What a weekend...

God's provision is marvelous. And what's even greater is that He teaches us through His blessings.

We bought a car yesterday. I wrote a $14,300 check. What's amazing is that we did not have any of that money prior to November. We had known prior to November, however, that we needed to investigate getting a new car...a scary endeavor when you have very little money.

First off, I am blessed to have had the Beetle. I remember when we first got it...it was the most beautiful shiny new cute car! I loved my seat warmers and how cool the sound system was. It was a wonderful and truly appreciated gift, not just for the fun seat warmers, but that I had a car to drive around through highschool and college. Life would have been completely different had I not had a car for those years.

As much as I am truly blessed to have had the Beetle...it has begun to wither in the last year. We had to replace the engine in August, a nice $2,000 expense. Then one month later, the check engine light came on and another $350 bill had to be paid. The next day, literally, the check engine light came on again. When you drive to Fort Worth most weeks (a good 40+ mile drive), that's not the most reassuring thing to happen.

That was about the point I started obsessing over getting a new car. NOT a good way to handle things. I remember asking you all to pray for me and I'm so thankful to have felt those prayers as God calmed my heart about the car. I was able to not think about it constantly but to be patient as we slowly did our research.

After a couple of months, we were blessed to experience God's provision for a new car. First, we received an insurance settlement and then I got my CPA exam bonus. All of that money equaled the amount we needed/wanted to put down for a car (the $14,300 check I told you about above) so that we could afford the monthly payments.

But God was not done teaching yet.

Patience is not one of my strong suits and thankfully God knows that and desires to teach me what it is to be patient. Reed's dad gave us the ability to use his GM points and in combination with some offers from GM, we got an additional, $3,000 off of our new car! Pretty amazing! It expired Feb. 1, but we figured, having gone in on January 2nd, that we would get a car well before the deadline.

Well, that wasn't quite God's timing for us. We have waited almost a month to get our new car and it has been VERY difficult for me to have patience. Each weekend we would hear that they would probably have one mid-week and come mid-week, there wouldn't be anything. At first, it just killed the excitement a little, but no big deal really. Towards the end of the month, we had to start evaluating whether or not we should get a different GM car. Because if the $3,000 incentive ran out, we simply could not afford the car we wanted. There was another similar car that we could also get so we started to think that over. BUT, God's plan was to provide and for us to trust that.

This past Wednesday, we got a call from the dealership saying that we wouldn't get a car before February 1st but they had a VIN number of the car we would get (that way we could use the $3,000 incentive).

It all came down to the last weekend...but we were able to buy our car. God is truly faithful and we believe wholeheartedly He has given us the means to buy this car. And we are so grateful.

So...hopefully we will be able to show you pictures this time next week. For now, you can go visit the GMC website and check out the Terrain in carbon black metallic with the two toned interior :)

God-Given Ambition

I'm posting the link to our church's website for the sermon from this Sunday and I would LOVE it if you guys maybe took some time to listen to it and let me know what you think. I loved it and felt God speaking through this sermon from a guest speaker and I really want to share it with you guys :)

Our guest speaker was actually a member of our church and it was SO neat to hear his story and perspective. He's a lot older than me (like in his 80s), but because of that, it was amazing to hear him look back at his life and say, "I spent it well for Jesus only because of Jesus' grace".

Both Reed and I were completed captivated by this man and how God had used his life for His purposes. And we were just captivated by the idea of living for a God-given ambition throughout our entire life. It truly inspired us.

Okay, go click here and listen to the sermon named "God-Given Ambition"

What do I know of Holy?

I'm sure a lot of us have heard this song before. And I'll be honest, when someone says that a song resounds with them, I find it hard to relate because really we're all at different places.

But, if you truly want to know where I am right now, spiritually, this song has struck a chord with my struggles over the past couple of months.

I've been struggling with feeling stressed, overwhelmed, purposeless, empty and just overall so dry.

Part of that is because I've been downright self-involved for a couple months. A lot of the reason for that is because I decided I could take on life on my own, with my type-A personality leading the way. All that did was fail, which lead me to my selfish moping and pity parties.

Granted, I really did struggle this past couple months...I seriously had no idea what to do with myself spiritually. I felt so disconnected. So hopeless at times.

Then over this past Sunday, I realized that I have no perspective of how MIGHTY God is and how much I can experience that MIGHTY and AWESOME God. That I look like an idiot when I put it all on myself, because I have a Savior willing to know me. It's like I don't understand how big Jesus is. Then when this song played on Sunday, I just realized how much I don't know Jesus right now. I know a lot about Him, but I've forgotten how much pleasure I got from getting to know Him better and better every day. That He is my strength, my delight, my passion.

All of the questions asked below in this song are questions I am seriously asking myself...What do I know of Holy?

If you haven't heard this song, I would recommend listening to it while reading it...I really can feel the desperation in the artists voice when it's sung...and it reflects my own heart's yearnings.

What do I know of Holy - Addison Road

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all

If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

This makes me sad...

"You know what?"."Being Catholic is like being in a club and everyone who is not is jelaous, cause you like "HA your not in the club!"

This was a quote on a friend's facebook page. I know that this person has a genuine heart, but this quote reminds me of our hearts aptitude to take pride in ourselves, instead of Jesus. I truly struggled with this when I was Catholic...if I am to be honest, when I was Catholic, this probably was my mindset. But let's be honest, not just the Catholics think this. It's a sin so many of us give into....thinking we're in the best christian club and everyone should be jealous.

Makes me so sad how we've missed that God's love pours out to everyone. That we're all His children. That His son, Jesus, is the Savior for all. That's it's not about being in a club. In fact, based on His interactions with the pharisee's, I'd say that His mission was to break us of our notions of "clubs" and of the pride we take in being in one.

I don't know that I really articulated how I feel that well, but yeah, this just makes me sad...not in a judgemental way of this person, but it reminds me of how little we focus on Jesus and how much we focus on ourselves.

Pretend this is December 20th

And that I actually wrote a blog post during the time I had off of work like I said I would...Haha okay okay, well things didn't exactly happen how I wanted them to do as far as blogging over the break. But, better late than never right?

Our break started out a little rocky. I had a really long week at work and that generally makes me a little cranky...okay a lot cranky...so when Reed got delayed by almost 3 hours in leaving to meet me in Fort Worth so we could head out of town, I didn't have a ton of grace with him. Good thing the car ride to Boerne was 4.5 hours...we talked it out, I apologized for being a goober and we got back to our normal of jamming out to Christmas music the rest of the ride home :).

Once we got to Boerne it was a whirlwind! The first morning we are there I found out we were going to a Spurs game that night! It was SO much fun and I'm so blessed that Mario, my stepdad, was able to get us some tickets. We got to sit in his company's box seats and I got unlimited Diet coke all night! Ya! Plus it was cool cause that was the night that the Cowboys beat the Saints, so we were able to watch the Spurs game live and then stick around in the box to finish up the Cowboys game! It was completely unexpected and such a great surprise!

The next couple of days were INTENSE. We watched my nephews for a couple days to help my brother and his wife get everything packed for their trip to Tyler for Christmas. I LOVE these boys. They have so much energy and joy! It really does just make you laugh to see how silly they are. Currently, their favorite thing to do is wrestle, which meant Reed got a really good workout with these guys. In fact, I think he got a couple of bruises from them haha!

After the boys left, we just hung out with my family for the few days before Christmas eve, when all the extended family festivities began. It was such a sweet time :) In some ways the week in Boerne felt like it lasted forever, but in other ways, we felt like we left a day after we got there.

Overall, it was a much needed break for me, especially after a busy couple of weeks at work. It was nice to be with family who are seperated from the stresses of my life that I am so familiar with. When you're with people who have no idea how stressful things are for you, it makes you realize that your problems really aren't as big as you think....at least for me, it helps me to gain a little perspective and let some of the small stuff go.

Okay, I'm planning on blogging more this week, cause I have so much more to update everyone on, but for now, here are some Christmas pictures!

Our first Christmas together! This is at my aunt's house for my mom's side of the family's gathering!

Family pic! From left, Kristen, Mario, me, Reed, Mom!

Christmas day at my dad's side of the family!

My parents crazy cat, Bruce! He is the coolest cat ever. In the picture below, Reed had just stopped petting his belly, but Bruce still kept purring and stretching out his paws like cats do when they REALLY like something. It was super cute :)

Okay that's it for now! Hope everyone is having a wonderful end to the weekend!