Reading is a sort of portable magic...

Today is Thankful Thursday, and today I am thankful for the ability to read. I embarked on this journey when I was three years old. I suppose I always loved books and as a result my mom felt that I could learn this valuable skill at such a young age. I can never thank my mom enough for teaching me this.

I started out with Dr. Seuss and Disney story books. I eventually moved up to my favorites...Biography and Autobiography. There are so many advantages to reading. Not only can a book teach you things you never would have known otherwise, but books can also take you places that you never dreamed of going. Without the ability to read, I never would have known about so many of the great people who made this country great, I never would have read about far away princess' waiting for their princes, and most importantly I never would have read about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus. So much of what we know comes from reading.

Apart from the obvious assets to reading, I just plain enjoy it. When I am reading it is like the rest of the world fades away, and any problems or distractions from the day just melt away. So today on this Thankful Thursday, I thank my mom for teaching me how to get away from it all and delve into the world of books!

Forgiven

Today I thought I would share what I have had on my heart and what God has been teaching me this week. In my quiet time I have been reading about the Isrealites wandering in the desert after God delivered them from Egypt. It seemed like no matter how many times they messed up, God forgave them. There were consequences, but they were forgiven all the same. It was the same with Hosea and his wife. She was a harlot and all the same he loved her and married her. She continued to go back to her sin; each time Hosea took her back. In the same way, each time we mess up God takes us back. All we have to do is have a repentant heart and He says He will take our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. God never brings it back up or throws it in our faces, He simply forgives. God's mercy and grace amaze me more and more every day. To think that a holy, sinless God can see past my faults and love me regardless is a truly baffling thing. I wish we as humans could be more like Christ in this respect. Why is it we can't forgive like Jesus? No instead we continually bring that thing someone did to us up if not openly, we do it in our minds. Why do we use people's mistakes against them? We say we have forgiven, but we don't let that person forget. To me that is not true forgiveness and also not the attitude Christ would want us to have. I have been convicted of this very thing this week, and I encourage you to work on this area with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZVjKrmvYYQ

Take a look at this video by Sanctus Reel, it is a great song all about how God has forgiven us.

My Weekend

So today is the day that is always dreaded...Monday!!! As far as Mondays go this day wasn't so bad. I did have to drag myself out of bed for work, but that is to be expected from me on a daily basis as I believe that the work day shouldn't begin until about 10 o'clock. Anyway, we had a great weekend. Friday begins our weekend since Drew and I are both off on Fridays. We slept late (which is always welcomed) and then went to Montgomery for the afternoon. Friday night, Jenna Sanders and Emily Nobles came over to the apartment for Bible study, yoga and dinner. We did chapters 2and 3 in Disciplines of a Godly Woman. These chapters focus on submission. The submission highlighted here is not so much about the submission to one's husband but mainly focused on submission to God. It really was a great time of fellowship, and I was reminded how thankful I am to have friends who love Jesus. After Bible study we tried the new Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown DVD I bought. That was interesting and I must say the most hardcore yoga I have ever experienced. I did it again today and I feel refreshed and a little more sore than I would like. After yoga we did what all good health nuts do and we ate. It really was a great night. Saturday I had planned to have a sisters only day, but all that changed when Michaela and I went to Belk only to discover that my china pattern was being dicontinued and was at an incredible discount. When Drew & I got married we received almost all the china we registered for but I wanted to buy a few more plates in case any mishaps happen over the years and a few serving dishes I didn't get. The Belk in Prattville was all sold out of the plates, but the saleslady told me that the Belk at the Summit had a good bit of the whole set left. So upon leaving Belk in Prattville, we called my mom and took a random road trip to Birmingham. It was great girl time, and I ended up with about $300 worth of china for $75. I felt accomplished because not only did I find a great sale, but I drove to Birmingham and back without having a heart attack. (For those of you who don't know I really hate to drive, but I felt adventurous on Saturday and decided to give it a whirl. This was my first trip to drive such a long distance without following someone.) Sunday we had a great day of worship which lead to today. Most Mondays end up being crazy boring and excrutiatingly long, but today went by relatively fast and I got quite a bit of laundry done. Tomorrow Drew's mom is coming into town, and we try to spend as much time as we can with her when she is here, since we don't see her as often as we would like; so I may not blog as much this week. On a side note I am especially captivated by the pretty pink flowers blooming everywhere, if you haven't noticed them yet just look out your window while you are driving, they really are lovely. We serve a great God who blessed us with a beautiful world, we just have to take the time to enjoy it.

Thankful Thursdays

Ok so I have been having a hard time lately trying to decide what to blog about. I decided to take a page out of the book of Jenna and designate a subject for a certain day, thus Thankful Thursdays. Each Thursday I will talk about something I am thankful for. Today for the debut, I feel it is fitting to talk about my sweet husband.
When I was in about the ninth grade Annie Schmitz did a Bible study with us and expressed the importance of not only saving our bodies for our husbands, but also saving our hearts. It was after this Bible study that I began to pray that God would not let me date unless it was the person I was going to marry. This became a source of heartache for me in high school when all the other girls had boyfriends and I did not. It wasn't that people didn't ask me out, but rather that I knew the people asking were not the ones for me. I remember crying and feeling so alone, but I always had that prayer of giving my heart completely to my husband and not just the leftovers from those I had dated. My freshman year of college I met a boy and in true Kimberly form, I got impatient with God and went on a date with a boy knowing that it didn't feel right. After this experience, I knew that wasn't what God had for me and decided that this time I was going to truly wait on God. I remember feeling so content, because I had finally wholeheartedly given this area of my life over to God. It was not long after this around October, that this boy I had always thought was cute started sitting by me in Sunday School. It seems funny now, but I remember thinking why in the world would DREW HUNT sit by ME of all people. I went home from church that first day and mentioned it at lunch, my mom immediately said "Don't discourage him, he is a good boy." I just couldn't imagine why on earth he would even be interested in me, but apparantly he was. This continued and in December we began officially dating. I guess we went through that awkward first few months, but I really don't remember feeling that way, it was always evident that this must be a God thing. 5 1/2 months ago I married Drew and everyday I thank God for sending him to me. God knew exactly what I needed; Drew & I compliment each other in so many ways.
It amazes me how one person can make you feel so complete, but that is what I feel with Drew. He is a hard worker, and he does so much to provide for me. I always had this idea of what my husband would be like, Drew is all that and more. It takes a special man to watch Project Runway every week, and it takes an even more special man to put up with me. It is for these reasons along with so many more that I couldn't feel more blessed to have Drew as my husband.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

So I am not really sure why we celebrate this day, but I suppose it is fun to have a legitimate excuse to pinch people, and an also equally good excuse to wear the color green. I like green, I admit that I used to disdain the color, but our tastes change and thus I now like the color. In honor of this day of green I will share a few things I love that are associated or are the color green.

*Anne of Green Gables*

I was introduced to the world of Anne Shirley, when I was in about the fifth grade through the movies not the book. I do have all the books, but in this instance the movies drew me in more than the books. I love the language, and the exchanges between Anne and everyone she comes into contact with. In many ways I always identified with Anne, clumsy and always finding trouble. It wasn't that she tried to get into trouble, it just seemed to find her. I must confess that I should watch these movies alone, because I have a tendency to say the lines along with the characters, I have seen them that many times. In fact it was through watching these movies that I memorized Tennyson's Lady of Shalot. I haven't watched these movies in a while, but talking about them now gives me the urge to lose myself in Avonlea, if only for the 9 hour duration of the movies. Anyone who doesn't mind me randomly spouting off lines with Anne is welcome to join.

*Peacock Feathers*

God was showing off when he made the peacock. Although I know from personal experience that these are perhaps the dumbest birds on this earth, there is no denying they are truly beautiful creatures. I love all the colors displayed, but specifically the bright green color. When I was still living at home with my parents, the lady down the road actually had a peacock, my sister and I named him Phillip. Don't ask me why, but that's just what we called him. We chased him and chased him all in an effort to get him to spread out his feathers, it never worked but it was quite entertaining. They haven't seen Phillip lately, perhaps he didn't enjoy our little afternoon runs.

*Kermit the Frog*


Who can deny that there is something interesting about a talking frog in love with a melodramatic pig. This would combine two of the things I love. Frogs and pigs. I don't know why, but I have always liked both of these animals. Maybe the frog affection has something to do with Kermit. I have always found him to be quite entertaining and I particularly liked him in the cartoon Muppet Babies. I am well aware that my affection for pigs comes from watching Charlotte's Web too many times as a child. (Thus my imaginary pig Wilbur who lived in our compost pile.) But this blog is about all things green and of course pigs are not green.The last green thing that I will talk about is my love for...

*Trees*


I love trees, namely the dogwood tree. I have heard the story about the buds of the dogwood tree representing the cross and if it is true how amazing, but even if it isn't the flowers are still a great reminder of God's love for us. If we lay aside the four petals and the red on the tips of the petals, the shear beauty of this tree should be a reminder of God's love for us. The dogwood has always been my favorite tree. We had one in our backyard growing up and it had a branch that sat just low enough that I could climb it easily. I remember thinking that if I could climb all the way to the top I would lay in the branches,then see and talk directly to God. Of course I never got much higher than that first branch, but it was a a nice thought. Thinking about it now, I CAN talk to God directly and I CAN see Him; if only through His creation and works; and how amazing is that!

I suppose that is enough for today. If you took the time to read my ramblings about all things green, I appreciate it. Maybe you gained a little more insight about who I am, even if that wasn't what you wanted. Hope everyone is having a great day, try not to get pinched too many times.

Discipline and Another Lesson in Trusting God

I realize that I haven't blogged since last Monday, but I honestly have had a lack of things to share. I often share things that are not meaningful at all and in an effort to spare you from my random ramblings, I simply chose not to blog. On Friday, my dear friend Jenna and I started doing a Bible study together. The two of us actually started this study with Marie Bishop, our freshman year of college, but when she moved to Kentucky, we stopped meeting. The study is Disciplines of a Godly Woman, and I feel like we are both in a place where we could use discipline. Jenna is on the verge of graduating college and I am a new wife. Both places in life that require discipline. Our first study went really well, here is what I got from Chapter 1.

-Spotaneity isn't an excuse for me to ignore the importance of discipline.
This is something I struggle with, while I enjoy structure and scheduling, all too often my life is interupted by my spontaneous notions to do this or that. And I have found that rather than having that scheduled quiet time, it has become spontaneous as well. I plan to do it at a certain time, but something comes up and it gets placed in a random spot and oftentimes, I regret to say this, it gets left out altogether. I realize that if I can make time for so many other things, that I need to make it a priority to make time for the one thing that matters most. This is what I am working on doing this week. Hopefully if I start making it a habit this week that will translate into next week and the next week and so forth.

-We need to get rid of every association, habit, and tendency that impedes godliness.
While I am not regularly around people who would bring me down, persay, I do tend to have problems with other things. A lack of time managemnent is one area I struggle with. I get home from work in the afternoons and instead of reading my Bible or doing something beneficial, I sit down and watch a little television or I get on the computer and realize two hours later that I am going to have to rush to get supper ready. While I suppose that watching tv and getting on the computer are not necessarily sinful in and of themselves, when they take time away from God they become such. Now I am not going to stop watching tv and getting on the computer, but I am going to work on managing my time in the afternoons so that I am taking care of what needs taking care of and then doing the less meaningful things such as these.

Those are just two of the things I picked out from Chapter 1, it was a rather short chapter but still a great start to the study. I started reading Chapter 2 today, and I am already well aware that there will be much more to share from there.

Another point to share is that tomorrow, Drew will start a new job. He has been working for a company at the Selma Paper Mill for a while now, but honestly we both feel it isn't going anywhere. Drew talked to a friend of his whose wife works for a company at the Prattville Mill and he told him they were looking for some people. Drew contacted them and the lady told him that he was already on the list to be contacted, which I think says alot about his reputation as far as being a hard worker. At any rate he is supposed to start tomorrow. This is a blessing in many ways, but also another lesson in trusting God. If Drew does a good job, he could move up and earn more money, but if work slows down he will be the low man on the totem pole and that could mean getting laid off down the road. I suppose that with the economy the way it is, this could be true for any job, but the thought is still in the back of my mind. We both are excited about this new adventure, and I have a feeling that if nothing else comes from this, we will at least have a greater prayer life than we did prior to the job move. Please pray with us that this will prove to be a good career move and that God will bless Drew and use him to witness to the new men he will be working with.

Random Monday Thoughts

So this weekend was pretty great. I got my new Palinesque glasses, which thrills me to no end. I made my second attempt at feeding Drew and my parents chili, noone died and everyone seemed to enjoy it. On Saturday, Drew and I went to Santuck with my dad, sister, and her friend Marlee. It was a really pretty day and I tried fried oreos for the first time ever. They are nothing short of amazing and definitely not something I should partake of on regular occassions for fear that I may need a crane to remove me from my house. That night Drew and I went to the Catfish House with my parents and aunt and uncle. We had a great time just talking and cutting up. I wonder if most people enjoy the company of their parents as much as I do? I imagine my teenage self throwing up at that last statement, but let's just say growing up changes your outlook a bit. Sunday we had a great day of worship to read more about the sermons check out this blog....

http://www.devaughn4.blogspot.com/

I also have been having a horrible time with my allergies this weekend, and consequently felt like death yesterday. After my nap I felt so much better, but I am still suffering from the ill effects of said allergies today. Who knew you could sneeze so many times and still maintain consciousness. I honestly don't remember when I have ever felt so bad. I decided to skip Sunday School leaving Drew to fend for himself with the kiddies. Luckily, no children died and I have had no phone calls from parents wanting to know why Drew fed their child a ridiculous amount of cookies (which he definitely did.) All in all minus a few sinus related issues, it was a great weekend. Drew and I will make our first attempt at grilling at our apartment tonight. Steak, baked potatoes and salad are on the menu and I cannot wait. Also we have new neighbors below us, does anyone else find it odd when the male inhabitants jeans are tighter than the females? Just saying! If anyone knows these people please ask them to A) stop slamming their front door and B) stop taking my parking space it isn't nice! Oh the joys of apartment living