sad eyes.

Poor baby Jovie.
She knows we are leaving and is moping around with her sad eyes.

Little does she know, not only will we be back, but she will also have her cousin David, Jack, and Grandma all over to keep her company while we are gone!

Indifferent?

As I am preparing for our trip to Venezuela a very common questions has been asked. "Are you excited?!". I usually say Yeahhh, and a little nervous, but really I always feel like that is a lie. I don't really feel anything about it. I just feel indifferent. I don't know why. I don't know if that is a bad thing (shouldn't I be excited?) or it is a good thing (i'm not super nervous?). I just don't know. It is like my heart is numb to the concept that I will be in a foreign country shortly.

I wish I was excited, although I have yet to be "excited" about any trip I have taken to a different country. (Even a 5 star resort in Mexico!) I am very grateful that I am not hyperventilating scared like I was before Mexico.

God has plans. I know I would not be going on this trip if He wasn't expecting me to be obedient to this call. Ryan and I both felt very strongly that we should not miss out on this oppurtunity. (As I was just writing that sentence I did actually get a few butterflies.)  So ready or not, excited or not, nervous or not, Venezuela we are coming!

Fabulous Finds!

Thanks to one of my fav's Young House Love, I stumbled across Joss and Main. It is a store that puts home decor items on sale all the time! Not only does it have great sales, it also has a pretty good reward program! There is  a bit of a catch, access is restricted to members only so here is an invitation to join.


Here are a few items that are on sale!!

Every girl wants.

Obession might be too small of a word for my relationship with Pinterest. If you don't know of the site, beware. It will be one of the things that when the site is gone, I will think of it and be brought back to this summer. I spend alot of time on browsing on it. Enough about that, here is one my latest favorite finds. It is just what a every girl wants.

*pic from here

Craftastic Friday!

My "big" summer project was redoing three chairs. I bought the chairs for like $9 total from Good Will. They sat in my garage for a few weeks and I finally finished two of the chairs. I ran out of paint so the third is about a coat or two away from being finished. Soooo here they are!!

Before:

During:

After:

School's out for...

A few more weeks.

It is so funny how fast my feelings can change about teaching. Literally last week I was feeling sick about starting school again. I felt like I was not refreshed and I was terrified. I felt like I wasn't capable of teaching again. Weird I know. Then I went and visited my friend's new classroom, and BOOM! I was in teaching mode again! I am still definitely not wanting to back any sooner than I have to, but I am not dreading it. I am pretty exciting about being a sponsor again and knowing the ropes with that position this year. I have the drive and desire to be the best teacher I can possibly be. The fear is gone and has been replaced with excitement.

All that being said, I am still soaking up the summer! We are getting ready for our big Venezeula trip! It is almost time for me to allow myself to start to think about that. Yikes. I always get super nervous about going out of the country,so far I have been pretty relaxed about this one. Prayers would be greatly appreciated for peace :)

Once was dead, but now I live...

I am now alive in a way that I had never felt alive before. Every breath has meaning, and every part of life feels so different. I can’t really explain in words how it feels except that I feel I have been made alive. Sure, I was living before, but now I am alive.

Today while I was stalking browsing the blogs I read I came across a new blog. I clicked on it because the girl's name seemed familiar. I am sure I don't know this girl (which is really weird if I stop long enough to think about that), but her story seemed very familiar to me. Probably because she had a similiar story to mine about how she pretty much grew up believe in the one true God, but just didn't really "get it". As I was reading her story I just kept thinking "I totally understand what she means!".  She posted the quote above and I don't know if she wrote it or where she got it, but that is exactly how I feel.

That is exactly how I want my closest friends and family to feel. That is why I want to people to fall in love with Jesus. He will bring their lives alive.

It reminds me of the song And Now My Lifesong Sings by Casting Crowns.