Almost 3 months!

We've been married for almost 3 months now! That is 77 days!!! (Take that kim kardashian!) haha ok in all seriousness though i absolutely LOVE being married! John is such a great husband! There has been a lot of learning in these last 3 months with juggling school, work, and our relationship. In the last month we've both gotten promotions at work which have been a blessing financially, however, they're massively time consuming! We had to buy a new car....which was not ideal since we planned on saving up, but with our financial plan the car will be paid off by this time next year. We only have 4 credit cards left, all should be paid off by the end of the month! I am so proud about how far we have came financially since we first met! We were both completely broke and now we have a savings that we regularly put money into, as well as John's $10,000 credit card debt that is now 1500! It is awesome to see the miracles that God has done in our lives throughout the last 2 years. I am even more excited to see what He has in store for years to come! I still really cannot get over that we have been married for almost 3 months! I do miss vinton and roanoke, my friends, and most of all my family. However, with that said...i do love living in christiansburg and starting my new family in a new city with new memories of our own :)

October 29th :)

Okay so for the first time in two years I changed the name of my blog :) I figured since I am moving up to C-burg this would be a way for friends and family to hear about the comings and goings in our lives :)

Firstly, just a reminder....We're getting married next Saturday! As in 11 days! I have been waiting for this day for 2 years! (okay really I have been planning it since a child-but from day 1 I knew it was going to be John that I marry). I will still be commuting to work, as well as, continuing to work on my master's at Liberty. I am super excited about everyone involved in our ceremony and I think things are going to go well :)

We had our shower and bachelorette/bachelor parties this weekend. Everything went really well! We got so many things! I am overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends and family! I have to say though...my most favorite gift that we got was the creamer cow!

For now I am going to work on homework, wish us luck as we balance the next week of wedding planning with kkcc, danny's, our store, and johns photography!

Much Love! :)

Thankfulness

I've realized my life lately has been all about school and work. Even when I see John i do homework. I spent sunday staying in the room working on homework while he was in the living room watching tv. This is just sad to me. I miss my church family. I miss my friends. I miss going to bed at a decent hour. Most importantly i miss being part of a bible study and diving into the Word. Growing closer to God. I feel like since school has started back that I have been kinda stagnant...stale. That's the last thing in this world that I want. So this is my effort to change that. I want to focus on the things and people that I am thankful for.

Firstly on this lovely Valentine's Day I am thankful for God's love for me. He has blessed me beyond belief. I am still amazed at how blessed I am.

Secondly I am thankful for john. he supports me with school more than anyone knows. I have beat myself up so hard these last few weeks and he has been there to pick me up and cheer me on. it's not just with school but anything. he's always beside me.

well...there's so many more things but i will save those for another day.

Love like you've never been hurt...

so i went to one of my churches on sunday and my friend was preaching and said "ya need to love like you've never been hurt". immediately my mind went straight to relationships. i've pondered about that the last few days...have i really been loving john like i had never been hurt before? at work today i was reading through proverbs and i started to think more...it's so so so much more than that. can i love this or that person even after they hurt me? im called to turn my other cheek, and to love. how can i love people who have hurt me when im not letting go of the past, the pain, the grudge? i can't. exactly. i have to give it to God. i need to stop holding on to things. stop letting things get to me. i need to love everyone, not just john like i have never been hurt before. i am called to love like Christ loves me. this has just been so overwhelming to me today. i want my friends and family to really know that i love them. i dont always show it, and it may not always seem that way...but it is so so true. my prayer for this evening is that God will wrap me in His arms and make me more and more like Him.


There is a God who loves me
Who wraps me in His arms
And that is the place where I'm changed
And that's where I belong
Take me to that place Lord
To that secret place where
I can be with You
You can make me like You
Wrap me in Your arms
Wrap me in Your arms
Wrap me in your arms

More Than Words.

So here lately i have had a tendency of taking secular music and turning it into worship music. By this i mean, i hear lyrics and so many of them can be related to our relationship with God. So tonight as i was driving to Vinton i heard the song More than words. A song that i have heard many times throughout the years. But the first stanza of the song goes like this...

Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
Its not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldnt have to say that you love me
Cos Id already know

Immediately my mind went to my relationship with God. This song really convicted me about where i had been spending time lately. God doesnt want me to just tell him I love him. What good are my words, if my actions don't back it up? I know that our faith is not "works" based, but you can't just tell God you love him, and live your life like the exact opposite. When was the last time you sat down and spent time with God? Just prayed and had a conversation with Him. Or sat down and read His word? What are your actions saying about the love that you have for Him? When was the last time you layed something down in your life so that you can spend time with God?

Stress

Anyone who knows me, knows i stress like no other.
well i keep sitting here seeing everything i have to do over the next few weeks, trying to figure out how im going to fit school into my already hectic schedule...funny thing is all i can do is laugh. i know i didnt get here on my own. I've said that all along and i still stand beside that tonight. I know the only way that i will get through this semester is to rely on God and trust that He does have a plan for all of this...with that said, i know this does not give me any excuses to slack off...if not i know i need to work harder so i can bring glory to God, as i get this degree, at this school, all of which He called me to do. Trust me, liberty was NEVER on my list of schools. I still find it slightly amusing, and stand firmly to the idea that God has a very funny sense of humor :)
I have to write a paper about the exact moment i became a christian, how i felt before, how i felt after...this is going to be hard....there's not a specific moment that i can say this exact moment was when it happened. it took time. But is that what they want? i think more than anything im going to start second guessing myself. I know this is where God wants me, i just still struggle with WHY ME?!?!?
ahh...i need sleep. i think.

Greater things are yet to come :)

ahhh it's been SOO long since i've posted anything on here!!!
life has been as hectic as ever, but so stinking amazing!!! I have seen God work in so many ways in my life as well as friends and family!! Very very very AWESOME!!!
The last month was chock full of blessings! Just to name a few:
*I got into the program at liberty, which I never thought would happen! God definitely had His hand in that.
* I moved into my new apartment!! I have an amazing roommate!! both are very good things!!!
* Oscar passed away after being an amazing dog for the last 13 years. But he's no longer suffering. I still can't help but miss the little guy, but i know it was a good thing. He was really old and suffering a lot.
* I bought a guinea pig. His name is Sir Walter Raleigh. Funny thing is...he is still too young to figure out if he is indeed a he. he might be a she. in which i guess she would be called lady walter?? haha. who knows. he's great fun though!!!
*Zack got married this weekend!!! He and Meghann tied the knot yesterday! That's def a good time!!
*Genesis!!! Ok so i found about it in may...but still...WHAT A HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER!!!
I'm sure that i am forgetting something. it's late and i'm tired!! today has been a crazy day!!
This week will be the beginning of the Roanoke Missions week for rhythm for this year. I am crazy excited about this!!! Basically i ran around all day trying to get things together and worked out. The band guys played at a kickoff carnival which was fun, but it was crazy hot. We went out and handed out fliers. First we went to Lincoln Terrace area. The people were super friendly, but it's not necessarily the place i would like to find myself if i were alone, ya know? Well as we were driving back over to 17th street church JAP realized that it was in SE. He was like ughh...i hate that place. Which made me laugh...when i think of SE i think of morningside. Of my grandma's. I think of being a kid and walking to Bill's with brooke and brandi. Well we went to the tinker creek apts. and let me tell you. THAT IS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT OF!!!!!!! That place was crazy. as soon as we stepped out of the car i freaked. we started walking around and a guy started yelling at me and CL. he was like "hey! hey girl! hey!" just over and over again. we walked around the corner and there were 3 cop cars at one of the apartments. i was ready to peace out then. but if we turned around we had to walk past the guy who was yelling, so JP decided that we would walk around. which was alright, we walked around the last building and started cutting through the grass. there were little kids running everywhere to which JP said, "well it's just a bunch of kids" and well one thing i left out earlier is when we were in the first neighborhood, the only bad experience we had was when i walked up to one lady and she walked into the house...well the 15 kids in her yard all ran up and wanted fliers. it was crazy. one girl had stopped CL and told her she couldn't walk in the yard. needless to say when we left that house, we had no more fliers left and had to go back to JP's car and get more....so back to the other story...when i saw all the little kids i wasn't too thrilled. little kids that do not have any supervision are terrifying!!! lol. i know this sounds silly, but there were a lot of kids. so we saw an adult and i decided i would go hand her a flier and tell her who we were, why we were there and such. JP and CL had continued walking and stopped to wait on me. As i was walking a little kid ran after me shooting me with his play gun. he was like "who you? what you doin?" which i realize is hilarious...but i was TERRIFIED!!! lol. it was crazy. i'm pretty sure the kid was trying to bust a cap in me. and would have if it were a real gun!!! regardless, we had many laughs tonight, and i am still thrilled about what God is going to be doing in this city that i love next week!!!!
just so you have an idea of what we will be doing....
monday- starting the day at 9:30am to sort through and load up the stuff for the free store.
VBS meeting at 11. making sure everyone is prepared. prayer. good stuff.
VBS at 17th Street Baptist from 12:30-3:00
Tuesday-getting to Oakland at 6am!!!!(yes it will feel like a normal work day for me!!!) and putting the stuff out for the free store.
VBS- same time same place :)
Wednesday- Back to school Carnival at Thrasher park.
VBS- same time same place :)
Thursday- staining a playground at 17th street.
VBS- i think you know the drill by now :)
friday- doing some more work around 17th street bapt.
VBS- the last day!!!
what a great week planned!! so many opportunities for God's amazing love to shine brightly!!! very very very excited. very very very tired!!

one ending statement is the song...the motto of the year....
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

i just ask you to pray about this city. pray about this missions. i love roanoke and i know with all my heart that God has amazing things planned for this city! Greater things :)