Aloha

No, we're not going to Hawaii (i could never survive the plane ride) but yesterday at church, we had a wonderful guest speaker who is a pastor of a GROWING church in hawaii called New Hope. He is one of our pastors mentors and it was such a blessing to hear from him. He talked about how for some reason WE were chosen to be here on this earth during the last days and how valuable we each are for different reasons. He had so many good points but a couple things stuck out so I wanted to share the best i could. One was about titheing. I have always and will always tithe...it's such a huge deal for me and it's soo frustrating when people dont but I never looked at titheing aside from the finanial aspect. We are a "titheing people" as Christians which means we give the first tenth to God in every area we want him to bless. Um, wow, I didnt know thats what it meant, I serisously just though that it was my duty b/c the money belongs to God. It makes sooooo much sense though...we want God to bless us financially so we give hin the FIRST tenth, we want him to bless our marriages so we give him the FIRST tenth, we want him to bless us personally so we give him the first tenth of our day. He says that people ask him all the time how he find time to give to God in the morning and he explained that he doesn't plan his day in time. He says we all have a certain amount of energy in one day, on average about 5-6 "pockets". The first pocket belongs to God, before you give your energy to anything else. The next 3 pockets are for work...so many of us (Jay and I included) give so much energy at work that when we come home we just want to chill out). The 5th pocket is for your spouse/family and the last pocket is for your self. In America we are praised for living to work and for spending countless hours there to provide for our familes. But he also talked about how some things bounce back and others don't. For example, (he used this for husbands) your buddies are all going to play golf on Saturday but your son has a baseball game. Your friends are going to bounce back if you're not there but your son will always wish his dad was at his game. You get what I mean. Jay and I both have newish jobs and we are giving SO much to them. Jay is out of town Mon-Fri and even when he is home, I am so tired from my work that we don't save enough energy for eachother. It's exciting though b/c we are SO happy now that we can't imagine how happy we're going to be when we start saving energy for eachother...AND ourselves!! This message was so good and I know I'm not getting close to explaining it right so if you have time go to pinelake.org and listen to the service, you will love it! Hope your week is great!

i LOVE jay!! :)

Today has been FABULOUS!!! I have gotten to spend an ENTIRE day with Jay!! He has been working out of town and he doesnt get home til Friday night so since Mondays are my day off, he arranged to have today off too!! Yesterday Jay got his long awaited kayak so this morning we went down the road (Jay drove, I ran) to a boat landing and tested it out. While he was out, I had such a special quiet time. It felt like I was at camp or something b/c thats the only times I have really had that special time out in nature. It was so calm and peaceful. Then I got to take a spin and it was so fun. Every direction you paddle, the scenery is just beautiful. I didnt want to come back in. But I ran home and Jay loaded up and drove and we got beautfied for our day. My dad is working on constructing a new bank near our house so we stopped by to admire his work and then went to Buffalo Peak to get Jay some kind of waterprook shoes. They sure have come a long way, they look really cool. We had a fabulous lunch at Broad Street...I got a Vegetarian sandwhich and it has portobella mushrooms and red peppers. I made the mistake of looking at it first and it looked like slimy SLUGS!!!! But I ate it anyway, lol. We drove to deck the yard since Jays been dying to go but it wasn't as fabulous as we'd hoped. We tried to find a big antique mall that we'd heard about but we couldnt so we went to some sporting stores to check out some treadmills or bikes for me. I'm not sure which one i want. I want a nice one though, like the once I'm used to at the gym but the only ones we saw were the kind you'd find at a cheap hotel, ya know? Oh well, we'll keep looking. We ran by the mall to get Jay a new wallet and then to Barnes and Noble so I could look through some Vegan cookbooks. Since it's just me at night for dinners I always have fresh vegetables with black beans but I wanted some ideas for when Jay is home so I can make something more exciting. Jay wanted to check out Healthway which is a cute little health food store and we got the yummiest treat! I got dairyfree peanut butter "icecream" (soy) and Jay got raspberry froyo. It was so yummy and since it's over 100* today it was perfect. Then we went to the market and got groceries and now we're home for the evening. Jays making some work phone calls so I'm catching all of you (meaning my sister) up on life. By the way Happy Anniversary to my sister and Steven!!!!! :)
My nephew, Berkeley is in town for a few days and we got to hang out with him yesterday on the boat. He is soooo precious and he has really developed his own personality. We love him and all our nephews more than anything. We are so blessed to have such a special relationship with all of them.
Well, Jays wrapping it up so I'm going to take advantage of every second I can with him. Peace out!

A happier note...

So I felt like I needed to add something a little more upbeat so I did this question thing. It's kinda long and boring but dont read it if you dont want to...


Can you Drive a manual? a stick? yep, it's what i learned to drive with.

Something that keeps you going everyday? definetly crack...unsweet iced tea ;)

Do you own a gun? no, i want one but i'd be afraid jay would sleep walk and shoot me or something

Do you like who you are? i am a child of God and i LOVE it

Do you have A.D.D.? nah, i'm pretty focused

Country you've been in? north and south america, mexico

Aren’t thunderstorms awesome? yeah, except now that we have satellite they can get kind of boring when the tv goes out...
Who is your cell carrier? att

Would you rather be rich or famous? rich, i would never ever enjoy being famous

Do you like the cold? i dont hate anything more

Are you happy you are alive? i feel so blessed to be alive

Do you think gay marriage is wrong? i do, it's just not the way God intended, but i do enjoy a gay man every now and then...very easy to get along with

Do you like looking up at the stars? i can't actually look up b/c of my neck and i never take the time to lay down and look at them

Would you ever cheat on anyone? never ever ever ever

Do you want to move? in a while but i know this is where we're sposed to be right now

Do you burn or tan? tan

Are your parents still married? yes, such great examples

Are you happier single or in a relationship? with my husband!

Do you have any children? just our pup daisey and hopefully she's all for a long while

What other languages do you speak? ebonics

Do you daydream a lot? i dont have the time to daydream

Do you like swimming? i love it

What is the make and model of your phone? moto razr

Would you ask your crush out? i dont have much contact with zac efron...lol

Do you like the ocean? i love it..or maybe i just love the idea of it...

What are your thoughts on stay at home moms? they work harder than any other job in the world, i have so much respect for them

What are your thoughts on abortion? knowing how difficult it is for some to conceive and then seeing the tragedy of losing a child, i can't imagine how anyone could go through with an abortion

What are your thoughts on affirmative action? i hate to say that i can't give an educated answer on this

Who did you last get angry with? the man i att had to call from work...i was red hot

Do you still live with your parents? nope, not in many years

Coke or Pepsi? havent had soda in years

How many credit cards do you own? none!

Liberal or Conservative? in between

Would you ever go skydiving? yes but i'd have to be pushed out of the plane

Have you lost any one close to you? yes, it's such a deep pain but it's such a natural part of life

How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock this morning? none, i usually wake up before it even goes off

Do you think you are smart? i do

Talk to any of your ex's? i guess technically

How old were you when you got your first kiss? 15

Do you do your own laundry? yeah but i want a maid soooo bad

Do you want to get married? i LOVE being married

Do you want kids? someday i want a whole herd of them

Are you shy? no but i can be introverted sometimes

How many times have you moved? i dont feel like counting

Do you hear voices? sure

Who is the last person to call you? my momma

How many e-mails do you have? i just deleted them all

What is in your nightstand draw? everyone knows thats private ;)

Are you religious? i'm spiritual

How do you feel when someone betrays you? sad for them that they haven't learned that life lesson

Sad Weekend

Last night Jay and I experienced something incredibly sad but among many others, were so blessed because of it. Our dear friends Joe and Gretchen unexpectedly lost their baby at 8 months pregnant. Last night was the funeral. I've never been to a babies funeral, I've actually only been to 2 funerals in my life but this one was special. I think they would be proud to hear me call it a worship service though because after hearing their testimonies, thats what if felt like. It all happened on Monday when Gretch noticed that the baby wasn't moving so just to be safe she went to the Dr on Tuesday and thats when they found out that there was no heartbeat. They told her they could induce her or they could do a C-section and thats what she chose to do. They got to hold her for a while after that and they both described a peace that came over them and a "vision" of Jesus holding their baby girl. Her name was Grayson Strong and even though she never took a breath, she has had a powerful little life. Of course they are both deeply heartbroken but they have such strong faith and I am in awe of how they are getting through this. The service itself was so special. It was at the future site of their church and we all gathered around in the woods with nature all around and sang worship songs, it was so sweet and perfect. Joes brother spoke and then Joe spoke and also read a letter that Gretchen had written to Grayson. Everyone was crying but it was a different cry than you would expect, I think we were all just so proud of them for being so faithful. Their church pastor gave a wonderful message about making a choice of being bitter or better and gave a clear message on how to give your life to God if you hadn't taken that opportunity before. Afterwards they took her ashes which were in a tiny silver jar with a pink ribbon and scattered them around the site because their church family has meant so much to them. My heart is so heavy for them and I know it will be for a while but I am not longer worried for them because I know that they are still serving our God and just like we sang last night, How Great is Our God. Please commit to praying for them as they get through this. They also have a little girl named Isabel who was so looking forward to being a big sister. They're a precious family and I know that they need all of our prayers.

Great weekend!

I am struggling to get back into the grind after our wonderful weekend getaway for the 4th! We had such a good time with eachother doing all the activities and just being with eachother. We got to the resort at about 12, checked in and went straight to the beach. When we got down there, it was soooo crowded and I got oddly introverted and was really uncomfortable but once a chair opened up and I got all situated, I didnt want to leave! It was soooo nice to just lay out and do nothing. Jay took advantage of the kayak which he loves and then after a little bit of laying out with me, he was cooked so he headed up to the room. I stayed for about another half hour before I went up. We brought our own food but we planned on our dinners out. The resort had 5 restaurants but NONE of them offered anything slightly vegan...not even vegetarian. So thank goodness for Kashi bars and carrots or I would have starved..haha. That night we sat on our balcony and watched the cities fireworks show. Saturday we decided to go into Fairhope and walk around town and we found a couple of cool antiques. We had lunch at a cute little restaurant and then went back to the beach. We put our name on the list to jetski and while we were waiting, we kayaked and layed out a bit but unfortunatley my head was hurting sooo bad so we went up to the room and rested a little bit before doing the jet ski. A storm was coming in so the waves were HUGE! It was almost too choppy to really enjoy it b/c it was hard to control but we still had a blast. We found themost wonderful restaurant EVER for dinner...it was all organic and everything could be prepared vegan!! It was so cute and candlelit and cozy. Jay got Wasabi pan seared Tuna with asparagus and saffrom rice and I got veggies and brown rice. It was soo good! Sunday morning we walked around the resort and then headed to Pensacola to have a quick lunch with my brother and nephew, Berkeley. It was soooo good to see them. We got to stop in World Market and get a few things too. The traffic on the way home was awful, it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get 33 miles. We were really frustrated so we started saying things that could make the situation worse so that we would be thankful for our situation. It's hard for me to be around negativity so I have to always find a way to make the situation better. When we finally found the reason for the trafric, it was so sad. It looked like a car had exploded, there were so many firetrucks and smoke everywhere. Sad. Oh and along the way we saw some idiot drinking beer while he was driving. That just makes me soooo mad. Ugh. Anyway, we had to board Daisey for the first time ever at Chateau La Pooch and my parents picked her up for us and when we saw her, it was sooo exciting! We missed her sooo much!! So now we are home and jays back to work and I am waiting for the Dish Network man to get here. I have so much to do before my work week starts tomorrow so I hope he hurries! I hope everyone had a great weekend too!!