2.24.2013

Sunday Blessings is BACK!


Rise and shine bloggy friends. It's a wonderful Sunday morning and I'm bringing Sunday Blessings back! If you missed my post yesterday, I'm going to have a lot more time to devote to this space in the days and weeks to come and I'm ready to regain my blogging stride. 

I haven't always been a counter of blessings. I think living in impoverished Uganda, as well as a need to remain aware of silver linings to keep that pesky negativity at bay led me to begin the practice. What better way to be actively thankful for God's grace than to document those little things every Sunday?

(Bee)autiful Blessings

job
Freedom, sweet freedom. It's bittersweet to leave my part-time job, but I'm really looking forward to not being a sleepy, crankasaurus 99% of the time. I think Chuck is too ;)

blog friends
Seriously, you guys. Your responses to this post may have made me tear up a little. I was so humbled by the kindness and encouragement I received. You like me, you really like me. To receive such validation for being myself was beyond amazing.

#rethinkchurch
This Lenten Instagram campaign by the United Methodist Church has been such a fun way to truly take notice of my blessings. It's also given me an engaging opportunity to document my everyday life. I may live an ordinary life, but I have been extraordinarily blessed.


spring
Okay, so it hasn't exactly gotten here yet, but as February comes to a close, I know it's on it's way! I can not even describe how ready I am to be out and about in the sunshine again. I need some exercise, some nature time with my Creator and some Vitamin D, stat!

health
Lugging cases of soda and bags of kitty litter at the second job was starting to make me feel like Quasimodo. With Monday off, I made an appointment with a nearby chiropractor to see if I could get myself sorted out. I'll be honest, the office was not the most professional-looking place I've ever seen...nor did I feel like any miracles has been performed to readjust my spine. However, I did have x-rays taken and got to learn all about my messed up back. Apparently, I fell hard on my butt at some point in my life and was all out of wack!

Hubby
It goes without saying that my BFF/lovah is my biggest blessing. He's my sunshine through the dreary winter :)


How have you been blessed this week?
Grab a button and link up!

2.20.2013

A Blogger with Nothing to Sell


Dear Bloggers Who Have Been Around for 2 Months and Already Have 1000+ Followers,
WTF, dude?
Love,
Me

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I'll be honest, I am a jealous, jealous person sometimes. It is not my most flattering quality, but admitting my problem is the first step, right? I am so resentful of successful bloggers.


Not all of them. I can't even imagine how much time and energy is spent by some of my favorite "big bloggers." Drafting quality posts five times a week, organizing monthly giveaways and link-ups, answering all those e-mails. It's exhausting just thinking about it!

My beef is with the girls who have created their "brand" and have developed a following, but have nothing  to say. The girls who are in the business of sales and have no interest in the writing aspect.

Like I said, my jealousy is an ugly, embarrassing quality, but it remains just the same.



I think I figured out my problem, though. These girls that have me green with envy are successful because they know how to sell

How to sell the Army wife life.

How to sell cloth-diapering, baby-wearing, homemade baby food-making Mommyhood.

How to sell being a DIY, thrifting genius.


Which brings me to a sad realization: I have nothing to sell.

I will never have a wildly successful blog with followers in the thousands.

But you know what? I think I'm okay with it.

I am in the kitchen far less than I would like to admit, I don't recycle on the regular, and my outfits will never be "OOTD" worthy.


But there are fundamental things I do know about myself:

I love my husband more than I ever thought I could love a person.

I strive to love like Jesus.

I want to leave this world a better place.

I love cutoff jeans and sundresses.

I believe in counting my blessings, always.

I love to write, and I love to blog.


This is my brand. 

And for the 300+ of you who like it, thank you.


2.18.2013

Love Does


If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that Chuck and I had our first date night in months yesterday night. With the intention to finally use a Christmas gift card we received to a local Italian place, we wound up skipping out on a 20-minute wait and made googly eyes at each other over lukewarm sandwiches and steaming soup at Panera Bread. 


The highlight of our evening, however, was our attendance at our first ever Pub Club here in Pittsburgh. Pub Club is a social gathering for young adults in the area who join together to have a few brews, listen to phenomenal speakers and make new friends. February's speaker was the best-selling author of Love Does, Bob Goff.

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Prior to learning about Pub Club, I had never heard of Bob Goff, but the very little research I did on him beforehand was enough to make Hubby and I want to hear what he had to say.

Let me tell you folks, this is a man who loves Jesus.

Not a Christian. Not a religious nut. But a man who truly radiates the love of Christ.

His words had everyone in the room laughing deep down in our bellies, at times opening up the floodgates, but ultimately left us profoundly moved and convicted to love.

In the midst of deciding whether or not to continue on with my second job and taking baby steps toward our eventual move back to Chuck's Ohio hometown, his question, "Are you doing what you're able to do, or what you're made to do?" left me unable to continue to deny the cold, hard facts that have been staring me in the face for some time.

Do I love what I'm doing? Am I loving others as I should be? Am I doing what I'm made to do?

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Bob Goff's example of being genuinely amazed at life, at being available for people (to the extent that he put his personal cell phone number in the back of his book and answers every call he receives), but mostly quitting the stuff he "sucks" at and pursuing the things he loves have left me inspired.

Inspired, but afraid.

Convicted, but discouraged.

But as Bob said, throughout Scripture the Lord tells His children repeatedly-- BE NOT AFRAID.

 I don't know when I became such a scaredy-cat. But I'm ready to quit. 

I want to be on fire for the Lord and demonstrate radical and extravagant love starting with my family and my friends, but extending to my enemies.

I want to finally accept that love does not have to come in big, bold, earth-shattering gestures, but in the smallest acts of kindness.

Currently, however, the number one task on my list is to do what I need to do to love my own life. For it is only after I learn what I'm made to do and learn how to be truly and unequivocally happy that I can share that same joy with those around me.

So with Bob's resounding message in mind, and the counsel of Dave Ramsey as he continues to guide my financial decisions, I am ready to take charge of my life.

Life is too short to be unhappy and unfulfilled-- things are going to change around here!

This is not at all relevant.
Just french toast-making on Sunday afternoon with the BIGGEST source of happiness in my life :)



2.12.2013

How My 21st Birthday Changed My Life


Many may not know this about me, but my 21st birthday was a little atypical. I didn't spend the night creating a memory I would likely forget. Not a drop of alcohol touched my lips, in fact. I spent my 21st birthday in Kigali, Rwanda.

After days of becoming paralyzed by the pain and reality of the horrors of the 1994 genocide, I was numb. I didn't know how to process the senseless deaths of thousands of Rwandans, most of whom were women and children. I was physically sick listening to survivors share their stories of witnessing their parents and siblings brutally murdered in front of their eyes. I was devastated.

So when I was asked to share my testimony with a local church on April 26, 2009, my 21st birthday, the words did not immediately come to me. I thought about the ugliness of the human heart that brought many Rwandans to kill their neighbors. I thought about the trauma so many children are living with. I thought about how as my beautiful Brothers and Sisters in Christ were dying, my country stood by and did nothing. 

I almost lost hope. Almost.

And then God revealed Himself to me.


Let it be known that I am not a Bible reader. I couldn't tell you the last time I read any kind of Scripture. So when I say that God revealed Himself to me in this verse, know that it means something.

If I had to sum up my 21st birthday, I look back on it not with feelings of sadness or discouragement. But with feelings of hope and faith in the resiliency of the human spirit. Rwanda is not defined by the 1994 genocide. They are defined by their perseverance and how they have overcome their harrowing past.


This is why I serve others. Not simply because the world is full of tragic injustice. Not because, as an American, I am inherently in a position of power to address global ills. Nor because it is my "duty" as a follower of Jesus.

I serve others because I have hope for a better world. 

I serve others because I have hope.


2.06.2013

Financial Peace

For the past three weeks, Hubby and I have been attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University: A nine-week "Biblically based curriculum that teaches people how to handle money God's ways" at a nearby Church.

When I first posted a Facebook status a few months ago about the state of our student loan debt, the response I received was overwhelming. So many of my friends shared great advice (and empathy) in how to go about ridding ourselves of the $125,000 monkey on our backs. That's right, $125,000. (Is the second job beginning to make a little more sense?)

Several people recommended using FPU as a resource, and after three weeks in class and 7 chapters into his book, Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money, I know why! Everything Dave speaks to is so simple, and yet so very contrary to our debt-ridden consumerist culture.



I know that there are a heck of a lot people my age who are in the same boat, so I wanted to take the opportunity to share a couple things I've learned so far and steps we're preparing to take.

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1. Don't buy on credit.

If you don't have the cash, you can't afford it. This is one of those "simple, yet contrary" principles I was talking about. It makes so much sense and yet, Rent-to-Own and furniture stores continue to make big bucks off of 90-Days-Same-As-Cash plans. From now on, any money we spend to make big purchases will be hard-earned savings and not credit card debt that we'll carry for the next 10 years.

2. The "Debt Snowball."

Dave's method for tackling debt is ingenious. For years, I've been making the mistake of trying to pay as much as I can toward each of my bills in hopes of paying them off sooner. But with Dave's plan, we're going to begin paying only the minimum on all our credit card/student loan bills with the exception of our smallest debt, until the smallest is paid off. Then with the money we've saved in paying off that debt, we'll apply it toward our next biggest debt, creating a sort of snowball effect. This way we can keep the momentum going and pay our debt off faster!

3. Money management is 20% math, 80% behavior.

Oh, how true this is. We can already tell the biggest battle we face is those little seemingly insignificant purchases that add up fast! Buying ad space, iTunes, booze after a long work week. Our goal is to set $20 cash aside each month as personal spending in order to curb these habits.

4. Renter's Insurance.

Up until today, I have never had renter's insurance. Not because I didn't think I needed it. But mostly due to sheer laziness and a lack of desire to create another bill for myself. However, I realize how risky and foolish this is. If, heaven forbid, a fire were to start in our ancient duplex we would lose all of our possessions and our landlord is under no legal obligation to cover our losses. We don't have many valuables, but having to buy all new clothes, furniture and electronics would set us back like crazy if the worst ever did happen.

5. Your credit score is bulhonkey. 

A credit score is not a determination of your income or net worth. It is simply a way of telling creditors how in debt you are and your payment history. Count me out! From now on, no more buying things on credit or signing up for payment plans. We're cash-only from here on out!

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These are just some of the lessons that have stuck with me over the last couple weeks, but Dave has so much more incredibly insight to share. If you could use some help in tackling your debt, learning how to budget or figuring out how to save and invest- Financial Peace University is definitely something worth looking into!

And stay tuned for more money talk to come!

All images courtesy of DaveRamsey.com
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