Wait...what...it's Thursday!?!

Where did this week go?! I mean...I'm not complaining but wow do I love/hate how it flew by. My dad flew into town last weekend to visit and we had SO much fun that time really did fly! Then between the 80 degree sunshine and hanging out by the fire pits at night and the snow/thunder sleet/ice this week has came/went. I think we had so much fun when my dad was here because, unlike the other times he visited, we didn't really have a plan--we were just going with the flow. We ate good food, spent lots of quality time together, toured more of this beautiful state that we currently live in.

{{enjoying the 80 degree sunshine at the waterfall with my dad}}

 {{Leaving for work 2 days later.....}}

Dad came to church with us on Sunday and I loved how the topic of the week just clicked with so many things that I have been struggling with these past few months: Control. He said something so simple yet so unthought about, "The more you try to control the more you fear loosing control so the more you try to control." It is a viscous cycle that really isn't part of our business anyways--it's God's business! Just felt like sharing that...not sure if anyone else is struggling with a situation or topic that they wish they could just step in and change. Know that if we present the thing we are trying to control with Thanksgiving and Praise to God that HE takes that off of our shoulders and starts working out the problem. Many things aren't even ours to control in the first place--it's God's!

{{I saw this photo floating around and had to share it.}}

Can't wait to write Friday's letters tomorrow using my very new MacBook Pro that I still haven't taken out of the box...but I will tomorrow night!

Happy almost-Friday!
-M

Saturday.

I'm pretty excited for today. Mostly because we have no plans. I slept in until 0730 (yes, that IS sleeping in 2 extra hours!). Made some blueberry muffins which were pretty much devoured by my husband (see: success), drank some yummy coffee, and now I am reading "The Wall Street Journal" and watching a chick flick while my husband works on school work at Starbucks. I even PASSED on the offer to go to Starbucks because I thought it would be much more enjoyable to sit around the house with my Red Velvet Cupcake candle lit and the light rain falling on our windows.  Let's not forget Ziggy & Valor passed out on the couch next to me. Ahhhh...I don't remember the last time I had a "do-nothing-Saturday". If you ask me, it's about time! Cheers to the weekend!

Off to enjoy this no-plans Saturday morning :)

-M

Friday's Letters

Linking up for Friday's Letters!
Dear Today, you were hilarious. Played a couple of jokes on people at work to lighten the mood after a crazy busy week. What a great way to end the work week. Dear Husband, Hi. Come home already. I'm ready for this weekend to start. Dear my bosses-bosses-bosses boss, I am so grateful for the award that you gave me yesterday. I work hard and I am glad that I am making a visible impact at work. It meant a lot to me. Dear Ziggy, stop barking outside right now. No.one.is.outside. Dear Dad, Can't wait to see you in 1 week! Dear Valor, You're 1 year old this week! Dear Saturday, I'm ready for you.

{{Birthday girl. A 60ish pound 1 year old.}}

 

Work Hard.

Today, life got a little more clarity. 

Today, I understood a little more as to why I've went through things in my past. 

Today, I witnessed another still small voice from God. 

Today, I stood in amazement at where I am in my life.

And this was all because of an award that I won today. 

{{I can't wait to post pics about it!}}

Background about me: I've always been a hard worker, an over-achiever and an independent person. I don't care if people think I'm "weird" for putting too much effort into something. I went through elementary school, junior high, high school and even college and graduate school with people making fun of me for spending HOURS writing flash cards or for not going out because I had to study (I didn't really HAVE to study all that time but I still did). I would get so frustrated when people would roll their eyes at me when I said "oh yea I read that, highlighted that, made flashcards for that, and then re-wrote the lecture that I recorded" (OK- yea some of that sounds a little OCD and crazy but that's how hard I worked). I've even been laughed at while at work/school--as if I'm such an outcast because I'm working TOO hard...really? can you really work TOO hard? SERIOUSLY?!

Which brings me to this: As far as I'm concerned..as long as you have balance and have a healthy spiritual life, a wonderful marriage/friendships, and take care of yourself- what's wrong with giving work/school your all, too? Seems like this generation feels like they don't have to work hard or once they get their dream job become miserable or complain about it. Or maybe I am just WEIRD! Call me crazy but aren't we incredibly blessed to wake up every day and live a life we love? and if you don't love your life- think about how Jesus lived his life knowing he was going to be crucified yet He lived it with a smile. 

We have it so GOOD--we're living a life KNOWING that if we believe in Him we will end up in Heaven for ETERNITY. There's no bad ending to this story that I'm living--I'm not going to be crucified. I'm not going to be hung on a cross. I'm going to be in Heaven, with people that I love, standing next to the King of Kings! What's not to love about this life? 

The way I see it: Since He took the blame, since He hung there on a cross so we wouldn't have to--why can't everyone live life like the gift that it is? I guess that's why I work my butt off. I don't want to be wasting any of the seconds that He has given me and that He died for. So go ahead, make fun of me for being a hard worker, make fun of me for doing more than I "have to"....as far as I'm concerned..I have to do every single thing that I am able to do because He did everything He was able to do to save me--which included dying. 

:) 

If I'm so thankful why do I easily forget that You died for all of this. 

Should've been me. Should've been us.

Should've been there hanging on a cross.

All of this shame all of these scars should've been stains that were never washed.

Thank God for this heart you changed, this soul you raised. My God for taking my place.

 Thank God for the should've beens.

-Citizen Way

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday! If only the JETS were in the super bowl....or even playoffs...or even if they had a slight winning streak this season.....*sigh* there's always next year! However- i'm pretty excited that the 49ers made it! As a Californian, who cant stand the Raiders--it makes a wonderful superbowl game.  This morning we went to church and it was pretty awesome to see the entire place decked out like you were at a football game! We walked up to the front of the building with a huge blow up football helmet, walked through that into the lobby that was converted into a tailgating party with people walking around in football jerseys. One of the coolest parts was the opening song the band sang--basically a mix of superbowl halftime show songs, such as the black eye peas, etc. To top it all off--the message was AMAZING! It was called "30 second theology" where the pastor took awesome commercials and put a theological twist on them.

After church we went to the tennis courts and played some tennis together....with the help of Valor. We had so much fun! Valor is the best Tennis working dog ever! We would be playing a game with one ball and then we would hit it out of bounds so Valor would run after it and bring it back to one of us! It helped us out and she was sure tired after an hour in the Tennis courts--that dog loves Tennis balls! We decided that we are going to take a few Tennis lessons together so we are ready to play against people this summer! Especially since I will be gone all spring, I will have something to do when I'm missing my husband and doggies--I'll be keeping busy with practicing my Tennis skills!

Time to enjoy the super bowl with my man and to get a lot of "to-do" list items checked off--nothing like multi-tasking! Have a wonderful day everyone and enjoy time with your loved ones :) 

Over & Out,

M

Friday's letters

Linking up with Ashley for Fridays Letters!

Dear Husband, I can't wait to sleep in until 0700 tomorrow! Dear Arena that we volunteered at last night, you were disgusting. I will never eat at a concession stand again. So glad I enjoyed it with a wonderful team of people from work and didn't tried not to focus on the grossness. Dear Dad, I miss you and wish we lived closer than 1,339 miles away. Amen for cell phones. Dear Girl Scout Cookies, you have struck again and I wish I had self control. *sigh* guess I really need to start running now...thanks for the motivation. Dear God, Thank you for giving me courage to step away from my security and into my destiny. I am so blessed to be where I am today. I can't wait to take more steps of courage to see where we end up next. Dear Husband, you get two today. I think you will be a great dad and can't wait until that day comes! But until then...you're a great doggy dad and the dogs are waiting for you to come home from the gym. 

Some more photos from our week in Paradise...

{{Walking around one morning in the Bahamas.}}

{{Water slide}}

{{Floating in the lazy river}}

 

Going for it.

It's been a while and I feel like I've started most of my posts with those same 4 words...I'm not complaining though because life is a complete blessing and I love how busy we have been. A couple of weeks ago, we woke up at 0400 to head to the BAHAMAS! My husband and I spent 8 beautiful days at the Atlantis resort & casino on Paradise Island. We took over 1200 photos- here are a couple. I love that I kept a journal during most of the trip. To be honest, I bought the journal to use during 2013 since I will be away from home a lot and want to be able to look back at the thoughts I had. To be honest, yet again, I haven't really stuck to it--so much for trying HA! I've seen some bloggers turn their blog into books at certain points and I think that would be a really neat way to capture the year. Especially because there are link ups with neat themes, beautiful layouts, and the ability to share photos- so here's to starting small and saying I will try to blog once a week {at least}.

{{About to swim with Dolphins!}}

{{The BEAUTIFUL creation that we spent most of our time in.}}

{{AMAZING}}

{{1 of our many dates.}}

{{Love.My.Husband.}}

Random thought for today: Ever had a goal/idea/dream in your head and you couldn't get it out?! That sure has been happening to me! It was driving me nuts trying to decide if it was about me having "selfish" plans for my life or if it was God saying "alright--c'mon when are you going to believe me and let me do the work?!" Well--after praying about it and asking God pretty much something along these lines "if this is Your idea God--I know it wont go anywhere but if it isn't your idea, and this is a selfish want of my own, please help me to be at peace and forget about it" and not only did it NOT go away, but EVERY conversation we had with our friends/pretty much every sermon we would listen to brought it up. So not only is this not out of my head, it's all over the place! It's like God is saying "HELLO--DO YOU GET IT YET?!?!?!" We were at church today listening to the final message in a series about Writing the story that God wants you to tell. There are times in life when we just need to GO FOR IT and trust that God has the details covered and that He will help us achieve the dream. We don't need faith to finish--we just need the faith to start and the rest will fall into place.

That was powerful to hear today. With the talk of the new year still going on and the changes happening around us every single day--we need to become the outspoken generation. The generation that stands out in faith, that isn't worried about what people think, that expect His great plans for us (Ephesians 3:20) and that KNOW, no matter what, that God is still God and that we always have a reason to praise Him!

I look forward to link ups this year, I look forward to documenting all the HUGE plans that God has in store for us this year and most importantly I can't wait to keep on Smiling--because NOTHING is better than this AMAZING moment that we have been given on Earth.

Just go for it,
-M