Goodbye 2012... (it was nice having my birthday numbers as the year!)

Well 2012 certainly had exciting, new adventures for us so below are a few favorite moments this past year...(I could have easily added more to the collages though!). 2012 being our first year married really couldn't get any sweeter...

Surfing, Kingdom Bound, and Mercy Me (one of the 20 Christian bands we got to see this year!)                         

Renaissance Fair (one of my favorite summer events), our 2nd Christmas (and the awesome gifts we both received from eachother), our yearly NYC tradition visitng the tree where Gary proposed to me, one of Pumpkin's first encounters with snow...)

And of course getting our sweet Pumpkin girl, who can be a major brat at times but still makes our heart melt at the same time. Along with a random picture of Gary and I in a taxi after arriving in the city.

Gary and I are planning on making 2013 a traveling year. New sights, new adventures, hopefully a ticket out of the country for a short while as well. Visitng family we rarely see. Also, it'd be nice to find a job more fit for me...like perhaps theater, radio or something with Japanese studies (sitting at a desk all day is definitely not the position for me >.<).

So long 2012... It was fun-thanks for unforgettable the memories!

"You're not funny anymore..."

I decided to title this blog after a lyric I heard last night from a not so funny song. But before I get to that I'd like to first say that cleaning your car during the winter, in below 30 degree weather is NOT a smart idea. Snow blowing everywhere, hands and feet going numb, wind burn on my cheeks-I gave up and drove to the nearest coffee spot. (It's been over an hour and I'm still trying to warm up.)

Anyway.

Back to last night: my husband and I had a great day together. Did a few gift returns, spent my Christmas money on a pretty dress, purse and earrings. Like Gary said, it was my second Christmas! I didn't mind ^.^ for dinner we went to our favorite local cafe. It's a small one but has a great vintage feel to it. 50's style coffee tables, dim lighting, a little performance space for singers, poetry readers, etc...SO! We weren't expecting any singers on Saturday night (usually Sunday night is open mic) but by the time we were done eating we decided to stay for a few songs.

She was a younger woman from NYC. We were a little baffled because it was an absolute blizzard yesterday and only 8 people at the most were at the cafe. I felt a little bad for her.
She started her first song, an audience involved one. Yanno, where they teach you the chorus and you have to sing along on your turn. The song was about a person passing through different events. I believe she said it was written by an English professor back in the 50's. In the song she mentioned passing through calvary hill and seeing Jesus's crucifixion. It wasn't bad.

The next song...

She introduced it by telling us it was about an old friend of hers who was a comedian and also an alcoholic. A friend who was seeking help, went to AA and further started seeking help in Jesus.

She said "I am not a Christian." And this song is about who he became while searching for Jesus. A few lyrics went like this: "you were better when you drank.." "you're just chasing Jesus in the dark.." and "you're not funny anymore."

During the song I had a mix of emotions- slightly offended, sad for her friend, sad for her... After the song Gary and I left.

I wasn't sure what I was feeling. Angry that people can openly speak negatively about Jesus without a problem. Angry that if this situation were switched around (with Jesus being a good choice) it wouldn't be accepted. Sad for the alcoholic in the song who has a friend that thinks he was "cooler" when he was drowning himself to death...

I particularly have a heavy heart for alcoholics having been around a few when I was growing up. So this subject isn't easy for me to talk about.

I left uneasy. But still glad that I left. I guess I'm upset because she was singing a lie about my Jesus. Because with Jesus in my life I'm still the same crazy girl. Still laughing, singing but enjoying life more than I ever have. Loving and appreciating all around me. Amazed that I am loved by Someone who has died for me, forgives me and loves me with a love that no one on this green earth can ever comprehend. It's natural for me to want to share this with others...but so hard when they reject it and silence you.

Wow. I didn't mean to make it this long. Just needed to spill. Thanks for reading. And weird note to end on but I truly hope you had an awesome Christmas. I'll have to write about my Christmas play I got to write and perform at church and the beautiful woman behind the true story. For now, I'm going to go home, grab my corn pillow and watch some chick flicks with Pumpkin ^.^

Have a merry Sunday kiddos!

Pumpkin...the only child we'll ever have with blue eyes!

I'm pretty sure everyone is annoyed by now with my instagram/FB pictures that I've been posting lately-I can't seem to take enough photos of our Pumpkin girl!

But she's so pretty-it's hard not too.

It's funny now that we have Pumpkin we can't go out in public without having at least a handful of people commenting on how beautiful she is. Which caught me off guard the first time I took her out on my own to the pet store in my sweats, messy hair and no makeup (Yea, when I'm dressed like that I'm usually trying to get out of there quick and unnoticed!). She's a little over 2 months now and growing more and more each week it seems. We are so in love with her and wish we could keep her this small forever! I mean look at all the growing she's doing:

                                       


Anyway, she's definitely made our lives more joyful (now that she's past the crate training tantrums and waking us up 3 times a night)! Oh and to whoever is reading, if you have an animal with fleas the easiest way to rid them of it is: Dawn dish soap. It surprised us but it worked amazingly! Just scrub it in, let it sit for 5 minutes and watch the fleas die instantly-She was born on a farm in a fairly big litter and where she stayed was in a crate with all of her brothers and sisters in a pile of hay. Although it was a scary thing for us the first night getting her. We gave her one bath the first night and then two days later gave her another dawn bath. It can dry out puppy's skin though so only do it 2-3 times at most if needed. After all that we got her K9 Advantix and haven't seen one since!

She is a handful but our favorite part of the day is coming home to her and how excited she gets when we do. I think once Gary and I do starting trying for a baby (which won't be for awhile!) we'll always consider her our first ^.~

Oh and our new house update: it's coming along. slowly. DIY projects have become our favorite thing recently. But I do wish remodeling was a quicker process! Before and After pictures to be posted...

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!! And make sure to enjoy all the time you have with friends and family ^.^

Let The Recovery Begin (Hurricane Sandy)

As I continue to pray for the areas and families affected by Hurricane Sandy I had to stop for a moment to thank God for having mercy on our small city. There were only a few parts in our area, including my home, that had power outages and suffered damage. My parents house are surrounded by enormous oak trees but thankfully only a few small to medium sized branches fell. The power outage only lasted an hour or so but during that time I let fear sweep over me briefly and then imagined how the millions of people who were in the eye of the storm were feeling.

Pumpkin woke us up around 2 am and I offered to get up and take her out. As I tried the hall light that's when I realized the power was out. I heard sirens and the wind howling and all I could think of was "How bad is it out there?" and "Why didn't we prepare for this better!? We don't have enough water or food!" Gary was moving some of our food in the fridge to the freezer and warned me not to flush the toilets so not to waste our water supply (um, ok-who knew!). As I waited by Pumpkin's crate to help her get back to sleep about 20 mins later the power came back! We were so relieved--waking up the next morning I found out that the majority of my town hadn't had any power outages. Thankfully, we only had to experience it for a short time. I thought to myself how incredibly blessed we were and what the rest of the east coast was going through.

I turned on the news first thing Tuesday morning and saw all the damage from Sandy. My heart goes out to all the families and all my friends who are still without power. I am praying for you all to have a quick recovery and for your safety!!! If you feel God pressing on your heart to help out with any relief efforts visit the KLOVE news page for more info (www.klove.com). God bless you friends and remember God has not left your side, not once during this devastation.

“For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory.” Psalm 84:11

New Home Blues

Yep, that was the surprise. We have a house! I wanted to spill the news a few months back but life has suddenly become jam packed. Anyway, what seemed like a scary situation what with our Landlord taking back his apartment, turned out to be a total blessing in disguise! (I love when that happens ^.^) The house that we're moving in belonged to my Grandfather. When he passed back in 2004, my Dad has been renting it out (but why didn't we think of moving here in the first place???)...

Our new home though has unfortunately been let go and well...is in SERIOUS need of t.l.c. My husband and I thank God every day for this amazing gift but that doesn't change the fact that all the windows have cracks, the furnace saw it's last winter a year ago, the bathroom is like a scene from 'Texas Chainsaw Masacre', the closets can maybe fit our winter coats and boots comfortably, the yard is a jungle and our unwelcomed house mates are little not so cute spiders. I could go on but it would just make me more depressed. Oh the "joys" of owning a home.

Can you understand why I'm a little torn?

It's been a week and we pray that in a year we'll have made a decent dent in the renovation process.

Also, we got a puppy! (this will make the adventure all the more exciting!!!...right???)

But honestly, we are ridiculously excited about getting our little Pumpkin girl. We'll be getting her on Halloween so it just made sense to us to name her that. Ha!

Here she is...!

  

 Our little australian shepherd, see now why we're so obsessed???

Having the main chores done in the house have also become an added pressure before we bring her home. It's going to be a long road but no matter how bad it seems we remind ourselves how incredibly fortunate we are and how good God is. And we know that He will provide everything for us. Even the little things. I mean, He provided us a house when we thought all was lost, I don't think He'll be leaving us anytime soon!

Before and After pictures will be up. Eventually. (and more puppy pictures too!)

Chores today: Clean out more cobwebs, paint the closets, prep the walls in our bedroom, and make dinner....is it sad that my only time of rest lately has been at work?

KINGDOM BOUND 2012!!!

If I had to describe Kingdom Bound I would say this is how Jesus imagined Christians to live: in harmony with one another. I look at Christianity today and see major division with eachother. Man made division. I truly believe that this was not how Jesus wanted it. At KB we were each labeled with a wristband. Hologram textured, blues and golds attached on every Christian. Everywhere we looked, someone had one. We would smile in passing, say hello without hesitation and start up conversations easily. Being satisfied with the simple fact that we were all there for the same reason. It was a different world, believers everywhere, and it didn't matter what church you belonged to or what denomination you were...all that mattered was Jesus and worshipping Him together. As one. Our labels were Jesus freaks. That was it.

A joyful feeling... A gorgeous sight...

The above shot was the first night with Casting Crowns. Everyone held their candles high for the last song...

*My Favorite* Kari Jobe...

*Fun observation: in the above picture, lower right hand corner--see that checkered material? That was a young man's body suit. It covered his ENTIRE body. Including his face. Random.*

 

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord" Romans 12:17-19

Well Done Gabby Douglas!!!

At age 16, I don't ever remember being this driven for anything. Ever. Check out this amazing video about her and her family's journey towards the olympics.

Raising an Olympian: Gabby Douglas

Another cool thing: she's a believer...She tweeted this the night before she won:

"Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me".

 (Psalm 103:2)

 And after she won the gold:

"I just give all the glory to God. It's funny how all that works, I put the glory up and the blessings come down." 

Amen!!! Congrats Gabby!!! Well done ^.^

"Well Done" by Moriah Peters

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14