Two

Today is Monday, that means two things: a quiet day at work (its the pastor's day off) and also date night!

For date night tonight that means two things: Noodles and Company for dinner and more Christmas Shopping (yay and yay!)

Wednesday is two days away and that means two girls named Carly and Carissa are coming!

And on Saturday, December 2nd these two will become one:

(The Future Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Sasser-Hurrah!)

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays this country has to offer. A day dedicated to thanking God for his generous provision in our lives, that's a good idea. Thanks to George Washington, I believe, it's official, and I personally hope it always will be.
This year is significant because it's the first year I have celebrated thanksgiving with Janet as my wife. Due to circumstances with work and both of us fighting colds I decided it would be best for us to stay home and be together, and just have a low key day. I put some thought into how we can start to build some thanksgiving traditions of our own and with my wife's help we had a pretty sweet thanksgiving morning this morning.
First we had a nice breakfast together, something that doesn't happen often in this busy season of life. Then Janet and I took time to tell each other about the grace of God that we are thankful for in each other's lives. That was a sweet experience. By God's grace we're growing in our likeness to Jesus Christ through our marriage. This is something we need to do more of as a couple.
After praying and thanking God for that grace we read from Genesis 32. That is the story of Jacob and his encounter with God in which he wrestles with God and leaves the encounter a changed man, changed forever to live for the glory of God. Jacob was never the same after that encounter. In a similar way, Jan and I have never been the same since Jesus saved us from our sin through his death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection. I wanted us to remember the mercy of God in saving us through that powerful history in the Bible. We then read a sermon by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones about that passage from Genesis 32. God met us in our new tradition, we were both filled with fresh amazement at the grace of God.
I normally wouldn't publicize what we did next but Jan asked me to do so; here it is. A poem for my wife about our love and how it's a gift from God.

If what we built was built on us,
then what we build would fall apart,
Or merely on our mutual trust,
we would not journey very far,
For this man is not made of solid gold,
nor even something less, but flesh,
and that itself has caught the plague,
And is not the stuff of which true love is made.
But Gospel love, priceless blood,
the depth of God's great love for you,
this and this alone He says,
will make our love steadfast and true.
So, I love you because He first loved me,
You do the same and we will be,
doing what we were made to do,
from before the beginning,
made one from two.

I don't know what all of our friends do for thanksgiving, but if one can get past that terrible feeling that you're about to do something cheesy by talking about what you're thankful for, there just might be a powerful encounter with the Living God that awaits. There certainly was for Jan and I this morning. Thankful for all of you...

Miscellanies

The Christmas cards came. Hooray! (Andrea, just be patient, they are coming soon! If you get your thank you note first that is a good sign that I am heading in the right direction.)

Our Christmas shopping is underway and I have to commend my love because it was his idea to get it all started on our date night this week. We still have lots more shopping to do, but at least we made a dent!

Yesterday was this special girls birthday. How timely the season that she was born in, because I can't stop giving thanks for her and her friendship to me. God is so kind!

I ate Cheeze-its for breakfast this morning. Can't say I wholeheartedly reccommend that choice, but there was no more Quaker Instant Oatmeal in my drawer at work. That was sad.

While I ate my hearty breakfast I decided to change our blog colors. Again. With the Christmas season coming it just made me feel happy to see the holiday colors. No doubt they will probably stick around until April due to so many other things falling higher on the list of importance.

And today we celebrate 10 months of marriage! Our lives our so full I was reminded that today was indeed the 21st by a friend who was celebrating 9 months of courtship/engagement with her fiancee. It's really time to slow down!

You Get What you Pay For

and for some things you don't. When you don't it's a disappointment and often results in talks with those in charge, but when you do I think that there is something to be commended in those who "get the job done" and who do it with excellence.

I'm talking about Christmas cards. After searching and searching and not finding anything that was "quite right." I found them! And not only did I find them, but the company that is doing them is awesome. As I am sure you are wondering who we went with, it is Tiny Prints. From start to finish their service has been throughly outstanding, with emails to follow up and phone calls to talk about the picture that we selected, they have gone above and beyond what I ever would have expected. The best part was they have a huge selection and you can make whatever changes you want to the text of the card.

And if you couldn't tell I am SO excited! For those who are wondering which card we chose, you are going to have to wait and check your mailboxes some time in early December!

My Seth Charles

On a day when work and life are totally crazy busy and I'm not sure what to do next, this picture sent from one of the teachers at CLS that they managed to captude during Seth's days of teaching pretty much made my day. Why you ask...well the first time I saw Seth was on CLS bulletin board of all the new teachers and I will never forget looking at his picture and thinking how cute he was (and still is!). I also wondered if I would ever get to know that cute guy and God is so kind to write such a wonderful love story for us and bring us together as more than just friends but to make him my husband!

It has to be love when you love a picture of your husband doing something he loves and the kids aren't even paying attention!

Nordstrom Rack is now closed... now.

Racks and racks of shoes, women's shoes, can numb the senses. Can you picture a lovely young woman walking, stumbling rather, through racks and racks of shoes with one shoe on and one shoe off, in her hand, mouth partly open, eyes glazing over, ears deaf to the world around her? If so, then you pictured my love at Nordstrom Rack a few nights ago. Few words can strike terror into a husbands heart like the words: "Honey, I'll just be in the shoe section...", especially when strolling through the Rack. And this night at the Rack was unlike any other I've experienced thus far in marriage with Janet Kay.
Here's how it all went down. Keep the picture of Janet in your mind, it's no exaggeration. As lovey was shoe gazing, her husband heard the anouncement, "Nordstrom Rack is now closed." He immediately caught up with her and encouraged her to wrap up the shoe gazing so the Remsnyders could leave. With no emotion, without ceasing to stare, without looking up, and in a monotone voice, lovey said: "But lovey I don't know where my shoe is." At first I laughed. I thought she was kidding. Then I realized that she was serious. She was in such a shoe trance, unlike any other trance I have seen shopping women caught in, that she left her shoe on the floor several aisles back. No problem right? Not at the Rack! There are shoes everywhere! All over the floors! Hundreds of them! Still no problem right? Wrong! The shoe salesman was walking directly behind us cleaning up all of the shoes behind us! There were no shoes on the floor, Janet's shoe was somewhere on the shelves of Nordstrom Rack. I panicked. In an anxious voice I asked if she was serious, she said she was. I told her that the store was closed and that we had to hurry and tear the aisles apart to find her shoes! She, again without blinking, told me that the store wasn't closed and that they were open until later. I couldn't believe it! She was still shopping! She had never stopped! Even when she realized she had lost her shoe she continued to shop! And now she was contending that the store was still open even after the announcement over the loudspeaker. I ran and grabbed the salesman and asked him if he saw my wife's shoe. He gave me a priceless look. He charitably said no. I implored him to help us look. Together we began to search as my wife continued to shop. Finally, after the second announcement over the loudspeaker my wife believed me that the store was closed. I can't remember anything else from that point. I think she found her shoe. I was laughing too intensely to notice. Meet Janet Kay. I am so in love with her.

Trader Joes to the Rescue!

Life has been full as of late, but really, when is it not? Working late, a trip to the gym, and Seth getting home earlier than planned forced me to can my more elaborate dinner plans. On a quick trip home from the gym I stopped into Trader Joes to pick up our snack food staples and also grabbed their BBQ pulled pork, whole wheat hamburger buns, a package of pearl tomatoes, carrots and their lowfat creamy basil dressing, and completed dinner with the Kettle Cooked brand Salt and Pepper potato chips.

What was the result...one happy boy! He loved the salad and the sandwich and I have to say I think I'm going to be making this dinner again.

For any of you wives out there I would highly reccomend it. Trader Joes also makes a BBQ pulled chicken too which is only $1 more ($3.99) and apart from the potato chips it was low in fat and really inexpensive for dinner on the fly. Also, we had some pork leftovers for Seth to have leftovers for lunch today!