Back Massage

After a full day at work today I was uber excited to head home!  First I had to get through my 30 minute workout and then rush back to the apartment to shower & rearrange the living room furniture to make room for the massage table.  That's right, a massage table.  Bud works with a lady who does massage therapy on the side and the best part is that she comes to you!  It means that directly after the most relaxing 1.5 hours I can roll right off the table, hop into pjs & crawl up on the couch to continue my relaxation!  No driving through the city only to return home just as stressed as when I crawled on the table.   Needless to say a post workout massage is heavenly...I fully intend on sleeping like a baby tonight.

Tonight I'd like to share a little bit of the history behind Bud & I's move to Texas.  A little over 4 years ago we were stuck at a crossroad.  God was putting us in a situation so that we could make a decision that would alter our lives forever.  When we lived in Kansas Bud had a great job working as a civilian on Ft. Riley & I worked full time at a bank.  My paycheck went into savings each and every month.  We lived off of Bud's paycheck.  We owned a house.  We were 30 minutes from most of our family members.  Then God knocked.  On a car ride home one day Bud was talking to a family friend who out of the blue asked Bud if we were supposed to stay in Kansas. Bud couldn't understand his emotional response, but he had to pull over before continuing home.  Once he was home, the next thing that happened I can't explain. I literally can't even say what caused me to ask him, but I did.  I asked Bud if we were supposed to be here (Kansas).  Again he was overcome emotionally.  I couldn't understand and I didn't actually know why I had asked if we were supposed to move.  We had NEVER talked of moving.  When he explained his car ride conversation we realized it was God asking us to trust him.  So approximately 9 months later we sold our home, left our jobs, and headed south.  When we got to Austin we had friends to stay with, but no jobs.  After about 1 month we had jobs, a place to live, and we were starting all over again.  This time money was tight.
We knew that the entire objective of our move was so that Bud could get his Bachelors.  There was no way I could have made enough money in Kansas to support us while he attended school full time, but here in Texas I made double what I had and now I could provide enough to help us pay the bills.  It's 4 years later and Bud is in his last year of school.  I have earned my Associates while we've been down here.  We don't own a house and we can't afford to put either of our paychecks entirely into savings, but we are happier than we could have ever imagined.  Bud had a hard time at first with letting go of the reins to provide for us.  He felt it was his duty. I asked him though, "Please, let me do this..it's my turn to provide".  I told him that once he had his Bachelors and commissioned he would get to take over and provide for the life we always dreamed of.  The life where I can be a stay at home mom and where I won't have to feel that I never accomplished anything outside of the home.  Some day I'll be able to say I worked, I was successful in my career field, but all I ever wanted was to be a stay-at-home mom.  I'm so thankful for my husband.  He has worked SO hard the last 4 years and we are only 9 months away from his graduation/commissioning.  So here is to listening to God when he calls, putting our faith in him 100% and knowing that his plan is perfect!

Courtesy of Kim W. of KL Photography
This is a picture that was taken in April of 2010 for our 6 year anniversary!
I thank God daily for the man he provided for me!

On a similar note as we are approaching this change in our life and as summer fades and fall starts to become ever so present I can't help but replay this song by one of my favorite Christian artists Nichole Nordeman- Every Season.  I hope everyone has a blessed evening!

Bella, Jacob, Edward...etc

I finished Breaking Dawn today.  I'm sure that if I would have had more free time or if I hadn't committed to working out and reading my Bible, I probably could have finished a couple days ago.  I'm glad though that I took my time (a full week) reading this last book in the Twilight Series.  I have to say, I heard some horrible rumors about this book and in my experience it wasn't nearly as bad as many people proclaimed.  In fact it may have been my favorite of all 4 books.
Finishing this book couldn't have come at a better time.  Guess what came in the mail today?  My books from BookSneeze.com!!!  Starting tomorrow I'll start Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado, typically I won't have a time restraint on the books I volunteer to review.  In this situation though, because there are so few reviews on Lucado's new book BookSneeze has requested that the book is read and reviewed by September 10th!  No worries there....after reading a 754 page book in 7 days I feel that 173 pages is a feat I can tackle rather easily!

My Mom called today and tried as hard as she might to find out where we are moving.  She said she had found a Christmas present for Bud & I, but she was afraid that if we were going overseas that it would just sit in storage.  She also said she didn't know if she should renew her passport.  She was trying as many angles as she could to try to narrow down whether we were staying stateside or going abroad.  It makes me chuckle that for once I get to have a secret!  She also wanted to tell me that she learned an interesting fact.  Apparently, we lose 90% of our eggs as women once we hit the ripe 'ole age of 30.  Again I have to laugh, because I continue to tell my Mom that Bud & I may wait until we've been married 10 years before we consider having kids....or maybe we will only adopt....or maybe we won't have kids.  I feel that at this stage in my life it's best to keep everyone guessing.  In the mean time I can enjoy this time with my husband and know that God has a plan and he'll let us and everyone else in on it when the time is right.

I hope everyone has a blessed evening!

Blind Spots

Today was a perfect day, one of those days when everything just seems to fall into place and even the unexpected seems planned.  At the last minute last night Bud got a phone call to go to the movies at 11:50pm.  I was already beyond sleepy so I told him to head out and have a good time.  Of course as soon as he left I was unable to fall asleep, go figure.  So I picked up Breaking Dawn and read until that sleepy feeling returned.  At 8:15 this morning I awoke and anticipated that Bud would be sleeping in, after all he didn't get home from the movies until 2:20am.  I stumbled out to the computer and started to read through a few other blogs, check my email, etc.  At 8:30 Bud popped out of the bedroom awake and ready to start the day.  We had already anticipated staying home and watching our church service  live online this morning.  So since we still had about an hour until church began we ate breakfast and then crawled back into bed with the laptop.  Today was the last service regarding The Dream Maker. It's possible it was my favorite in the entire 4 week series.  Here were some key points:

 The biggest dream killer is self deception.

•  Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The heart is deceitful above all thing and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
• It's possible that I may be deceived, but I won't know it.  Someone will have to tell me.  
• This self-deception is a Spiritual Blind Spot.  We aren't aware of these blind spots.  People will have to point them out to us, but we may still ignore them because we justify these blind spots instead of focusing on them and learning how to fix/adapt/correct/change them.  
• Self-justifying our actions prevents us from listening and becoming better
• Luke 11:34-36 "Your eye is the lamp that provides light for your body.  When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light.  But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness.  Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness.  If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light."
• God loves us too much to leave us in the dark

Humility

• Proverbs 11:2 "Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."
• We need to WANT to hear & see how we can be a better person.  Show me the things that I don't see, the things I need to change to succeed.
• Matthew 23:12 "But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
• Psalms 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

Finding a Personal Board of Directors

• We need to SEEK people who will be brutally honest with us.
• We are blind to our faults AND our strengths
• Proverbs 15:22 "Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success."
• Those people in our Personal Board of Directors need to be people we can trust to go to with financial questions, relationship questions, parenting questions, etc.  They can be multiple people.  We need to go to them and we need to know that we can trust their counsel.  This will help protect us from self justifying actions, from blind spots, and from disobeying due to a lack of understanding.

If you can't tell this really was such an awesome topic that I took a lot of notes.  After our church service Bud & I fit in our 30 minute workouts and promptly came home to bathe the boys!  Upon successful completion of washing 2 dogs we met up with JF & his girlfriend MS to have lunch at Green Mesquite a great BBQ place about 5 minutes away.  Upon returning home it was unexpectedly decided that the 4 of us should head to Barton Springs.  An hour and a half later Bud & I were back home chillaxin for a few hours.  Bud is now off to a poker game and I have grand plans of finishing laundry, tidying up a little, and settling in to read another 60+ pages in Breaking Dawn.  I really hope everyone had a blessed weekend & I'll see ya'll tomorrow!

Blocks

I can finally talk about the craft I was working on.  I had to keep quiet until everyone had received and opened their presents.  Anyways, the first set of blocks I made were for a friend who is a teacher.  Her birthday was this last week and because her classroom is jungle themed and I wanted to give her something she could use in there.  So here are a few of the blocks I created:

These might be a little hard to read M-I-S...obviously there is another S, but it is the same design as the M.  This was a really fun craft for me because it allowed me to use power tools.  First we went to Home Depot and purchased a 2x4 piece of lumber, then I had then cut it for me in 4" segments.  Once home I was able to use my hand sander to sand all sides and edges.  A few coats of paint and modge podge-ing both the paper and letters, then tying a ribbon around each to finish them off!  I have considered selling these on ETSY, but I just don't know if there would be much of a demand for something like this.  I also made a set for my newest cousin:

Her entire room includes the above colors and lots of pink monkeys

I absolutely love crafting and sometimes I wonder if my husband thinks I'm crazy.  He assures me that he thinks it's normal and that he loves me.  I love hand making gifts for people and seeing their reactions when they open them.  Last year I knit about 12 scarves in about 2 months as gifts for everyone.  There is something about pouring your love and time into something that makes gift giving that much more fun!  I hope everyone is having a blessed weekend, I'll see you tomorrow.

P.S. My Aunt just sent a picture of the blocks in Ava's room

I am so glad they match so well!!!

Brother

Today I got the pleasure of Facebook chatting with my little brother, Kid Icarus.  My little brother is an electrical apprentice for the United States Air Force.  I believe his job is the equivalent of a lineman in the civilian world.  Currently, he is stationed over in Afghanistan.  He will be there for at least another month.  After his time there is finished he will return to his home base which is Andersen AFB, Guam.  I know (haha) he has a tough life living on an island.  I am so proud of my little brother for his service!

Working hard to keep the lights on!

I love my little brother more than he knows!  Odd thing is that he is no longer little!  This kid towers over me.  Not fair!  Anyways, I do my best not to worry about him.  I know that my worrying will do no good and I have to trust that he is in God's hands.  So if you're reading this and you feel inclined, send a quick prayer out for my little brother and all the men & women who are working so diligently to keep us safe!

All day today I thought about where Bud & I were going to be moving next year.  I Googled it and tried to learn all I could about my future "home"!  My friends call me crazy to be thinking about that stuff now, but I wonder if they really know me.  I mean I've ALWAYS been a planner and this is no different.  I know that I am not guaranteed tomorrow, but I sure can plan for it without skipping a beat!  So laugh at me if you will, but whenever ya'll come to visit I'll be sure to have a list of AMAZING things we can do!  Bud should be home soon & it looks like we might be going out for dinner with friends so I better clean up from my workout and pool/reading time!  I hope everyone has a blessed evening!

Base Assignment

I slept horribly last night.  My only explanation has to be those stupid butterflies!  I went to bed at 11pm only to roll over at 12:50am and feel as though I hadn't been asleep that entire time.  I continued to wake up nearly every hour until 5:45am, 30 minutes before my alarm...ugh!

My morning dragged on as I clock watched waiting for the phone call of a lifetime.  Bud was going to find out our base assignment today during his AFROTC class.  Finally, at 12:23pm he called.  He announced the BIG news.  Now now now, you didn't think I was going to forget that I'm trying to keep this a secret and slip did you?  Well I remember and let me just say I can't wait to move.  I'm so excited!  Being military is in my blood, it's deep seeded within me to want to move every few years. Don't get me wrong I love Austin, but I'm ready to pack up and ship out!

This is a mural on the side of a building in South Austin.  So glad I found it and captured this picture!

Another one of my pictures taken at the Capital Building

On another note I'm on day 2 of my 21 day challenge and honestly on my drive home I seriously considered not working out.  Upon arriving home though I realized that 30 minutes on the treadmill wasn't that long!  I changed and 35 minutes later I was back from the gym having walked 1.75 miles at 4mph on an incline of 4!  I feel better now that I worked out.    

Dinner is in the oven- Provolone Sausage Bake & Sliced Cantaloupe- I love a breakfast type meals for dinner.

Bud should be home any minute, so I need to get a quick shower and freshen up before we settle in for the night!

Have a blessed evening and remember only one more day until the weekend!

Butterflies...

I have a colony of butterflies taking residence in my stomach right now.  Why?  Well tomorrow is a very big day, tomorrow is the day we will find out our base assignment.  For you non-military readers:  Bud has been in the Air Force ROTC program for 3 years, this is his 4th year.  This May he will graduate and on May 20th he will be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant.  Once he is commissioned we will move wherever the Air Force sends us.  The upside is that sometimes we get to suggest places we'd like to live.  Since this will be our first assignment we were able to pick 6 bases out of 45+ available.  Here is a list of the 6 we chose:


1. Ramstein, Germany
2. Spagdahlem, Germany
3. Lakenheath, England
4. Travis AFB, California
5. Robins AFB, Georgia
6. Davis-Monthan, Arizona


Tomorrow we will find out if we are going to any of those 6 places.  The bad news for everyone else is that we aren't going to release that information to anyone until we have told our families where we are moving.  We aren't going to be telling the families until Christmas, so I'm guessing that everyone else will know at the beginning of 2011!  Sorry to get your hopes up.  Either way, I still have butterflies in my stomach!


On another note my 21 day Challenge Progress:
1.  I only drank Tea & Crystal light today, no soda
2. I worked out for 30 minutes today
3. I started reading the Psalms last night and tonight I'll read Psalms 6-10
4. I have blogged & written in my journal
5. By bedtime I'll be up to page 224!


For some reason I just can't seem to concentrate on anything else right now....I have a feeling it has to do with those silly butterflies!  I hope everyone has a blessed evening!

Black & Brown

Black & Brown.  Those are the colors in our office area.  Nothing super fancy.  When we moved into this apartment Bud & I decided rather quickly that because we didn't have room to entertain we would eat in the living room or at the bar.  Our dining room we decided would be an office instead.  It's worked out rather well and although I can't wait until Bud commissions and we get a house again with an actual office and an actual dining room complete with a dining room table and chairs, etc., I can honestly say that I have been completely content as is.
A down fall of mine (well some may say it's a blessing) is that I have a DEEP desire to be organized.  I organize, reorganize, and then start all over again and purge and organize what is left.  Right now we are entering a stage of purging.  Bud & I are getting ready to set a date to empty our 2 drawers worth of files and condense it down to only 1 drawer.  We keep papers for far too long, we probably even keep papers we don't need to keep.  So any day now the purging will begin and the organizing will follow.
In the meantime I can start to control what comes into our home from here on out.  I don't handle Bud's mail.  I can never tell if it's important military paperwork or junk mail.  Thus, his mail tends to accumulate and pile up....this drives me crazy.
So after quite a bit of Google-ing and research I found something that I could use to organize papers as they come in.

This is a magazine holder, but I figured it could work as a paperwork organizer.
So far I only have the dogs records in the top (easily accessible if someone is watching them), and the bills are in the bottom.

So this is the beginning.  I bought the cute brown striped paper clips at Wal-mart (they will hold the labels).  Also at Wal-mart they have a ton of cute solid colored office supplies.  Well since our office area is all brown and black (with a few splashes of UT orange) I purchased 2 brown magazine holders to hold Bud's Scuba & Air Force Magazines.  I also purchased a cute little brown box to hold CDs.  We don't have but a couple now, but we do have a lot of burned CDs.  Anyways...here is to a more organized me!  I hope everyone sleeps and has a blessed evening!

P.S. I just finished Eat, Pray, Love.  Earlier today I messaged a few ladies and we are all going tomorrow night at 7pm to watch the movie.  One of the girls was almost done with the book as well..I hope she finishes!  Overall I will say that the book was very enjoyable.  I think I liked the 1st two countries best as they were the ones where most of my excerpts came from and they inspired me most.

Being Self-aware

Picture of a church I took some time ago.
I really love black and white shots

Another productive day!  I love it when that happens.  I woke up at 7:30 to finished editing the pictures from the Body Building Competition and burned them to a disk.  Bud left to volunteer at church at 9:10 while I finished getting ready.  It was a really good service again!  We are on week 3 of The Dream Maker and today we focused on Listening To Your Life Coach.  We learned about self-awareness and realizing that we all know that "There is a quiet & ever present whisper in our life".  We have to stop, quiet ourselves, and listen in order to under to hear the calling for our life.
A few key verses today included:
Acts 2:17

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your Sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions, 

your old men will dream dreams

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God's workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do

Romans 2:12

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, 

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Our pastor made a joke that he texted ChaCha (242-242) the question: What is the meaning of life?

Their response: That is a very deep answer to reply within a  text message.

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Another excerpt from Eat, Pray, Love:

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and some times even travel around the world looking for it.  You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.  And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.  If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment.  It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments".

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My handsome hubby in uniform!

On a final note the rest of our day was spent at the AFROTC Orientation.  This is when prospective cadets and their parents stop by and get a chance to ask questions and learn more about the program.  

So after a seriously productive weekend I'm excited for the school year to start tomorrow.  I know that I don't have classes, but as Bud starts this school year I realize we are only 2 semesters away from his commissioning and only about 1 week from finding out where we will be stationed!  This is going to be a BIG year.  Finally, I'm so proud of myself I successfully blogged for a week straight, now I just have to keep up with my 8 books in 8 weeks!  


I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Being Productive

Last night we ended up sitting at a friends apartment and catching up.  Upon arriving home we promptly fell into bed and passed out.  My alarm was set for 6:15 and I woke up with a start thinking I had to get ready for work.  Fortunately, before I could act on that thought I remembered it was Saturday, rolled over, and promptly went back to sleep.  Bud, however, woke up around 7:30 and had to leave the house at 8:40 for work.  I finally got up and spent too much time catching up on a blog I recently started following called Humble Pie.  I was admiring her ability to praise God through all things.  I was also envying her beautiful home.

Finally I got motivated to get cleaning.  This involved some seriously bold cleaning in the bedroom and living room.  My dogs love to lean against any and every wall and thus they leave marks on the walls.  So 3 magic erasers later the walls are spotless, I've vacuumed, dusted, started laundry, run to get Gas in the hubby's car, stopped at Target to get a couple candles and a replacement white v-neck t-shirt for myself, unloaded the dishwasher, and Facebook chatted with my brother (whose currently in Afghanistan), as well as Skyped with my Dad.  I still have a lot of little things to get done.  I need to mop the floors and sort through a mountain of paperwork.  Bud & I have decided to weed through our files and discard anything we no longer need (which I approximate will be 1/2 of the papers in the filing cabinet).  We'd really like to narrow all our files down to 1 drawer and 1 drawer only.  I have a number of other things on my list of to do's, but I felt good with what I accomplished thus far.

My Super Clean Bedroom!

In order to reward my hard work I set off to sit by the pool and read a few more sections out of Eat, Pray, Love.  I still have some reading to do but the time at the pool was relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable.

Perfection!

Now I'm showered and preparing to go the ZACH Theatre to see Metamorphoses at 8pm with a friend Rachel!  And no worries, the hubby will be fine, he is off at a Round Rock Express Baseball Game tonight with the guys.  Although I can't wait to get home to see him tonight it's always nice when we both have something fun going on!  I'll be sure to post how the play is and I hope everyone has a blessed night!

BBQ....Broil

Today was one of those days at work when I couldn't wait for it to be 4pm so I could run out the door and start my weekend.  I was biting my tongue at work all day attempting to swallow my irritation.  I knew that if I responded negatively to the situation nothing good would come of it.  So I bite my tongue and worked diligently all day until that glorious 4pm arrived!  

My handsome husband waiting to get at the grill!

Upon arriving home started preparation for dinner.  Bud  & I don't grill much and living in an apartment means that we have to use a community grill when we do. Since one of our e-mealz this week was Pineapple Chicken Kabobs, Steamed Rice, & Steamed Broccoli we knew we would have to get out and fire up that grill.  After 30 minutes of unsuccessful grilling we decided to take the majority of the kabobs back inside and broil them instead, this yielded a much better and quicker result!                                             

 Chicken, Red & Green Peppers, & Pineapple!

Bud felt bad that we had an unsuccessful grilling experience, but dinner turned out just fine so we can't complain too much.  The rest of our night is still up in the air.  Bud just went to grab his car from Pep Boys (he was getting an oil change) and then we are headed over to a friends house.  Maybe we will all  watch a movie or go grab dessert somewhere.  

I have yet to finish Eat, Pray, Love but with a full day off tomorrow I highly anticipate some pool/book time.  I also have to finish editing pictures from that Body Building Competition I went to last weekend. The individual we know who competed is patiently waiting for a disk of the pictures and I promised to have them to her on Sunday.  

My Aunt messaged me on Facebook and said she received my present for Ava's room.  Since I made the same thing for my friend Chelsea and she isn't supposed to receive her package until Monday pictures and a description will have to wait.  All I can say is that My Aunt LOVED the gift and that it went perfectly in Ava's room!  I can't believe I have a cousin who is a newborn....a 25+ year age gap....I feel more like an Aunt in this situation.

This is a photo of Ava's nursery.  This was my inspiration for said gift.  I can't wait to post pictures!

Alright, well I'm off to spend some time with friends and my amazing hubby!  I hope everyone has a blessed night and I'll see you tomorrow!

Beat

Well I'm about 30 minutes late for posting on Wednesday, however, my Wednesday is just ending at 12:30 am on Thursday morning.
Today Bud & I went to Six Flags in San Antonio with another couple friend!  We hit the road at 9am and arrived at about 10:45 a few minutes after the park opened.
Our first ride was Goliath (rode 2 times):

Other rides that day included the Superman:

Poltergeist (also rode 2 times):

Tony Hawk's Big Spin:

and Bug's White Water Rapids, Scooby Doo Ghostblasters

When we got too hot we headed over to the attached water park and hit up the Lone Star Lagoon, The Six Chuter, Hill Country Racer, and my personal favorite The Tornado (which I rode 2 times, probably could have done this one all day long!):

 After a full day at Six Flags with great friends we hit up one of our favorite restaurants.  A place called BJs, which was a contender as a title for this blog entry, but I was a little concerned about what people might think if they read that.  I am so proud of myself today.  I was able to ride all of the above roller coasters, some multiple times, and not get sick, get a headache, or get a sunburn!  It was awesome!  After dinner we drove the 1.5 hours home and then Bud ran and bought the movie Date Night because redbox didn't have it and Blockbuster had closed only 10 minutes earlier.  So we bought Date Night to watch with our friends because they hadn't seen it and we loved it!  We just finished and it's now the end of our awesome Wednesday.  I'm definitely going to be tired tomorrow, but today was worth every bit of exhaustion!

Borrowed Internet

Tonight is not going as planned.  Case in point: I am typing this entry only because I'm "borrowing" internet from a neighbor who has not secured their wifi.  I noticed earlier this evening that the internet was not working, but a friend of ours and myself were watching recorded shows.  Once they were over I realized two of the television shows I watch were not recording.  This is when I realized our internet AND our cable were out.  Bud came home shortly after and called the cable company (Time Warner).  The soonest they can fix it, since we will be gone to Six Flags tomorrow, is Thursday night!  I nearly had a conniption.  I told Bud that I had pledged to write in my blog every day for one week.

Anyways, this entire situation irritated me.  I have to laugh because I believe it was just yesterday that I posted that I am too attached to TV, Texting, and now I realize internet can be added to that list of things that I'm too attached to.  Instead of griping about not having internet I could have easily spent more time reading more from Eat, Pray, Love.   Oh well, I have found a way to blog today and tomorrow once I'm home from a day at the amusement park I hope to be able to blog about that too.

Back to Eat, Pray, Love.  Today's excerpt:

"As smoking is to the lungs, so is resentment to the soul; even one puff of it is bad for you.  I mean, what kind of prayer is this to imbibe--"Give us this day our daily grudge"?  You might just as well hang it up and kiss God good-bye if you really need to keep blaming somebody else for your own life's limitations".

How strong is this statement.  we allow ourselves each and every day the choice of how we will react to everything.  How many of us view situations negatively, or automatically assume the worst in people?  I am guilty of occasionally doing this.  Case in point, calling the cable company and assuming they would not be able to fix the internet/cable for a week.  Okay well maybe I was correct about that.  The first guy did say it would be a week before they could get someone out to our place to replace our box, however, the second guy was able to narrow that gap down to Thursday night.  Anyways, I'm guilty, even though I view myself as a highly optimistic, happy-go-lucky, no worries kind of person.  When things start to go wrong I assume the worst and prepare to go on a war rampage.  Haha!  I laugh at how ridiculous this sounds, but it's true.  Ask my husband about attempting to return a wig to Party City around Halloween and he is sure to tell you that when we were refused a refund the refuser was ripped a new one.  In fact I'm pretty sure that when he said he was sorry for the inconvenience, I corrected him and told him he wasn't sorry.
The moral of this is that we all have the option to be happy, mad, sad, irritated, elated, etc.  No one else can change your mood.  My goal is to try even harder to be on top of my own emotions and to exude the type of person that God wants me to exude.  I want people to see a Christian when they look at me.  Help hold me accountable for my actions and in the mean time I'll pray for continuous peace!

That is all for now!  I hope everyone has a blessed night!

By-walk

By-walk\ n. A secluded or private walk.

God says He knew you before you were born. He says He has plans and dreams for you. If that’s the case, why doesn’t He just shoot us an email and let us know what the plan is, right? Why do we struggle so much with finding our purpose, that evasive sense of satisfaction that comes from doing the very thing we were created to do? 


The above passage is from our church website.  It explains what we are spending this 4 week session learning about.  Today was week 2 of this message series.  This week we discussed "What's Stopping You".  We started by talking about Discover Your Dream.  Our pastor talked about how we will experience a "Holy Discontent" and that it will cause us to want to actively get involved.  Typically those moments when we feel that discontent are the moments when we are realizing our calling and when we are able to see the dream that God has placed on our lives.  Psalm 37:4 says Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Exodus 4:11-12 says The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight or makes him blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say".  
In both of these statements I realize that God is in control of my life.  If I Accept the Invitation to Let Go and Let God I will see his plan and if I allow him to take control on my life and his plan I will find peace in this.  I struggle with being a control freak.  I like to know everything that is going on, when, where, what, and who will be involved.  I have a hard time allowing others to take leadership roles for fear that it will fail.  I must if I ever want to find that total peace allow others to have their turn.  I must Be Grateful and Humble with Success. 
I have stated previously that I have allowed others ideas to influence my dreams.  I have allowed others ideals influence my own.  Having people tell me that getting my associates is not enough, that I should get my bachelors in order to feel complete.  I should get my bachelors in the event that my husband leaves me.  What would I do if I were suddenly single without a "full" degree?  I don't have doubts about my marriage, but I have had doubts about my stopping points.  After getting my associates I momentarily considered going for my bachelors degree via online schools.  I took prayer and listening to God's will for my life to suddenly feel at peace with my decision to stop at my associates for now.  Having a supportive husband helps too.  He knows that I'll push myself as hard as I can, that I'll give until I have nothing left to give and then continue to try.  He knows that trying to stop me can be detrimental to his health (this is a joke...kinda).  But he also knows that by supporting my decisions and praying for me that I will find the ability to finally say, "No".  To stop wearing myself down to allow myself time to rest and to find pleasure in this.  Bud's support in my decision to stop at my associates was more influential than all the nay sayers pleas for me to continue.  As we start this last year in Austin I am going to try my darndest to let go and let God.  I hope that anyone who knows me and reads this will tell me if they see me spreading myself too thin.  I hope people will remind me to let go and let God. 
Thank you to all those people who HAVE encouraged me to get where I am and who SUPPORT me the way they do.  To everyone else all I can say is thank you for your concern, but I'll be fine, I've got God on my side. 

BEHIND

It's Sunday morning and I just realized I'm already 1 day behind on writing in my blog everyday for a week.  Don't worry though there wasn't much to miss out on.  Yesterday morning I had a much needed brunch with an old coworker/great friend.  It was such a blessing to catch up with her and see how her life was going and how God had been blessing her family as of lately.
After brunch I headed over to Michael's to pick up some craft supplies.  I am normally a devout Hobby Lobby girl, but I had a coupon for 40% one regularly priced item.  Upon leaving the store I realized that my 40% was taken off a sheet of card stock paper I bought.  Why?  Because everything in the store was on sale and thus the coupon wasn't allowed on those items.  Oh well I spent less than $8 in total on 7 pieces of card stock and scrapbook paper &16oz of tempera paint.
Following brunch was an appointment that I was having conflicting emotions about.  My waxing.  Haha.  I love that I don't have to shave for 3 weeks, but hate the pain that goes with it.  I will say, however, that this being my 2nd time it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it had a month ago.
As I was leaving to head home for the day I received a phone call from someone who saw my ad on craigslist for my Business Calc book and solution manual.  She wanted to meet me and had to take the bus to get to me so I went over to the ACC campus and proceeded to wait from 1:15-2:45 for her to arrive.  Sure it sounds like an incredibly long time to sit and wait for someone, but I had planned on possibly waiting and luckily had my book "Eat, Pray, Love" as well as my blackberry which can keep me amused for hours.  1-1/2 hours later and $80 richer I was able to head home and work on my crafts.  I caught up on my DVR shows, spent some time crafting.  Bud came home at 5 from work and encouraged me to take a nap so that he could get in some "much neeeded" PS3 time.  I slept for about 1-1/2 hours and it was glorious.
Once I was awake we caught up on some SYTYCD as well as an episode of Prison Break that we netflixed.  Around 9pm we made a quick trip to SONIC and picked up a cherry (for me) and strawberry (for him) limeade!  Back home to watch a little more TV, including Jersey Shore, which was nothing that I put on TV, but rather something Bud got sucked into.  Finally, around 10:30 I called it a night and we crawled in bed.  It was a low key Saturday night, but it was just what we needed!
Now it's time to get my act together: shower and go to Church!

Backdate

It's Friday again!  Yeah!  I feel bad, because despite my every intention I can't seem to blog daily.  Thus I'm backdating this blog to fill in all the blank spaces of the past week.

Saturday 08/07/10-
I spent Saturday morning working on a gift for a friend.  I can't yet post pictures or really even say what it is because said friend is a fellow blogger and I'd hate for her to find out her birthday gift before her birthday.  Around noon I took the bus to the IMAX (where my husband works part-time) and met a friend to watch Inception (this was her 1st time watching it and my 2nd, I enjoyed it just as much the 2nd time and could possibly watch a 3rd time before it's removed from the IMAX).  It's a fairly long movie so afterwards I stayed at work with Bud and waited for the time when he could punch out.  We had already promised a cadre in his ROTC detachment that we would go to her Body Building Competition at the Austin Convention Center downtown.  Bud was a backup for the colorguard, but he wasn't needed so we just sat back and prepared to "enjoy" the show.  Let me back up a second, upon arriving I was instantly aware of how NOT muscular I am, haha.  We had to go back stage to meet up with colorguard and while back there we were surrounded by HUGE men in banana hammocks, spray tanned 3 shades darker than their normal skin tone, lifting weights, and getting oiled up.  *Embarrassingly* I stated that I did not know where to look.  I spent a decent amount of time checking out the recessed lighting in the ceiling.  AKWARD!  We had arrived at the convention center at 5:30pm and didn't expect to be there more than 2 hours.  Unfortunately, Sgt. Baxter hadn't told us that she was going to be going on very late.  By the time everything was wrapping up it was 10:30pm and I was worried because the dogs hadn't been out since noon.  Our friends car had gotten towed and while we attempted to help with that we ultimately dropped her off at a friends.  I hadn't eaten since lunch so on our way home we stopped and grabbed food, drove straight home to 2 very happy dogs who had waited patiently to be let out, and then went straight to bed!  A very interesting way to spend my Saturday.

This guy had a huge tattoo that covered his entire back!  I was more interested in the tattoo.

Sunday 08/08/10-
The affects of the previous day are what I attribute to waking up with a splitting headache.  Bud was up and about early Sunday morning and as he left for church (he had to go early, he volunteers) he told me that if he saw me at church great, if not no worries-he'd see me when he got home, and that he had already started the teapot so I could make myself some tea when I got up.  15 minutes later the whistling tea pot prompted me out of bed.  I took my pillow, blanket, and ice pack and set up on the couch.  I made myself some Chai Tea and pulled out Bud's laptop.  While relaxing on the couch I was able to watch our entire church service live on the laptop.  This by far is one of the greatest blessings, I didn't have to miss church and it was good because I needed to hear this sermon.  It was all about the fact that God has given each of us a dream of what our lives can be and that sometimes we allow others to influence our beliefs on that dream.  Sometimes we allow others to alter our dreams and thus we end up unhappy and lost.  I realized that I have dealt with this more times than I can count.  Every time I told people that I was going to stop taking classes after my Associates, because ultimately as a stay at home mom (a role I def. want someday) I didn't need a college degree.  People always give me a hard time about this and remind me how hard it is to go back, how important an education is, etc.  I can't elaborate enough that if I want to go back I'll do it when my kids are in school.  Anyways I'm rambling, church was good and when Bud came home we had lunch and then while he studied all day I worked on my friends present and relaxed.

Monday 08/09/10 thru Friday 08/13/10-
It has been a busy week at work.  A co-worker is on a much needed vacation, I've been working some overtime to make up the difference and I've been cooking dinner each night when I get home.  I finished my friends birthday present and started one for my NEW cousin. 

Baby Ava Renee!  My new cousin!

**P.S.**  My Aunt Laura had her first baby Friday July 30th, in case I hadn't mentioned.  A beautiful baby girl named Ava Renee.  I am hoping to finish her present this weekend and get it sent off Monday!
Over all it was a busy week in general, but it made the week fly by and during the downtime I finally got a chance to sit down and hang out with my husband!  Time to reconnect with him now that summer class finals are done.  What a blessing, I love that man.

So those are my backdates.  Goal for this next week is to write EVERYDAY.  So boring or fascinating as it may be I'm going to blog about it.  Also another new goal is to go back and add some pictures to this blog as well as start adding them regularly.  I know I can do this.  I hope everyone has a blessed Friday and if I do this right I'll see ya'll again tomorrow!

BARENAKED LADIES

That husband I married April 10, 2010....well he's pretty amazing!  Tuesday July 27th he needed me to get out of work at 2pm for a big surprise he had planned.  When he picked me up from work my makeup was in the back seat.  Upon questioning him about this he responded by telling me he had put it back there along with 2 outfits he picked out for me in the event I wanted to change or freshen up for that evening.  I was bewildered and stared blankly at him asking him was exactly was my surprise?  Finally he told me we were going to Dallas to have dinner with our friends that just got engaged.  Dallas is 3.5 hours from where we live and I still had work the next day.  Finally, he fessed up and told me that after Dinner we had concert tickets for the Barenaked Ladies. 
**Story within a story**
During the spring I had bought myself a single ticket to see the Barenaked Ladies while they were in Austin.  Bud was supposed to be out of town that night and no one else had wanted to go.  I was deadset on going even if it was by myself.  Flashforward to Memorial Day and Bud is home, he didn't leave for a month as planned, and we are watching a war movie (Our tradition on Memorial Day).  After the movie I go to the fridge to grab all the bills I need to get paid the next day and there in the middle of them is my ticket for the Barenaked Ladies concert that had started over an hour ago.  I had missed the concert.  I had missed my chance to see my favorite band.  Needless to say there have been 2 full months of moping, especially when we watch "The Big Bang Theory" (the theme song is a Barenaked Ladies song).
*********************

So we get to Dallas at approx. 6pm and go to dinner with our friends at Outback Steakhouse.  At 7:15 we hurried over to the venue of the concert only to find a vacant parking lot.   Hmmm...that's strange, maybe Barenaked Ladies isn't as popular as I'd like to think.  There had been no mention of when the doors opened or if there were any covering acts.  Sure enough as we walked in Angel Taylor was opening.  She sang/played from 7:30-8pm.  We were ready for BNL.  at 8:15 Ben Kweller came on stage and played until 9.  Bud is nervous now because he had anticipated being on the road about now and getting me home at Midnight-ish.  Remember I have work tomorrow morning at 7:30.  Finally, at 9:30 pm BNL comes on the stage.  I'm excited, my husband is excited and we are both thinking the drive home is going to SUCK!  At 11 we decided to hit the road, I think they were playing their last song anyways.  At 2:15 am my husband calls my boss's work number and leaves her a message profusely apologizing for kidnapping me and that I'll be late to work the next day.  At 3 am we crawled into bed, exhausted and excited.  It had been a good night and I knew I wouldn't be to work until 11:30 that day.  I knew people at work would be upset I was late, but how often does your husband kidnap you to bring you to see your favorite band!

It was worth it........