Paths

How fast time flies by! It seems like only a month ago that I was walking down the aisle, my eyes fixed on my soon-to-be-husband. We have now been married for one year and almost a day...and time keeps right on ticking. At this rate, what may feel like a week to us, will have been four years. Kent and I may or may not be in the same town, I'll be working as a nurse, he'll be teaching and working on his masters. And who know? Maybe there will be a little one or two running around.

The funny thing is, if you would have asked me five years ago where I would be today, my story would have been very different, but God's story as we are often reminded, is always the better one. My best guess five years ago would have had me running my own interior design business, with probably one or two kids already, and living in in Colorado somewhere. Now I laugh at the very idea! God sees far beyond our own limited sight. Where he sees a clear path for me, I so often see trails branching to the left and right, many of which look just as good as the other. And yet, as I learned in Bible study this past week, he's not content to always have it this way. Though there's not always a distinct "wrong" path, there's always a better one. He desires for us to actively seek his will, so that he can share his many blessing with us. We can experience the blessing of the Promised Land now as Beth Moore said in the Bible study video, or we can choose to do things our way and wander around in the wilderness for 40 years. I don't know about you, but want to experience the Promised Land now. It's often hard for me to fathom though, that God can have more blessings for me, when I feel that I am so blessed already. How can God want to give me more? Why? Because I am his own. As it says in James 4:5 "He jealously desires the Spirit that he made to dwell in us". He wants to have the relationship with me that a father has with his child.

In another five years I am sure I will once again be surprised by how differently life has taken Kent and I from what we imagined, but it's my desire that I will be able to look back and know with certainty that we both sought God's will while trying to choose what paths to go on. I'm looking forward to many more years to experience God's goodness with my wonderful husband!

Ownership

We have lived in our house for six months now. It's been such a blessing, but the reality of the responsbility that comes with it has already hit us hard. Going on last minute trips takes a bit more planning now...will the grass need to be mowed or the flowers watered? What about picking up the mail? There is also the home ownership part, if it breaks you fix it or pay to fix it (which we quickly realized is not cheap when the a/c wouldn't start). There's no longer someone else to pass that responsibility on to - it's all on us. Oh yeah (can you pick up on the sarcasm?)

There are also many wonderful things though about owning a house. I've loved the feeling of being connected to something more permanent, something that will hopefully be a part of our lives for some time. Getting to know our neighbors has also been a fun adventure. Across the street are Matt and Jessica and their four beautiful daughter. The middle girl, who is 3 calls me Beba. She loves yelling for me to come over and watch her throw balls, stomp on bugs, and throw rocks (I think her dad is training her to be the boy he doesn't have lol)! To the north of us our the wonderful Hal and Lana. They have modeled what it looks like to be a good neighbor from day one, whether it's taking our trash can to the curb for us, or letting our dog out during the days I'm gone for 12 hours. I could go on and on about the amazing people that have living around us, but I don't want to bore you.

We've tackled a few painting projects in the house (the lime green room and the bubble gum pink room were the priorities), and now I'm starting to work on the living room. There is what I'm sure someone thought to be a lovely country border that trails along the top of the wall. I've spent maybe 2 1/2 hours so far working on the border, and maybe have 8 feet of border removed. What a pain! It's coming off in three horrible layers. First there's the vinyl layer that only comes off in two inch sections. Next is the paper layer that thankfully is fairly easy to remove. And lastly there's this awful sticky layer(must be the glue) that I spend most of the time working on. I told Kent yesterday that we will never EVER use borders, if even just to save someone else the trouble of removing it. He made a joke, as only Kent does and says that I'm on "border" patrol haha.

So there's a peek at one dimension of our lives now. Now that we've been blessed with a house, I hope that we can bless others through it. So please come visit us! We love to have visitors!

Time with the Family

I got to spend some wonderful time with my hubby this weekend! He's been back home at his parent's working at a tree farm for the past couple of weeks...leaving me all lonely at home. Luckily Juliet is constantly attention deprived (or so she thinks) and doesn't leave my side, reminding me that I'm not alone.

While Kent was here we watched Duplicity, a rather confusing movie for my tired brain, but it had some interesting plot twists. A trip to Target was also on the agenda that had us leaving the store with a soccer ball in honor of the World Cup. I am determined to get Kent to kick the ball around with me some. It's taking some convincing! To complement the soccer ball was an soccer t-shirt that says "Italia, futbol campeones". We also went to eat at the Scheme, a pizza restaurant here in Salina. Our hamburger and canadian bacon pizza was dripping with chessy goodness, hot out of the oven. Anyone stopping by in Salina should definitely try out their pizza!

For Father's Day, I sadly parted ways with Kent to go to my parent's house while he went back to his. This is starting to feel like our dating days once again. I had some good reflection in the car for the one hour drive about family. What does it mean to be a family and to spend time with each other? I marveled at how God chose to put people together into families and how we can learn so much about not only one another through our family but also learn about God through it. God is referred to as a Father. But he's not just any father, He's the ultimate role model of what a father should be: provider, protector, care-giver, faithful, etc etc. So on this Father's Day, should we not only honor our earthly fathers, but also our heavenly one?

Deuteronomy 1:29-31
Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

A New Adventure

I'd like to start this blog with a confession. I'm not much of a writer. I've always loved reading the work of other writers and have at times attempted to write myself, however unsuccessfully. I've kept a journal rather sporadically throughout the 23 years of my existence, so I view this blog as something of a challenge. Starting a blog seemed like a fantastic way to share what is going on in my life with all my dear family and friends. There have been many transitions this past year, one of which involved moving to a new town. So...hopefully I'll be better at blogging and keeping you up to date than I am at calling!

Here's a brief summary to get everyone up-to-date! As of June 27th, 2010 I will have been married for one wonderful year to my Kent. He has been such a good husband, and shall I count the ways? (Here's just a few to give you an idea) 1.He is working ever so hard while I go to nursing school (only 1 year left!) 2.He somehow manages to put up with me being a dog lover and lets me have my puppy Juliet (who's an 8 year old puppy now) 3.He doesn't complain that I'm not much for cooking during the summer months...or ever for that matter and contentedly eats bagels, cereal, or Spangle's 4.He lets me drive the nicer car....5.He tells me he loves me every day (my favorite)!

I have the summer off from nursing school which has let me spend some time outside working on the yard and playing with the dog. Being outside has been great except for one thing, the mosquitos! They are eating me alive. The bug spray seems to have no effect on them. Last night I counted 20 bites!

Some sad news, my childhood dog Misty just died this week. She will be missed. I'm thinking that sometime in the future Kent and I will have to get a Miniature Schnauzer in memory of her lol! On a happier note, Kent, my sister Andrea, and I are going to Seattle in July for fun. Whoopee!

Well, I think that's a good start for now. I look forward to sharing more with you!