lots of fun things!

I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!!! And I am one of those people who love other people's birthdays more than my own probably. So anways yesterday was my birthday and it was fabulous!! I have the best friends and family anyone can ever ask for!! I was just showered with phone calls all day and felt special the whole day!! only problem is I had to go to work....apparently when you are an adult you can't just not go to work for your birthday???!!!! haha....anyways my husband is fantastic and we got home and had dinner and then i opened my gifts up...he is soooo good at shopping for me.....he gets me stuff that I would love but he doesn't ask for ANY ideas on what to get me...i got a CD he knew that I would want but I haven't really mentioned it(but the truth is I have been telling myself that I need to buy it forever), and this really cute wall hanging, and this stinking awesome picture frame...he knows how I love picture frames...and this super cute pair of Bermuda shorts!!!! What a guy! Then he surprised me with Chuck E Cheese. We went and played all their games and had a blast!! haha...he knows that if you take me somewhere I can act like a silly kid...then i will be happy!!!


In other news......one of the greatest people in the world is coming to visit today! My longest and dearest friend Merryl Barker! She is what I like to call the platonic soulmate! I met her when i was in ninth grade. She was a youth pastor at the church that I went to and she is pretty much the reason that I accepted Jesus into my life. Anyways we have been like sisters ever since! She is probably the most encouraging women I know and she is just so selfless and Christlike it is ridiculous!! Having her around is always a breath of fresh air for me!! I seriously cannot wait!! This weekend is gonna be great! She will be here until Saturday and then on Saturday night, a group of us are going to Howl at the Moon!! It is this dueling piano bar and it is super fun...they sing all these songs on the piano at your request...it is so great!! Anyways....I hope all of you have as special a day as my birthday was!! PEACE!

talk to me!!

Ok so guys last week I lost my phone...I couldn't have even began to know where....I JUST couldn't find it. Jonathan and I would tear up the house every night looking for that pesky little phone.....(of course it was on silent, so we were actually calling it and trying to be quiet enough for us to be able to hear the vibrating). Well anyways I was MISERABLE for like the entire week....I couldn't do anything....I never realized how much I relied on my phone. We don't have a house phone so i was really in trouble. Anyways the little guy decided to slip outta my pocket while i was eating lunch on Monday. Luckily I was desperate enough to actually call them(even though I didn't think it would be there) and the sweet lady that answered the phone told me they had it.....HOORAY!!! Seriously I can't remember the last time I was that excited. Sad I know!

improve your serve!

So today I was driving to work today and was listening to Charles Stanley on the JOY FM. Every morning around 5:30 he comes one....and because I am unfortunately driving to work I am blessed to hear all of his sermons...which is good because there is no way I have the strength to get up early to do my quiet time so this is just a little pick me up in the morning. Anyways he was talking about the importance of serving and he said that God obviously wanted us to do good works and serve others in the name of Jesus. He made the point that if God didn't want us to do that then He would just pick us up and take us to Heaven right after we are saved. Well now everyone knows that we are supposed to serve so I guess it shouldn't have been such a lightbulb going on in my head. He asked thae question what are doing to serve others in your daily life.......and literally I COULD NOT COME UP WITH AN ANSWER! I don't know what I am doing to serve others... nothing really...I mean sure I serve others every now and then..but what I am doing consistently on a daily basis to serve others......gosh that sure is a big slice of humble pie to swallow.........no matter what I am doing throughout my day it does not matter if I have not served anybody...so my challenge to myself is to serve somebody every day........consistently....I will up date you on how it goes!!

ganged up on...

Well our anniversary was absolutely great!!!! We couldn't have had more fun. Our excursion was incredible. We got to ride air boats through the Everglades and I never imagined how beautiful it is down there. So untouched. God's perfect unique creation. I didn't want to come back and now Jonathan and I are trying to figure out how to move down there for good:) The only bummer of the trip was that of course somehow I manage to get hurt in the flippin ocean for crying out loud. I was walking out of the water and stepped on something and sliced my foot open. It was horrible....I bled all over the pretty white beach! But other than that a seriously successful weekend.


So work is going mediocre. I feel like most of the time I am being bullied by my own employees. They all hate me(because I am a woman, they are men and I am their boss). I am not used to people hating me and this is a new experience. I usually am the type of person who gets along with everyone but not them. They won't stand for it. The other day while I was walking into a restaurant to go to lunch one of my employees threw his trash at me from his car. Ridiculous...how old are we. I feel like I am trapped in one of those melodramatic, artsy films about the angst and agony of junior high. Well i never really got bullied in junior high so I guess this is that just belated.

But just when I think that I am entirely alone and start to feel sorry for myself, God has a funny way of poking me and saying" hey remember me....I know what you are going through, I understand".

Last night Jonathan and I were having like a night of quiet time with the Lord. We were both sitting at the kitchen table journaling and reading our Bibles, and jamming out to worship music. It was actually pretty great! But anyways I started reading this book that Jonathan actuallygave to me the night we got engaged(yeah i know, i kind of forgot about reading it I guess for a couple years!) and it is called 'No Wonder They Call Him The Savior' by Max Lucado. It is absolutely incredible!! And it is just his retelling of the crucifixion with his own stories thrown in and a ton of INCREDIBLE insight about the words that Jesus spoke right before He died and the people who were around. Well God just kinda reminded me that He chose to take on the ultimate bullies. He was in the worst pain imaginable and the people around Him continued to throw brutal word darts at him. I would like to think that the bullies I deal with at work would not be mean to me if I was dying a brutal death on the cross. So I guess my bullies aren't that bad. I will take trash any day over lacerations to the back and nails.

So anyways, Jesus is sweet because even His crucifixion is relevant in today's world and can teach me things about what I am going through. i am sure you guys will hear more from this book....it is just too good. Maybe I will make an entire blog out of the things that God teaches me through this book!! Go pick it up from your local Christian store..you won't regret it promise!! May God remind you all today just how much he understands your situation....he has been through it Himself!

America ....the GREAT!

Well this past fourth of July weekend was fantastic....I love living in America!!! I honestly feel sorry for people who don't get to celebrate the 4th...what an exceptionally great holiday...it could be my favorite holiday(after Christmas of course)! We went over to a friend's house and had a BBQ with some of my favorite people...the food was delicious...and I found out that the only thing that may make my husband happier than sports is melon balls...who knew that was all I had to do. The official melon baller is going on my grocery list!! Then we headed over to Tiger Town to watch fireworks!!! Now the only thing I love more than looking at Christmas lights is watching fireworks....incredible. The finale was absolutely to die for....talk about constant great explosions in the air. Then Saturday night we finished off our weekend with a good ole American baseball game!!! We went with two couples. One of the couples we had never hung out with before. They just started going to our church and were put into our care group for Sunday school. So we invited them out with one of our favortie couples JD and Kim and Kim's friend Heather. The 7 of us had a blast!! I can't remember the last time I have laughed so hard!! I LOVE making new friends!!


Jonathan and I are going out of town to Ft. Myers to go on vacation for our 1 year anniversary. I am so stinkin excited!! We are going on an airboat excursion through the Everglades!! I cannot wait!!! I will update you when we get back from our trip!!!


Hooray America!

the glass should be half full people!!

So the other day at work we had to work a horrendously horrible day...we started at 5:30 in the am(normal time) and worked until 9:00 in the pm(not normal time). Yep 15 excruciatingly long hours at work...so at the end of the night we were talking about something and me being the forever optimist said" well it could be worse". Let's just say I am lucky no one started throwing punches at my head. Everyone was not so appreciative about that comment. But you know I don't care what those little empty glassers think.......I could have been dealing with other things during that 15 hour period than just a long exhausting day.....having seizures and not knowing what is the cause, having 50% kidney failure at the age of 22, dealing with cancer and having it take away all of the mobility of your extremities, finding out that your spouse has been cheating on you and then getting kicked out of your home....these are ALL things that are being dealt with on a daily basis by people I KNOW. YEs i would say that puts things in perspective quite quickly.....anyway I just wanted to say that if you are not dealing with anything even remotely as bad as the above..consider yourself extremely blessed and put on a happy face!!!

P.S I just bought some super cute super cheap decent length shorts from OLD Navy for 9 dollars....they are having a 50% off sale...incredible....that should put most of you in a grand mood!!