Sillyville

When I was little, there was this video of Samantha's that I had to secretly love, as I was probably about 12 and way too old to publicly indulge in such childish entertainment. It was called Wee Sing in Sillyville and is a classic, poorly made children's video that is just oh, so entertaining that you can't help but watch it over and over again.

The last song, however, ironically enough, has been coming back to me quite a bit over these past few weeks. It's a simple little verse that goes:

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other gold.

I guess my mind and heart has been reflecting a lot on the end of one season and the beginning of a new one in my life. Last week at this time, I got to spend a short trip in D.C. with Brad visiting my sister and brother-in-law and spending the day with two of my new friends (2 of Brad's old friends), Tony and Jamie Sebastian and their adorable little boys. How much fun to get to know brand new friends and get excited for the new friendships that God was giving me in this new season of life in which I'm entering.

This week, I just got home from the last "official" time my small group met that's been meeting in some form for the last 12-36 months! We're all in such different phases, and have had trouble meeting through the summer, but getting together tonight was like we never left. What a gift to truly enjoy fellowship at the deepest level, laughing and crying together, truly sharing in each other's burdens and celebrations in so many different seasons of life.

As I was driving home thinking about all these different things, I tried to comprehend even a brief glimpse of how incredibly overwhelming and magnificent Heaven will be. To be in the presence of our Bridegroom with our fellow brothers and sisters in perfect fellowship, truly surrounded by silver and gold . . . just like Sillyville, but probably better. :-)

Birthday . . . Again!

I've enjoyed one of the most delightful birthdays today, relishing e-mails, texts, cards, phone calls and even a few presents from family and friends near and far. I think one of the most special parts of the day was receiving quite a few e-mails from new friends in Michigan, some of which I haven't even met yet! I know it will certainly be an adjustment moving away from my family in a few months and I'll certainly miss them, but what a wonderful gift to already have a new family (both literally and in the church body) that I can love and enjoy. Special thanks to everyone who overwhelmed me with your love! :-)

Birthday!

29 years ago today, God began the most wonderful story that would change my life forever (even though technically my life hadn't begun yet). Brad Leach was born into this world bringing delight to so many of his family and friends. It was not long after that my parents received their little baby girl and began praying for the spouse that she would one day have. It would take some time for the worlds to collide, but coming from the Baby Girl, it was certainly worth the wait.

Happy Birthday, Brad. Thank you for staying faithful to God's call on your life even when it's been uncertain, confusing, and incredibly challenging. Thank you for being like Jesus to me from the moment that I met you. Thank you for the promise of growing closer to our Father and each other in the years to come. Thank you for being such an example to me of perseverance and undying loyalty as evidenced by your passionate dedication to the Lions. :-) I love you and can't wait for the adventure ahead!

New Normal

So these last few weeks have been a blur of activity and a wide range of emotions. Very good and fun, mind you, but certainly intense. I've been processing some various changes that I get to experience over these next few months and I thought it might help to verbalize some of them here. I'll start this post with the not so deep stuff . . .

Lions Football - I was discussing my first experience watching a full Lions football game to Brad and our friend Norflette on Monday and came to the conclusion that I'm not sure I have the emotional fortitude to be a Lions fan. Silly me thought that a 17 point lead at halftime was a pretty safe and secure place to be. Imagine my angst and distress when I watched that lead diminish into nothing in a matter of 5 minutes in the third quarter. It was then Brad informed me the first rule of watching Lions football: no lead is a safe lead. I was delighted to ride out the rest of the emotional roller coaster and end the day with both the Steelers and Lions, 1-0.

New Family - I LOVE this part of new normal. I genuinely have such a love for Brad's family and was trying to put my feelings into words the other day, coming up with the following simile that hopefully at least my female readers will be able to appreciate, knowing that it may go over some of the male readers' heads (i.e. Brad didn't get it.). Brad's family is like a gift with purchase that you get at the makeup counter at Christmas. You go to buy one item that you really did want to get, and then find out you get a whole OTHER gift, too, leaving the store so extraordinarily happy! God has truly blessed me not only with such an amazing family in which to be born, but an equally amazing family in which to be married. How wonderful.

More thoughts on some other transitions later. Any suggestions on how to best adjust to cooking and Lions fanaticism would be greatly welcomed. :-)

And it's off!

How excited am I about football season starting tonight?!? And this weekend will kick off the Steeler's season w/ one of the greatest rivalries in football . . . Steelers vs. Browns! I've really gotta soak up all the Steelers that I can this season, as I've heard that for some crazy reason, the people of Detroit aren't nearly as interested in Steeler games as I am. Bizarre, huh?!?

Still Awake . . .

So I apologize for not staying true to my word and posting the rest of the story the next day. As it turns out, I've taken a very hefty bite of "school" this last semester and it's taking up a lot more of my time than I initially realized. I trust that many of you have been keeping up with the epic tale of love here, written by my handsome Prince.

To complete the pre-engagement story, I mentioned that my interest was piqued after reading Brad's blog, but nothing more serious was going on in my heart until I followed a link on his blog to his church website where there were also links to his Podcasts. I decided to listen to one, choosing a message entitled "Baggage Claim 301: Dreams." Somewhere in between "Welcome to church today . . ." and "Let's close in prayer . . .," God managed to grab my cynical little heart and mind and speak to me directly through this man's insightful and God-inspired preaching.

Brad was talking about the dreams that God can lay on our heart, dreams that many times have to die in the way that we expect them to happen, in the way that we want them to happen, only to be later resurrected in a more perfect way than we could have ever asked or imagined. Listening to the message was a wrestling match of sorts for me. I knew that what he was saying was Truth, was what God was trying to tell me about, but I didn't want to believe it. I was scared to believe it. The truth was that after suffering the pain and hurt of broken dreams I didn't want to dream again. I didn't want to hope again. It was easier and less painful to expect nothing and never be disappointed than it was for me to honestly allow God to do something new in my heart.

And so, after I listened, sat there, prayed, and then listened to the whole message again, I spent some serious time honestly downloading my thoughts and dreams to God, totally unfiltered, total stream of consciousness, total of two hours and a good 8 journal pages. My dream was to one day be married and though I never sat down and wrote out the infamous "list of husband qualities" (saying instead that I didn't care and would take whatever God gave me) I realized that if I was honest, I was carrying around this "backpack" full of expectations and desires for a future husband. I was just in denial that I was doing it.

So, I "dumped out" my backpack, taking a look at all the things I was carrying around, some of which I thought were really big, but in the big picture of things weren't (i.e. A last name that sounded good with mine) and other things that I didn't give enough value that should have been huge (i.e. A family of his that I could genuinely love). I left that journal entry day asking God to put back the things in my backpack that He wanted to be there, and burn up all the others that wouldn't matter. And, nearly 12 months later, I can now say that I'm quite delighted with my new alliterative name, Leah Leach. It makes me giggle.

All that to say, that by the time I actually met Brad in February, God had already done such a work on my heart that meeting him was about as close to love at first sight as I think is humanly possible. I came home that night and took this picture (at top) so I could remember how I felt when I first met Brad.

I never thought that it could happen to me. My analytical mind often has me examining decisions and thoughts from every possible angle. (I thought that if I were Eve, I would've had to pray for several months to see if Adam was the man I was to marry.) :-) But God made the impossible not only possible, but truly a dream come true.

It's truly my prayer that He would breathe life into your dreams, resurrecting them from the ashes or tombs where they may be lying from long ago. Go ahead. It's worth the risk. Dream on.