Good Things in 2010

February


1- Put an offer in on our future house
2- Learned a lot at my job training.
3- God showed me just how cool he can be. Remember?
4- Actually agreed on paint colors with Colton (although it will probably change)
5- Had a wonderful talk with one of my best and closest friends.
6- Beautiful bridal session with Colton and wonderful food at the Cheesecake factory.
7- Saw Mandy again, met Jack and had a great time watching the superbowl.
8- Saved $60/month by switching auto insurance companies. Every little bit counts.
9- First day at my new job. Thank you, Lord for providing.
10- Sweet night at home with the hubby.
11- Had an amazing day in the snow.
12- Colton sent me tulips to work, which helped with my awful day.
13- Hailey spent the night! Girl talk!
14- Thank you for Valentine's Day.
15- Received great news, that will be exciting to share.
16- We bought our bedroom set!!
17- Awesome Jack's Mannequin concert.
18- Spent the afternoon in the baby room at work. God is amazing.
19- Started packing and had a fun evening with the husband looking for furniture. So excited to have a new house.
20- Had another wonderful night with Hailey (and did excellent helping her in math this time)
21- Made a comitment to God today. We are excited to live in obedience.
22- Discovered the greatness that is 5 guys, burgers and fries! :)
23- Actually worked 8.25 hours at work!! Woohoo!!
24- Worked 10.25 hours today!! I am so thankful for these extra hours.
25- Starting feeling sick, but had a great hubby to take care of me.
26- Sick day. However, it was an excuse for a movie day with the hubby.
27- Found out that I will have my teaching certification very soon. :)
28- Saw Sam and Jen's new apartment and was able to spend some time with them. They also gave us a lot of boxes for our move.

God is SO COOL

I left Colton's work today (where we signed and faxed all of our paperwork for the counter-offer counter-offer) feeling extremely anxious. I closed my eyes (at a red light of course) and prayed quickly "God, please put my mind at ease. I want peace." I immediately felt a warm calming sensation and decided to sing along to KLTY (Christian radio station) to keep my thoughts on Him. I happened to turn it on right as a new version of "It is well" came on. The very first thing I heard was

"When peace like a river attendeth my way..."

(Although I couldn't figure out what the new version was called...it didn't say "attendeth my way" in it. However, it had the same meaning so I posted the original hymn).

I'll be the first to tell you that music isn't a huge part of my life. I could live in a life without it just fine (well, except musicals. I love them). So the fact that God chose to speak to me through music is awesome to me. He took something so unimportant in my life and made it into something extremely meaningful.

Seriously. God is amazing all the time, but it's in these small times I really feel his presence.

I just thought that was a cool story to share.

Waiting...

As of right now, we are waiting to hear back about Lyly.



Yesterday at work, Colton called and asked if we wanted to go see it, since a time opened up for it. I said "sure!!" I got off work early, and we headed to the house. We drove around the neighborhood and saw all the young families out jogging, bicycling, and even playing rugby. haha. We knew that this was the neighborhood we could see ourselves raising a little rugby playing kid. Driving around only made me like the neighborhood more. Honestly, it isn't as "nice and new" as Frisco, but it isn't as busy either. It's more quiet and humble (though the homes are beautiful). There is a lot of land nearby and even a woodsy area behind the house.



Our realtor came by and we finally got to see inside. I was so nervous that it wouldn't live up to our expectations and I would be severely disappointed. Nope. All we kept saying was how perfect it was. From the huge backyard for Chuck and his future sister, Lucy to the beautiful living room and kitchen (my favorite part!). The bathrooms needed tile floors and the spare bedrooms needed paint. Otherwise, it is perfect. Colton actually likes that it needs those things so he can feel more manly. haha.

We couldn't stop dreaming of all the fun things we would do to it when/if we got it. We left and went to the nearby Whataburger for the paperwork. Colton and I signed and sent our offer with our realtor.

This morning, she sent it to the seller's realtor. Now, we are just waiting to hear back from them to see if they made any changes. We fully expect them to counteroffer, but have enough room in the contract to play with. I am so excited to see where this leads us and the plans God has for our lives.

I was asked why I don't put pictures up. I eventually will, but I don't want to post pictures of a house if we aren't getting it. The only house I will post will be the one we get. Also, only people who know my address will know why its called Lyly. I don't want to give the street name away for security reasons. (FYI, its pronounced Lily.)

Good Things in 2010

I started to do this last year and didn't get past January, so let's see if I can do it this year...
I encourage you all to think about something positive from every day. Even if it ends up being a bad day and write it down. At the beginning of each month, share your positive "good things" with everyone else. :)


January

1- Quiet night to ourselves. Great way to ring in the new year.
2- Blessed to have a great job, even if I do work Saturday mornings.
3- AWESOME day with my favorite ladies.
4- Quality time with the sister and Kandice.
5- Day off spent catching up on Bible studies.
6- Worked with awesome people.
7- Decided to apply at several preschools and see where God leads me.
8- Thank you for the gorgeous cold weather today. I love it.
9- Got to catch up with a high school/elementary school friend during her engagements.
10- Another fun couple Colton got to photograph.
11- Thank you for another Monday.
12- Day full of interviews (3). How lucky am I that I have a job and have so many interviews? Thank you, God, for allowing me such a great opportunity.
13- God has really been speaking to me today.
14- Had a wonderful day off getting ready for the cruise.
15- Worked hard one last day before vacation.
16- Made it to Galveston without a problem.
17- Had an awesome time with my family before leaving on the ship.
18- A great first day full of fun, food, and amazing new friends.
19- Beautiful day at the beach. God is AWESOME!

20- Swam with amazing stingrays. What beautiful creatures.
21- Witnessed more of the beauty God created for us in Jamaica.
22- Had a wonderful time taking pictures with all my new friends on the ship.
23- Won $80. :)
24- Left the ship with nearly 30 new friends.
25- Blessed to have the day off to recuperate from our trip.
26- AWESOME news from the doctor. Thank you Lord for healing my kidney.
27- Wonderful first day back at work.
28- Worked tonight, which means extra money in our pocket.
29- Got a new job, which means we are able to get a house.
30- Bought amazing new furniture for our future house.
31- Amazing service at church. Saw many people proclaim their love for Christ in baptism.



A post about Lyly is coming soon, I promise...

Anticipation

I am so excited. We are FINALLY going to be able to see Lyly. Eeek! I really like the outside of this house and hope the inside doesn't disappoint. Of course I will be praying that God's will be done in the whole situation. It is a perfect little place for us.

Weekend Update:

Saturday- I worked while Colton shot an engagement session for my gorgeous friend Meredith and her fiance Danny. I cannot wait for him to put the previews up. They are awesome! Then, Colton and I went "furniture" shopping. We figured we would just window shop and price things for when we did get a house. However, we ran into a fantastic deal at Rooms To Go and had to go ahead and purchase. It's so exciting. Just waiting for us to get a house and will be shipped. We picked out our couch, chair, ottoman and a 50' Plasma HD. I am so ready for our house now.
Although we didn't buy anything else, we picked out our washer/dryer, and our bedroom furniture as well. We are ready to get this show on the road. :) Then we hung out with Jen and Sam (ate dinner and watched Supernatural). I am so gonna miss them being in our apartment complex (but they are leaving at the end of this month, and we are actually moving a lot closer to their new place than our apartment. Meaning, we'll still see them all the time).
Here's our living room stuff...

Sunday- Colton played the djembe at church in all three services. I went to the second service and watched as many children and adults were baptized. It was awesome. They had all the children on stage cheering when the person was brought out of the water. It was a celebration on earth just as the angels celebrate in Heaven. So cool! We had another awesome engagement shoot with an adorable couple last night. Then, we went furniture shopping, got a redbox movie and came home to watch it. Colton, Chuck and I snuggled in our bed and watched "The Invention of Lying." It was interesting. Parts were funny, but I wasn't too crazy about how they brought in "religion."

This morning I went to the preschool I will be working at to pick up my info sheet for my training tomorrow. Then, I came to work. In approximately 15 minutes, I will have to tell my supervisor the news (that I got the job). Starting tonight, we are going to clean the apartment and take pics of our current furniture. Once we put an offer in and have a contract going, we hope to sell everything. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the inside of Lyly for everyone.

Updates...

Thank you all so much for your prayers!! They have really helped with my nerves today. Here is the latest.

I did get the job. I am so grateful, because I think this will be such a huge step in my life. I really feel that I will do a great job, and I am very excited about it. I requested a specific amount of money, and they are unable to do that for me. They jumped through several hoops to get me what they were finally able to offer me. It was only $2/hour less than I requested. Some of you may think "$2? What's the big deal?" However, $2 breaks down to $40/week which is $160 a month. However, Colton and I crunched numbers and I feel a peace about it. It may not be exactly what I wanted, but God has a plan for it and us.

About the house. We were scheduled to view Lyly today, and the owners had to cancel our appointment because their child got sick. We were bummed, but did some research. We found a house, "Washington" that would be a new build. That greatly excited me, so we bought our flashlights and headed over to the neighborhood. It was a little too rural for our taste, and Colton wasn't a huge fan of the neighborhood like he was Lyly. We decided against that one and drove by Lyly only to make me like that house even more. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of picking our own carpet, tile, and everything in between. We just like everything else about Lyly (without seeing the inside) better.

I'm excited about where this journey will go. Hopefully I will be diligent about documenting everything in process.

Changes

This isn't a post about the cruise.

No pictures.

No scrap pages.

I thought about whether or not I would write about this or wait until we have answers, but I thought I may as well just go ahead. I figure if everything does (or doesn't for that matter) work out then I will be glad I documented everything from the beginning.

I tweeted about a *good* anxiety I am feeling about two important changes to my future. I had to clarify that it wasn't a baby (since that is what immediately everyone jumps to).

#1 I decided I wanted to teach preschool and the week before the cruise had 4 interviews at local preschools. I had a couple offers, but the last interview was "the one." I went on the cruise expecting to hear something by the time I got back about whether or not I got the job. I found out that right now my application is snagged in payroll. They are taking a looooong time to get back. Tuesday, I heard something. They suggested I bring my transcript in and hopefully that will expedite the process. It has officially been two weeks (today) and still no word. I talked to them this morning and *fingers crossed* should hear something by tomorrow morning. Just to clarify, I didn't apply because I hate my job. I actually love my current job and if I do get the preschool teaching job, I plan on working here Saturday mornings. I am blessed beyond belief with two amazing supervisors and great coworkers. It has been the best job I have ever had. However, I have a degree and aspirations in education/counseling and have to move on. :( I have talked with a couple of people at work about it (including my supervisor) and they have been extremely supportive.

What I am asking. Please pray for me in this situation. I have a lot of emotions running through my head right now. Honestly, I am a little nervous it has taken this long to hear something. I have been in communication with them, so I don't feel shafted. Not to mention the fact that it is a huge job change for me. Although I am confident I can and will do a great job, there are still jitters about getting started and doing something different. Just pray that God's will is answered and I am able to cope with whatever it may/may not bring.

#2 With a full-time job comes a steadier salary and with that comes a house. I really didn't want to post about this one either. Mainly for superstitious reasons (which I don't even believe in. haha). I think in the long run, I will be happy to have the (hopefully not) long road of owning our own house chronicled from the begining. We have found a neighborhood with several houses we really like for sale. One of those, we both are super crazy about (despite that it only has a couple pictures posted). We are scheduled to go look at it tomorrow. I am SO EXCITED about the possibility of owning our own home. What great timing too (with the tax credit and our lease coming to an end)?

My problem, when I see a house, I immidiately begin imagining family and friends over for holidays. I see all the ways I can decorate it. I look past the payments and financial obligations. I tend to get overly excited and disregard the fact that I am a planner (an over-planner as Colton may say). The idea of having my own house is just something I have dreamed about since I was little. Soooo...all that being said. Pray for me and my emotions. Pray that I will think critically and Colton and I will make the best decision. Pray that we will be alright with setbacks and understand that God has a plan for us. Whether or not this is the house for us. For blog purposes (and hopefully future scrapbooking of our "first house") I will call this one "Lyly."

If you read all of that, you are really cool, by the way. That was a long boring post. Hopefully next one will be filled with good news and pictures.

Good things usually come to an end

It's true. I haven't updated in a while, because I went through a major funk. Yes, I realize we are still blessed, but things haven't been as peachy and wonderful as they were before. I have had to really take a step back and re-examine everything.
Without going into too much detail, I really struggled. I was sad, alot. I cried, alot. I spent many hours dwelling on how bad things had gotten and how unhappy I was. No matter how hard I tried to fix everything, it just got worse and worse. Marriage is a lot of work, and I have never forgotten that. It just got unbelieveably hard for a while. So hard that I closed myself off to the world.
Because God is amazing, I pulled through. I had a wonderful weekend, and I am looking forward to mending my bruises. This coming up weekend will be soo relaxing (Another trip to Beaver's Bend).
Colton and I had Saturday off, so we had a date night and got all dressed up. Sunday we ahd engagements with an adorable couple, even though it was super hot outside.
Besides this vacation weekend, we have a VERY busy next few months.
I start school Thursday, and I am really anxious. I am ready. It is my last first day as an undergrad. I am so ready to be done with it. :)

Oh, and I have successfully lost the weight I wanted to. I am at my goal range and couldn't be happier. I am healthier, more toned, and I actually enjoy exercising. :)

Praying for Stellan

I am FINALLY posting this to my blog. I have been praying for him, posting on facebook and my messageboards I go to, but I haven't been able to talk about it here yet. I am just trying to get my feeliungs together. I don't know MckMama personally (Although Colton and I are going on the MckCruise *yay* and should meet her there). However, I have been reading her blog for months and just fell in love with her and her family. Her children are beautiful, her faith is inspiring, her husband is amazing, her family is just a wondeful example of God's many blessings. Really. She is a photographer, so her pictures are always beautiful. She is just awesome. I could go on and on, but I think if you click on the picture you will know for yourself just how beautiful she really is.
I will be honest. I am having a hard time grasping why good people have to suffer so much. (Just the other day I was grieving with http://www.thewims.blogspot.com/). I know it is just part of life and ultimately part of their testimony, but it still hurts so much. I have been thinking about Stellan every hour for the past 2 days. I have been thinking about Mckmama and her MSCs and her Prince Charming. If you have the time, read her story. Discover her incredible faith. She is a great example for all of us.
PLEASE get on your knees and pray for this family.

Date Night

So, Colton sent me an email earlier that said "Hancock or Get Smart"
Which means...DATE NIGHT. Yay!! (Hopefully I'll remember to post pics bc blogs are no fun without them. *sigh*
So I have been praying about the job situation a lot and I think I have another door that has opened. This time at a rec center. I again don't want to be too detailed because I don't know what is going to happen, but I promise I will once everything is straightened out.
OH! I am starting a prayer journal, you know just a little something to help me out in keeping track of things I've prayed about and how they are handled. I think it will be a humbling and great expierence.
I am also looking for a new car. We sold me (kinda...they are going through the loan process right now). Yay! Finally getting a 4-door so I can have room to breathe in my car.