Falls’ in February

Author: Emily, with a lot of help from Michael 

Howdy y’all (Michael’s words :-P).  The first of March can only mean one thing in Houston – Rodeo time!  We’re looking forward to the Rodeo and Tim McGraw concert on Monday, so you can expect all the details on that in our March blog post.  But for now… a February update is incomplete without the mention of Valentine’s Day, which we celebrate but totally support those who choose not to or choose to celebrate “Romantic” Day (a.k.a. “Rotic Day”) with the gals.  ;)  Along with a love note at lunch, Michael brought me home beautiful pink tulips.  :)  This Valentine’s Day, we started a new tradition.  We had a blast making our own pizza – vegetables and pepperoni (minus the homemade crust – maybe we’ll brave that next year).  It was delicious and a lot of fun to make together.  And then, Michael surprised me with dessert – chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries.  Soooooo good.  :)

Speaking of love, recently we have been learning a lot about our marriage.  The biggest thing God has taught us has been about living out a marriage of grace, rather than one of fairness.  Marriage is not about what’s fair (i.e. “I did the dishes last night so you should do them tonight – that’s fair” or “You spent $50 on shoes so I should get to buy new shoes, too – that’s fair”) but rather about serving one another joyfully and wholeheartedly with love and grace, just as Christ did.  We once heard a sermon in which the pastor said, “Love is not 50-50, it’s 100-100.”  Please pray that we would live this out in our own marriage.

Super Bowl Party

God seems to be revealing to me more and more of His purposes for me in my work as an OR nurse.  The OR is a stressful environment and thus requires a TON of teamwork; however, one thing I struggle with is control.  Anyone that knows me knows that I have a history of perfectionism.  This is something I’ve been struggling with my ENTIRE life (trust me, ask my parents and sisters ;).  It is the job of the circulating nurse to “run” the room and be the patient advocate, but in the OR you have to learn to trust everyone around you to do the right thing for the patient, and that’s something that I am learning how to do.  Another thing that I’ve struggled with most of my life is people pleasing.  In the OR, you can’t be a people pleaser because you HAVE to do what’s right for your patient despite whether or not it might make a co-worker angry or frustrated.  A good perspective to have is this: the patient on the table is my husband/mother/father/sister.  Basically, did I do for this patient what I would have done for my own loved one?  I am their voice while they’re asleep, and I must be their advocate despite my weakness to people please. 

One quick (and exciting!) update on Michael’s end in “operation twilight zone” (a.k.a. being a teacher – ask him to explain this :-P): Michael has been offered a job as the freshman math instructor for a new college preparatory academy being created in his high school.  More details will follow once the details become complete, but right now we are praising God that he has an opportunity to really push low-income students toward college.

Kaleo Ladies' Tea Party in February -
incredible spread and fellowship!!

Every Tuesday morning, Michael has been meeting at 5:30 with a group of 7 or 8 guys from the church to have coffee, talk about how God is working in their lives, and memorize verses from Scripture.  It has been a huge blessing and encouragement for Michael to have this time where he can hang out with other men and talk about the issues going on their lives.   Since the guys are having so much fun, some women from the church have decided to start meeting at our apartment at 5:15 on Tuesdays to have a similar weekly time as women (we always have to one-up the guys according to Michael! :-P).  Four of us braved the early morning Houston weather (i.e. 60 degrees and sunny) to encourage one another and discuss what we wanted the Tuesday morning times to look like in the future.

Something that we recently learned about Houston was that it is one of the biggest hubs of human sex trafficking in the United States.  This sad truth was brought to our attention by a couple of women at our church who have been involved in a local human trafficking organization here in Houston called Redeemed Ministries.  Girls are smuggled into the country, promised fair wages (and/or threatened), but when they get to the United States they are told they have debt to pay due to their travel expenses.  In order to pay off their debt, the pimp forces them to sell themselves in businesses that front as spas/massage parlors.  The women who shared about this at our church started a “Task Force” group that Michael and I recently joined.  The purpose of the Task Force is to raise awareness about human trafficking in Houston, raise funds to battle it, and take action against it.  Ways to take action include legislation, hosting events to raise awareness, and visiting the women/girls at the brothels themselves.  Please be praying for this ministry – that God’s light would shine and these girls would be freed from this bondage and one day find hope in Christ.  I know that is a big prayer request, but our God is a big God.  To give hope/light to the situation, check out this recent news story about 10 people who were arrested for sex trafficking in Houston as a result of a three year investigation.

The month of February ended with a fun-filled night at our friend Lacey’s house. She and her roommate invited us and a few other friends from church over for a night of food and conversation.  It was a blast.  The V.I.P. of the night was Ephrem, a master chef of Ethiopian cuisine. He cooked some authentic Ethiopian food for us and we were definitely in awe.  The night ended with some Scotcheroos (essentially glorified rice krispy treats with chocolate icing) for dessert thanks to our Minnesotan friend Beth.  Perfect ending to a fantastic month.

Love to you all,

Emily and Michael :)

P.S. Congratulations to my parents for winning a $10,000 kitchen makeover!!!  :-D