The Holidays

I absolutely LOVE the holidays. I love getting to see my family, I love all of the festivities that come along with it, the parties, the delicious food and desserts, and most of all I love getting to celebrate the birth of our King! For the longest time, I also loved that it meant no school for a good while. And since I have a job in which I still live in semesters, it still kinda feels that way :). For the past 5 years it has been completely normal to go to my parents house in Houston for an extended period of time (usually almost a month) over Christmas break. This year, I didn't realize that being married would make hanging out at my parents house for that long might be a little much. Not that we don't love my parents, but just not being in our own space, our own home, and living out of a suitcase can wear on you over a period of time. So needless to say, when we found out our schedule for coming to Houston (Brett's parents didn't come back to the states), we were a little fearful of what our 11 day stay at my parents might look like. I am blessed beyond belief to say that it has been absolutely wonderful! Brett and I have had so much fun while we have been here AND we completely unpacked our suitcases so that we wouldn't feel cluttered :). I am really sad to be leaving tomorrow because I have had SO much fun with my family. I love that the Lord blessed  our time in Houston. It shows that he cares about the little things in my life.

December has been a little crazy and also ends up being a travel period for us. Our travels look like this:
Dec. 17th-29th in Houston for my family Christmas
Dec. 29th - Jan. 5th in Fort Worth for The Winter Conference for work
Jan. 5th - Jan. 9th - back in Houston for Brett's cousins wedding
Jan 9th we make the trek back to Lubbock.
In total, we will have been away from our home for 3 whole weeks! Like I said before, this is the first time that this feels weird to me since we are married and Lubbock feels more like a home than ever. So I'm sure by Jan. 9th, I will be more than ready to be HOME!

But as for right now, I am still in Houston. I just finished packing for The Winter Conference and I felt the urge to blog. I know it's been a while but wanted to update you on things that have been going on in December. Once I started writing though, I realized that this is already kind of long, so I'll share with you about some of my month through pictures instead :)

Brett and I at our Staff Christmas Party in Lubbock before we left for Houston!

When we got to Houston, we spent LOTS of time with our niece Braelyn. She saw Santa and didn't even cry.

One night, we hung out with Brett's sister Julia and went to look at all the pretty Christmas lights in River Oaks.

We also took Brae to the park and she LOVED the swings! We got to spend a ton of time with with my sister and bro-in-law (Jen and Brad). We love hanging out with them and wish we lived closer!

This is my family on Christmas Eve. We went to church, ate a yummy dinner, then ended the night with a Nintendo 64 Mario Kart tournament. I always win :) Christmas was great! It was both Jen and I's "years" to spend Christmas with my parents. It was the first Christmas for Brett and I to be married and the first Christmas for Braelyn! We are blessed with a wonderful generous family! We were also able to spend time with Brett's sisters and have a gift exchange with them. Jessica (Brett's sister) and Griffen (her husband) cooked Brats for us and it was delicious! I don't have pictures to document that part, so I am writing an extended caption instead.

There are so many more things to write about, but maybe that is just a good incentive to keep me blogging more often!

Tomorrow we head to Fort Worth for a week for work. I am excited about our time there and look forward to sharing about it with you all! I'll leave you with something I was reminded about from my mother-in-law this morning. 1 Thess. 5:18 talks about giving thanks because it is the will of God. It was a good reminder to give thanks in all circumstances, even when something unexpected  happens or something doesn't go our way. It is the will of God for us to give thanks. It helps reconnect our soul with the one who created us. The more we push away from the Lord, the more bitter we may become at our circumstances that are unfortunate.There may be disappointments you are dealing with, but give thanks in all circumstances. It is worth it!

Until next time,

Kim

P.S. True Grit is an awesome movie and I think you should see it. This is coming from a girl who is not the least bit interested in westerns.

I never promised I'd be good at blogging...

I'M SORRY IT HAS TAKEN ME THIS LONG TO BLOG. Phew...now that that's off my chest I feel a lot better. I knew all of you were secretly judging me for being so bad at updating :).

So I cannot believe it's already December. I was literally JUST saying that about November! I'll give you a quick update on what's been happening in my life:

• Brett shaved his beard. Yes this deserves a bullet point on it's own because it took about a century for him to do it. He looks GREAT!
• We went to our regional staff conference the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a GREAT time of connecting with staff in our region (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas). We got to be with lots of old friends and meet a ton of new ones!
• I witnessed a lady walking two horses on a leash. A horse on a leash? REALLY?! AND this is not the first time I've seen this before!
• We spent Thanksgiving in Houston with my family, and saw Brett's siblings also!
• It was 80 degrees and humid. Ew.
• Saw Harry Potter and loved every minute of it. I can't believe I am saying this but I would actually not recommend it to someone who has not kept up with the series. It will confuse you big time.
• We spent a ton of time with my super cute 10 month old niece. She has had some milestones in her life including puckering her lips to kiss you and waving goodbye!
• My sister gave us their old Christmas tree because they got a new one, so we have a cute little tree put up in our apartment!
• It was finally cold enough yesterday to wear my cute new white pea coat!
• One of my best friends from Summer Project (if you don't know what this is you should...www.gosummerproject.com) came in town and I was able to have lunch with her today! SUCH a great time of getting to reconnect. We had not seen each other in two years!

I've had a great past few weeks. Brett and I are always listening to Pandora Holiday Jazz station (I pulled out my Nutcracker that counts down the days to Christmas about a month early) and we celebrated 4 months of marriage today. Or maybe yesterday. I don't know what day because there is not 31 days in November. 

Unfortunately I am now sick as a dog. I believe it is sinus stuff and I apologize if you are one of the people (Kelli) who I may have given this to. I just took NyQuil a few minutes ago and currently all the words on my computer screen are very hard to read, so I think I'll be going to sleep now.

Pray for Brett as he is talking at our CRU weekly meeting tomorrow night for the first time!

Peace and Love,

Kim

A campfire is for OUTDOORS only!

SOOOO this past Friday night Brett and I went on a date night. He wanted to do something different, so we went to the store and bought firewood for our fireplace at our apartment! It was the first time we were using it, so of course we were excited. Brett gets it all ready while I am standing behind him asking a million times if he is SURE this is how it's supposed to work. Not long after, the fire is crackling and we are getting ready to watch The Office. This is when we realize that our apartment really stinks. Like seriously, it smells SO heavily of smoke and fire that we both begin to think something is terribly wrong. Our eyes are beginning to burn and we begin to look around the room and see that it is filled with smoke. I turn to the fireplace and I can visibly see smoke POURING from the fireplace INTO OUR APARTMENT! Naturally, I am freaking out and suffocating from inhaling so much smoke (maybe there is exaggeration there, maybe not). So our next step is to figure out what the HECK was going on with our dumb fireplace. Because obviously it was the fault of the fireplace, not me or Brett. ***This is where everyone says "Ooohh you didn't open up the chimney, did you?"*** No. We didn't. And we didn't even know we needed to. I guess I just assumed that chimneys were naturally open. How else would Santa be able to get in?! So Brett gets out the oven mit, pulls the lever, and the chimney opens...and they lived happily ever after. The End.

I might have left out a few pieces to this awesome story:
1. We had actually seen the chimney lever before we even started the fire, but we jiggled it and pushed it and nothing happened, so we assumed it wasn't anything we needed to worry about.
2. Before Brett stuck his hand in the fireplace, we decided to pour water on the fire to at least make it stop. This caused for what looked like the black smoke from LOST to attack our living room.
3. Because the entire apartment was so smoke filled, we opened every window and door to air it out. This caused for a FREEZING night of watching The Office.

Luckily, our walls and mantle did not turn black from smoke. Lesson learned....don't build campfires inside...aka make sure your chimney is open before using your fireplace.

As much as I thought I was going to die from a fire in my apartment, I can now laugh at what will be a really funny story to tell our grandkids someday :)

the hair

Okay, here is a picture of my new haircut, along with our pumpkin child named Penelope!

November ALREADY?!

I cannot BELIEVE how fast October flew by! It was a busy month, that's for sure, but I am still in shock that today is November 1st! Many new things have occurred that I would LOVE to share with you:

1. I chopped my hair off! Picture to come soon...but it is short. I'll give you a day or so to imagine what it looks like.
2. We are currently looking for a new kitchen or dining room table. The beautiful table we are hosting for our friends Kelli and Teddy will be leaving us the last week of November. They are able to move into a new place that has room for it, so we are on the prowl. We can't decide if we want to get something cheap for the time being, or invest some money and get a table that will last us for years and years. If you know of any good deals or anyone getting rid of a table, let me know!

3. Brett is doing "No Shave November" but he started the second week of October. Weird. Here are some pictures of his progress...

October 10th

October 15th

October 23rd

October 27th

We'll see how long he lasts.
4. I ended up NOT making the slow cooker Chicken Parmesan. We took a second look at the recipe and realized it was not what we thought it was. Lots of mushrooms and stuff....ew.
5. Today I am making puppy chow and a new chicken and rice casserole. Hopefully it turns out!
6. Brett and I celebrated 3 YEARS of dating on October 29th and 3 MONTHS of marriage on October 31st. I'm sure eventually we will stop counting our dating time...but for now it's still fun!
7. We already ordered our Christmas cards through Shutterfly and are excited to receive them soon (they have great deals for a limited time so you should check it out @ www.shutterfly.com)

Check back soon for a picture of my new hair :)

blessed

I feel so blessed these days. Nothing in particular has changed to make me feel this way, but I think I am just becoming more and more aware of the Lord' blessings in my life, which makes me extremely grateful to think about. Something that has stuck out to me the past few weeks is this verse in 1 Thessalonians.

"He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it"  - 1 Thess. 5:24

How blessed are we to have a Lord who cares about us, who is faithful in providing for us, and who calls us to certain things in life, not so that we can fail, but so that HE can work THROUGH us. This has been a big encouragement as I get anxious about Brett and I's future and all of the unknowns in life. I am encouraged to know that if I am walking with the Lord, seeking His approval over man's, and searching for godly counsel among other believers, that I will be in the midst of God's calling for my life. Truly, I am blessed.

This weekend was the first time that Brett and I were apart since we've been married. He was at a "Men's Advance" (because men don' retreat) for our ministry. Of course I missed him, and was lonely around the house, but I was able to busy myself with lots of different things. I went to a Gospel Men's and Women's Conference at my church. Dave Bruskas was our guest speaker and he did a wonderful job. For the first time I was able to really comprehend what it means in Genesis 3 about "your desire will be for your husband". This doesn't sound like a curse to me, so I never thought anything of it. But the word desire really translates to mean the need and want to control him. Well DUH this is a curse! I can't tell you how many times I try to control and manipulate Brett. As women we think this is normal and just how things will be, but we should not overlook the fact that this is a direct effect of our sin and not how God intended our lives to be. If you want to listen to the talks from this conference, it should be up on Redeemer's website soon:
www.redeemerlubbock.org.

Hope you have a good week!

found the camera!

Brett found our camera! We actually left it in the center console of my car, not in Houston...which is a lot more convenient. So I'll give you a quick update and then show you some pictures!

This weekend we drove out to the Ragtown Gospel Theatre on Friday night with some of our staff team. This was quite the experience! Lots of elderly enjoying some good gospel music and drama performances. Overall, I enjoyed it. Brett on the other hand was extremely sick to his stomach that night and I don't think he was able to muster up even a smile :(. On Saturday we gladly accepted some free tickets to the Tech game against OSU. It was my first game of the season to go to, but unfortunately we lost and left extremely sunburned. Still it was fun to be a part of all the festivities again! Sunday was my first in three weeks to be back in childcare at church! We teach the 4 and 5 year olds, but because of being sick and then out of town, I haven't been there in a while. It was fun to see all those kiddos again and it's really fun to see some of them TRULY get the lessons we are doing. It's neat to be a part of sharing the gospel with young kids! Sunday night we enjoyed some fellowship with our gospel community at church. We are grateful for finding a community of people to connect with outside of our Campus Crusade bubble we feel like we are in sometimes.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to make Chicken Parmesan in the crock pot....I'll let you know how it turns out :)

Brett and I at Ragtown Gospel Theatre

Here are some of my favorites from our Houston visit:

Braelyn getting her bath at Nana's house

Sweet baby playing in her tub aka the kitchen sink.

All kids love Brett more than me...I'm not bitter though.

He will be a great Daddy in the FAR future :)

I would walk 500 miles....

Okay so maybe I wouldn't really walk 500 miles, but it's a fun song I used to sing in Young Life...and since we just drove 500 miles to Houston, I thought it was fitting. I really might consider walking that far to see my cute niece though which is what Brett and I did for our long weekend. We drove what felt like forever on Friday afternoon and finally got into Houston at 10:30pm. Not really sure how this happened, but we actually went 30 minutes out of the way. I cannot even count how many times I have driven the same drive to Houston from Lubbock, but we must have just not been paying much attention because we found ourselves on a different route, which ended up being fine. Saturday morning I was eagerly up before 9, waiting to see my niece, Braelyn, who I hadn't seen since June! I was so lucky to get to spend 3 days with her, my sister and Brad, and my parents. We were able to pick up Brett's sister Jessica and her new husband Griffin from the airport (they were coming home from their honeymoon). It was fun to hang out with them, see their new place, and go out to dinner. I'm really glad we were able to see them. We also had the privilege of getting to spend some quality time with Brett's other sister Julia on Monday afternoon. Her apartment is right next to the Galleria in Houston and is really cute! It was fun to connect with her and hang out. Overall, we had a good weekend! I rekindled my love with the card game Spades, and got some GREAT recipes from my mom that I cannot WAIT to try! We just made the 500 mile trip back to Lubbock and I realized I forgot my camera in Houston (at least I hope I did, cuz it's not in my purse). So I will leave you with this picture I stole from my sisters blog. Hopefully more to come when we get our camera back!

wedding weekend!

This past weekend, Brett and I went to Austin for his sister Jessica's wedding! This was SO much fun for several different reasons which I will now share with you all:

• This was the first wedding Brett and I have been to since our own. Because a lot of what was said at our wedding was a blur, it was really fun to actually be able to listen to the message given and the marriage vows. Made me feel all lovey dovey toward Brett :)
• This was the also the first time for me to see all of Brett's family since we've been married. Literally, the WHOLE family (aunts, cousins, grandmas, on ALL sides). On Friday night we went out to eat to Chuys with the immediate fam (minus Jules). Saturday we had a bridal luncheon for Jessica at Hula Hut on the lake and that night we had the rehearsal dinner. Sunday morning was an early one. We arrived at the wedding venue at 8am to begin setting up the place and getting everything ready for the 11am wedding. Needless to say, I really felt a part of the family (being in all the family pictures helped)! I spent LOTS of time without Brett by my side, which was really good because I was able to connect a lot with my new fam! Here are a few pictures of the wedding!

  

• I found my dream house. Well, at least my dream living room/kitchen/dining room. We were blessed to stay with a friend of the Marcos' and they have an AMAZING house. Pictures? DUH.

• The weather was perfect, there were trees, and there were hills. All of which make for an awesome combination of nature (unlike what we see in Lubbock).
• Got to spend about 14 hours with Brett in the car. We jammed to some old DC talk cd's, had an EXTREMELY lengthy conversation about what we could be for Halloween (we still don't know, not like I would tell you if we did), slept, laughed, and surprisingly didn't get lost ONCE!

 

Overall, it was just an amazing weekend! I am excited about our next trip on Friday to Houston. We will be visiting my family this time since we have a long weekend. Looking forward to 18 more hours of car time with Brett and seeing my sweet niece!

lovely ladies: part 2

Okay so here is part 2 of the lovely ladies in my life. I introduced you to Kelli, Katie, and Misty yesterday, and now want to talk to you about Cotter, Lori, Dana, and Jen (all of whom were bridesmaids in my wedding!)

From left to right: Kelli, Jen, me, Lori, Cotter, Dana

We'll start with Cotter (aka Megan, Meg-e, M-cot). Cotter and I have been friends for the longest out of all of my close friends. We met the 1st day of our freshman year of high school in our dance class. Lucky for us, we get to celebrate a friendship anniversary every year in August, and this August marked what I think was our 9th year of friendship! Cot and I have remained close every since that year, more specifically after our sophomore year of high school. We ended up being college roommates for 3 years (once she transferred to Tech from Baylor) and I cannot imagine my high school and college without Cotter (which by the way, I didn't start calling her this until she decided to require it among her friends as her nickname). I think out of all the people I'm friends with, I share the most memories with this girl. She is the best listener you will ever meet, has the most contagious amazing laugh I've ever heard, and is just plain fun to be around! (oh and the picture is from our Senior Night After Prom, 2005!)

I met Lori my sophomore year of college but didn't really get to know her until she was basically our 5th roommate my junior year. One of my favorite things about Lori is her random pieces of wisdom. She knows all sorts of home remedies to get stains out and clean carpets. She always knew the random trivia at the football games, and could probably tell you something about anything you asked her about. She's just so wise! Lori and I had the privilege of working together with Crusade as well, but she has recently moved to Canada for her husbands football career. The thing I admire most about Lori is her walk with the Lord. I feel like she truly knows what it means to walk by faith, to blindly trust the Lord with her future, and to abide in Him daily. I'm so sad to be so far away from such a great friend!

Dana and I lived across the hall from each other our freshman year of college in the dorms. We became instant friends after bonding over our obsession with The OC and were basically inseparable that year! Dana and I went through hard breakups together and finding our soul mates together. College would not have been the same without Big-D. She has walked through so much of life with me it is unreal. She was the first friend my age to get married and move away from "college life". She is one of those friends that I can pick right back up where we left off, even if we don't get to see each other/talk to each other as much as we used to. Living 5 hours away has not been fun, but I love and cherish the time that I get to spend with Dana. She has taught me what a true friendship can look like with frustrations and all, but you work through it! I'll leave you with a picture of Dana and I from freshman year (the typical Dana face has not changed much over the years :) )

I met Jen when I was born, although I don't remember meeting her. From everything our parents tell us, Jen didn't really like me. Something about having a new baby in the house and her no longer getting all the attention, I don't know?! Well anyway, Jen and I are sisters if you didn't get that much so far. She is my only sibling and I can honestly agree with the statement that you get closer when you are no longer under the same roof. We fought growing up...a lot. But we also had lots of great fun times. Overall though, I would not say a true friendship formed between us until she moved out to go to college my sophomore year of high school. Something about not living together really drew us closer, and we have continually grown closer ever since. I love hanging out with her and her sweet family (her husband Brad and 8 mo.old Braelyn). She is extremely wise and caring. We have so many funny stories from weird family vacations, to her leaving me in the parking lot in high school when she was supposed to be my ride. I care so much for my sister and never imagined calling her one of my best friends, but she truly is! Once again, I am sad to live far away from one of my favorite people in life. I'll leave you with this awesome picture of Jen and I a few years ago. She used to get really mad at me because I would want to buy the same clothes or shoes as her. It still happens often, but she doesn't get mad anymore. Here is a picture of us with the SAME haircut, SAME glasses, and SAME dress in the Target dressing room. I oftentimes don't think we look alike, but there is no getting around it here!

Hope you enjoyed hearing about some of my best friends and what they mean to me!

lovely ladies: part 1

There are several lovely ladies in my life that I don't know what I would do without. I am one lucky girl because I have the privilege of working alongside 3 of these lovely ladies! Let me introduce you to Kelli, Katie, and Misty!

Kelli and I met for the first time planning a Womens Retreat for Crusade my freshman year of college. We ended up being college roommates for 2 years and then continued to live together for another 8 months until she got married. She graduated a year earlier, decided to intern with Campus Crusade, and 1 year later I did the same! Kelli is the first person that was truly vulnerable with me from the get go. So much so that it probably freaked me out a little bit at first! She had already been on a summer project with Campus Crusade before we started living together, so she brought things she learned there into our roommate life, allowing us to be real with one another rather than putting on a front to cover how we truly felt. Kelli is also loud, funny, sarcastic, an amazing opera singer, and loves to dance (kind of weird like). It was an honor to have her stand next to me at my wedding! 

 I first met Katie when she joined the staff team at Tech while I was still a student (in 2008 I believe). I remember when I got back from a Spring Break trip to Chicago that year, Katie wanted to sit down with me and hear all about it...what we did, what I learned, how my heart felt toward the city, and what the Lord was doing in and through me. This is a perfect explanation of Katie. She is SO INTENTIONAL! I love that she asks me questions, cares what the answers are, and is the best encourager I know. Once I decided to intern with Crusade, my relationship with Katie grew to a real friendship. I no longer knew her just as "the cute new staff girl". This picture was from the day I got engaged. Katie was one of the many people that I met with along my scavenger hunt to get to Brett. She sat down with me at Sonic and I will never forget our fun conversation. She asked me all about my relationship with Brett, how I was feeling, my walk with the Lord, etc. Again...SO INTENTIONAL!

Misty and I met for the first time in Santa Cruz, California on a Summer Project in 2009. We were both staffing the project, and she was leading all of the women. Going into this project, I knew there was a possibility that she would be joining the staff team at Tech and leading the staff women here, but she was currently on the staff team at OU. I had no idea how much I would value her being at Tech until after that summer in Santa Cruz. Misty has the amazing ability to befriend ANYONE and make you feel extremely comfortable and welcome regardless of the situation. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that Misty would be joining our team at Tech! She has only been here for a few months, but she brings amazing leadership to our team. Not only is she an awesome boss (because technically, she is my boss), but Misty is one of the most caring friends I have. She helps me think through lots of hard situations, laughs when I laugh, comforts me when I cry, and rejoices with me when I rejoice. She also is great at asking good questions :).

Well that completes part 1 of the lovely ladies in my life (I'll be continuing with more lovely ladies, so check back soon). I am so blessed to work with some of my best friends. Thanks ladies for always being there. I can't imagine my life currently without you girls in it!

- Kim

well it's monday again...

It's Monday again and I'm tired. I got up early to get breakfast with my good friend Brooke. And by early I mean...6:50 which I know for some of you may not be a big deal at all...but for me and my job that doesn't start at sunrise, it is! BUT, it was a fun time with Brooke because we decided that we are going to read the book Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas and get together about twice a month to talk about how it applies to our lives. I read this book while Brett and I were engaged (so not that long ago). But I feel like it would be way more beneficial now being married AND having someone to talk about it with. If you haven't read this book, I would recommend it, although it can be a little difficult to get into. It goes against the cultural norms of marriage and has the "audacity" to say that marriage is meant to make us holy not happy. Food for thought...

click here for more info on this book!

 

 

 

 

 This past weekend was a lot of fun! Brett and I rented a season of The Office on Friday night and watched a lot of that, then on Saturday we went to lunch at One Guys! It was a surprise for Brett to take me there because he ALWAYS talks about how good it is and I ALWAYS tell him that I've never been. So we went and it was in fact very good. Brett was planning to try to buy tickets to the Tech vs. Texas game that night outside the gates before kick-off, but he was blessed with a FREE ticket instead! Woo Hoo!!! (good thing too because we lost). So what did I do? I went shopping. I bought some new shoes at Dillards which were on the 70% off rack - always a plus. Then, I finally finished selecting pictures and putting together my engagement and wedding albums through Shutterfly! I can't wait to get them in about a week! Here is the cover picture of our wedding album...one of my favorites!

Jennifer Bellah Photography

Then on Sunday we did the church thing and then had an awesome Fiesta! with our Gospel Community at Redeemer. Before our wedding it was too hectic to pull something together, so last night our small group hosted a Fiesta honoring our marriage! It was so fun to eat together, hang out, hit a pinata (yes we did this, and yes it was mainly adults), and just hang out at Buffalo Springs Lake. We felt very blessed, loved, and encouraged by our friends we have made at church!

Oh and something else fun, my sister-in-law (fun to say that!) is getting married in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! For those of you who are confused, this is Brett's sister. And she is getting married in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! Brett and I are excited to start a busy season of traveling as we head to Austin for Jessica's wedding and then to Houston the next weekend to visit my family and family member of honor: Braelyn! She is my niece and I'll leave you with a picture of her because...why not? She's adorable! Hope you have a great Monday :)

This is last months picture (she is 8 months today actually!) but I just love how hard she is laughing at their dog Ranger!

being a wife

The title of this may be misleading...seeing as how my days of being a wife only add up to a little over 40 and I don't know much about the whole aspect. BUT, with the wonderful job that I have, I am allotted a half "wives day". This means that for half of 1 work day out of the week, I can go do whatever it is I need to do to be a good wife. Really, it could even be taking a nap if that would make me in a better mood when the hubby gets home! Well I didn't really know what I would do during this time and I figured I would play it by ear from week to week. But today marks "wives day" # 2. Since we have had a few short weeks with the first week of school and labor day, I haven't really had a good taste to see what this will look like. I feel somewhat silly writing the cliche "wifely" duties that I have gotten done today so far, but I feel SO productive!

 In the span of 2 hours I:

• picked up my order from Kinkos and made more copies for bible study
• did laundry
• emptied the dishwasher
• climbed behind the tiny little space where our dryer is and fixed that dumb coil that keeps falling off
• changed the sheets on the bed
• swept the floor
• made a fruit salad consisting of fresh apples, bananas, blueberries, grapes, and cantelope
• made "bacon tomato appetizers" (recipe from Lisa Bollens)  
• washed all the dishes I used to make this stuff

Still on the list of things to do:

• vacuum
• put away laundry
• my 28 day devotional that I'm going through

So overall, it is funny how the picture of a 1950's housewife hasn't changed much when I have an afternoon at home. The only difference is I am DEFINITELY not wearing pearls, heels, and a cute polka dotted dress ;).

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our apartment and a recipe of what will hopefully be delicious bacon tomato appetizers. I'll let you know how they taste!

This is the view from the back door

 

 

 

View from the front door

Eating area

Kitchen AND laundry room :)

Bacon Tomato Appetizers!

Ingredients:
1 10oz can of refrigerated flaky biscuits
5-6 slices of bacon (or bacon bits)
1 tomato, 1 onion (if desired, and it was definitely NOT desired here)
1/2 cup of mayo
1/2 cup of swiss or other cheese
1 g. of basil

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Separate biscuits into thinner layers and press biscuits into 24 muffin or mini muffin tins
Chop bacon and sprinkle into each cup
Chop tomato, coarsely & add several pieces to each cup (if tomato is juicy, drain on paper towel)
Finely chop onion, mix with mayo, cheese, and basil
Add small amount of cheese mixture to each cup
Sprinkle a few more bacon bits/pieces on top
Bake 10-15 min. or until golden brown

wedding gifts, videos, and pictures...

Wedding gift...

So Brett and I got an air mattress as one of our wedding gifts and we were really excited about it. We were trying to think of a time when we would actually be able to use it, and we came to the conclusion that there wasn't one. At least not in the near future. So we do what anyone smart would do: we blew up our air mattress for no good reason other than to say that we've used it and put it on the living room floor! Unfortunately, we didn't get this brilliant idea until 10:00 at night. We got really excited, got it all set up to pump the air into it, then found out we didn't have batteries for our pump. Sad right? Well, we heard from our friends that you can blow up an air mattress with a hair dryer. SOOO....that's exactly what we did. Sounds simple, and in fact it was (other than the fact that I was paranoid we were going to melt the plastic or start a fire inside our apartment). The only bummer was, we didn't get it blown up until about 10:30, realized its not near as comfortable as our actual bed, laid on it for MAYBE 30 minutes while we watched some of our wedding video, and then deflated it immediately so we could have our living room back to normal. But was it worth it? YES. My biggest regret about this night was the fact that I didn't even take a picture of how silly we looked camping out for 30 min. in our living room to share with the blog world. Next time friends....next time.

Wedding video...

I mentioned above that we were watching our wedding video while laying on this air mattress. Yup, you heard it right. We got our wedding video this Tuesday and were SO excited to be able to re-live our special day! Some highlights from the video watching:

• getting to watch the moment when Brett and I saw each other for the first time 
• watching my dad dance back down the aisle after the ceremony (didn't get to see that one in real life so this REALLY made my day)
• timing my dads speech and realizing it was a record 9 min. and 13 seconds
• going through the reception in slow motion to laugh at everyone's awesome dance moves (and of course rewinding to watch the REALLY funny ones)
• realizing that one of Brett's friends Joel actually got his glasses knocked off of him during the catching of the garter

Overall, we were extremely pleased with our video and getting to remember all of the funny, sweet, and happy moments from that day. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Wedding pictures...

Last but DEFINITELY not least, we got ALL of our wedding pictures back! Big shout out to the wonderful Jennifer Bellah and 2nd shooter Courtney Ryburn for their amazing work at capturing all the details of our wonderful day!

If you want to look at all of our pictures and possibly even purchase some for yourselves, you can go to:

http://jenniferbellahphotography.instaproofs.com  

Password: Marcos

I'm warning you now...there are a TON! But if you just want to see a few of my favorites, go here:

http://blog.jenniferbellahphotography.com/?p=910

Have a great weekend!

walking by faith

So lately this phenomenon of "walking by faith" has been coming up ALL. THE. TIME. I don't know exactly what God is trying to tell me by continually putting this before me, but I guess I'll have to walk by faith to find out? (lame play on words, I know ;) )

It started recently in my prayer life. I found myself using that phrase over and over when praying for others, myself, my future, Brett, etc. Then, I started this whole blogging thing, which of course got me reading other peoples blogs. I have been REALLY encouraged by my friend Megan Reed through all of this. As I read about her adventures in India and Cambodia, I can't help but think she is truly someone walking by faith. After Megan's blog, I was thrilled to find out that our good friends The Arledge's updated their blog. Now the chances of this happening were slim considering Meredith had not blogged in 2 YEARS! But of course, she decides to blog, and you guessed it, she spurs me further toward this whole "walking by faith" thing. (if you want to hear a cool story, click on their name above because it is truly an inspiration to me!). Okay so this now brings me to today where I still sit thinking about this phrase.

Walk by faith. What does this even mean?! I guess literally it means having to depend on the Lord for every single step that you take, whether it be out of bed, down the stairs, to your car, off the bus, etc. I don't know that I even think of the Lord throughout my thousands of steps that I take daily, but on a broader scale, I am dependent upon the Lord for lots of things.

What has come to my mind more often than not when thinking of walking by faith though, is that God has the power to give and to take away. He has the power to snatch anything that I am holding close to my heart away in a millisecond. He has the power to cause extreme discomfort in my life, and then what? Am I going to walk by faith then? I think it would be a lot harder to begin walking by faith in the midst of disaster, heartache, or weakness. So after all of this, what the Lord has been teaching me is quite simple: to walk by faith...NOW. To blindly follow Christ. To prepare my heart for what is to come. To be okay with change. To step out of my comfort zone. To love the Lord and truly BELIEVE that He is working for my good through ALL things. And that ALL things good come from Him.

Like I said, it's quite simple right? Well, maybe not. What do you think? What does walking by faith mean to YOU? I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

jumping on the bandwagon...

Well, I decided to jump on the bandwagon of blogging. I've been an avid believer in non-blogging for a while now but have decided to take the plunge. I initially didn't want to blog because I figured no one would read it and I wouldn't update it. Well I know I have at least a few friends who will read it, and as far as updating goes, I'm not promising anything. The main reason that I decided to blog is for the sole purpose of keeping my friends and family updated with my life.

This summer, there were hundreds of miles separating me from my normal community for the majority of the time. I really enjoyed reading update e-mails and blogs from friends who were diligent enough to update. I found myself feeling extremely connected to those who updated through blogs, but then I realized that those people have no idea what is going on in my life. So with that being said, this blog is for those who I neglect to call, update, and write to on a regular basis (and anyone else who wants to read, because I know even though we're in the same place, Kelli and Cotter will probably be my # 1 fans :) )

Along with this summer sparking an interest in blogs, it also marked the beginning of a new stage in my life. A life in a body that has now survived a kidney stone! Just kidding. Well actually I'm not because that is in fact true, but what I am referring to is my recent marriage to the wonderful Brett Marcos! I hope to update you all on the new/fun/exciting things that come with marrying your best friend, along with the hardships/lessons learned/humility that comes with it as well. I hope to share my thoughts on how God is working in my life, things I am learning, and the daily in's and out's in the life of a Marcos :). I promise you that it will not be that insightful and probably not that exciting, but I hope you enjoy staying connected with me!

Until next time...