What a whirlwind of a weekend!

The last four or five days have been just absolutely NUTS. It was hard to keep up!

It all started last Thursday. Matt went to talk to his recruiter and then we packed up and left for Kansas City! We went straight to MEPS to start the swearing in process for the Air Force. The recruiter texted us while we were driving up and told us that they wanted to give Matt the DLAB that day rather than the next day. The squadron (which is about four or five states) was trying to hold a cryptologic linguist position for him, but he needed to take the DLAB first to see if he qualified for the job. The minimum score needed is a 105 for the Air Force. Matthew scored 122! I was so incredibly proud of him. Then early Friday afternoon we all met Matt at MEPS to watch him swear in. It was about a five minute process, but it was awesome. I swear, I've never been more proud of anyone in my life!



In the middle of swearing in!



The man who swore Matthew in.



Matt & I after he was done!

Then, after we went out to lunch, Matthew, Matt's dad & sister and I went to see the Mumford & Sons in concert! We were originally supposed to see them earlier in the year, but that show was cancelled. We didn't think we would be able to make this show, but we lucked out since we were in KC earlier than we expected. I must say, Mumford & Sons was definitely one of my favorite concerts I've been to. (It's not the favorite because I've seen Madonna - best concert EVER!) Here's some pictures from that!

 



 

 

The top one is a picture of the group (I know.. it's blurry), the middle picture is of all of us, and the bottom is a picture of all the fans! It was so much fun, even if it did go way too long. (Mumford and Sons performed for a little over two hours!) After the concert, Matthew and I went straight to my dad's because they were leaving early for the Mitchell fishing trip. This trip happens every year and it has been for at least fifty years. Only the men over 18 are allowed to go. Which totally isn't fair! So Saturday morning, we got up at 5 so they could leave. I went ahead and drove to my mom's because we were going to have a busy day.

 

We got up and got dressed so we could go to Walmart to buy a wedding gift! One of my mom's co-workers got married on Saturday! We didn't get to stay long because of family stuff, but it was so great to see them. Peggy looked absolutely beautiful! Here's proof:

 



 

 

Saturday night consisted of a marathon of Rizzoli & Isles with my mom! That was nice and relaxing. Then Sunday morning we went to brunch with my grandma Eleanor and papa Gene. We went to IHOP and it was so delicious. After we ate my mom and I went shopping! We went to Cracker Barrel so I could get an Air Force Tumbler.

 

Then we went to Kohl's so my mom could get jeans. She ended up leaving the store with one pair of jeans about five or six shirts. Hahaha. I got a cardigan that is super cute and a button down shirt. I saved $53 yesterday! Talk about bargain shopping. After we were done at Kohl's we went back to my mom's house. I was going to drive back home, but I was soooo tired. So I napped for a couple hours. Then I finally left. I wasn't quite ready to head back to the real world yet, but I did miss Luna & Lily.

All in all, it was a really great weekend. Definitely better than last weekend. I'm going into this week with a much better outlook and mood, which is good because school might kick my butt. Here's to a great week!

Ps. If any of you know of any jobs in Springfield, let me know!



Rough waters.

This last week has been one heck of a ride, my friends. There's been a lot of lows and a few highs. A lot of tears have been shed this week, and I'm so glad that it's finally over. It's felt like we've been on a boat in the middle of a hurricane.

To begin with, last weekend was good and bad. It was so great because  I got to see so much family in only two days. I saw all three sets of grandparents (minus one grandparent) in two days. It was busy, but wonderful. Matthew finally got to meet my great aunt Sister Mary Ethel. She's one of my most favorite family members. It was great!

But Saturday night, Matthew and I had our biggest fight yet. Mean words were said and it left us in a funk that lasted several days. I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't good. I can't say that I've ever been so mad at someone and yet still loved them with all my heart. It was definitely rough because it didn't seem like there was a light at the end of the tunnel for us and it was scary. But I was so hurt that I really needed some time.

To make matters worse, on Monday when I got to work one of my co-workers decided to go off on me. It was about something I tweeted about my job. It wasn't anything too horrible really at all. In my opinion, she should have have gone off on me at the front desk, but that's beside the point. She said hurtful things to me that she didn't have a place to say. For the second day in a row, I cried. Hard. I got so mad at God. I felt like everything was just falling apart and I didn't know why. I sat at the desk at work and just yelled at God. I didn't know what to do, I had yet to be mad at Him and I didn't know how to handle it. I mean, who am I to know if He'd get mad at me for being mad at him?

Luckily, I have some amazing friends. I had tweeted about how I was feeling super down and how I was mad at God and didn't know how to handle it. One of the best responses I had on Twitter was this: "It's a relationship. Healthy ones aren't always sunshine and rainbows. You being mad just shows you have a deep relationship." Literally so true. It was a perfect reminder. I also had a lot of friends text me to give me encouragement. Some offered verses to read (which were seriously helpful) and some offered to just listen to me talk. It made me feel so loved.

Then, Tuesday, I was trying to get to class, and a train stopped and blocked my way almost making me late. At this point, I texted Matt and told him God was pooping on me. I seriously felt like nothing was going to go right this week. Then Wednesday I walked into work and walked right into the middle of an employee luncheon that I knew literally nothing about. I mean, it shut the whole company down and every single employee was there. I was so embarrassed. Literally four and a half bad days in a row. I could only take so much.

Finally though, some good news came through. Matt's recruiter had called and said that they could move his swear in date up to this week. So today we came up to Kansas City to go to MEPS so that Matthew could start the process. His recruiter told him that would take the DLAB today to see if he would qualify for the cryptologic linguist. Turns out the squadron (which covers about four states) was holding this job for him. So we came up and he took the test. He scored a 122! For the Air Force, you need a 105 to qualify. Matt did amazing on it! He called me and I was so happy for him. As long as he passes the physical requirements tomorrow, he should be good to go! It's going to be such an awesome ride. Tomorrow, he swears in, and I know that it will be a moment where I've never been more proud of anyone. I'm so thankful that God has put us on this path.

This week has had a lot of downs and a few ups. It's been a long week, but I know that things will turn around. God always provides, and I trust in Him. My anger has faded for the most part, and I've been praying extra hard and extra long this week and especially today. I know that prayer changes things and I know that God is really listening to me. I'm starting to delve deeper and deeper into my Bible and I'm loving what I find. Becoming a Christian has literally been the best thing to ever happen to me.

Freedom From Insecurities.

Tonight in small group we talked about insecurities. To begin with, we talked about how we defined secure and insecure. Some of the things that were mentioned for insecure were: unsound, unsafe, shaky, not confident. Some of the things for secure were: safe, confident, embracing yourself. The dictionary defines insecure as "not confident or assured; uncertain or anxious". Secure is defined as "fixed or fastened so as to not give way, become loose, or be lost". Wow. I really love that because one of the best ways to become secure is to be secure in God. If you can strive towards being secure in God, you will never lose yourself.

One of my favorite parts about talking about this was to hear my close friends talk about what makes them insecure and how they work to overcome those insecurities. Of course, I won't give examples here, but it is very encouraging to hear that I'm not the only one who is insecure.

One thing that was mentioned that really stuck out to me was about how we constantly compare ourselves to others. There's always some gap that we want to fill, but the only thing that can fill that gap is God. And that's seriously so true. I loved when one of my small group leaders talked about that. It totally makes sense to me.

It always amazes me how God can present messages to you. One thing that I am seriously insecure about is praying out loud. I won't even do it when I'm alone. I'm always afraid that I won't do it right, or that I'll say something wrong. I listen to others pray so eloquently, and I'm just not to that point yet. Then today, I stumbled across this on Pinterest:

Ever since last week, I've been so anxious about one part of small group: the end when we pray. At the end, my group leaders take prayer requests and the rest of the group volunteers to take one prayer request and then we go around the group and pray out loud. Last week, I didn't volunteer. I felt (and still feel) insecure about praying out loud. Then I stumbled across this quote today. It gave me a little bit of security. Tonight, I did it. I faced my insecurity head on. I prayed out loud. Yes, it was awkward. Yes, it wasn't very eloquent. Yes, I stumbled and stuttered. But you know what? I did it. But I thought it was just so perfect that God had our group talk about our insecurities tonight after I'd been stressing about this for like a week. God works in such wonderful but mysterious ways. He really does have your best interest in mind. Sometimes I falter in that, but I know it in my heart to be true. It's one of the infinite reasons that I have grown to seriously love God.

One of the verses we talked about tonight was 1 Peter 2:11. It says, "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul." The point we really emphasized was the fact that we are foreigners here in this world. Our true home is in Heaven with God. When you put it that way.. every opinion here on earth becomes seriously insignificant.

Another verse we talked about was 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. Definitely one of my favorite verses so far. Although, I do have a lot of favorites. Anyway, here's what it says: " We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." Wow.

Some of the other verses we looked at are these: Romans 8:31-39, Mark 10:17-23, Proverbs 18:10. I could seriously write a paragraph about each, but it's really late and this post is already getting really long. I seriously really loved our small group tonight. It was powerful and much needed. Life is about to get tough, and I'm definitely going to need to rely on God. At Chi Alpha on Monday, we talked about how our walk with God should not be in neutral and that we should be moving forward. I fully plan to move forward with my relationship with God, and I couldn't be more excited about it. One of the best parts is that I now have an amazing group of girls to walk along side me and help me along the way.

Ever since I became a Christian I had so many people tell me that I should get involved in a small group because having women my age help guide me and walk with me through my faith. I didn't know how right they were until tonight. It may only be the third week, but I can already tell how much these wonderful women will help me grow stronger in my faith. God has blessed me with some amazing friends. (Okay, I'm done being mushy, promise.)

There's one last thing I want to leave you with. I've posted it before, but I'm going to post it again because I think it is super important for everyone to listen to it.

Insecurely: A Spoken Word

I have to add one more thing, because I totally just watched this and it was AMAZING. Literally gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes.

LISTEN AND WATCH. 

And the winner is...

Matthew and I just got home from talking with the Air Force recruiter. Matt has started the application process and will hopefully being going to swear in next week. This decision hasn't really been an easy one, but I know in my heart that we are taking the right path. I'm excited to see what our future holds for us. God has really provided for us, and I know that He will continue to. Thank you to everyone who has kept us in their prayers through this process. We appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

Date Nights.

The last two nights have been amazing!

Last night, Matthew surprised me with a date night. I came home from work and Matt had the whole night planned. We ate delicious spaghetti and cheese bread. Then Matt surprised me with Grease (which he had bought that day) and cookies (no, he didn't make them, haha)! It was just absolutely wonderful. The perfect end to a day.

Then tonight, I went to a catch up dinner with my friend, Abi. She's such a special person to me, and I love seeing her. Sadly, we always wait about two months before we finally have dinner. But it's understandable because we both live super busy lives. But we went to Panera, and I found out that they put their mac n cheese in a bread bowl! YUM. It was seriously so good. But the conversation was even better. I seriously look up to Abi like a big sister. She's so amazing.

Now I'm home though and about to watch The Passion of the Christ. I'm kind of nervous to watch it. I've never seen it before, and I just know I'm going to cry. I'm not exactly sure why I suddenly have the urge to watch it. I have been meaning to, but other things have popped up. But I was listening to one of my favorite songs on the way home: Glorious Day by Casting Crowns (look it up - it's seriously good). There's a line about how Jesus took the nails for us, and I suddenly just really wanted to watch this movie. So here we go.

Shall we play catch up?

Hello, my friends. I'm so very sorry that it has been so long since I've really written on here. I just have been so caught up in school, Chi Alpha, friendship, and family. There's been kind of a lot of ups and downs lately. It's definitely getting crazy.

First off, Chi Alpha is so amazing. Definitely one of the best parts of my life at the moment. The people that I'm getting close to are so wonderful. I love each and every one of them just so much. Last night was our second small group, and let's just say that I'm still on a high from it. Literally all the girls in it are just so awesome. I may not know all them super well, but I can tell that this semester is going to be crazy awesome. I've also decided that I'm going to go on Fall Retreat. I've heard such great things about it, and I'm SO excited to go. God has some great plans for us, and I can't see where He will take us.

Classes have been okay so far. It was a rough start for some of my classes, because Blackboard went a little wonky. But that's okay, it all got figured out and class has gone on as planned. My classes this semester are definitely harder than any of my classes have been so far. I wasn't completely prepared for it, but I know that I can do this. It's all about applying myself. (HA!)

Things are kind of on edge right now on my dad's side of the family. At least, for me anyway. I got a call about a week ago from my dad that my great-aunt is not doing well at all and that her husband isn't much better. My dad said that my great-aunt probably won't last much longer. As excited as I am that she'll get to be with God, I'm so very sad that my family will be losing her. My dad's side of the family has always been really close (well, until the last few years, anyway), and she will be one of the first to go. It's definitely going to be really rough.

In two days, Matthew & I are getting our washer and dryer! We went to Lowe's on Monday and we ended up buying a washer and dryer! It was a little iffy for a bit, but God provided for us. It's getting delivered Sunday morning, and then we will never have to frequent a laundry mat ever again! We were seriously so excited. It was our first big purchase as a married couple.

On Tuesday, Matthew and I will be talking again to the Air Force recruiter. We have a few remaining questions for him. If all goes as planned, Matthew will be committing to the Air Force that day or soon after. I've been praying a lot about this. I don't want us to make the wrong decision, and I've just been praying that God will make the choice very clear, and I have faith that He will.

Next weekend, Matthew & I will be going back up to Kansas City. My other great-aunt, Sister Mary will be at my grandma's! I'm so very excited. Matthew hasn't met Sister yet, and I am so stoked that he's finally going to get to. She's one of my most favorite family members (and I'm not afraid to admit it!), and I'm so glad she is finally going to meet the man I'm spending the rest of my life with. I can't wait!

Life has a lot going on right now, and I'm definitely excited for the future, as you can probably tell. But I'm really trying to focus on the here and now. We talked about being content with our lives last night at small group, and it really hit me. I'm always so busy trying to rush into the future, when I really should be focusing on what's right in front of me. God wants us to live life to the fullest, and I feel like I'm taking so much away from my life by constantly trying to rush into the future. I'm ready to start enjoying each and every day to the fullest!