Easter Surprise

My family got the best news this Easter!

My sister Melissa is pregnant with her husband Kevin!!!

Her due date is November 13th and I couldn't be happier!!



I can't wait till her cute little belly starts showing, all the ultrasound pictures, finding out the sex, and when the little baby gets here. That will be the best!

I'm guessing she will have a girl and it will be born on the exact due date, but we shall see. I wouldn't even be surprised if she had twins. Haha.

LA Photos

I decided to post a few photos from my short two day trip to LA. (Click the pictures to see them larger) The first day I drove down to my parents hotel, The Westin, after school. What a nightmare that was! So many one way streets, and freeways starting here and there! Thankfully I made it safely, and spent the rest of the day doing homework, going out to dinner, and finishing up the night with more and more homework. Luckily, the hotel had a nice lobby and I was able to order a tasty raspberry mocha. The Westin was really unique and classy and I hadn't been in any hotel like it. It had four circular towers and the rooms were sort of pie shaped. What I loved most about the hotel was how high up we were. We stayed on the 24th floor, but there were 35 stories in total. The view was amazing, and I spent most of the night sitting next to the window looking out at the city lights. Although my one complaint was how many lights were left on in office buildings at 3am. Such a shame. The hotel also had these really cool glass elevators on the outside of the building. Normally I'm scared to death of elevators, but not if they are glass. Yes, I am very weird when it comes to these sorts of things.





The next day it was supposed to rain, so we were a little fearful of going to Universal Studios. We decided to try it anyways, and luckily there was no rain clouds in sight! It was nice spending the day with just my parents. What was even better was they got in for free, because of where they work, and I was able to get in for half price! I decided to upgrade it for ten dollars more and get a pass. If anyone wants to go, let me know! Even though the trip was short, and I had to suffer the next couple days making up my homework, it was really nice to get my mind off of things and enjoy spending time with my parents.

Rest

Lately I have been super busy, which has been great. But along with the busyness comes lack of sleep. Yesterday and the day before, I spent with my parents down in Los Angeles. Contrary to what this picture, taken in the hotel room right behind the bed on some weird headboard thing, may suggest I’ve gotten little sleep. Thanks to the fact that my parents snore, very loudly if I may add, I was only able to get a couple hours sleep. It was kind of a funny sight to see, the three of us all sleeping in one California King bed. Then last night I only got a couple hours due to writing a paper. Thankfully today I was able to take a…are you ready for it?? Six hour nap! It felt soo good to finally get some rest.





Although lately it hasn’t just been the lack of sleep that has been making me tired, but also just feeling mentally worn down. I’ve been asking for Jesus to bring me peace and for others to pray that I am brought peace and it seems to be working.


Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28

Making the Most of Every Opportunity!

Lately I’ve been feeling like I haven’t been using this time of singleness wisely. I feel like I have been sitting on my butt, instead of embracing my singleness! I have free time that I decide what to do with and frankly, I’ve been wasting it. I decided to make a list, in no particular order, of personal goals. Some are selfless goals, some are healthy goals, while other goals are just because I can.

Embrace my singleness by:



• Growing closer to Jesus
  
  
• Traveling
  
  
• Spending more time with family, especially my Grandpa Mac
  
  
• Continuing to stay healthy (hopefully slimmer tummy by summer ☺)
  
  
• Getting a good tan
  
  
• Volunteering more
  
  
• Keeping my room and bathroom organized
  
  
• Saving up for that nice camera
  
  
• Cooking more
  
  
• Finding joy with just a relationship with Jesus
  
  
• Getting out of the house more
  
  
• Getting straight As
  
  
• Not procrastinating
  
  
• Becoming more fashionable
  
  
• Reading more
  
  
• Going out of my way every day to help someone
  
  
• Sleeping at normal times
  

Three months to go…no more like three months down.

A few days ago marked the halfway point of my commitment to remaining single. I cannot believe I’ve already made it halfway. I would have to say, since I last wrote about my commitment, my sanity is back. Last month was a bit crazy mentally, but since then I have been reminded and learned many things. For starters, I’ve been reminded sometimes God does not make His answers clear. Sometimes it takes talking to a person about your feelings to get an answer and some of your sanity back. I’ve also learned that maybe someone I’ve been so wrapped up in isn’t the person I’m meant to be with or at least not right now. Realizing that brings such a peace of mind and let’s me focus more on God rather than spending so much energy dwelling on some one that isn’t even right for me at the moment.

I’ve also realized this month another reason to be thankful for the past relationship I was in, more wisdom and experience. The whole time dating, my boyfriend at the time was dating with a purpose and I thought I was too. As our relationship progressed and I really started falling for him, my reasoning was beginning to get clouded by how amazing I thought he was and how much I enjoyed being in a relationship with him. Don’t get me wrong, he was and still is an amazing person, and has so many qualities I love, but while we were together I wasn’t focusing much on whether he was personally right for me. That didn’t mean I didn’t think we were going to end up together and he was going to be the one at the end of the isle waiting for me to walk down in a beautiful white dress, because I did. But during our relationship I didn’t contemplate if he was personally the right match for me. I knew he was an amazing guy and didn’t like to dwell on aspects that could have not made us the perfect fit. From the beginning, the bigger signs that he wasn’t going to be the perfect husband for me I pushed into the back of my head.

Which brings me to a conclusion of one of the things I’ve learned from this past relationship. I need to always be looking to see if I’m really compatible with a person before even beginning to give my heart away. To really get to know them and see if they have the things I’m looking for, before falling for them. I could have saved myself a whole lot of heartbreak, aka thinking it’s the end of the world, just by following this. So many times it’s easy to fall for a Godly man. I don’t blame every girl that does it. But I’ve realized that just because a man is remarkable doesn’t mean he is perfectly right for me. There are good Godly guys out there, but that doesn’t mean I should think that every Godly guy that I enjoy being with is meant for me. Some guys are meant to be in my life purely for fellowship.

I had to learn this lesson the hard way, but isn’t that normally how it goes? It still hurts sometimes knowing this good guy with a pure heart that I enjoy spending time with isn’t right for me. The good part of the story is that he is proof there are good guys out there and God is sculpting and shaping my future husband into the man he needs to be right now. Plus frankly, if we had worked out, I would never have made it to this point in my walk with God, so it’s a WIN-WIN situation if you look at it that way. I have many more thoughts, but don’t even know how to begin to sort them out so expect a couple more blogs soon :)

Not just a worship song.

"Your love is deeper than any ocean, higher than the Heavens, reaches beyond all the stars in the sky."



This is something that I constantly have to remind myself every single day. That God's love is enough. There is no one on this earth that could love me as much as my sweet Jesus does and that thought alone helps me to remember He is my portion.

Psalm 73:26

"My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever."

Haiti

http://hopeforhaitinow.org/

My Second Month with Jesus

As I awoke this morning I was reminded of God’s deep love for me. Today marks my second month of refraining from dating. I definitely have to say when I first decided to embark on this journey I never expected it to take all of these unexpected twists and turns, trials, confusion and experiencing a different type of God’s love. Even though the first month was difficult, I would have to say this second month took me by complete surprise. It’s funny what God faces you with when you decide to give up the whole idea of men.

To be honest, I’ve messed up. I haven’t stayed true to all of my guidelines and have let my heart get far too involved with a guy, without even dating, crazy right? I never imagined the start of January to go this way. It took me by utter surprise and God sure did test me. I would have to say this month was one of the most confusing months of my life. I’ve never felt from such happiness to so much uncertainty to the point of tossing and turning almost every single night. Although, it is amazing how so much confusion can lead to so much prayer.

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

Prayer has been laid deep on my heart this month. I know I can’t do anything without talking to God. (Well, I guess I could, but what would be the point of living through life’s trials alone?) I’ve also been reminded, He won’t be crystal clear with you at times when you feel like you need Him to be most. It’s crazy how when you are so confused, all you are left to do is talk to God.



I’ve been asking Him lately to romance me. I never really thought of having an intimate relationship with God this way until reading Captivating. It makes sense if you think about the idea. What do all women want? What is placed deep in the heart of every woman? The desire to be romanced. I never pictured Jesus being able to romance me. The idea actually seemed silly in the beginning, like I shouldn’t be viewing Jesus like that. How could He fill that type of desire? I decided to put aside my presuppositions and just see what would happen. The first time I prayed for God to romance me I didn’t know what to expect. I was a bit skeptical and expected either the sky to light up or nothing happen at all. I didn’t notice too much that night, but decided to be persistent and try again the next day. What did the King decide to romance me with? A beautiful sunset. I decided to keep up the romance praying and this past Sunday at church when I was faced with my anguish, yet again, I experienced God’s presence immensely. It felt as though He lightly placed His hand on my head. I actually opened my eyes, expecting it to be a person. It felt so good not to only be praying to a God who loves me, but experiencing His love for me as well.

This type of praying not only has brought me sunsets, and an affectionate hand, but also rain. Not just rain, but a storm. I love weather, especially rain! I find it romantic and the idea of running in the rain to your car or twirling around in it excites me! This rain has been beautiful. I love the way it sounds when it hits our patio covering. I love the way it makes the desert smell when it rains. I love the mood it sets. I love rain. Yesterday, when trying to sort out my confusion, I hit a roadblock and became very disheartened. This morning I decided to get my butt out of bed early. I needed some refreshment. While talking to Jesus and looking out into the beautiful sky, still disheartened and a bit teary eyed, guess what appeared right before my eyes? A rainbow appeared. Even though it wasn’t a full rainbow it was just enough to resemble a whisper from Jesus saying, “I love you.” I was in awe. Even though it was only a quarter of a rainbow, it was enough to remind me, I am not alone. I looked to my right and saw my bible and felt like He was telling me to pick it up. So I did. I randomly flipped open to where I had previously carelessly shoved a picture into it. Of course the passage I opened to was meant for me to read right then and there. Yet again, God was working and romancing me intimately.

I’m amazed at this new side of Jesus. I always knew that sunsets are His beautiful creation and how amazing rain is, but I never thought about how intimate God can get with me. I know others have experienced it and I have had those moments with God that amaze me, but I never realized on a day to day normal basis He shows his love for me.

It’s difficult to share exactly what’s been going through my head lately and even begin to sum up this month. Even though I’ve been going through some personal trials that have been draining, I wouldn’t take back anything from this month. I love the fact that when we are in anguish our God is here right beside us. So many things are learned through life’s trials and God’s love for us is never failing. Seeing His love makes it worth all of this.