Glimpse of the Future

I got a glimpse of what a future Christmas might look like this year. When he opened the box....his eyes lit up and he couldn't get it out fast enough. I realized that was the look I might see on a future child's face as they opened a present they had been dreaming about. Needless to say....I found the perfect gift when I found the MSU jersey he once wore. He had showed me the website once, and for some reason I remembered it when I was searching for a gift.

We had a wonderful Christmas with Hal's family. We have spent several days in Mississippi relaxing, and will be traveling back to Houston on Thursday.

Catching Up

It has been over a month since my last post! November was a crazy month. I spent more time in Fayetteville in November than I did in Houston. As I am sure it is with everyone else, the first two weeks of December have gone by in a flash.
Hal and I are excited about spending our first Christmas together....as I have been known to do throughout my life I have been bugging him to death about what he is buying me for Christmas! He pulled one on me tonight....I thought he hadn't bought a gift yet, and I was picking at him, he got up and left the room and came back with a beautiful David Yurman cross necklace! I couldn't even talk!

Even more than being together and getting presents, we are excited to be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ! I went to a women's Christmas Banquet last week where the message was "Redeeming the Season." The speakers literally gave over 300 ways to help families center the Christmas season around celebrating the birth of Christ. Here a just a few of the many things I took away from the night.

• Purchase a box of inexpensive glass ornaments and write a characteristic of God on each ornament. Each night after dinner, place one of the ornaments on the tree and talk about who God is.
• Wait to open your Christmas cards each day until you are around the dinner table. As you bless your meal, pray for the families you received cards from. Hal and I have been doing this the last few nights, and are really enjoying bringing our friends and family before God's throne.
• The Christmas Nail-I purchased a three inch nail that represents the spike that nailed Jesus to the cross to hang at the center of our Christmas tree. Next year, it will be the first ornament we will hang on the tree to remember the tree that Jesus hung out to pay the penalty for our sin, and to remind us that Jesus left the manager and went to the cross.

Merry Christmas!

Contentment

As I was driving to work this past week in Fayetteville...I learned a little lesson about contentment. I was looking at one of the many beautiful hills in Fayetteville that was filled with shades of red, orange, and yellow, and feeling a little sorry for myself and a little angry all at the same time because I didn't get to see the leaves at their peak. Fall is one of the many things we miss about Fayetteville. Then it hit me....for 24 years of my life, I have seen those leaves change each fall and taken them for granted. This time last year, I probably didn't even notice the trees because I wasn't content. I was wondering and worrying about when we would get married, and I was ready to move anywhere he wanted to go. And here I am one year later, I know the answer to those two questions, but still not content with where God has us....always looking ahead for what is next. God wants me to stop, take a breath, thank Him for where we are, and trust Him for where He will take us.

Upcoming Week

The Ramsey's are back on the road again! Hal and I will be heading to the airport tomorrow afternoon. He will be going back to the UK, and I will be flying to Fayetteville. He leaves at 6:55 and I leave at 4:15. We both return the following Saturday. Please pray for travel safety for us.

He is quite jealous that I will be spending the week in Fayetteville, but we will be back for Thanksgiving...so that makes it better!

Houston

We have been here a little over 6 months...which is somewhat unbelievable. This weekend, we were talking about some of the things we like about Houston....and we thought we would pass them along to you.

• Jason's Deli- I have no idea why they haven't put one of these in NWA. It has almost become our Sunday after church routine. They have a super yummy salad bar.
• Shopping, Shopping, Shopping- Oh my is there ever some good shopping in the Houston area. You name it....and you can find it here! I could go on forever!
• A major airport- Although we don't necessarily like the fact that Hal has to travel so much, it is nice that we live next to a major airport because I can go with him much cheaper! In the past six months we have been to Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Mexico City, and London together. He has traveled MUCH more than that...but to tell you that would take up the whole blog.
• The Astros- We went to two Astros games at Minute Maid Park this summer. Although we haven't converted to being Astros fans...we still had a great time.
• Our House- We have had a great time getting settled in our house. I seem to keep coming up with house projects....I think Hal is now realizing they might be never ending.
• Starbucks- I kid you not....there is a Starbucks on every corner! Which is always tempting but even more so now that their Pumpkin Spice Latte is back. Hal is also a big fan of the Strawberries and Cream Frappacino's.
• Valet Parking- Don't laugh at us...but we have become addicted to $5 Valet Parking at the Galleria and The Woodlands. It is always quite comical to see the Silver Bullet, a.k.a. Hal's Explorer, parked next to a Range Rover and a Bentley.
• The Woodlands- We love The Woodlands. Although it sounds like a shopping center and not a town, it is actually a town about 30 minutes outside of Houston. We often find ourselves up there on weekends. They have great restaurants and fun shopping.

I am sure there will be much more to add to our list in this city of 4 million. The list is a work in progress!

Wholly Yours

Saturday night we went to a Third Day/David Crowder Band concert at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston. We had both been looking forward to this concert...we must admit more so for David Crowder than for Third Day. DCB sang one of our favorite song's,"Wholly Yours", and this time we sang it in a little different light after our conversations about Romans over the last few weeks. I included the lyrics below....check them out...and then maybe look over Romans 1-3.
Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band
I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From the broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
Yours

I am full of earth and dirt and You

Weekend Update

We had a great long weekend! Hal was off on Friday, so he played video games while I worked. Friday night we went downtown to the Galleria to return a pair of shoes Sarah and I had purchased on our fall shopping trip the week before. We then ate at infamous Houston restaurant, Chuy’s. For those of you who are familiar with my obsession with Ranch dressing…you will know exactly how excited I was when they set the jalapeño ranch dressing down on the table with chips! It was fabulous!

Saturday we continued our new routine of watching College Gameday on ESPN, working on house projects, and watching more football! We also ventured out to pick up a few things.

On a rainy Sunday…we were off to church for a time of worship and hearing God’s word from our Pastor Bruce Frank. He challenged us to never be “name and claim it” people, but to be people who sought God’s will first, and the stepped out in faith to follow it. Then it was time for lunch, and time to take Hal off to the airport for a quick trip to LSU to do interviews for Cooper. Fortunately, this is a short trip! He will be back Monday night.

I do have to mention that the Cassville Wildcats won again on Friday night! They are 6-0. Of course the Hogs handled SE Missouri State as they should have….and in a scoring EXPLOSION the Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated Jacksonville State 35-3.

The "Good Girl" Syndrome

Most of my life I have been known as a "good girl." You know what I mean....I didn't go to parties in High School. I never got in trouble with my parents for staying out too late or breaking a curfew...as a matter of fact, I don't think I had one! I didn't even taste alcohol until college when I had a stretch of a couple of weeks that I decided I wanted to be wild....which wasn't that wild! I have never had the urge to do drugs...I wouldn't even know what marijuana smelled like if it was right in front of me. I have never used foul language as a part of my vocabulary. I saved myself for marriage. I could go on, but I think you get the picture...I have been the "good girl" in my mind and according to the world's standard until the last few months when God began to show me otherwise. Several events combined with the beginning of the BSF year and the study of Romans has sent that "good girl" facade crashing down around me like a ton of bricks.
Romans 3:10-18 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and they way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Five times in that passage it is says that no one is good! It doesn't say that no one is good except for those that have been a "good girl" according to the world's standards. It says that according to the only standard that matters, God's, no one is good. Which means that Lindsay Ramsey is not a "good girl" according to God's standards. I am the chief of sinners.... apart from God, I am "full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderous, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless." Romans 1:29-31 Wow! On my own and apart from the Lord Jesus, I am all those horrible things above or I am capable of being them. When I look past the "big things" and look at my depraved nature....I have hurt a friend, I have desperately wanted what someone else had, I have been prideful, I have not trusted God, I have desired my own will about His, I have lied....My nature is depraved...having no good in it.
Then I got a sucker punch to the stomach, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." Romans 2:1 This is when it all came together....not only have I wrongly put myself on a pedestal...thinkng I am a "Good Girl" and I have sometimes silently, sometimes verbally judged others and their sin....not recognizing the sin in my life and my depravity. Instead of the judgment that I wanted to hand down in my "Good Girl" facade.....I should have been driven to my knees in repentance for my own sin and then praised the Lord Jesus that by His grace even as a depraved sinner I have responded to the Gospel in faith, and I am able to stand before Him clothed in His righteousness. "This righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:23

One more thing we miss about Fayetteville

How could we forget Cassville football! We keep up with my brother's team the Cassville Wildcats, every Friday night! I get a little homesick when I talk to mom and dad and they are heading up to Cassville to watch a game. I miss seeing my nieces, Courtney, Kennedy, and Landry...and Lance and Suzy too!

Top 5 Things we miss about Fayetteville

Even though we are settling in her in Houston and learning our way around....We talk about Fayetteville often. Here are just a few things we miss!

5. Loafin Joe's, Slim Chickens, Marketplace, Chuck's a.ka. Charlie's Chicken, Rick's Bakery, Tim's Pizza, Penguin Ed's, Hugo's......need we say more?
4. Fall...that's right fall. The way that it feels when the air gets cooler and looking at the hills around town when the leaves start to change. We expect you to take pictures and send to us!
3. Knowing where we are going....and getting anywhere around town in 10 minutes or less.
2. Getting to call the Hogs in person. We all know Hal doesn't call the Hogs...but he does miss being at Razorback Stadium on Saturday.
1. Not to be sappy...but we must say our friends, family, and church family.

Of course there are great things about Houston as well...look for those to come!

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello! Hal and I...or maybe just me because he doesn't even know about this blog yet....wanted to give our friends and family a way to keep up with us in Houston or wherever we are for the week!

Even though it is hard to believe, we have almost been married six months...which means we have almost been in Houston six months. The summer has flown by and I can't believe it is already October. Simultaneously we are learning to navigate our way around the monstrous city of Houston as well as navigate our way through married life.

So...you might check in on us every few days...to see what we are up to, what we are missing about Fayetteville, what we are learning about the Lord, or whatever else we feel like writing!