Sunday, August 30, 2009

Umbrella

This is us Friday night before our double date. =] I love my husband. Enough said.

I like this picture of me...unfortunately Nate's head didn't all make it into the frame...
that sucks. =[

Although things are shaping up at the moment...this song is for Nathan,

Umbrella - Rihanna

You have my heart
And we'll never be worlds apart
Maybe in magazines
But you'll still be my star

Baby 'cause in the dark
You can't see shiny cars
And that's when you need me there
With you I'll always share
Because

When the sun shines, we'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath, I'ma stick it out till the end

Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
You can stand under my umbrella

(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella, eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella
(Ella ella, eh eh eh, eh eh eh)

These fancy things, will never come in between
You're part of my entity, here for infinity
When the war has took it's part
When the world has dealt it's cards
If the hand is hard, together we'll mend your heart
Because


Here's to a busy week, full of blessings and beginnings,

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Together for the Good

So funny that I used that reference to Romans 8:28 at the end of my post yesterday, because when I got to church last night, that was what the sermon was about! How cool right? Well it was cool but probably not in the way most of you might think.

God DOES work everything together for the good, just like His word says, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be all rosy, happy, and fullfilled. It doesn't mean that you are going to end up getting everything you've ever wanted. It means that God has a purpose and a plan, and he takes EVERYTHING all the crap, loss, loneliness, hurt, happiness, joy, peace, etc and he works it all together into the bigger picture to create balance and to make His will be done. IF you aren't in His will, guess what you aren't going to be partaking of that good he talks about. It's not Him being mean, it's us being disobedient.

He talked about knives last night. Isn't it SO annoying going to use a knife and finding out it's dull? You have to work twice as hard to get the job done and sometimes you even end up cutting the wrong thing, LIKE YOUR FINGER! EEK! See God knows better than to use a dull knife so when He goes to use us in a situation and we are dull, we get put on the whetting stone. Yep yep, that's the block that sharpens knives. It grinds away the dull edges, let's just say it's not all butterflies and candy...it's pretty painful when all our crap is being grinded away, but it's necessary so that we can be sharpened, to cut through life like we are supposed to!

How do we become dull? Well just by every day use, the more we reach out to people, act nicely, achieve breakthrough etc...the quicker we become dull. The word says do not become weary in well doing...that's telling us that we need to be sharpening ourselves on a consistant basis so that we don't get dull! That's where quiet time comes in, going to church, bible studies, etc... How else can we get dull? The enemy presses hard on us and makes us dull quicker. Keep in the word! To prevent this. And the last reason you become dull is if you use your blade for the wrong task, like using it as a can opener, or to cut through something you shouldn't, it will make your blade defective. How can we use our blade in the wrong ways? Being People Pleasers. It is NOT our jobs to please people, it's our jobs to love people. Those are two VERY different things that people think are the same thing. Loving people is sometimes making decisions you know they won't understand, but are the best. It's being truthful when shoving it under a rug would just be SO much easier. Do not let people run your life! Listen to God and follow His commands...it may not make sense and sometimes it may hurt b/c He is using those circumstances to sharpen you either way when you are obedient, it works together for your good!

We need to stop looking around us and feeling like victims! Have you said to yourself recently, I just feel like I should be through this already, I'm ready for the next step? Why is my life one big cycle of crappy times and windows of sunshine? Well...the thing is God goes to sharpen us, and having that wonderful free will we can free ourselves from that whetting stone, that grinding, that painful circumstance, BUT the test still comes even if you skip class and when He goes to use His knife [you] and you are still dull, you get put right back in that same place to re-learn the whole lesson. When tough situations arise in our lives, we need to stop feeling the vicitim and realize that we are recipients, of situations that we can pass and move to the next step or fail and have to retake. The point is IT'S OUR CHOICE! It's not God sitting above us laughing, He wants us to succeed and He knows what we need to overcome in order to do it. One of the things Pastor Scott said last night that really caught me was, if you are obeying God than any negative circumstance becomes your employee in your life. You have authority over it, to do it's job in creating balance in your life but not to destroy you or overcome you! WAHOO for victory!

The best analogy he used was this. He has a son in highschool all summer his son has been getting up early every day going to the field and reporting to someone called coach. He comes home, he's bruised, cut, sore, tired, hungry...they feed him, give him some medicine, put him to bed early and the next morning he's up and ready to do it again! Why would someone desire to go through such pain!?!? You want to know why?....Because He knows it's not always going to be practice, one day there WILL be a game. He wants to know how to his part perfectly when that time comes.

Our lives are not always going to be practices. A lot of us are going through tough stuff, with relationships, jobs [or lack there of], houses, cars, buying groceries, our kids, whatever it may be look at your circumstance and don't look at it as something that has "happened to you" but something God is using to sharpen you with for what is to come. Because the opportunity to show off your skills will soon come, will you be ready? Or need a retake?

Currently they don't have the message posted but I'll keep looking and let you know. =]
Be blessed everyone,

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Husband Brag

I know that it's all I've been talking about..it's really one of the only things I can talk about at this point though. Blogland is super controversial, so I've taken to writing in my journal more. =] More people know about this blog than I was aware...and I don't want to be creating even more issues there are plenty already. SO Nate is looking AMAZING! Losing a steady 3 lbs a week, I'm so proud of him! Last night we went over to our friends [Otto and Michelle] house, and the way this shirt fit him really just blew me away...I mean I notice he is losing weight but sometimes it's a LOT more visible than others. This was one of those times, I told him I'd find a pic of him in this shirt before and then he could see why I was so overcome with excitement for him. I love him no matter his size, weight, hair cut, clothes...but the fact that he set out to do something and has followed through with the dedication to accomplish it, makes me SUPER proud of him. One of those things I always knew was in him, and it finally came out! GO NATE!!! =]
Dec 08' Aug 09'

Thanks for the prayers everyone, I think things might actually be coming together for us, FINALLY! And Nate has been chatting with his dad and getting a lot of clarity about things. God is truly working things together for good and in his perfect timing. =]
Blessings to you,




Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Blessing of Friends

"Friends are the family you choose"

We were SO blessed to have some friends we had in Texas come and visit us! Robert and Tara. Tara worked with Nate at the OG and Robert was able to come to Nate's graduation from CFNI! We've kept in pretty good touch with them, but hanging out again made us miss them SO much.
It was a LONG night filled with laughter!

Nate [looking a little like Peter Pan] and Robert laughing at my comment about Nate looking like Peter Pan...lol
Tara and Me
All of us
Robert and Tara

Also, God has totally brought a couple from church into our lives...Michelle and Otto.
She is in choir with me and Otto plays the guitar in the band. They are as loud as us, [which is hard to imagine] theylove God, and want to be parents just as much as we do, and have those same struggles with it just not happening. It's rare to find couples married for a few years without kids, so it's nice to have that bond.
God is so good and is filling in those empty places. Sending us people that know our hearts, are on our same page, that we can learn from and help out as well. It makes getting through the rough spots a little easier with people backing you up.
Also, just wanted to let those of you who prayed for Nate last week about his meeting with the Pastor. It really helped! God really revealed some stuff to us, and it was different than what I expected. Sometimes we need rebuke but sometimes we need to be validated, encouraged and backed up! I'm thankful that God knows when we need what and provides for us exactly what we need. We are definately finding that peace and I'm SO grateful for it.
Blessings to you, your friendships, and your families,


The Climb

The Climb

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

So nothing super new to report. Nate finally put my shelves up on the walls so our house is looking more homey. YAY for hubby's!

We have really picked up our exercise schedule, and I'm just SO proud of us! I've been doing 6 miles 4-5 times a week. Nate has been doing at least 9 miles 5 times a week. We also have been going to bed and getting up earlier. Who would've thought that me miss night owl would be going to sleep at 10pm and 11pm! So our progress...Nate lost 4 inches and 2 lbs last week I maintained my weight and lost 3 inches from my waist 1/2 inch from my bust and gained a lb in my hips..which is actually good, b/c as I gained weight my butt vanished and now it's getting all round and cute again. =] My weight is redistributing and I feel fabulous.

This week we are focusing on portion control and I started this morning getting up with him in the morning to exercise as well. Add in there all the push-ups, crunches, reverse crunches, bench dips, hip rolls and so on our lives are pretty much eat, sleep, exercise. Oh! but we decided that if we could be disciplined in our physical fitness we also wanted to get disciplined spiritually. So we have a plan to get through the Bible together in 2 months. Since we are eating smaller portions our time for eating has decreased and we are reading roughly 20 chapters a day together. That at least is the goal. I'm excited yesterday was our first day....and it was really exciting to re-read through things, see new things we hadn't seen before and most of all just dedicating some of our quality time to God just felt amazing. We gotta keep praising even when things are rough. So we are feeling a ton better, to say the least.

This week is pretty busy, we have a few visitors from Texas coming to see us. Which is so fun! We haven't seen them since we've moved so I'm sure we will be roaring with laughter and there will be lots of chatting and hugging and what not, I can't wait!

Nate also has a meeting with one of our pastors this week, if you could pray for them. That Nate's heart would be understood and receptive to the counsel he receives. And that we as a couple would make the right decisions reguarding certain relationships in our lives.

So I guess that's it for now. Oh one more thing, lol one of my goals for this year was to read a book every month. Although I did it the first month I had a hard time for a little while, well now I found this series that I LOVE and have read through each book in like 2 days. They are based off of quilts, which sounds boring but it's all the stories about the people, their struggles, their victories...well it's just amazing so I wanted to let everyone know that I'm getting somewhere with my resolutions. Maybe I should have a resolutions update soon. =] How about yours?

Blessings to you as you finish your week.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

1974

So trying to distract myself from all the crap that is going on right now and found this...it's too funny.
This apparently is what I would look like in 1974:
lol too funny! Hope you needed a laugh as much as I did today...I'll most more later, just wanted to touch base.
muah

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Gift of Friendship

So I started out writing an angry venting blog about all the emotional crap we have been dealing with lately. How much my heart breaks for my husband...and all that jazz and although Nate told me "this is your blog, write how you feel, don't worry about other people." I just can't help thinking it wouldn't be one of my wisest decisions. So I decided to blog about friends that make us happy!
When we first moved here, we lived with Nate's best friend and his wife. Let's just say things did not go well AT all. Moving to another state and not having your own space and living with people you don't know well...let's just say we parted on non speaking terms. We didn't talk for about a year.
Then Nate and Ryan had a lunch chatted about things, realized where all the emotion came from and their relationship was off to recovery. However the wives, being happy for the husbands weren't quite sure how it would all work out.
A few months later, I wrote an email apologizing and explaining a little...letting her know I didn't expect anything from her I just wanted to apologize for the hurt I had caused and I hoped one day we could be friends but even if not, I would love to at least get along so our husbands could get together more often. Some time later, I did a reply from her. Accepting my apology and apologizing herself. She even said she was sorry it took so long...I told her, I really meant it when I said take your time. In the letter I even said a month, a week a year whatever you need...everyone works through things at different speeds it's selfish to expect them to get through things as fast as you might. Later on, you will appreciate the time you gave them if you need it yourself! =]
So anyway as a start to the year they invited us over...it went well but was still awkward and we were kind of thinking that it might just not ever happen. Well after some texting and facebook wall writing out of the blue a couple of weeks ago they texted us and asked what we were up to. So a spur of the moment trip to the Brooks house happen. We had dinner, played euchre at a starbucks, walked around a small pond/lake thing, went back to their house and played Wii, but mostly we just talked & talked & talked. Things weren't awkward...everyone was relaxed it was amazing. So then we chatted a bit after that, and just went over again this last Thursday as well. So we are trying to get together more often, it's a lot more relaxed and we've talked through some of the things...apologized some more, but mostly we are just thankful to have that relationship restored, two years later but it is restored. =] So anyway they have a beautiful daughter, who is of course our adopted niece and we just adore her and she loves us as well. We are quickly bonding. Here are some pictures!

Uncle Nate tickling!

Gracie was sharing her dolls with me.

Getting her hooked on Dasani...lol

Sharing a nectarine with Auntie Sarah

Beautiful Gracie

Too cute

Us girls.
Next time I'll take some better pictures of Ryan and Katie. =]
What a blessing friendship is. God is so good and faithful, I'm truly grateful that He works all things together for good.
Blessings to you in your friendships,