Travis' had just been stolen, but we forgot to get the pictures off before we gave it back to him. We took most of our pictures on his camera, but here are a few that we took on mine.

We had such a wonderful relaxing time!

Eating sushi!

Our romantic candle lit dinner -- and the yummy dessert!

We went on an awesome trip to Chichen Itza and took some really cool pictures. Once we get those I will put those up!

Happy Bithday Travis!

Well, no doubt this post is a bit late! Haha! Now that I have gotten my camera cords back from my Mom I can finally post some of the long promised pictures of Travis on his Birthday!

This year Travis turned 26! It was also Travis' first birthday to spend in Lubbock so I wanted to make it extra special for him. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to make his day perfect someone else had other plans...Travis was rear ended on his way to class and so his day started off on a super sour note!

Oh well, Travis didn't let it ruin his day and we had a bunch of fun. Enjoy the long over due pictures!

Snow on Travis' birthday!!!!

Travis enjoying some Happy Bithday chocolate chip muffins, and finishing home work which is why he looks grumpy!

Sydney tells Travis "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADS!!"

Travis' meal of choice on his birthday! I hate fast food (and Whataburger in particular)so he never gets to eat it! Since I told him he could have anything he wanted...this is what he choose!

I feel so very blessed to be paired with such a wonderful man, even though its not his birthday today I wanted to take a second and say that I am a very lucky, blessed woman!

Projects

Since Travis and I have been married I have been trying to learn more about DIY-ing things for our house!

I have a lot of projects in mind and some that I have started that are still in progress. Anyway, as I work/blog about them I plan to put them here so that ya'll can see and give me advice!

Things I am working on now:
refurbishing a flea market find couch
making a Starburst mirror

Ideas:
Making our own upholstered headboard
Painting a wall paper design in our bed room
Making a desk that will seat two for our office
SO much more!!!

If you have any ideas/advice please let me know!

Day Eight: A Kingdom Oriented Mission

Hello friends and fam!

I wanted to put this up this beautiful morning! The Lead Pastor at our Church, First Baptist, is doing a 30 days of prayer devotional about becoming a missional body of Christ. So, every morning he sends out a small devotional centered around how to become more mission oriented. I have really enjoyed reading them each morning before I start my routine of life. Anyway, I really enjoyed this from yesterdays devotional. I think that in life we often can easily identify that as a people we are given to be too busy, but I don't think that we often consider the consequences. We just think that we are too busy and as a result we don't give the time that we should over to the Lord. This devotional talks about an abiding prayer life that is the only way to be the presence of the Lord and how busyness is one of the biggest ways that we as a people are kept from being the presence of the Lord.

Anyway, I guess it hit home for me because it seems like no matter how much I study there is always more studying to do, and then I go home at night and there is always more work to do around the house. And I know that it is that way for everyone. But, I think what this is telling me is that there has to be a point where I draw the line and say the house work/studying/whatever will be here when I get back, but if I miss a chance to commune with the Lord today -- I can't make that up, and it will affect my ability to reflect the Lord's character.

So, I enjoyed it and thought that I might put it up for everyone to enjoy!
Also, pictures are coming I PROMISE. My mother has been holding our camera cords hostage, but as soon as we get them from her they will go up! We love you all and hope that you had an Easter filled with Joy in our Lord!!!


“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation;” (Acts 6:4).

The disciples are seeking to recover that which had characterized the church from its earliest and most formative days, when “they all joined together constantly in prayer.” Enough time has passed from Acts 1 to Acts 6 for pettiness to have already found its way into the life of the church—one group felt they weren’t getting the same attention as another group so a “complaint” arose (Acts 6:1). The apostles recognized that the busyness of “church work” had become a poor substitute and distraction to the accomplishment of Kingdom work; that which is accomplished only by prayer and the ministry of the Word.

If it can happen to the apostles it can happen to us. The mission of the church will be actualized only as it is driven by prayer and the ministry of the word. Yet, busyness is our greatest enemy. We are bombarded with so many things; even good things that choke the preoccupation of prayer from our lives. Consider this; a student with ear buds can hear more composers in a day than Mozart heard in a lifetime. Enter any art museum and you can see more masterpieces in an hour than Rubens saw in a year. When I read the daily paper, I am exposed to more news in an hour than the apostles were exposed to in a year. And as evidenced by the testimony of the apostles even “church work” can strangle prayer out of the life of God’s people

All this exposure and busyness makes me ask, “Am I so busy keeping in touch with all kinds of things, and jumping through so many “hoops” that life is setting before me that I am losing touch with what matters most—an abiding prayer life; the only means by which I have any possible chance of being the presence of Christ in the world God has placed me?”

Prayer Thought: “Father, I pray that you would give to me and to your church the discernment of the apostles to recognize the futility of busyness; that we might recover the priority of prayer, with the understanding that it is the only means by which we can truly be a missional people.”

Woo Hoo!!!

Well, after a fairly miserable first two weeks of March I can be the blog bearer of good news!

Travis and I spent the first part of March buried in books and hardly seeing/speaking to each other at all. Travis had 3 midterms (dynamics, advanced structural analysis, & concrete -- I don't know what these mean) the week before his Spring break. I had a test, a block final, and the CBSE. What is the CBSE? It is the Comprehensive Basic Science Exam - basically it a test over your first two years of medical school. The purpose of this exam is to evaluate whether or not a student is prepared to take Step 1 of the USMLE in June. The TTUHSC administers the exam and gives you 3 chances to pass it before starting third year, and this was the first time around.

Anyway -- all of that to say that Travis & I were studying -ALOT- but we made it through!

Travis did AWESOME! He only has 2 test grades back but he got a 93 (highest grade in the class) and an 83 (3rd highest grade in the class)! I am SO proud of him - so when he talks to you about his classes and says that "ya sure they are fine" just know that he is being modest and that he is basically showing these poor Tech students how its really done!!

I haven't gotten my grades for my test and final, but I found out I passed the CBSE (whoop!). It is super nice to have that behind us - we just praise the Lord for giving us the strength to make it through those rough 2 weeks, and for allowing us to serve Him through our studies.

On a completely different note I have decided that I am becoming a foodie [please see my food websites I have put up to substantiate my claim]. In my spare time I have been cooking up a storm in our little kitchen. I have been trying to do 2 things; 1 expand my expertise to new food genres...to that end I have recently made Curry and General Tso's Chicken. And 2 make things absolutely from scratch -- so no more store bought pesto or tsatsiki sauce, my next project will be homemade pasta and bread (yay).

The Halls v 3.0

Hello Family & Friends!

Travis and I have wanted to do a bit of blogging so that we can keep in touch with our friends and family all over the continent & globe! So you are officially reading our first post.

As a true testitiment to his love for the Lord and for me, Travis is adjusting well to being an official Tech Grad student (whoop?) and is begining to get settled into Lubbock as well. Together we have both also been settling into our house, and since most of it has been dependent on my test schedule it has been slow going, but we are so close to having everything put together! We made quite a few changes to the extra bed room so that it works as an office for Travis & an area for me to get ready in so we don't have to step on each other in the bathroom. Anyway, we have spent quite a bit of time trying to plan out how to maximize the space that we have here, and we are both quite pleased with the outcome - our house has become quite cozy and feels just perfect for us! It has snowed three times since we have moved Travis up in January, even as I type this it is snowing right now! Its so pretty but it makes getting around difficult (of course Travis is hoping they will cancel class since tomrrow is his birthday!)

We have been blessed beyond words with our first two months of life together in Lubbock. This semester has been moving quickly, but the Lord has provided us with energy for studying and still allowed us to have quality time together!

We have some fun pictures to post later (snow storms etc.) to give you a glimpse of our life here (though pictures from the Library might be more appropraiate :) For now we just wanted to say HI from Lubbock to those we love :) I will try to post pictures of Travis' birthday so that everyone can see him on his b-day, even if you don't get to "see" him!

Oh - also I wanted to explain the extremely long blog name; basically I came up with EVERY possible play on words with Hall (my favorite was hall-elujah.blogspot.com) and they were all taken. Something Beautiful is a song by Need to Breath that is one of both of our favorite songs right now, and it has such a simple and beautiful message: to seek and wait for God's beauty that I just decided to name our blog after it! So there you go!

I also have a new email address: libbyahall@gmail.com (familiar?) Anyway, I am in the process of changing everything over so the more people that start email me at my new & improved email address the better!