Beautiful Days Ahead

Well hello again from Houston!

It's been a while since I have blogged about life. I recently changed blog sites because the other site I was using was not user friendly at all, so it was taking a ridiculously long time to post anything. I didn't enjoy it. I'm loving blogspot though. Way easier to work and has a lot more cool features. 

I have actually kind of been obsessed with fixing it up lately. I am constantly finding new features and have gotten a few suggestions on things to add. Love it! It is actually kind of therapeutic. I recently read a really cool blog that I found on Pinterest that inspired me to start posting all of my DIY projects and 'How To's'.  She is years ahead of of me and had EVERYTHING that you could ever think to do to your house with videos and pictures but I bet I could get there. I actually plan to use a few of her ideas on my house.

Anyway, life has been so good lately. This semester has been different for us. We are spending a lot more time at home just being together. I have really loved it. I think last semester we were trying to stay super busy to get plugged in and almost over committed to things which just caused us to be stressed and tired all the time. Daniel has had more time to study (bleh) and relax- which is what I wanted for him- and I have had so much time to craft and fix up our house. I actually cook dinner almost every night now! Daniel's loving that!

Our friendships here are wonderful. I have made a few really sweet friends who are super encouraging and just fun to hang out with. I came up with the idea to start a monthly craft day. Yesterday was our first time and I had a blast. It turned into craft day/dinner/game night. So much fun! We plan to have a monthly poker/fry night in the future. Yes, that is exactly what it sounds. I got a fryer for Christmas and probably won't ever use it except for fry night. Haha! Basically, everyone brings whatever they want and we fry it up while playing a few rounds of poker. This night is geared more to please all the guys! Haha!

I'm super excited for March to get here. Spring and warm weather!! I wore shorts yesterday for the first time since September! It is going to be a BUSY month. We are having family come for the first time since last year. Jason, Val, and Josh are coming for the first part of Spring Break and my parents are coming the second (which actually ended up being a week after Daniel's Spring Break. What a bummer.) While my parents are here, we plan to completely remodel the kitchen. I mean the whole enchilada! We are tiling the floor; tearing out the counter tops; adding a back splash; making the kitchen bigger by closing off a random, useless doorway and adding cabinets, installing a new sink; painting. I also plan to paint the cabinets white, but probably after they leave. It will just be good to see all of them. We are also planning to go to Austin for a friend's bridal shower and possibly one weekend to San Antonio to see Daniel's parents. Also, the rodeo is going to be here! Whoop Whoop! We already have tickets for 1 night and I'm sure we will go at least one other time. Oh, and March is my Birthday month!! Woohoo! Daniel said that he is going to take me to the outlet malls near Galveston as my birthday present. Can I just say, my husband is AWESOME! 

~Jessica

Burlap Wreath

I had this great idea, that probably isn't really my idea, to start a monthly craft day. Basically,  a few of my friends meet up to do a craft/recipe that we have pinned on Pinterest. This week was our first week and I'd say it was a success. 

Supplies:

-  Circular Metal Wire- base if the wreath- $2.99 

- Wire- to tie the ribbon- $2.99

- Scissors

- Wire cutters

- Glue Gun (optional)

- Basic Burlap- it really doesn't matter that width, but I used about 20 ft of the basic burlap. they come in rolls of 15 ft- $5.99

- Colorful Burlap- I chose aqua- $5.99

- Chevron Burlap- $9.99 (Used me 40% off coupon here)

**The fun part about this project is you can add/change so many things. There are numerous things you can add ribbon/flowers/monogram letters. Loah and Jenny (my friends) used yellow burlap and daisies.  

**Always ALWAYS remember to use a 40% off coupon if you go to Hobby Lobby. You can pull it up on your phone and easily save a little extra. 

Total Price: About $25.00  

So we started out by cutting the wire into 6-8 inch pieces and twisting them around the circular wire base. I twisted about 20 pieces total.  

This is Loah and Jenny. I promised them I would mention them in my blog. :)

Next, once the wires are twisted and spread evenly around the base, we moved to the burlap. There really isn't a wrong way putting it on the wreath. I gathered/bunched the start piece and twisted the wire to secure the piece. As you can see below, I made a loop with the burlap, then bunched and twisted. I did that until I covered the entire base.     

At this point I was in craft mode and forgot to take anymore picture (sorry). Basically all I did was add the aqua by bunching (like I did with the other) and twisting with the same wire I used to fasten the plain burlap. I twisted on every other wire though to avoid an overwhelming amount of aqua. 

I cut the chevron into 7(ish) inch segments and bunched the ends together to make a loop and added them throughout with the wire I didn't use to fasten the aqua.

The bow was pretty easy. I folded the ribbon (see below) and used a piece of wire to secure the middle and then cut an extra piece of chevron to cover the wire.

I plan to add a wooden letter ("G" for our last name), but I forgot to buy paint to paint the letter the color I wanted. Loah and Jenny added their daisies as well. 

Love how they turned out!! Nice work ladies!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread/ Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2-3 mashed bananas
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup hot water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325o F
2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in salt and flour. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Spread batter into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan
3. Bake for 55-60 minutes

Extras:
To make it a little sweeter I add about 1 tsp pure maple syrup. You can also add chopped nuts. I also like to add cacao (it add a little chocolate taste but keeps the texture of a nuts, it’s found in the healthy food section of HEB)

You can also make muffins with this recipe. Just pour into lightly greased muffin tins and cook for 15-20 minutes.

We eat this for breakfast on a very regular basis.

Whole Wheat Pizza

INGREDIENTS
1 cup warm water
2 tsp yeast (active dry yeast)
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur organic white whole-wheat flour)
Tomato sauce
Grated mozzarella cheese
Cooking oil spray
Other desired toppings such as sausage, mushrooms, vegetables, Parmesan cheese, pesto, goat cheese, arugula, olives, etc.
INSTRUCTIONS
Drop the yeast into the 1-cup of warm water and let it go to work for a few minutes. It should foam up a little bit. Stir the salt and olive oil into the yeast mixture.
Pour the flour and yeast mixture into a food processor with a dough blade or into a mixer with a dough hook and turn on the machine. (You can also mix up this dough by hand.)
You should end up with a ball chasing itself around the food processor. If the dough is too dry add warm water a teaspoon at a time and if it is too wet add flour 1 teaspoon at a time.
Remove the ball from your food processor and knead into a smooth ball. Put the dough into a large ziplock bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap (put a touch of olive oil in and coat the inside of the bag/bowl first) then leave it in fridge for as little as 1 hour or overnight depending on how much time you have. It will rise on it’s own in the fridge.
When ready to make the pizza preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into the desired shape (don’t make it too thin!). Put the flat pizza dough on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Top the dough with homemade or organic tomato sauce, cheese and other toppings of your choice. Bake in an oven for about 8 – 10 min. or until crust and cheese are golden brown.
Enjoy!

Website: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Ingredients
· 2 cups whole-wheat flour (King Arthur’s organic whole-wheat flour)
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 1 tablespoon honey
· 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
· 1 ¾ cups milk
· 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + butter for frying
· 2 ripe bananas, mashed
· 100% pure maple syrup for serving
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well (hole) in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the honey, eggs, milk, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Whisk together thoroughly, but do not overmix.
3. Gently fold the mashed bananas into the batter with a spatula.
4. Heat a griddle or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Swirl enough butter around the pan until it is well coated. Add pancake batter using a soup ladle.
5. When the pancakes have begun brown on the bottom, flip them over to cook the other side.
6. Serve with warm maple syrup and a side of fruit.
**Extras: I like to change it up and add chocolate chips or blueberries.

Blog Posts from 2013

HOUSTON LIFE

Posted on September 7, 2013

Gosh it has been a while…. Life all the sudden took off full speed about a month ago and I haven’t had a chance to just sit down and reflect on all that’s happened. I want to start off by praising God for all that He has and will continue to bless me with; it’s unreal. My heart is beaming with joy!
So where to begin… A little over a month ago I was offered a job as an orthopedic nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital. To many people that may not seem like a huge deal, but if you know my heart and calling as a nurse, you would know that it was the PERFECT fit for me. When God called me to nursing it wasn’t just because I liked to work with people or because I was interested in medicine; it was so so much deeper. He gave me this passion to connect with people on a deep level, share their pain, and walk with them through it; to encourage patients and their families and bring joy in sad situations. He also gave me a desire to work with children which I had not yet been able to fully experience. I told people as I applied to jobs here in Houston that my dream job would be to work at (believe it or not) Texas Children’s Hospital ideally in orthopedics since I had experience in the department. When I started applying there actually wasn’t even an opening for an LVN position in the ortho department so I just applied to whatever I could find. After about a week of no call backs and not finding anything that really even fit what I wanted I became super discouraged and started to question what the Lord had for me. Well it was about that time that I decided to google search one more time and BAM there it was, freshly posted “Pediatric Orthopedic LVN, Texas Children’s Hospital.” WHAT?!? God, no way… yep sure enough He just laid it out there for me. Well long story short I walked in my resume and the lady said it would be about two weeks before I heard anything about an interview (that was on a Friday and Monday was a holiday.) Got a call first thing Tuesday morning for an interview, interviewed Thursday(ish), and was offered the job the next morning. Side note— this is the ONLY LVN position in the Orthopedic department at Texas Children’s in downtown Houston!!— Some may call it luck, I call it favor.

So I have been there about 5 weeks now and have had up and down days. I constantly catch myself comparing it to my old job (which I loved and miss so much.) The department is currently experiencing a lot of growing pains. They grew from 4 physicians and PAs, to 18 in a just a few years. So right now the way things are run is a bit rocky and with that comes stress and tension between co-workers; but in the coming months I have hope that things will get better. There are so many more thoughts about it, but I will leave it at that.

Daniel has started school again. His first year as a graduate student at Rice University!! We are so proud and honored to be a part of this school. I have never felt so spoiled from a college before, and I technically don’t even attend. Let me tell you a few benefits I get just for being the wife… my very own Rice ID card, $10 a month membership to the gym (which is super awesome), student discounts, free food to the events that Daniel is a part of, cheap food and drinks, cheap insurance (Texas Children’s is better though), awesome friends, the right to say my husband goes to Rice, and so much more. We are living the good life here at Rice! Haha!

Also we haven’t just been doing work and school. We had lots of visitors. It seemed like every weekend for a while! We loved the company… I’m learning that I need to get better at taking pictures because we didn’t get any pictures with some of our visitors. I can’t remember the order anymore, but my parents came one weekend; then Daniel’s parents; then Jason, Val, and Josh; and our last ones were Jake and Lauren, and Matt and Sarah.

When to a Rangers vs Astros game while they were here! Rangers dominated!

Scattered throughout we got to see a few passer throughers too; David, the Ccsa youth, Boyd and Elizabeth, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some.

We have fellow San Angelonions that have move to Houston too! Which has been so good to have some familiar friends here. Olivia and Haden moved here in August. She is going to MD Anderson (went to ASU with Daniel, she’s a smarty pants too!) We hang out with them pretty frequently. It’s actually been really good for all of us because we have been able to (and also plan to) explore some of the fun things to do in Houston. We all have been keeping an eye out for fun things to do. It’s fun to have married couple friends!… So far we have gone to the Studio Movie Grill (you watch a movie and the serve you dinner. Way cooler than it sounds. You just have to try it!), Olivia and I have gone to the Galleria (got our hair cut at this “New York feel” salon.), and we plan to go to broadway show, stand up comedy, and a few other cool places. I’ll try to remember to take pictures!

We went to San Angelo for the first time since we moved here. It was kinda weird; it felt like it had been so long but at the same time everything was so familiar. We enjoyed seeing all of our friends and family, especially our little nephew Joshua. I can’t get enough of that little guy!

We officially have veggies and fruits in our garden! Not many, but a few 

We have started small groups for the semester. It’s been wonderful so far. I am looking forward to all the memories it holds!

~Jess

A GLIMPSE OF GOD’S CALLING FOR MY LIFE…

Posted on July 9, 2013

My heart is so full of joy!! So much has happened in the past few weeks that gives me reason to be joyful. I have always known that the Lord will give us blessings when we walk in obedience, but more than ever before I am seeing that happen in Daniel and my life.

I love love LOVE our new church family here in Houston. We have been embraced by them and are being challenged by the Lord in a new way that we have never experienced before. Apart and together as a couple. A big passion for Mission 24 (the name of our church) is prophesy, something that I have never really experienced, not that I haven’t witnessed or been around it, but actually embracing the gift of prophesy. Until I recently heard a sermon that let me see it in a whole new light. Acts 2:17-18. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” And all throughout, the Bible talks about how important this gift is. It makes me so uncomfortable to think about prophesying over someone’s life that I have never met, and I struggle with the fear that I might get it wrong, but at the same time I know that the Lord is calling me to this and He WILL use me to speak to others through this gift. Mission 24 has a huge children’s ministry for the amount of people who attend and it excites me to see that they are raising their children to know what prophesying is. I feel like in many children’s ministries the lessons are very basic and focus on teaching Bible stories, and don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for that, but at the same time how do we expect our children to surpass us spiritually if we don’t teach on deeper things of the Lord. About spiritual gifts, and prayer, and worship, and even tithing. Not only teach these things, but challenge them to do  them and do them as a family. I want my children to learn by the example that my life portrays. Last week each child chose a person they felt that the Lord was speaking to them about, and they each wrote a note to those people prophesying over them. It was so so cool to see the faces on those people who received the notes. A few cried because of how spot on it was for them. For me I loved being reminded of the child like faith we should have. Words that were so simple, yet had so much truth. I look forward to raising my children in a church that will challenge them to deeply seek the Lord.

I am super excited to announce that I have officially been offered a job at Texas Children’s Hospital!!! If I could describe my dream job, this would be it. I will not only be working in orthopedics, which when I worked in San Angelo I found a deep love for, but I will primarily be working with pediatric patients. My passions in life revolve around children; being a mother, ministering to teenage girls, and working as a nurse with children. The Lord has given me a spirit of compassion, that often makes me super emotional and causes me to take the burdens of others upon myself, but it also allows me to love people in a way that I can’t really describe. A few years ago I asked the Lord to let me see things through His eyes and love as He loves; and although I don’t think I have experienced even close to that (I don’t think I could handle it) I do know that He has softened my heart to love in a new way, no matter what it looks like to others and even when its inconvenient. I know that there will be days that this job will be emotional for me and I will have to step back for a second to see that God has a purpose for everything, but I cannot wait for God to use me to be a light in dark places. This IS my ministry.

GOD IS SO GOOD

Posted on June 25, 2013

Let me just start be saying that we are so blessed, beyond anything that I can even begin to describe. Daniel and I have received an abundance of favor since, well since we have been together. We are so undeserving of it all, but I know He showers us with blessings just to show us how much He loves us. I never want to forget that I am where I am today only because of His grace, mercy, and love for me.
With that being said, we have found a wonderful church here in Houston! It was such perfect timing. I feel as though we were embraced by the people there and are already apart of their family. Toward the end of the service a few people prayed for us and spoke over our lives. For Daniel, that he be a man of wisdom and for me, that I be a woman of joy. It is such a beautiful atmosphere filled with people with beautiful hearts.
On a different note, we went to the Houston Symphony this past week. We couldn’t really see it but it sounded awesome! We should know by now that any event that is free in Houston is going to be packed. It was at the Miller Outdoor Theater which is actually a really cool place. The stage is covered, and there is a huge hill that you can see the stage from. Lots of families bring lawn chairs and food and watch the show. Well the night we went we had to sit on the opposite site of the hill from the stage. Apparently the Houston Symphony is a big deal, we did get a good view of the fireworks at the end of the show though.

I have applied to so many job, so now I am just waiting to hear back for an interview. I’m at the point where I am going crazy being at home all day, and I’m so ready to start working… But since I have been home, I’ve decided to start sewing again. I hadn’t touched my sewing machine in so long, so it took me a little while to get the hang of it again. I spent lots of time getting inspired on Pinterest. I wanted to be thrifty so I patched together some old fabric that I already had. I’m going to slowly start making things for my children. Wait a minute… Don’t freak out… We aren’t planning on having kids anytime soon. I just want to start making things for them now because eventually me life is going to get busy again and I won’t have time. Here’s what I’ve done so far…

I’ve decided the day that we do finally want to have a baby I’m going to announce it on my blog just to see how many people actually read it. I figure the people who do read it deserve to know first anyway. (Family, you’ll find out before I blog it.) 

My mom recently got an iPhone and has figured out how to FaceTime. I’ve enjoyed being able to see her instead of just talking on the phone. Oh the joys of technology!

And Daniel got a grill!

Well that’s about it for now… The garden is still alive, the house is still wonderful, and our hearts are happy.

~Jessica

OUR LIVING ROOM IS FINALLY FINISHED!

LATEST NEWS FROM HOUSTON

Posted on June 18, 2013 

We have been in Houston for a little over two weeks now, but it feels like so much longer. My eyes have been opened to a lot of things that I’m not used to. I guess you could call it culture shock. We are starting to look for a good church family to be a part of (which is kinda weird for both of us) and we went to one this Sunday that I guess you would call a ‘mega church’.  They have 5 services every weekend! Immediately as we walked in I found myself comparing it to my San Angelo church and it falling short in every way and its not that there was even anything wrong with the church, it just wasn’t my church… I am realizing that there won’t be a church exactly like my ‘home’ church because no other church is going to have the memories that my church has and no other church with have the relationships and family that my church has. It really makes me miss ‘home’. I’m still struggling calling Houston my home. I know with time we will find a good church and make new friends, but at this time those are still prayers of ours.

We have found a little community that is about 10 minutes from our house that has any kind of shopping we will need. We have also gotten involved in a Bible study through Rice. We really like it so far. I guess we have a few friends… I sometimes have a hard time though because they all go on these tangents about things that are so far over my head about physics related things. At least with the ASU physics group I could follow for a little bit. I don’t even try anymore.

Daniel is liking his job so far. The fact that he gets paid for doing science is pretty awesome. He gets to play with worms all day (or at least that’s how I interpreted it.) Rice has such a beautiful campus.  We have gone multiple times just to walk around campus and enjoy the beauty. One interesting thing that we have found is that Rice has an overwhelming number of rabbits around the campus. Kinda like ASU has a cat problem, except rabbits are way more awesome.

We have been working hard on the house. I’m still working on painting all of the rooms (its getting OLD fast.) We also planted some trees and built a garden in the back yard. It has been a task to keep the dogs out though. Super frustrating when we spend time and money and they tear it up. Hopefully we will have fresh vegetables soon!

I’m looking forward  to the next few weeks. We have lots of family coming. Jason, Val, and my sweet little nephew are coming this weekend and my parents are coming the next. Hopefully after that I will have a job lined up.

I kinda had a melt down last week from being home and alone.  I thought that taking a month off from working would be so great, but I’m seriously rethinking that. It’s not the same when you don’t have company. I literally can count on two hands the number of people I talked to last week. My dogs have been good company though. I find myself talking to them a lot, as if they can understand me. Its kinda like the guy in the movie Castaway. My dogs are my Wilson.  Haha… Ok that’s a little bit of an exaggeration but you get my point.

I am starting the searching part of getting a job. I’m realizing that no matter how hard I look, none are going to be my old job.  I miss it. I miss my second family. The deep friendships and good times. All the laughs.  I miss the craziness of clinic days, but feeling so accomplished by the end of the day. I miss making people smile and the cast room, gosh I miss the cast room. There’s something so special about the time you have with patients while casting them and you can’t understand it until you have done it; or maybe it’s just me. A relationship and trust that you built with patients. A chance to do what I went to nursing school for… encourage, comfort, and listen. It’s a time to get away from paperwork and stress and just love on patients.

I know with new chapters come new adventures and new relationship. I just never want to forget the past ones.

~Jessica

CHEERS TO ONE YEAR!

Posted on June 11, 2013

I can’t believe that we have already been married a whole year! Thinking back, so much has happened in our lives. We have had a lot of firsts together. Our first puppies, first time to get real grown up jobs, graduating college, first time moving away to a big city, and first time home and car owners. We are so blessed beyond measure and The Lord is continuing to bless us. All the glory goes to Him.

Most recently, we have finally settled into our new home. Can I just say that getting the keys to our house was almost as exciting as our wedding day. After all the work we had to do to prepare for it, we are finally able to call ourselves homeowners. The trek to get here was interesting though…

We started our journey to Houston at 3am Friday because we were told we had to be at the house by 11am. So off we went. Daniel drove solo in has car and I took the puppies in mine. I was so nervous because up to that point I hadn’t made it past Austin without falling asleep, as a passenger of course. We loaded up on caffeine and used walkie talkies to chat along the way. Rick and Jimmy were a few hours behind us with the trailer. After about 6 hours we made it to the house for a final inspection, which only took about 10 mins, so for about 2 hours, while we waited for the closing appointment, we were homeless. The dogs had been really well behaved up to this point, but they were starting to get tired of being cooped up in the car so we grabbed so food and went to a park for them to play. Then, closing time had finally come. It wasn’t what I pictured though. And I guess it could have been if we were anyone else there, but we had been up since 3am, didn’t have our clothes to change, and had 2 restless dogs that we didn’t have anywhere to take. That’s right, we brought the dogs with us to the signing. I wore my dog hair covered stretchy pants and t-shirt with no makeup and messy hair. We probably should have thought that through a little more, but hey, we still got the house.

We met Rick and Jimmy at the house and started unloading. My parents arrived later that night and with all of us working together we got all of the boxes unloaded and the majority unpacked by the next day. We are so grateful to have such a supportive family who was willing to help us move. There is no way we could have done it without their help.

Over the next few days, my mom and I painted and decorated like you wouldn’t believe; the guys had a list of projects to do as well. The house finally started to look like a home. It was such a strange feeling saying goodbye to each of them knowing that they were going home and I was staying here, where I now called home. Such a bittersweet feeling. I am so excited to be here while at the same time I miss the idea of being able to call our family and organize a last minute dinner date.

With all of that being said, my heart finds joy in the thought that this is what the Creator of the entire universe had in store for Daniel and I. For the first time in a long time I have not had my schedule planned out to the minute. I am able to focus on things that in the past were put on the back burner, like accomplishing some of my pins on Pinterest!! Daniel and I have grown so much closer in a new way that we couldn’t experience when we lived in San Angelo. With very few friends here we have been so dependent on each other. We are going on adventures and trying new things that we have never experienced before. It’s so out of my comfort zone and I love it.

~Jessica

GREAT THINGS HAVE PASSED, GREATER THINGS TO COME

Posted on April 17, 2013

     I am so excited to say that almost a month into our healthier life we are still going so strong. I have explored a whole new world of recipes that are healthier, but still taste good. I learned how to bake with yeast when making whole wheat pizza, which was kind of intimidating, but it turned out to be a success (I measure my successes by whether or not Daniel likes it.) We have also tried new foods like avocados, mushrooms, quinoa (which I totally pronounced wrong when asking the lady at HEB where I could find it), and kefir. I actually enjoy making new things and seeing how they turn out. The only downside has been that we have had to make many more trips to the grocery store than we did before. We were concerned that it was going to be so expensive, but with the money we have saved from not eating out we are actually spending less. Even after only 1 month we are seeing the effects it is having on us physically. Daniel says that he feels more energized, as of Monday I have lost 7.5lbs, and I have completely stopped taking medication for acid reflux. I cannot believe  that just by changing what we eat, nothing else, we have had these results.    I cannot say that every day has been easy eating this way, but with the support of each other we get past those weak moments. I can honestly say that I only caved one time, for spinach dip and chips from Cheddar’s. We tried to be so sneaky about it, as if we would get in trouble if we got caught. We called it in for pick up, then took it home to eat. Man was it good!     In the coming month my plan is to learn why all the things we are eating are so good for us. Multiple people have asked me why things such as organic yogurt, natural honey, or coconut oil are better and I honestly don’t know the nutritional differences, just that that’s what everyone who eats healthy says.   

   On a different note, we are about 6 weeks away from being new homeowners. Such an exciting, yet super demanding time. I never knew how complicated it was to buy a house. Dealing with realtors, loan companies, title companies, home owner’s insurance, and that’s just the start! We still have to cancel all of the services for our current  house and turn it on at the new house, plus forward the mail and change our driver’s licenses, and we can’t forget to get the cashier’s check and that doesn’t include…. you get the point. I finally have had a glimpse of what it feels like to be a grown up.      We are starting to pack which hasn’t been near as bad as I built it up to be in my head. Just a little bit each week. The only bad thing is the things that we have packed are all the things that I occupy myself with when I’m bored like books, sewing, and all my craft stuff. So now I just drive Daniel crazy… or cook. I’ve been Pinteresting a lot too. I think I have pinned all of the house and gardening pins at least twice, but it has given me so many ideas on what to do to our new home. I cannot wait to get started! Our fist big project besides painting and unpacking will be a back desk. We plan to make the lower deck a stained concrete slab and then do a balcony type deck off of the common area upstairs. I can already imagine sitting in rocking chairs back there drinking coffee in the morning!

     In the past Daniel and I struggled with making time to get in the Word together, so we have decided that we are going to commit to reading one chapter a night. We thought a good place to start was Proverbs; so simple, yet so good. The traits of  wisdom verses the traits of foolishness. As we read I think to myself, gosh I can totally nail this wisdom thing, and then I compare what it says to what I do and realize, I’m such a fool. Do I really trust the Lord with my entire heart? Do I even consider what God wants for my life over what I want? Do I ever even ask for wisdom or understanding from Him? 

   I recently found out about a friend with a serious illness that is potentially life threatening. I find myself asking the Lord, why is this happening to her. She has committed her life to doing Your will, yet she has continually faced horrible things. Once a girl with so much joy and excitement to spread the Word, now wanting to give up on all treatment to even save her life. Why is it that I mess up day after day, some days doing nothing to further God’s Kingdom, yet I continue to be blessed with so many things, far more than I could have even imagined. I just don’t get it. I guess my heart just hurts for her. To see this happen and not be able to do a thing about it. I know that her journey is not over, and that God is going to do incredible things through her. Maybe satan knows she has the power to move mountains so he is doing everything in his power to keep her from that. I guess my job is to pray. Great things will come from this.

~Jessica