The coldest winter EVER.

"He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'

and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'

So that everyone he has made may know his work,

he stops all people from their labor." Job 37:6-7

And stop people from their labor he did! With school and work cancelled for 5 days over the last two weeks, Justin and I got to spend a lot of time just hanging out and catching up on things that needed to be done. Here are a few of my favorite moments that were captured...

Taking a walk with my boys...

Hanging out with the hubby...

Playing with my favorite puppy dog...

...who really loves the snow...

And watching my puppy dog play with Justin (who also really loves the snow).

But please don't be misled. It was cold. I left the house very few times, and pretty much only to go out to coffee when Justin got restless. Even my Michigan-born-and-raised husband could be heard to say, "This is some of the coldest weather I have ever experienced." Not a good sign for this Texas girl. I mostly stayed inside and watched icicles form through my backdoor (that was frozen shut)...

... while I enjoyed hot drinks and wonderful treats like these AMAZING strawberries Justin made.

So, all in all, not a bad week. Despite the chill-you-to-the-bone-make-you-want-to-never-step-outside-again cold. Now I just hope that next week the rumored 70 degree weather comes true. :)

Me of Little Faith

Justin's car does not like to get wet. In fact, it will throw a fit and decide not to work for a few days following any kind of less-than-sunny day to tell us so.

You may have heard (unless you have somehow managed to not watch any television, get online, read the newspapers, hear anything on the radio, or interact with anyone in the past week) that Dallas has had some interesting weather lately. The little Avenger got to experience rain, sleet, snow, ICE, and below-freezing temperatures for several days last week and has not forgiven us for it yet. (For the record, as a fellow believer that weather should stay above 60 degrees at all times, I don't really blame the little car.) That being said, Justin and I are back to carpooling for the time being.

And so this morning, I got to drop my sweet husband off at school.  As I drove away, I could not help feeling abundantly blessed.  He is a treasure to me.  I still find myself amazed that I get to be married to him, and that he makes being married to him so easy. I have been blessed by a supportive family, precious friends, a vehicle that is as reliable as any man-made creation might be, a good job, an education, with all of the fundamental life necessities readily available to me.

And yet I still find myself struggling with trusting God sometimes.  Not so much trusting that he CAN take care of me - of that I have no doubt. But I do find myself questioning HOW he will choose to take care of me.  Because although I know that he has a much better perspective on my life and the world and on my role in his plan, I also know that often his plans are not always comfortable, predictable, and do not always line up with what I have in mind.

Justin and I are at an interesting point in our lives right now. I am almost finished with grad school here in Dallas, which means that we are in the midst of making decisions regarding jobs, homes, where we want to live, and what the next step looks like for us. Meanwhile, in order to graduate (allowing us to take that next step) and become a fully licensed SLP, I have to take some pretty weighty exams in the next couple of months.  I have been bouncing between the battles of apathy and anxiety in regard to these upcoming tests, between just wanting to be finished with everything and feeling absolutely overwhelmed by all of the material I have encountered within the last 6 years. I find myself becoming anxious, and then quickly realizing that God really is in charge, and really will take care of everything. Isn't that a beautiful thing?  There is no decision I can make, no test I can so badly fail that I can take away from His power and His glory.

I am doing a Bible study with our church over the book of Genesis. What a great read to remind us who is in charge, and what is truly of eternal significance.  While I was reading yesterday, the study took me to Psalm  19.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language 

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world."

What a relief to know that if I do nothing, if I move to the wrong place, or do not learn the right information, the glory of God will still be proclaimed. Creation exists for that purpose: to bring glory to God and to speak of his greatness - and to do it in a manner in which no SLP is necessary!  It is nice to be reminded that this is just a moment in my life, and that if the Creator of the world has something in mind for me or brings me to something that I do not fully understand, He has a purpose for it.  How gracious a God to love me and forgive me for my lack of faith. Remembering how insignificant you are can be a strangely peaceful thing when you serve a God as big as mine.  And so this week, my faith is not in my car, my family, my home, or even my precious husband. It is in the Creator of life and the Prince of Peace.  How about you?

Christmas Travels

About two weeks ago, Justin and I set out on a trek across the country, traveling through 12 states for a total of almost 4,000 miles.  We drove for an absurd number of hours through sunshine, rain, snow, and ice (sometimes all in the same day) to celebrate a wedding with friends and Christmas with our families. It was quite the trip!

Our celebration of the season began at home in Dallas.  Knowing that we would be spending a great deal of the holidays away, Justin and I wasted no time finding our Christmas tree and decorating our home.  We upgraded from our tiny Christmas tree last year to a whopping 4-footer this year!  Since all of our Christmas to-dos had to be done a couple of weeks early, we got busy shopping and wrapping and packing.  We looked at Christmas lights with friends and Kellie and I even said hello to Santa at the Dallas Arboretum!  Kellie graduated this December and is now headed to Baltimore where she has found a great job and new opportunities.  I am so excited for her, but there will be quite a void left in her absence.  Kellie is one of the most obvious blessings in my life and I already miss her!

Kellie also helped me to design and make blankets for my little nieces this Christmas.  Aren't they cute?

Those first couple of weeks of December were a flurry of Christmas shopping, wrapping paper, spending time with friends, baking, packing, sewing, making travel plans, and of course, finishing up with work and school for the semester.  (If you were wondering why your Christmas cards may have been a little late, now you know.)  We had a great time enjoying the holidays here at home, and our big plans hadn't even started yet!

Justin and I left early, early on the 16th to head to Denver for the wedding of Zach Smith and Courtney Wilson.  We had good weather and traffic and made it there in time to go to dinner with a family Justin lived with when he interned with Dry Bones a few summers ago.  After dinner, we went out with some of his friends that he hadn't seen in a long time and had a great time catching up.  Justin enjoyed being back in Denver and I enjoyed him showing me around the city that had such an influence on his life.  Saturday, Justin was busy doing whatever groomsmen do the day of a wedding so I got to do a little exploring on my own.  Denver has great public transportation and a fun downtown mall area, or I may not have been willing to brave the cold on my own to go see it!  The wedding was beautiful and the joy exhibited by Zach and Courtney was clear to see.

On Sunday, we made the last of several airport runs to pick up my parents.  My family had decided to spend Christmas in Colorado where some family friends were sharing their beautiful mountain home with us.  After a stop in Golden, CO for lunch and a little tour of some of Justin's old favorite spots, we drove out to Buena Vista, where my siblings were already waiting.  It was a gorgeous drive through the mountains, and we only got stuck in the snow once. :)

The home that we stayed in was beautiful and our hosts were amazingly hospitable.  On Monday, everyone but my mom (who volunteered to stay home with the grandbabies) headed out to the slopes, where Justin tried skiing for the first time.  It snowed all day, leaving feet of powder in some places, but he did a great job.  After a little mechanical problem with his skis was fixed, he even enjoyed it! I had a great time watching him learn and spending time with the family doing something we frequently did on family vacations growing up.

There were plenty of things to do, but it was also a great place to just sit by the fire and watch the snow fall outside. 

We had a gingerbread cookie decorating contest (Justin won)...

Spent time with my nieces...

Built a snowman... (Okay, so we watched my dad, sister, and brother-in-law build a snowman while the rest of us stayed inside where it was warm and played games)

Took the girls sledding...

Went snowshoeing (which is a lot harder than it looks)...

And played lots of foosball...

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the family and made lots of memories.  Early Thursday morning, Justin and I said our goodbyes and hopped back in the car to head toward Michigan.  Our plan was to spend the night at his aunt and uncle's house in Chicago, but the weather had other plans for us. We drove from about 6am-11pm before the heavy snow and ice forced us to stop in a little town in Iowa to spend the night.  At that point, we had been crawling along through blinding snow for about an hour and had seen one too many cars that had slid off the road.  We spent the night at a hotel and got up early Christmas Eve hoping that the weather would be a little more cooperative for the remainder of our trip.  It wasn't ideal, but the weather was good enough to travel in and we finally made it to little Wayne, MI in time for dinner.  

We went to Justin's grandparents's house on Christmas Eve for dinner, games, and gifts. We don't get to see all of them very much so it was fun to spend some time with them.  On Christmas we did a lot of relaxing and put together a 1,000 piece puzzle - a family tradition.  Sunday night, Justin's parents took us to Greenfield Village, an indoor-outdoor museum, for their holiday nights displays.  It was FREEZING outside but we had a great time and even got to ride in a Model T!

The next few days we were able to see a lot of Justin's extended family and played a lot of games!  It was a good trip and a great way to spend the holiday.

We left Michigan early Wednesday morning and made it home a mere 22 hours later. (Construction, traffic, and bad weather are not your friends on drives like these.)  Thank goodness for audiobooks!  We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with friends and family.  It is good to be home!

Shutterfly

As many of you know, I am a big fan of Shutterfly. I have made several photo books on their site, and even used it to make our wedding album.  They are a great place to get prints, gifts, cards, photo books - you get the idea.  Not to mention that if you're willing to wait for them, they offer some great deals!  One such deal is available right now, which is where this blog post comes in.

Now until December 31, Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to anyone who writes a blog about them!  If you would like to get in on this deal, here is the link: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/. They have hundreds of designs to choose from and they are so easy to use.  You just have to pay for shipping!  There are so many to choose from that I haven't looked through all of them yet, but some favorites are Candy Cane Fun, Perfect Present, Gorgeous Gift Card, and Merry Montage.  You can look for your favorites here.

Enjoy getting into the holiday spirit with Christmas cards while you stuff yourself with turkey over the Thanksgiving break!

October

I realized today that I managed to completely miss October on the blog (but only by a day on either side)!  In a lot of ways, I could copy and paste my September post here and it would be pretty accurate. Justin is still enjoying teaching and things are beginning to fall into place with that.  It is still a challenge, but he is putting a lot of energy into finding creative ways to reach his students and being rewarded for it.  I am still at my internship in Garland, still in school, and still working.  This past week was a little rough, but for the most part I have figured out the dance between all of these and it really hasn't been too bad.

We did get to do some fun things in October!  Justin's final bicycle race, the big State Road Race Championship, was held at Fort Hood earlier in the month.  Since it was so close, we spent the night in Belton and my parents were able to see Justin race.  He did well and is already excited about the next season starting!

The next weekend, I was able to go on a little "girl's getaway" with some of my best friends, Kellie and Savannah.  We were planning to leave town for the weekend, but decided that we would prefer to cut out the traveling and enjoy some of what Dallas has to offer.  Kellie found us a great deal at a fancy hotel and we really enjoyed getting to spend some time doing things we wouldn't normally do here.  We also made a little trip up to the McKinney trade days (similar to Canton but on a smaller scale), which was a lot of fun.  Kellie is planning to move to Maryland in December and Savannah is getting married in March, so it was fun to have some time with them before all of the changes take place.  While we were getting pedicures and having girl time, Justin and his brother headed to the Rangers game and found themselves with a couple of tickets that put them about 20 rows behind the Yankees dugout.  Needless to say, Justin was a little bit excited!

This last weekend Justin's grandparents came into town to visit and we really enjoyed having them!  We don't get to spend very much time with them, so we enjoyed showing them our home and getting to catch up a little bit.  We took them to the arboretum (of course), spent time with Justin's brother and sister-in-law, and played a lot of games.  We are already looking forward to seeing them again at Christmas!

Justin and I have been so blessed with good friends and family and we are very thankful for the ways that God uses them to point us back to Him.  Even when life gets busy and sometimes frustrating, we can never doubt that we have been richly blessed!

September

September has been a busy month for Justin and I.  Between Justin starting a new job and me adding an internship, it has taken a little while to adjust to our new day to day schedules.  We are definitely enjoying our weekends off together, though!  First, we got to go to Early to visit Geoff and Jamie.  Then I got to go wedding dress shopping with my precious friend, Savannah, while Justin took my parents (who came into a town for a family friend's wedding) to the pumpkin filled arboretum. I wish I could have gone with them but I would never have wanted to miss dress day - I obviously can't post any pictures of her, but let me tell you - she's gorgeous.  Last weekend Justin and I went down to Belton so that he could ride in a couple of races in Salado.  He did well and had a lot of fun.  It's so nice to be able to make plans together on the weekends!

Justin is really enjoying teaching and is very good at it. He has such a heart for his students and a natural ability to teach creatively.  That isn't to say it hasn't been a challenge (it's never easy to play catch up when you start three weeks into the school year!), but he is handling it well and is excited about the opportunities he will have with his students this year.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers as we waited for this job.  Please continue to remember him as he adjusts to the challenges it brings.  I am so proud of Justin and I am looking forward to seeing how God uses him this school year!

I am back in school for the fall semester and have started an internship with Garland ISD.  It is going well and giving me a good picture of what working for the schools is like.  It seems like the theme for this new semester for me and Justin has been "challenging but good." I am already having to make plans for the spring semester - my LAST semester of grad school.  I know that everyone says I will miss school, and I'm sure that there will be times when that is true, but right now the idea of finishing is a pretty joyous thought. :) I am still working and really enjoying my job. I am so thankful for the environment and opportunities that I have there and am very thankful that God led me to it!

This has been a week of celebrations in the family!  Sunday was Justin's mom's birthday, and yesterday was his brother, Jacob's.  Yesterday was also Jason and Katie (my brother and sister-in-law)'s 3rd anniversary, and today is Geoff and Jamie (my sister and brother-in-law)'s 4th anniversary!  Happy birthday to Cindy and Jacob, and happy anniversary to Jason, Katie, Geoff, and Jamie!  We love you all. :)

Guest Blogger

Hello all! As the title of this post would suggest, I am not Jana. I am her bike racing, waiting-to-be-teaching, strangely-similar-to-an-old-man husband. Jana has done such a wonderful job updating people on our lives that I felt like it was time for me to share.

To begin, a short explanation: Fire codes. Apparently, due to fire codes, churches cannot allow people to stand in the aisles or sit on the stage in order to get more people in. You wouldn't think this would matter to me, but as it turns out, it does. Jana and I arrived for the 11:15 church service ten minutes early, only to find out that the church was already at capacity. This is unfortunate and hopefully it doesn't turn people away from Christ, but The Village has little choice and did give us a cd explaining the situation and it had a sermon on it.

The sermon is where the thoughts for this blog originated. Matt Chandler, the lead pastor at The Village, spoke about the Gospel of Christ. And while I will do a terrible job paraphrasing him, there were two elements of the gospel that he wanted us to hear. One, very familiar and oft thought about element, is the Jesus died for me. This is true and I find the more I realize just how great Christ is, the more I realize how much of a mess I have made. And the more I see the mess that is me, the more I see the beauty in Christ.

The second element of the gospel is one that I haven't spent as much time dwelling on. Matt said that everything in this world was created by a perfect god and creation was meant to give us love and reverence for God. This is where the blog post comes in.

Marriage, companionship, and friendship were all given to us by God. These are beautiful things that I have been blessed with. My marriage to Jana has brought so much joy and so much pleasure. She is an amazing bride and an amazing woman. (I mean - she wakes up at 3 to go to my bike races...) She is so wonderful, in fact, that it is easy to see our marriage as blessing enough. To see our friendship as the end all. However, as Matt reminded me earlier this week, our marriage points to the grace of God. It is great, but it is great because of what it shows me about God. I fear that if our marriage ever becomes all about our marriage than it will falter under the weight. Our marriage is another creation of God that is meant to show us God, show the world God and to be a source of worship toward God.

So this week, I have been extremely grateful for the marriage I have with Jana and my reaction has been more worship of God and his Goodness.