best birthday

oh my goodness, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! my love language is gifts:

Receiving Gifts

Don’t mistake this love language for materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or a hasty, thoughtless gift would be disastrous—so would the absence of everyday gestures. [taken from The 5 Love Languages website]

so whether it was facebook, text message or phone call; it all means so much to me. the idea of being known and thought of has overflown my bucket.

i have to take a few moments to brag up my husband. he blew everyone out of the water! he blessed me over the weekend and on my birthday more than i could have imagined. and look at his first tweet! how sweet he is!

we spent the day relaxing, going to the hunger games movie, and eating raising canes for dinner. it was wonderful. it was worldly perfect.

spring break

well, our spring break is officially coming to a close. the weather was beyond gorgeous. [cody liked to say it was stupidly perfect...]

our week off was spent in norfolk for a few days. while we were there, we...
- enjoyed time with my family
- played games and a bonfire with good friends
- went on walks
- "shot some j's" - [aka played basketball]
- played frisbee golf - [aka "frolf"]
...someone accidenttly threw a frisbee into the lake. thankfully, that someone had her husband there is who is so kind to get it for her :)

- cody also restored our headlights with a store bought kit.

[a dealership quoted us around $70-80. cody found a kit for $10 dollars. we were THRILLED with how it turned out.]

and while we were in lincoln, we painted the entertainment center that i blogged here. 

[pictures are not the best quality. i need to use my real camera more often instead of my phone camera]

 

[coat with prime]

 

[1st coat of paint]

[finished product!]

overall, our spring break was "stupidly perfect". 

weekend to remember

about a month ago, a best friend called me to let me know My Bridge Radio was giving away free registration for Weekend to Remember. being this is our first year of marriage, we both thought it might be something we would like to do but wasn't in our budget for this year. so i figured why not sign up for a free registration. if we got it great! and if not, we can go another time.

[i'm sure you already know where this is going...]

last night we received a call from someone at My Bridge asking if we would still like to go! we didn't win the contest but they received more registrations therefore were able to give more away.

so! March 23-25 we will be going to Weekend to Remember in Lincoln. we are super excited for this weekend for a number of reasons. the obvious of being able to focus on our marriage.

During the weekend, you will learn how to:

• Receive your spouse as a gift.
• Clarify your role as a husband or wife.
• Resolve conflict in the relationship.
• Maintain a vital sexual connection.
• Express forgiveness to one another.
• Increase your commitment, creating an even deeper level of intimacy

(taken from here) - who wouldn't want more of that in any marriage?!

we (especially i) are excited for this weekend also because it is right before my birthday (March 26, btw). ever since March 1, i've been that girl who is reminding anyone and everyone that my birthday is right around the corner. i love celebrations (!!) and am so excited to celebrate that weekend at Weekend to Remember. 

blogs

....a blog is coming soon! tomorrow (ish) i promise!
[it's too pretty outside to be at my computer right now]

child like faith

i love teaching. i love interacting with kids. most of all, i love hearing kiddos talk about Jesus.

this week i was subbing in a kindergarten class. [oh, and i love kindergarten!] as the students were working on a worksheet, it was my job to walk around and monitor their work. as i was making my rounds, i walked by a table of girls who were talking more than working. as i made my way to the table, i heard "Jesus" excitedly come from one of the girls mouths and became very curious. here is the conversation that took place [with much enthusiasm]

girl 1: "DID YOU KNOW JESUS DIED FOR US?!"
girl 2: "YEAH! JESUS DIED! ... FOR US! ISN'T THAT SOO COOL?"
girl 3: "Yeah, did you know that?!"
me: "I did know that"
girl 1: [goes to one of her friends at another table] "DID YOU KNOW JESUS DIED FOR US?!"
girl 4: "Jesus died for us! Isn't that so sad?"
me: It's not sad.
girl 2: "YEAH! It's not sad. HE died so that we may live."
girl 5: "He died so that we could live?"
girl 1: "Yeah, he died so that we could live with him one day in Heaven. JESUS DIED FOR US!"

..and this was the conversation that has brought me much joy. while the rest of the day was slightly challenging, God brought me back to this conversation to show me his simple truth; He died for us.

here is a sermon from john piper about children that i plan to listen to this afternoon. 

here is a short article by piper that you should read.

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4)

snow days

saturday, we received around a foot of snow.
so, we made a snowman.
meet sunny.

provision

this whole substitute teaching thing is going a lot slower than i anticipated. and i mean a LOT slower. this friday will be my fourth job in four weeks. besides subbing with the public schools, i have been subbing at the children's center through the university.  how am i holding up? some day are better than others. but through this i am finally starting to see a glimpse of what the Lord is trying to teach me.

for the past month i have been reading Luke. four days ago i stumbled across Luke 12: 1-34  - and have been camped out ever since.

anxiety...a sin that hits close to home. for me, it usually sounds like: shouldn't i have a full-time job now that i'm done with college? will i get a sub job this week? whats my purpose this semester? what are we going to do after this semester? will we make enough money? am i respecting my husband enough? blah blah blah...

but then, Jesus said:

wow, there is a lot in these 3 verses. but ultimately, seek his kingdom and you will receive what you need. it's that easy? 

i am starting to see this is going to be a process for my heart. a process that probably won't happen over night. God has already shown me that when i seek his kingdom, he will provide jobs. and when jobs are canceled, he wants me to seek his kingdom that much more and trust in his provision. 

what does the next 3 months, year, 5 years look like for us? i don't have the slightest clue. [seriously] what i do know is that i am starting a journey of learning how to seek His kingdom and in return we will be given exactly what we need.