King David

Amazingly enough, I am still sticking with reading through the Bible in 90 days. Today's reading started with the last words of King David. Now, reading through David's life in big chunks struck me a lot differently than reading in little bits has. David did some awesome things, but he did some terrible things too. He murdered a man, committed adultery. He was a really crappy dad. And he spent most of his recorded life hiding in caves, being deceitful to others in order to avoid capture, and running. This is not a very impressive life. But like David said,

If my house were not right with God,
    surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant,
    arranged and secured in every part;
surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation
    and grant me my every desire.
                                    -2 Samuel 23:5

I'm trying to reflect on what was good in his life. What I see is a man who knew God was in charge and would win. He didn't necessarily think God was going to always give him his way, but he always knew God would get his way. He was moved to action by this (David vs. Goliath), but he was also moved to wait by this (see how often he didn't kill Saul, because he was God's anointed?). The world tells us a lot that what we want matters most. I strut around thinking that what I want and how I think things should happen matters so much. But I doubt God agrees. It's his glory that matters; luckily, if we are seeking that, our happiness is often a by-product. But it's never a guarantee. It's also good to remember that a not impressive life can also be incredibly pleasing to God.

Back to the Grind

Happy New Year! Sorry not to post over Christmas break. I was busy breaking and enjoying every minute! This year I had the real treat of being off for two weeks of paid vacation with my husband, which is my new favorite thing ever. We got to see lots of family, which Abigail actually loved! My mom's house is very spacious and completely baby-proof, thanks to my 18-month old brother. She took full advantage of the situation, and was crawling EVERYWHERE! She also had a lot of fun with her baby uncle, rubbing his head and tugging on his ears. I know he was excited about the unexpected head massage.

We did get some not so happy news though. My step-dad has been battling colon cancer. We thought everything was on the up and up after two clean CT scans, but he had one last week and there was a mass on his liver. We are praying that it's nothing, or if it's something that God will heal him. There are more tests coming soon to see what the situation really is though. In the meantime, any prayers are appreciated. I'm sure every family says this, but we need him here.

God's Naughty and Nice List

I'm on Day 2 of the "Bible in 90 Days" plan. I read Genesis 17 - 28, roughly. One of awesome things about Genesis is all the stories of great faith. I read so much of the Bible and think "if I were in their shoes I would not have done that." Why? Why wouldn't I have acted in faith and obedience? Has God ever let me down when I did act in faith? Why am I so scared to trust the creator of the universe? The hardest things I have done in faith have ended up having the greatest and best effects on my life. I should be asking God to give me challenges so that he can bless my life more!

Take Abraham for example. God decided to bless him and make him the father of nations (and Jesus!) because of his faith and righteousness. God also decided to tell him about the plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because he didn't want to hide what he was doing from the father of nations. Seriously! God didn't want to go behind Abraham's back as a direct result of his faith and righteousness (Gen. 18). And then, God decide to spare Abraham's nephew Lot on Abraham's account. Not only that, but it sounds like angels whisked Lot and his immediate family out of town when they hesitated to go on their own (Gen 19). Because of Abraham's faith, the lives of his family were saved, even when they did not have faith. Every time I read the act of faith and think "I would never do that" and need to realize when I read the reward and blessing afterward that I would never have that. And frankly, that's sad.

So many plans

We are postponing buying a house, for reasons I will disclose once they become completely official. Suffice it to say that we will hopefully be in a much better place to buy in a year and we have much better options happening now. We're looking for a new (bigger) apartment or condo to rent, so if you know of a good one, let me know!  We are both completely happy with this turn of events though, and we learned a lot by starting the house buying process. For one, we learned how important it is to check your credit report often! You get one free credit report from each reporting agency each year. If you order one every four months and rotate which one you order from, then you can keep an eye on your credit throughout the year. This way you can nip errors in the bud, and not 2 years later like we did with ours. Also, we learned some parameters that lending companies require before letting you buy their money from them. For example, you have to have worked in your field for a minimum of two years. Bad news for people like me that enjoy job hopping. They couldn't even count my income in getting us approved. Apparently they were not impressed by my ability to find so many jobs. Also, you cannot owe more money to people than you make in a year. This was not an issue for us, thanks to Dave Ramsey, but it was interesting to note. I am keeping a much better eye on our bank accounts now. I always think, now what would our mortgage guy say if he saw this. It makes banking more interesting.

In other news, I may be helping someone set up a business selling art. For any of you small business gurus, selling online gurus, or shopping online gurus, I would love imput! What has worked for you, what hasn't? What sites do you love to shop at? What sites do you hate to shop at? Why? What programs have helped you succeed, or were a total waste of your time? I would love any and all input.

It's almost the weekend, I hope it's restful and awesome.

Holiday Fever

Ok, fever is probably a little bit of an exaggeration. I do love this time of year though! I love the busyness of it, even though I know that is what most people complain about. Especially the shopping. We made a short list of people to get gifts for this year. Usually I like to get/make for everyone, but there isn't time or money for that this year. As a result, I am having a lot of fun buying for the few people I do get to buy for. If you didn't make the list, don't feel bad. Nathan didn't either. (I love you Sweetie!) We are hoping to get family photos made next week, and then the Christmas cards can be mailed soon after that for the people we don't get to buy for. I have also been inspired by gluten-free holiday baking, so that will be taking up time soon. It will be so worth it for the yummy smells filling our home. And the best thing, the very best thing, is that for the first time ever, Nathan and I will both be off together for two weeks at Christmas! We were off in college, but we spent it with our respective families and then met back up at campus when class started. This year we are very married, so we will be together. And with our little pookie! (not poopy, like the daycare boys always think I say) It is going to be amazing. I am already looking for fun things to do with her. I know she won't remember all the sights, smells, and sounds of her first Christmas, but I will. And I will treasure them for a very long time. I hope you're enjoying this holiday season as much as I am.

The After Party

Well, we made it through one major holiday. Only 17 more work days until my next holiday break begins. Why doesn't everyone work for a school?!?!? Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving was great. Mine was fun. We went to Arkansas to visit family. The little one had a great time playing with all her relatives. She also practiced her new skill - crawling. She just started crawling and just hit that stage where she wants to have mommy in eye-sight at all times, so she has almost perfected crawling over to me and into my lap. Definitely my favorite trick! It's always something new with a baby though. I'm constantly having to learn what she needs for her current developmental level and mood. It's a constant evaluation, and you can take nothing for granted. It's a challenge, but so wonderful.

To update my 30 day pre-Thanksgiving challenge, I did not make significant weight/measurement differences. However, I have been exercising just about every day, I am eating less sweets and junk food, I am not eating until 10 every night, and I've had several people at work tell me I look thinner. All in all, I'm counting this as a success. My 30 day pre-Christmas challenge is going to focus on being really gluten-free. I found out that my gluten intolerance potentially added to or caused my difficulties breast feeding Abigail, and I'm on a mission to not have the same problems with the next baby, whenever it may come. So I'm going GF until the Super Bowl! Hopefully that will be long enough to really set the habit. What about the holidays, you ask? Betty Crocker makes GF cake mixes and I'm going to try to make cake balls with them. After all, everyone knows it's impossible to feel deprived when you're eating cake balls. But in case I slip, feel free to knock the fried chicken right out of my hand!

Well, back to work everybody. Make it count!

Update

Internet, you are not a good accountability partner. I started out pretty good, but then Abigail got sick. And if you think it's hard to get things done with a healthy baby, you should try getting things done with a sick baby! So I haven't been working out, but I am doing pretty well on the food side. Unfortunately, I only lose weight if I work out, so you can't really tell. But I'm feeling, I don't know, cleaner since I've been eating better. And that's definitely something.

In other news, the election happened. Most of me is disappointed that we're not getting a new president. Or a vice president with a 6-pack. But part of me, the snarky part of me, is excited to see all the crazy things that so many conservatives are threatening will happen if Obama stays in office NOT happen. Like I said, the snarky part. All of me though is working on remembering that God said to pray for your leaders, to respect those in authority over you, and to remember that they are in power because God has allowed it. True, it could be that God allowed it as punishment (see any random chapter in the Old Testament as example), but God still allowed it. And frankly, I want to be obedient to God more than I want to rail against an elected official.

In final news, the house shopping is on a pause. When they ran our credit there was an error on the credit report which is taking hours of yelling and weeks of waiting to be corrected so that we can get the best rate possible. This is your warning, keep an eye on your credit! Preferably before you want to do something really expensive! Also, be sure at least one person in your marriage is good at calling and yelling at people. Although not being good at it is not a bad thing. Might even say something good about a person. But hopefully it will be corrected in next moth or so and we can go back to house hunting.

I hope you're having a good day, Internet. Thanks for listening :)