my hero.

When people ask me who my hero is, I always say my parents. This is good and well, and the God's honest truth...but I think this past weekend a new name was added to my list.

My best friend Emily is now my hero. Emily and I have been friends since the fateful day we met the summer before our Sophomore year at Fort Myers High School at Volleyball Camp with Salome and Danielle Chadha (wow, GOOD TIMES). Em was the quiet, good girl who would laugh at my obnoxiously loud ways. Emily was a friend from the start. My relationship with Em kinda reminds me, in a small way, of my relationship with Christ. The ebb and flows, of good times and bad, always comes back to feeling like we'd never been apart and picking up where we left off.

My favorite part of our friendship was during our freshman years in college when she was attending Liberty University and I was attending the University of Miami in FL. Em would tell you this wasn't the best time in her life, but it's funny how God can even use us when were at our lowest. To me, Em was being used by God to draw me back to Him. I stopped going out and doing stupid stuff, so we could chat and to be honest, make fun of how her curfew at Liberty was when all my friends would just be going out! We had so many great, incredible conversations on the phone and via AIM (yes, we were that cool!) But, even as much as I made fun of Liberty, God used Em to eventually get me to transfer there.

It's so funny how we essentially swapped places; I took a semester off and then eventually transferred to Liberty, then Em came back to FL after her year at Liberty. Even so, Em was such an encouragement while I was there, constantly praying for me and telling me to hang in there!

I feel, it's my turn to return the favor. Two days ago, Emily left for Korea. Em is going to Pusan, South Korea to teach English for a year. A YEAR. Even now, those two words haunt me. I know her and I have gone quite lengthy periods without even as much as a phone call, but just like most boys, I want what I can't have. :)

This past weekend, I flew to FL because I couldn't fathom to say goodbye to her for a year, without a good night full of laughter and sarcasm. I know I went to FL for emily, but the weekend was such honey to my soul. I just needed friendship so badly, and I got it in so many ways. Especially when Ashley picked me up and we spent the evening hanging out (miss my other besty, ash!!)

But, now Emily has been in Korea for about a day and a half....we just got to talk on Skype (God's blessing to missionaries) and I can tell it's my turn to be an encouragement to Emily. She has been so obedient to Christ and His call on her life, no doubt there will be spiritual warfare and anxiety about being half a world away from her friends and family....but of all people, I know Emily is the best person to be there. I have not one doubt in my mind that God will do amazing things with Emily and THROUGH Emily for the advancement of His Kingdom and His Glory in Korea. So, whenever you think about it, say a prayer for Emily...for strength, guidance and comfort from God. Pray that she can be honest and open about her relationship to Christ with her co-workers and with those living in Korea. Pray that not only will she help others grow in their faith, but pray that this will grow HER in her own faith. Pray for her to find a church, a good Godly friend to have and for her to develop meaningful relationships...also pray that she doesn't find a Korean man and get swept away and live in Korea for the rest of our lives. (jk, but seriously).

I pray that each and everyone has the blessing of having a best friend like Emily. I am so blessed to have two....both of whom, sadly, live thousands of miles from me right now. But, I don't think I ever realized the need for friendship more than right now. It truly is like honey to a weary soul.

Praying,
LaRae

Surprises and Sushi

For Cody's birthday, I wanted him to have a great time! So, a few weeks ago, Matt and I started scheming of how to surprise Cody on his birthday. The big day finally came and Cody was so incredibly surprised!!

This was right after Cody answered the door and was so excited to see Matt at the door!

Matt brought presents from Cody's parents and grandparents--he was so giddy!

That night we headed to Red Lobster for his Birthday dinner....our waiter brought him a little treat.

his first birthday as a hubs.

so grateful that matt came to visit!

Saturday morning, since Cody had no clue Matt was coming, he signed us up to meet newcomers to Blacksburg--this is Shane and his family meeting a newbie to the area!

Afterwards, The Carter's took us out to lunch for Cody's Birthday---group shot!

After lunch, I convinced the boys to head to the mall across the street...we ended up at Dick's Sporting Goods....at least I got to work on my putt. :)

And matty got to work on his pimp stance.

After a lazy afternoon, we went to Sushi for dinner--it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

We will be brining all subsequent guests to this hot spot! :)

Happy.

They were so happy about dinner.

A little too happy....maybe even gay.

Then matt remembered he had a lady waiting at home...

We went next door to hand pick some amazing chocolates for her...Matt was excited to earn brownie points. :)

We had a great time, but were missing matty already!!!

Thanks so much for coming to visit matt, we had a great time...as always. :)

The Hubs' Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Husband!!

Today Cody turns 25!! I finally feel like I'm not robbing the craddle anymore (i'm six months older than him). Anyways, I thought a few pictures from the past few years we've been dating would be a fun way to celebrate Cody's birthday--i'll let you know how we celebrated AFTER, not to spoil the goodness :)

The first two months of us dating--we always spent time with Josh at his apartment, ordering Chinese food....such fun times!

Our first summer of dating---this was taken in Maine at Cody's cousin's rehearsal dinner....my first Maine Lobster!!

Seeing Shane and Shane for my birthday!

Spring Break in FL with Cedric!

Being silly, per usual. 

On our first youth retreat as husband and wife

Also, today Cody celebrates his birthday with his best friend, Josh--they were born on the same day, in the same hospital and about 13 years later--became best friends and have been ever since...God is so neat!

Happy 'Love' Day

This was our first Valentine's day as Hubs and Wifey!! Northstar had a Valentine's Night dinner for couples and a movie! We had about 26 people and some great food!!


This was the banquet room I got to decorate--good times!

Our Associate Pastor and his wife making out.

my hubs being romantic and silly!

new friends and fellow bloggers--Megan and Shane

The good set up (my eyes go directly to the dessert table!)



Watching the movie during dinner



The girls from our table and Jenna (Megan, Jenna, Erin, Tonia and Me!)

Christine decided to join in too---i realized after that we all wore black and red!!

We had a good time! Hope you enjoyed your valentine's day too!

Lots of Love,
Cody and LaRae

An Eventful Sunday Morning

This past Sunday morning, I was getting ready for church...just like every Sunday. I had just gotten out of the shower and decided on making some Oatmeal for breakfast. As the oatmeal was cooking, I thought, "let's put some clean dishes away from the dishwasher..." (bad idea).

As I began putting our drinking glasses into the dishes, one "lost it's balance", I suppose and came tumbling down; landing on the pots and pans I had just washed and were peacefully reside on the counter top below. As the crystal goblet hit the saucepan, it shattered into a million pieces (literally). One of the larger of the million pieces decided to seek out my left ring finger for vengeance. I felt nothing and my initial thought was, "PHEW, that was a close call"..then i looked down and my finger was anything but ok! (the rest is kinda graphic)....

As I looked down, blood was pouring out and glass was everywhere on my hand...needless to say, I was freaking out! I was home alone and not sure what to do--i called Cody, basically hyperventilating and asking what to do. I was guessing since I could see ALOT of blood and a ton of the inside stuff in my finger, that I should probably go to the ER. I grabbed the towel off my wet-head of hair and applied pressure, all the while trying to remember that stupid acronym from health class, IRCE, RCIE, what was it??? RICE!! Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate.....hahaha, i had no idea what i was supposed to do--i'm running around my house getting dressed with just my elbows and a towel holding my finger together. I run to my car, get in, realize i have no keys or even a wallet....run back in, grab those things, run out and forget to shut the door, run back.....it was exhausting, my poor heart was probably at 220 beats per minute.

I speed to the hospital (of course, I don't get pulled over because you never do when you have an honest and legitimate excuse) and run into the ER. Thankfully, no one was there (by all means, it was 8am). The lady, clearly, sees I'm in distress and rushes to get my info and get a doctor.

I'm admitted and they start their work--about an hour and a half later, I'm stitched up and calmed down. I leave with a sense of confidence...I just did that all alone, just me and God. Cody couldn't come because he was the ONLY pastor there on Sunday and I knew he needed to stay--so it was just me and God. Looking back, it makes me smile knowing that God got me through...I seriously felt him right next to me the entire time....except maybe when the guy was pulling the needle through my finger...haha.

The greatest part about this is God's truly divine goodness to me....as I was sitting in the little ER room waiting, I began to pray...knowing that I couldn't have 'moral' support with me physically. I was so nervous and scared--I needed a friend or something. Enter the doctor (well, student Doctor), his name was Dr. Pate and was a student at the local Med School. He was in his 3rd year and doing rotations..that scenario sounded familiar, so i asked if he know Erin Carter (the wife of our Associate Pastor, she also is a 3rd year at the local med School and doing rotations)--He responded with a resounding yes and we began to talk all about Worship and Church and God----the next thing I knew, I was stitched up, calmed down and walking out....realizing that God showed up to talk with me when I was all my myself. It makes me smile so much just realizing how much He cares for me and how He knew EXACTLY what I needed. Our God is AMAZING and so perfect, I am in awe.

Days later, a number of people said they were thinking about me and Cody this weekend and just started to pray for us, not really knowing why---WOW, absolutely incredible. Thanks my Father for looking out for us every moment of the day.


*This is about 5 days after the fact, so it doesn't look too severe and I finally got to wash it today---but, she's a-healin' nicely, but still quite swollen....praising God for the fact that I don't wear my wedding rings when I do dishes...it could've been MUCH worse! :)

Girl's Weekend!

This past weekend, my mom and I flew up to Ohio to attend West Hill's Annual Women's Retreat!!!! It was a girl's weekend to the fullest!!

We both arrived late Thursday night at the Akron/Canton Airport--we were so excited to see each other!! And of course, we both had black and red on--hahaha, we must be related!

Mom was so nervous to drive in the snow with the rental car--it was hilarious the entire weekend!!!!!!

After a night of excitement, we only got 3 hours of sleep!!! The next day called for RELAXATION!

Manicures and shopping were in order!!

In the hotel room, ready for an afternoon nap!

Later Friday afternoon, we helped set-up some stuff for the retreat....we actually ended up just sitting around and being moral support :)
*Mark, Cody's dad, was there setting up the sound equipment, so we couldn't resist a photo-op!

Cyndi Glasgo and Lindy at the registration table

Robin and Cartha were setting up the Karaoke room and couldn't resist giving it a shot!

The early birds were able to pay a few bucks to get a little massage---after a sleepless night, this was just what the Doctor ordered!!!

Me and the lovely masseuse

It was an afternoon of pampering!! After our massages, we did a paraffin wax dip on our hands! Seriously the best antidote for dry, gross winter skin!

Our hands look so weird!

Cody's Grandma even got in on the action!

The Retreat has started!! Robin was welcoming all the ladies to a weekend of relaxing!

The excellent speaker--Joanie Tabor!!

Ladies at the women's retreat as crazy--seriously!!

HILARIOUS!

The theme was "A Caribbean Vacation"---so the ladies dressed up as synchronized swimmers--it was hilarious!!! This is Cody's aunt, Lindy!

Part of the routine



The next day, Robin was slightly more relieved and looking cute in her "Sea gals" shirt

At our "free-time" on Saturday, My mom, me and Cody's Aunt Merry went to a cute little town called Hudson, Ohio--it had great little shops and delicious food!!

The quaint Main Street shopping--it was adorable!

 We went to this cute little place called Main Street Cupcakes--absolutely adorable and soo delicious!

The next day was Sunday--My mom and I went to West Hill (Cody's home church) and had a great time!! After church on Sunday we hung out with little Noah (Cody's nephew--we'll he's mine now too!!! haha)

Vanessa dresses him absolutely adorably!

After church we went to lunch with Joanie, the speaker from the retreat! We had a great lunch at Pine Tree Barn (my favorite place on earth) and shopped around! Needless to say, we were exhausted and needed to relax!!

That Sunday was Superbowl Sunday or better known as Vanessa's Birthday!!! She had to wait until half-time to enjoy her big day!

She loves Tiramisu, so we got her her favorite dessert and Noah helped blow out the candles

He was pulling the candles out and licking them--he wanted to put the candles back in the cake to get more icing---it was hilarious!


His first taste of Tiramisu

Clearly enjoying it

Opening presents--we got her cute Damask coffee mugs that match her kitchen

*We had a great trip--it was so nice to hang out with my mom by myself...it's been a LONG time since that's happened!! Also, the weekend was such a great time of spiritual renewal and encouragement--God did great things and I am so encouraged to keep going in this life and Christian journey!! Thanks Joanie for speaking your heart and your transparency! It was so great!

Love y'all--

LaRae