Saturday Interview

Kristen and I are sitting outside Starbucks on this beautiful Saturday afternoon sipping on an iced soy latte, one pump chocolate, no ice (Kristen) and a sugar free non fat cinnamon dolce latte (me).  Apparently we had a contest to see who could order the item with the longest name...I am such a girl.

Anyway, in honor of this beautiful day in January and in an effort to get some insight into my beautiful wife, we’ll be interviewing Kristen today.

Zach:  "Kristen, what is the best thing going for you right now?"

Kristen:  "Hope.  I have a lot of things going for me, but I’m also tired right now.  So I just don’t want to lose hope."

Z:  "That’s a good perspective.  In three words, describe this last month for you."

K:  "Endurance.  Stress.  Hope."

Z:  "Explain 'endurance'."

K:  "Well, the first half of December seemed really long.  I was working a lot of hours, and my body was holding a lot of stress.  But I still feel like God was saying that He was with me and that He would ever give me more than I can handle.  So even though, there were times when I felt like I couldn’t handle things, I felt like God was faithful and really teaching me endurance."

Z:  "Would say that my hospital visit and diagnosis contributed to any of this?"

K:  "Probably.  But that didn’t add stress to me.  As much as I felt a lot of sadness for you,  I didn’t necessarily stress out about the diagnosis.  I was in one sense relieved to have an answer to why you were losing weight, to know that you’d be ok.  But I did feel sad for you and I felt like I wanted to be strong for you."

Z:  "Well you did a great job.  I feel like last month could have been a lot harder for me if you had a different reaction."

K:  "Thanks, babe."

Z:  "Ok, moving on from 2008, tell me how you feel going in to 2009?"

K:  "Excited to make the most of things."

Z:  "Going back, do you feel like you’ve learned a lot from last month?"

K:  "Mmhmm.  I do."

Z:  "Endurance being the biggest one?"

K:  "And more specifically, that God’s plans for my life are so much bigger than the things that I settle for.  And I know that while things feel stuck right now, I know I can trust that God won't let me get stuck.  And that gives me hope.  That what I’m going through right now is preparation for something bigger."

Z:  "How has this last months helped/hurt/changed our relationship?"

K:  "I think it’s definitely helped it.  I just feel like we’ve grown a lot.  We’ve faced harder things in the past month, than in the rest of our marriage.  I’ve just been amazed by your strength, I think it’s been good for us. And I like her sweater (looking at girl walking into starbucks)."

Z:  "Thanks.  That can be all for now."

K:  "Thanks, Zach.  I'd just like to say one more thing.  You are just the most awesomest guy ever.  You are totally the coolest guy I know.  I love your hair.  Everyone loves your hair".

Ok, fine.  I made up that last quote...but I'm sure she was thinking it.

The bottom line, and I think what Kristen is saying in my interview, is that while the end of 2008 was tough, we're looking ahead to 2009 with optimism.  We're excited to see what God has in mind for us this year and going forward.  We just want to make sure that we're open for whatever.