"Feel the Burn"

Holy Cow! We went wake boarding the other day, and can i just say, ouch! My body hurts! I feel like i went to the gym and did like five kick boxing classes plus some! Anyway, i didn't actually stand up, although i was told i came very close at times. However, the effort put forth to master this sport (ha ha) has put a hurting on my muscles! I plan to get back out there soon and attempt to actually wake board verses my whole body skidding across the lake:)

Everyone is Leaving today:(

Some of our family left this morning around three a.m. Everyone else leaves this evening. Today is our last day together, and a part of me is sad because i'm not sure when i will see them all again. It has been hectic, however, i have thoroughly enjoyed their company! ! We took some really nice pictures so i will post them when i get a chance!

Family Visits...

This morning my sister, nephew and his girlfriend arrived from pennsylvania! It's so good having family up!

This week was tiring, long, but went pretty fast. I'm looking forward to having a day off tomorrow with the family. I think we are going to have a beach day tomorrow, followed by dinner at my sisters. Good times. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures and I'll post them sometime next week.

On a side note, I'm feeling much better than the other day, so thank you to all of you who prayed for me. Ahhh hormones tend to take a toll some days eh!
smooches.
peace out for now

Untrodden ground

With each new day God gives me breath, I am learning to embrace the troublesome times and welcome the changes in my life. At first, when faced with a difficult situation, especially when accompanied with pain or sorrow, the temptation is to question God's goodness, his love towards us, his will, his desire to give us all good things. However, is it not through these times that he shows his presence even more? Is it not through these times that our faith is strengthened, our awareness of his presence in our lives more clear?

The past few months have been one heck of a ride to say the least. I will spare the details, lest you be tempted to judge all those involved. God has been teaching me so much through this experience. Even through this difficult time, I am reminded of his great love for me, his desire to grow me closer to himself, his desire to draw near to me, and have me likewise, draw closer to him.

I was placed into a family, handpicked by God, where things were not always the best of circumstances. Sins of my grandparents were inevitably passed down to my parents. Hurts inflicted upon my parents affected their ability to choose wisely, leading to destructive behaviors, broken relationships, and a family empty of God, which hindered their ability to parent us properly. As a result, me, along with my siblings were left with scares, wounded hearts which carried many burdens and painful memories of our childhood. Some of us inadvertently chose to carry these wounds and scares into adulthood, while some tried to cover up those hurts with drugs and alcohol, attempting to numb the pain for a time. Some however, sought to face those hurts head on, scary as it be, and attempt to resolve those hurts. I claim the later. I crawled into adulthood a very scared, confused, insecure, wounded soul. Some issues i was unaware of, i just knew their affects on my life. By Gods grace, he lead me to himself and i began the journey that would change my life.

Skipping ahead a few years, and sparing you once again of many details, I eventually got married to Nick, my best friend and soul mate. He truly is a blessing from above. We together, have faced and conquered many trials over the past eight years. Recently we faced the most difficult trial in our lives together. I questioned Gods goodness at first, wondering why i always seem to be battling some kind of hurt. All i have to say is that through this experience God is once again, graciously growing my heart.

With all this said, I recently realized issues present in my heart and life in a fresh new way. Facing these things is both painful and scary, however, i know god will grow me immensely. I realized that marriage, hard as it may be at times, is a special means God uses to grow us into the children he wants us to be. There are areas in my life i would have neglected to see if it had not been for my marital relationship. For no other person shares the depth of emotional intimacy with me as nick does. Issues from childhood that i believed were dealt with and laid to rest years back were recently brought to the surface in a whole new light. Again, it is definitely painful, but i am grateful none the less.

I ask that you would all keep me and my husband in prayer as God leads us down these untrodden paths. I know He is good, and will bless us huge as we seek to grow in these areas and draw near to him.

I will write more on this later...
Thanks:)

just another day

Today was a short day, but a long day... I'm soooo tired!!! Just wanted to thank all of you with whom I'm close with! Each one of my friends means something to me on a personal level. God definitely brings people into our lives for a specific purpose, and I'm so grateful for all of you who have made my life more fulfilling! I hope i can bring the same joy to you all that you have brought into my life! Just wanted to shout out a little love to some people specifically!
Nick
Jenny P & Bob
Stephers
Jen S.
Tracie & Randy
Keleigh
Polly
Shannon & Ryan
Kathy K.
Angie & Warren
Angie S.
Anita
I love you all

Today was a good day! Church was encouraging. I made a really good breakfast/lunch for Nick and I after church. We had broccoli, onion, cheese omelet, bacon, and biscuits! It was soooo yummy!

Nick worked on the deck this afternoon, and I focused on laundry and cleaning the house up. Can i just say, wow... our house was really dusty! So I'm feeling warm and fuzzy that my house is clean and organized for the most part. Looking forward to a good night sleep in our clean room and dryer sheet fresh bedding:)
*** I know, get a life right!!!

PS... sorry about all the Christmas pic's... Can you tell it's been a while since i developed our film? Some are recent though!

OK, so it's been a while. Things have been really good on our end. Busy, but good. Work is going well. The stores have been doing pretty good this year, which is awesome. It pumps Nick and I up for when we have our own store in the spring, God willing.

Summer really is flying by, or so it seems. We've only been to the beach once so far this year. It's so difficult to spend our days off at the beach when there is so much we want to do here at the house. We are finishing the deck tomorrow if the rain holds out for most of the day. Today we built our pen for the chickens we will be getting in a few short weeks. We are getting twelve meat birds. They will only be "partial" pets for three months. Then, the remainder of our relationship with them will be there presence on our plates and in our bellies! I'm a little concerned as to weather or not I will become attached to them, and dread the day when its time to take them to the farmer to face their bleak fate! However, I'm excited about hormone and antibiotic free chicken in our freezer! I think next year I want to try to raise a pig!

Anywho, that's enough about my crazy life for now!