~ My Husband Rocks! ~ hard, hard worker :)

Be sure to check out the new deal from Union 28! (In green at the bottom.)


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Austin has always been a hard worker. In fact, I've blogged about it a couple times here and here, and a couple of other places that I wasn't able to find, but you get the idea :)

Now that we're in full-time ministry, which is a lot like being self-employed we're finding, I had kind of thought that he would relax a little bit - not that he would ever be lazy, but . . . . you know what I mean.

He takes his responsibility of running the logistics side of the ministry very seriously, and he is so very good at it! It makes my head spin sometimes to think about all of the things he is running through his mind at the same time! From plane tickets, to in-country transportation, to communicating with about a dozen different people via phone and e-mail he's constantly on!

He is also so conscientious about handling money - he's always been good with money and responsible about our spending, but the fact that the money he's now responsible for comes from donors all over the place makes him that much more determined to see that not a penny goes to waste.

Anyway, I think he's pretty incredible, and I am so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful husband, friend, confidant, co-worker, lover, partner, travel buddy, room-mate, and family member :) I couldn't imagine sharing the adventure with anyone else.

Love you, Baby!

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I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

Our good friends over at Union 28 have sweetened the deal for us! They will give you 10% off any order of two or more items (on any day of the week) if you enter the following code at check-out: U28mhrFriday10 Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

God Loveth Adverbs

Hello My Lovelies!

(My sweet British friend Maddy says that, and I like it, so I borrowed it!)

Sorry that posting has been so sporadic lately! My husband and I have been preparing for our massive missions expidition and life at home has been absolutely insane! Not only that, but once we got here (we are currently surving aboard OM's Logos Hope docked in Aruba) the Internet has been pretty dodgy (another British word I like :) ), so everything is going to be very "flexible" from now on, I think :)

I was reading Our Daily Bread earlier this week, and the message really spoke to me for where we are, and I thought you might really enjoy it as well

God Loveth Adverbs

The Puritans wisely sought to connect all of life to its source in God, bringing the two worlds together rather than dividing them into sacred and secular. They had a saying, "God loveth adverbs; and careth not how good, but how well." Adverbs describe verbs - our words of action and activity. The proverb implies that God cares more about the spirit in which we live than the concrete results.

Pleasing God doesn't mean that we must busy ourselves with a new set of "spiritual" activities. As the Puritans said, whether cleaning house or preaching sermons, shoeing horses or translating the Bible, any human activity may constitute an offering to God.

We spend much time immersed in the mundane. "But we have the mind of Christ," Paul reminds us (1 Cor. 2:16). That truth is to guide everything we do. Caring for an elderly parent. Cleaning up after a child. Sitting on a porch with a neighbor. Fielding a customer's complaint. Filling out patient charts at a nurses' station. Sitting in traffic. Sawing lumber. Reporting tips. Shopping for groceries.

We need faith and the mind of the Lord Jesus to recognize something of lasting value in even our most ordinary tasks. - Philip Yancey

In the common round of duty
Lift thy heart in praise;
For the Lord hath surely promised
Strength for all thy days. - Tovey

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!
Katy Lin

To sign up to get the Our Daily Bread delivered to your home, go to www.rbc.org

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ but sometimes . . .

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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. . . I don't think he believes it.

Poor Austin. He's been under a little stress lately. And by a little, I mean stress such as would cripple an ordinary man.

Praise the Lord that mine is no ordinary man :)

He is so very sweet because I think he tries to keep me from worrying about it, but I know that he has been very discouraged lately. There are a lot of details that I'm not going to go into here, but between work and trying to get everything finished on and around the house before the end of this month, he has a lot on his plate. He is my superman! Please pray that I would be a true help meet to him in these circumstances and that we would both look to the Lord for our true strength as we try to do the seemingly-impossible!

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Don't forget . . . next week is going to be one big party! Hope you'll all be able to join us as we celebrate the 1st birthday of My Husband Rocks!!!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Expertise

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Good morning, and happy Friday everyone! Where did this week fly away to? My goodness! Preparing to trasition to my new job has kept me hopping - in the best way - this week! I have a post started about my experience at the Women of Faith event in Des Moines this past weekend, and tomorrow Austin and I become contestants in the "Amazing Race" (at least the church's 20's & 30's version), which I am sure will provide great photos and a fun story, so stay tuned!!!

Now, on to my rocking hubby! :)

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from our good friend Anna asking if Austin and I would have time to walk through a house that she's looking at purchasing. Her fathr is concernec that the house is going to be more work than it's worth, and wanted Austin to take a look a it since he has had the experience of working on his own house and he would be honest with Anna about the extent of the work that this house needs.

Don't you just love it when people appreciate the ones that you love? I mean, I know he's great - but it's just so much fun when other people recognize that as well :)

He also rocks because he puts his all into everything he does. He didn't just run through the house, give it the cursory once-over and spout off an opinion. He very thoughfully and meticulously looked through each room and shared his thoughts and opinions in a very caring manner. Austin is the kind of person who takes a request for advice very seiously - and he would never say anything if he didn't mean it and believe it with everything that he has.

In addition to having wonderful knowledge and giving thoughtful and experienced advice, he is also so very humble about the whole affair!

He's just so wonderful! Isn't he?

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

Great news!!!

Just a quick update! I got a call yesterday afternoon from the HR department at work! They offered me the job that I interviewed for on Monday!!! Next week my current manager and my future manager will be meeting to discuss the timing and logistics for my move!!! Praise the Lord!!!

Thank you all for your encouragement and your prayers!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Post Vacay Edition :)

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Life has been a little bit crazy in our world for the past few weeks, so I have to apologize for my sporadic blogging and ~MHR~ activities! We will definitely have a prompt next week, and I've got some fun new ideas that I am hoping to develop in the near future as well :)

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Austin just rocks my socks off, I've got to tell you! Not only did he take me on the most increible vacation last week (which I will definitely be posting more about, don't you worry, lol :) - to see the initial pics,click here), but he is just the sweetest thing!

I got very sunburned on the last day of our trip (thanks to my own stupidity), and the worst place was on my upper back right in between my shoulder blades. Needless tosay, it was impossible for me to reach that area to apply any kind of moisturizer, so Austin has done it for me every night - even when it was peeling and icky :S.

Then last night, I was telling him about a silly klutzy moment I had at work yesterday, and insted of laughing at me, he expessed genuine concern and reqeusted that I take better care of myself because he does not want me to get seriously hurt. Isn't he adorable?



He has also had a pretty stressful situation to come back to at work. I don't think he would appreciate me sharing all of the details, but he continues to do his very best every day, and tries not to let that situation bother him. He has been a great example to me of "do not repay evil for evil."

Austin just rocks my socks off, I've got to tell you!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ laughter & fun

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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2. Tell the story of a memory about your husband that brings you a smile and a giggle every time you think about it!

I picked this topic thinking that it was going to be so easy to come up with the perfect memory to share, but my problem was that there are soooooooooooo many!!! Austin is the kind of guy that makes even the most mundane of situations fun and enjoyable, and he has always been able to make me laugh regardless of my initial mood.

First I was thinking of telling you all about the time that we were driving between college and Colorado, and Austin saw flashing lights behind us. Thinking he was going to be pulled over, he quickly took the nearest exit ramp only to watch an ambulance go screaming past! (teehee, that one makes me giggle every time)

Or, I could talk about the horseback riding tour we took on our honeymoon where Austin quickly befriended the other family in our group as well as our tour guide with his gregarious personality, then enjoyed immensely pretending that he was John Wayne and galloping off into the sunset.

Even when we were doing all the work on the house, we had a blast! I remember one Saturday in particular, it was a "haul-out" day after we had a TON of debris on the floors from the demolition process we would rent a huge roll-off dumpster and shovel the chunks of plaster and lath and drywall and trim and termite-eaten wood into the bucket of a skid-loader and then Austin would drive it around and dump it into the dumpster. This particular Saturday, it was just the two of us working at the house, and it was HOT! The house had no air conditioning at the time, and we were working on the second floor. There were several times during the day where we looked at the mess around us and thought that we would never finish, but when the sun was going down and we were sitting in the bucket of the skid loader, drinking our Vault, we were both so happy that we had gotten so much done! It was not a particularly fun job, but I remember that being such a satisfying day because we had accomplished something huge together!

But one of my absolute favorite memories took place when we were in Switzerland with a group from our college. We had just spent three weeks in France as a missions trip, and one of the girls in our group lived in Switzerland, right on Lake Geneva, so we spent a week at her home before going back to Paris for the trip home. One evening while we were there, her entire family came to her parents' house, where we were staying, including her older sister, and her little niece Klalia, who had to be about 6 months old at the time. Austin spent a good amount of time on the floor that evening playing with Klalia, and making her squeal with laughter. I had never seen him so enjoy a little one, and it was precious to watch. I was able to catch a picture of that moment, and I love it because he has the most genuinely happy smile on his face! :) I love that memory.

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Challenges:

~ Set an appointment with your hubby to have a "goals and dreams" talk as described in the first article.

~ If you already know some of your husbands goals and dreams, be intentional about encouraging him and helping him to reach them.

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Sacrificial Love

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! :)


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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This week's prompt:
Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially.

Thinking about these things can be very good for your marriage, and definitely for the way you view your marriage and your attitude towards your spouse. Especially if you are experiencing a particularly difficult season in your relationship, or if you feel yourself beginning to have a negative outlook on the situation.

That's the point of even doing My Husband Rocks Fridays in the first place. Choosing to focus on the good in our marriages and in the men we will spend the rest of our lives with. God created marriage to be a perfect picture of Christ's love for the church, so why is it so hard? The devil ABSOLUTELY does not want the world to see that beautiful picture, so of course he will do everything in his power to degrade it and to chip away at our resolve to live that out!

Choosing to dwell upon those things that make us fall more and more in love with our husbands, every day, I believe, is one way that we can silence that nasty, nagging voice that tries to bring up all of the petty and selfish and unkind thoughts we are sometimes inclined towards. At least that's the goal.

I hope that this does not become repetative or rote for us, and I hope that this is not something that we just do on Fridays because that's the blog day to do it. Honestly, that is something that I have been struggling with for the last few weeks, but I am so glad for the accountability of knowing that over 100 other women out there in blogland were doing this with me. I had fallen into the "well, it's Friday, I had better come up with something to write about" while the rest of the week, I allowed myself to wallow in my self-pity and selfishness and laziness towards my marriage. I apologize if I have portrayed myself in an untruthful manner, but I wanted you all to know this because I do not ever want to be accused of being false or hypocritical about any of this.

I praise the Lord that he is using this little blog game, and if he is, it is of no credit to me. I do not ever want any of you to think that I think that we have it all together, or that I in any way want to take the glory for whatever good may come out of MHR Fridays! I know the benefits that it is bringing to my marriage, but even more importantly than that, my thought processes and attitudes toward Austin. This may seem very basic, but for this morning I feel like I really "got it." It has never been my job to change Austin, or to even believe that he should change. My job is to love him and respect him and work on allowing God to change me into the very best possible version of myself so that he can use me to bless those around me - especially my husband! Thank you all so much for showing me, every week, women who love the Lord and are striving to be the best possible wives for the husbands he has given them. I cannot tell you how much that means to me!

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Sorry for rambling. That was all something that has been on my heart for awhile now, and I'm not sure that's even everything that I need to say, but I'm sure this post is plenty long already and I haven't even gotten to the my husband rocking part :)

Austin has always been very good at doing what is best for me and for our family. I know that before he makes any decision he carefully and prayerfully considers the ramifications and decides on the best possible course of action. I cannot tell you how comforting and freeing it is to know that he always has our best interests in mind.

Before we were even married, he showed sacrificial love for me by spending the summer in Colorado, living with my grandparents, the year after we graduated from college instead of living at home where he had a sure-thing job, and all of the friends that he had grown up with.

Since we have been married, he has gone out of his way to serve me and to give me so many of the things that I just want - after he has made sure that, by the grace of God, we have everything we need. The most recent example of this is yesterday. Austin went to work for his normal eight to five shift, came home to have supper with me, left to go help a friend move some new furniture into their house, then went back to work to help with a last-minute job. When my alarm went off at five this morning, I called his cell phone, and he had just gotten home! He will go back into work this morning at eight o'clock and work another full day today! Without complaining about it at all, he just got into bed to sleep a couple of hours before hitting it hard again! I appreciate so much that he is willing to work so hard to build a life for us!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Top Ten List

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Good morning everyone!!! Before we get to my top ten list of reasons why my fabulous husband is so very fabulous, we have some business to discuss. Don't worry. It's good business! :)

1. Last week, the idea was brought up that we should do themes or prompts for MHR every week so that those of us who are needing some direction or inspiration can have a good starting place. I for one think that this is a FABULOUS idea, so starting next Thursday (Thanksgiving day :) ) I will post be posting a link to a blog post or an article about marriage, or something marriage related, and your prompt for the following Friday. MHR has never had very stringent rules, and this is not about to become one of them. If the prompt or theme does not do anything for you - write about whatever you want! This is still just a tool for you to edify and encourage your husband, and you know him better than any of us do.

This brings me to my first request: Please comment here or e-mail me with any theme/prompt ideas that you may have. I have a few ideas - well at least the beginnings of what may possibly be ideas, but I know that you are all wonderfully creative, and I cannot wait to hear what you have up your sleeves. Please, help me! I can use all the help I can get!

2. Do not forget that we have another fabulous giveaway (courtesy of the lovely Tara waiting in the wings until we have reached 150 participants!!! As of last week we had reached 128, so we only have to have a mere 22 more before we do another giveaway!

Reqeust number two: Encourage your friends and readers to join us in building up our husbands on a weekly basis!!!

Third request: If your name does not appear on the MHR Participants blogroll, but you are participating, first of all I am terribly sorry to have missed you, but secondly please, please, please, PLEASE leave a comment, or shoot me an e-mail so I can add you!!!

I think that is all the business I have for you today. Oh, one more thing - my 100th post is coming up very shortly, so there may be a party, I don't know - at least a really cool post :)

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Okay, now for the good stuff :) (I mean, I think all of it was pretty good, but come on now, I'm about to brag about the most wonderful man in the world, it does not get much better than that!)

Top Ten Reasons why Austin ROCKS!!!



1. He loves the Lord! And he lets everyone know it!

2. He takes such good care of our family!

3. He loves people, and would give you the shirt off his back, a hot meal and a place to stay after he had worked all day helping you paint your house, or put in a bathtub, or whatever other project you needed help with.

4. He is such a hard worker.

5. He is a wonderful provider, and loves to give me the things I just want, even after he has taken care of the things we need!



6. He is thankful for everything we have, and does not presume to act like he is the one who deserves the credit for it. He is always quick to give the glory to God.

7. He is very wise, and not likely to react rashly and emotionally.

8. He is a wonderful money manager, and takes that responsibility very seriously

9. He is hillariously funny, and we have so much fun together.

10. He is a total hottie!!! :)



I told you he was great!

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I did not have a pre-MHR e-mail this week on Thursday, but I did come across a fabulous blog with a wonderful post about refreshing our marriages that I would like to share with you!

Refresh Your Marriage by Laura.

The post is fabulous, but you should also definitely follow the links at the end of the post to read her inspiring story, too! Laura is a member of the 5AM Club, and a wonderful woman of God!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Thanks for reading everybody! Have a fantastic weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ conviction

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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My husband rocks! Seriously! He is truly incredible.

One of the things that I love the most about Austin is that he is a man of very strong convictions. This is a pretty broad statement, but it is a very large part of who he is. It affects the way that he relates to people, the way he talks,

When he worked for the cable company, he was the only guy who never swore, or told dirty jokes, or made inappropriate comments about women, and he paid a pretty heavy price for being so different. He put up with some pretty intense ridicule from his co-workers, and it even ended up with him being wrongfully terminated from the company. Because God takes such wonderful care of us and because Austin is such a driven individual, he was out of work for less than one day before he had a new job at a better company, but it was a pretty difficult situation none the less.

Now I'm not saying that he's perfect, and he would never claim to have it all together. However, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he tries every day to be a better version of himself than he was the day before. It's pretty inspiring. I can't honestly say that I make that kind of a conscious effort, but he makes me want to be better, and I think that is so important :)


Oh, and he's pretty hot, too :)

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(if you would like to add the button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Thanks for reading everybody! Have a safe and happy Halloween, and a fantastic weekend! NaNoWriMo starts at midnight!!!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Spiritual Leader

Click hereto read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Austin is so great. I'm sure you all know that by now, but I mean, he really is just truly wonderful. Recently, I have been really struggling with my current job. The environment there has become very negative, and it is very draining to have to work in that kind of environment every day, so I have been very discouraged and had a pretty bad attitude about having to go back every day.

In the midst of this, Austin has been encouraging me with Colossians 3:23:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,"

Now, this is not exactly the message I wanted. But it is without a doubt the message I needed. Austin, who is wise beyond his years, knows that my negative attitude only makes me feel worse about the situation, and adversely affects my performance which will not help my chances for finding a new position within a different department.

I am so thankful that God has put us together, and that Austin is allowing God to use him as the spiritual leader of our home.

Another reason why my husband rocks? He can fix ANYTHING - seriously - from computers to broken doors to a fabulous little radiator-style space heater that I found while curb-shopping last week. We could not get the blasted thing to work, so last night while we were hanging out watching some TV Austin took the whole thing apart, and fixed the mechanism that kept kicking it off. The rest of our evening was spent luxuriating in the fabulous warmth of our good-as-new space heater.

Isn't he awesome!??!?!?

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(if you would like to add the button to your sidebar, use this code ).

&lt;a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html">&lt;img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/>&lt;/a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Thanks for reading everybody! Have a wonderful weekend!

:(

"While the public school system continues to degenerate into a drug-stupid, sex-oriented, illiterate morass of misfit, Marxist clones, the homeschool movement is producing intelligent, clear-thinking, confident citizens ready to stand in the middle of cascading corruption and declare their allegiance to God and family."

I found this paragraph on this website, and as a product of the public school system, I completely resent that entire paragraph.

Please don't get me wrong, I married a home-schooler, have many friends who are products of homeschooling and our current opinion is that we will homeschool our children.

However, that said, this kind of ignorant drivel is precisely what gives homeschoolers in general a bad name! (That's right, I know what drivel means, and I only ever took English at a public school!) All of the families I know who homeschool would be furious if someone made a blanket statement about "the homeschool movement." And I know that many are made all the time: homeschoolers are less socially adept than public schoolers, families who homeschool are all uber-conservative, anti-modern, etc, etc." We've all heard them. And while there are truly some people who fulfill these stereotypes, the vast majority does not.

I feel that the same can be said about the public school world. I concede that there are many people in the public school system who fulfill what Pearl is saying to a "t," and the percentage may be higher in that case than in the case of the homeschooling stereotypes, but I find it ignorant and offensive to dismiss public schooling as a whole just because of some of its negative aspects. Many, many wonderful Christian people have dedicated their entire lives to teaching in the public school system, and I know many, many "intelligent, confident, [and] clear-thinking citizens" who graduated from public school. Not to mention godly, pure, and morality intact!!!

As I was reading more of their material, I found these statements:

"Their oldest son just jumped ship. He has a wild tattoo, pierced his ears, and dyed his hair." (1)

"Many parents have had their faith shaken. 'We didn’t watch television or associate with sinners; we taught our children Christian principles; why didn’t it work?'"(2)

"even in the protected vacuum of a Christian home"(3)

Where to even begin!?!??!

Why is the church so judgemental about these external things? "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart!"

Why didn't they "associate with sinners"? Jesus Himself spent nearly ALL of his time with the "sinners"!!! Isn't one of the most important "Christian principals" go INTO all the world and make disciples"??!!?! If we do not associate with "sinners" how will they ever hear about the love of God? And news flash, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner, there's no way around it, we all fall into this category!!! How self-righteous can we be? And since when is a "Christian home" supposed to be a "protected vacuum"? This seems completely contrary to Christ's command that we are to be "in the world, but not of it"!

I am sorry to rant, but I am so flabbergasted by the hypocrisy!!!

Maybe the deeper reason that teenagers are "jumping ship" is that the Christianity with which they have been presented is so small and narrow for such a big God! They have not been taught that their God is huge and powerful and can handle any of their questions, so when their parents' small faith cannot answer their doubts and their fears, they have nowhere to turn, but to the world that seems to have all the answers!

I have been reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, and he puts it so well:
"I can't tell you the number of people in their late teens or early twenties I know, or those I have been told about, who experience truth outside the boundaries of their religion and abandon the whole thing because they think it's a choice . . . They are experiencing truth in all sorts of new ways, and they need a faith that is big enough to handle it. Their box is getting blown apart, and the faith they were handed doesn't have room for what they are learning."

It scares me, honestly, that the world sees our faith as something that is so small and narrow and constricting. This is the image we have portrayed to them. They did not arrive at this conclusion independently. And there are people all over the world (and all over the web) who consistently prove them RIGHT!!! Which is so WRONG!!! Am I making any sense? People, my God is huge! My God does not wish for us to live in restriction, but in the most wonderful freedom! "I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it to the full!!!" It breaks my heart that someone might miss Him because of the twisted image others are portraying.

That said, I really have to take a long, hard look at myself. What kind of image am I portraying? Do the people I work with know that I love the Lord just because I say so, or because I live like I love Him? Are my friends and family encouraged and blessed by me, or am I needy and whiny and high maintenance because I am depending upon them for fulfillment in areas where I should be depending on Christ?

Not exactly a light beginning to our week, but certainly much needed introspection for myself. Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous Monday.

~ my husband rocks! ~ Observant

Oh my word, people! It's already Friday again, and I haven't posted all week! I'm sorry I've been slacking off so much!

If you'd like to find out more about why I started MHR Fridays, either click here or follow the button in the left hand sidebar (if you would like to add the button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you'd like to join in the fun, leave a comment on this post with the permalink to your ~my husband rocks! Friday~ post! Remember, this is not just for us girls, guys we'd love it if you would turn it into ~my wife rocks! Friday~ and link up! :)

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

And remember, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

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Austin is the most observant man I know. He notices details that I usually don't even realize are there!

For awhile he had a job installing cable, so he has been inside several homes in our town, and he can to this day draw you an exact blueprint of how the rooms are laid out in nearly every home he has ever entered. Not to mention every home he has ever lived in, since he was 5, lol! And that's a lot of houses!

He is also tremendously thoughtful. I was rushing around and running late for an early morning meeting one morning this week, and in my haste I left my work computer at home - kind of an essential part of my job, lol! Austin, in the midst of his own busy morning, noticed that I had left it and took the time to bring it into my work so it was waiting for me when my meeting was over! He's so awesome!

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Very Important Announcement!!!

Coming up next month MHR Fridays will be having a HUGE giveaway! "Why a giveaway?" you may ask. Well I'll tell you, because giveaways are freaking awesome! Not only that, but Austin and I are celebrating our one year anniversary on September 22nd, so I thought it would be easy to remember, as well as September 19th will be the 15th week that we have posted for ~My Husband Rocks~ Fridays! So, on the 19th I will announce all of the fabulous giveaway items, then on the 26th I'll announce the winner!!! Anyone is welcome to enter the giveaway, even if they do not post for MHRF, and if you would like to contribute items to the giveaway, please contact me by e-mail (so that way it will be a surprise when we announce the items) at katylinvw(at)yahoo(dot)com!


Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend!



P.S. ~ I received this comment via e-mail first thing this morning:

"Hello ladies, I'm combining my posts again today. Thanks for letting me do this. My picture and story are scheduled to post for all to read at 11:30 tonight. Here's my address again http://7-7-7heavensent.blogspot.com

Can't wait to see what your readers share. I love Fridays even more thanks to ya'll.
Nichole"

~ my husband rocks! ~ Cute!!! *ETA*

It's Friday again! Yay! Thanks for stopping by for another weekly husband brag-fest! I just love this! I'm so excited that so many lovely ladies have chosen to join us! Did you know that there are now more than 50 of us who do this every week!??!?! It just blows my mind! Thank you all!

*Edited to add: One of these special ladies, Jamie over at Rose Cottage, wrote a beautiful post about a Christ-centered marriage earlier this week! Click here to read it!*

This week, my husband rocks because he is so darn cute! :)

Austin has recently started a new job (a couple of months ago) working for a cleaning service that works mostly with insurance companies when there has been water damage or fire damage, or mold, etc. The company is experiencing INCREDIBLE growth right now, and because Austin is such a hard worker and so gifted and intelligent and wonderful we are seeing great benefit from this growth. He was blessed to get hired on at a very crucial time, and he has a fabulous boss, and he gets to work with his best friend, Tyler.

(L-R Tyler and Austin. Totally unrelated pic, but it's just so funny because they're both acting "tough," lol!)

All this to explain why he is so excited! He has been working some crazy hours and they are extremely busy, so he's exhausted most every night when he gets home, but he's just bursting at the seams to talk about everything that is going on and all that they have planned and done during the day. His face lights up, and he's more excited than a kid in a candy store, and he is just so stinking cute!

I guess this post contains several reasons why he rocks, (hard worker, dedicated, passionate) but my main point was, he's such a cutie! And he's hot, too! I mean seriously, look at this:




Thanks for reading everybody! Be sure to check in with all the ladies in to hear about more husbands who rock by clicking on the "my husband rocks participants" button in the left sidebar!

And remember, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

If you'd like to find out more about why I started MHR Fridays, either click here or follow the button in the left hand sidebar (if you would like the code to add it to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you'd like to join in the fun, leave a comment on this post with the permalink to your ~my husband rocks! Friday~ post! Remember, this is not just for us girls, guys we'd love it if you would turn it into ~my wife rocks! Friday~ and link up! :)



If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

Have a great weekend!

God Bless America!

Today is Thankful Thursday, and this week I am so thankful for the opportunity to rest and play on this up-coming long weekend. I am thankful that today is like the Friday of my work-week, and that next Tuesday will be the final day of our Shopper contract.

(source)

Tomorrow is Independence Day, and I am thankful for all of the brave men and women who sacrificed so much to fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today. For the men and women who are fighting now around the world to protect those freedoms, and to live in a country that offers such freedom. God bless America!

Thanks for reading!