Christmas can't be over yet!

I just found the most fabulous looking Christmas tree! It is so over the top and fun. I must remember this for next year. This is not a very good picture. To get a better idea take a look at this blog! I love Bakerella.

Inspiration for today

This is pretty lengthy, but so worth reading. During prayer time this morning at work one of my co-workers shared this with us. I felt like it was written just for me, but I wanted to share in case someone else needed it as well.


"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" Romans 8:28 (KJV)

Recently I had an ah-ha moment as I was reading Acts 9. At first, the familiar story seemed dull. You know how it is when you've read or heard the same story over and over. Then a new revelation merged from the content. In my minds-eye I began to see the word "rejection," although it was not in written form. Perhaps I saw what I was feeling that day—rejected.

I was at the part of the story where Saul, a murderer, had just been transformed into Paul, a disciple of Christ. Even though Paul was a changed person, many rejected him because of his past reputation as a murderer. This was only the beginning of Paul's trouble. Throughout his ministry, Paul not only experienced rejection, but great suffering and harassment too. For a changed man, his adversity seemed unfair.

Paul was devoted to serving Christ. He sacrificed his education, his life, and remained single so he could better serve the Lord. And yet, he was shipwrecked on several occasions, falsely accused, and thrown into prison more than once. Doesn't that seem odd for a man called of God? Wouldn't God's favor protect him from such adversity?

I thought about an illness that lingered with me all summer. It was so severe I was all but bed-ridden for months, unable to do life and ministry. I began to feel rejected by God. It didn't make sense. I was serving God in more ways than I could count. Then, without warning, strong winds blew in. Clouds hung overhead and it began to storm. Before I knew it I was "shipwrecked." You've been there, too.

Some of us have been rejected by family, friends, and co-workers. Others have been falsely accused. Some are imprisoned by finances, or blown around by the consequences of someone else's sin. It seems so unfair. You've tried to live right. You walk in obedience the best you can. You take God at His Word and trust in His promises. Shouldn't faith like this call for smooth sailing, instead of stormy, shipwrecking seas?

Isaiah reminds us that God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts and plans are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8; paraphrased). It's tough to figure God out when He doesn't play by our rules or have the same agenda we have. We forget that God sees a much bigger picture.

If we follow Paul's journey, we find God working through the rejection, the trials, the prison time, and the shipwrecks. God used these hardships to position Paul. Not for fame, but to increase the Kingdom of God. Paul witnessed to the Pharisees through his rejection and imprisonment. People saw God's power at work when Paul survived the storms, when the snake bite didn't kill him, and when the jail shook, opening the doors and loosing chains. The Lord used these difficulties so others would witness His power and believe.

Paul allowed God to use him as a vessel. He didn't sit on the sidelines, full of self-pity and doubt. Instead, as Acts 16:22-31 tells us, after being stripped, beaten, severely flogged, thrown in the inner cell of a prison and his feet in stocks, Paul prayed and sang hymns to God. Others around him were listening. The power of God came in such a way, that the prison guard begged Paul to tell him, "What must I do to be saved?" He replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus" (NIV).

God doesn't waste our pain, our rejection or our "shipwrecks." He uses them to bring about His plan—to position us so that others can see His transforming power at work in our lives and believe in the living God.

If that's true, and it is, then our challenge is to rise from the wreckage, like Paul, so that our lives will give testimony that draws others to the Master. Today I will no longer sit on the sidelines of life full of self-pity. I choose to rise, pray and praise, so that God can position me to shine for His glory, and so that others will believe.

Dear Lord, forgive me for wallowing in self-pity and rejection. I trust that You see the bigger picture. I believe there is a purpose for my pain. Strengthen me to rise from my ashes so that others will see You are my help and my salvation. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

this was taken from Proverb 31 Ministries:
http://proverbs31devotions.blogspot.com/2009/12/arise-from-wreckage.html
written by: Micca Monda Campbell

(my personal reflection)
If anyone has ever felt "shipwrecked" you can totally relate to this. I think when we become Christians we do just assume that God will protect us from everything that is bad. Then when something happens we are so quick to question Him and ask why me?? We forget that God truly wants what is best for us and we fail to take responsibility for our own actions. It's usually not God leading us to these "bad" things, it's us ignoring God's plan, doing our own thing and then when it turns sour that's when we turn to God. I truly believe if that's the only time we are coming to God, when things go wrong, then He will allow that to happen just to get a chance to talk to us.

California here we come

Kolby and I have decided to go to California this summer! I do believe the last time we were there was 2006 so it's long overdue! My sister,her husband and 3 kids live there. When I was in High School I went as often as possible, and stayed for as long as I could in the summertime. Throughout my visits I managed to make a lot of friends. I have convinced one to move here already, and one is considering it! I don't know why they want to move from sunny California to cold boring Illinois, but they do!

Anyways, I was skyping with my sister and her husband on Christmas and they mentioned that they would have some vaction time coming up so it sounded like a perfect time to go. We are so looking forward to it! They are generous enough to let us crash at their place which means a free place to stay and more time with them. My niece has been looking forward to another sleepover since they came out for my wedding.

Here is the beautiful family we are looking forward to see!

So this is the New Year

This may be a little premature but I am looking forward to a new year. 2009 was by no means a bad year at all but I actually have some new year resolutions!

This one feels so cliche to say but I really do want to start working out. Not to help my figure, but my health overall. For being thinner I am not very healthy. On top of that I've been told that I have a heart like a little kid. I got an EKG a few weeks ago, nothing really came of it but my doctor said working out would help my heart...and that's a good thing! To explain a little bit further I was at the chiropractors this summer and he said he heard something so I should mention it to my Dr. When I saw her she said it was not an arrhythmia but when I inhaled and exhaled it went either too fast or too slow (I really can't remember what she said) but she said it was common in children but adults grow out of it....not me though! So that's that!


I would also like to read the whole Bible. I have been a christian for 9 years and I have never read the whole thing. I feel terrible saying that but it's the truth and the first step to changing I think is admitting faults. A few weeks ago I started the read the Bible in a year (http://www.christadelphia.org/readplan.htm). This reading plan is actually really great, it takes me exactly 20 minutes every morning. That is really no time at all. However, I got out of the habit. January first I am determined to start it up again!


Another goal I have is to stop focusing on me. This one is very personal and something I'll probably have to work on and pray about daily but will be well worth it.

I would love to hear what everyone else has planned for their New Year resolutions!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas story 2009

Kolby and I woke up bright and early this morning to open gifts. It was not planned but we woke up around 6:30. That is about the time I get up every morning so it's difficult to sleep in. We didn't lay in bed long because we were too excited and wanted to open gifts! Kolby is great at buying me things, so I of course loved everything I got. After that we got cleaned up and headed over to the in-laws house. There we ate a fabulous breakfast and opened gifts again. At noon it was time to go to my parents house where we ate again and opened presents again! Now we have the rest of the evening to relax. I thought I would share pictures of my Christmas decorations before they have to come down.

My favorite thing has to be fake fruit. Glittery, shiney fake pears are my favorite. I have a pretty good collection going. For Christmas I also love small trees, any size really, the more unique the better.This was my niece Caroline's and my nephew Dante's first Christmas!

Coats

I LOVE coats. Currently I own 6 of them....That is a pretty ridiculous number I know. It is time to retire some of them though. I am a bargain shopper so I haven't paid more than $40.00 for any of them, which is why I can justify having 6 of them. Also, many of these coats I've had since high school, hence the reason why they need to be retired.

Since I am retiring most of them I thought it was only fitting to buy a new one!
This was another steal! I got it from Charlotte Russe and I love it. Now I'm on the look out for a coat that will go with my brown wardrobe.

Missy tagged me a while ago to blog about 5 obsessions. As she stated it's hard to come up with 5 things that I'm "obsessed" with. I've never thought of myself as a very passionate person either. Sometimes this bothers me. I wish I was more passionate about something, a hobby, learning a new skill....I don't know, just something. Missy's obsession's, or things that make her happy were a lot more ummmmm poetic I guess, for lack of a better phrase. And also some things are obvious, like Jesus and my family etc.

"So onto things that inspire me and make me happy that yes, I do tend to obsess over:"



My dog Olive. It's true, she's pretty much amazing. I honestly miss her if we've been gone for a while, however pathetic that may sound. She is well trained and hilarious. She is just the right mix of hyper/playful and a snuggle bug.

My hair. I love doing different things with it. I love to cut it pretty short, but I also love it when it's long enough to put in a pony tail. I have naturally curly hair, and I like the way it looks when it's put up. Kolby likes my short hairstyles, but he is also a big fan of long hair so I'm growing it out for him. In all honesty it won't look good much longer than it is now. Since it's naturally curly it's naturally dry...not to mention it's super thin on top of that! I posted this picture because I love this haircut! I saw it at target and decided when I want to cut it short again, which is inevitable, this is how I want to cut it. I texted Maggie asap.

Food blogs. I was going to put cooking, or baking. I'm far to lazy and unmotivated to actually cook gourmet or bake something extravagant. However, I love too look at food blogs. I love to see the creativity, the delicious food, dreaming of having a huge kitchen and plenty of time to experiment. I would also some day love to have my own cupcake bakery.


This is starting to turn into a food obsession! I sound like I may possibly be very overweight they way I'm rambling on and on about food! So I just admitted that I'm typically pretty lazy and unmotivated when it comes to baking. However, when I do bake my favorite part is making it look pretty. Of course I want it to taste good, but more importantly I want it to look fabulous!

My current obsession is my future. I am at that point in my life where it's time to think about babies, and living arrangements etc. etc.

Now it's time to tag people! Maggie, Annie, Amanda, Denise

I've been told

I have been told that I look like all three of these women. I don't see it at all, I think I just look like me. But I guess to other people I resemble either a (possible) pot smoking adolescent, an older looking woman or a cougar....LOL
I thought I would share because I was just two times today that I look like Bella! hahaha

The land we love so much

When Kolby and I seriously started considering building a house we started looking for a place to build. We have always wanted to live out of town, but not too far. The idea of living out in the country is just so appealing to us. Not to mention we've been looking at houses for sale for a while now and can't find anything we like.
While browsing the reality websites we found a piece of land that we l-o-v-e-d! It's out in the country but in this little up and coming subdivision, the other houses are so cute too! I thought for sure this would be the place. On Monday I contacted the reality office to find out more information about it. The website said there were some restrictions, so I needed more details. I figured since it was in a subdivision it would have to meet some sort of size requirements etc. What I found out though really blew me away! There were multiple pages of restrictions...here are some of them:

- No more than three vehicles may be parked outside of the garage
- Must have at least 3 trees with trunk diameter not exceeding 2 inches, must be planted in the front
- All planning including landscaping must be approved by a board
- You may only have up to 2 domestic animals and non for breeding purposes

I mean the list goes on and on and on....I think it's a little overboard with some of the things. It's definitely not a right fit for us. I don't want to feel like I'm renting when I've purchased that land and built the house myself.
So the search continues!

More to love

Here is a link to the house that we love. This will show the floor plans. http://www.globalhouseplans.com/plan_details.asp?id=16842

I really love how pretty much the whole downstairs is open. Then the upstairs is open to below...another feature that I love. Kolby and I have talked about making the rooms upstairs bigger and putting that bonus room in the basement. This could all change though. In fact Maggie is also building a house and her sister Annie built a house so they are also finding houses for me to look at. Just today Annie sent me a house that I love....oh the decisions. Thankfully I have a while before I have to decide.

My future looks bright

I have yet to take pictures of my Christmas decorations...in all honesty I could probably just repost what I put in this blog last year because it's basically the same. I have a few additions, the lay out is different and I have new furniture....but all in all it looks pretty similar. However, I think I'll post pictures anyways, but that's not today.
Today though I am so excited about my future plans. Kolby and I have decided to build a house. This is still about 3 years away, but we are so excited. We have a piece of land that we are also excited about and want to purchase right away. Hopefully they will call me back today. There are some restrictions to what you can build, so as soon as we get that figured out, hopefully it will be ours. If not though, that will not put a damper in our plans, we'll just look for a new spot. We've been looking at floor plans all weekend and think we've found the perfect one for us. And last night we spent a lot of time talking about finances and deciding what the best plan of action would be. Start now, borrow a big chunk of money with low interest rates. Or start a littler later, borrow a little smaller chunk of money with possibly higher interest rates..it was all very confusing. I think we are making the best decision for us though!

Now here is what we fell in love with. The picture makes it look like a mansion, but it is actually a nice modest house just right for us.
Oh I also want to add that while we are totally in love with this house....haha plans change so don't hold me to this!

I love Christmas

Pictures will be coming soon, but I totally decorated for Christmas. I just could not help myself. I have been excited for Christmas for months now and decided weeks ago that I would be decorating before Thanksgiving this year. For a lot of people, especially in my family it is very Taboo to decorate this early. OH WELL.
It's done now, and I love it!

New Moon

That's right people, the picture says everything. I am very excited that tonight at 7pm I will be watching this movie. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm equally as excited as most of my students.

These will be the death of me...

Camel crickets, cave crickets....whatever you want to call them. I hate these things more than anything. They are so so so scary. My first encounter with one of them was in the shower...there it was just sitting on the side of the tub, ready to attack. If you've never seen one you have to understand that they are actually crickets, which no harm done right? Crickets aren't scary. These crickets however LOOK like SPIDERS....BIG spiders BUT they JUMP like crickets. Not only do they jump which is bad enough but they jump AT you. So just imagine a fairly large looking spider jumping towards you.
So after that terrible morning in the shower I have had to move my shower curtain every single morning to look and make sure one is not in there. This has been months now and I still do this every morning. My fear does not stop there though. Kolby ran to the store one morning to get some milk for breakfast and I was going to take that time to once again take a shower. This time Olive found it...thankfully she killed it for me, but I was still terrified. She found it behind the toilet and drug it out. I leaped onto the bathroom counter wishing that Kolby was home so he could dispose of the body...Since he was away I covered it with a towel and decided to get in the shower. So now before I walk into my bathroom I have to stand outside of the door, flip the light on, look everywhere on the floor, again look in the shower and NOW before I can go to the bathroom I lift up the toilet seat to see if one crawled into it...
I know this is making me sound patetic, maybe even crazy but these things FREAK me out! I have been gone a lot recently because of the fundraising I'm helping with. Kolby told that he's seen a couple more, this time one was in the hall way and one was in the living room....THE LIVING ROOM! So I have decided I have to get rid of them...I just have to. So this morning I go online to try and find natural ways to kill them. I come across this story: http://www.asktheexterminator.com/Crickets/Cave_Crickets.shtml. Which the picture alone is enough to make my heart start pounding. The story was fine, I'm glad to know someone else has my same strong dislike and fear of these creatures. I should have stopped at the end of the story...but NO crazy me wanted to look at the comments. To the first person who decided to comment, you call yourself Shaun. I would just like you to know that I am now afraid to not only shower, but also sleep at night. Thank you...

Hot cocoa

I'm currently drinking hot cocoa hoping that will be a substitute to caffeine. I need some sort of sugar in my body to make sure I'm going to make it through the day! I took the youth group 2 1/2 hours away to see the bands that played at convention. I think it was a good time to reminisce about convention and remember those feelings and commitments we made.
Honestly I did not want to go. I have been so busy lately that I really wanted a day to rest, not to mention this week is going to be insane trying to get everything organized for the rummage sale/silent auction. I went anyways and I just decided that instead of thinking about how much I'd rather be at home, with my husband and in bed at a decent hour I was determined to have a great time. With a little prayer and determination it happened!
We saw Brandon Heath, Francesca Battistelli and Leeland. I totally love Fran, she has been a favorite of mine for a while now. I also like Brandon Heath, I had only heard his stuff on the radio, but his lyrics are amazing. The first time I heard of Leeland was at convention. I love them! They are so catchy and fun. I really want to buy their cd! check them out if you get a chance
http://www.myspace.com/leelandmusic

Heavy

I have a heavy heart today. My life is currently consumed with my church youth group, not in a bad way, but it is tiresome sometimes. Things seem to be going so well and then drama ensues. I know God is still moving in their lives and big things are happening, but Satan is also creeping his ugly nose into it.
For teenagers, and even adults it is hard to look past sin and love the person for who they really are. 1 John 4:7&8 says: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
I believe this is so important to follow I mean just look at verse 8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God IS love." I am not perfect at it, but in the past few months I have been working hard at loving people. Everyone has faults and everyone messes up, it's not our business to rub that in their face.
If you could just take a second to pray for me to have wisdom in this current situation among my youth group, and pray that they keep moving forward. Thanks!

Another Blog to Share!

For a while I was sharing with you all of my talented friends blogs/business's. I have another one to add to the list. This is a three in one! It's Ethel Edith, they are sisters, Annie, Abbie and Maggie who share a love of crafting, making pillows, painting...you name it.
visit them! http://www.etheledith.com/

Youth Group Update

Okay so in my last post I explained how God is totally moving and how we pledged to raise over $7,000 in only 4 weeks. I just wanted to take a second to give an update. Often times when teens come back from a church camp or convention the passion or fire tends to dwindle down. It's happened to all of us I'm sure.
I think because of this goal we have set it has really helped our group to keep up the passion and fire for God. They have been working their tails off to raise this money. We are doing something almost every night either in preparation for or actually raising money. They have been raking leaves, baby sitting, sorting through rummage sale donations, collecting donations for the silent auction, passing out fliers. It's been so great to see them grow as Christians.
I would like to remind you to continue to pray though. They are still in high school, there is still some drama. I just pray everyday that there is no dissension among the group and that they just focus on Jesus.

God is moving

God is totally moving in our youth group! We took a group of kids to Momentum Youth Convention and they are so on fire for God. One girl immediately deleted all of her "bad" ringtones from her phone. Then when she came back home she deleted all but 7 songs on her ipod and gave it to Kolby to add new christian songs to it. They are all encouraging each other at school and really showing their love of Jesus. I've seen facebook comments on their walls from other kids at school saying how cool it is that they are Jesus freaks, and showing it!
I'm so so so proud of them. I know how hard it can be to get back in the daily grind and just kind of forget about what happened at church camp, or convention. It's so easy to worship and be on fire for God when you are surrounded by people your age doing the same thing. I know there are still a couple of kids that are struggling and the transition to change complelty and let go of the wordly things is more of a struggle then they anticipated especially when it's coming easier for some. I know they can do it though! If you remember please keep them in your prayers this week.
We are meeting early on Wednesday because the youth are overflowing with ideas. I want our youth group to grow, and if not in numbers then I want them to grow in their love for Jesus. I can't wait to see what's in store for our youth group!

Brrrr

This weather is such a bummer. I can't remember the last time we haven't had rain. It usually rains at some point during the night, then it's drizzling at the very least most of the day.
I need a pick-me-up so I'm going to think positive and remind myself of all the things I love about fall.

The leaves changing colors


hot tea

cute scarves

dressing up my dog

Tiny Treasures

Look for Casey on Etsy! She sells super cute necklaces and hair flowers.

She works really hard at making her stuff look great, support her if you can :)

Featuring

Hattie!
First let me start by saying I have never met this girl, but we pretty much know each other :). She lives in Cali with my sister. Through different conversations, facebook, and blogs we pretty much know each other or at least feel like we do.
If you have a pet, you have to check out her Etsy shop.

http://SpecialtyCollars.etsy.com

Etsy

I have a few friends or at least people I'm acquainted with who have an Etsy account with super cute things. I want to feature them on my blog to

A) drive more business to them
B) drive more business to home made crafty items

I think this will be fun! Since this blog is inspired by one of my Etsy friends I will feature her first. Her name is Jillian http://www.jillianpye.etsy.com
Here is a sample of the cute things she makes
And here is something exciting! You can win a personalized hair clip from her! Visit her blog to find out more info! http://www.jillianisinlove.blogspot.com/

Caroline JoAnn

Born at 1:19 AM Thursday, 8lbs 8 oz. and 21 inches long
She's perfect. Maggie worked so hard! They got to the hospital at 7am on Tuesday and Caroline was here at 1:19 on Thursday. I was tired just staying up to see her be born, I can't imagine how Maggie and Kylie felt.
She has a case of the jaundice so unfortunately they can't come home today like planned. The pediatrician is off on the weekends so in order to monitor her they are keeping her over night again. We are so fortunate to be able to see her again tonight though!

ReL8 connections

I work for ReL8, I know I've mentioned this before. Recently I have been trying to get our name and program out into the community. Today I had two speaking presentations and they were a lot of fun. I met with the Kiwanis club at noon, ate lunch and then talked to them about what I'm doing in their community. I was a little nervous, it was a room full of forty strangers. As much as I try not to get nervous and pray about it I still get a knot in my gut. As soon as I start talking that feeling goes away, but I started to trip over a few of my words and that throws me off a bit. The director of my cpc said she didn't even notice, you are your worst critic I suppose.
After that I got a chance to speak at a local radio station. The interview was very short and to the point, but so much fun. He is also going to write up a story in the local paper once schools start again.
Hopefully with more time I'll get better and ReL8's message will be all over the state!

What a week

This week started out terrible (due to some crazy girl emotions) but is ending very well. Kolby and I have decided once again to be more active. We have either walked, played racquetball or rode bikes every night this week. It always feels good when you get out of the house and do something, even better if that something is benefiting your health.
Some other exciting news: We have a new restaurant in town! That's right, for you big city folk, this is nothing and not as exciting. However, I come from a small town that has thus far only offered us DQ, Subway, McDonald's, 3 small hometown cafe's, 3 Pizza joints and one Chinese restaurant. Now we have a fabulous Mexican restaurant. Kolby and I have already eaten there 2 times. It is yummy, and fairly cheap!
Also, this week I have had the task of trying to put together a picture slideshow for my church's 35th anniversary. At first, it was no problem, it was actually a breeze scanning in the 500 pictures (for real, it was easy and painless). When it came to putting it all together....UGH...frustration set in. I have an older laptop and it kept freezing, wouldn't save my work etc. Finally though I got it finsihed and I'm so relieved.
And in other news....I'll be a local celeb next week. That's right....more to come

Don't Judge My Hair

Much like awkward family photos, don't judge my hair is a must see blog. I can't believe that some of these are real.

My new obsession

Food blogs. I love to find new food blogs and try to recreate the cuteness. That is my thing, not so much the food, but the cuteness. I love to throw dinner parties for the sake of getting out cute plates, and decorating and making a cute dinner. Sounds silly to some, but its fun to me. I don't do it as often as I would like because

1) I live in a very small rental
2) I don't even have a set of plates yet, like a real set. I just can't decide what I want. Do I want something colorful? Something white? Something square? Something round? Something trendy...
3) Time, oh of course I could make more time for what I love but I haven't committed myself yet.

A few things I want to try:

Changed Girl

I have changed my layout! This is only the second time I have done this and I was having a little difficulty with it. I had to make my layout go back to a very basic one provided from blogger and then add the new layout. Not too bad, I think I'll keep this one for a while.
In other news, I had to change my profile picture on facebook. I kept getting random congratulation messages. I had a picture of me, Kolby and baby Audrey up there, apparently you can't hold another person's baby LOL. Eh, oh well.

These are a few of my favorite things

I love cupcakes! I really really do, I love to make them, eat them, wear them(...that doesn't sound right). I love to see little girls that have cupcakes on their outfits and I love cupcake decorations. So naturally when I ran across this website I fell in love! It combines a couple of my two favorite things cupcakes and babies!

www.cupcakesforlife.org
Please visit this website and get involved.

Arkansas

Kolby and I went to Arkansas with his parents. We left on Wednesday and got back Monday night. It's not the typical hot spot for a vacation, but we try to go at least every other year. His family has a reunion there, most of the people we know and talk to are actually from Illinois, but it's still fun!
We always spend most of our time swimming at Big Creek...how very country of us right?!? This year was no different. We spent a few days at Big Creek, one day we floated down the river and one day we took a 4 hour canoe trip. That was so fun. We went with two people who had no experience canoeing....which makes the trip more exciting. They were paddling from bank to bank for a while, flipped twice....very entertaining. Pictures will be coming soon!

Audrey Juliet

This girl is the love of my life right now. She is so precious.
This process has been so amazing and I'm really thankful I was able to be a part of it. I never fully understood how adoptions worked. I mean I had the same basic understanding as everyone else did, someone gives their baby to another family, period. This was so much more than that.

Brad and Nicole are a couple of my best friends and they deserved to be blessed with this perfect baby.

New Car!

Yes!!! Kolby and I have driven around beaten up, hardly working cars for years now. My car is the one that we got rid of. I bought this car about 5 years ago, it only cost about $1,000. It had been wrecked, no air bags with the console hot glued together, a cracked front bumper, lost a hub cap recently, broken down a number of times....It was pretty embarrassing to drive around but it got me where I needed to be (90% of the time).
Also, Kolby and I are all about having no payments and paying cash for the things we need (thanks Dave Ramsey). So it took us a while to save up money for a car, but we finally did it! I get to drive it most of the time :)...poor Kolbs, but YAY me. It has been wonderful to drive around, but I'm so nervous! Like I said, we have only ever driven cars that are just plain crappy. I kick my door shut, drive without a care etc. Now I drive like a slow poke and I think I'll cry when it gets scratched the first time. I'm sure I'll get over that, I'm just so glad to have a reliable car...and it is my dream car! Here it is, but we removed those tires and replaced them with something that was more our style (regular ones).

ONE year

Kolby and I have officially been married for ONE whole year! We celebrated with a cookout at my dad's house on Sunday. We are so awful at making and finalizing plans, we were going to go to a national park and stay at a bed and breakfast, but I think that is going to be pushed off until next month....but we will see! I'm fine with not doing anything huge, that's not really our thing anyways.
Our first year of marriage was a dream! So many people told us that the first year of marriage is so difficult, and I believe them, but that wasn't the case for us. I know we aren't perfect, and we did have our disagreements, but our whole situation was just different. We were best friends in high school, dated for four years after that and then got married. I'm so lucky to have him :)

Ack!

I have been tempted to blog a few times but have refrained. Everything I feel like talking about is in regards to a particular hardship that I am facing right now. I don't feel like just leaving angsty blogs all over the net so I have opted to post nothing.
I do have exciting things to talk about though! I found out that I will be going to Puerto Rico in June for my job. We are staying at this amazing resort and going to workshops...maybe I'll throw a fun party in my hotel room (like Micheal Scott from The Office, LOL). I really can't wait to go, I love the co workers that will be attending it with me as well, so that makes for an extra great trip!
The other great thing I have to share is also regarding work...I finished my first high school class! I feel like I accomplished something. I have been teaching at a few different schools over this past semester and I finally finished one today.

march already?

I have really slacked on the whole blog thing...
Anyways, I am very excited about a few things:
1) I will be finding out the gender of a few new babies in my life, that is always so exciting. As soon as you find out the gender you can start painting and planning and most importantly buying super cute outfits. As much as I love children and desire to have my own someday...the emphasis is on someday. Kolby and I are so happy with our lives right now, but we are really dedicated to building our relationship as solid as possible before we even think about kids. Kolby is also the type to be very nervous about finances. If we did happen to accidentally become pregnant I have no doubt in my mind that we would be fabulous parents, and even finacially capabale of raising a child, but that is not what we want. We have so many goals in mind, we want most importantly for me to be a stay at home mom, we will go to great lengths to make sure that happens, which means waiting. I am very happy with our plan, but it makes the waiting easier and more enjoyable when people around me are having babies.
2)Peronal relationships have be flourishing. I have really found great friends that love me for me and I love them for who they are. It is a really good feeling to find people that challenge you, that you love to hang out with, that you don't have to make formal plans to hang out you can simply hang out. Along with that I have been making it my personal mission to patch up past failed relationships that I have not yet asked for forgivness. Actually, God has made it so very clear with one particular person that I need to take initive. I am actually content with the way things are now, but as I said, God is making it hard to ignore :).

Things are just going very well right now. Kolby is on spring break and I'm so happy for him because school can be overwhelming at times. He will graduate in May!!! We both are so excited for that to happen.
Also, last night I went to the local Crisis Pregnancy Center banquet, it was amazing. I am really praying that they will be fincially supported over and beyond what they could ever imagine.

So True

But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].
—1 John 1:7

I like the last part of this verse which speaks of the blood of Jesus cleansing us from sin and all of its forms and manifestations. Let me give you an example of how this works in our everyday lives. If there is something rotten in your refrigerator, you will know it is there every time you open the door because you will smell it. You may not know what it is or exactly where it is located, but you can be sure that it is in there somewhere.

I believe our lives are like that. If there is something rotten within us, those who come in close contact with us are going to perceive it, whether they know what it is or why it is there. They will "smell" it or sense it. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 the apostle Paul tells us that as believers "we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." Unfortunately, it also works in the opposite way.

When there is something within us that has been shut away and become rotten and spoiled, it gives off a totally different aroma—detectable by everyone. That's why we must open up ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to come in and cleanse our hearts and remove whatever is causing us to give off a foul stench. When we open ourselves to the Lord and let Him begin to cleanse and heal us from within, we will find ourselves coming into better and better fellowship with all those around us. It won't happen overnight, because it is a process. But it will begin to take place, one step at a time.


From the book New Day, New You: 365 Devotions for Enjoying Everyday Life by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2007 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

http://www.joycemeyer.org/

well said

"Being a friend is messy. A real friend, a true n' blue friend is there no matter what. If I expect to be a friend, I have to be ready for the messy reality of what a deep friendship entails. It means I have to be ready to see them for all that they are and love them. It means I have to be ready to challenge them with tough love, which is a hard thing to do. And I have to be ready to receive tough love, which is an even harder thing to do. It is too easy to write someone off, to give up on them - but a true friend is ready to get down in the mud, be authentic and live the struggle together."

I got this from a blog that I read (http://kevinsthirdplace.blogspot.com/)

I think it is very well said and wanted to share it with those of you who may not read his blog. (Which I recommend reading his blog on a regular basis) Being a friend is messy, it takes work and dedication. When you find people who are truly your friends you find that in all of that it is so worth it. True friendship is irreplaceable. Even if you have to work hard and some of them fail, you appreciate true friendships that much more.

funniest thing

I'm really not working for Youtube, but I can't help but share these videos.

Ad Rejected on Super Bowl Sunday

Maybe because it was an amazing message...

Pictures...

This is our snowman...