big stuff

Hey everyone!

I guess most of you know that Randy and I went to Louisiana last week with Brent and Julie Pennington. We went to the Hermitage, the beautiful home of Eddie and Judy Parish where he does full time marriage and family counseling. We stayed in the guest house - it's a regular house that they basically made into a duplex. Brent and Julie stayed in one half and we in the other. There were bagels, snacks, drinks, etc. available in our kitchens and Judy cooked lunch for us and the Penningtons every day. We would have about an hour and a half of counseling in the mornings and then the Penningtons would get theirs in the afternoon (or vice versa). In the evenings, we would head over to the Parish's house (set just a little behind the guest house) and she would cook for us. One p.m. we had gumbo and the other night, steak and shrimp! She was a phenomenal cook and we enjoyed just hanging out and discussing life. The surroundings were absolutely beautiful - I've included pictures, but I don't think they do it justice. It was a beautiful place - the place was what I would call "anointed" and you could feel the presence of God.

That's just the physical description of the place, and a very weak one at that. There are no words to describe what happened in our spirits. We were a little intimidated to go because we had heard lots of stories about Eddie - he's very direct and gets right to the root of whatever problems might exist. Honestly, our main goal was spending all that driving time with the Penningtons and we thought we might get our marriage tweaked a bit while we were there. Have mercy. Both of us experienced unbelievably painful, wonderful, life-changing revelation of truth, hidden pain, intimacy...I really just don't have a lot of words to describe what happened and what is still going on. I knew that there was a certain level of intimacy missing in my life - with Jesus, with RB, with anyone for that matter, but I didn't realize how scary and hard it would be to go there. Blah, blah, blah! I can't describe it yet! Anyway, the bottom line is that RB and I have been praying for a while now that God would truly make us one, make us united. I had NO IDEA HOW He would answer that prayer, but He smashed down walls and any puny expectations I had! God in His GREAT mercy has saved our marriage - not from divorce or anything like that - but from mediocrity and shallowness and just existing together as buddies. I do not recognize Randy right now. Our kids are just sort of studying us (and keep telling Randy that he's already told them that I'm beautiful - ha!). Moriah watches how Randy is treating me (kissing me, etc.), smiles, and then holds up her arms and says, "My turn! My turn!" All I can say is that God is SO good and He is beautiful. May every one of you experience His beauty and His adoring gaze this week as you seek Him.