my earthly dearest

When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. Insofar as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.

[C. S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis (8 November, 1952)]

i ran across a website called girltalk, which sounded kind of cheesy until i started looking around. they describe their site as "conversations on biblical womanhood and other fun stuff." i'm glad i gave it a chance - they have a lot of good thoughts to share. they posted the above quote by lewis on their site, and so it has me thinking. so far it's been quite easy to love my husband, mostly because he's so cute all the time. also, that newlywed bliss hasn't worn off yet. but what will happen when he isn't so cute anymore? and the newlywed bliss is long gone? of course my love for him will (and should!) rest solely on Christ and the work of His cross. it's hard to know what that looks like right now, since it feels easy to love my husband. stuart and i pray every night that we would continue in diligence to seek Christ, spending time in the Word and prayer. our marriage can rest on nothing else.

in other news: wednesday evening after i returned from pine bluff we went out and met jeff and courtney for sushi. we like them. it's fun to spend time with stuart and his life-long best buddy (and cousin). even as late 20-somethings, they still act like little boys when they're together. also, j&c have the cutest little kiddo i've ever met. ava claire is just a doll, and it was fun to hang out with her at the sushi place, too. she's becoming very vocal :) and really is becoming a little person now, and much less baby-like! court mentioned that AC is going to move up to the toddler class at her daycare soon. it's unbelievable how quickly they grow up!

thursday after stu finished his rotation at the hospital, we went over to harmony health clinic to volunteer. i triaged patients all night, which was really fun! it got a little busy, and folks had to wait a little longer than usual because i was chatting so much with each patient when they came in to see me. stuart had to come tell me to move it along. :)

i'm thrilled to start my real job on monday, although it will just be hospital orientation for several days. i think by the end of the second week, i should be up on my floor! woo, i'm finally a real nurse!