• Life

    I am overwhelmed by You (part 4)

    March 8, 2016

    There are SO many changes happening this month I can’t even wrap my mind around them all. Next Monday is my last day here at Hudson City. My last day after 5 1/2 years of working here. It’s such a weird feeling and I honestly don’t even know how to feel. I’m excited for the next chapter of my life but also anxious and sad to leave behind what I know now. I went for a job interview yesterday and I think it went well but it’s only a temporary job, which is really disappointing. I really wanted to FINALLY after all of this going on with the merger have a job that was PERMANENT. But honestly I am okay with it at the same time (that is if I get it, I may be jumping ahead of myself). I know that God has taken care of me this far and if this is His plan then I can trust it too. I can let go of my need to have control and certainty and trust that He knows what’s best. Hopefully it’ll turn into a permanent position (again that is if I get it) and if not I know that He will take care of me another way.

    ALSO the best part of this post – TOMMY FINALLY GETS TO WORK WITH HIS DAD IN TWO WEEKS. We’ve been waiting and praying for this for what feels like forever. We both have had out doubts over the past year whether this was what God was doing and if He was going to continue opening the doors here and IT FINALLY HAPPENED and we couldn’t be more excited. I’m so happy for Tommy and all the success he’s going to have because of this job. I know he’s going to do so well and learn so much and I’m just so thankful that I’m the one who gets to be by his side through it all. Again I’m a little nervous about the changes, just because I’m someone who thrives on routine and get a little anxious when it changes (even when it’s a great change like this). But I am far more excited for Tommy than I am nervous. This job is going to be so good for him.

    If you’ve missed my past posts about what God has been doing through this you can check that out here, here, and here. I talk about all the changes that Tommy and I have been through regarding this job and waiting on God through it all. I also talk about how God has opened doors for us even when we felt like they were slammed shut for good.

    When I was thinking about all that God is doing and is about to do this month regarding both mine and Tommy’s jobs I can’t help but worship Him. It’s crazy to me that we’re both stopping our current job now this month, together and Tommy’s finally starting what He has wanted to do for so long. When I was thinking all this over I couldn’t help but sing about how overwhelmed I am by God’s love.

    Here’s to new changes and the unknown. I’m ready for you. (I think).

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  • Faith,  Life,  Wedding

    The Happiest Five on Friday

    March 4, 2016

    T.G.I.F! This week was a looong and hard one but definitely a productive one so I’m really happy now that I’m at the end of it. I have so much to share this week – I’m so excited.

    Five good things from my week:

    ONE

    jesus

    Tommy and I joined a community group through our church a little over a month ago and it’s been hard to get ourselves there every week. We are both very introverted and have a very hard time putting ourselves out there but this week was amazing. We both really opened up and really learned what true community of a group of Christians is supposed to look like and I’m so happy about it. ALSO I PRAYED OUT LOUD FOR THE FIRST TIME. I’m still in shock myself.

    two

    Wedding update: We ordered our invitations! We seriously love them, they’re so cute. My mom’s cousin knows how to do calligraphy so she said she’ll address them for me so I’m excited about that too. We also booked our engagement session photo shoot for March 19th and I’m so excited 🙂 (and also kind of nervous).

    THREE

    I have another interview on Monday for a job that would be just perfect. I’m really hoping I get it but also realizing that having a few months off of work wouldn’t be terrible either so I’m trying to be okay with either. It’s for a position that I would be doing basically what I’m doing now but making 5 more dollars an hour so that would be wonderful obvi. Prayers are definitely appreciated.

    four

    dinner

    Tommy and I have been sticking to our meal planning this week after a terrible weekend and Monday off. I was really discouraged in the beginning of the week because we hadn’t had time to meal plan or shop for food over the weekend because our engagement party was on Sunday but once Tuesday hit I was determined to get up back on track. It was definitely rocky to start, I was really tired from a full weekend but we’ve done pretty well under the circumstances. We’ve also worked out twice in a row this week and have plans to go to the gym again tonight. This might not seem like much but for us it’s huge. We normally talk about going to the gym like all the time and never follow through but since it was the start of a new month I was determined to make this month about getting into gear with working out and eating healthy since the wedding is only about 2 1/2 months away! Sorry for that ramble train I just had to get that all out haha.

    FIVE

    engagement party

    I almost forgot with everything else going on this week that we had our engagement party this past Sunday. I want to do a post just on that but I need to get the pictures from Tommy’s mom. It was so fun to have all our friends and family in one place celebrating with us. It’s really cool to see everyone so excited for us. Both of our mom’s threw the party and cooked, and made decorations and everything. It was awesome.

    So yeah that was my week. I don’t want it to seem overly glorified though because even though it was a great week, it didn’t come without it’s struggles as well. The beginning of the week was just HARD and getting ourselves to the community group was also very HARD but I believe God rewards those who are obedient and I’m glad we pushed through the hard and have made progress. How was your week? Was it an easy one or difficult like mine? I’d love to hear.

    Linking up with A. Liz Adventures, Bright on a Budget, & September Farm

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  • Book Reviews

    What I Read: February

    March 3, 2016

    what i read february
    I’m happy to say that I have kept up with my reading this past month. I seriously am loving all the time I have to read because it’s so refreshing to take a tiny break from real life and get lost in a book. It seems this next month too I’ll have some free time seeing as I still don’t have a job lined up. Womp. But I’m trying not to get discouraged and know that in God’s timing I’ll find one. PS. I can’t wait until I don’t have to visit Indeed.com ever again though. Okay on to the books:

    The Daylight Marriage

    the daylight marriage

    2 out of 5

    I read this in the beginning of February and I have the worst memory when it comes to books and movies so I honestly don’t remember exactly what happened but I remember not liking it. It was like taken but a lot less entertaining.

    Best Friends Forever

    best friends forever.jpg

    4 out of 5

    This one was great. It’s about two women who were best friends in high school but stopped being friends at the end of it because of a huge fight they had. One day when they’re 30 one of the women shows up on the other’s doorstep with blood on her coat saying she needs help. This book really kept me interested and it was a really great story.

    Barefoot

    barefoot

    5 out of 5

    This book was my favorite this month for sure. It was about three women who are going through really difficult things – one has cancer, one found out her husband cheated on her right when she found out that they were pregnant after trying for years, and the other was fired for her job for sleeping with a student. They all are living in a summer house on the beach for the summer, and it makes you long for the summer and the warm weather.

    Anchored

    anchored.jpg

    5 out of 5

    This book gave me all the feels. It is insanely heart wrenching and all you want to do is get to the end to know everything is going to be okay. The way Kayla Aimee writes is outstanding and she throws in humor in such a way that makes you just simply not able to put this book down. I read it in about 24 hours I believe. It’s so sad but so amazing at the same time.

    Changes That Heal

    changes that heal

    4 out of 5

    This looks like the only “faith” book I’ve read this month. I try to read both a “story” book and a “faith” book I can learn from at the same time. This book was HARD to get through. It’s hard because it’s teaching us all the things we do wrong when it comes to relating to both God and others. It was extremely helpful and eye opening but definitely a difficult read. I did a review of a few chapter here if you’re interested.

    What Alice Forgot

    what alice forgot.jpg

    4 out of 5

    This book was hard to get into. It took me about half the book to really get hooked. I read this one because I heard a lot of good things about it but I was a little disappointed. The main character Alice wakes up from hitting her head and quickly learns that she has forgotten the last 10 years. She just took so long before really getting answers about what was going on in her life and I found it maddening. If I woke up and couldn’t remember that much I would be running about frantically trying to figure out what was going on. She was very laid back at first and it took me until she started figuring everything out to really get hooked. But once I did it was GREAT. I loved the end.

    I can’t believe I read 6 books this month. That’s a record so far. I’m going to try to keep it up. I’m reading another marriage book seeing as I’m just 2 and a half months from the wedding!! It’s also on my March goals and I want to be as prepared for marriage as I can be when the time comes.

    Have any suggestions for me? Have you read any of these books – what did you think?

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  • Faith

    How my Psychology degree has hindered my walk with Jesus

    March 2, 2016

    So a little background about myself, in case you didn’t already know I graduated from college last May with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Although this wasn’t my plan when I started school when I was fresh out of high school. (How do any 18 year olds know what they want to do with their life – someone please tell me?) Anyways, when I was 18 I thought I wanted to be a teacher because that’s what always felt right. I had always loved children, loved being around them, and taking care of them. So the logical thing in my 18 year old mind was to become a teacher. Because what else was there really?

    And this was my plan 3 years in even. I started taking teaching classes my third year of college I believe and it was then that it hit me – I didn’t want to be a teacher. I’m terrified of public speaking (even with those precious Kindergartners). I just knew this wasn’t what I was meant to do. I didn’t feel that I had the skills to do it well so I dropped the major. And in New Jersey when you’re planning to be a teacher you have to double major because apparently teaching isn’t really a degree anyway.. it’s a certificate. So my second major was Psychology, honestly just because those were the only classes I enjoyed taking in college so it seemed fitting.

    So here I am with a Psychology degree and still don’t know what I want to do with it, but that honestly wasn’t the point of this post. I wanted to share with you how learning about Psychology has actually hindered my walk with Jesus. When you take Psychology classes the point is to teach you why people do the things they do and learn how to help them. A lot of modern day helping is to medicate people so that they don’t have side effects of past traumas, which I definitely do think is necessary sometimes but not to the extent that our country does it.

    So I’ve learned a lot about myself through this classes, which is awesome and I’m so glad but I’ve learned recently that I have come to think it gives me an excuse for having the flaws that I do. And while yes it does kind of, it doesn’t give me an excuse to stay there. I have the hardest time confessing something after I learned WHY I’ve been doing it. For example, my mom raised my brother and I with a very critical spirit and has in turn passed that onto me. It is just who I am because it’s what I learned. And honestly do you know how HARD it is to change something that has been drilled into you for decades?? Very hard let me tell you, I’ve tried.

    So sometimes it’s much easier for me to stay hidden behind the ITS NOT MY FAULT excuse and go about my life just the way I am. Jesus loves me this way anyways right? Well yes, of course but what I’m learning is that I’m missing out on so so much by refusing to repent of these really hard things.

    I’m missing out on the intimacy of knowing Jesus and knowing how much He loves me and how much He has really forgiven me for. I’m missing out on intimacy with my sweet fiance who loves me enough to deal with my stubborn self. I’m realizing, though it’s hard, repenting of these sins is the only real answer to true growth and happiness with both Jesus and those closest to me. I don’t want to hide behind my excuses that I’ve learned through Psychology. I want to grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

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  • Life

    February Goals Recap + March Goals

    March 1, 2016

    February Goals Recap

    I didn’t do too bad this month. I’m learning how to make realistic goals, which is helping a lot. I didn’t work out like at all this month, I’m having a hard time finding the motivation. Overall though I’m really happy that I stuck to it. I grew particularly in the blog section this month and it’s been really fun.

    Health/Fitness

    • start working out 2-3x’s per week
    • continue making healthy lunches (I meal planned the last 2-3 weeks and it was the key to our success for this one.)
    • find more healthy recipes (Pinterest is my best friend here.)
    • drink lots of water

    Marriage/Wedding

    • Research songs for wedding
    • book the baker
    • continue premarital counseling
    • read another marriage book (moving this to my March goals)

    Blog

    • post at least 2x’s per week
    • comment on other blogs
    • write a guest post

    Money/Budget

    • make a budget for February
    • save at least 350$ (losing my job next month didn’t help this much)

    March Goals

    I cannot believe it’s March. March is probably my least favorite month – it is soo long, we lose an hour of sleep, and there are absolutely no holidays that get me off of work. This year will be different seeing as my last day of work is March 14 so I’ll have the last half of the month off if I can’t find a job. It’s getting more difficult to trust God’s plan now that I’m this close to losing my job and still don’t have another.

    Health/Fitness

    • start working out 3-4xs per week (I am so determined to make this work, the wedding is 2 1/2 months away!!)
    • follow meal plans
    • drink lots of water
    • less cheat meals

    Marriage/Wedding

    • read When Sinners Say I Do
    • meet with Phil for another session of premarital counseling
    • pick out flower girl / ring bearer outfits
    • work on decorations
    • send out invitations
    • find accessories for me and bridesmaids

    Blog

    • continue posting 2-3xs per week
    • comment, comment, comment
    • participate in 3 linkups

    Money/Budget

    • make budget for March and stick to it
    • save 100$
    • continue tithing even when it’s hard
    • find another job!

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  • Faith,  Life

    Skills to become a successful adult (they’re not what you think)

    February 26, 2016

    I just finished the book Changes That Heal and it literally rocked my world. The book has five parts – Three Ingredients to Growth, Bonding to Others, Separating from Others, Sorting Out Good and Bad and Becoming an Adult. It was actually quite convicting and I felt really discouraged until I got to the part where the author wrote about how we all struggle with these things as a result of sin entering the world. (Phew it’s not only me.) But it was super helpful and eye opening and it is helping me better relate to those around me.

    But for this post I wanted to share with you what I learned from the Becoming an Adult chapter. It sounds silly almost because I started off thinking well I am an adult, I don’t need help becoming one but it’s more about how to grow into a successful adult. It’s about how to disconnect from parents or how our parents did something and seeing God as our true Father – the only one we have to obey.

    I’m only going to share with you some of the key steps to being a successful adult because there are many and I don’t think you want to read all of them (at least not here) haha but if you like these I highly recommend this book. It was great.

    8 Steps to Becoming a Successful Adult

    • Reevaluate Beliefs- Why do I believe what I believe? Because someone told me to? Because of my own experiences? This may sound silly but when I sat down to actually answer it, it wasn’t quite as black and white as I originally thought.
    • Recognize + Pursue Talents- Recognize and work on developing strengths. If you do not know what yours are – ask God. Ask others too.
    • Practice- Learn to value process more than result. Go out and fail, then laugh it off and do it again. Everything requires trial and error. Learn to enjoy your talents.
    • Recognize the Privileges of Adulthood- Remaining in a child position is safe because everyone does the thinking for you – all you have to do is lose your self-respect. Adults have freedom to choose their own talents, values, beliefs, relationship with God, tastes, friends, and church.
    • Submit to Others out of Freedom- Submit to others out of love, not obligation.
    • Do Good Works- You are God’s prized possession and He created you to do good works. As you work with Him to develop your talents, seek Him for the good works you are to do. They do not have to be grandiose. Your good works could be a link between God and a few neighbors, donating time to an orphanage or needy family. Don’t think you have to save the world too quickly.
    • Become a Pharisee Buster- Looks for ways you are still doing things for approval. Let go of the ways you are trying to earn approval – they only eat away at your soul.
    • Appreciate Mystery + the Unknown- In many ways God is unfathomable. He is so awesome that the more we known Him, the more we realize we don’t. This is where worship begins. Begin to appreciate the things that you cannot figure out about Him and let them be.

    Becoming a Pharisee buster is definitely one of the most difficult ones for me. I so tend to operate out of wanting others to approve of me or even wanting God to approve of me. I need to slow down and remember that He already does. I also struggle with appreciating the unknown about God, it’s getting easier the more I know Him but let me tell you – that ones a tough one for me.

    Were these helpful for anyone else? Which one was the most helpful or maybe the one you struggle with the most? I’d love to chat. 

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