The Preacher's Wife

Insignificant things about me

Getting to know people is fun.  My friend, Nicole, has a phobia of vomiting.  My mother will not drink coffee without half and half.  My sister, Emily, always has a piece of gum in her mouth.  My husband likes the small spoon, not the table spoon.  

Today I thought I might share a few things you may not know about me... 

1. After having Abbey, I no longer like Dr. Pepper anymore.
2. I love the show Downton Abbey.  I feel like something has finally replaced ER in my heart.
3. I have always thought myself to be a talkative person.  Turns out I deal with stress by sleeping, not talking.
4. I have decided our family is going to take up hiking walking.  So far we have been to the Carolina Raptor Center and the trail at a local park.  I got an Ergo Baby so there is no turning back.  My husband doesn't know this but I am plotting a trip to a state park (maybe this Friday).
5. Although I am a chronically late person, I am doing better about being on time.  Turns out having to be out the door at the same time every day for kindergarten lit a fire under me.
6. I prefer Instagram to Twitter.  So far there are no meanies on Instagram.
7. I don't consider myself an avid reader.  I do consider myself an avid collector of books I would like to read.
8. Most weeks, I only wash my hair 2x a week.
9. I rarely sweat, even while working out.  This would explain #8.
10. I know nothing about plants and cannot keep them alive, however, the parsley in my herb garden has managed to live through heat of the summer and the mildly cold winter with no attention whatsoever.  I think it's parsley.

I hope today you will take a second to love the little things about the people closest to you.  Have a great day!

11 from 11

Today I want to take one last time to look back at 2011.  It was a busy year, a year that God came through on many big things.  But also a year where I was stretched spiritually grew a lot.  So here are 11 highlights from 2011 (totally stole this from my friend, Stephanie's blog) in no particular order.  I also included links if I had blogged earlier this year.

1. Celebrating our 5 anniversary with our Elevation documentary
2. Having Abbey, our sweet baby girl
3. Elijah starting kindergarten
4. Preaching on Mother's day and Labor day.  Accomplishment!
5. Moving my in-laws to Charlotte
6. Trip to Haiti
7. 3D Easter
8. Trip to London
9. Graham's batman birthday party (our first sleep over)
10. Spontaneous baptisms at Elevation
11. First Christmas morning with just our family at our house

 

Moving forward

Happy New Year!  Thanks for giving me a blog vacation. 

I love time off.  There is something about it though that makes you appreciate the regularities of life.  Today I am back to our routine and ready for it.  I am ready to face the year head on. 

I haven't always been a believer in setting New Years resolutions.  They seemed silly to me.  But after being married to a man who takes setting goals and attaining them very seriously, I am becoming more and more of a believer.  So what if I only accomplished 60% of my goals from last year.  I moved forward.  I made progress.  And I am proud of what I accomplished.  If you don't set any goals, you are guaranteed not to accomplish them.

2011 was amazing.
    It was a huge year for our church.  We celebrated our 5th anniversary.  Doubled in size.  Baptized 2000 people.  Opened 2 new campuses.  And really matured internally as a staff.   
    For our family is was incredible.  We added a 5th member to our family, yeah Abbey! We also moved my in-laws to Charlotte.  Oh, and my baby started kindergarten.
    Personally, I saw a side to myself that I didn't know was there, in a good way.  I grew up a lot.  In my relationship with God, my personal habits and relationships.  I did things I never would have been able to do 5 years ago.  I was not perfect, but God stretched me this year and then He came through and for that, I am a better person.

I am ready to leave 2011 behind.  Ready to move forward.  I have goals for my home, my kids, my personal life and habits and more.  I am not done setting my goals for 2012 (who says you have to be done by Jan1?) but I will finish them.  One things for sure, I am going to read more, I have set a goal to read 12 books this year.

I hope you will take some time to look back and look ahead.  Keep moving forward.  Keep letting God work on you.  And you can trust that the things God has in store for you this year, good and bad, are going to turn out for your good.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way.

A Christmas memory

My mom gets the credit for purchasing 99% of my Christmas presents (what must it be like to be a man and really only have to worry about purchasing only one gift, your wife's?).  But I remember one thing my dad did every year... he stuffed our stockings with new pens, pencils and highlighters.

Girls love colorful pens and pencils.  It was always so much fun to return to school in January armed with a arsenal of fresh ink.  Maybe what made it meaningful was that he went to Office Depot and picked out pens for our stockings.  Whatever it was, my sisters and I loved it.  It became part of Christmas. As much a part as my mom always letting us open one gift on Christmas Eve.

I am not sure what traditions will evolve in our family.  I love buying my children a new ornament every year.  This year Graham picked Batman and Elijah picked Star Wars.  I have also read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever two years in a row (well we have a chapters left).  We'll see.

But I think the thing to keep in mind is that the things we remember about Christmas are not always the most expensive things.  It is the little moments, and the kept traditions no matter how small they may seem to others, like new pens, that seem to stick in our memory and define Christmas for us.

A day trip to the city of LOVE

A vacation of sorts

 

There are only a few weeks left of summer.  How did time fly so fast?  I love summer, I am always sad to see it go.

This week I am taking a virtual vacation.  I have never officially taken a break from blogging, and I think it is time.

I will still tweet some.  If you don't follow me on twitter, you can at twitter.com/hollyfurtick.

So here is Abbey waving goodbye in her sweet little lobster outfit.  I will be back Monday!  Have a great week.

Abbey and Me

9 Years Ago

9 years ago today I made the best decision I would ever make in my life, I said yes to marrying Steven Furtick.  I had no idea what our life would look like, but I knew I wanted to spend it with him.  It was a sweltering hot day in the low country of South Carolina.  We had a gigantic wedding party that included 4 ministers, 2 flower girls and lots bridesmaids and groomsmen.  Our wedding was over an hour long and the guests drank all the sweet tea before I could get any because of the heat.  It was a great day.  We cruised the Caribbean for 7 days on our honeymoon.

In 9 short years, we have had a wild ride.  But 1 church and 3 kids later we are still going strong.  Our marriage is not perfect, but it is strong.  We do our best to love God and put the other first.  He challenges me to be a better person and he makes my dreams come true.

Happy anniversary, Steven Furtick, I can't wait to go through life with you.  And I love you more today than I did the day I married you.

You asked... a blast from my past

I've been wondering, its good that you've blogged about your experiences as a wife and mother but I'm curious, what were you like before Pr SF? When you were teenager or younger and single? :)How was your life back then? What were your dreams, passion and etc?

Yes, this is a picture of me catching a fish at about age 9.  I grew up in South Florida and my parents loved to take us fishing and camping.  I wasn't always thrilled to go on such adventures.  I have always been more of the indoor type.  But I am so thankful for the wonderful experiences my parents gave me as a child. 

We not only fished and camped in South Florida but all over the US.  In fact, my parents took us to 49 of the the United States.  Pretty impressive, I think.

My favorite thing about this picture are the rings you can see on my fingers.  I always have loved jewelry.  I hardly ever leave home without it and apparently I have always been that way.

My parents did a great job raising me.  As a child, I dreamed of being getting married and becoming a mother.  During my teenage years, my parents taught me (among many things) to always let the boys come to me, never to chase after them. 

I remember my dad saying that I would make the two most important decisions of my life in my early 20s: Who I would spend the rest of my life with, and what I would to do every day from 9-5 for the rest of my life.  No pressure, huh?  They helped me to see that I needed to get myself in the right position to make those decisions well.  I needed to choose the right friends and go to the right school.

Somehow they were able to guide me in the right direction while making me think I was making my own decisions.  Now that was some good parenting. 

PS.  Today is my Mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom, I love you.

 

 

 

 

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

We are starting to get really excited about the coming arrival of Abbey Faith.  I have 5 weeks and 2 days until my due date (but who's counting) and the pink has slowly started to invade our home.

A few weeks ago, my two closest friends, Amy and Nicole, along with the enlisted help of several other friends, threw me the baby shower of all baby showers.  A tea party!  I was so blessed to be loved on and celebrated by so many sweet friends.