Happy Anniversary to my dearest friend...

It's hard for me to believe that twenty-nine years have passed since I walked down the aisle to be married to my best friend. (Especially since, as my children well know, I'll be re-celebrating my 27th birthday in February. But that's another story.)

Twenty-nine years. Twenty-nine years of God's faithfulness. Twenty-nine years of grace and love. Twenty-nine years of learning about one another, only to find that we can never know everything about this other person. Twenty-nine years of growing up, raising children, living life. Twenty-nine years of God's faithfulness. Twenty-nine years of grace and love.

Happy anniversary, dearest Jeff. I love you and pray that God will grant us many more years together, serving one another and Him.

Note: first and last pictures on this page were taken by my lovely and talented daughter. If we get any more affectionate than this, however, she screams and runs away.

Team Fetz: An Update

It's been quite awhile since I shared this video about my sister-in-law Michele and her stem cell transplant. (You can also read more here, here, and here.)

But even before that, way back in May, I had changed my Facebook profile picture to support Team Fetz.

Here's the logo I first designed to support Michele:

And here's the very special logo I designed in honor of her husband, Tim, for his birthday:

Now, I'm excited to think that Michele may finally be going back home -- just in time for Christmas! So I've made a new logo which I'll use for my profile picture until Michele gets home. Ta-da!

I'm hoping and praying that this profile picture will only be in use for a few weeks at most. I know Michele and Tim are both thankful for the care they have received, yet beyond ready to be back at home. Join me in praying for them -- I know they would appreciate it!

(And if you'd like to show support by using this as your profile picture, too, feel free!)

This could only happen to me, right?

I stopped by Kohl's last Friday -- for the second day in a row -- did a little Christmas shopping, completed my purchase, and was headed to the door. I was approached by three smiling (almost giddy, really) employees who asked me if I was familiar with Kohl's Dream Receipt Giveaway, because I was a winner! My entire purchase, just completed, was on Kohl's!

My face falls as I leaned forward and quietly say, "Are you serious? I just spent $5. I've never spent just $5 at Kohl's in my life. Can you give it to someone else?"

Not a chance.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful. And they did even give me back the $10 Kohl's Cash card I had also applied to the purchase, as well as a $10 card to share with a friend.

They made a big announcement over the intercom, I acted very excited (I think I even let out a "woohoo!"), I thanked them and went on.

As I was driving off to run a dozen other errands, I thought, "Wow. I could've finished my Christmas shopping today. And found a new bedspread. And picked up that pretty KitchenAid mixer AnnaKate and I have been admiring."

Then I laughed. As Jeff and I have been praying for God's provision, especially this Christmas, here was just a small gift that the Lord had given me. One gift completely paid for. And a reminder of what we are really celebrating, after all.

And I thanked Him for his provision in things big and small as He meets our needs each day.

P.S. The next day, this came in the mail (just as viruszilla attacked):

I'd forgotten that I'd won it here. Another sweet gift.