jason is this girl's best friend (well plus mama bird)

so, it's been a while (once again)... but i was suffering through finals and then took a vacation to mexico with my.... well, he was a boyfriend, but now he's my...

FIANCE!

yep, we're ENGAGED!

i can't begin to tell everyone how excited i am (we are) and what a huge blessing jason has been in my life. i am still in shock that i actually get to share the rest of my life with him, especially with the blessings of family and friends that God has blessed us with.... like He says in the Bible:

"there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love."

-1 corinthians 13:13

God has already poured so much love on us already, our families and friends have been fantastic and so supportive... and we are ready to start this amazing time in our lives... and do it together!

please stay tuned for all of the excitement and i promise to keep things up to date on here... :)

song of the day:

love never fails

by: brandon heath

just listen to it, every single word in the song is absolutely perfect and amazing. God wrote the song for brandon to sing and it's perfect.

it's the most wonderful time of year!

i am back, after much too long of a sabbatical. whoops. how does time fly so fast?

rather than apologize and say i need to get better at consistency (though i truly believe that i do) i am going to share what i have learned the last 26 days in my not posting period.

1. i love being unemployed.

i am enjoying my last bit of time as a student and have decided to take a break from being a working student (plus, as everyone tells me, i have the rest of my life to work!). boy, oh boy, is life so sweet this way. i get so much more done, in school work and in reading my bible and running and being a much more fun and spontaneous daughter with my sweet mama bird.

2. i don't want to do any job that requires extensive field note writing.

i'm taking a class that requires me to write field notes twice a week and, to be quite frank, by the end of the two and a half hours it takes me to document every detail i could possibly recall during my volunteer time, i have zero desire to sit in front of my computer screen again.

3. i am madly in love with my other half, jason.

i made a promise to myself to not be ridiculous, or remotely reminiscient of a hormonal teenage girl, in writing about my beau. however, he has just bloomed into quite the funny man and i am so proud to call him mine. not only do i think he's absolutely one hundred percent precious, but most everyone else does too. let me just say,

he is a TOUCHDOWN!

(he'll appreciate this being the football lover he is, although i'm much more partial to SCOREEE!)

4. mama bird = best friend for life (yep, now i'm sounding like a second grade girl)

everything that has happened with my dad has brought my family closer together and this makes me thankful. but more than that, my mom is more my best friend now than ever before. yep, she's a real life version of house, m.d. (great show!) and i'm proud to get to call her mine.

5. there is a time for everything.

God has set out a great path for me, for my family, for my beau... and i'm thankful to be a part of all of the crazy adventures that life throws our way. plus, He is providing us all with time...

a time to cry

a time to fear

a time to question

a time to rejoice

a time to thank

a time to wish

a time to embrace

a time to pray

a time to cling

a time to laugh

but in all of this time, He has given us hope, faith, and love to an endless, infinite degree. thank God for His goodness that goes so far beyond the greatest stretch of the imagination.

thank you, thank you, thank you.

in ecclesiastes 3:4-8, God lets us know about time... about how things change but about how they return... just like the swing at the playset in elementary school. back and forth, back and forth, but in the end, it's all in His control.

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance.

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

a time to search and a time to give up as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away.

a time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

a time to be silent and a time to speak.

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

yay for his perfect timing. thank goodness i'm not in charge of all this and can just enjoy the ride (as much as i want to be a planner!)

song of the day:

let it snow, let it snow

by: lady antebellum

yipeee! it's that time of year for Christmas cheer!!!

every good and perfect gift

my favorite christmas present, probably of all time, is the bible my mom (or santa if in the presence of my 7 year old brother) gave to me this year. i could spend all day reading it... why? it has the new international version side by side with the message translation. absolutely amazing.

i am basically a bible scholar so the message just affirms how wonderfully i can translate the niv into terms more applicable to today... so, maybe not. actually i appreciate being in church and getting to read along with the niv, but also getting the personal touch that is found in the message.

presents are always so fun to get, but as i've gotten older i realize it is much more fun to give, and to give a gift that is used and loved. i receive devotionals in my email daily, i read a devotional book every morning, and my new gifted bible at night before bed and you know who loves to give gifts more than any one of us? Him. and somehow His gifts are much greater than anything i have to give my loved ones.

we know we are made in His image as we desire for someone to love and to use our gift to them.
"Do not neglect your gift..." 1 Timothy 4:14 a

God loves to give so much that He spends several chapters discussing the gifts that He is blessing His people with. does he bless all of His people in the same way? no, of course not.
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each and everyone of you is a part of it. ... Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts" 1 Corinthians 12:27-31

we all function differently, but it is this difference that keeps things working. if everyone was good at math, who would write the books that taught us those numbers and theorems in an interesting way. if all painted and no one calculated, how would our houses and buildings stand? your gift makes you different, yes, but that difference allows for function. but looking back to 1 Timothy 4:14, are you neglecting the beautiful, perfect gift that God tailored just for your life, your circumstance?

as i spend time writing i realize this is my gift. my desire to put my thought into words. my wish to bless others through my thoughts and my meditation upon His words. never before have i looked at such a motivation as a gift, but as the word says in James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly light, who does not change like shifting shadows."

cherish your good and perfect gift today and always.

song of the day:
"made for you" - chris taylor

something about his lyrics are so raw. it's like a child wrote them and he sings.

"everything about me was made for you
everything inside me is all for you
it's deeper than we know right now
but we've got the time to figure out
just how, everything about me was made for you."

everything about us is for Him. and as much as we don't know it now, we do have time to figure it out. once we find that calling, it's time to put it to use, and see God's great and perfect plan unfold. by recognizing His gift to us, we, as a body of Christ, can work in synchronicitie with one another according to His will to bring glory to Him.

with love, am