Wonderful Times

Christmas was so fabulous. My job gave me the option of taking some extra days off. While they were unpaid it was totally worth it. I love to spend time with friends and family as much as possible. Kolby is not in school right now so we have ample free time to do whatever we like.
Christmas eve was spent with my dad and stepmom. I made shrimp scampi, twice baked potatoes, cheddar biscuits and green beans. The shrimp was great, the rest of the meal did not turn out as well as I had hoped but it was still pretty yummy. It was fun to visit and eat and open gifts. Then on Christmas day Kolby and I opened presents just the two of us...and Olive of course. That was so fun, our first Christmas as a married couple! After that we went to Kolby's parents house and had a huge yummy breakfast and opened gifts with the parents and kylie and maggie. Maggie shared that she was prego...so *yay* I'm an aunt again. That night we went to my mothers house and had a great dinner and opened gifts with them. So the day went, open presents, eat, open presents, eat....LOL.
Friday Kolby and I went shopping with our friend Matt. They can shop like no other, I was ready to go and they were not...embarassing for a girl I guess. I loved having all of this time off of work, but honestly I started getting a little bored and was ready to go back. I enjoy my job. Also, I refuse to take Christmas decorations down so soon, I love them so much.

Big News!

BUT it's not my big news to share...hahaha. So you know who you are, spill the beans so I can blog about it!! oh and MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Hey Y'all

Yes, I've been in Kentucky for tooooo long. LOL. We left on Friday around 5pm and arrived in Kentucky around 2m. I slept almost the whole time and it was fabulous, I love to sleep. We drive to Kentucky every year to see Kolby's grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, unlces and cousins. I just want to point out that they have the best names ever, His grandma's name is Easter (that's when she was born...duh), his great grandpa's name is Hobe, and then we call is unlce Timbo...it's a KY thing I guess lol. Anyways, we all exchanged gifts on saturday. I recieved a lovely bath and body works set, one for spring and one for winter. I love this time of year, I get things like that and I litterally never have to buy body wash.
We also went to visit his great grandparents in the nursing home. They are truly amazing people. They have been together for around 70 some odd years. Hobe is not in great shape, he is very sickly and very quite. His great grandmother Kat is in great shape though. The only reason she is in the nursing home is to be with him. I can't tell you how many times I almost cried in the short amount of time we were there. I would just watch her stare at her husband with sad eyes, you could tell that she loved him so much and was scared to be without him. I loved to listen to her stories and just being around her made everything else in life seem so trivial. It made me really feel like I need to just enjoy life and stop worrying so much.
She told a story of how she raised her voice to her mother in law. She said this was the only time she had ever done it in her whole life. She said that it had to be done but it made her so sad that she cried over it because she never wanted to raise her voice to her mother in law. I just wonder how many people have that same sense of respect? Not just for their mother in laws but just a general respect for people who are older than you.
Anyways, I don't know how two short hours can make you think so much about life, but it totally did!

Christmas Tag

1) Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? that's a hard one...i love hot chocolate, but for seasonal purposes i would have to say egg nog b/c you only drink it this time of year.

2) Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? always wrapped

3) Colored lights or white? This year i have a white tree so to accompany that i have white lights

4) Do you hang mistletoe? no, i don't need it...i'm a newlywed

5) When do you get out your decorations? The Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving

6) Favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert? oh gosh, this is so hard i love so much food. green bean casserole

7) Favorite holiday memory as a child? I love to open my stocking and it may sound odd but we always got an apple and an orange in the bottom...for some reason i just love that.

8) When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? HAHA i started seeing the bags of apples and oranges in the bottom of the fridge...i put two and two together

9) Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Well if Maggie had her way we would always open presents on Christmas Eve like last year.....I refuse to do that again! (lol) But when i was younger we always opened one gift and it was an ornament every year :)

10) How do you decorate your trees? Well there is a picture on my previous blog...

11) Snow, love it or hate it? love it when it's not intense.

12) Can you ice skate? the first time i ever went ice skating was last year on my birthday....and i can skate as long as Susie is not dragging me down

13) Do you remember your favorite gift? psh totally the Magic Bullet

14) What is the most important thing about the holidays for you? Jesus is the reason for the season

15) Favorite Holiday dessert? fudge

16) Favorite Christmas tradition? finding the glass pickle on the tree

17) What tops your tree? a disco ball

18) What's better giving or receiving? Giving, giving, giving

19) Favorite Christmas song? Mariah Carey's "all i want for christmas"

20) Candy Canes, yummy or yucky? so so good...especially the sour patch kid kind

21) What do you want for Christmas? i'm not really sure....socks? haha

22) Do you attend an annual Christmas Party? two so far this year :)

23) Do you dress up for Christmas eve? umm no, and this year i'm cooking

24) Do you own a Santa Hat? no

25) Who do you normally spend Christmas with? I usually spend it with Kolby's family

You know what's next right? Time to tag people
.....
Denise, Nicky, Maggie, Amanda,

Santa Claus is coming to town....

I finally have pictures for you! I made this wreath that you see...i love it!

I have a fascination with fake fruit this year...


This is from our first Christmas party of the year.
and of course our little Olive bug...she is growing so fast!

MY emo band name

Girlfriend Vanilla Valentine
How great is that name? I saw it on Nicky's blog and I was totally curious. I thought they might ask me some random questions, like my favorite color at least. No, you just type in your name and they base it on nothing. That makes it a little better though, it turned out pretty good.

Kidd Kraddick
I just want to put a plug out for this awesome morning radio show. If you drive to work, like I do, you need something funny to listen to. This is a syndicated show so it would be hard to say what station they would be for you. Here is the website you can listen to them at work as well. www.kiddlive.com

Dannity
So in the previous post I mentioned that my niece was sick. She is still sick, her condition seems to get better and then something happens and it gets worse. Just keep her in your prayers.

Thanksgiving and Decorating

Thanksgiving was great, I love love love the food. I can tell you the menu for every year, give or take a few dishes. Turkey, Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Brussle Sprouts, Yummy Desserts, and then other foods that I don't eat like....sweet potato casserole, cranberries etc. Anyways, this year I ate with my mom and her husband and his family. We had it at the bowling ally that they own. Free bowling is always fun. I got to see my 3 nieces and nephew that I haven't seen in a while, they are so fun. The littlest niece, Dannity, was sick.
In fact, that leads me to the next piece of news...she is in intensive care with pneumonia in both lungs and is on a ventilator. So please pray that she gets better. She's only 11 months old.
Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving day:And in other news...I decorated for Christmas! Pictures to follow in a later blog.

Do not sin

I'm a big fan of Joyce, in case some of you didn't know that already. I love to read her devotions because I find that they really speak to me. I really get a message from every single one, and I thank God for that. This particular one struck me today, I really needed to hear it. This doesn't say "don't get angry" it says "when angry DO NOT SIN". I just feel like that is a validation to my feelings, not excusing them, rather saying "hey it's okay to get upset every once in a while, but you need to check yourself". There is also a part in there that says "if someone offends you, get over it quickly so you won’t leave open a door for the devil." Geez! How simple right? I wish... I don't like to think of myself as holding grudges, but I totally do. >Grudge Holder Right Here< well just so you know I am working on it! lol
But I want to share this with you all...

November 26

Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself—it tends only to evildoing.
—Psalm 37:8

The Word tells us another way to resist temptation: “When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]” (Ephesians 4:26–27).

Paul said that we should forgive people to keep Satan from gaining an advantage over us (See 2 Corinthians 2:10–11). If someone offends you, get over it quickly so you won’t leave open a door for the devil. It is a sin to hold anger and bitterness, so never go to sleep mad. If you forgive everyone before you fall asleep, freedom from wrong attitudes in your heart will help you start your day right the next morning.

Six Months ago!

Kolby and I celebrated being married for 6 months! We did some Christmas shopping, which turned into more shopping for us rather than other people. I don't feel bad about it though because we are almost done and it's not even black Friday yet! We also ate at Texas Roadhouse, which is one of our favorite restaurants. They serve great food, including a cactus blossom (aka awesome blossom LOL) and it's so cheap. We had so much fun.

2 in 1

This day calls for Two blogs in One day because......................
It's the first day of snow! That's right I looked out the window at 10 am this morning and there is snow falling from the sky. I am kind of excited...but oddly enough at the same time I am not. I dislike the cold weather for many reasons.
1. It's cold, that's right, I hate the cold because it's cold.
2. It makes my skin dry and flaky.
3. I love to be outside, but when it's cold I hate going out.
4. I get a runny nose, this last's for most of the winter.
I don't want to sound like i'm complaining or anything....LOL. All in all it's not that bad :)

Pumpkin time

I guess pumpkin season traditionally starts around Halloween, but you just start cutting into them then, not really eating them. I made a pumpkin goodie this weekend, white chocolate pumpkin truffle. I have to say though, I love to eat truffles and I love to bake (or in this case make) things. However, I hate to form the truffle goodness into true truffle form. Usually they are made in to cute little balls, and in this case would be covered in white chocolate. I hate doing that, so I made them into bars. It was delicious, but you just had to spoon some out into a bowl, not recommended for a Christmas party that way though.
It finally hit me on Friday that I am getting pumped for Christmas! I want to decorate, but then again I know I will get sick of the decorations before Christmas even comes. I did however buy a new tree for this year. I got a great deal on it! I bought a white Christmas tree this year. I have decided that I'm not a huge fan of the traditional red and green decorations, and a white tree will just fit in with my style.
In other news! Work is going really great. I have gotten a few new schools that I think will be scheduling with me soon. That will still only be 3 schools out of the 40 or so that I have in my area....pray that more are receptive to abstinence education.

Baby Shower

I think I mentioned this briefly before, but I hosted a baby shower for my sister, I wanted to post some pictures so here they are! She's due in January.

I've been tagged

Maggie did this to me....
the rules are that when you are tagged you have to share 7 things about yourself and then tag 7 other people...

1. Laughing is my number one favorite thing to do!! It releases so much tension and it makes everyone happy. Laughing is very contagious and I love to do it until my stomach hurts.

2. I can't wait to be a stay at home mom!! I have a couple of years before that is possible, and when I think about it, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to being the super mom that makes everything.

3. I'm learning to play guitar for the third time. I tried to learn once a few years ago and I quickly gave up. Then, I tried to learn the bass to fill a position at the church, but someone came to the rescue a lot faster than I could learn. Now I live in the same town as people that can help me learn. I have blisters on three of my fingers, so it actually kind of hurts to type right now.

4. My dog Olive is amazing, she's learning things so fast. There are days when I love love love her and she's such a good dog, then there are days when I want to throw her out in the cold.....hey, I'm just being honest here.

5. I have most of my Christmas shopping done, and I'm so excited about the gifts that I've gotten for people. Kolby and I are shopping for major deals so we can buy people a lot. So, we are sticking to our typical budget, but it's going farther because we are getting some sweet deals.

6. I love to make centerpieces and come up with fun ideas for dinner parties. I never have dinner parties, but if I did they would be so cute!

7. I always try to look at food labels for things like aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. I always try to stay away from aspartame, and I try to consume as little high fructose corn syrup as I can.

Well, I think most of the people who read my blog have been tagged by either Maggie or Nicky, but here goes...Shannon, Missy, Jenny....yeah that's all I have lol

So many things to say...

I'm am disappointed with the way the election has turned out. I was voting for McCain/Palin and I thought they were the obvious best choice. I however refuse to have a defeatist attitude. I know that God is in control of the situation. Everything comes before Him, we have failed to elect someone with morals but God is still in control of the situation. I have heard, mostly from the parental generation that the world is ending, Obama is the anti-christ etc. That is all debatable, but I refuse to live with worry, fear and anxiety about any of it. That is not God's will for any of us to worry.
So! i'm excited we have a new president, let's see what he can do, don't forget to pray for him!

First Day of School

I teach for the first time today at a little private school. I will have 6 kids in all, and I think it will be a blast!
This weekend was really fun. On Halloween we passed out candy. I saw some really cute costumes. One little girl was the tooth fairy, she had a tooth hat on. One little boy was a whoopee cushion, that was pretty funny. Saturday was a pretty busy day. I was preparing for Jessyca's baby shower, my uncle came to town for a short visit, I found out my dad lost his job after 15 1/2 years and I still had cupcakes to make!! All in all it was a pretty good day though. For a moment I thought I might freak out, but I took a second to pray and hug my husband. It is scary that my dad lost his job, it wasn't just him though, they are closing the whole factory. However, by the grace of God, he has three job prospects. I am praying that he gets a job quickly. Along with being short of money, his insurance will end the same day his job does. They told everyone last friday about the factory closing, and the last day is this Thursday.
Sunday was a better day. We went to church, psh of course! After church I threw a baby shower for my sister Jessyca. It went really well, there were a lot of people and even more gifts. Then after the baby shower clean up we went to Mattoon to see Bradley Hathaway play. He's a very talented poet and a someone I'm proud to say is my friend. go check him out! http://www.myspace.com/bradleyhathaway

Abilities

SO!! Yesterday was my first day to teach...ever! It was really fun. I taught for 3 hours, with about 3 minutes in between each class. I got such a diverse group of kids yesterday, it was amazing. My first class was a dream. They were attentive, they participated, didn't talk out of turn, loved the activity etc. I ran a little short of things to talk about, I was digging for information. So, my first attempt was good, but not great. My second class was interesting. They wouldn't talk at all. They way we teach each chapter is by discussion. We don't just stand at the chalk board and present information, we want to get the kids involved and have them be critical thinkers. It was hard having a discussion with a whole group of silent kids. It was good though, and I talked until the bell rang (that was my goal). The third class was really funny. They, unlike the second class talked, but unlike they first class they were not polite about it. They were really funny kids and it didn't bother me that they were so loud. I had to rein them in a few times, well actually a lot of times. They got off subject a bunch, but at least they were interacting. For my first time teaching I would say it was a sucess. I've never done this before, so I have some things to work on. I felt like I was a little disorganized with my information, but they got the point. The most important thing is that I had a blast doing it, it was really fun for me.
Then, last night we had our craft time with the ladies! I can not tell you how fun it was. I thought I had a lot of crafting supplies but I was totally wrong. Between all four of us you could not see my kitchen floor or table. We all had specific projects that we were working on, and we got the ideas out of this fun magazine. I'll have to get back to you with the name of it. I would love to tell you what I'm working on but I can't. It is a gift for someone, and that someone reads my blogs. Oh, and did I mention we all LOVE glitter! By the end of the night my kitchen table had glitter all over it, and still does. And as you are leaving or entering my house you will be greeted with glitter on my porch!
Yesterday was a great day.

Really?!?!

So....no teaching for me today! My boss called yesterday to tell me that her daughter is sick and she needs to stay at home with her. That means that I will now be teaching a different chapter and will only have one day to prepare for it. I was kind of bummed about it last night when I found out. I was so prepared for the chapter I was suppose to be teaching today. Now though I think it will be kind of fun to try and get all prepared in one day, at least it will keep me busy. I will see how "fun" it is tomorrow after I've actually taught it.
In other news! We are not getting Olives ears cropped, I know for some of you that is a relief. We were really really considering it because we want her to look like the traditional min pin. However, I spoke to the breeder and she said that it was a horrible experience for her, and she would never crop another dogs ears. I've actually heard that a few other times, and now I'm convinced that it is not worth it. She said that it took 6 to 8 wks to heal and every time she had to change the bandages it tore off fur, scabs etc. It just sounds really painful for the poor puppy. So we will just have a floppy eared min pin...woohoo.
OH! and I also have my new phone!! It's a verizon blitz and it's awesome, I love it.

blog away...

Hey! four whole days without blogging....is that a no no in the blog world? Anyways, our little Olive is doing so well. At only 9 weeks old she is already giving us some pretty good clues when she needs to go outside. She still has the occasional accident, but that's okay. We are trying to decide if we are going to crop her ears, by doing that she will look more like a min pin, but I heard it's kind of a big deal to do it. So.... I'm not sure what to do!
This weekend there was a cookout with the church family. The last Sunday of every month we have a Last Sunday Supper. They are always themed, and people usually dress up, it's really fun. This months theme was camo night. I know I know, very hickish of us, but what can you do! It's just so fun to get together with everyone, and of course who doesn't like eating?!?!
I have been observing this whole month to get ready to teach my own class. Tomorrow I teach three classes in a row while my boss is video taping me. I have been observing the one class for a few days now, so I have a feel for them. They are a really good class, but there is one kid who I'm not sure gets the message of abstinence. Anyways, I have not observed the other two classes, but I know of the classes only consists of four students! That should be fun, it makes it more personal. I'm getting a little nervous because I've never taught before, but I think I'll do okay. And you really don't have to leave a comment that says "i'm sure you'll do fine...." I'm not saying I'm nervous just to get a response. My first class, which is in the town I work will start in November, no one will be video taping me then! phew.
And! in other news I finally get a new cell phone! I'm so excited about that because my current cell phone is not doing so great. I have a chocolate, which is very cute and all, but doesn't work really well. I think I'm going to get the verizon blitz. I wish it came in different colors, so far I've only seen blue, but they are so cute.

TGIF

Last night's bible study was so amazing! I love getting together with this group of girls, I feel like everyone has something very valuable to add to the discussion. The bible study is about waiting, and I think we all had the same impression at first. Everyone knew that they needed it, but didn't really want to commit lol, me included! After the bible study we walk over to maggie and kylie's house to watch The Office. The guys always meet there while we are doing the bible study. Thankfully they have a dvr because we always talk for a super long time!
Anyways, kolby is finally able to relax on the school work a bit. He doesn't have anymore tests until the middle of November *yay*. Tonight we are going on a date! I think we are just staying in town, but Eagle Eye is at the Roxy and we both want to see that.
Then tomorrow i'm going shopping with maggie, casey and nicole. We are going to get stocked up on some craft supplies! Our plan is to be crafty on the thursdays that we are not having bible study, and to do a devotion....Joyce Meyer of course! Here is her devotion for today, it's a great one. ENJOY
http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/EverydayAnswers/StartingYourDayRight/20081024.htm

Busy Little Bee

WOW. The past couple of weeks have felt so busy. Kolby's had a lot to do for school lately. He had two tests last week and two again this week. That means he has to study every night, along with doing his homework. That leaves me to do the other stuff. That is 100% okay with me, no complaints. It makes me feel more like a wife ;). Now that we have the puppy though it makes things a lot more difficult! We have to constantly watch Olive because she is so small she could just sneak behind a chair and go pee, if that happens and we don't catch her a bad, bad habit will begin. And let me tell you, Olive has by far the smallest bladder in the world, I think she could pee every 10 minutes. It gets difficult trying to decide if her sniffing around is out or curiosity or she has to pee, and sometimes she'll whimper, but she just wants to be held. I think she'll pick it up pretty fast because there have been very few accidents inside.
So last night I HAD to clean our place. It was a mess. I managed to clean the all of the rooms, but I didn't get to vaccum or do all of the laundry. Hopefully I can finish that stuff tonight. Kolby and I have gym membership but with all of his school work it's been difficult to go. We didn't go at all last week, and I'm not sure if we'll go this week. It always make me feel better after I work out, but it's hard to actually get there. Not to mention that I'm exhausted from waking up a couple of times during the night. One night Olive will be really good and not wake up until 6 (the time my alarm goes off anyways), but then there are nights (sunday) that she will wake up at 2 am and then again at 4 am. That's okay though, she's a good dog and it's getting easier to fall asleep faster.

Olive Report

We got Olive yesterday at 5:30!! She's a dream! She's so little, she makes kylie and maggie's chihuahua look huge. We took her to see everyone in town, she's just so stinkin cute. We didn 't have a single accident in the house yesterday or today so far. I feel really bad leaving her home all day :( I wish I could bring her to work with me.
Anyways, last night she was so good. I was worried, because she's only 8 weeks old, and this is her first time away from her mom. However, we let her fall asleep in our bed and then we put her cage on top of my vanity seat and put it right next to the bed. I heard her whining a few times during the night but I would sleep my fingers through the cage and she would snuggle up to them and fall back asleep. At 4:30 this morning she was whining pretty bad so I got up and took her outside (note: it was only 38 degrees this morning). She went potty and then we laid her back in bed with us and let her fall asleep. She didn't like going back in her cage but agian i lent her my fingers to sleep with.
I had a hard time falling back asleep, but that was not because of the dog, she was great! She was whimpering a bit this morning, I think she misses home a little bit. She loves to follow us around and loves to be held. She's like a little kid, she will sit at your feet and beg until you pick her up. I wish everyone could see her in person, but here are some pictures!

Trying new things

So! I discovered that both yesterday and today, I have tried something new! These are very small things, and things that I just kind of "ran" into but regardless, they were new to me!
To start, yesterday I mowed our yard. That was the first time I had ever mowed. Thankfully our lawn is very small. The grass was really tall and the ground is very uneven, there is even a small hill. I liked it, but I was so ready to be finished.
My second new thing was today. I tried a popcorn ball. Someone bought some at the store and brought them to work. It seems like I should have tried both of these long before I was 22, but that was not the case.
However small both of these things seem to be, it's kind of fun to try new things. Maybe I can keep up the trend for a while. Who knows what i'll be into next!

Weekends, oh weekends

Kolby and I moved to Shelbyville in July. We had one room that we just threw all of our junk into, and stuff that didn't necessarily have a place to go. The room was a total disaster and we just left the door closed until Saturday!
Let me first say that we have been meaning to clean it for weeks. It didn't bother me so much because I could probably just leave it there for a whole year and not care because the door is closed, that's just how I am. Kolby on the other hand absolutely hates messes. I know it bugged him so much, but neither one of us could get motivated enough to do anything about it.
I'm not sure what made us do it this Saturday, but it seemed like as good as a time as ever. It doesn't look perfect because it is still the catchall room, but everything has it's place now. The only thing I really have left to do is organized my scrapbooking stuff. I never realized just how much scrapbooking stuff I had.
Woohoo for cleanliness!

Because I Feel Vulnerable

thanks to Nicky who got it from Stacey!

The Rule of Five
Answer these 5 sets of 5 Questions...


5 People Who Made You do something you didn't want to, but ended up being grateful they did.

1. Nicky, she made me go to church when I was younger. She would come back in the summer time and take us to this little 1st Assemblies of God church. I only went on the Sunday's that she would take us. Now I am saved and that is the church that I attend every Sunday

2. Mom, she made me say please and thank you and excuse me etc. She insisted that we have manners and be polite. I love that she instilled that in me, I see how important it is.

3. Amber, she made me realize that I need to let go of my pride and act more human when I have serious conversations. She didn't say it that way, but that conversation we had has sparked a major change in my life.

4. Okay, here's to lighten the mood a bit...it's still true though. My mom made me get my ears pierced when i was 4 or 5. Well actually, I wanted them pierced but after i got the first ear done and realized it hurt, i jumped out of the chair and ran. She had to bribe me to get the other one pierced. But i really am greatful! I love earrings!!

5. Kolby, he makes me exercise. I only want to do it half the time, but when i finally decide to get motivated it feels great.


5 Things people don't know about you.

1. I am afraid to open up and be vulnerable in front of people.

2. I am afraid, terribly afraid of the dark.

3. I want to be famous some day.

4. I feel like I have no passion for anything.

5. I want to be a master gardener of food and flowers.


5 Things that make you smile.

1. Jesus

2. Kolby

3. Kidd Kraddick

4. Denise

5. Babies

5 Songs that represent your life. (this one is hard for me, it depends on my mood, and i can't remember any song titles! so this is all thanks to Pandora)

1. Nichole Nordeman, Holy

2. Shawn McDonald, Free

3. Joy Willams

4. The Rocket Summer

5. Unwed Sailor

5 Places you want to visit.

1. Africa

2. New York

3. Germany

4. Bush Gardens

5. London

Wow

God is so great. I really feel like He is working in my life right now and it feels good. I'm on a roll with Joyce Meyer (God has been revealing some great things to me through her), I have been listening to her online and listening to A Marriage That Works CD set that someone bought for me at the conference. Not only is it helping me to build a better relationship with my husband, but I am learning about how I can build better relationships with anyone.
I just want to share some of what I'm learning, because if it's helping me I'm sure someone else will benefit as well! I have been really good at reading my bible and praying and doing devotions lately. I was determined to start doing that on a daily bases to make God happy. I used to think that God was disappointed with me if I would forget. I have been learning though that it makes US happier if we read our bible, not Him. He wants us to read our bible and pray so that WE are happier. God has so much love for us and we need to accept that. I need to accept that. Yes, I have always known that God loves me. Here is the difference, I always felt like I was not worthy, I needed to act a certain way and have all of my problems cleared up. So much of my life has been spent getting conditional love. If I do something right, I would be rewarded with love. That is not what God is, He is unconditional love. He loves me for who I am, I know I make mistakes, and I'm not perfect. He loves me regardless, and He wants to fill me with His love. I need that love in order to love other people.
Not only do I need His love, but I need to love myself. This is not the unbalanced love, as in I can do no wrong, I'm awesome etc. This means I need to love myself, faults and all. If I don't love myself, I can't love others. If I am insecure about something I lash out on others. It's not because of something they've done, it's because of my insecurities. Those are things that I am determined to give over to God.
I no longer want to live in my little box. I'm tired of trying to make people fit into categories, and I'm tired of getting upset over little insignificant things. I could never, never let things go. If something bothered me I felt like I had to bring it up and make that person listen to what I had to say. I was afraid to let things go because if I let it go, then that person would do it again. Well guess what!! I can't change someone, I need to work on changing myself. I need to do my part and God will change the rest. That doesn't always mean that if I pray that God will change that other person. What I've been learning is that most of the time if I allow God to work in me I will become perfectly fine with the situation.
Something else Joyce said really struck me. The Holy Spirit can't work in a situation if we are trying to do it ourselves. All in all the thing I am learning right now is to just LET IT GO and loosen up!! It's great

Just do it...

Soooooo this weekend was so amazing! I went to a Joyce Meyer Convention. The theme was relentless and it was for women only.
We left at 6:30 a.m on Friday, that's right we left before the sun came up! There were two vans full of women that headed towards St. Louis. We made a couple of pit stops along the way and then we finally made it to the Edward Jones Dome around 9ish.
The music was phenomenal. Darlene Zschech from Hillsong led the worship all week. I didn't know any of the songs, but it was still an amazing opportunity to worship God along with 18,000 other women! There were two other musical guests that played a couple of songs here and there. I recommend checking them out. One was Yolanda Adams, she was amazing. The other was Phil Wickham.
Most of our message was recieved by Joyce Meyer. I had heard some of her messages before, either through her devotional books or other people. She is truely amazing, I would listen to her everyday if I could. Her message is very clear and to the point. Pretty much a running theme throuhout her messages are you just need to do it. You can go to seminar after seminar but if you do not put what you learn into motion nothing will change in your life! That seems so simple, but it is an important lesson. I myself have been guilty of this. I listen to sermon after sermon, and amen to this amen to that. In reality if i'm not willing to change my behavior nothing is going to change in my life. How profound right? I think we all need a message like that.
She also talked about letting go of your baggage ( greed, anger, resentment, fear), not being so selfish and trusting God. I also have a cd set called A Marriage That Works, by Joyce. I started listening to it this morning and it's amazing as well. A woman from my church bought that for me (so nice right?)
We were at the conference from 10 am to about 12:30pm and then we went to eat lunch at TGI Fridays. It was an amazing meal. We had just enough time to check in our bags at the hotel and it was time to get back. With traffic and the amount of time it took to get to and from the convention and in and out of the parking garage, there was not a lot of time to do shopping or anything else. But that is okay, that' s not what we were there for! Anyways we had a another session and then we didn't get to bed until midnight. The next day we woke up at about 7 am and we did our thing some more that day. We got to listen to Lisa Bevere, and she was AMAZING as well.
We got back kind of late and I stayed up talking until about 11 or 11:30. Then yesterday I was so exhausted that I took a four hour nap!! Unbelievable that I could sleep that long in the middle of the day, but I needed it.
So if I could just sum up what I learned and what I want to share with other people from this weekend it would have to be this: Even though we are just one person, we can do so much. There is no need for an attitude that says "what can I do, I'm just little ole' me yadda yadda yadda" Everyone can make a difference, and it starts with YOU.

This was suppose to be a happy day...

Now it's turned into a very disappointing day. As you all know I was suppose to go pick up my brand new puppy, Olive Mae. Well her owner took her to the vet today and the vet is worried about our little Olives weight. She is only 2 lbs (cute right?) , well the vet said it would be better for Olive if we waited to pick her up another TWO WEEKS, she should go through a rapid weight gain. I wanted to cry when she told me that! We have already been waiting three weeks and another two weeks will seem like forever.
Well, this is just me being selfish, because I really really wanted to pick her up today. I was so looking forward to it, and I know Kolby was as well. In fact, he wanted me to call last weekend to see if we could get her early!
I hope Olive gains weight so we can finally get her.
This is what Olive should look like when we get her (maybe a little smaller), she's a min pin.


UPDATE: I've been e-mailing the dog owner back and forth today, and she is so great! She is going to start calling Olive by her name and is so helpful with all of her information. She gave me this little update about Olive: "she's so full of energy and is a little lap girl! And she is sooooo smart! " That makes me even more excited to see her. Here is the website, it's a direct link to our puppy. You can read all about them and see when they have new puppies. http://www.littlehouseofminpins.com/available_puppies_page_2

Day One, Blog One

I have decided to blog! (obviously). I usually have a lot to say, but it becomes me rambling after a while, hence the title. I'll start at the beginning.
I have been married for 4 months and 2 weeks as of today! I married Kolby after dating him for four years. May was a busy month for me 2 weeks before I got married I graduated from college. That was a month full of big accomplishments, not to mention craziness.
We are adding to our family as of tomorrow. I am going to pick up our new min pin puppy from her owners tomorrow right after work. Her name is Olive Mae, she's black and tan with a little bit of perfect. I will only get to spend one night with her because I am off to a Joyce Meyer convention with my church family. I am very excited to go and I am expecting God to show me a lot in this short amount of time....psh not to mention I'll have something else to blog about!
Well that was short and sweet...more to come later