Fun in the Sun....and humidity

Well, I guess it took me long enough, I've only been home almost two weeks since heading to Bama to hang with the family but as promised here is a re-cap and some pictures.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures everytime we did something really fun, but you'll get the just.

After driving through the night, Jarrad and I hit the ground running as soon as we got to Bama. I took a quick shower and headed to my mother-in-laws to spend time with my niece while Jarrad immediately jumped in a boat and went fishing...even though it was already too hot by the time we got there.

I got to do everything I was looking forward to. We spent several nights sitting around the pool discussing times past, the now and the future. This is always my favorite part, just hanging out. I stole my niece away as often as possible to have time with just her and I, we spent all day Saturday at the Lake, my mom cooked some AMAZING Food, Jarrad and I jumped in and cooked one night as well. And the last two days there, Jarrad, my dad and I woke at 5:30 AM to go fishing before the sun rose too high and it got too hot. I have to admit, even though we woke at the butt crack of dawn, and one of those mornings we'd only been in bed for less than three hours before our wakeup call, these were the most relaxing. The one thing I stress about with family is trying to manage time and equally split time between the two families and it often feels like they're battling each other for our time. Luckily, these mornings were stress free. And I have to admit, while fishing was just something I did with Jarrad because he enjoyed it, I was pretty proud of the fish teeth marks left on my thumbs and it will probably become more of a hobby for me as well. I hope you enjoy the following pictures.


This is my niece MaKenna with her granparents ("Honey" & "Paw-Paw"), also known as Jarrad's mom and step dad. She loved the water that day, check out a couple of other images with Makenna as well.





And this is me with my parents. I couldn't have asked for a better duo. They've always supported me in all my endevors (sometimes more reluctantly than others :) but never-the-less, they've always supported my choices). They're also two of the most caring, tender hearted, loving individuals you'll ever meet.


Unfortunately I have no pictures with my sister from this trip as I always forgot my camera when hanging with her, but below is a picture of my "little" brother. He was AMAZING this trip. Whereever we were, whatever we wanted to do...he was there. He didn't care, he didn't try to stress us out, he only wanted to be with us hanging...that was much appreciated. As a matter of fact, I'd like to think he's learned a lot from me over the years, but the truth is, I've learned a lot from him. He's very protective of me, and I LOVE that, he's very caring and it rips him apart if he thinks either I or my older sister are unhappy...funny how my baby brother has kind of taken on the role of big brother over the last few years.

God is the SHIT!

First I'd like to start by saying...I KNOW I KNOW...I owe a post about my time in Bama along with pictures, which is coming this weekend....PROMISE.

This week has been a world wind of a lot of downs and very few ups...but things, as always, quickly turned towards the positive. So secondly, before I continue, I'd like to say I know you probably don't expect to see the word Shit and God in the same sentence, especially when praising him but in this case there's no better way to describe it. For those of you that follow my blog regularly, I know you remember a little post I did on giving God his fair share, tithes, and my promise to do so.

Well, while I was in Bama I sat down one day to pay all of my bills and in the process I wrote my tithes check, put it in an envelope and in my bag to give once I returned to NC. As I returned and was checking my checkbook for the damage done while in Bama, I realized we were low, very low, scarily low on funds and since it was still the beginning of the month, this made me think twice about giving tithes.

But I made a public oath and knew I couldn't back down, so last Sunday I forked over the check with only minor hesitation and then looked to God and said I'll have faith. Well, can I just say that he's hitting me hard and make sure I don't mistake him for coincidence. That week, money Jarrad and I had been waiting on but no longer expecting, suddenly showed up in our mailbox....so maybe that was a coincidence, but then as the week has gone on, little side jobs that will help produce income for the month have popped up...a babysitting job here, an event there...then to top it off, the head of the Simulation Game Design department at Wake Tech calls Jarrad, he has a paid internship for him that he's trying to help Jarrad secure....20 hours a week Wednesday-Friday of this coming semester on top of continuing to work for the coffee shop on the weekends......what do you think about that. Some may say that that's work we have to do in order to earn money, but no one ever said paying tithes meant money will magically appear. For me this is a blessing as God is proving that he'll continue to provide for Jarrad and I as long as we have faith...and I'll work a million side jobs to help supplement our income as long as they're available.

God is awesome, God is the Shit....YAY GOD!! :)

PS- Now excuse me as I'm going against everything I was taught about journalism. I'm absolutely pooped so I'm going to simply publish this post without editing.

PPS- I WILL publish my post catching everyone up on Bama THIS WEEKEND!

Getting Excited About BAMA!

So I'll definitely miss my friends while I'm gone and I'll be a bit stressed about what I may have forgotten to do at work before leaving, but I'm SUPER EXCITED to see my family. I haven't seen them since Christmas.

So here are some things I'm excited about:
- Shopping with my mom and sis
- Spending time with my niece Makenna
- Fishing with my dad and hubby (not my most favorite hobby, but it's always fun to do with them)
- Lounging by and in the pool for hours
- being lazy
- long talks outside with the family around the pool and grill
- wrestling around and getting beat up by my younger yet larger brother (I miss the days when I was still stronger than him)
- Playing some kind of board game that will inevitably result in an argument between my sis and myself because she's a bit conservative and I'm, well, kind of loud and hyper.
- Letting my mom take care of me
- Getting my dad to brush my hair
- Reminiscing about the "good ole days"

I'll be sure to post lots of pictures while I'm gone. I can't wait to see my family but I'm sure I'll be more than exciting to be back in NC once it's all said and done.

It's HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIME!!!!

Wow- July is full of birthdays. the 11th and 27th of this month marked my bosses' birthdays. Next Week, July 30th is my colleague's birthday and she will celebrate her baby's 1st birthday the very next day, but most important to me is today, July 24th.

Today Lauren's baby boy turns 2 and we'll all celebrate him tomorrow at a cookout where I'll finally get to hang with my girls after two very long weeks. But today also marks my dad's 50th Birthday!!! Can you believe it? The big 5-0! Well, I guess I can believe it because my sister just turned 31 and I'm 25 but 50 used to seem OLD to me, but when I look at my dad, I still see the same young man that taught me everything there is to know about Softball, Fishing, Golfing, Shooting the Bow and Arrow and even cars. My dad is still SUPER MAN!! And I know that all I have to do is say the word and it's Super Man or Super Dad to the rescue......like picking me up from the airport when my flight was screwed up and driving me 13 hours to my husband.

No matter what, my dad has always been there. So he deserves to be celebrated. Unfortunately I only have this really bad picture of my dad on my hard drive since I cleaned it out, but it'll do until I get back from Bama with some new ones. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! I LOVE YOU!

Yea Yea....I Hear Ya! I get it now...GEEZ!!

So it comes as no surprise to those who know me best that my husband and I have experienced some EXTREME financial hardships during the last 3 years that he's been in school. So I've prayed,and prayed and prayed and God has come through moment to moment but never on a consistent basis. And I thought, that's because God is teaching me a lesson through my struggle. Well....I could be wrong, but I think lately he's been trying to teach me that lesson-but not the lesson I thought he was trying to teach.

The lesson he's been trying to teach me is faith. I love Church at the Triangle (CATT), have found a new family in CATT, am active at CATT but other than $5 here and $10 I haven't really given God his fair share. I've thought, God can't REALLY expect me to give him 10% of my paycheck every month when I can't make it as it is....oh but I think he does and I think he does because he wants me to have faith in him. If I want to see CATT grow, then I need to help CATT grow by giving him what's rightfully his.
While I wasn't really questioning my faith, I think God was...I've been stressed about money, but I knew that God was trying to get my attention when I had a great conversation with Lauren about the fact that she and Steve just give God his part every month and just have faith or at least try to have faith that he'll take care of things.....as she told me this, I'm thinking to myself...yea, but I'm the only person bringing in any real money,Jarrad tries hard to do what he can, but I'm the one with the regular 9:00-5:00 so I know God can wait until Jarrad graduates from college before we give him 10%. WRONG! I was totally wrong...at least that's what I think God was telling me. When Jarrad gets out of college and starts a job, we won't struggle as we do now and I won't feel the need to seek God as desperately as I do now, financially anyway.

Well, Lauren's words, unbeknown to her, have been eating at me for weeks. With that I've been reading a book, "Blue Like Jazz," and have found both inspiration and God speaking to me through this book on several occasions. So Friday night I decided to take a nice soak in Kelly's very large bathtub as the one I have isn't large enough for someone of my height to truly relax. And Just as I thought God was providing inspiration and words to help me through one prayer I've had over the last couple of months, regarding faith, the book quickly shifted to talk about finances(which inadvertantly goes back to faith). Long story short, I finished that chapter, closed my book and just looked up to the heavens and grouchly said to God: "OK OK, I get it. I must have faith in you and that you'll pull through for us. To do so, I need to give to you, what's rightfully yours. GOSH" OK- I added the Gosh part just now but my whiny reply to God was starting to remind me of Nepoleon Dynamit.

You know, a while back I said it would just be easier if God could just slap me on the head and I'd know right away what it was he wanted....well, I felt like this chapter was that slap on the head.

Sometimes I just need my friends to very directly say to me: "Christian, you know you should really....." That's a whole lot easier because apparently I'm a true blonde and I don't do well with hints.

So I figured I need to get this out, post it to my blog because if I make it public, I'll have to stick to it. This is my vow to God, that I will give him what is rightfully his on this upcoming pay day and not only will I do that, but I'll have faith that he'll come through and take care of my needs for that month and the months to come. With that, no hinting around, Lauren and Kelly- it's your jobs to make certain i stick by this promise.I get paid on August 1st and the first check I write needs to be to CATT.

This is my oath, this is my vow....have a great day...YAY GOD! ;)

I Miss My Hubby

This is night number two without my hubby and I MISS HIM LIKE CRAZY!!!! I can't believe I have another night to go before I can see him again. This sucks so bad! I love snuggling next to him every night and feeling the warmth of his body...I never realized how cold it is without him and I never realized how I thrive off those few moments every night where we snuggle in bed, talk about our day and wrap our arms and legs around each other for a few minutes before rolling over and zonking out.

Mommy for the Weekend

Friday evening through Sunday evening I stepped in and played the role of mommy for a beautiful 9 month old named Peyton. She's one of the sweetest little girls I've ever had the privilege of taking care of and I have to admit I've learned a lot about myself and my potential as a mother...pat on my own back...now back to the post.

First let me just say, I have an all new prospective on motherhood and I'd like to give MAD PROPS to all the moms I know. The first night was very simple and I thought, this is a piece of cake, but the second night I got a taste of what it would be like to deal with a baby running a fever, teething and dealing with a belly ache all at teh same time. Not once did I get impatient or agitated, but I also can't lie and say it's easy to be awakened every 2 hours to a baby screaming but the hardest part wasn't having to wake every 2 hours, it was knowing she was in pain but having no means other than a little baby tylenol and a lot of comforting to try to easy the pain even a little.

So here's the great things I learned about myself:
* I love being awakened in the morning by a smiling, laughing baby
* I love listening to her talking to herself and cracking up at whatever she says
* I smirk a little when other people try to hold her but she cries because she only wants me
* I love that I mastered the art of bathing both myself and the baby...at the same time
* I love the peacefulness of holding a sleeping baby...even more I love that I'm able to singe her to sleep
* Mostly I love that I'm able to provide her withh a place that allows her to feel safe

Negatives- well, there really aren't any major negatives but.
* The lack of sleep is a bit hard
* OH, Big one- planning a weekend around having a baby.....babysitters are EXPENSIVE, trust me, I know- I'm usually the babysitter and at $10/hour who can afford to go out?
* Getting dressed...yea, that's a bit complicated with a toddler that likes to pull up on everything and is in to everything and wants to be held 24/7
* And...ummmm..yea....that's about it

So the weekend was great and I was extremely sad today when I no longer had a baby to take care of.
So do I have baby fever? YES
Would I be OK with having a baby now? YES
Do I think I can handle it? YES
But am I OK with waiting 2 more years? Well, YES simply because I'd rather be in a better place financially and oh yea, it'd probably help if Jarrad was done with school :)