Another visit!

Hello! I've missed all you guys! 

So ... I had such a good time with the girls this past week! 

The older I get the more I realize how much I love 'girl time'. There's nothing like having a good conversation with fellow females. ;) 

It makes me sad that they don't live closer... but definitely makes me appreciate the little time I get with them!

I really didn't get many pictures :( 

I know... I haven't been myself lately in the picture department. I'm just busy having too much fun! 

We spent our days relaxing mostly, swimming lots, talking for endless hours, & playing tons of games. 

We actually did go to Anthropologie. It was my first time ever going there.

And my, they have some adorable stuff!

 I, of course, didn't buy anything. I think that will be my new just LOOKING store.

 A little too expensive for my taste.

This was my cousins FIRST time seeing the ocean!!! 

So that was exciting. 

I'm glad we could be the reason she got to see it :) 

I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with them

Love you both! 

Oh yes, I almost forgot... There names are Hannah and Bethany. 

Hannah specifically asked to be mentioned by name

Haha ;)

I won a blog giveaway!!!

I won my very first blog giveaway last week thanks to Young People in Love !

I was so excited. I think my heart stopped for a second when I saw that I was picked! 

Soooo... today I received my awesomely, adorable print by Sam herself

It's so cute:

{I haven't taken a picture of mine yet... this is just a pic of it from her shop}

don't you love it?! 

I'm so happy I get to hang this adorableness in my living room :) 

Thanks Sam!! 

You can visit her lovely blog here

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My cousin and friend are flying in tomorrow night to visit us for a few days. I'm sooo excited to have some much needed girl time!

 So now you know what I'm doing if I'm MIA for the next few days :) 

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 

Twitter

I have officially joined twitter!

You can follow me here

:) 

He's my Dad

I'm pretty much the luckiest girl ever when it comes to my Dad 

I'm so thankful to have had such a pure Godly example in my life all of these years

My Dad...

Is super funny 

Always played games with us growing up {remember ball tag, mini golf, trouble, 500 rummy... and the list goes on...}

Would read to me every night when I was little {I'll never forget Pippy Longstocking} :)

Would stay up late with me and watch TV when I got older 

Has always been calm, loving, and understanding 

Is so smart

Is the hardest worker I know

Is extremely generous

Loves the Lord & has always shown that through his actions

Is the BEST Dad ever... I mean that!

One thing I am so grateful to my Dad for is that he showed me how a man should love and treat his wife. My Dad has always showered my mom with love, always treated her with the utmost respect, always has provided for her, & has always stood by her side through everything. 

Because of his example, I knew what to look for in a husband-
and I found a pretty amazing one-

I owe it all to my Dad

The older I get the more I realize what a role model my Dad is for me. Often, I find myself thinking 'what would he do?' or 'how would he do it?'. I trust his opinion. He is one of the few that I really look up to.

 I know that if my Dad says it's good, then it's good. 

I'm so thankful to call you my Dad 

I love you so much, Daddy-o

Juicing

So, like a month ago my mom GAVE me her juicer

What a sweet momma I have! 

I just want to tell you all that juicing is the THING TO DO

Growing up... my mom would always make me carrot juice when I had a sore throat 

& seriously, almost immediately my sore throat was GONE! 

It's amazing. 

So I've taken up juicing again... and I'm trying to do it everyday 

You can juice ANYthing. {well, fruit or vegetables}

I've been making carrot/ celery juice mostly. 

People think its so gross but,

I actually like the taste... & I'm getting to the point where I'm like craving it! 

I know... you all probably think I'm weird ;) 

Fruit is so good too... there's nothing like fresh apple juice!

My mom was just telling me about a guy who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, so he started juicing 13 TIMES A DAY and his cancer was gone! 

That right there is enough to get me to do it :) 

...maybe not 13 times a day, but at least once! ha 

It's so great how God gave us exactly what we need to be healthy 

And the brother visits...

So, I've been missing from the blog world this past week! I missed you all! 

But I have a good excuse, 

my little brother flew in from PA to visit us! 

We had soo much fun 

It was so great spending quality time with just him 

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures... 

Between forgetting my camera practically every place we went & my brother hating pictures being taken of him... I just didn't get too many ;) 

{I promise I'm still taller than him... another reason why I shouldn't slouch!}

{check out this sweet picture!}

We...

spent TONS of time at the pool 

perfected our dives {ok, the boys actually did this}

went to the beach & saw dolphins!

played some good ol' putt putt {which, I must say, I beat them both} ;) 

ate a lot of strawberry/ chocolate crepes

went out to eat 

had plenty of heart to hearts 

laughed lots

got seriously 'sun-kissed'... oops!

played games 

watched movies 

& had an awesomely fantastic time with our bro! 

:)

Three little blessings

Our first few weeks in Naples, 

we didn't have a job

or a place to live 

SO.... we decided to buy a tent and go stay at a state park/campground

{it's the place to be if you don't have much money or a place to live}

Our time at the campground was fun, 

but hard. Really hard 

We were both worried sick about finding a job, 

& we were scared about the future

we spent our days at McDonald's using their Wi-fi, frantically searching for jobs & a place to live,

and our nights were spent in a tent under a starry sky

During that time, many tears were shed 

And several hours were spent reading the Word and praying

We actually had to trust the promises in Matthew 6: 

 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." 

{How incredibly comforting are these verses?!}

Everything in those few weeks that could have gone wrong... did. 

At times, it felt like God was no where around

But, in our darkest moment God WAS there: 

He sent us three little blessings 

They were from the campsite behind ours

Three beautiful little boys, they were brothers

They just came to us, actually God SENT them to us 

They became our friends, when we had none 

They didn't know everything that we were going through 

But they didn't have to 

They loved us, we loved them 

That was all we needed 

It was amazing how such a strong bond was formed between all of us in such a short amount of time-

It was beautiful

These boys brought us SO much joy during such a hard time 

The Lord provided!

When they were with us, our problems didn't really seem to matter anymore

It was SO hard when it was time for us to leave each other

The littlest one cried so much , as did I as we drove off

Our hearts felt so sad to see them go, we loved them. 

But, our hearts felt SO blessed

I thank God for these three little blessings often, they will forever stay in our hearts 

How incredible that God cared enough about us to send 3 kiddo-s that showed us love when we needed it most!

I love you, boys!

guess who has bangs?!

Yep, that's right! 

I got a little crazy last night... 

I've always been the kid who just like randomly gets the urge to chop off all her hair, 

and no, I don't mean I go somewhere and get it done... 

I just do it. 

And no, I have zero clue on how to cut hair the right way

Crazy kid I was.... Oh wait, I still am ;) 

So, here they are:

There different but I love change! 

So woopie for new bangs! 

Hold life loosely

So Lee and I have just recently found a church here that we really like, 

It seems like every Sunday both of us leave with some profound truth that we have overlooked-

So here is my heart: 

I want to be like Job.

I want to be 'blameless and upright' in the eyes of the LORD.

After everything, like literally EVERYTHING, was taken from Job he said,

"... the Lord gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

What an incredible example of someone that held life loosely.

He actually grasped the concept that nothing earthly was significant

Why can't I grasp that? 

Why do I get mad at God when things don't go how I had planned them to? 

Why do I blame God so easily? 

Job 1:22 says,

"In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."

I need to seriously start holding my life loosely & holding onto God more tightly. 

I want to be the one who is different. 

I want to be able to so easily praise God in the storm. 

What is my faith worth if I turn my back on God in the hard times? 

So my prayer is that I begin to hold life loosely. 

That I realize the insignificance of worldly things,

& that when hard times come I turn my face to the Lord and I bless His name

crocheting & a letter from Rome

So, I'm learning how to crochet!

I got this really random urge to learn how to do it a few days ago...

 So, I bought some crochet hooks & picked out some pretty yarn yesterday, 

and of course got some youtube help,

and ever since I've been crocheting away ;) 

It's actually really fun

I've been in serious need of some type of hobby!

First project= a blanket... {i know, I'm adventurous}

I'm really just sort of making it up as I go... I mean its a square, how could I mess up? 

Knowing me, I may be able to find a way ;) 

But we'll see how it turns out

 

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Yesterday we got something in the mail from a friend from college,

He is in ROME for a college trip & He sent us a postcard! 

How cool! 

Now I can say I've gotten a letter from Rome!  

Ahh I still love seeing our names written together on mail :)

Happy JUNE to all of you! 

Time flies when your blissfully in love...