December

In 2 days it will be December. I love the month of December. Why, you ask?

1. It's my birthday month.
2. The weather generally gets colder.
3. Colder weather means cute sweaters.
4. CHRISTMAS!!
5. Christmas trees.
6. Christmas Lights
7. Christmas Eve Service
8. Christmas Parades
9. Christmas Holiday with family
10. Did I mention I like Christmas?? It's my favorite holiday!

New Boots

I am now the proud owner of these pretty ladies....

I love them and they are super comfy! And my awesome and wonderful Hubby sent me these to work this week...
I have nothing important to blog about. But only 3 days left of work til Thanksgiving!! Hallelujah!

Faith and Marriage

I normally am not one to discuss my faith with people I don't know (AKA my blogger buddies), but my pastor's message was pretty awesome (and ironic) today so I had to share, not only that, I think a lot of it is something most people believe, even non believers of the Bible.

What makes it so ironic was that hubby and I got in a pretty heated argument last night and some things said at church today was the same point I was trying to make with hubby last night. :-) I'm not a pastor and I don't speak as eloquently as one but I took away a lot from today.

We go to church at HCBC Hutto and Bobby Pruit is a phenomenal speaker. In fact, hubby had him as a youth pastor when hubby was younger. So today's message was "Do you honor God with your Marriage" and it was basically a bible study on marriage.

We looked at Genesis 2:24. "A man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined with his wife and they shall be one." When you get married and are joined as husband and wife you are creating your own family and leaving each others. Of course you still each have your families and you spend time with them and celebrate them, but your spouse becomes your priority.

From this passage and other scriptures (that unfortunately I did not write down), there are 3 Foundation Principals.
1. Leave: Marriage is the most important of all human relationships.
-Leave your family and build your relationship with your spouse as nothing is more important than the relationship you build with him/her.

2. Joined: Marriage is the most permanent of all human relationships
-When you get married you leave your family for your spouse. Then you have children. But even your relationship with your children is not permanent. They too, eventually grow up and leave their parents for their spouse. But you always have your spouse and the only thing that ends that relationship is death. Til death do us part....

3. Oneness: Marriage is the most intimate of all human relationships. Even in your close relationships with your family it will never be as intimate as the one you have with your spouse.

Unfortunately in our society, divorce follows strongly with marriage. Hubby and I have already vowed that divorce would never be an option for us. We are in this for the long haul and that's that. As said in church today, divorce is not a "backdoor" for us, it's sealed shut.

Scripture says that God hates divorce. Divorce creates broken promises, broken people, and broken praise. But in turn, God allows divorce when it is for biblical purposes (unfaithfulness, desertion, death, and prior to having Jesus in your life) and allows remarriage for the victim of the divorce. See Matthew 19: 2-10

Some pharises came to Jesus, testing him, and asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
And He answered and said, "Have you no read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together LET NO MAN SEPARATE"
They said to Him, "Why then did Moses comman to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I saw to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultry.
The disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry."

That to me says a whole lot! If you are going to marry, you better get it right the first time because there are no second chances. You don't get to go shopping for a new spouse and divorce them when you get tired of them. But, if you are the victim of unfaithfulness, desertion, or the death of a spouse, you surely get your second chance and Jesus will be there to support you.

Lastly, what I took away from the sermon today was that Every Marriage Needs:
-Christ: first and foremost He helps you create your loving strong marriage and is always there to support you and your spouse.
-Commitment: Commitment to each other right here, right now, and forever.
-Communication: For when the times get tough and you need to work it out
-Counsel: support, someone older and wiser than you that can help you when it gets rough
-Cheerleaders: Those people that support you and your marriage to encourage you to fight for each other, support Christ in your life, and Keep the foundations building strong.

So you may not agree with everything I had to say that I summarized from church today, but I'm sure everyone agrees with something. And with all that said, the most important thing about marriage is to LIVE BY YOUR VOWS!

Confession

I have a confession. I think I have a teen crush on Justin Bieber. hehehe. Several, several months ago I saw this you tube video from somewhere. I thought, man that's a cute kid and he sings pretty good too! Then I heard that Usher saw him singing that song on youtube and picked him up to help him. Then tonight I heard his new song and it was playing on the radio and his song was sorta catchy. I kinda like him! I think teen girls are going to be all over him when he gets out there, he's a cutie!

Thanks

So I saw on Jill's blog that she wrote 5 things she was thankful for. I am going to have to copy her. With all the loss my family has suffered through this year, I really need to focus on the positive things, because even though I am sad for our losses, the good really does outweigh the bad. So 5 things I am thankful for....

1. My Husband
I don't think I tell him nearly enough how much I love and appreciate him. He is one of the few people that can make me smile when I am angry and I love him for it. I can be so uncontrollably angry and then he does something and I just bust out laughing. He is loving, caring, funny, hardworking, and a wonderful husband. He works hard to provide for us and I respect him so much.


2. Friends and Family
If I went on about my friends and family, my list would be longer than 5, so I had to group them in to one. I seriously have some of the best friends in the world. As I have gotten older some friends have turned into acquaintances, it seems, but those that have stuck around are always there for me and hubby and some of the greatest people to be around. Then there is my family and I know I am blessed. Not only do I have my own wonderful family, I married into a wonderful family. I could not be more blessed with the people I surround myself with.



3. My Job and Co-Workers
I am thankful for my job when there are so many people out there struggling to find a job and they have families that they have to provide for and are unable to. If it is one thing I have, it's job security, because my line of work is definitely not going anywhere. That's kind of sad in one respect, but in the other, I know I will always have a job there for as long as I want. Then not only am I thankful for my job, I'm thankful for my co-workers. I have never had a job that I not only enjoyed my work but also enjoyed everyone I worked with. I work directly with the 5 best ladies in the whole world. They make the job so much more interesting, fun, and enjoyable. I love going to work and talking with them all.

4. My Dogs
It may seem silly, but I am thankful for my dogs. If any of you have dogs, then you understand. Have you ever came home in the worst mood or got horrible news and you came straight home, sat on the couch, and bawled your eyes out. Because I have, on more than one occasion. But when I do that, both of my dogs jump in my lap, lick my face, and just lay their head down on me. It is one of the most comforting things in the whole world. I think my dogs love me unconditionally and I am blessed to have both of them in my life.



5. My Car
For 8 years I drove a 99 Honda Accord. When I first got that car I was so stinkin excited because it was so much cooler than the 89 F150 I drove. But in the 8 years I had it we replaced the engine, the radiator, the air conditioner, the back windshield because a tree fell through it, both the driver's side and passenger side window because at separate times my car was broken in to and those windows were busted, the motor to roll up said windows because the motor broke and the window would no longer roll up all the way, and many, many other things that would seem minor, only they add up extremely quickly. So although that car got me through many years and I was thankful my parents even bought me a new car at all, I was even more thankful to get rid of it. I now drive a 2009 Mercury Mariner and it is HEAVEN. I am so thankful hubby and I were able to buy this new car and I am taking extremely good care of it so it will last me many years to come. It is so nice to drive and not wonder what is going to fall apart next!

Death

This is sort of a sad post, so don't say I didn't warn you.

I think I have gotten to that point in my life that death is inevitable. It seems like everyone is getting married and in turn a lot of people are dying. When I was a kid I could be sheltered from death, dying, and funerals, and now they are inevitable. The year is not even over yet and I have had to deal with more death than I would like.

March 17, 2009: I lost my wonderful Pawpaw Art.
He was one of the most important people in my life. He was everything to me. He was one of my biggest fans. He pushed me, encouraged me, supported me, and guided me in so many ways of my life. And even though, I have felt like I have disappointed myself in ways in the past, not once have I ever felt like I disappointed him. He really was an absolutely AMAZING grandpa and I miss him every.single.day. I would give anything to have him still with me here today.

April 20, 2009; I lost my dear friend, Ashleigh Baier
Ashleigh was an amazing person. She was only 24 years old and should not have lost her life. I was so shocked when I heard the news. I had just seen her a month prior at my wedding shower and talked to her just a few days prior. This happened so close to losing my grandpa, I couldn't bring myself to go to the funeral and now I just kick myself. She was my friend and deserved for me to be there to say my goodbyes and I didn't go. Now, every so often on Facebook, it painfully reminds me that I should "reconnect with Ashleigh on facebook" and I just want to scream and say I can't because she isn't here anymore...

Today, November 5, 2009, my grandmother's brother, Thomas is on life support. He had three simultaneous heart attacks and lost too much oxygen to his brain and now the machines are doing all the work for him. The doctor's gave him 24-48 hours on life support left and if there are no changes, the plug will be pulled.

Then, just a matter of hours later, also today, November 5, 2009, I also found out my dad's dad, his brother Harold, passed away last night.

All of this, all this year. I can't take anymore. I just want to crawl in a cave, with the people that I love dearly, and live happily ever after in the secluded fantasy world that I lived in as a child when life was all puppies and rainbows.

I don't want to be a grown up anymore.