Settling in

Things are coming together.
We now have window coverings, which we did not have for the first two weeks we lived in the house. My amazing seamstress mom made valences for the kitchen bathroom and our bedroom.
We started painting, we are having a red and grey kitchen.
We hung new light fixtures.
Put picture frames up.
It is becoming our home.
Friends and family keep coming over to check it out. So glad we now have place to invite friends over. Had a great time hanging out and laughing till late last night.
Our doggie Trout is doing great, no accidents in the house and loves attention. He does have some quirks like scarring himself as he looks at his reflection, which he is doing in the picture below.

  We had some friends get married up north so we decided to take a little trip, our first trip together since honeymoon. It was so much fun! We spent an afternoon in San Fransisco, Pier 39, Gheridelli, and The Buena Vista. We had delicious bread bowls with tomato soup (our favorite soup).
We stayed in Pleasanton a nice town. Our hotel, which I found on Hotwire (a great site for finding good deals for hotels) had a huge indoor gym connected to it. Wish we could have spent more time there but we did get a short workout in the morning before the wedding. It was an early wedding then we headed down the coast, a beautiful drive, where we stopped in San Simeon for the night. We had delicious Mexican food and hubby taught me Cribbage. We woke up and walked along the beach then headed down to Santa Barbara to visit my brother. Driving along the coast was beautiful, I kept saying it was breathtaking. Part of the way we had no radio so Cam became the radio, I would say a genre he would start singing I would chime in, we had so much fun.

 

God has definitely blessed us and we are so thankful. The sermon Sunday was great...We are chosen royalty and we have a reputation to keep, we should continually strive to bring God glory and that is my prayer; that through blessings and trials I would reveal God's glory!

So many changes

 

 

My life has changed in so many ways:
new last name
new home
new doggie
.......just a few

Life has been busy even though I do not have a full time job some days it feels like I do. From moving and cleaning to driving to one job or another, or squeezing a few minutes in with the hubbie...it is hard to think straight. Well to say the least I unspeakably thank ful for all the God has given. He has provided, protected and had a hand in mine and my husbands life. We cannot thank God enough. My amazing husband sang a beautiful song at church sunday that summons up alittle how we feel right now...ten thousand reasons by Matt Redman
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O my soul.Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before. O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

A beautiful song to remind us what really matters in this life.

Challenges and Thankful Moments

Well this past week has presented me with some challenges but also time to realize things could be way worse and I am so thankful for every little thing God puts me through.

Challenge 1: To look back over the stupidest assignment I have had to do for school, teacher friends know what I am talking about…the TPA. Yes, I failed to pass…my view the evaluator did not like me or what I wrote and wanted me to work on it more! Well to say the least I was not happy. I eventually got pass it and started working on it, with the help of my dear and reliable mom.

Thankful moment #1: My mom has been such a help in the smallest and biggest ways. She is always there for me, having dinner for me when I work late, encouraging me to stick with things, and being a wonderful editor. Just some of the things she does…I am extremely grateful for her!!

Challenge 2: The horrendous wind starts and our power goes out for a whole day. Did you know we use a lot of electricity. Almost everything I do uses some sort of electricity. So I was planning to work on the stupid assignment but having no electricity made that a little difficult, since it is on the computer through the internet. Thank goodness for Starbucks and the nice lady that let me take her spot in the busiest little Starbucks I’ve seen. Let me clarify the situation because it is kinda funny now. So we have two Starbucks near us, a small drive threw and a normal size one. The normal size one is closed due to power outage and everyone the neighborhood is at the small one because no one else has power…crazy huh!

Thankful moment #2: Starbucks is wonderful and now that they have free internet they are even more wonderful!

Challenge #3: No phone because the battery was dead…bad time for it to run out of battery because I have no electricity to charge it. Thanks to Starbucks and the nice lady that let me have her seat, I was able to use two electric plugs.

Thankful moment #3: Because I was using both plugs a guy comes to work and needs a plug. We start talking, I’m hesitant to give up a plug but I do because it is the nice thing to do. My nice act turns good for me too, he has a adapter with many plugs, super nice! This guy was really nice, friendly and talkative. Older guy has children of his own, from Germany with accent, which I love, accents.  So we talk for a bit about life and school and he just shares his view, I share mine and he is kinda befuddled by mine. He left an impact on me and I’m sure God had that in his plan. I pray that I had an impact on him too! God only knows and will use it to His glory!

Lesson learned: Life without electricity would be a lot different and may be challenging. God has a plan and I must trust and rely on Him every second and remember to take things day by day.

A friend shared with me Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So thankful for all the people God has placed in my life!!

So much to be thankful for

God’s grace and forgiveness

God’s abounding love

God’s desire to continue molding me into the women he wants.

The beautiful creation all around

Loving family and friends I have in my life

My parents who support and love me unconditionally.

The loving and supportive man (now Fiancé) in my life.

My brother who acts like a brother.

A  church body that is like a second family

A house, food and clothing.

All the amenities we have living in the US.

The list can go on but I will stop and include a song of praise.

Thank You for Your kindness
Thank You for Your mercy
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the price You paid
Thank You for salvation
Thank You for unending grace
Thank You for Your hope
Thank You for this life You gave
There is no one like You
There is no one like You, God
All my hope is in You
Jesus, Jesus
Thank You for Your promise
Thank You for Your favor
And thank You for Your love
And everything You've done for me
There is no one like You
There is no one like You, God
All my hope is in You
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
To Your name
We give all the glory
To Your name
We give all the praise
You're alive
Our God everlasting
So let Your face shine on us
There is no one like You
There is no one like You, God
And all my hope is in You
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
To Your name
We give all the glory

To Your name
We give all the praise
You're alive
Our God everlasting
So let Your face shine on us
To Your name
We give all the glory
To Your name
We give all the praise
You're alive
Our God everlasting
So let Your face shine on us
So let Your face shine on us
So let Your face shine on us

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to ponder what we are thankful for. What a great idea it was to declare a National holiday just for praying and being thankful. I have so much to be thankful for!

Meeting up and talking to old friends is fun!

This past week I got to spend time with a special old friend. This friend is not someone I can just call up and say lets get lunch because she lives in London. We met in High School, she was with the foreign exchange student program, originally from Germany. Any way her name is Meike and I had a wonderful time getting Starbucks with her, shopping a little and bringing her to church. I am so thankful God brought her into my life. She is one of the sweetest people I know. She has a beautiful accent and a loving heart. It was so niece to have meaningful and deep conversations and share the same view.

I also spent time with another old friend, one I have know since second grade. No matter how long it's been since we hung out it never feels awkward. It was nice to talk about life with her. This girl is passionate about serving God and growing in understanding of Him. She is also busy with her church; consequently we had commonality to discuss. I look forward to spending more time with this girl!!

God is good, I ask that he would guide and direct my future. There are a lot of things on my mind but my prayer is that things would happen in his timing and that he would supply me with the patience.

I have been reading this book "Having a Mary heart in a Martha world" by Joanna Weaver. It is a great book about finding intimacy with God in the busyness of life. Reading it has opened my eyes to how important spending time with God is, way more important than an act of service. Through quiet times with God he teaches us but we must have a teachable heart.

Back Home

Recently got back from a mission trip to Peru. We stayed for three weeks and it was wonderful. God is good, without his strength and joy we would not have made it through all our commitments. I now appreciate the little things we have here in the U.S.

The first week was spent with an organized group mostly doing construction. The second week we stayed in a small beach city, Huanchaco. We did a short VBS with kids in a poorer community. Then did a week long VBS with kids at a church in Trujillo. This was a fun week, we hung out in the beach city then headed into Trujillo for the VBS.

The children of Peru are different from kids in the U.S. Children from Peru are extremely friendly and cuddly. They will sit on your lap and hang on you all day. Despite speaking a different language, bonds were formed and by the end of the week or time working with the kids it was sad to say good bye.

We saw the many cultures of Peru, the rich, middle class, poor, Chinese, and Peruvians. Every aspect of the trip was enjoyable. I could not say any one part was my favorite because I enjoyed every aspect and God taught me many lessons.

I hope to work on my Spanish and return to Peru one day.

This song is one that is a theme of the trip.

Beautiful Things by Gungor

All this pain...

I wonder if I'll ever find my way.

I wonder if my life could really change, at all.

All this earth...

Could all that is lost ever be found?

Could a garden come up from this ground, at all.

You make beautiful things,

You make beautiful things out of dust.

You make beautiful things,

You make beautiful things out of us.

All around,

Hope is springing up from this old ground.

Out of chaos, life is being found in You.

You make me new,

You are making me new.

You make me new,

You are making me new.