Category Archives: Wedded Bliss

>Bye Bye July…

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>July is ALMOST over! It has been so crazy for us, and I can’t believe we’ve actually survived this madness. For those who missed it, here is a recap:

-My friend Lisa got married (wedding, bachelorette party, etc.)
-Awesome July 4th party with youth group and their parents
-Camping, Kings Island (amusement park) and Christian music festival for four days with youth group
-My friend Courtney got married, but I couldn’t go. Extreme guilt sets in.
–Dad turned 57, so we got together to celebrate (read – eat A LOT)
-Family visited from Florida, so we got together to celebrate (read – eat A LOT…again)
–Buster got a urinary tract infection that took us to the emergency room in the middle of the night.
-Buster got a urethral obstruction, has to be at vet (again) for two days.
–We go to Texas with 14 teenagers for a week-long mission trip (post coming soon). Insanity begins.
-Our niece Tayla turns 12, but we are out of town. More guilt sets in.
-We return from Texas, fairly unscathed, but definitely pooped.
-We have our SIXTH wedding anniversary. We celebrate by getting Chinese take-out, and eating in front of the couch. I can feel your jealousy…
–Mom has an emergency appendectomy. Long, boring stays at hospital commence. Work ceases.
-Old friends from SIFAT get in touch to let us know they’re coming through Indy, and can they stay at our house? Absolutely – insanity continues.
-Mom is released from the hospital, so I spend a day waiting for discharge papers, shopping for groceries and filling prescriptions.

You may notice that the above list does not contain any of the following:
-House cleaning
-Laundry
-Church Services
-Weekly youth events
-Sleeping
-Daily hygiene

The house is NOT clean, I’m barely keeping up with laundry, sleeping is fitful, hygiene…what’s that? I have been brushing my teeth, but it’s always while I’m on the toilet and applying deoderant at the same time (I’m mastering this multi-tasking stuff). And church? Does. Not. Stop. EVER.

I have my class reunion this weekend, family visiting from Iowa, Tayla’s birthday celebration with us (called “Tayla Day” – we’re going for pedicures), and THEN I get my vacation…I think. We are currently planning on going to St. Louis next week for a Cardinal game, Tom Petty concert, sightseeing, SLEEPING, etc. We may end up missing out if Mom isn’t feeling well, but her doctor said this morning, “No way in hell would I let some appendectomy keep me from seeing Tom Petty.” Well said Dr. Browne.

SO – If I can just get through the next few days, I am set. The good news is that the next few days are full of fun things. I just wish the fun was more spread out.

When I do a post in September about how boring my life is, will you please slap me across the face with this dead fish I’m posting today to WAKE ME UP?

How scatter-brained was this post? Sorry about that…this is a glimpse into my brain right now! 🙂

>Facing the Giants

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>Matt and I watched Facing the Giants yesterday. We’ve been meaning to watch it for months now, and finally got around to it. I was touched by the movie, and here is where I begin to tell you why…

Let me start by saying that Facing the Giants is NOT my favorite movie…nowhere near it. It is your typical Our-team-sucks-but-watch-us-beat-the-odds kinds of movie that is intended to make you feel good and want to try harder in all you do. It’s a Christian movie as well, and in normal Christian movie fashion, the acting stinks. (Why, oh why can’t we have Christian movies with decent dialogue?) We found ourselves successfully predicting plot points, and laughing at the cheesiness of a lot of the scenes.

So why was I in tears at the end of the movie? Why would I take so much time out of my busy schedule to blog about a movie that isn’t really that good? Because Matt and I have some Giants we’re facing right now.

Life is really stressful for the Swishers these days. We are dealing with situations that make us feel angry and victimized and misunderstood. Satan is weaseling his way into our home like the jerk that he is, and we are feeling afraid and hurt and ready to quit. Our confidence is shattered, and we feel like we’re on-edge frequently.

Our hopes for a baby still have not been realized, and at times we are definitely feeling desperate and hopeless. God has been encouraging us lately through this struggle, but we still connected with the movie because of this as well.

As the movie closed, and Matt and I laughed at the cheesy ending, I couldn’t help but think about how many similarities we shared with the couple in the story. One glaring difference was clear though, and that is why I blog to you today. They prayed – we don’t.

We love God. We serve Him with our life and our vocations. We praise Him when things go well. We have never been good about praying together when we have trouble.

I just finished reading “The Shack” (AWESOME book – I’m sure I’ll blog about it soon), and in this book there is a lot of talk about sin and free will and God’s plan for creation. It became clear to me through this book that we sin because we ultimately want independence from God. Isn’t that just like us? Don’t we, as children, decide that we don’t have to listen to our parents, so we do our own thing? Don’t we get ourselves into trouble that way? Oy vey…what a predicament.

God desperately wants to be in relationship with us. He wants us to talk to him about our life, to consult him when there are decisions to be made. He wants to guide us, and he wants to help us become exactly what he intended us to be in the first place – dependent on him.

I don’t know what our future holds. It’s not really my business anyway. We may slay these giants, and we may not. Regardless of the outcome, it sure is nice to know that God is on our side, guiding us through the battle. Thank you Jesus…

>Swisher Weigh-Down

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>Many of you don’t know this, but Matt and I are on a mission this year to GET IN SHAPE! We have started watching what we eat, making sure our portions are what they need to be, getting a little exercise, etc. We have some SERIOUS weight loss goals for this year, but are happy to be doing it together.

As of today (2 1/2 weeks into it), I have lost 11 pounds!!! I’m so excited to see some progress. I just wanted to share that joy with you guys. I love you all!