leland

Relocated.

2009-02-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

Check out our new blog here!

12 days...WHAT?!?!

2008-12-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

So...we're 12 days till the wedding...and I'm freaking out. Not really, but kinda. It's just crazy it's finally here!

That's it.

"Going Back to Nashville"

2006-12-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

Everytime I pull into that beautiful city I have to put on David Mead's "Nashville." (Technically this song is not about Nashville, TN but about Nashville, IN, but it works for me?!) Anyway all that to say...I'M MOVING BACK!! It's ofiicial I'll start work Monday, Jan. 2nd. I'm going to be a nanny for a family up there while I look for "real" jobs (whatever that means? it's just to appease my mother). I'm so excited and can't wait to be back for good! I still have no place to live, so if anyone who reads this needs a roommate or knows someone in need of a roommate- LET ME KNOW!!!

Thank you Jesus!
-Amen.

It all falls down.

2006-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to bed around midnight. My sister and I share a king size bed when we're both home. It's really nice because it's so big I don't even notice she's on the other side. I"m pretty sure last night I was sleeping really well and having a really nice dream, but then I was rudely awoken at 3am to the ceiling in our room CRASHING DOWN ON US!!! It basically fell right on top of my sister. She began screaming, so then I started screaming (it seemed like the natural thing to do while covered in ceiling rubble). My little brother, Jack, came running in scared that someone had broken into the house and was attacking us (what a hero!). The strong little man helped us out of the rubble and offered to let us sleep in his room. Last night at 3, I have to admit I was a little pissed, but now I think it's really funny!

Here are some pictures of the fun event of the night...

Update.

2007-02-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

After reading Jared's comment on my last blog I felt HIGHLY convicted to update this thing. I'm so bad at talking big, but never following up.

So...right now I'm sitting in a hotel room on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. I flew into Chicago last Saturday and will fly back this coming Sunday...i've been here a while. I'm here to lead worship at this women's retreat for Wheaton Bible Church. Any of you Montgomery folks who read this know Brian Hogan, my old youth minister/boss. He's now the worship pastor at Wheaton Bible and his wife, Amy is in charge of their women's retreat, so they asked me to come do the worship for it. The ladies all get here tomorrow, but we came up tonight to help set this thing up and practice some. This place is SOOOOO nice!! Good thing I want to lead worship for women's stuff, bc they do things up right!!!! DANG!

Anyway, here's a play by play of my days since I've been here....Flew in Saturday afternoon and hung out with the Hogans. Sunday woke up early to be at church at 7am bc I helped lead worship with Brian (that was SOOO fun!). Monday I had rehearsal with the guys that are playing with me. Tuesday I just laid low and hung out around the Hogan house. I have a new boyfriend, his name is Tyson Hogan and he is 4! HILARIOUS! Wednesday I ventured into the big city alone and had a BLAST!!! I put some pictures of my day in the city below. Just a warning, but bc i was alone, they're either of my face or of some building. ha! And today we drove to Lake Geneva for this retreat. There will be 300 women heading up here tomorrow afternoon. They are between the ages of 24-65...woah! what an age gap! But I'm so excited to see what the Lord will do in the lives of these women this weekend. There are some women coming that aren't believers and there are some coming that have known Christ for more years then I've even been alive! I'm just so excited to be surrounded by all these women of all different backgrounds, races and ages. I pray the Lord will be magnified here! I'll post again after the retreat...just bc I know I'll be so excited to report what the Lord's doing in the lives of His women in Wheaton, IL. He's a BIG God and I just love to see the ways He's moving everywhere!

Ok...so here are the pics..enjoy.

Happy Easter!!

2007-04-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

My Easter weekend seemed like a big whirl wind with lots going on. I drove to Birmingham Saturday night because my brother, Walker, and his girlfriend, Emily got ENGAGED! YAY! I'm so excited for them! I drove back that night to be at church in Nashville Sunday morning followed by a great lunch with all of my wonderful friends! I've posted some pictures of the weekend....

Closed

2008-03-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

I find I often struggle with finding balance in things. Whether it be spending too much time with one person so another relationship suffers from lack of time, or reading so many books in one month that I can't seem to even gather up enough concentration to read an email for months after, to the struggle of independence and dependence.

Today I was reading (its probably one of those months I refered to earlier)a book by Henri Nouwen, who else? Ha! He quoted Kahil Gibran's words from a wedding ceremony and they said this,

"Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone. Even
as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Stand together yet not too near together For the pillars of the temple stand
apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

So often we are forced into a false sense of honesty and many times this honesty can lead to harm rather than good. It enables us to live a life without healthy boundaries. Henri Nouwen says this, "just as words lose their power when they are not born out of silence, so openness loses it's meaning when there is no ability to be closed." I am in no means trying to knock on healthy community, but I think it's wise for us to understand that there is a good thing in finding balance between our need for vulnerability and our need to be closed.

I hope I can give myself the freedom to be closed sometimes.

it happened.

2008-05-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

he did what we all thought he would do.

he picked shayne.

blah. i didn't want him to pick either, honestly.

oh well.

we'll see how long this bachelor relationship lasts.

7 Random Things

2008-10-20T14:34:00.001-07:00

I've been tagged, by my friend Ann to post 7 random/and or weird things about myself. So, here it goes...

1. I've never broken a bone. That's right, never, not even a finger or a toe.
2. I love pumpkin flavored stuff. Pumpkin spice latte's from starbucks, pumpkin spice creamer in my coffee in the mornings, pumpkin pie, etc.
3. I want to write a book. I've always hoped that at some point in my life I would write a book and it would be published. I'll keep you updated on that. :)
4. I want to adopt a child one day. Eric does too, so that's a good thing!
5. My favorite pen to write with are the new sharpie pens (thanks emily for making me aware!)
6. I love my planner! Especially these days! I think I might be completely lost with out. Check out the new planner I might order soon!
7. Last but not least, cranberries are my new favorite snack. I have kidney problems so it's a good thing I like to eat cranberries bc it helps with the pain.

More goodness...

2008-10-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

I love this book!

"...Marriage challenges us to abandon everything for the sake of love.
For in the first place, love convinces a couple that they are the greatest romance that has ever been, that no two people have ever loved as they do, and that they will sacrifice absolutely anything in order to be together. And then marriage asks them to prove it. Marriage is the down-to-earth dimension of romance, the translation of a romantic blueprint into costly reality. It is the practical working out of people's grandest dreams and ideals and promises in the realm of love. It is one of God's most powerful secret weapons for the revolutionizing of the human heart. It is a heavy, concentrated barrage upon the place of our greatest weakness, which is our relationship with others. We cannot possibly, it is true, in any practical way maintain a commitment to every other person in the world: That is God's business, not ours. But marriage involves us synecdochically in this mystical activity of God's by choosing for us just one person, one total stranger out of all the world's billions, with whom to enter into the highest and deepest and farthest reaches of sacrificial, loving relationship.
It has been said that the secret to building a good fire is simply to rest one log against another. Marriage builds a good hot fire on the simple principle of resting one man and one woman up against each other in a hypostatic union of persons. "As iron sharpens iron," says the proverb, "so one person sharpens another," and the saying is nowhere more apt than in marriage...
The whole world is being sharpened by love, but it is in the special fire of covenant relationships that the keenest and brightest edges are being honed...
Only the Lord could have devised such an awesomely tender and heartwarming means for men and women to be made into swords..."

The Mystery of Marriage
Mike Mason

Reading

2008-10-13T12:53:00.001-07:00

So this won't be a long post. I just wanted you all to know what I'm reading and how AMAZINGLY impactful it is! Every time I start to read this book tears stream down my face and I feel so blessed to be entering into a life long season called marriage. As the feelings overwhelm me I pray with the deepest sincerity that during the rough spots along the way the Lord will gently remind me of being overwhelmingly blessed to be a part of His journey of marriage for Eric and I.

Here's just one quote (or thing I've underlined :)) of many...

"Primarily what keeps us seperate is our sin, but there is also another factor, which is that in each one of us the holiest and neediest and most sensitive place of all has been made and is reserved for God alone, so that only He can enter there. No one else can love us as He does, and no one else can be the sort of Friend to us that He is."
The Mystery of Marriage
Mike Mason

I guess what I'm learning most of all, is that as much as I want to be the perfect wife and mother, I can't, but every day I have the responsibility of leaning on the One who can. The One who can love deeper than me, and be more patient than me, and be more selfless than I could ever strive to be. He will do it because He has to. He will do it because I can't.

Working 9 to 5!

2008-09-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so more like 8 to 5. I started my new job this week. It's been so exciting, yet so overwhelming. Overwhelmed seems to be a theme in my life right now, and honestly, I don't see that changing much for the next 4 months. I started working part time again at Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago. Side note- Anthro, by far, is my favorite shop on the planet! Just come visit me and you'll see why. The frangrances are intoxicating, the visuals leave you wanting to cozy up in one of our chairs with a blanket and a good book and never leave, and not to mention the CLOTHES! Always adorable! Our visual team never ceases to amaze me! Okay...back on track now. That's not my new job, however, I love that place so much I'm going to keep working there part time, for now...

So...ta-da-dle-da! My new job! I'm the children's/student ministry assistant at First Baptist Nashville! Because this is my first week on the job I want to leave you guys with a "Top 8 Bottom 4" of the week. So, here it goes..

Top 8:

1. The people- the staff here is super welcoming and helpful!
2. My office- I actually have one!! This is the first EVER! So fun! And Emily gave me lots of fun things to put in it! (thanks, em!)
3. 1/2 day Fridays!- so we only work till 12:30 on Fridays! Jealous!? :)
4. It's 2.5 miles away from my future home in East Nash
5. Free parking- if I ever come downtown for anything, I always have a free place to park
6. Working at a church- I love the church! LOVE IT! I love serving the church, so the obvious best job choice for me..WORKING IN A CHURCH!
7. Luch Break- so bc I was a nanny before this, I never really had a lunch break, at least one with out a kid. ha!
8. TBL- Thursday Business Lunch. This week Sarabeth (who is also singing in my wedding..woop woop) sang. so fun to see her in the middle of the work day!

Bottom 4:

1. INFORMATION OVERLOAD!- so far I have intaken more info in the past 4 days then I probably did my whole college career (and that lasted 6 years! GEEZ)
2. Traffic- as of right now I'm driving in every morning from B-wood. 65N...talk about YIKES!
3. Office clean up- so whoever worked in the office before me left a bit for me to reorganize...oh well! here's to office redecoration!
4. Lost my email- So I was here one day and already computer issues! My new email account got deleted. NO WORRIES! It's all better now!

A few things down...MANY more to go

2008-08-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

So far wedding planning has been fun and at the same time stressful. I've learned I have a tough time making decisions. Every time I think I've tackled one thing off of my LONG "to do" list, it then comes with many tiny little detailed decisions to make. Like for example, book the reception venue/caterer. Seems easy, right? Find a place that will accomodate our GROWING list of 500+ people. (I remember the day we got engaged saying, 'yeah a small wedding seems really nice, let's do that'...haha...not so small anymore). In Montgomery it's really difficult to find a venue that will let you bring in your own caterer, plus it's WAY more expensive to do it that way. So we're opting with the venue/caterer from the same place. Seems like it might make life easier. Now, that we've booked the reception, comes the MANY menu options. Do you want beef? pork? shrimp? all of the above? I'm beginning to tell my mom I don't care, and just let her make the decision. So now...here's where the reception will be! Yay! for checking one thing off the list! :)

in between

2008-07-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

When I wrote my last blog a couple of weeks ago I had no idea I really would be living with a boy 6 months from then! Wow! I'm engaged! Holy moly!! This is one of the most exciting, stressful, anxious, in between, seasons of life I've ever experienced. I think I've shed more tears, some good some bad, in the last two weeks than I have in years!

Yesterday we booked our honeymoon to Maui, and honestly, that's the one thing that keeps me going when I think about how stressed out I feel right now. I can't wait to go to Hawaii and relax on one of the most beautiful beaches in the WORLD! Plus, I've never been on a "real" vacation in pretty much my whole life (when I was a kid we would go to the beach, which counts, but not really).

SO, all that to say, I'm SUPER excited to be a wife! But I am SUPER stressed (mainly bc of sandy)! And we're getting married on January 3, 2009! WOO HOO!! So, make plans to be there because it's going to be a PAR-TAY! Motown music, dancing, eating, celebrating! F-U-N!

Where my girls at?!

2008-07-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

I haven’t blogged in a while, and it’s not because I’ve been busy, because I’ve been anything BUT busy. Sometimes when I’m extremely bored it tends to make my lack of motivation even stronger, so it’s hard for me to get motivated to do much of anything, even blog. But, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my friendships and relationships with people, mainly with other women.

I’ve been thinking about the pureness at the beginning of new friendships. I had this one friend who we grew really close really quickly, mainly because of our similarities in personality and we have soooo much in common. We were semi-inseparable for a few months and it was so fun. As a woman, I believe we really cherish finding that good girlfriend that we can talk with about anything from pop culture, to relationships with boys, to our relationships with God. That’s what this person was for me. Since then we’ve drifted some and had some hardships, but it’s the hardships that make coming back to that friendship so important. Its as if we’ve gotten past the “oh my gosh! We have everything in common!” phase and onto the “I’m a sinful person with junk” phase. It’s at this point that we MUST meet at the foot of the Cross. I love my friendships, especially those with Godly women.

When I was a little girl I can remember getting so excited about slumber parties, like REALLY excited! I loved that point in the night where you just started talking about nothing, and then there would be a long pause as if you were falling asleep, and then the other person would start talking about something again. This would go on for hours, until finally not another word was spoken and you were finally both asleep. Confession: I still love spending the night with my friends and sleeping in the same bed with them; mainly for that same stream of consciousness conversation that you had late at night as little girls. I know that one day I’ll finally have to live with a boy, and let’s just point out the obvious, boys aren’t girls. I have very high doubts that late at night my husband will want to join into the stream of consciousness conversation that I’ve always had with my girls.

So, for all that said. I love my girlfriends. I cherish my time with them, the old, the new, and the ones that have drifted away, that I miss more then they will ever know.

God Speaking I love you

2008-06-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Most people have been on an emotional roller coaster at one point in their life, this is my turn.

Last Saturday my brother got married. So exciting! We all sobbed our eyes out at the rehearsal dinner listening to the toasts from friends and family. The night ended with a toast from Walker to his bride. There wasn't a dry eye in the room, but they were happy tears. Saturday was the wedding and it was perfect (minus the weather, it was perfect). Watching tears roll down my brothers face as he watched his bride walk down the aisle was the highlight of it all. It was the perfect picture of purity and patience and the faithfulness of God. He is no longer Walker, they are now "the Fains."

My grandad, "Pappy", has been sick for a while. He's just getting older and the years have worn out his body. Death is a reality for all of us, but this death was different then most. I don't think I've ever been close to someone who died with out the reassurance that I would see them again, in eternity. My grandfather as faithful and loyal as he was, was also a very stubborn man. My whole life I've known he didn't know Christ, and didn't care to for that matter, but that's never stopped our family from loving him and telling him of the love of Christ over and over and over and over again. Sunday night my mom, my youngest brother, Jack, and I went to the hospital to see Pappy. We walked in the room circled around him held his hands and prayed. We prayed for the power of Christ, for the love of Christ to infiltrate him, to surround him. We prayed for salvation. Prior to Sunday night, we had all gone by to see him and had been reading the Gospels to him. You must understand, he's very incoherent. He's highly medicated and can't even hear well, but as my mom continued to emphasize we weren't reading to his ears, we were reading to his spirit. Sunday night, after our prayer time, we started writing things down hoping he could read since he couldn't hear. I held his hand very tight and held up a sign that said "Jesus loves you." I started saying it "Jesus loves you...He loves you...Jesus loves you..He loves you..." I couldn't stop. The words just kept repeating themselves for a while. As I was speaking, I began listening, and as much as Jesus wants Pappy to know of his love for him, Jesus was also speaking to my heart. His unconditional love has always been a battle for me to understand and believe, but in this moment, as Jesus was speaking to Pappy, He was speaking to me..."I love you." I want to tell you that he had this major revalation as he was lying in the hospital bed. That he opened his mouth and said, "I believe." That we all rejoiced in his salvation. I can't.

Pappy passed away last night around 11pm. We don't know where he's spending eternity. It's so hard to have peace in a time like this. I want to have peace and assurance that we did all we could. We knew it couldn't be us to make him believe. It had to be a work of Christ in his life. I don't know if Christ chose to work in his life or not. I'm trying to learn from all this and it may take years to understand. But for now I'm trusting in His love.

here comes the bride...

2008-06-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

So...this saturday my brother will marry his high school sweetheart, Emily. We are all VERY excited about this and have been for a while, seeing that their engagement has lasted over a year. I have the blessing of being the maid of honor, and one of my duties will be to give a toast at the rehearsal dinner. If you know me at all, you'll know that I tend to enjoy speaking in public, and am usually not at a lack of something to say, but this one has me stumped. I want to be funny, personal, sincere and really express my love for both of them and my excitement for their marriage. I have no doubt that my body language will show all of those things, but I want my words to back it up. So in hopes that this will help me develop my speech I've decided to make a list of my favorite memories of my brother...

1. When I was in the 8th grade I was in the backyard trying to help Walker find a limb for a project he was working on for school. We were searching and searching and we finally found the perfect one. As we were walking back to the house I felt something crush underneath my foot, I looked down and my foot was covered with blood. I had stepped on a piece of metal. Walker looked down at it then up at me and immediately took off running as fast as he could, and he was very fast, to the house screaming the whole way for my parents. I know this sounds like a weird favorite memory,it sounds more like a painful one, but it was at this moment that I knew my brother really cared about me. It scared him that I could be hurt and he was going to do whatever it took to make sure I was ok.

2. I love to dance. LOVE IT! and so does my brother! When I was a senior in high school and Walker was in the 8th grade we got to go to youth camp together. This was so fun and the week in and of itself is a great memory. One night at camp we had a dance party, and yes this was a baptist church, so don't tell anyone we danced. Walker grabbed my hand and we stepped out into the middle of about 200 people at camp and he started swinging me around and we danced! It was so much fun! Everyone just stood around us clapping and cheering us on! This is one of the many reasons I love my brother, because he's so fun and wouldn't think twice about stepping out in front of lots of people to show them!

3. Walker has always been a leader. Ever since he was kindergarten my mom has always said there's just something special about him. People listen to him and he leads in a way that is never prideful and never demanding, but in a way that's as if he's listening to Jesus and then just tells the rest of us, "come on guys, this way! I heard Him say this is the way!" His natural ability as a leader led him to many places in life, such as the quarter back of the football team and his classes president. When he reached the end of his senior year of high school he was nomitated for a really great award in Montgomery called the Jimmy Hitchcock award. It's an award for Christian leadership in athletics and academics. It's a huge honor just to be a nominee from your school. Walker has always gone above and beyond making over a 4.0 in high school and excelling in athletics due to his self discipline and hard work. He was blessed enough to be the winner of the award. In my heart, I knew that he had to be the winner, even before they announced it, but when they called his name my heart swelled with pride (the good kind) and I was so thankful that everyone in Montgomery saw the same thing I had always seen in my brother.

This is getting long...so those are just a few favorites, but I feel like this is helping my speech. So, thank you blog world for helping me get a jump start to a very special toast!

truth.

2008-06-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about the subject lately of truth; wanting to know truth, believe truth, speak truth, breath truth, live truth. I have a confession; I live in a world of self doubt. I doubt myself all the time. I doubt the words I say. I doubt the way people perceive me. I doubt the way the Lord perceives me. I'm realizing that all of this hinges on the belief of truth. Do I really believe what God says about me to be true? And do I really believe God is who He says He is?

When I was in college the Lord so graciously worked in my life and led me to a Bible study led by the wonderful April Darnell (at the time, now Dean). The Bible study was called "Knowing the depths of me." It was a study about truth. It helped lead me to the truth about who I am in Christ. There was another leader of the group and we had similar "journeys". At the end of the Bible study we all met as a big group and some of the leaders had found verses that they thought really applied to us, and they spoke them over us. The other leader spoke these beautiful words from Romans over me.

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we
cry, 'Abba Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

I think, and I confess this so often to the Lord, that I put my feelings and my beliefs about my earthly father on Him. This could be a life long battle for me. I have a hard time believing God won't just leave me for no good reason, or demand something of me in order to prove I'm worthy of His love. I trust, on the not so good days, that He stays at a good distance from me and that He has absolutely no desire to bless me whatsoever. (Now I can go into a whole spill about how I'm really not worthy, but thanks to the cross of Jesus Christ I have a new life and am able to receive from Him, which is all fine and well, but we'll save that for another blog.)

I know that if I walked everyday in the sufficiency of Christ and believing Him every second of every day, my outlook on life would change dramatically. I wouldn't be so wrapped up in other's perceptions of me, always wanting to make everyone happy, and in the end loosing myself trying to smooth things over with everyone else. I would walk in truth, speaking truth and believing it! It says in Proverbs that even Kings value a man who speaks the truth! And John speaks of "whoever lives by truth comes into light!" and he also says the ever so popular "the truth will set you free!" Free from the expectations of everyone else, free from the fear that God is like your earthly dad, free some self doubt! What a relief!

On my worst days, I confess that I doubt Him, but I trust in His words, and I rest safely in His arms and His compassion on my unbelief. Oswald Chambers says "how can we dare be so utterly unbelieving when God is round about us?" In the words of a man who's child was possessed and had an amazing face to face encounter with the Savior, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief."

He understands.

2008-06-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while. I'm not completely sure of the reason for my absence from the cyber-world, except I've recently been reading a lot of other people's blogs. I'm going to let you in on a secret, but you have to promise not to think I'm some sort of weirdo, ok? You promise? I've been coming across blogs of people that I don't know, but am somehow connected to, either from a friend of a friend, or a relative, or something. I've been so intrigued by their stories, and the theme I've come across all of them has been that of suffering. They are all blogs by people that have endured a loss; either the loss of a child, or a loss of what life used to be, but they are now in the midst of suffering. I've gotten caught up in their stories. There are two main blogs I've been reading and both of them have recently said they're not sure why they write and are so honest except that there's something to be said for getting out all of those raw emotions. They both testify to the faithfulness of God and through their suffering they have understood Him more.

I cannot say that I have ever endured the kind of suffering as these women. Their losses are something I can't even begin to fathom. I am amazed at their testimonies. In the midst of their suffering they've both testified to crying out to God in anger and asking Him, "Why?!?!" And they both testify to the fact that God loves them enough to let them. He doesn't condemn them and say "how dare you ask me that?! who do you think you are!?" Instead He gently speaks to their hearts and says that He understands.

We all have our battles. And in our own hearts none is greater than another's. It's comforting for me to know that in the midst of what seems so tiny in comparison, there is a God who understands.

Thank you to those who continue to share their suffering to the world. It reminds us all of the grace and mercy endured on the cross.

praying.

2008-04-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
-Romans 8:26-28

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately. I've been praying a lot lately, actually. Praying for people on the verge of death, and for the people that love them, praying for hurting friends, praying for reconciliation between myself and people, or between other people, praying for my family and the people I love. These verses have brought me so much comfort, because so many times I'm at a loss of words, especially when praying for people in the midst of VERY grave circumstances. I want to know the deep needs of those people and lift them up to the Almighty. It's so comforting to know that He already knows those needs, He's already meeting them. There is something so much deeper to prayer than I can really understand, which is why it's relieving to know I can trust and rely on the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf for the needs that I don't even realize I have. And He's interceding on the behalf of all the people I care most deeply about, because He better than me knows their circumstances, knows their sweet, hurting hearts, and knows how to reach down and comfort them, and me.

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your power, in which I do not understand, but am so blesed by.

Dolly and AI

2008-04-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

So..I think I really enjoy pop culture. American Idol has become a new favorite, as I've blogged about before, but I really enjoyed last night with Dolly.

The boys had the night. Here are my top three favorite performances (in order)...

Moved.

2008-03-31T07:56:00.001-07:00

I moved this past weekend. I was completely overwhelmed when we first started, as stated in my previous blog. Not only was I overwhelmed, but I threw my back out and pinched a nerve last Wednesday and couldn't move for a couple of days. That sucked, don't ever do that, if you can help it. However, as bad as it stinks to pack up all your stuff and haul it across town only to unload it, there's something nice about having a clean slate, a fresh start.

I always clean when I moved, and when I say clean, I mean clean really really well. Everything is dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed, clean. And when you begin hanging up your pictures on the wall and giving them a new place to live (for a while), and setting things out on your nice clean furniture you feel a sense of accomplishment. At the end of the day you can just sit back, relax and admire your new set up. Something about the old feels new again, and that's nice.

So as stressful as moving can be, it can also leave you feeling like you just got a new fresh start, and I like that!

overwhelmed....

2008-03-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

I'm moving.

I'm not moving far away from where I live now, bascially just 5-10 miles away, but I still hate it. Packing up all your junk. I always end up throwing away more then I mean to, just to get rid of it, so I don't have to move it. Moving's terrible, it should be exciting, but in this case, it's just a pain.

So, I'll being moving this weekend. I'm hoping I can get excited about it!

American Idol

2008-03-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

So...American Idol is a semi new thing for me. I just started watching it regularly last season, and have kept up with it really well so far this year.

I loved last weeks episode with everyone singing from the Lenon/McCartney songbook, but two weeks in a row? Even as much as I love and have been obsessed with the Beatles since 8th grade, I was hoping for something different this week.

I was REALLY disappointed in pretty much everyone's performances last night, especially Brooke White. I liked her singing "Let It Be" last week, but this week was just AWKWARD!

Maybe next week, Brooke.

I want a puppy...

2008-03-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Which one???

old english sheepdog??

OR

Shitzu???

They're both SOOOOOOOOOOH cute!