more of the house

my little blue bedroom... that will be my guest room once i move my bed from my parents house.
this will be my room. it looks really small but its not. its a nice size.. i think ill have to paint it tho.
the bathroom...
i put up some pics and got a couch. now the dining room and living room look complete!
more to come... its a work in progress

Home Sweet Home

Heres the house! So excited to be finally moving in and unpacking boxes. I haven't lived in my own place for 11 months and am so glad to unpack and get settled.
Heres the living room. I am going to get a couch and move some stuff out but i love those windows and the wood floors!
Heres the half the kitchen.
Part of the dining room
The other side of the dining room... Well its a work in progress. I am loving it so far though! I will keep updating pics so you can see it!

I haven't been blogging much recently, not because I haven't had time but because sometimes its good to just be quiet and think about things. I feel like a lot of times I feel like I have to immediately tell my friends or family or someone about things that happen in my life, when really I don't. No one needs to know everything about me. I'm not trying to say that I don't appreciate my friends and family, because I really do and I don't know what I'd do without them, but I think its good to learn how to be independent and depend on God and not others. I will write a few things to catch you up on my life.
1. I will be buying my first house next week. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I decided that if I was going to stay in Memphis for the next few years or however long, it would be best for me to buy instead of rent. I got a good deal on the house, and really love everything about the house and the neighborhood. I will put up some pics as soon as I get everything all moved in.
2. I am absolutely loving spring and everything about it. I can't wait to move and start using my tandem bike again! anyone up for a ride?
3. I am going to be involved with starting a church in Midtown, not to far from my new house. I am really excited about what God is doing in Memphis, and it is a big part of why I feel that God is wanting me to stay here.

Christ City Church Vision Video from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

Its been awhile

Time has been flying by. God has been blessing me so much recently. I finally got a new job, I am the activities coordinator at a nursing home here in Memphis. The picture above is of my Dad and Mom and I on our way to celebrate my new job (and my moms new job too) I like it a lot so far. I plan activities and fun things for the residents to do and basically get to love on people. Ill write sometime about my experiences so far but they are all good. Im kinda excited about staying in memphis. I'm ready to buy a house and put down roots here. I don't know if this is where I will be forever but I know without a doubt that this is where God wants me for this season of my life. Alot of people complain about memphis and hate it here, but what if all of those people tried to make an impact on this city. Memphis has a lot of potential, Theres just some really lost people here and some people that need alot of love. I'm excited to see what the future holds... We got some good snow here and the dogs had a blast.

Its the little things

As most of you know, I'm not a big fan of Memphis. I never have been really. When I was a teenager I really wanted to leave and would try to get my parents to move, but it never really worked out. I just feel like there's too much crime and racial tension here (can't we all just get along?!?!), and its just not a pretty place to live with lots fun outdoor activities or anything... So coming back to Memphis a few months ago was pretty hard. I haven't lived at home for this long since I was in high school so its just been kinda different, but my family has been great. They have done a lot for me and being able to hang out with them a lot has been fun. I kinda forgot what it was like to always have family members around. The thing I have enjoyed most tho about being around my family is getting to know my niece Audrey and nephew Jackson more. Especially Jackson. I think Audrey is the cutest little girl in the world, her personality is really starting to come out and its been really fun to watch her grow, but Jackson's the one who I feel like I am just now really getting to know and its been really fun. I think part of that has to do with him being 4 now, he is able to do a lot and is able to have pretty good and entertaining conversations too. Today everyone had to work so I volunteered to pick Audrey and Him up. I picked Audrey up first then drove to his school, when he looked out the window and saw me he gave me a huge smile that was the first little thing that really made my day. Its a great feeling knowing that someone is excited to see you. So we got in the car and He started talking about some fun things we could do. He remembered a time over the summer that I took him to Chick-Fil-A, so he wanted to go. (I had already decided before he even got in the car that's what I wanted to do, so I was glad that he had the same idea.) so anyways, we get there and eat, he plays on the playground, and I entertain Audrey, since there were some big kids (like almost 5 ft tall!) playing and i didnt want her to get hurt. After that Jackson decides he wants to trade in his toy for ice cream (we had split a kids meal, he wanted nuggets, i wanted fries, perfect!). I had told him he could either, keep the toy or trade it in for ice cream, before the playing he wanted to keep the toy but i guess that ice cream was sounding pretty good, so he decided that he wanted it. I was somewhat disappointed since Audrey was getting kinda impatient and I was ready to take her home so I could just set her down and let her walk around and play without having to watch her so closely, but I didnt want to disappoint him so I said that was ok, knowing that he is the SLOWEST ice cream eater ever. Well halfway through his ice cream cone (about 10 or 15 minutes later) he looks up at me and says 'boo boo (thats my family nickname) this is a really fun day.' I know you may be thinking, wow I can't believe I read all of that just to lead up to this. The point tho is that sometimes it only takes a little something to make someones day. All it took for him was an hour of my time and an ice cream cone. And all it took for me was for him to say that he was having fun. I thought about it later and was wondering how much of an impact would it have on our lives if we were more thankful for the little things. How would our relationship with God change if we told him thank you more, or just 'hey God, this is a really fun day.' It seems like we are quick to point out to God and our friends when things are hard, or not going our way. But how often do I call a friend to tell her about the great day I had? or to tell about the verse I read that revealed something new to me about Gods grace and faithfulness? It definitely is something I am going to work on, because from the little things big things grow.. just like from a little seed a tree grows...

I'm laying on my bed listening to the rain.. I'm tired but not really ready to fall asleep yet, So I thought I'd write about some things about me. I love making lists, so that's why they are numbered. Some of them are serious and some aren't and they are just in whatever order I thought of them.

1. In my next job I want to work with kids or college students.
   
2. I am addicted to diet coke... ever since that summer at kamp when I looked forward to it and would drink as much as possible on my time off. I have got to stop drinking it!!!
   
3. If I'm still single at 30 or so I want to adopt if I can afford it financially, or I want to go and work at an orphanage in another country.
   
4. Walking around Target or Lowe's is like therapy for me on days that I cant do something outside.
   
5. I want to live in North or South Carolina, I think it is so pretty there and it would be closer to the beach.
6. If we are playing with lego's and you knock over my tower, theres a good chance I'm going to knock over yours.
7. I love spring and summer and everything about them... flowers, thunderstorms, warm sunshine... even when its super hot... i love it!
8. Getting my hair cut and going to the dentist give me major anxiety and I dont even know why.
9. Shelby farms and St Jude are the best things about Memphis
   

The post without a picture

Well...I have applied for jobs pretty much all over the place. Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, and who knows where else at this point. I really would like to find a job somewhere I can see myself working for awhile. I want to put down roots somewhere. I dont really care where. I have been living out of boxes since May. Id love to be able to have my things unpacked and actually be able to find things again. Once I am able to unpack I probably wont even remember what I have. But Im trying to be patient, and not get in a rush to find something, I have been praying about it alot. Sometimes I feel like God is pulling me in one direction, then less than 24 hours later I feel pulled in another direction. No matter what tho, I know that God has a plan.

Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way,but the Lord establishes his steps." ESV

I really feel like in the next few weeks I feel that I will really begin to see where the Lord wants me to be. Im not trying to put God on some kind of time frame, because I know he does what he wants when he wants, but there will be some things that will happen in the next few weeks that will determine alot. At this point I really dont know where he wants me to be, or what he wants me to do. I mean, I know what Im passionate about. I love kids, I love being active, Id be happy to spend most of my work day outside playing with kids so If I found a job where I could do that, itd be awesome. But I'm also really organized and not to bad at doing stuff in an office. I like making to do lists and checking things off. Im such a dork that sometimes I even write things that I have already done on my list just so I can cross it off. But anyways, the point is, I could work in an office too, and like it. I know God will be able to use me where ever I am, and that is really awesome that he gives us all unique gifts and talents. I appreciate the job that I have now, it has helped me make it over the past several months, It just would be nice to find something permanant so that I can afford to go to the dentist/doctor, take my dogs to the vet to get their overdue shots, and pay my car insurance and get my car tags renewed next month, but right now I dont even know what state Ill be in... oh and I got to thinking the other day that I will be filling taxes this year on 3 jobs in 3 states.. that will be interesting to say the least, but thats not the first time I have done that so Im sure ill figure it out...
Anyways, Its been easy for me recently to get down about the economy and job market and stuff, and all the other things that seem to go wrong. Then I am reminded how blessed I am... just look at the news and you will realize how blessed you are. Earlier as I was getting ready for bed I turned on the water and let it run for a few seconds till it was warm so that I could wash my face. As I was waiting for the water to get warm I remembered some of the headlines I had read earlier about those people in Haiti that dont have water, and thought about how there are people there that will die because they dont have water, and lots of other people will die around the world too because they dont have clean drinking water either, and here I am letting nice, clean, cold water run down the drain so that I can get warm water. We are blessed in more ways than we can imagine. I know I take so many things for granted. I hope and pray that I will be more thankful for His blessings, and that I will learn how to love others the same way that he has loved us.