• Faith,  Life,  Wedding

    What’s Up Wednesday: March Edition

    March 30, 2016

    Friends, I made it back to my blog this week. I know I haven’t been gone long but I’ve really missed sharing my life with whoever may be reading my posts. SO MUCH has happened over the past two weeks. I don’t even recognize my life as it’s changed so drastically. Tommy and I both started new jobs last week – me on Monday, him on Tuesday. It’s been so very awesome but has come with it’s challenges as any type of change usually does. (I actually started posting this yesterday and didn’t have enough time to go past this point but today I was determined to write a post and my favorite What’s Up Wednesday was happening so I knew I couldn’t miss this.)

    WUW Questions

    What we’re eating this week:

    I wish I could update you on how awesome we’ve been doing with eating healthy to follow up on my earlier posts about how I was learning to cook healthy meals but unfortunately that is just not the truth. Well it would be partially true – Tommy’s been doing a lot better than I have been. I just have been so busy with starting a new job where I don’t get home until after 6 so who has time to cook at that hour haha not this girl. But anyways I plan to do meal planning for next week and jump back on the healthy eating train because I really miss how good it makes me feel.

    What I’m reminiscing about:

    silly bahamas
    Here’s a silly picture of us from the Bahamas

    I know I mentioned this in another What’s Up Wednesday post but I’m really truly reminiscing about our Bahama vacation we took last August. Now that we are only 53 days (YES JUST 53!) away from the wedding I honestly cannot stop thinking about getting married and flying off to relax on a beach in the Dominican with my new husband. So the closest thing I can come to that is our last vacation in the Bahamas so that’s what I keep thinking about.

    What I’m loving:

    IMG_6222
    Tommy at his new job 🙂

    Just how absolutely faithful God has been to both Tommy and I. I mentioned before about how we both started new jobs last week and I am just in awe at how God has brought these jobs into our lives at just the right time. He is so faithful and always knows what we need and I just can’t get over how good He is.

    What we’ve been up to:

    Obviously I kind of just talked about this but getting used to our new jobs is basically what we’ve been up to. I’m working 9 hour days, which I am not used to. I don’t get home until 6 and barely have any free time to do anything which is why I haven’t been blogging much. Tommy starts work at 5 am so he’s been sleeping early so I try to spend as much time with him before he has to go to bed.

    We’ve also been doing a lot of planning for the wedding. We sent out invitations this week (!!) and I bought soo many decorations for the wedding which has been some of my favorite things to do. I think I shared that already but those are just some of the decorations! 🙂

    What I’m dreading:

    Hmm well since my job is only temporary – it’s supposed to be 4 months, I am dreading having to look for another one and having to go on interviews again. They’re really not fun but I don’t have to worry about that for a little while. I’m also praying that God opens doors at the company I’m at so it’ll be an easy transition but we’ll see I guess.

    What I’m working on:

    Finalizing everything for the wedding and searching for an apartment for Tommy and I to live in! I can’t even explain how happy I am about that. We’re trying to find something for the beginning of May so that we can start moving everything in and get settled before were married so that when we come back from our honeymoon we can just relax and get used to our new life together. 🙂 🙂

    What I’m excited about:

    puerto plata.jpg
    our honeymoon resort

    Well this post should honestly just be titled what I’m excited about because that’s all I’ve been talking about lol. New jobs. Finding an apartment. Getting married. Going on our honeymoon. So. much. goodness.

    What I’m watching/reading:

    Honestly not much. I haven’t had much free time but I’ve been reading (very slowly) When Sinners Say I Do which is really great. I started a new Netflix show this month and I love it. I’ve heard so many people talk about Grey’s Anatomy so I decided to try it out and I’m hooked.

    What I’m listening to:

    I don’t listen to any podcasts or any audiobooks so I never know how to answer this one but I’ve been listening to Nash FM in the mornings and I just love how happy country music is.

    What I’m wearing:

    Just trying my best to dress professionally at my new job. It’s weird being at the bottom again and having to prove yourself to others. I’m not a fan but I’m trying my best and part of that comes with dressing professionally.

    What I’m doing this weekend:

    IMG_4647.JPG

    Hopefully some hiking, I just love the pictures you get when out hiking. I love how it’s great exercise and so therapeutic too. Tommy and I are also house sitting for his aunt for the week and that starts this Sunday so that should be really fun. Except she has cats which is really the whole reason why we’re there. Yuck.

    What I’m looking forward to next month:

    My bachelorette party and bridal shower! I’m super excited about both of them and I can’t wait to see what my maid of honor has up her sleeve. 🙂

    What else is new:

    This is always the hardest one to answer seeing as I just typed up a summary of my whole month so what else could possibly be new? Honestly not much else is going on. I’m getting used to working again and for longer hours. I’m getting used to not seeing Tommy quite as much. I’m getting more and more excited to be married the closer we get and I’m getting more and more prepared for the wedding. This past month was a good one and so so much has changed. I can’t wait for April to fly by and it be our wedding month! Oh I almost forgot to mention, we took our engagement photos this month finally and I cannot wait to share them. I will try for later this week but here’s a sneak peak! 😉

    IMG_9125.jpg

    What’s up with you guys? I’ve missed reading everyone’s blogs. I’d love to chat.

    I’m linking up with Shay, Shaeffer, and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

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  • Faith,  Marriage

    When things are just the way you want them to be

    March 18, 2016

    Hi friends! I just wanted to drop in and share with you what God is doing in my heart lately. I share in hopes that I’m not alone in this, that maybe someone reading this may either be feeling this way or have in the past. But I just want to start this post off by praising God for what He has been doing in my life. If anyone reads my blogs at all they know I’m GETTING MARRIED IN JUST TWO MONTHS. Just for that alone I need to give all the praises to God for because if you asked me three years ago if I ever thought this day would come I would have told you quite grumpily “yeah right”. But here I am about to get married to the greatest guy I know and I just can’t believe that God has allowed me to walk this path.

    As if that wasn’t all the goodness I could handle, on top of that both Tommy (my fiance) and I are starting new jobs next week. Yep you read that right – God has done something crazy amazing and had us find out that we both would be starting our new jobs on the same week and now we both are actually starting these jobs just a day apart from each other. Again if you asked me if I thought God would do something like this a few months ago when we were struggling to find out where He wanted us I would never have thought He would do this.

    So these are all amazing things and I am over the moon (is that the phrase??) excited for them both. The thing that makes me sad is that I wish these things made me want to run out and tell everyone I know about how good God is. And I guess part of me actually has, coming here and writing about it, but in my “offline” life I am way more reserved and shy and less likely to give God the glory.

    When life is awesome and going just how I want it to I start to feel like I don’t need God anymore. It’s painful to admit but it’s just what I’m realizing is the truth. When I don’t have something that I am waiting for God to show up for, I am less likely to lean in and pray earnestly to him. I am less likely to even obey His commands. Somewhere in my sinful brain I think I start to believe that when things are bad, if I just listen to Him well then everything will be alright. But honestly we all know that’s just not true – He’s a much better God then we make Him out to be and His grace doesn’t depend on our obedience.

    So today I am just going to just try to meditate on that fact alone. His goodness doesn’t depend on me and what an amazing truth that is. Even when I’m struggling to stay obedient to Him, He still loves me and is pursuing me.

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  • Faith,  Life

    Life is hard

    March 10, 2016

    Can I just take this time to vent right now? Will you be a friend to listen to what I have going on in my life right now? There are so many thoughts circling around in my head and I don’t know what to do with them all so here I am. I have three more days left of work and I seriously DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FEEL. Not having a job has been something that I have thought might happen to me for the past three years (see here if you have no idea what I’m talking about). It finally is a reality now and I really thought I had prepared myself for it. I never really felt afraid of not having a job – I have always known that God would provide for me, but I guess I never saw it being like this.

    If I’m being completely honest, I never thought that God would allow me to end my current job without me already having another job lined up for right afterwards. When everyone was asking if I was looking for a job two or three months ago I always responded with “Nah not yet. It’s too far away”. I always thought that once I started looking it would happen sooner rather than later because, well God was on my side. I knew He would open the doors to get me in where it was best for me.

    I mean that’s what happened with the job I had now. I wasn’t even looking for a job and someone insisted on me applying for this one and it ended up turning into more than just a job but a way to support myself – and even more than that. It gave me more than enough money to live well and also gave confidence too. This job was something I never knew I always wanted. It turned into something that I could see results in when I put in the effort to work hard. I got recognition for a good well done here in a way that I never have had before.

    I’m hoping to find another job that is similar to this one where I can set goals and see the results but I’m questioning how to know if that’s where God wants me? It’s hard not knowing which direction to go in. It’s hard to wait on God to open doors for you when you don’t even know which direction to start walking in. I’m learning that sometimes this involves trial and error and that in and of itself is hard. No one likes to fail but all I can do is keep moving forward and taking the steps that I think are right and keep believing that God will direct my steps in his timing, not my own.

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  • Faith,  Life,  Wedding

    The Happiest Five on Friday

    March 4, 2016

    T.G.I.F! This week was a looong and hard one but definitely a productive one so I’m really happy now that I’m at the end of it. I have so much to share this week – I’m so excited.

    Five good things from my week:

    ONE

    jesus

    Tommy and I joined a community group through our church a little over a month ago and it’s been hard to get ourselves there every week. We are both very introverted and have a very hard time putting ourselves out there but this week was amazing. We both really opened up and really learned what true community of a group of Christians is supposed to look like and I’m so happy about it. ALSO I PRAYED OUT LOUD FOR THE FIRST TIME. I’m still in shock myself.

    two

    Wedding update: We ordered our invitations! We seriously love them, they’re so cute. My mom’s cousin knows how to do calligraphy so she said she’ll address them for me so I’m excited about that too. We also booked our engagement session photo shoot for March 19th and I’m so excited 🙂 (and also kind of nervous).

    THREE

    I have another interview on Monday for a job that would be just perfect. I’m really hoping I get it but also realizing that having a few months off of work wouldn’t be terrible either so I’m trying to be okay with either. It’s for a position that I would be doing basically what I’m doing now but making 5 more dollars an hour so that would be wonderful obvi. Prayers are definitely appreciated.

    four

    dinner

    Tommy and I have been sticking to our meal planning this week after a terrible weekend and Monday off. I was really discouraged in the beginning of the week because we hadn’t had time to meal plan or shop for food over the weekend because our engagement party was on Sunday but once Tuesday hit I was determined to get up back on track. It was definitely rocky to start, I was really tired from a full weekend but we’ve done pretty well under the circumstances. We’ve also worked out twice in a row this week and have plans to go to the gym again tonight. This might not seem like much but for us it’s huge. We normally talk about going to the gym like all the time and never follow through but since it was the start of a new month I was determined to make this month about getting into gear with working out and eating healthy since the wedding is only about 2 1/2 months away! Sorry for that ramble train I just had to get that all out haha.

    FIVE

    engagement party

    I almost forgot with everything else going on this week that we had our engagement party this past Sunday. I want to do a post just on that but I need to get the pictures from Tommy’s mom. It was so fun to have all our friends and family in one place celebrating with us. It’s really cool to see everyone so excited for us. Both of our mom’s threw the party and cooked, and made decorations and everything. It was awesome.

    So yeah that was my week. I don’t want it to seem overly glorified though because even though it was a great week, it didn’t come without it’s struggles as well. The beginning of the week was just HARD and getting ourselves to the community group was also very HARD but I believe God rewards those who are obedient and I’m glad we pushed through the hard and have made progress. How was your week? Was it an easy one or difficult like mine? I’d love to hear.

    Linking up with A. Liz Adventures, Bright on a Budget, & September Farm

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  • Faith

    How my Psychology degree has hindered my walk with Jesus

    March 2, 2016

    So a little background about myself, in case you didn’t already know I graduated from college last May with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Although this wasn’t my plan when I started school when I was fresh out of high school. (How do any 18 year olds know what they want to do with their life – someone please tell me?) Anyways, when I was 18 I thought I wanted to be a teacher because that’s what always felt right. I had always loved children, loved being around them, and taking care of them. So the logical thing in my 18 year old mind was to become a teacher. Because what else was there really?

    And this was my plan 3 years in even. I started taking teaching classes my third year of college I believe and it was then that it hit me – I didn’t want to be a teacher. I’m terrified of public speaking (even with those precious Kindergartners). I just knew this wasn’t what I was meant to do. I didn’t feel that I had the skills to do it well so I dropped the major. And in New Jersey when you’re planning to be a teacher you have to double major because apparently teaching isn’t really a degree anyway.. it’s a certificate. So my second major was Psychology, honestly just because those were the only classes I enjoyed taking in college so it seemed fitting.

    So here I am with a Psychology degree and still don’t know what I want to do with it, but that honestly wasn’t the point of this post. I wanted to share with you how learning about Psychology has actually hindered my walk with Jesus. When you take Psychology classes the point is to teach you why people do the things they do and learn how to help them. A lot of modern day helping is to medicate people so that they don’t have side effects of past traumas, which I definitely do think is necessary sometimes but not to the extent that our country does it.

    So I’ve learned a lot about myself through this classes, which is awesome and I’m so glad but I’ve learned recently that I have come to think it gives me an excuse for having the flaws that I do. And while yes it does kind of, it doesn’t give me an excuse to stay there. I have the hardest time confessing something after I learned WHY I’ve been doing it. For example, my mom raised my brother and I with a very critical spirit and has in turn passed that onto me. It is just who I am because it’s what I learned. And honestly do you know how HARD it is to change something that has been drilled into you for decades?? Very hard let me tell you, I’ve tried.

    So sometimes it’s much easier for me to stay hidden behind the ITS NOT MY FAULT excuse and go about my life just the way I am. Jesus loves me this way anyways right? Well yes, of course but what I’m learning is that I’m missing out on so so much by refusing to repent of these really hard things.

    I’m missing out on the intimacy of knowing Jesus and knowing how much He loves me and how much He has really forgiven me for. I’m missing out on intimacy with my sweet fiance who loves me enough to deal with my stubborn self. I’m realizing, though it’s hard, repenting of these sins is the only real answer to true growth and happiness with both Jesus and those closest to me. I don’t want to hide behind my excuses that I’ve learned through Psychology. I want to grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

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  • Faith,  Life

    Skills to become a successful adult (they’re not what you think)

    February 26, 2016

    I just finished the book Changes That Heal and it literally rocked my world. The book has five parts – Three Ingredients to Growth, Bonding to Others, Separating from Others, Sorting Out Good and Bad and Becoming an Adult. It was actually quite convicting and I felt really discouraged until I got to the part where the author wrote about how we all struggle with these things as a result of sin entering the world. (Phew it’s not only me.) But it was super helpful and eye opening and it is helping me better relate to those around me.

    But for this post I wanted to share with you what I learned from the Becoming an Adult chapter. It sounds silly almost because I started off thinking well I am an adult, I don’t need help becoming one but it’s more about how to grow into a successful adult. It’s about how to disconnect from parents or how our parents did something and seeing God as our true Father – the only one we have to obey.

    I’m only going to share with you some of the key steps to being a successful adult because there are many and I don’t think you want to read all of them (at least not here) haha but if you like these I highly recommend this book. It was great.

    8 Steps to Becoming a Successful Adult

    • Reevaluate Beliefs- Why do I believe what I believe? Because someone told me to? Because of my own experiences? This may sound silly but when I sat down to actually answer it, it wasn’t quite as black and white as I originally thought.
    • Recognize + Pursue Talents- Recognize and work on developing strengths. If you do not know what yours are – ask God. Ask others too.
    • Practice- Learn to value process more than result. Go out and fail, then laugh it off and do it again. Everything requires trial and error. Learn to enjoy your talents.
    • Recognize the Privileges of Adulthood- Remaining in a child position is safe because everyone does the thinking for you – all you have to do is lose your self-respect. Adults have freedom to choose their own talents, values, beliefs, relationship with God, tastes, friends, and church.
    • Submit to Others out of Freedom- Submit to others out of love, not obligation.
    • Do Good Works- You are God’s prized possession and He created you to do good works. As you work with Him to develop your talents, seek Him for the good works you are to do. They do not have to be grandiose. Your good works could be a link between God and a few neighbors, donating time to an orphanage or needy family. Don’t think you have to save the world too quickly.
    • Become a Pharisee Buster- Looks for ways you are still doing things for approval. Let go of the ways you are trying to earn approval – they only eat away at your soul.
    • Appreciate Mystery + the Unknown- In many ways God is unfathomable. He is so awesome that the more we known Him, the more we realize we don’t. This is where worship begins. Begin to appreciate the things that you cannot figure out about Him and let them be.

    Becoming a Pharisee buster is definitely one of the most difficult ones for me. I so tend to operate out of wanting others to approve of me or even wanting God to approve of me. I need to slow down and remember that He already does. I also struggle with appreciating the unknown about God, it’s getting easier the more I know Him but let me tell you – that ones a tough one for me.

    Were these helpful for anyone else? Which one was the most helpful or maybe the one you struggle with the most? I’d love to chat. 

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