Go Big or Go Home

Well it seems here in the Uebel household we can't just make one life change at a time. It has to come alongside at least one other. Take for example when we got married. Not only did we say "I do" but we both moved to a new city, started new jobs, and oh yea graduate from college (well at least me).

Well this time around it's no different. *Begin trumpet prelude*-We're having a baby and we just bought our first house! Yep you read that right. I'm about 13 1/2 weeks pregnant and my due date is actually Christmas Day! We're so excited for our family of 2 to expand to 3. It's still a little crazy to think about and we have absolutely no idea what being a parent is going to be like but we're pumped!

As for the new house I promise there will be pictures to come in the very near future. It's been a crazy week leading up to and after the move. We closed on the house last Wednesday afternoon and moved ALL our stuff in that night (crazy yes I know). And can I add here that I had no idea closing would be as formal as it was? I mean I had no clue that EVERYONE who buys a house in the US has to sit at a massive table across from a lawyer and sign a thousand and one papers in an hour! I leaned over to our realtor at one point and said "I feel like I'm starring in some sort of legal drama with this giant table." Welcome to adulthood I guess.

Anways, Thursday morning the entire BCM staff (and Adrienne) came over and helped us paint 3 rooms which was such a blessing! That afternoon/evening we organized and unpacked. We woke up Friday and Saturday morning for a full couple of days at BCM Alumni Work Weekend. It was great to see old friends and give the building a good 'ole fixing up.

Well I think that's all for now. As I said earlier I'll post pictures soon! Hope you're enjoying the summer wherever you are!

Anniversary Trip

Friday morning we dropped Mabel off with my parents and headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC for a long weekend getaway. I couldn't tell you the last time I went to Myrtle Beach (probably when I was in high school) and Nic had never been there so it was a fun adventure for all. We checked into our hotel shortly after arriving and of course walked down to the beach! The place we stayed was called Ocean Creek Resort and I highly recommend it if you're ever down on the Grand Strand. There is actually a real ocean creek that runs in between the property and the ocean (which at high tide looks more like a river) which was really neat because of all the wildlife in brings in with it.

That night we relived a part of my childhood by dining at the Sea Captain's House for dinner. I can remember several mornings of our family vacations, being dragged from my sleep to this restaurant for breakfast. To my parent's credit it is pretty cool though. The restaurant is housed in this old house that is literally right on the beach. In fact we waited for our table out by the sand dunes (not a bad wait I'd say)!


After dinner that night we went a little bit wild and crazy and went to play putt-putt. This was the first time I've played putt-putt with Nic in a LONG time (the first and last time was when I was a freshman in college 8 years ago). And as it turns out you can learn new things about your spouse years later- for instance, Nic never knew that I was a leftie when I played putt-putt (I think I actually forget about that too though). We picked the right course too because we discovered halfway into our putt-putting experience that the winner of the USPMGA Masters played this exact same course back in October!


Saturday we pretty much just sat on the beach all day reading and enjoying the ocean! Someone recommended The Princess Bride to me and I've ended up really enjoying it. That evening we went out to dinner again and just enjoyed having nothing to do. We packed up Sunday morning and headed home (with a stop to pick up Mabel of course). It was such a great weekend overall! My only complaint is that it was too short!

Four Years

Today we celebrate four years of being husband and wife. It's hard to believe it's been four years already-it really doesn't seem like that long ago to me. But then again when I really start to think about it, the memories of that day do seem to get a little bit blurrier as each year passes. I've been helping a friend with some of her wedding planning (and when I say helping I really mean inserting my opinion into the conversation as needed) and it seems that the pricing estimates and the names of printing companies that I could once quote off the tip of my tongue have long since left my brain. In fact the other day Nic & I couldn't agree on what time our wedding actually started, I said 4:30, he said 3:30. Turns out we were both wrong-it was 4.

But despite my failing memory, one thing still holds true, I love Nicholas Edward Uebel, more now than I did the day I married him. Marrying him truly was one of the best decisions of my life!

April Uebel, Private Investigator

So I'm a pretty observant person. I can remember names and faces like nobody's business. I often joke with Nic that if I could only retain useful knowledge the way I do facts about people, maybe I would have actually obtained my one time dream of going to medical school.

But luckily over time I've come to appreciate all the gifts the good Lord has given me and attention to detail is definitely one of them. I was reminded of this the other night while out to dinner with some friends. At the end of the meal when the server brought the credit card receipt to be signed I looked down and happened to notice his pen said Gaylord Hotels. Now because I'm a frequent visitor to the big city of Nashville (ok really I only go there once/maybe twice a year) I happen to know that the Opryland Hotel as well as several other famous landmarks in Nashville are owned by (or at least used to be owned by) the Gaylord company. So immediately, without thinking that I should perhaps explain myself before I spoke, I said "I wonder if he's (the waiter) from Nashville. Gosh, I hope his family and house are ok if he is." The whole table proceeded to stare at me as if to say, "What the heck are you talking about?"

Now I know what some of you might be thinking right now-gosh April creep much? In fact I can see you shuffling your children away from me as I type this. But I disagree with your creeper claims-I think I missed my calling in life as a Private Investigator. I mean really, who else can solve all those mystery/detective dramas on TV before they show you "who did it?" As far as I can tell I'm the only one holding up my hand right now. Always keep your eyes open America you never know what you might see!

Crazy Love

Our homegroup for the past few weeks has been reading through the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Nic & I listened to the audiobook on our way to the OBX last year and really enjoyed/learned a lot from the book. It's been pretty cool reading back through it with our homegroup. Today in my reading I came across this description of "lukewarm" believers and I'm simply going to end with this quote. After you read it you'll understand why, enough said.

"Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves. Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with. There is little love left over for those who can not love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athletes than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable. Their love is highly conditional and very selective, and generally comes with strings attached."
- from Chapter 4, Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Last 6:33 of the Year

Tonight was our last 6:33 of the year at BCM, which is our weekly Tuesday-night worship service. 6:33 usually consists of music by our praise band, student testimonies, teaching, plus some time for prayer and announcements. It's one of the most well known things that BCM does, our big event each week. When I was a student, it felt like the center of our ministry, the thing that the most people came to. Things have changed around now - we have more students that come to our small group Bible studies on Wednesday and Thursday nights than come to 6:33.

Tonight we took a little bit of a different approach - it was a silent worship night. April works with our creativity team, and they were in charge of creating some different ways for our students to spend some time in silent worship. We had stations for prayer, reading of the Psalms, painting responses to God, and meditation. They did a great job creating the space for this all to happen in a creative way - it was a great way to end the year!

Selfishness

Yesterday during my quiet time I came across this verse in 2 Corinthians, "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Corinth 5:15 to be exact). As soon as I read it I did a double take. The same kind of double take Mabel does when she sees a squirrel on one of our walks and only seconds later remembers that she has on her headcollar as she feels her head jerk forward.

Jesus died for ME so that I might not live any longer as if it's all about ME but instead for Him and his purposes. Wowsers that hit me hard. The first thing I wrote in my journal after reading this was "Is this really possible God? Can I really give up thinking about myself." Through this verse God has really been showing me just how selfish I really am and how I think about numero uno in every decision I make.