It Could Always Be Worse

So I recently deleted my Facebook. Crazy I know?! How will I stay in touch with all of my friends?! Well after the shakes calmed down a bit and I stopped referring to myself in the 3rd person telling people my status updates, I decided to get back to blogging. I say that now, but I am not a disciplined blogger yet. It may take me another 3 months before my next blog. And these things are not grammatically correct. English majors, beware. I like fragments and run ons. And commas. So perhaps I shouldn't refer to myself as a blogger. Maybe an opinionated-grammatically-incorrect-comma-happy foreigner. Well, whichever, here goes...

A few months ago I went with my parents to their church in Duluth. Their guest speaker was talking about being thankful with what you have. He said, "If you lost everything today; your house, your car, your family and friends, your dog, all of your money in the bank-everything, and tomorrow you got everything back, tomorrow would be the best day of your life."
This got me thinking. We often complain about the little money we have, the crappy job, the irritating sibling, the dog that pooped in the house, the spouse that can't seem to put the cap back on the toothpaste. But think about it. There are worse things. There are millions of people who don't have the luxury of eating food every day. There are families risking their lives to come work minimum wage jobs in America so that their children could have an education. Brothers and sisters are killed daily in wars fought all over the world. There are lost dog signs posted on telephone poles across the nation with parents wondering how they're going to explain to their child that his best friend got run over by a car. And there are thousands of couples in doctors offices waiting to hear about their spouse's Cancer progression.
Can you imagine experiencing any one of those things?? Maybe you can and maybe you are one of many who have. But you have not experienced ALL of those. And because of that, there is still, every day, something to be thankful for. God is so good and He does not give us more than He is able and willing to help us conquer.
So next time you're quick to complain about your life because your car broke down, your husband didn't notice your highlights as soon as he walked in the door and the person infront of you in the 10 items or less line is taking forever to dig out all of their coupons for their cart full of items, stop and re-evaluate your heart. You are blessed abundantly. It could always be worse.

A Very Murray Wedding: V VII XI

Due to a massive amount of photos kindly taken by the mega talented Cameron Freshwater from CWF Photography, I decided to do a photo-blog with some of the highlights from the Wedding. I don't scrapbook, so this will be basic photoblogging.




<--- My hott groom and his awesome brothers

   Above: My sisters in red. They all looked so gorgeous!

 The dress----------->

<------ My reception shoes my mom tried to talk me out of getting.














My sister/buff queen getting me into my dress.                                  -->

Matt & I at the alter on the Lake

The ceremony was at our gracious friends, Don & Heide Bailey's amazing ranch estate by the lake. We could not have asked for a more beautiful venue or better weather!

<-------This bad boy was crafted by my awesome aunt Hilda Dirksen!!

The only way they could get me to wear a stupid garter was if I could put a knife on it. So I did. And it was cool.-------->

FatherDaughter Dance :)

Ted, Matt's badass b-boy buddy from Savannah.

MotherandSon Dance :)

 Lenay&Fredo Keepin it legit!

 I knew Matt was a b-boy but I didn't know just how good he was!

<-------Aunt Beth bustin' moves with the guys.

And so the ADVENTURE began.

Thanks to one of my dad's many ridiculous connections, we left in what used to be Michael Jordan's Aston Martin. Ohhh yeah, it was a fun ride!

We prayed this over our marriage and will continue to do so over the years --->                                                                                                         
                                                                        Colossians 3:14-15

Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

A Ninja Engagement

Well, I've always loved the idea of blogging. Wanted to blog. Started a blog. And never blogged again. After realizing how much Facebook had sucked my soul in, I deleted that sucker and am now going to blog on the regular. For real this time. So here is a big event missing on my blog. I got engaged! And married! Of course those 2 events were 4 1/2 months apart, but let's start with the engagement. It involves Ninjas. See below.

 It's New Years Eve around 4:30pm. Matt and I just got out of The Chronicles of Narnia. Our plans for the night include dinner with another couple and then a couple of new year's gatherings. So we get to the car parked in underground parking. It's looking pretty empty. Erie. Matt opens my door, and there is a black rose in my seat. Long story short-it's an homage to ancient Japan that modern gangs use. It's bad news. He flips out- I don't know what to make of it. He closes to the door and we see a scary dude dressed for a mugging, standing in the middle of the parking garage just staring at us. So we start swiftly walking to the other side and Matt gets attacked from the front. Before he gets hit, he sends me up the stairs and tells me to wait where he can see me. 

 I wait there and see him fighting this guy.
So I look up to see if anyone was coming for me and I see a couple video phoning the fight. So I look back down and the bad guy was on the ground and Matt was fighting someone else. I didn't know if he killed the guy or not. I didn't know if it was real or not but I needed to make a decision or I was going to get killed. So I decide that it is real and I am getting my knife. I look back up to ask the couple if they see anyone else...this time there were tons of people taking video and photos. And I recognized some of them. So I turn around to find my hero beating up one last bad guy and getting down on one knee.

  So did Matt have the ring in his pocket while fighting off bad guys? No. He had the ring box strapped TO one of the bad guys. He got the ring by punching the guy, kicking him and tearing off the box as the he plummets to the ground. No problem.

 I had to hold onto the railing to regain my composure. Not only was I not getting mugged, but I WAS getting proposed to. Perhaps both equally surreal.








And I said Of course! Who could say know to a man who would go to those lengths just to propose? How I do love that man!

Now here is the video directed and shot by actual industry professionals. Oh and those bad guys were legit stuntmen. Dante Ha. Brent Bernhard and Max Calder. Awesome work guys!