Baby Tyson!

So Micheal got a new puppy about a week ago! He is a black lab who just turned 6 weeks old on Sunday! We have been having a lot of fun with him! He is a sweetheart! Well at least I think he is....I'm not the one who has to listen to him cry and whine all night!! Ha Ha!! That's Micheal's job!! Anyway his name is Tyson and I just love him!!! I have to take him to get his shots today...poor baby! Here are some pics!! Enjoy!!

Summer Trip!!

Back in July my family, Micheal and I went to Carlbad Caverns and Ruidoso for our vacation. It was a lot of fun...sadly my camera died half way through the trip (it does that every time I go on a trip and I NEVER remember to bring my charger...UGH!!!) so I didn't get to take any pictures of us at White Sands. :( Besides that it was a very fun and relaxing trip. We went shopping, fished at the lake by our cabin, ate A LOT, went to White Sands and just hung out!!

Our first stop was Carlsbad Caverns. My family went a few years ago but Micheal had never been so it was neat to go with him. If you have never been to the caverns it is a VERY steep walk down so lets just say Micheal got a little tired on the way...

But once he got his second wind he seemed to enjoy himself! Ha Ha!! :) Micheal's favorite part by FAR was the fishing. The lodge we stayed at had fishing, golfing, tennis and swimming all included so Micheal practically lived at the lake. It was right outside our door so him and Adam got up early every morning and went down there while the rest of us slept like NORMAL people! Ha Ha!! :)

We caught over 20 fish while we were there so it was a lot of fun. I had not been fishing in a long time and I certainly had not caught a fish in a while...so when I actually caught one...well lets just say it COMPLETELY caught me off guard! My face was priceless!!

We had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back real soon! Ruidoso is just such a beautiful place!! I love it!!

WOW!!!

Where has this summer gone!!!??? Seriously! It has been a crazy fun summer but it flew by WAY too fast...as usual! So, what has been going on with me for the last few months?? Let me see...

First off I started off the summer by moving into my own apartment and starting a new job. It was a big change but I have not regretted it for one single second. I had been blessed with a great job at Littlefield Service Center for the past two years. De and Larry were AWESOME when it came to working with my school schedule and I could not have asked for a better job while I was at SPC. However, I knew that it was time for something different. I prayed and simply asked God for direction about where I should move and where I should apply for jobs etc. After looking into moving to Levelland with my cousin and a few other things...(all of which fell through) I decided to put my name on the waiting list at Lfd Apts. The timing could not have been more perfect because in the mean time one of my friends, Tammy and Andy Roberts told me that they were looking for someone to help them out part time with their youth ministry. The job COULD not have been more perfect for me. I was able to work in a Christian atmosphere with great people and the hours work PERFECTLY with me going to school. So after praying about it I decided to accept Tammy's offer and apply for the job. In the mean time I got a call saying that an apt had opened up and I was set to move in June 1st. I was so excited!! I was given the job at the church and found out I started there on June 1st also! Ha! June 1st was a big day for me!! :) Anyway... I have been working there for almost 3 months now and things are going great! God def came through and I know I am exactly where he wants me to be. I will post some pics of my apt soon!!

My Turn!!!

Well I am FINALLY moving out!!!! :) I got an apartment!!! It was crazy how it all worked out because it was sooo fast! I have been on the waiting list for a one bedroom for about a month or so and have been praying that God would have favor on me and help me to get one sometime soon! Well He did! I found out that they had a one bedroom available so as soon as I got off work on Friday I went and got an application, filled it out and took it back that night. Well by Saturday afternoon I had already signed my lease! :) I am not moving in until the first of the month so that gives me about two weeks to find a couch! Mom, Micheal and I are going garage sale hopping on Saturday and I CAN'T wait!! I am so excited to finally be on my own. I know it will be tough but I think I will feel so much better about myself! I feel like God has been preparing me for this for a while now, He just needed me to be patient! I have learned a lot about waiting on the Lord lately. About a month and a half ago or so I felt God tell me in a very clear way to just wait on Him. I was struggling with some stuff at the time and kind of felt like my life was just stuck. I felt like I was doing the same thing every day and that nothing was getting better. Well when God told me to wait I was so encouraged! Well since that moment so much as happened, He just needed me to relax and put my trust in Him. I know that I am still learning how to completely trust Him because I am a worrier, but I also know that He is definitly worth the wait!!!

A little bit of this...a little bit of that!

Ok...its official! I am a WHOLE lot better at reading other people's blogs than keeping up with my own!! :) Anyway...a lot has happened in the last month and 1/2!! First of all I turned 21! Thats always exciting! My mom and Micheal took me shopping and spoiled me a little bit!! ;) I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! Also Micheal and our friends planned a surprise b-day for me and one of our other friends! It was so much fun. We went out to eat at Ohanna's, got ice cream, and went bowling! It was great!! The next big thing that happened to me is that I got a new job! I am going to be the youth director's secretary at the Methodist church! I am so excited because it is going to work GREAT with my school schedule! WOO HOO! I am so blessed! God is so good! Also within the last month I finished up my first semester at LCU! I couldn't have asked for a better outcome! I finished up with all As! Praise God once again!! I also had a really neat experience with one of my finals! In my Jesus and the Gospels class my professor read us the passage about Jesus being a servant and washing hs disciples feet, so for our final he washed our feet! It was such a WONDERFUL experience! Man...Do we serve an awesome God or what??? Well I am going to try to get better about posting pics with my posts...I am hardly ever on the computer with my pics saved on it when I post! Anyways! I hope you all have a blessed weekend!!! :)

I am confident that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord,be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

Happy April Fools!!

Well its officially April!! :) I love this time of year..when its finally starting to warm up and you know that summer is right around the corner!!I love it when the seasons change! It seems like God knows exactly the right time to move on to the next one! I love the winter and the fall but I am ready for FLIP FLOP weather! Tomorrow is my close friend Kayla's twenty-first birthday!! Happy Birthday Kayla!! It is so crazy how time flies..our birthdays are exactly one month apart so I know my turn is coming up fast!! I was cleaning out my closet not too long ago and I found a box of old birthday cards I had saved and I found one from Kayla when we were 13! It doesn't seem like that long ago... Wow!!

As far as April fools goes I have always wanted to pull a good prank on someone but I can never pull it off! I am not a very good liar so it is hard for me to pull pranks on people! Ha Ha!! Maybe next year! But the good news is that I have not been pranked either so I guess I can't complain!! Well this time next month I will officially be DONE with my first semester at LCU! It has gone by fast and its been fun but I am def looking forward to summer! Sadly, along with the end of the semester comes finals!!! GULP!! I am not looking forward to those but I am sure I will survive! :)

Well God has blessed me once again!! I know I shouldn't be surprised when He does but I just can't get over how amazing He is! Everytime something awesome happens or He answers a prayer I just find myself in complete Awe of Him! Everytime...it NEVER gets old! Yesterday I went over to my friend Desiree's house to talk about our schedule for next semester and ended up having the most amazing conversation with her about how wonderful God is and about how he always directs our steps even when it seems like nothing important or exciting is happening! Well yesterday was a perfect example of exactly how He does that! Desiree emailed me this morning and told me that God used our conversation in order to bring her peace and encouragement! Plus, she got a phone call last night from a friend who was having a rough time and she shared what we talked about and was able to encourage her friend as well! So just a simple get together ended up being what God used to encourage Desiree and her friend! It just goes to show that when we ask God to use us and to direct our steps he does! Even when you don't even realize it! And this morning God used Desiree to encourage me by sharing what happened last night! God is so awesome and he ALWAYS brings things full circle! For we have the hope "that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Moving on Up!

Well this weekend was pretty much the same as any other except for one thing...Micheal moved into a new house! I am so happy for him (and not AT ALL jealous ha ha!). I know how badly he has wanted his own place and I am so glad that God opened this door for him! Sadly, my digital camera is on the fritz so I can't post any pictures yet but hopefully I can soon. We had a lot of fun getting all of his stuff moved in and set up. Luckily Micheal did not have to do it all by himself...thanks to all of our wonderful friends!! Brian and Andy helped Micheal move all of the big heavy stuff and us girls (me, Meg, and Stacy) got to help decorate.We did a marvelous job...if I do say so myself! Oh...and did I mention that his next door neighbors are some of our most favorite people in the world??? :) Yup...Andy and Meg are gonna have to start locking their doors so we don't drive them completely crazy!! ;) I am so excited about everything God is doing and I am so thankful for his wonderful provision for Micheal!!!

Praying for Baby Stellan

Back in December I started reading a blog called My Charming Kids. I am absolutely addicted to it now. The woman who writes it calls herself MckMama and I absolutely love the way she writes. She is a mighty woman of God and a lot of her posts are about how her relationship with Christ has helped her so much in raising her children and in her marriage. Anyway, she had a baby boy in November and he was diagnosed with some kind of heart problem while in the womb and the doctors did not expect him to live. Well God intervened and he was born a healthy, full term baby. He has been perfectly healthy until this weekend when his parents took him to the er because he was having trouble breathing. Well while he was in the hospital his heart began beating extremely fast and it seems that his heart problems have returned. I know that baby Stellan and his family would appreciate it if you would please pray for them. If you would like to find out more about Stellan's condition and his wonderful testimony click on the picture below.

WOW!!!!

I cannot believe how time FLIES!! It is already Spring Break at school!! :) That means that when I go back on Tuesday I only have ten days of school left! It seems like just yesterday I was just getting started at LCU! I have really enjoyed this semester but I am so ready for next semester because one of my close friends, Desiree is transferring there too! YAY!! :)

Hopefully we will be able to take lots of classes together since we are majoring in the same thing! Well as far as spring break goes I didn't do a whole lot. Micheal and I went on a fast and furious trip to Oklahoma for a youth ministers conference. We left on Friday morning around nine and got back Saturday night around 11:45. Talk about a long trip but the conference was great! I think that Micheal got a lot out of it as far as ideas to help him out with his youth group but I got a lot out of the teachings as well. A lot of the teachings were about dying to yourself and carrying your cross daily. So I am intentionally waking up every morning and throughout the day commiting my entire self to God. I want my life to be a living sacrifice! It is so encouraging to know that I can let go of everything and give my life to God. Throughout the conference I kind of had a revelation. For a long time I have been praying and asking, "God what do I need to do?" But I realized that I don't necessarily need to pray and ask what I need to do but I need to pray and ask God to help me die to myself. When I die to myself and commit my life as a living sacrifice to Him he will guide me and direct my paths because I can't do it MYSELF!!! That gave me such freedom and I know that more I continue to grow in the area of dying to myself and giving my life to God the more I will understand it!! :) A scripture that is really helping me learn to let go of what I want and trust what God wants are Romans 12:1-2. I really like this verse because it gives a very clear understanding of what we need to do in order to see God's good, pleasing and perfect will prevail in our lives. We have to give our bodies as living sacrifices, keep from conforming to the pattern of this world and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds! I know that a lot of people, including myself, are sometimes scared to lay down our plans and truly tell God that we want his will to be done in our lives and not our own. We tend to thing that as soon as we say that God is going to send us off to some remote country and make us live some horribly depressing life! This scripture contradicts that COMPLETELY!! God LOVES us and he knows us better than we know ourselves, therefore we can trust the fact that His plan for us is not only good but it is better than anything we could ever have planned for ourselves! God is so WONDERFUL! I cannot wait to see what God does in my life as I continue to take myself out of the equation.I am expecting GREAT things to take place because I serve a GREAT God!!! :)

Bryson Andrew Quinto

Well one of my dear friends became a mom on February 8th!! I am sooo happy for her and her husband Chris! She is the first one of my close friends to have a baby! She delivered him about 9 weeks early but God is answering our prayers and he is doing GREAT! I actually went to see her the day before she had him and we had a great time. I had not seen her in several months, so we had a lot of catching up to do! Our visit was fun but way too short! Anyway the next morning when I found out she had him I was so glad that I had gone to see her the day before otherwise I never would have gotten to see her pregnant! I love how God works! :) You can check out Baby Bryson's progress here http://www.brysonquinto.blogspot.com/. Please keep Courtney, Chris and Baby Bryson in your prayers so they can go home soon!!!

Exciting Weekend Coming Up!!

This weekend is Littlefield's Disciple Now. Its a time when jr. high and high school students come together for a weekend of fun, games, food and fellowship! This year we are doing it a little different than we have in the past and I am really looking forward to it. It starts tomorrow at 12 noon and lasts until Sunday at noon. So its 24 hours of non stop action. Including going to Lubbock to the movies and Main Event (both of which have been rented for just our kids)! It is going to be a lot of fun. I will try to take lots of pictures!! Today I am just trying to prepare my heart so that I will be able to have a good connection with my group of girls. D-Now is a lot of fun but its main purpose is to spread the love of Jesus and to help kids grow in their relationship with him. So there will be several small group sessions. I can't wait to see what God has in store for everyone this weekend! Come Sunday I know I will be exhausted but it will be worth it!! :)

Trusting in God

Wow....God is so good! Yesterday when I had to miss school I was pretty nervous because that was the first time I had missed any of my classes this semester....and I hate missing classes! So even though I had a day off yesterday I have to admit that I spent the majority of it worrying about what I was missing. Then I got even more worried when I realized that I was going to miss a quiz in one class and a test review in another. Not to mention a whole days worth of notes. As soon as I saw how many important things I was going to be missing I immediately began praying. I told God that I knew he understood why I stayed home and that I knew that he would take care of me and make everything work out. I tried my best to stay calm and remember that God was in control. I know that this may seem like a silly thing to worry about but I knew that God ALWAYS cares, even about the little things. So this morning when I checked my email I found out that both the test and the quiz had been postponed until next week! Plus, my professor emailed me the notes from class...which was way more than I expected because he always told us that if we missed class then we would have to get the notes from a classmate.

So what I learned from all this was that God cares, even about the little things. He loves us and takes care of us even when we think our prayer requests are too miniscule for him! That just encouraged me so much!! It made me think...if God is willing to take care of me when it comes to missing one day of school...then he will take care of me in the big things too! Even when we don't deserve it! God has completely showed me that if I put my trust in him that he will make sure that everything turns out ok!! I am so pumped right now! God is so AWESOME!!!

Snow Day!!

Well this morning it snowed!!! This is the first time we have had snow that stuck this winter. I had school today but when I woke up and checked my email I learned that my first class was cancelled. So that was good news!! So I planned on leaving in time to make my second class at 9:30 but my parents said that they thought it would be better if I just stayed home today. So after emailing my professors to let them know the situation I officially had a day off! I called De and told her that I would come in at 3:00 so that way when she left to pick up her kids she would not have to come back and close up the store. So, until 3 I plan on doing some laundry, catching up on some reading for school, and doing my Bible Study. Well I hope that everyone stays safe and warm today!!

Wild and Crazy Weekend!!

Wow!! I had a very busy and fun weekend. Friday was my Poppa's and my best friend Meghan's birthday! So Friday night my family, Micheal and I went over to my grandparent's house to celebrate! We had a lot of fun... we talked, ate pizza and cake, and played games. Then on Saturday we celebrated Meghan's birthday! There was eleven of us in all...Andy, Meghan, Brian, Stacy, Jaime, Flavio, Shonda, Colton, Ben, Micheal, and me!! We had a BLAST!! We started off the evening by eating at one of Meghan's favorite restaurants, Orlando's! The food was delicious!!!

We told the waitress that it was Meghan's birthday and so they brought her a huge chocolate rum cake with a candle on it and sang her happy birthday Orlando's style! Meghan, being the sweet person that she is shared her cake and ice cream with everyone. We then realized that Ben's birthday was only a few days away but the waitress said that her manager would not let her bring out another free cake so we took matters into our own hands!! Meg gave Ben a piece of her cake and we relit the candle and sang our own version of the Orlando's Happy Birthday song to him! :) By the end of the night we had made great friends with our waitress so we all took a group pic!! :)



Our friend Brian has decided to start collecting t-shirts from all of the places where we go eat...for free! He must have a way with words because he decided that he was going to ask the manager for a free shirt and two minutes later he came walking back to the table shirt in hand!! :) So far he has a shirt from McAllister's and Orlando's!! When we finally left the restaurant I think everyone in there was very glad to see us go!! Ha Ha!!


The plan was that after dinner we were going to go bowling. Well after visiting and calling several bowling alleys in Lubbock we discovered that there was a 2 hour wait at all of them. So we decided to go to Main Event so that way we could do other things while waiting for a lane to open up. You would think that having to drive from bowling alley to bowling alley would have slowed down our fun....NOPE! The drive consisted of Meg hanging her head out the window like she was flying and us taking pictures of Jaime and Flavio and Colton and Shonda in their cars while we were stopped at red lights!!

Anyway, we finally made it to Main Event where we played laser tag and messed around in the arcade until they had a lane open. Sadly, I was only able to take one picture of us bowling before my camera died. So the only picture I got was of Meghan showing off her AWESOME bowling skills! :) Oh well at least it was a good one!! So after an hour and a half of bowling excitement we finally made it back into town around 2 in the morning!

So that was Saturday! Then on Sunday we went to church and that evening Micheal decided to take the kids in his youth group bowling as a treat for all the hard work they did on a fundraiser. So back to Lubbock we went! It was a lot of fun and the kids did great but after we got back home Micheal and I decided that we had both had enough bowling to last us for a while! So needless to say by the time I got home from dropping the kids off last night I was TIRED!!

Its weekends like these that remind me of how blessed I am to have such an amazing group of friends!! I love them SOOOOO MUCH!! :)

Killing Us Softly

Well basically Wednesday night was NOT fun for me. All day long while I was at work I was just dreading going home because I knew what was waiting for me.... HOMEWORK!! :( I had to write a 5 page paper over how harmful advertising is to woman. So I basically sit in front of my computer from the time I got home at 5:30 until I went to bet after 12. The part that stinks the most is that I know that I could have easily written that paper in like an hour and a half tops but I sat there stressing over whether or not I was doing it right. (Mostly because this is the first assignment with a brand new professor and I didn't really know what his expectations were.) Therefore, I wasted a lot of time! Anyways, I got it done and turned it in yesterday and it was a great feeling...knowing it was OVER!!! Ha Ha!! I am really hoping that this semester I can...how can I say this...NOT PROCRASTINATE!!! I have been a procrastinator when it comes to homework my entire life! I have always managed to do well but waiting until the last minute to do things adds a lot of unecessary stress to my life...and I really dont want anymore of that!

Anyways, the topic that I had to write about has been on my mind lately. We had to watch a video called Killing Us Softly that showed us a lot of advertisements that send messages to woman and young girls that they have to be beautilful, THIN, perfect, sexy, and submissive! It is such a dangerous idea to put into young girls heads. The scary thing is that these images are EVERYWHERE! They are in magazines, on t.v, and on billboards. Plus, the barbie dolls that young girls play with are built to perfection. It is such a shame that these young children have this idea placed in their heads at such young ages that, this is what I am supposed to look like when I grow up. It is an unrealistic expectation. Our professor talked about how only 5% of women actually have body types to be as thin as the models we see. Even then most of those models starve themselves and have plastic surgery. Women that are not born with that type of bosy style cannot diet themselves to look like that anymore than they can make themselves taller. It is such a shame that we as women are not allowed the freedom to decide for ourselves what our idea of a healthy body image is. I, personally have felt the pressure of this idea that women are supposed to be skinny and perfect. I am currently at the perfect weight for my height...so I am at a healthy weight but I still feel self-conscious about my body. I have to strive everyday to convince myself that I can be happy with the body that God has given me. I know that I have been on a soap box with this but it makes me sad to think that so many young girls have eating disorders because our society has told them all of their lives that the only way that can be be successful and desireable to the opposite sex is to be thin. And that is simply NOT true! I for one hope that I can make a difference in the lives of the young girls that I am around by telling them that they are God's children and they are beautiful just the way they are!

Lubbock Christian University

Well, I knew this was bound to happen...I start a blog, do well for the first few days and then completely forget about it!! Ha Ha! Well I am determined not to let this blog end up like every single journal I have ever owned...(filled with one or two entries and then...NOTHING!!) :) So I am going to recap on January and then hopefully do a lot better in February!!

One big exciting thing that happened to me in January is that I started school at Lubbock Christian University!! I have always wanted to go to LCU so it was really neat to FINALLY be going there! My first day was a little nerve racking but first days always are right?? You know the feeling of sitting there on the first day of class hoping you are in the right room and praying that your professor will be friendly! Well I survived my first day and I love all of my professors!! :) I am taking: Family and Community; Love, Courtship, and Marriage; Parenting; and Jesus and the Gospels. I really enjoy all of my classes but so far my favorite is Love, Courtship, and Marriage, my professor is awesome and the class is so interesting! I still find myself shocked ( in a good way) when my professors mention scripture and God when they are teaching! It is so awesome to be in an environment where students and professors can openly profess their faith in the classroom! I absolutely LOVE it! Another cool and exciting thing about LCU is that everyday they have Chapel. It is neat because EVERYONE attends. Basically the entire campus shuts down and students, faculty, and everyone else on campus stops whatever they are doing and goes to Chapel! I really enjoy it!

As far as friends go I still have a long way to go but I have made a few friends in each one of my classes! They are all very sweet girls and I hope to get to know them better throughout the semester! I would say that this has def been the hardest part about switching schools! I miss all my SPC friends and they better not forget about me now that I am not there!! Ha Ha!! :)

Well tomorrow I have my first official assignment due for my Love, Courtship and Marriage class and I am sooo nervous. Its a 5 pg paper over a video we watched. I have always done good when it comes to writing papers but its a brand new professor with a whole different set of expectations! I guess I am just going to have to do the best I can and hope for the best!! :) Wish me luck!!!

Happy New Year!!

Well Micheal and I had a great time ringing in the New Year with our friends!! It was a lot of fun! We had a few friends over to my house and we ate pizza and played games!! Pretty much the same thing we do every year but I enjoy it! My first day of 2009 was great!! I got to sleep in, eat good food, and visit with my grandparents! :) All in all I give it an A+!! I also figured out how to put super cheap songs on my ipod that Micheal got me for Christmas! I hate that itunes are 1.00 each so my friend told me about this website where songs are like 9 cents each and yesterday when I tried it worked great!! I am so glad! Yesterday was mine and Micheal's three year anniversary and we usually go out to a movie and dinner but yesterday we agreed that just relaxing and hanging out would be just as nice. So we postponed our night out for this weekend...gives me something to look forward to! Tonight he is having a lock in for all of his youth kids so I will prob help out with that for a little while...should be interesting. Anyway, back to my great first day of the year...the best part was when he and I read a couple of chapters out of our book last night! It was wonderful!! The book totally opened up the waves of communication and I was able to get a lot of things off my chest and he was so understanding!! It was great! I feel so good today like a burden has been lifted!! Praise God! I am so blessed to have such an wonderful and amazing man in my life! Thanks babe!! :)