monthly review

i keep seeing today's date and marveling at it in wonder.

really? september 2nd?

crazy.

august, as i predicted, was an insane month! and a wonderful month. definitely one of my favorites.

here's a review of all things august:

3 months down!

i love marriage! august 23rd was our 3-month anniversary. the past month of marriage just kept getting better and better. and better. we've simply been enjoying eachother so much mostly due to the fact that i, especially have been letting go of the little things.

• letting go. i have a lot of trouble taking things so personally when it comes to my husband. and worse, the biggest cause of the former is that i ask him to do things, in my head, and he somehow fails to do those things. when he would fail to do the things i had clearly asked him to do, in my head, it would hurt me to the deepest level. how could he treat me like this? well, i'm learning, ok? i'm learning not to assume, but i'm also learning that i just need to be ok and love my husband even if he fails to read my mind.
  
• what's in a word? encouraging eachother has been another thing we've become more natural at. by the grace of God, we've not really tore eachother down with words. but we've both, ok, especially i, have been lacking in words that build up. we had a series of conversations about how we both felt so overwhelmed by eachothers expectations. we weren't making an effort to tell eachother how much we really care for eachother and we've found that is important.
  
• share the load! oh yeah, bryan is not just my roommate and he's not just my friend. he's not even just my husband. he's my other half. i had a total breakdown somewhere in the middle of august. i got home from work one day, sat on our couch, thought about everything i had to do and just melted. bryan found me curled up in a ball underneath our covers when he got home from work. (i'm not kidding!) it was the first time in my life that i caved under pressure. my personality tends to resonate a "suck it up, get it done-and do it with a smile" type of attitude. i can easily find joy in pressure, but this time, i couldn't do it. i curled up in a ball and cried. literally. and when bryan got home from work, what do you think i did? i told him i "wasn't feeling well." and i didn't tell him what was really wrong until two days later. i'm stupid. after i told him everything i was feeling, i immediately felt better. he didn't offer to help with some of my tasks and he didn't really say anything in particular to encourage me. just the fact that i knew i could share my load with him gave me immediate peace. and to add to that peace, he really is such a servant-hearted husband. i rarely do to the dishes anymore.

so yeah, marriage is great, and we learn new things everyday.

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uncle bryan and aunt lg!
possibly the most exciting piece of news:

mya rosalie duvick
august 27th, 2009, 6:52pm
7lb, 7oz, 19"

this is my brother, luke, and his beautiful baby girl:
my family is so blessed by this little one! please pray for luke and diana as they adjust to life with little mya. praise Him!

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entertainment reviews
we watched a lot of movies this month, and we have some thoughts for you:

District 9. so stinking good! it was incredibly well made and thought-out as well as thought-provoking. bryan and i had several conversations about the controversies brought up in the film. we don't however, think the movie is making a statement about "illegal aliens" or immigrants. we've heard that's been said, but ignore it. also, coming from me, it's not so scary!

UP. we realize we're a little late for a review but this movie... SO GOOD! we just saw it in the dollar theater. i personally cried 5 times, so be prepared with tissues, women! you too men, because bryan himself shed a few tears. it's is the BEST disney pixar film thus far (in our opinions) and we both agree it has the perfect balance of fantasy, reality, laughter and tears. it receives a high five from the alsburys!

The Time Traveler's Wife. this coming from a girl who gets extremely sucked in and involved in chick flicks, despite the quality or writing: i did not care for this particular movie. it was, in the simplest terms, awkward. i guess i hope the book was better.
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in other news:

• paige and i have HALF of galatians memorized. i feel such a great sense of accomplishment! i was hoping to finish the whole book by the end of 2009 but i'm not sure if that will happen. whenever we finish, it will have been a race worth the run!
• NERD ALERT. i'm becoming even more of a nerdy wife. you know how much i love coupons and deals, and now i've fallen in love natural/homemade products.
  
  • i made homemade pita bread
  • i made homemade pizza crust
  • i made my own popcorn, the oldschool way (small victory, i know)
  • i made my own alfredo sauce
    
  • i ordered soap nuts
  • and even my christmas list is full of things that will only help this crazy cause:
    
    • a kitchenaid grain mill
    • a food processor
    • and maybe even a bread maker!
• i completely chopped my hair off last night. i was getting sick of it being so stinking long and straight and...boring. so we make some drastic changes. drastic. i can't decide whether i look like i'm a forty-year-old woman or a 12-year-old boy. i'll let you decide. unfortunately, i can't post pictures because we seem to have lost our battery charger for our camera. so you'll have to wait!

if you got this far down, i'm amazed. there is still much more to update but i'll save that for a later day.

until next time, thank you and goodnight. um. good afternoon.