"The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him and restore his sight."
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
But the Lord answered Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
Acts 9:11-16
No one person has done anything so horrible that they are beyond forgiveness.
It's not about what you can do for Him. It's about what He can do through you.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thanks for the Memories
Spending time with my best friend, going for a ride in his car, watching the fireworks from a truck bed, joking about everything and talking about nothing. Talking about nothing especially when it came close for me to leave for Basic Training.
A late afternoon walk through the seaside town I lived in for a while.
Sitting at one of the manyillegal beach bonfires singing Jesus Take the Wheel with CJ, the only girl I've ever really been able to blend voices with because we were both comfortable enough with each other not to feel the need to let the other outshine or to outshine the other, while a friend played guitar and the guys we were not so secretly head over heels (or so we thought) over sat with us.
Mending a broken heart by sneaking off at midnight with Tyler and the rest of the gang to go find the abandoned prison, climb the sniper towers and then play hide and seek before heading back with just an hour or two to spare before needing to be up for PT in the morning, driving way to fast and daring each other to stand up through the sunroof.
Mending two broken hearts with ice cream and one of those GIANT candied apples from the little candy store by the bay (covered in milk chocolate, coated in gummy bears and drizzled with dark chocolate, of course).
Turning Breathe by Shania Twain into a duet while dancing to our own music next to the dam and under the stars.
Driving out WAY passed the butchering company to lay in a truck bed in the middle of a cornfield and talk about life and the fears of becoming an adult with real responsibilities.
Isn't it odd how, when you find yourself truly happy, the memories that were once bittersweet are suddenly just sweet? How can you wish for anything different when you know the happiness you thought you felt at another time doesn't hold a candle to the joy of something as lame as "knitting" a blanket while sharing the couch during a Monday Night Football game? But thanks, anyway, to each of them for the (now) fond memories that are really stories, little pieces of thread that, when woven together, create the pattern that is me.
Almost 5 years ago, I told him to find someone else to pester and slammed the door in his face after our very first conversation. Little did I know, within months I'd be infatuated and, within years, I'd be incapable of imagining life without him.
A late afternoon walk through the seaside town I lived in for a while.
Sitting at one of the many
Mending a broken heart by sneaking off at midnight with Tyler and the rest of the gang to go find the abandoned prison, climb the sniper towers and then play hide and seek before heading back with just an hour or two to spare before needing to be up for PT in the morning, driving way to fast and daring each other to stand up through the sunroof.
Mending two broken hearts with ice cream and one of those GIANT candied apples from the little candy store by the bay (covered in milk chocolate, coated in gummy bears and drizzled with dark chocolate, of course).
Turning Breathe by Shania Twain into a duet while dancing to our own music next to the dam and under the stars.
Driving out WAY passed the butchering company to lay in a truck bed in the middle of a cornfield and talk about life and the fears of becoming an adult with real responsibilities.
Isn't it odd how, when you find yourself truly happy, the memories that were once bittersweet are suddenly just sweet? How can you wish for anything different when you know the happiness you thought you felt at another time doesn't hold a candle to the joy of something as lame as "knitting" a blanket while sharing the couch during a Monday Night Football game? But thanks, anyway, to each of them for the (now) fond memories that are really stories, little pieces of thread that, when woven together, create the pattern that is me.
Almost 5 years ago, I told him to find someone else to pester and slammed the door in his face after our very first conversation. Little did I know, within months I'd be infatuated and, within years, I'd be incapable of imagining life without him.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Yellow Flag
If pregnancy were football, my baby would have received a yellow flag for a false start penalty today. It's not her first. Thursday, we really thought we might be headed to L&D sometime that night. Frequent contractions that just wouldn't stop all day (through the night and into Friday morning before subsiding) until, of course, I called the nurse to find out exactly what I was looking for before heading to the hospital. Almost nothing until this morning when, at church, I told everyone I hadn't had too many contractions in a few days and the ones I had weren't painful. Of course, then I get these super frequent and decently painful contractions that went on for almost two hours only to decrease in intensity and spread out. Lucky enough, I don't feel like I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant so, while it's frustrating each time to wonder and hope that she's on her way, it doesn't feel like it's quite time for her to come yet. It still hasn't fully sank in that I'm pregnant and I still get shocked each time I see my side profile in a mirror. I still try to do things that I'm physically incapable of doing because I forget that I'm incapable of doing those things. I wonder if she'll feel like my baby when I hold her the first time or if it will feel like I'm supposed to hand her back to her real mom at any minute? All I know is, at this time, it feels like she'll be late because it doesn't feel like it's time for her to get here. And, oddly enough, I'm currently okay with that.
Maybe part of it has to do with being so busy. We're about a day away from being completely finished taking trash and items out of the apartment and being ready to start cleaning (most of which Luke will probably end up having to do). I've had a few projects to take care of, between cooking up meals to freeze for those nights when I don't feel like seeing a neighbor/friend but also don't feel like cooking or calling in for take-out/delivery, baby blankets for friends (everyone is pregnant! Don't drink the water if you don't want to get knocked up!), baby proofing the house and getting the pups used to the baby furniture/gear. Baby blanket pictures to come but the people receiving them have to see them first!
That being said, I'm off the read that last two chapters of my new and ridiculously immature and silly book, Generation Dead (ZOMBIES!), before working on the newborn photo prop blanket for my amazingly talented photographer friend.
Maybe part of it has to do with being so busy. We're about a day away from being completely finished taking trash and items out of the apartment and being ready to start cleaning (most of which Luke will probably end up having to do). I've had a few projects to take care of, between cooking up meals to freeze for those nights when I don't feel like seeing a neighbor/friend but also don't feel like cooking or calling in for take-out/delivery, baby blankets for friends (everyone is pregnant! Don't drink the water if you don't want to get knocked up!), baby proofing the house and getting the pups used to the baby furniture/gear. Baby blanket pictures to come but the people receiving them have to see them first!
That being said, I'm off the read that last two chapters of my new and ridiculously immature and silly book, Generation Dead (ZOMBIES!), before working on the newborn photo prop blanket for my amazingly talented photographer friend.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Progress
Luke has been hard at work while at work and at home, bringing that last bit of stuff from the apartment to the house. I've been hard at work with baby prep, meal prep and house prep.
We had some maternity photos done in the nursery just after moving here (to be sure they were done while I'm still pregnant). Of course, after the maternity pictures were taken, nesting started. That's where the meal prep comes in. I've heard from so many moms that we'll want some meals made and frozen, ready to be thawed, heated and eaten once this baby is here so that's how I've kept myself busy. I figure, even if I make too much, it's better to have more pre-made meals than we need to have and be able to have our options, knowing they'll all get eaten anyway, than to have too few meals and wish I'd made more. The best part is that I was smart enough to store some as individual servings. I get up with Luke every morning and put his lunch together before he leaves. Now, we'll just need to throw a few frozen meals in the fridge on Sunday and, if we're both too tired to get up in time for him to have a lunch to bring, he just needs to throw one in his bag and heat it at work. I plan for everything. See? I'm not cooking too much. And, with nesting, CLEARLY I won't be burning myself out. I would have done it already.
Now, on to the house. I'm only posting pictures of the kitchen because it's the only room that doesn't still look like a hurricane hit it (aside from the nursery but you'll have to see my maternity portraits to see that). You better believe the nursery and the kitchen were the first two rooms I set up. I need my cooking space! Almost all of my kitchen stuff is over here now, too. I just need a taller stool since the top two shelves are well above my reach.
We had some maternity photos done in the nursery just after moving here (to be sure they were done while I'm still pregnant). Of course, after the maternity pictures were taken, nesting started. That's where the meal prep comes in. I've heard from so many moms that we'll want some meals made and frozen, ready to be thawed, heated and eaten once this baby is here so that's how I've kept myself busy. I figure, even if I make too much, it's better to have more pre-made meals than we need to have and be able to have our options, knowing they'll all get eaten anyway, than to have too few meals and wish I'd made more. The best part is that I was smart enough to store some as individual servings. I get up with Luke every morning and put his lunch together before he leaves. Now, we'll just need to throw a few frozen meals in the fridge on Sunday and, if we're both too tired to get up in time for him to have a lunch to bring, he just needs to throw one in his bag and heat it at work. I plan for everything. See? I'm not cooking too much. And, with nesting, CLEARLY I won't be burning myself out. I would have done it already.
Now, on to the house. I'm only posting pictures of the kitchen because it's the only room that doesn't still look like a hurricane hit it (aside from the nursery but you'll have to see my maternity portraits to see that). You better believe the nursery and the kitchen were the first two rooms I set up. I need my cooking space! Almost all of my kitchen stuff is over here now, too. I just need a taller stool since the top two shelves are well above my reach.
My stock pile. The pantry shelves are a little flimsy so I'm too scared to stack canned goods on them.
Complete with the dishes from lunch that day!
It finally looks like someone moved in instead of being inhabited by a bunch of gypsies that don't plan on staying long.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Home Again
We've spent the last week in the middle of a move and preparing for our majorly awesome and totally flopped yardsale. Spending a year in an apartment is an awesome way to a) accumulate a ton of crap that you don't realize you have because it lands in boxes and hides away there and b) come to the realization that you have way too much crap because the boxes are overtaking the minimal amount of storage and closet space an apartment provides. Which is how this yardsale came into existence. Too bad some lady held a yardsale at the same time and stole all of my advertising/publicity by holding hers on the main road! We shall try again soon.
Moving in was quite an adventure. I say adventure because we went to get our keys only to find out we would be getting ONE key for two people... and that we would have to create and pay for the second key. That left me wondering how the previous tenants, 3 unrelated people who roomed in the same house, managed to get buy on one key. I'm sure they had more than one so why was I stuck creating another? We arrived at the house to find out we didn't have a garage door opener, which sent us back out on the 20 minute drive to the property manager to pick one up. That's when the fun began. By fun, I mean the trip to find a Lowe's or Home Depot so we could create spare keys followed by the photography spree through the new house. The walls hadn't been repainted, the carpets were covered in stains, the front right burner on the stove is possessed and the gas fireplace doesn't work. Did I mention the leak that was coming in through the fireplace anytime it rained? The one that flooded our livingroom? Yeah, there was that, too. But with all of the quirks and damages, I can't bring myself to dislike our funny, little house. I mean, there is 600+ more square feet and a garage and we do only pay $45 more/month than our apartment. And that's before this year's $200 raise. Yep, that's just $45 more than our first year rate at the apartment... the rate the property manager there swore I would never find elsewhere because the housing market is "increasing." If by increasing, she meant people were moving because they were unable to afford where they lived so more options were available, then I agree 100%. But, because of her stupidity, I have a garage and a house and a spare room for another year and no monthly pet fees and this cute place with enough room for my family. My neighbors are pretty nice people, too. I'm starting to feel like I'm home again. So, without further adieu, here are the pictures of the unfurnished house. But only the non-damage pictures. I'm sure you don't want to see what the water leak did to the padding and wood under the carpets...
Moving in was quite an adventure. I say adventure because we went to get our keys only to find out we would be getting ONE key for two people... and that we would have to create and pay for the second key. That left me wondering how the previous tenants, 3 unrelated people who roomed in the same house, managed to get buy on one key. I'm sure they had more than one so why was I stuck creating another? We arrived at the house to find out we didn't have a garage door opener, which sent us back out on the 20 minute drive to the property manager to pick one up. That's when the fun began. By fun, I mean the trip to find a Lowe's or Home Depot so we could create spare keys followed by the photography spree through the new house. The walls hadn't been repainted, the carpets were covered in stains, the front right burner on the stove is possessed and the gas fireplace doesn't work. Did I mention the leak that was coming in through the fireplace anytime it rained? The one that flooded our livingroom? Yeah, there was that, too. But with all of the quirks and damages, I can't bring myself to dislike our funny, little house. I mean, there is 600+ more square feet and a garage and we do only pay $45 more/month than our apartment. And that's before this year's $200 raise. Yep, that's just $45 more than our first year rate at the apartment... the rate the property manager there swore I would never find elsewhere because the housing market is "increasing." If by increasing, she meant people were moving because they were unable to afford where they lived so more options were available, then I agree 100%. But, because of her stupidity, I have a garage and a house and a spare room for another year and no monthly pet fees and this cute place with enough room for my family. My neighbors are pretty nice people, too. I'm starting to feel like I'm home again. So, without further adieu, here are the pictures of the unfurnished house. But only the non-damage pictures. I'm sure you don't want to see what the water leak did to the padding and wood under the carpets...
Welcome Home!
Bedroom #1 (guest room)
Massive closet
Diningroom!
Joined diningroom/livingroom to kitchen
Joined living/diningroom and FIREPLACE (I'm sure it will work one day)!
Loft (aka nursery)
Balcony #2
Master bath (standing shower AND soaking tub = happy preggo)
Master bedroom (it's MUCH bigger than it looks in the picture)
View from the loft
Balcony #1
Next up: Nursery pictures! I finished what needed to be done in time for a maternity shoot with a good friend but the nursery has almost come to a complete finish now! I can't wait to show it off through photos!
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