Two cute things... and a lot of other things...

It's 3:34 a.m., and I can't sleep.  There are just so many things running around in my head.  So I'm blogging.  Isn't that what this thing is for, anyway?

As of today, I have eight days until I take the bar exam.  I've been studying for hours and hours each day for the past few weeks, and it's wearing me down.  Everyone kept saying that studying for the bar exam was a marathon and not a sprint, and I probably should have taken that advice a little more seriously.  I'm not frantically running yet, but I am wondering how fast I should be going through this material if I'm going to make it past that finish line in anything other than last place... :)

But, because the Lord is so good, I'm not stressing too, too much.  I'm giving myself many well-deserved breaks, and I'm not actually worrying about it too much.  There are too many subjects to study to waste time wondering whether I'll be doing this all again next February.

So, I'll tell you two things before I crawl back into bed and hope for dreamless sleep to take me (because my last dream, in which I discussed the merits of a no-contest clause with my grandma and literally stood in line with other creditors for a purchase-money security interest on a surfboard, didn't exactly give me the rest I was hoping for).

First... oh, crap. I've forgotten what I was going to say.  Apparently my brain is too full, and it's starting to leak. Oh wait! I remember now... I was going to brag on my incredible husband for a minute. :)  (Sorry, but I'm too tired to remove the random, stream of consciousness comments I generally edit out.  This is just how my brain works.)

On Saturday night, I came home from studying up at the school all day, and when I walked in the door, I realized that the house was spotless.  And then Lilly ran up to me, and I realized that she was spotless and all wet from a fresh bath.  And then I realized that the newspaper (the one I'd left on the kitchen counter since last Tuesday because I was too busy to clip the coupons in it) was gone, and I saw the stack of perfectly clipped coupons sitting on my desk as I dropped my fifty-pound bag of bar review books, and the huge load of stress I'd been carrying because of my messy house, off in the office.  (Longest. Sentence. Ever.) 

I'm sure the mess was bothering him as much as it was me, but it was so sweet of him to lighten the load for me, especially since he's been so busy at work all week and really deserved a break.

So - bottom line - my husband is perfect.  But I already knew that, and you probably did, too. :)

The second thing was a cute story that I thought I would share from our beach vacation with my family.  I still haven't uploaded all of my pictures yet, and even though there weren't very many, I promise you that the wait will be worth it when you see the picture of my brother on the beach... with his swim trunks rolled up... wearing a cowboy hat... doing yoga/karate/things no man should ever, ever do.  

Yeah.  It happened.

So, the story.  My sweet cousin Kim and her husband Jay have been together since I was a little girl.  (I feel like it's okay to tell you that I had the BIGGEST crush on Jay when I was little.  I was just a wee bit boy-crazy when I was younger.  I'm sure you're not surprised by that at all.)  They have a really wonderful, inspiring marriage, and when Kim tells me that Micah and I remind her of Jay and her, I take it as a huge compliment.  Apparently Kim and Jay disagree (or used to disagree) about whether they were actually made for each other. Kim believes they were always meant to be together, but Jay wondered whether, if Kim had never gone to work at Brookshires all those years ago and they had never met, they would have found other spouses and lived incredibly happy lives.

So, anyway, we were on the beach Sunday, and I looked down by the water and saw Kim and Jay (and their two adorable kids) searching frantically through the water.  Jay had lost his wedding ring.  The one Kim had had engraved and put on his finger fourteen years ago.  Naturally, they were devastated, and they looked for quite some time before giving up and making plans to get Jay a new ring for their wedding anniversary next month. 

The next morning, after tractors had scraped the seaweed  off the beach (thanks, Hurricane Alex), Kim and Jay were sitting by the water and saw two young girls approaching them. 

"Do either of you know a Kim?" they asked.  "We found this in the sand." 

And then they held out Jay's gold band, with Kim's words of love inscribed on the inside.  Kim was so happy, she cried!   

 (Pardon the picture quality - I only had my point-and-shoot with me, and the lens fogged up because of the humidity.)

After taking pictures with the girls and giving them all the cash they had on them as a thank you, Kim couldn't resist a little I-told-you-so.  "Do you believe that we're meant to be together now?" she asked Jay.  

That ring managed to find its way back to Jay after almost twenty-four hours, a high tide, and and a tractor stirring up the sand.  And what if Jay and Kim hadn't made it out to the beach so early that morning?  What if those girls had walked the other way?  

Isn't it wonderful how the Lord can make it past all the "what ifs" and bless us anyway?  No matter how much we mess things up, He is infinitely gracious and good.  And this is officially the longest post ever.  :)