Blogging from A to Z: I'm a Challenge Ambassador!

Meet one of Arlee Bird's 2013 A to Z Challenge Ambassadors!

Yup, that would be me!  I'm SO excited, and honored, to be one of five bloggers working with Lee to be a monitor, cheerleader, and worker with the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  Basically, I get to read a LOT of  blogs, see how they're contributing to the Challenge, and cheer them on!  Sounds like a job designed for me.

These are the other members of Lee's team, with links to their blogs:

Judy at raisingthecurtain.net 

Tim Brannan at  The Other Side and his secondary blog that he co-runs Red Sonja: She Devil with a Sword

Yvonne Lewis at Yvonne's Poetry Corner   

Alana Garrigues at Writercize

If you haven't heard about it before, the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is just what it sounds like.  During the month of April, I'll write a post every day with the subject beginning with the letter of the alphabet assigned for that day.  So Monday, April 1st, the subject will start with "A," the 2nd "B" and so on.  Sundays we don't have to post.

The "challenge" for me will be actually coming up with a topic for every letter--especially "Q," "V", "U," "Y" and "Z"!  I'm starting to plan out my post topics already so hopefully by the middle of March I can start writing and scheduling posts.

If you happen to be a blogger I have good news for you--you can participate, too!  This is like a MASSIVE link-up (there are hundreds of participants already), so every day your link in the list will be updated, and other Challenge participants will visit your blog.  Click on THIS link to sign up, and THIS one for answers to some questions about it.

The idea is to build community, so whether you have five followers or five hundred, this is a great opportunity for you to get to know other blogs and to get your own blog "out there."

Personally, I'm praying that this will be an opportunity for me to share the love of Jesus and the good news of his life, death, and resurrection (for US!) with even more people!  I'm so excited to have this opportunity.

If you don't follow me already, please do so now so you don't miss any of my posts for the Challenge in April!  You can follow via Google Friend Connect, email, or other blog readers.

What do you think?  Would you like to participate in a blogging challenge like this?

"Fab Five" Friday (and GIVEAWAY announcement!)

Laura and Falen at Upward Not Inward are hosting a Friday "Fab Five" linkup, and I'm happy to be joining them today!

This week I am grateful for:
Employment, and time with one of my best friends (which we've worked into our schedules, so we'll be intentional about getting together every week!).  I am also thankful for the time Joshua and I have had to spend together this week, despite busy work schedules.

This week I enjoyed:
Driving to and from work and school!  Thanks to God's goodness and the generosity of my parents and aunt and uncle, Joshua and I now have a car!!  Also, I am loving all my new classes--it's going to be a fantastic semester.

This week I learned:
That getting up early is one of the best things I can do for myself in a day, because it gives me time to do things like reading my Bible (did that every day this week!), blogging (almost every day!), and eating a good breakfast without being rushed to get out the door.  I also learned that I cannot serve in volleyball--need to work on that!

This week I accomplished:
I kept (mostly) on track with the dishes this whole week.  I have a bad habit of leaving dirty supper dishes till the next day and letting them pile up.  I've been pretty good this week at not doing that.  By tomorrow night, I will have accomplished all my housecleaning for this week! :)

I am looking forward to:
Going to see The Hobbit again tonight with my hubby, and the arrival of one of our dearest friends for a five-day visit!  She's staying with us while in town for, technically, a business reunion, but I'm SO excited to see her (it's been over six months)!!!


Finally, I'm really looking forward to hosting my first-ever GIVEAWAY, beginning on Monday!  I'll be giving away THREE copies of the Rekindling Romance eBooklet and eKit from Jason and Jami, the couple behind A Biblical Marriage.  If you're married, this will make a fantastic addition to your Valentine's Day celebrations--get excited!! :)

Linking up with Upward Not Inward, Black Tag Diaries, Lovely Little Whimsy, Loved and Lovely

Thankful Thursday: two special people

Today I am incredibly thankful for two very special people.

One of them is my husband, who wrote a fantastic guest post yesterday (thanks baby!).  We both really appreciate all the encouraging comments that have been left; it meant so much!!  Also, I am SUPER-DUPER proud of him because he is doing great at work.  I'm thankful for how hard he works to support us.

Plus, he is just the funniest, sweetest, handsomest, most thoughtful and most overall amazing guy I know.  I just love him so much.

(this picture was taken by a nine-year-old.  I love how it captures his personality!)

I am also ridiculously thankful for this girl!!  This is my stunning friend Sara, who is so much like me it's kind of scary sometimes.  She showed up last night for a surprise, two-night visit, which she's been plotting with the guy pictured above for over two weeks.  It's bliss.  Today we had a girls' day: we gave each other massages, played with each other's hair, gave each other pedicures (ah, foot massages!) and she even let me do her makeup!  Plus we watched Sense and Sensibility, one of our favorite girly romance movies.

PLUS she's been helping me with cooking and dishes and we've had time to talk about everything under the sun.  I cannot believe how much of a blessing she is in my life.  This kind of friend doesn't come along very often, but I am so glad God put us together!!

I'm thankful for a lot of things, but right now I'm overwhelmed by the blessing of these two wonderful people sitting in my living room with me.  Thank you God!!!


Linking up with lots of really great ladies:

It's Not About Me

I've been reminded in a lot of ways this week that I'm not perfect.

And that is okay.


Our dear friend Joseph's birthday was yesterday.  So Monday and Tuesday I was a busy-bee homemaker, figuring out how to make the perfect birthday cake from scratch.  I was also planning a fancy dinner for my husband for Valentine's Day: roast chicken, homemade stuffing, steamed veggies, and turtle cheesecake.

The cake turned out lovely...other than misspelling "Birthday" (it read "Happy Birthay").  And the frosting was runny and a little sparse.  But it tastes great. :)

The Valentine's Day dinner turned out well, too...but the chicken took a lot longer to cook than I thought.  I cut into a leg and it was still red and bloody.  And when it was cooked all the way, I realized that I had put it in the pan upside-down.  oops.  The cheesecake was yummy (so yummy that Hubby has eaten over half of it by himself already)...but the crust kept falling apart.

And our evening with dinner and a movie was fun...until I was doing dishes and the drain pipe fell off again, leaking water all over the kitchen floor.  I did not react well.  Tears and screeching.  Hubby was very forgiving.

Aaand my house is not clean, my homework is not done, the kitchen is messy, and today I haven't been feeling quite up to doing any of that.

But I had a long talk with my friend Sara yesterday.  She's had an insane week, and she was fretting about not getting everything done as well as she wanted to be able to.  I told her that it's okay to not get solid A's on everything.  That not practicing organ for a full ten hours was not going to completely ruin her lesson.  That her professor would understand.  That it's okay not to do everything perfectly.  That she doesn't need to be so hard on herself.

Because I'm the same way: I am my own harshest critic.  I get so down on myself when I don't measure up to my own expectations.  When tiredness, not feeling well, or other things get in the way of doing what I think needs to be done I blame myself.

In some ways I'm justified in this.  I should try to do my best in honor to glorify God.  I should honor my professors, classmates, and husband especially.

But I am not perfect.  I am not going to always get everything right.  I won't always handle trying situations well.  I am not a perfect wife, student, friend, cook, homemaker, whatever.  I won't ever be.

And that is OKAY!

I focus so much on my sinful nature: what I do wrong all the time.  But a professor reminded us in doctrine class recently that we are always saints as well.  When I am in class, I'm honoring God.  When I'm at work, I'm serving him.  When I put food on the table (misspelled, wrongly cooked, or not!), I am blessing my husband and sharing the gifts God has given us.

No, I'm not perfect.  But God is.  And it's not all about me, after all.  It's about him.  Focusing on myself all the time is downright sinful.  My focus should not be, "How can I be the best person I can be?" but "How can I serve God the best I can?"

God has already done all that was needed to make me perfect in his sight.  Jesus died to take the punishment for my imperfection on himself.  He rose again so that I can have his perfection.  His Holy Spirit is in me, giving me faith and the power to be his tool and partner in carrying out his will.

That's an incredible thing: I am one of the people who help God carry out his purposes.  I am his servant and his tool--but I am not inactive in serving him.  Because I am saved and redeemed, I really do serve and honor God of my own free will.  No, I don't do it perfectly...but he uses my imperfections and allows me to serve him despite them.

What a beautiful truth this is!  What incredible grace.

thankfulness of things tangible and things intangible.

I am thankful for my husband's extravagant love.  He helps me around the house.  He does laundry while I'm at class and work.  He works hard to help support our little family.  He blesses me with gifts, with little cards to surprise me, with a getaway last weekend!

I am thankful that my failures don't make me who I am: that God does not count them against me, but sees me as his precious child, holy, forgiven, sanctified.

I am thankful that I don't have to live focused on my sinful self.  I am always sinful, but I am always a child of God: holy, sanctified, forgiven--a saint of God.  This is my life, too.  God lets me be a worker in his kingdom, in ways that I don't always know about, but ways that always give him glory.

I am thankful for my amazing friends, women (and a few men, too!) who make me smile, who encourage me, who help strengthen my faith, who share their wisdom with me, who encourage me, who love me for who I am.

I am thankful for my parents, and my parents-in-law: people who bless us without ever expecting anything in return.  They pray for us all the time, they do sweet things to surprise us (like the Valentine's Day package my mom sent today!), they have raised us to believe in and love God, and continue to encourage us in our faith.

I am thankful for time to do homework.  Time to do housework.  Time to be with my husband.  Time, most importantly, to spend time with God.

I am thankful for the reminder that there is so much more beyond this life.  Earth isn't all there is.  This life isn't all there is.  To me, this gives meaning to my life right now: knowing that there is more to come.  Eternity with God.  Everything here points to my life with him in heaven.  Suffering won't last.  Sickness won't last.  War will cease.  Poverty will disappear.  Sorrow will stop.  Death will end.  This life has purpose and meaning, always.

Thankful Thursday: The Everyday

It's been a while since I did a Thankful Thursday post.  But there is, as always, so much to be thankful for!!

-My hubby decided, last night, that we need to go on a little getaway.  So this morning he made reservations for us for tomorrow night (since Valentine's Day weekend is usually more expensive) at a little bed and breakfast here in town.  I am SO excited!!! :)  He is AMAZING.

-Hubby also did laundry for me today.  Again! :)

-I love my job at the library.  And the people I work with.  And the people I see while I'm here.

-I'm really enjoying ALL my classes.  I think this is a first!

-Full fridge. Full cupboards and pantry.  Clean laundry.  Clean bathroom.  Now to clean the living room and bedroom... :)  I love having a home to keep clean!

-I have AMAZING friends.  Friends I keep getting to know better.  Friends I love like crazy. :)

-Brats for supper tonight (YUM)

-Mint tea

-Coffee this morning

-Lots of meat on sale at the grocery store today (I stocked up!)

-Plans for friends over for dinner on Saturday

-Spending Sunday with Joshua's family for the Superbowl

...and so much more. :)

Loved By God, Just the Way I Am

I've come to a place where I can accept, and like, the person I am.  I'm not exactly satisfied with that person, but maybe I'm not supposed to be.  There's always learning, growing, becoming to do.  God still has a lot to teach me, so "who I am" will never be completely finished.  I'm not a static being.  I don't like the word "evolving" (for the evolutionary connotations) but that's a fairly apt description for how I'm changing.

Part of the reason that we're not supposed to be quite comfortable in the skin we're in is that there's something more coming, something better--a glorified body.  One that's sinless.  Flawless.  Perfect.

That's a weird concept...to think of myself as perfect.  Because I am so not.  I beat myself up a lot--figuratively, of course--about my imperfections.  The list is long: selfishness, thoughtlessness, faithlessness, worry, discontent. I could go on.  But I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to stay sinful, and there's no use fretting about it.

That is NOT to say I shouldn't try not to sin!  There are a lot of bad habits I could and should work on breaking.  There are so many things I have yet to learn.

But God won't love me any more, if and when I try to become a better person, than he does right now.  He can, will, and does use even my worst faults for his own purposes.  He gives me jobs to do for his kingdom. He loves me unconditionally, and forgives me constantly.  I'm beautiful and holy in his eyes--so who am I to put myself (or others) down?  We're all worth more than that.  We're priceless: creations of the God of the universe.

That's another huge concept to try to wrap my mind around, but when it comes down to it, that is what is most humbling and most encouraging to me.
The GOD
of the universe
loves/made/forgives/redeemed
      ME.

Sounds insane. It should be.  But it's true.  And that's what gives me hope, purpose, joy, life!  Being a child of God is the greatest blessing in life.  I'm more thankful for this than anything else.

Compared to him, my flaws are pretty minor.  They're not to big for him to handle.  They do't get in the way of his love for me.  And-
Nothing.
Ever.
Will.

The Vivid Grace of God

Vivid:

The realization, once again, of how much my husband loves me.  He demonstrates it in so many ways.  He says it without words.  He tells me verbally.  He gives me loving looks.  His love is a huge thing in my life.

Vivid:

The way God works.  It's not always this clear.  But there are times, like this week, when it nearly knocks me over how bold and grace-full and loving He is.  Putting people where they need to be, when they need to be there, with the people with whom they need to be.

Vivid:

My happiness singing in choir this week.  I missed it SO MUCH last semester.  It's such a joyful thing, lifting my voice in song, praising God, reminded of his goodness and forgiveness in the words I sing.

Vivid:

The kindness of God demonstrated in the kindness of others: my in-laws for taking us to Minnesota to get the car tomorrow, co-workers at the library covering for me, my boss in understanding when I got my schedule screwed up.

Vivid:

The way God blesses us beyond my wildest dreams.  And even when it seems like we need more...we always have enough.

Vivid:

My peace despite circumstances that often cause worry.

Vivid:

The love of God shown me in hugs from a friend, a note from my mom, and so many ways from my husband.

Linking up today with Your Thriving Family, finding joy, and The Gypsy Mama.  These are my friday favorite things, written on for five minutes based on the word "vivid"!

Thankful for my husband

I realize more and more every day how blessed I am by my husband.  It's so terribly easy to take him for granted.  But lately I've been intentional about looking for ways to praise and honor him.

I'm learning how to listen better when he talks, and how to get his attention properly when I want to talk to him.
He has communicated to me how much he likes having me home, and how much he doesn't like it when I have to be gone in the evenings for work or class.  I know this is him saying, "I love you and I love spending time with you."

In the last week, he has:
had chocolate cake made (with homemade chocolate frosting) when I got home
had steak on the stove and rolls out of the oven the next day when I got home
taken down the Christmas tree and packed up a lot of decorations so I didn't have to do that depressing task
picked up and organized the bedroom AND made the bed properly for once (the next day he poked his head in the bathroom when I was taking a shower and asked if I was going to wear the jeans that were on the bedroom floor, because if I wasn't they needed to go in the hamper, not on the floor.  I about fell out of the shower.)
helped me with dishes WITHOUT BEING ASKED
taken care of bill-paying, a job I detest
taken initiative to get us to the DMV today to get his license renewed and get me my first Nebraska license
worked it out with his parents to get the four of us to go get our car on Saturday (finally!)

Yeah.  My husband is awesome.  And I could add other things to that list. ;)

How often do I look at the negative things about my husband instead of the positive?  How much do I put him down instead of praising and honoring him?  How much do I talk back to him instead of respecting him and submitting to him?
A lot.
Which is not how it should be.
But how often does he forgive me and let me try again?  How often does he love me in spite of my faults?  How often does he put up with my quirks?
All the time.
So today, I'm thankful for my husband.  He is my greatest gift--God is so good to both of us!