fairy tale dinner!

Oh my word! Was I surprised with a treat when we got home from work today!! Some of the women from my study came over to the house while we were at work and prepared an excellent and tasty dinner for Brandon and I! The places were set with the meal waiting in the oven for us. There were flowers on the table and a fresh baked chocolate cake for dessert! I was shocked and in awe of the love I have been showered with. It actually brought me to tears.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture or two because they did such a great and adorable job setting it up, but we were so hungry and it smelled so good when we walked in the door, we couldn't help ourselves but sit down say grace and dig in!!

Thank you Jesus for you overflowing mercy and grace that you poured out on my today through three {four including Brandon who was in cahoots} amazing people, so ready to serve and show selfless love on a sister!!! You are worthy of our praise!!!

Sew, It's time to get started!

Brandon helped me set up my sewing/craft room yesterday. We had to move some furniture around and I finally got to take my sewing machine out of the box! {Can you say WAY too busy...} I can't wait to turn it on and start using it :) I have so many projects that I just can't wait to get started. I want to focus on making curtains first for our house. And then, if I have time, have a few smaller projects on the side.

The sewing/ craft room! And some fabrics I picked up at the thrift store.

The Machine

I found several really cute apron patterns and also totes/bags that I think would be so much fun! Who knows, maybe I'll even be able start my own business from our home!

I know, that's a little far off since I haven't even turned the machine on yet... but a girl can dream can't she?! Actually I got to spend the day with my wonderful 'little sister' {she's not really my sister, but I consider her so because I really think we were meant to be related! I love her so much} and we went to the book store and talked over a Starbucks for awhile. Then we hit up a thrift store by my house to see if we could find any interesting material to make some of the projects I'm thinking about. We found a few good finds, but nothing major. What a great place to look though!!

I would like to just say that I truly adore my sister Rachael, she is so amazing to me in that she is so real and just living life with all she has! I admire her and really look up to her for her love for the Lord and her desire to be all that He would have her be. She is one of the most beautiful women I know, inside and out.

And we had a blast just hanging out and catching up. We always enjoy our time together and I always miss her after we finish! I am so glad to have a sister so wonderful!

Well we got to talking yesterday when we were hangin out and I told her how I would love to have a business in the home and sewing would be so fun! She loved the idea and even spit out the idea that should could help me come up with some designs! Then I figured I could draw the patterns and we can both sew them up.

Now we are brainstorming a cute name for business ...

John 4:14

God is so good to us. Can I just say that I truely love my bible study and the women God has surrounded me with by being a part of this group. I have never know such a caring group of people at are more real and genuinely care about what you are going through.

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed the last couple weeks and with out even realizing it really I had pretty much pushed God out of my daily life. By that I mean that because I didn't feel like I had control of 'my time' I let my personal time with God slip right out of my schedule. I even found myself avoiding it, maybe because I knew it was the main reason I was feeling so overwhelmed. It's just really been draining me lately. And I hadn't even realized how much it was effecting me until last night, when I started to talk about it to the group and explain the struggle I was feeling. I broke down and realized the impact of leaving God out of my day, first thing even, and it broke my heart.

My amazing sisters all surrounded me and prayed over me right then and there! It was so encouraging and I felt so loved, by God for placing these women in my life at the right time and place and by the women themselves. Sometimes we just need to hear it, that we are loved. And that's exactly what happened to me last night.

I realize that God so desires 'my time' {really it's His time since He is the reason I am even alive!} and first thing each day is because He loves me so dearly and just wants to be what my life is about. He knows that my plate just got fuller with getting married and having a house and that I have had a lot of adjustments in such a short period of time. He knew that I wouldn't be able to handle it with out Him. That's why He is so readily available, any time I need Him to get me through.

I just want to praise Him for that and thank Him. For His love for me and His desire to have a relationship with me so personal and real. I love Him so dearly.

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thrist. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

John 4:14

a stretching.

I am having one of those days... a day where I keep getting hit from the left and then the right, or so it seems. I even made a decision today to start the day off seek God first thing. Brandon and I talked about making sure God is, not only a part of whole day, but especially the first thing we do, study his word and just meditate on Him. So we did that this morning. It was great and we both enjoyed reading from Psalms.

The morning that far was going wonderfully. I woke up to my wonderful husband, who I am just adoring right now, and we sat down to have breakfast and read our bible. Then we headed to work, but we were both in good spirits in spite of that fact...

And then it started, we drove up to the back gate at work and I realized I forgot my ID card to get in, and we HAVE to have one to get in. Plus I need it to work because you have to have your ID to log on to any computer and my whole job is on the computer. So what does this mean? Maybe I left it at work in my computer… or else it’s in the work pants pocket from yesterday… dingdingding! So I had to go home and get it which put me behind for morning routine at work and after that it’s hard to get back to a good mood.

After that it just seems like my day has been off just a little bit and the littlest things going wrong seem HUGE! {ex: when I ordered an iced tea at lunch and the guy game me a Hi-C… I swear I thought I was going to cry when he handed me the cup… no big deal right?!} It all got me to thinking tho about Job in the bible and how even tho God allowed Satan to strip him everything precious to him [his family, livestock, even his health], God had faith in Job because He knew that Job would be faithful to Him and praise God’s name in the midst of heartache and trial. By no means do I mean to compare my day or life or anything to the suffering that Job went through, but when things get even a little tough, it reminds me that God allows ‘tough’ things into a believer’s life it’s because He has faith in them and He wants them to turn to Him for strength and dependence.

Maybe things happen in our lives because we start to think we can handle this life on our own, at least when the going is smooth. But why can’t we trust God to be in control even when it’s easy? Would He still put trials in our lives and allow tough times? I think so…

I’ll admit, I struggled today with following Job’s example and praising my God in midst of my rough morning. I kept having the thoughts of ‘God, I made time for you this morning! I read my bible with my husband and sought you first thing of my day! Why can’t I have a good day for that?!’ Pretty closed minded I realized later this afternoon…

This morning I read through Psalm 66:

1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious!
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." Selah
5 Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!
6 He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot— come, let us rejoice in him.
7 He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations— let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah
8 Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you-
14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

I couldn’t believe it when it hit me! God started me off this morning by telling me that He is victorious! He wanted me to see what He has done for me and what He will do for me, if I would just look to Him always. And praise the Lord for His provision.

It seems that I have learned a valuable lesson about what it means to seek God first thing in the morning. He truly will use it to prepare us for the day and what it will bring! I just wonder…

Will we listen?

sew what?!

I'm so excited I got a new sewing machine today!! B and I were talking about how it would be nice to have one and I could get to work on making curtains for our house... so we went to Jo-ann's to price them and they had a perfect one on sale!! {We are talking $200 off!!} And it's such a nice one with a lot of options for progression. Since I would consider myself a beginner it's nice to know it will be easy to learn on but still have a lot of things to grow into! They even offer a class to teach you how to use all the features :)

I'm so excited! I'll post some pictures once i get some projects going!!!

road trip.

B and I decided to take a road trip for our extended 4th of July weekend. Since we work 4 days a week (10hrs each), we always have Mondays off so we both took off Tuesday. We left Thursday night (the 3rd) and drove to Hutch, were my Grandpa lives, then drove up to Manhattan on the 4th and on to Nebraska on Sunday. We made it back home safely today (Tues). Here is a few snapshots of our trip:

In the car on our way...

DAY 1 [July 3]

After working half the day we set out for KS and began our road trip. We drove straight through til we got to Hutch and checked in to a hotel for the night. On the way we had some might fine and interesting conversations enabling us to learn and get to know much more about each other. I found a print out on a website, called The Nest.com, that had a list of questions to ask each other, for example 'What is your dream car?' or 'What is your dream vacation?' and many others like that. I wrote down both of our answers and we are going to put them in a 'time capsule' {really it's a box my friend Rae made for me for my bridal shower that has pictures of B and I through out our dating and of us growing up!}. Then each year on our anniversary we will re-evaluate our answers and record the ones that have changed and just read through what we wrote down in the previous years! How exciting will it be to look back on our 5oth and see what we wrote down during our first year of marriage! We also did our goals, individual as well as together.

DAY 2 [July 4]

INDEPENDENCE DAY!

This is one of both B and I's favorite holidays! I love the patriotism that flows during this time of year. And absolutely nothing says summer like hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, sitting out with family/friends and fireworks to finish off the day! We spent the day time in Hutch with my mama and my grand dad! After sleeping in and then having a late breakfast with them we enjoyed a little car ride while we visited and saw some areas of Hutch. We also stopped at a fireworks tent so B could pick up some fireworks!! He was like a kid in a candy shop :) Since we
can't shoot them off in CO it's been since he was younger that he actually had done them. So he couldn't wait to pick out his favorites and that he did! He even let me pick out a few :)

By the time it was mid-afternoon we decided it was warm enough to take a dip in the pool at my grandpa's apartment complex. B swam and I just laid by the edge with my feet in while my mama read a book in the shade. It was quite relaxing!

handsome hubby

w my grand dad

Towards evening my grandpa took us out to a wonderful dinner before we all headed up to manhappiness, where my mama lives. We were going to stay with her that night and we wanted to get back before it got dark and too late so B could do his fireworks! We got home just in time and it was entertaining to see him do his show and so fun to watch him get so excited!

w mama

he's so excited!

Those little tanks came out of the helicopter when it was going off and shot their own cannons!!

Overall it was a wonderful holiday, we both really enjoyed ourselves!

DAY 3 [July 5]

So a whole day to do what ever we wanted to do just hanging out with mama bear! No obligations, no bouncing around to visit anyone. Going with the flow and relaxing! The first time in a while that a trip home has been that enjoyable!

After sleeping in having breakfast, my mom took us around town to see the damage from the tornadoes not too long ago. Devastating and amazing all at the same time. To see the wreckage and to know that not a single person was killed is a miracle! But was also so interesting to see how a house could be totaled but have a baby tree still standing in the front yard with most of it's leaves on it, while a house down the same street might have the house intact but a very old tree completely uprooted from the ground...

Later in the afternoon we went to enjoy a movie, WALL-E. B and I had already seen it but my mom hadn't and we loved it so much we didn't mind watching it again! SO CUTE if you haven't seen it yet!!

We couldn't enjoy a visit to Manhattan without going to Aggieville and visiting the few cute little shops they have! We also stopped in at our favorite wings place Buffalo Wild Wings!!! {yummy!} But while we were driving through Aggieville we saw a banner for 'Arts in the Park' a Jazz festival was going on. We all agreed that would be enjoyable evening entertainment! 

City park

crazy monkey

but i sure do love him!

look mama climbed a tree too! {teehee}

I got to show B the city park that I spent a lot of time in while I lived there in Manhattan. And we all got to enjoy some entertaining musicians as they played various types of music from contemporary jazz to big band to even some spanish jazz {more mambo style!} B and I were even able to show off some of our mad skills we have learned at the swing dancing club here in town!Day 4 [July 6]

Sunday morning we slept in a little while and then headed up to Nebraska. We were going to visit B's 94 year old great-grandma! On the way, we stopped in a town I lived in for 3 years of grade school and one year of middle school. I saw my old house, which looked nothing like when we lived there!! They have added on to it and it just looks completely different! But it was interesting to drive through the neighborhood and reminise about all the memories from there!

That evening we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs with a neighbor of B's great grandmas and with his cousin and family. They just had a baby girl about 2 weeks ago and she is such a doll! We both fell in love with her immediately and had to keep reminding ourselves about our at-least-a-year-pact!

B calls her BAT cause thats her initials... poor kid!

Day 5 [July 7]

We spent the day just visiting with B's great-grandma who is 94 and still living in her own house and still drives, and probably better than most people! She is an amazing woman, refusing to just 'roll over and die' {which she claims will happen if she were to move into a home!} Her tv wasn't working right anymore so we took her to town and helped her buy a new one. Then we brought it back to the house and B set is up for her and then showed her how to work the remote. It was so cute to watch the two of them interact!

Later that evening B's aunt came into town and we had dinner with B's cousin and family again that night! We were going to try to and go over to their house to see the new baby's room but the weather turned ifey so we decided to just stay at his grandma's instead.

on our way to grandma's house they had this tank on display where we stopped for gas.

Day 6 [July 8] 

We made the trek home and made it safe and sound! We really enjoyed the time together and the time visiting with family and friends! What an amazing and surprisingly relaxing trip.

The end!

Two years? Or will it be less....?

After church on Sunday the youth pastor's wife and 4 children came over to a friend of our's to swim at the neighborhood pool. They are all under the age of 7 with the littlest one only being a few months old. The youth pastor is on a missions trip for a couple weeks and a mom at home with 4 little ones that little, you could only imagine how much of a relief it was for her to have some people willing to entertain the little ones while she relaxed a little bit!!

The pool we went to is so kid friendly, it has a 1ft deep section with a 'spray station' where water shoots out all directions into the pool, like a giant sprinkler system. The kids LOVE it! Plus there is a little water slide and then of course the 'big people' pool, which is just normal size and depth. So it's accomidating to everyone.

Anyways, I was just admiring how well B was relating to the little ones and he clicked immediately with their oldest son who is going into the second grade. B said he sat down at the table for lunch and J (for privacy I'll just use their first initial) immediately started a conversation with him as if they had known each other awhile.... J said, 'I got new underwear.' and then proceeded to show B! We laughed and thought how would it be if grown ups where so much more open like children, where they don't hold back and pretend to be someone else or put up walls for fear of what might happen if we let someone in. They are candid and they are real. Oh the lessons we can learn from children.

Once we go to the pool B was the center of their attention as he would play with them on their level and just such keen attention to them, as if they were peers. I think they really appreciated that.

As I looked on, I pondered if it would really end up being 2 years before we start trying for some little people of our own.... ; )