Where we are

We are holding tightly to each other, love, God, and family.

Last week we received a call no one EVER wants to receive. Hubby’s mom called. She has been fighting cancer for a while now. The doctors had told her there is nothing more they can do. She however is not done fighting. I have been completely blown away at the strength my precious mother in law has shown since I have known her but mostly in these last few months. She is absolutely incredible and precious. We are all praying for a miracle and for peace. We know that even though we do not understand and this hurts more than anything we have ever faced that God is still God and that nothing is impossible for Him.

My heartbreaks again everyday thinking about our sweet family and how strong everyone is being and how beautiful this family is. My heartbreaks thinking about what everyone is feeling and facing right now. We are thankful for every single day. We are praying every single day.

This is where we are and this does not surprise God and He has not for one second left any of us. He is here holding us. “This is what it means to be held and know that the promise was when everything fails, we’d be HELD.” God promises never to leave us or forsake us. He never promises hardship and heartache will not be part of our lives but He promises to be here with us EVERY step of the way.

This is where we are and if you would pray with us for healing, miracles, faith, strength, hope, peace, and God’s will, we would be grateful.

Where Love Lives…

In the good

In the hard

In the unbelievable

In the moments that shake you to your core

In the moments of awe

In the moments of flooding tears

In the moments when you cannot draw a breath

In the times it seems to be too much

In the TRUTH

In Jesus Christ

In hope

In disbelief

In the hour of darkness

In the new morning brimming with new mercies

In the desperate on your face prayers

In the frustrations

In the whispers of encouragement

In the strength that blows you away

In the PEACE THAT SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING

In the moments when there is NO understanding

In every step you continue to take forward

In the moments when you stop and fall to your knees

In the new

In the old

In the unknown

In the murmurings that only your heart knows

LOVE LIVES

JESUS LIVES

GOD IS GOOD AT ALL TIMES

GOD IS TRUTH

GOD IS LOVE

LOVE LIVES

Radio Silence...

I just don't have words.

Times are tough.

But...

God is faithful and good and trustworthy.

More to come when I can put it into words.

It’s been a year and a half…

Wow I can hardly believe that hubby and I have been married for a year and a half. Incredible.

It seems like time has passed by so quickly since we got married.

A lot has happened in the last year and a half…

>we moved nine hours away from our friends and family

>we set up residence in a brand new city

>we got new jobs

>we began living in a much lower tax bracket

>we started back to school

>we found a new church home

>we made new friends

>we began working in a new ministry

>we changed our direction slightly for ministry

>God is birthing a vision for children’s and family ministry

>we bought a scooter

>Most importantly GOD HAS BEEN SO FAITHFUL AND WONDERFUL

I look forward to all that God has for us and the rest of our lives!

We are currently talking about a possible anniversary trip in October.

Goings On…

Lots going on…

Moving

Our move date has been pushed up a whole month and I am both excited and scared!!

I am ready and excited to be in the new apartment closer to school and church, but slightly scared because I have no idea how we are going to pull off a move in the middle of finals week and work!! It will work out somehow though, it always does.

Home

We are making a trip home this weekend for a wedding and quick visit with my family and my best friend. Hubby is looking forward to seeing his college buddies again and hanging out with them. I am dreading putting on a dress for the occasion as I have gained so much weight and do not feel proud of the way I look. But it will be alright. I am looking forward to time with my momma and Neesie and Dad. We will be celebrating my 30^th birthday early while we are there so that will be fun. Then we will stop by my best friend’s new house briefly before heading back home on Sunday. I can’t wait to see her as she is pregnant with her second child and I can’t wait to hug her so big and see her new house and my nephew!!

Easter

We have a busy weekend planned for Easter. We will be having several practices for our Kids Service that we are doing Saturday night. We will spend lots of time prepping children’s church for Saturday night as well as packets to hand out Sunday morning. We will be heading to our pastors house for lunch after church on Sunday and then afterward we will celebrate my 30^th birthday with dinner and a trip to “The Cup” a cupcake place downtown that I have been dying to try!! Very exciting weekend!!

Semester Ends

Then finally the semester ends at the end of this month. I have several projects I hope to get finished on the road this weekend or first thing next week and then only two finals and a move sandwiched in between!!

Summer Begins

Summer will begin with a break from school during the month of May :) (big grin here).

My sweet sister in law will be coming to stay with us for a week at the beginning of June. When we take her home we will spend a weekend with Hubby’s family in south Alabama. And I am begging for a day at the beach during this trip.

I will begin my internship with our children’s pastors in May I believe.

I will open my availability up at work and be working more hours at Old Navy.

I will also be getting back to teaching (hopefully Stars) on Wednesday nights, which I am completely stoked about!!

Hubby and I will both be going to kid’s camp for a week in July! And then we will both start back to school, Hubby possibly sometime in July and me in August.

Busy Busy but we truly love every minute of once again being busy. Last summer was so different, as we had no friends, no connections; we were just attending a brand new church.

Then next year of our life will be CRAZY busy and hard but it will be more than worth it when we graduate and move into full-time ministry somewhere!! I am not convinced I am ready, it sounds so scary but God knows what He is doing and we will follow him.

Even with all of the busyness we will be having some fun…there will be pool time

with my (hopefully) new kindle,

trips to Silver Dollar City,

...and just relaxing any chance we get!!

So here’s to a great finish to the semester and a great summer!!

It’s the little things...

>When I worship so freely I feel like I could float away

>When God uses me to really touch someone’s heart

>When my hubby takes me out for a fun day just because

>When my family just gets me and loves me

>When something I am so nervous about ends up going well

>When something I am confident in doesn’t go so well but I can learn from it

>When I can just sit on the sidewalk in the sunshine with pure happiness in my heart

>Hearing God whisper in my ear that He is in control and loves to blow me away

>When pieces of the puzzle of life just fall right into place and I had nothing to do with putting them there

>When I can plan but then take my hand off and let God really have his way instead

>When I am appreciated

>When I am not appreciated

>When I see glimpses of who I really am

>When a plan finally comes together and we can rest in them

>Dreaming of our future

>Understanding something new about the Bible that I never knew before and then going back to read it with this new understanding

>Using commentaries (love them)

>Reading fiction by my favorite author

>Hot Baths & Face Masks

>Snuggling

>Hugs from kids at church (overwhelming joy)

>Peace that transcends all understanding that comes only from my Heavenly Father

>A deep worship song

>Pandora internet radio – Kari Jobe station

>Texts from special people telling me that I can do it

>Hearing that someone is proud of us

>When someone completely loves and accepts my husband

>When someone from home randomly thinks of us

>A hubby who is off to church to work with lil boys in Royal Rangers

Father, Your love is one of the most Beautiful things that I have ever experienced. Thank You. I have no other words, but Thank You. You alone Father are worthy to be praised. Thank you for making us better and better. Thank you for your leading and your conviction. Thank you Father for all of the little and not so little things as many of the things I listed are not so little really. Thank you Father for this life! In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Birthday Wishlist…

Kindle & Cute cover

Netbook

My fav candles

My fav shoes

Pretty scarves

That’s all :) Hey a girl only turns 30 once!

The Girly Side of me loves…

The beautiful bouquet of pink tulips my hubby gave me the other day.

A good long hot bubble bath.

Sparkling Grape Juice.

A good at home facial.

My new purple nail polish.

Dove Chocolates.

Thankful…

Today I just feel Thankful. Thankful for my Heavenly Father & Savior, Thankful for my Hubby, Thankful for our Families, Thankful for our Friends, & so very Thankful for all that God is doing in us!! I am very humbled and very Thankful!

Crazyness Ahead

Hubby and I registered for my fall classes today and WHOA!!

The next year of my life is going to be absolutely insanely crazy. But if I can pull it off (& I am determined to) then I will graduate in just TWO more semesters!! That would be amazing and it would save us a lot of money!! So lots of prayers are WELCOME!!!

I will be taking a FULL load for the next two semesters as well as interning, working, and being a wife. It is going to be intense but I know that God will get me through!!

Let’s Do This!!

A Rainy Saturday...

The Rainy Saturday before Spring Break officially ends! I am almost depressed that Spring Break is ending! But there are only five weeks of the semester left and for that I am very thankful!!

We have just arrived back home from work at Old Navy. We stopped off at Hubby’s other job (Nearly Famous Deli) to grab sandwiches for lunch. Then dropped by the grocery store for steaks and potatoes for “Din Din”, Hubby is grilling!! We are now nestled in our lil apartment away from the rain with full bellies!!

I am going to venture out to Walmart in a lil bit for Purple finger nail polish and the next book in the series I am reading by Karen Kingsbury. I plan to spend the remainder of the day and weekend while not at church in my pajamas on my sofa with my nose in a book.

This is our life today. It is bliss. We will be discussing games for service tomorrow later and Hubby will be watching lots of basketball.

I intend to drain the last bit of fun out of this Spring Break before it officially ends at 8:30 am Monday morning.

Just Sayin.

I fully plan to psych myself up about finishing the next five weeks STRONG!!

Today was a first…

It was the first day I received an allowance from my hubby.

It was at my suggestion and I think I am going to like it. I think it will help me control my spending and not ask for so much all the time. I didn’t even really want to spend my money on Starbucks coffee tonight (thought I did but only because I was ready to pass out at work), otherwise I would not have spent the money.

So we will definitely see how this goes. I am excited!!

Things I Love about Spring!

So in honor of how Beautiful it has been lately…a post of my favorite things about spring…

1. Spring Break

2. Spring Cleaning

3. McDonald’s ice cream cones (okay so maybe I love these year round!!)

4. Green grass

5. Daffodils

I Love Spring A lot!!

Happy Spring!!

Weekend Review

Friday: Friday began SPRING BREAK!!! Promptly at 12:30pm to be exact, and I could not have been more ready or excited!! I relaxed the rest of the afternoon until time for work that night. After work Hubby and I stopped off at Fuddruckers to try some wild game burgers. I ordered the Buffalo Burger and Hubby ordered the Wild Boar burger. We cut them in half, swapped a half, and ate them at the same time and then rated them. We gave the Buffalo Burger a 6.5 and the Wild Boar Burger a 4. It was a fun new experience.

Saturday: We were up early for work. I had to work at Old Navy and Hubby had to go do his stores. I worked until 2:45 and couldn’t wait to get off and hang out with my Hubby. It was rainy and stormy and we hung out at home. Hubby napped and I worked on some school work to get a head start on the projects that I needed to get done over Spring Break! Hubby had to work that night at the deli and I got a lot of work done on my project that night! I bombarded poor Hubby when he got home from work with what I had gotten done on my project because I was so excited!! I am working on a training session for children’s church workers. So it’s not just a project to me, this is something I am pouring my heart into because we will be using this in our ministry one day!! I am very excited about it and I am very proud of it!! We spent the evening finishing up making our plans for the games we were doing the next morning in children’s church before heading off to sleepyland!

Sunday: We were up early to make a quick stop by Walmart to grab some things for our games before early service. We enjoyed the word Pastor Fent shared, he is just such a wonderful preacher!!! Then it was on to children’s church to run through the skit and get everything set up and ready. Children’s church went well, I had a great time getting to know more names and praying with the kids, and watching Hubby shine while leading games and welcoming visitors. We are a great team and I love seeing him do so well at what he does! After church we got to take our children’s pastor’s kids to lunch and bowling. We had such a good time with the boys!! They sure have a lot of energy, so we were tired after our time with them but we really enjoyed it soo very much!!! After that it was home again. My brother Daniel came over to work on school work and Hubby took a nap, I finished our laundry and finished up the training session project and am just so happy about how it turned out, Daniel napped some and we chatted a good bit and he finished his laundry and then we all had chili and watched “Coming Home”, a tear jerker!!! It was good to just chill with my boys at home!!

It was a nice weekend and I feel great about what I got accomplished!!!

Spring Break!!!

Yes it is Finally here and I could not be more thankful. Though I will be getting up early and working hard on school work it will be so nice to have a break from going to school for a week!! My plan is actually to work hard Sunday – Wednesday on projects and assignments and then take Thursday – Sunday off. We will see how that goes. I have decided that I am open to working more on school work next Saturday and Sunday too because it is more important to get caught up than to rest at this point.

However Thursday is officially PLAY DAY!!! Hubby and I are going to Silver Dollar City when he gets off work to ride roller coasters and walk around holding hands and taking pictures!! I cannot wait!!! We bought season passes so I am looking forward to a summer full of Theme Park Fun!!!

So Spring Break has begun!! Let the catching up and Fun begin!!

We have a plan...

We have a plan...and it feels really really good!!

God is doing so so much!!!

I am so excited!!!

Hubby has applied for the Fall Term of Degree Completion at CBC. His degree will be in Church Leadership. God has begun to birth in us (especially my Hubby) a vision for our future as a TEAM in ministry TOGETHER. I am continuing to study as hard as ever and will take on two more full semesters and hopefully graduate Spring of 2012 with Hubby graduating hopefully only a semester after!!

We have a plan...Our plan is to FOLLOW THE LORD and RUN THIS RACE with ALL OF OUR HEARTS!!

Father we have a plan and it is to follow You Lead us!! We love you!

Constant Fight

with...MY STINKING ATTITUDE

I am more than disappointed in myself and my attitude and behaviors at work lately.

It's is really ridiculous actually and there is absolutely NO excuse for it!!

On the way home tonight I just prayed and asked God to forgive me.

I have not been different as I should be as a "Little Christ" I have not been set apart.

I am ashamed and very upset at myself.

But the amazing thing is, My Heavenly Father is forgiving and loves me unconditionally!!

I am so thankful for that!

I also asked a friend at work to be my accountability partner with my actions and attitude!!!

It is time to change...it is never too late to change!!!

Day Eleven

Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag?

Inside: A lil bit of everything.

Covergirl, MaryKay, Almay, Carmex, but I rarely ever wear any of it!

Day Ten

Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat

Favorite place: Olive Garden

I just love it!! A lot!

Day Nine

Day 9 - A photo of the last item you purchased

Purchase: Sandals from work (Old Navy)

I can wear them to work! We can’t wear sandals without a ankle or back strap. These are perfect. Simple with a touch of glam.