Over the past few years there have been a LOT of prayers going up, asking God to put us in our town where we could dig in and raise our kids. At least for a while. ;) Nothing is permanent right?? The last couple of years we lived in a great little town called Greybull, while we really enjoyed being there and will forever be thankful for the two years that we got to spend there, it just didn't feel like "it". You know that feeling?? When you come across something and you just know that it is right.
WELL! Here we are in Pinedale, Wyoming, waking up to antelope running through our yard, or hanging out eating the grass and pooping. We have a gorgeous view of some incredible mountains, the sunsets are amazing!! We have two bathrooms!!! Suuuuuuuuuuper exciting stuff. Seriously. The boys are happily settling in and getting used to all of our new routines. I'm busily trying to recruit all of our family to move over here. The two little men and I drove up to Jackson on Tuesday and the drive was GORGEOUS! Followed the Hoback river almost the whole way, every time we went around a curve in the road I expected to see elk, moose or a bear! We saw none...but that was ok. It was still so beautiful. Can I tell you how ridiculously exciting it is to see a moose?? They are so cool!!
Every day we wake up and give thanks for the chance to be where we are. Ryan and I get to work out as often as we want/can, the big boys are doing swim lessons! Rygby looooooves being in the water too...unfortunately mommy is just not motivated enough to do the mommy and me swim lessons with him. At this point in time anyway.
I've also come to some major realizations lately about my prayer life! Every time I turn around I'm reminded of how much I'm missing my time communicating with my heavenly Father! When all three boys and I were home it was easy to wake up before them, NOW it's painful. I'm still staying up late to do schoolwork (sometimes I peruse through my favorite mommy blogs and Instagram accounts...) and I have never been a morning person. I'm pretty much awful at it. I dread sleeping, it makes me feel guilty. Ridiculous, I know. But it does! I hate lying there not actively doing something, I think of the extra pages I could be reading, the quiet house time I could be having, the dishes I left in the sink....again.
All that to say! I'm doing an overhaul of my quiet time. Coming up with a plan for reading, studying and applying Scripture. Writing out my prayers again (taking prayer requests!! I love coming alongside my friends and family and joining them in prayer.) Being better about memorizing Scripture! Which won't be hard to do since I'm pretty much awful about that!
I'm excited.
I'm excited for this time of growth (when aren't we growing??), excited to be challenged, excited to grow closer with God.
In school right now I'm taking a class about studying God's Word...reading "Grasping God's Word" by Duvall and Hays. So amazing guys. I have been SO challenged and blown away. But that's for the next post. :)
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. ~Romans 11:36
God bless you!!! Praying for each and everyone of you. I hope you feel God's embrace and wonderful purpose in your life today.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Ten years of celebrating March 5th
WHAT?!?!? I know. Ten years. It's crazy. It went fast. It went furiously. ;) It was amazing. Ten years of life with my husband. I still get goosebumps when I introduce Ry as my husband. MY HUSBAND. God has blessed me big time.
My beloved is mine, and I am his.
Song of Solomon 2:16
"I found the one whom my soul loves" (S. of S. 3:4). When I met Ry around eleven years ago (spring break of 2004 in Canada!!! WOOOO!) I knew I was going to marry him, the first day he revealed to me the kind of man I wanted to spend my life with (I had just turned 20 and he was almost 25). After the second day of being around him, I knew he was the man God had made just for me. Other than my belief in God, I had never been more sure of anything before or since. THEN I got to spend a week alongside him serving God and others at the most beautiful Young Life camp ever. There could not have been a more perfect, God designed, way for the two of us to meet. It took Ryan a little bit longer to realize we were made for each other. But once he did! We were engaged, planning a wedding, I moved to Florida for four months, then BAM. There we were.
Husband and Wife.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Ephesians 5:25
When Ryan proposed to me I was shocked. Completely taken back by it. I had been waiting...and waiting...and waiting...every moment seemed like THE moment and then it wasn't! The weekend we went to Joseph, OR to run our dog, hike, eat food, I had finally let go of the expectation that it would happen. The night we arrived at his family's cabin he pulled out a metal basin and heated up some water, set it in front of me and took off my sandals, I was really concerned that my feet were stinky! He assured me they weren't (he wouldn't have told me if they were) and proceeded to wash my feet and tell me how much he loved me and how he wanted to live out the kind of love that Jesus has for His church. I cried. We hugged. He did not propose. ;) The next day we went on a hike out to "the rock" and while we were out there we got attacked by these horseflies! They were nasty!!! I asked if we could leave, Ryan was glassing, so he bends down to put his binoculars away and spins around on his knee with THE box! I was so excited!!! He asked, I said yes, he put it on! We hugged!! Still so exciting just thinking about it. Side note...we didn't kiss until a couple of months before we got married, but that's a whole other story.
Our wedding was pretty low key, I just wanted to be husband and wife and move on with life! Our first year of marriage! Man, was that an eye opener. We argued differently, we kept house differently, we had different ideas of when kids should show up! (He was most definitely right on the kiddo timeline.) We realized just how differently God had made us! Designed us! Looking back over the last ten years of marriage, I am so thankful that God designed us this way.
Marriage is a constant check and balance. Give and take. Push and pull. ;) You get the idea. LOTS OF PRAYER. Checking in with one another to see how life is going, where you can support and encourage. How am I doing as your wife? What do I need more (or less of) from you as husband?
Not everyone likes the word "work" in reference to marriage, but it takes purposeful commitment and work (I don't have a negative connotation in regards to that word) to make any relationship work. It takes effort to get together but when someone is worth it, it stops being work and simply brings joy. I'm so thankful that God put me together with someone who puts God first and his relationship with God is first. Just like my relationship with God is first and there is a natural overflow that leads to huge blessings. (Look into the book You and Me Forever by Francis Chan and Lisa Chan, SO GOOD people!!!!) If you are both aspiring to be Christ-like it'll pour back into your marriage. God is so good.
So it only took 4+ months to post this...more to come. :)
My beloved is mine, and I am his.
Song of Solomon 2:16
"I found the one whom my soul loves" (S. of S. 3:4). When I met Ry around eleven years ago (spring break of 2004 in Canada!!! WOOOO!) I knew I was going to marry him, the first day he revealed to me the kind of man I wanted to spend my life with (I had just turned 20 and he was almost 25). After the second day of being around him, I knew he was the man God had made just for me. Other than my belief in God, I had never been more sure of anything before or since. THEN I got to spend a week alongside him serving God and others at the most beautiful Young Life camp ever. There could not have been a more perfect, God designed, way for the two of us to meet. It took Ryan a little bit longer to realize we were made for each other. But once he did! We were engaged, planning a wedding, I moved to Florida for four months, then BAM. There we were.
Husband and Wife.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Ephesians 5:25
When Ryan proposed to me I was shocked. Completely taken back by it. I had been waiting...and waiting...and waiting...every moment seemed like THE moment and then it wasn't! The weekend we went to Joseph, OR to run our dog, hike, eat food, I had finally let go of the expectation that it would happen. The night we arrived at his family's cabin he pulled out a metal basin and heated up some water, set it in front of me and took off my sandals, I was really concerned that my feet were stinky! He assured me they weren't (he wouldn't have told me if they were) and proceeded to wash my feet and tell me how much he loved me and how he wanted to live out the kind of love that Jesus has for His church. I cried. We hugged. He did not propose. ;) The next day we went on a hike out to "the rock" and while we were out there we got attacked by these horseflies! They were nasty!!! I asked if we could leave, Ryan was glassing, so he bends down to put his binoculars away and spins around on his knee with THE box! I was so excited!!! He asked, I said yes, he put it on! We hugged!! Still so exciting just thinking about it. Side note...we didn't kiss until a couple of months before we got married, but that's a whole other story.
Our wedding was pretty low key, I just wanted to be husband and wife and move on with life! Our first year of marriage! Man, was that an eye opener. We argued differently, we kept house differently, we had different ideas of when kids should show up! (He was most definitely right on the kiddo timeline.) We realized just how differently God had made us! Designed us! Looking back over the last ten years of marriage, I am so thankful that God designed us this way.
Marriage is a constant check and balance. Give and take. Push and pull. ;) You get the idea. LOTS OF PRAYER. Checking in with one another to see how life is going, where you can support and encourage. How am I doing as your wife? What do I need more (or less of) from you as husband?
Not everyone likes the word "work" in reference to marriage, but it takes purposeful commitment and work (I don't have a negative connotation in regards to that word) to make any relationship work. It takes effort to get together but when someone is worth it, it stops being work and simply brings joy. I'm so thankful that God put me together with someone who puts God first and his relationship with God is first. Just like my relationship with God is first and there is a natural overflow that leads to huge blessings. (Look into the book You and Me Forever by Francis Chan and Lisa Chan, SO GOOD people!!!!) If you are both aspiring to be Christ-like it'll pour back into your marriage. God is so good.
So it only took 4+ months to post this...more to come. :)
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
I took a break!!
And now I'm taking another one...only this time, it's from school. Since I've last written I feel like life went from crazy, to CRAZY!! Having three boys moving around our little house has kept life exciting for sure! Rygby (a phenomenal little boy who brings joy every day) does NOT like to sleep well...in fact he woke up and I had to stop typing this! I still have faith that someday he will in fact sleep through the night. Some.....day....
So! I started school back up last August, after my "maternity leave", and things were going well and then everyone started to get sick (just cycling through colds/viruses) nothing major but enough to keep me up even longer than I was already doing to get through my classes.They never got sick at the same time but just kept going, one after the other. THEN. We came back from Christmas in Oregon (a horrendously long trip with three kids, at times) and all the kids got sick, I was even more exhausted and sleeping less than I already had been, drinking five cups of coffee a day and trying desperately to remember whatever the heck it was that my eyes had scanned across five seconds earlier! Needless to say my school work was suffering and my lovely teacher was noticing. (Corban is fabulous and you take one or two classes for five weeks at a time.) I managed, by the grace of God, to muddle through the remainder of those classes and came to a sanity saving conclusion that a break was needed.
Here I am. On my break. Exhausted because two are still sick, but completely relieved because I don't have to write a paper tonight. I have been reading for fun! Crazy! I know. At the beginning of March I started reading through First Thessalonians every day (lots of amazing things happening there, will share at a later date) and will continue to do that through the end of March, it coincides with my ladies Bible study. I've been pretty lazy, not going to lie, and have simply been reveling in the fact that I don't have homework. I don't HAVE to read, I get to. Do not get me wrong! I LOVE my program, I find what I'm learning about to be fascinating and am SO excited to use all of my tools and knowledge someday when I grow up. ;) But, I was having a hard time functioning in a healthy manner and was desperate for a moment to catch up on life.
Rygby is about to turn one in less than a month! I have no idea how that happened. Ryne is staring down kindergarten and can hardly wait, some days I feel the same way! Dude is like his mom and LOVES to be around people, I unfortunately cannot provide that 90% of the time. We both love Sunday and Tuesday's because we get to go to church and Bible study! Rytan is as funny as they come and a riot to watch around the house.
During my break from school (I start back up in August) I'm going to be working on a mission statement, I have been talking about doing one for years and am finally going to do it. I am 31 years old (WHAT?!?!), have been married for TEN years (PRAISE GOD!!), have three amazing little men (an answer to prayers that had been going on for well over ten years), and am feeling more settled in who I am, who I am becoming. The woman that God has made me to be. There is a very good chance that you (whoever you might be) will see a few drafts of that mission statement on here. It is going to include where I feel God is calling me to in a professional sense, who I am as a wife and mom, where I hope to see myself in the next six months, year, five years, ten years, physical expectations (hoping to complete a half marathon later this year....), and more. I love writing things down. My husband can attest to you that I am NOT the most organized person but I love my pens (purple ballpoint) and journals.
As much as this started out to share our lives, as a break from facebook..., this will very much be turning into my own little journey. Especially between now and August, when I get to go back to school. For now!! I want to leave you with a verse that really hit home today, as a wife, mom and friend, I want to live this verse out:
We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12
(Emphasis my own)
I want to live a life worthy of God. Worthy of the calling he has placed on my life. In turn I want to encourage you to do the same. I want to encourage you to turn to him in all aspects of your life (pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17) and encourage you to seek out people in your life that are going to actively push you towards him. I do believe God has made me to be an encourager, so think of me as your personal cheer leader and please let me know how I can pray for you! Encourage you! Or simply sit back and listen. I am here and I am ready.
So! I started school back up last August, after my "maternity leave", and things were going well and then everyone started to get sick (just cycling through colds/viruses) nothing major but enough to keep me up even longer than I was already doing to get through my classes.They never got sick at the same time but just kept going, one after the other. THEN. We came back from Christmas in Oregon (a horrendously long trip with three kids, at times) and all the kids got sick, I was even more exhausted and sleeping less than I already had been, drinking five cups of coffee a day and trying desperately to remember whatever the heck it was that my eyes had scanned across five seconds earlier! Needless to say my school work was suffering and my lovely teacher was noticing. (Corban is fabulous and you take one or two classes for five weeks at a time.) I managed, by the grace of God, to muddle through the remainder of those classes and came to a sanity saving conclusion that a break was needed.
Here I am. On my break. Exhausted because two are still sick, but completely relieved because I don't have to write a paper tonight. I have been reading for fun! Crazy! I know. At the beginning of March I started reading through First Thessalonians every day (lots of amazing things happening there, will share at a later date) and will continue to do that through the end of March, it coincides with my ladies Bible study. I've been pretty lazy, not going to lie, and have simply been reveling in the fact that I don't have homework. I don't HAVE to read, I get to. Do not get me wrong! I LOVE my program, I find what I'm learning about to be fascinating and am SO excited to use all of my tools and knowledge someday when I grow up. ;) But, I was having a hard time functioning in a healthy manner and was desperate for a moment to catch up on life.
Rygby is about to turn one in less than a month! I have no idea how that happened. Ryne is staring down kindergarten and can hardly wait, some days I feel the same way! Dude is like his mom and LOVES to be around people, I unfortunately cannot provide that 90% of the time. We both love Sunday and Tuesday's because we get to go to church and Bible study! Rytan is as funny as they come and a riot to watch around the house.
During my break from school (I start back up in August) I'm going to be working on a mission statement, I have been talking about doing one for years and am finally going to do it. I am 31 years old (WHAT?!?!), have been married for TEN years (PRAISE GOD!!), have three amazing little men (an answer to prayers that had been going on for well over ten years), and am feeling more settled in who I am, who I am becoming. The woman that God has made me to be. There is a very good chance that you (whoever you might be) will see a few drafts of that mission statement on here. It is going to include where I feel God is calling me to in a professional sense, who I am as a wife and mom, where I hope to see myself in the next six months, year, five years, ten years, physical expectations (hoping to complete a half marathon later this year....), and more. I love writing things down. My husband can attest to you that I am NOT the most organized person but I love my pens (purple ballpoint) and journals.
As much as this started out to share our lives, as a break from facebook..., this will very much be turning into my own little journey. Especially between now and August, when I get to go back to school. For now!! I want to leave you with a verse that really hit home today, as a wife, mom and friend, I want to live this verse out:
We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12
(Emphasis my own)
I want to live a life worthy of God. Worthy of the calling he has placed on my life. In turn I want to encourage you to do the same. I want to encourage you to turn to him in all aspects of your life (pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17) and encourage you to seek out people in your life that are going to actively push you towards him. I do believe God has made me to be an encourager, so think of me as your personal cheer leader and please let me know how I can pray for you! Encourage you! Or simply sit back and listen. I am here and I am ready.
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