Turning my eyes to what matters most!

Well well, it sure has been awhile since I’m come on here! I almost forgot my username to log into wordpress. Yikes!

The last couple months have been busy and full, and honestly, blogging has just not even been on my radar. As I’ve said countless times, I struggle with writing since it is really not my gifting.. but, I do hope to keep this blog afloat despite this, as I do enjoy blogging from time to time!

Without going into too much detail, I will just say that the LORD has been so good to me and has really been working on refining me these last couple months. My stubborn and prideful self has been lovingly humbled time and time again by our merciful Father. Although it’s been difficult and even quite painful at times, I have seen the glory of God with new eyes and have learned so much about myself and the Lord in the process.  He is SO good and provides all that we need and more! Beyond just basic daily life needs, he has given me joy and peace that is beyond my understanding through what he has accomplished for me (and for HIS glory!) in the work of Jesus Christ. I couldn’t ask for more and I couldn’t be more filled with pure contentment and joy!  Still a struggle to fight against that nasty sin of pride every single hour of every day…

so between humbling myself and praising God for all he is and does for me, I’ve kept busy!  I hope and pray your lives have been rich with God’s love and mercy and joy and peace, which perfectly sustains us like nothing else in this world can!

[If you're really THAT curious what I've been up to these past few months, here's a couple quick words: started attending a new church-plant in a town close by that we are LOVING.... discovered the joy of the local library and have probably checked out 20 books already!.... canned or froze 20 lbs of cucumbers (pickles!), 20lbs of tomatoes (salsa and tomato sauce!), 20lbs of peaches (just chopped and froze), and 20lbs of apples (apple sauce and apple pie filling!) and learned that I way overdid it for my first time canning/preserving... ran a 5K race with my hubby and watched my sister, brother, and brother-in-law run the half-marathon (which I had originally set out to do but am glad I changed it to the 5K!)... learned to make sourdough english muffins and crackers (fun and yum!)... switched to 8 hour shifts at work rather than 12 hr shifts (but yep, still nights!) and so far am loving it!.... and..... yep,  I think that's enough :) ]

Well hello!

I wonder if I should even try and keep this blog up and running at all! Time sure does fly by. I love to read others blogs and yet absolutely hate to write on my own. There is just so much that I feel I am always learning and trying to squeeze into my days that I never find (or make) the time to reflect on it. Never been much of a writer anyway. I can see how when we have kids how much fun it would be to keep a blog to try and document, if you will, their life through milestones and pictures. And how fun it would be for family to read it regularly. But all I’ve got is me, my husband, our crazy dog, and a house (and two cars)… and nothing terribly exciting going on. We are always growing yet struggling and I find that I have too many other important tasks that I struggle to get to, and this one being just about the last one on my list.

A couple quick updates on life while I’m here…

John is about to start his second full year at Stout after doing AMAZING this past year! I am so proud of him!! :) He also just took the Praxis test yesterday and so far he found out he’s passed two sections already (math being one of them, praise the Lord!!). In a couple days he’ll start off the spring semester where he has to only be at Stout for two days out of the week, rather than three, since he’ll be taking on more online courses instead. He has probably another 3 years to go at Stout, or possibly 2 to 2 1/2 if he keeps working this hard!

I recently visited my best friend Amanda in Alabama whom I hadn’t seen in over 2 years since her wedding! We had such a great weekend together and I wish I could have stayed longer! I got to meet many of her good friends, some more of her family, and see where her family has lived for a long time, places she used to visit back when she lived in MN. I miss her a lot already and will need to start budgeting for another ticket to visit! Now I hope I don’t pick up a cold every time I visit her though, and that it’s actually WARMER down south when I go next time! :)

Speaking of budgeting and the like, another “update” (if that’s what you’d call it even) is that John and I have been trying real hard these past couple weeks and months to get a hold on our finances. I’m sure we’re all always trying to do this, but we’ve been reading books like the Total Money Makeover and setting up a better and (dare I say it?) stricter budget for ourselves. We have goals of getting completely out of debt (including our mortgage, eek!) as soon as possible; like for example, paying off our credit cards by the end of 2011, and then our student loans and car loans by 2013. In order to do this I’ve also taken on a little side business, if that’s even what you’d call it, where I make some commission off of enrolling customers for Melaleuca. I’ve really enjoyed their products and have already made a couple hundred dollars without much work at all. So far so good!

And can I just say how much I hate (and love…) cars?? Moving on…

Otherwise John and I have really been trying to focus on building and sustaining a Christ-reflecting and God-honoring marriage… especially working on becoming more saturated in God’s Word. We have so much to read and to learn, but to always be setting our minds on things that are above, not things that are on earth. One of the reasons we are so focused lately on money is actually so we can free ourselves up to give more. Our poor decisions in the past now are preventing us from experiencing the joy of giving much to others. Of course we will still struggle to say no to things, but we’re working on it and praying for God’s wisdom through it all.

I suppose that’s about it guys… I’m here at work, taking a break from charting, but should get back to it now!

On Hold

Well well, haven’t been on here in months huh? Just stopping by to let you know that I won’t be updating this much for awhile. John’s back in school full time and as for me, still working full time and trying to keep house while also keeping tabs on a hyper clumsy pup. My computer is slowly falling apart and since John uses his school laptop just about all the time now, I really don’t have means for blogging or much else computer related. We won’t be buying a new computer for some time, so for now the blog is kinda on “hold” until then. I’m sure you’re all devastated, right? ;)

Invitation

So my running blog has been flourishing much more than this blog, but my visitor frequency definitely has not followed suit. Want to stop over and help support me as I get my behind into gear? Please? Thanks! :)

The Usual

Just about every day I think for a second that I should probably blog about something, but nothing interesting comes to mind. I’m aware that I’m not a gifted writer or creative in that respect, which is fine, but I love blogs and wish I could keep up with mine more often! Honestly the last couple weeks haven’t consisted of much more than the usual: work, sleep, cook, exercise, read, etc.. One exciting thing happened today, they turned on the heat in our building! YAY! That brings me joy since the past couple nights (weeks?) I’ve been shivering as I crawl into bed. I love being able to snuggle under layers and layers of blankets and covers, but when it takes a good 15 minutes just to warm up enough to relax, that’s just no way to go to bed. In other news, I’ve been sick the past week or so and it just hasn’t left me yet. I think these next couple days I should start feeling better, I pray!  John is leaving for a men’s retreat with our church and I work all weekend, so hopefully I can feel better enough to get some good cleaning done around here.

Well, that’s about it. I told you nothing too thrilling. I hope all is well on your end!

Another One

Yesterday I started another blog that is more focused on my running and health-related goals. Check it out if you want, and offer some support too while you’re at it! :)

Yowza

Summer never seems to be that “vacation” that I always think it will be. No surprise since I started working full-time just over a month ago. We have been so busy (or just plain tired) that I really have been slacking on many things, not just this little blog. I think I’ve come to be okay with the fact that I’ll never be an avid blogger. I love to READ blogs, but I’m just not a good writer and blogging is frustrating to me because I can’t write out my thoughts well. Perhaps it just takes practice like everything else, but since I’ve been blogging since I was 14 and I still have nothing to show for it, I guess I’ve failed that cliche. 

But, good news! John and I finally officially have internet at our apartment! As of last night we are able connect to the outside world 24/7 365. Good and bad thing, but overall I’m glad and excited. The cable guy also decided to be extra nice and bless us with free cable! He said that their company ran out of blocks for our cable connection, so we’ll just get cable for free. Woo! Now that’s something I’m not as excited about because TV is so much of a distraction for me and for John too. I really have enjoyed the quietness of a home without any background noise of the TV. That’s how our house was all the time growing up, so although it’s a little comforting to have it again, I hope we can limit our consumption. There’s almost always something better to do with your time than watch TV, and it just breeds bad things… laziness, marital problems, and most importantly, it steals time away from prayer and reading the Word. I’ve definitely been struggling with that since I started working (be praying for me in that respect). Adjusting to working full-time has been difficult, but I like it a whole lot more than being in school, that’s for sure! At least you have some time “off” whereas in school it feels like you’re never free. 

So as I say in every other post, I hope to keep this sucker updated more often, possibly even with pictures here and there. Now don’t hide your excitement!

Secret no longer!

“Deep down inside, most every guy wants to be a secret agent. Someone who is stealthy, resourceful, dangerous and prepared for anything. I know I will never be a secret agent (or maybe I already am), but”

The above is what I recently found in our “Drafts” folder on our blog… written by my lovely husband a couple months ago, never to be seen by me until tonight. I found it quite humorous and thought the rest of the blog world might as well. Perhaps he’ll finish this post someday (though I think it was perhaps the beginning of his post about his backpack!), but since it’s been a few months, I found it time to display… hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Disconnected

As of yesterday, John and I have no internet at our home… so, a warning that our blog may be sparse until we do have internet again, which won’t be until I’m working in late July probably. It’s actually kinda nice not having internet… so much less distraction and more motivation to be productive in things that really matter. So, now we have no TV or internet… whatever shall we do? Thank God for free wi-fi at coffee shops! Haha, I may be visiting those much more often now… I’ll try to keep up with your posts!

Five Things

My friend over at Knightly Chats tagged me to do this little survey about me… so please, if I have tagged you, humor me and do it also. It’s fun to learn more random things about each other to get to know one another better! 

The Rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.

4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

 

What were you doing 5 years ago? 

- I was a junior in high school, having just finished the most difficult year of high school ever junior year, since I took a few AP (advanced placement) classes, one of which was European History which I did not enjoy, the other was Calculus which I loved!

- I was not a happy camper at this time, probably would have been diagnosed with depression… 

- I was going to local community church with my best friend Amanda which God was using to bring me to Him in the years to come. 

- My parents, my rabbit, Buddy, and I (my brother and sister were in college in Maine) moved from a house that we lived in for most of my life (ages 5 to 17) and next door to my best friend Amanda to a house right by a beautiful lake just 10 miles north, where I knew nobody but was still within the same school district. 

- Later in July I started working at Chipotle where I was the youngest and only white girl so I was hit on by the many older Mexican men… eventually leading me to quit after 7 months. 

What are five things to do on your to do list for the day?

- Read and feast on God’s Word and journal about it.

- Pray for myself, my husband, my family, friends, church, and those who do not yet know the Lord.

(Both of the above I “plan” to do everyday yet often fail to… please pray for me to follow through with it!)

- Take a walk/job outside or go work out at the downtown “Y” (YMCA)

- Organize some more boxes, particularly office supplies… and re-pot my basil plant! 

- Cook a new recipe for dinner tonight (from allrecipes.com) of italian pork meat ball pasta… should be good! 

What are five snacks you enjoy?

- Dried cherries that my mom me gets from Shipshewana, Indiana

- Chips and salsa

- Wheat thins with roasted red pepper hummus

- Fresh crunchy/juicy grapes

- Baby carrots with ranch dressing for dipping

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire? 

- pay off our debt and never use a credit card again (if possible)

- pay off our church’s and help support them in building more campuses/churches

- give to my sister’s ministry

- pay off my brother’s debt and help him get a place of his own so he can take care of his kids and so that my mom doesn’t have to work and take care of the little kiddos 

- help out my sisters in Christ who are struggling to make ends meet (enable my good friend Heidi to be a stay-at-home mom as she so desires!)

What are five of your bad habits?

- staying up late/sleeping in

- wasting time on internet, though I think I’ve gotten better

- picking at my hair/face when I’m stressed or anxious rather than immediately praying and giving it to the Lord

- being extremely pokey when getting ready to leave which means…

- almost always being 5-15 minutes late 

What are five jobs you have had?

- soccer referee 

- chipotle mexican grill… burrito extraordinaire

- receptionist at a women’s health club 

- sales associate at american eagle outfitters (clothing store)

- nursing assistant at a local nursing home/long-term care center

What five people do you want to tag? 

- my sister Jen

- my friend Heidi

- my ‘blog friend’ Kathy

- my ‘blog friend’ Stacy

- my friend from college Britt