life. and everything in between

I read a story on Facebook this morning. A real tear jerker. I don't know if it was true and frankly I don't care because it was a good reminder for me. The holidays are a fun and amazing time of year for people but there are people who it is a hard time. They maybe grieving the loss of something or someone. It is so easy to get caught up in the gift buying and food shopping and forget to be kind to another. That's what Christmas is all about anyways. In the midst of your celebrating or shopping remember to have compassion. Try and put yourself in someone else's shoes. If someone is rude to you it could be that they are just trying to cope with the holidays and don't know how. Have some grace. Someone else had grace for you more then 2000 years ago. Keep that in mind this holiday season.

I sat staring at the screen for 5 minutes trying to figure out how to start this post. How do you sum up 6 years of marriage to your best friend? Should I finally admit that I am  the   perfect wife  an okay wife? Maybe I should just start with who Levi is to me. Levi. He is my soul sharpener. He always wants me to be better than I was yesterday. Not in a controlling competitive way. He just knows that I can be better. He wants me to be better because he honestly wants whats best for me, regardless of whats going on with him. He is my biggest fan. I tell him I want to go back to school and he says "go for it", I say I want to start running and he goes out and buys me shoes, I say I want to start biking he helps me pick out a bike. I think you get the point. He is ALWAYS there. Cheering me on and never letting me give up.  He doesn't put up with my $#!% either. I have been told I am a strong woman with a strong personality. I honestly don't see it. *cough cough*...

I am not an experienced writer. I am not experienced at book reviews. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on every chapter of this book. It is a great book. It has changed the way I look at my family, friends, people on the sidewalk, the Bible, and my relationship with Christ. So here it is. The final chapters... Lose the Cape. We believe as Christians we have to be these super heroes. Or that the world needs to see us and see how “good” we are doing. We need to stop. Our egos are turning people away from the love of Christ. Be Jesus. Don’t worry about anything expect being.  God is Good. No matter what we are going through in life GOD IS GOOD. I think we have to remember these things always. Its hard. I forget. I lose sight of hope. I shouldn’t. We shouldn’t. We need to rejoice always. Pray always. Thanksgiving. Philippians 4:12-13 Jailbreak. This chapter got real fast. Kids are so close to my heart, as is justice. To read what is going Uganda and the children be...

Bob Goff has a great deal of stories in this book. But I have a feeling he has many more. I would even put money down to say he can relate all of his stories to Christ and to love. More importantly the love of Christ.  Hunting Grizzlies. You just have to know with that chapter title things are about to get crazy. Of course it is. Goff ends up almost killing his sister but you will have to read the book for that whole story. Growing up Goff’s father taught him about guns and hunting. One thing his father told him was “Son, you need to look through the scope at the things that are far away, but you also need to take your eye away long enough to see what’s close.” Goff applies this to people loving people obviously. Sometimes we get to focused on the future and looking through the scope that we miss the people on the sidewalk next to us. I follow this group called Humans of New York, this group goes around New York (and sometimes other parts of the world) and takes pictures of pe...

Yes, yes I did just use a Hannah Montana song title as my post title. Is that what it's called? Post title? Well that's what I am calling it so here it is. I was back home just recently. Home. The town I was born and raised in as a child. Home. The town where 8 of us lived in a less then 1,000 SQ FT house. Home. Othello Washington. It was just me and my parents. Levi was busy that weekend so I went by myself. It was wonderful. I didn't realize how much I missed being with just my parents. We sat for an hour watching funny videos. It was great. But probably the best thing was going on a run. I have been on a great deal of runs but this run was different. This run I went on a route that led me down the same route that I use to walk to school. Step by step. Let me run (haha I know I'm funny) you through it... First place I ran past was my mom's best friends house...Nancy. Nancy had an elderly mother who lived with her. When we would walked past her house on the way...

I aim for perfection in all areas of my life. Running, school, biking, keeping the house clean, keeping the dog fed (you know some people forget ;) ), just to name a few. The problem with seeking perfection is I ALWAYS fail. Always. Then I get depressed because I have put my identity in those things. When I don't go on a run because I am exhausted because of school. Or I study all I can (which is why I am exhausted) and I still get a B on the test. Which for most people is great! Accept when you are crazy like I am. I want to be the best at whatever I am doing. It is not that I want to beat other people, its that I want to beat myself. I want to be better then I ever have been. Again that is not a bad thing, it is when it becomes your life. Since we live in Coeur d'Alene and I drive to N. Spokane ever week to go to Whitworth, I spend a plethora of time in the car I listen to the radio. I was feeling down today because nothing was going right and then I got a lower score on a ...

These 5 chapters have seemed to have a theme. The theme is, it’s a matter of the Heart. Where is my heart at. Am I doing things for Christ or myself? Am I doing things out of love or obligation? Where do I stand and am I standing on the promises of God and must importantly and I sharing them with those around me. Here are the my thoughts on Chapters 11-15.  “There’s More Room”, Goff sure know how to kindly convict you (mainly me!) He starts off the chapter with a story of sneaking onto the set of National Treasure 2. Obviously he didn’t belong there and had a once in a lifetime opportunity. Many times we are in situations in life where we feel like we don’t belong. Whether it is at church, a business meeting, a new class, or sometimes even at the grocery store. Those feelings can be hard to deal with but what we need to realize is we do belong to the family of God. We are accepted there and He wants to take part in what He has in store for us. Goff then goes on to tell a story...

For my Transfer Seminar Class we are reading Love Does by Bob Goff. After each section we have to write a reflection. So I figured I would post it on here! So far I absolutely LOVE this book.  “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.” [1 Corinthians 13:1-7, The Message] I was driving home and the song The Proof of Your Love by King and Country came on the radio and all I could think about was the first 10 chapters of  Love Does by Bob Goff. I do not usually rea...

We have officially lived in Coeur d'Alene for a month...ONE WHOLE MONTH. Seems like a lifetime yet not really. Here are a few things that have been fun (a couple not so fun) to discover over the last 31 days. Disclaimer there are a plethora of pictures.  The traffic lights change in a heart beat. Literally. I have never ran so many traffic lights in my life. So beware. There was so much smoke the first couple weeks it made going out hard. Not impossible but hard. Just a little idea of what we were dealing with. Now time for all the fun things we have been discovering!  Farmers Markets are a big deal! They have one one Wednesday night for those of us who work weekends AND one on Saturday morning. I ate the most delicious cantaloupe after our first outing! YUM! Joy and I went to the one in Hayden that is held on Saturdays and it had a little more to offer. People where selling everything from homemade jam to homemade rocking chairs. It was great. Since we have a ri...

Wow. School is great and overwhelming all at the same time! Just to give an overview of what classes I am taking this semester  1. Psychological Statistics 2. New Testament  3. Biological Psychology 4. The Psychology of Personalities and Individual Differences 5. Arabic So far I believe all my classes will be challenging in their own way. But I really don't mind. I am ready to be challenged. My professors have all made it very clear that they are on our side. They want us to succeed and will do all they can to help us do so. What more could you ask for? I also learned more about the Honors Program I am apart of. I have the opportunity to go to Oxford and God willing I will go study there! I am not sure what clubs I will be involved in but I hope to at least get involved in one.  On top of all that the campus is simply magical. I am serious. It is very peaceful to just walk around. I find myself not wanting to go home because the atmosphere on campus is sur...

I always think I like change. I like to change the arrangement of pictures on my wall. I like to change what kind of soap I use. I like to change my running route. You get my point. I like to change things that don't matter. I like to change things that I can always reverse if I don't like. The Move made me realize this. I don't like change when there is no going back. This process of change is hard. To know you have friends and family but to not have them close by. To miss the place you left but to know you don't really belong there anymore. God called us to the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area for a reason.  We haven't seen the full picture yet but we know that He has called us here. These verses have really gotten me through the past couple weeks. I hope that they also give you comfort. Hebrews 13:8   "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." This gives me confidence that the calling He placed on our hearts 9 months ago is still t...

I didn't want to move to California. That is kind of an understatement, I basically throw an adult hissy fit about moving to California. I am from Washington State, everything I had ever seen or heard about the Golden State left me feeling disgusted with the state and wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to live there. Harsh, I know. I moved to Truckee 5 years ago (kicking and screaming). But when we drove over Donner Pass (insert Donner Party joke here) I was in love. I was in love with the mountains, trees, river, and lakes. I didn't ever want to leave. But then the nature aspect wore off and I was left wanting more. I wanted community. I wanted people to share this beautiful place with. We had been attending Tahoe Forest Church but didn't go regularly because of our work schedules.  One Saturday night we were able to attend and as we were leaving the Youth Pastor's wife came running (literally) through the church to invite us over for dinner. We wer...

To feel empowered and strong because you accomplished something you never thought you could do is simply indescribable. 3 years ago I was hiking with friends and could barely even make it to the top of Castle Peak. I was with someone who had recently had knee surgery and he was ahead of me! I thought to myself something needs to change. So I started with walking, moved to running and then to biking. I have done everything from fun runs to half marathons to metric century bike rides. At the beginning of the month I decided to do a Sprint Triathlon.  Through the encouragement of a friend I started training. It started with a swim in Donner Lake. It was a fourth of a mile swim for the average human but for me it was more of a controlled drowning. But I made it! The next phase was to ride up old high way 40. It is a steady 3 mile up hill. Since I have done 10 mile uphills a 3 mile up hill was a peace of cake...said no one ever! I pushed myself to go faster then I have in the...