we've got crickets

So on a little lighter note, but still just as serious :)......we've got crickets. And when I say that I mean we HAVE GOT crickets. haha

We are having a ridiculous cricket infestation in our apartment. Every night they sing us to sleep in their "beautiful" shrill type of song. And it doesn't matter where you are sitting you will generally find a cricket on your shoulder after about 5 minutes. So basically if you don't like crickets, don't come to our house. :)

Every morning we wake up we find a couple floating in our toilet. However, yesterday we found quite a few more...


The pest control person is coming on Tuesday so I am praying that will help!

life decisions

I was thinking a lot today about the decisions we make in life. For our own lives me make hundreds of decisions every week. What we will wear, what we eat, the things we will watch on TV and the places we will go. However, the decisions I have been thinking a lot about are the decisions that we have to make for other people who are either unable or unwilling to make the decisions for themselves.

For instance for a child, making the decision of what they will wear and eat for the day because they are unable to choose wisely for themselves. Another decision would be for elderly, deciding to put them in a nursing home because they can no longer take care of themselves. One of the most heart breaking would be deciding to take someone off of life support because it is the only thing keeping them alive.

When I think about making tough decisions, it makes me feel tingly and anxious, but when I think about making tough decisions for other people it makes me feel nauseous. Having the responsibility of deciding something that could affect or change a life for another person it terrifying. I mean sure I can handle making small decisions for people like where to go eat and what they should wear, but it's the life impacting one's that scare me.

What got me thinking about all this was a text conversation I had with a friend of mine today. We were talking about having to make the decision for a child whether their birth father should remain in their lives or not. She was asking my opinion about the decisions my mother made for myself and how it affected my life. I've always recognized and respected that the decisions my mother made for me when I was first born were incredibly hard. And because of that I have always had an immense amount of respect for my mother and her ability to make those decisions.

I mean, yeah, I might give her a hard time now about how hard it is for her to decide if she's going to buy an outfit or not when we go shopping :), BUT the big, life-changing decisions she made for me when I was born have no room for ridicule or joking.....they have my ultimate respect and gratitude.

I told my friend that I have no advice for how to make those decisions and I can't imagine how hard it must be. However, I did tell her that I know the Lord has a plan and that he is in control of all. And that no matter the decisions you make, as long as you trust in him and seek to follow his will, the decisions won't matter whether they are "right" or "wrong", because the Lord will be in control of all.

So the next time you choose a pair of shoes or grab a bite to eat, praise God for his guidance in all decisions we make in life for both ourselves and those we love.

our new home

Here are some photos of our new home. Sorry it took me so long to get them up. I just had to find the right opportunity when it was clean and looked presentable! :)

Here is a couple of our bedroom:





Here is our bathroom:




This is Blake's office/guest bedroom:




Guest bathroom:




Livingroom:





The book case in our entryway, breakfast area and kitchen:

our jobs

Well as you can see my wonderful husband has discovered our blog and has begun posting. I am excited to see what kinds of things he adds to this blog. He's a brilliant writer and has incredible wisdom that the Lord has blessed him with.

For my post I am finally sharing about my new job and I thought I'd share about Blake's as well. First Blake has gotten himself a job at Blockbuster at least until school starts. After that we will just have to see how school turns out for him and what kind of time he will have on his hands. He's enjoying it and is able to get mainly day shifts so we still get to spend our evenings together....which is a huge blessing!

I have now worked at my job for 2 and a half weeks. If you didn't know I am working at a wholesale monument company in a sort of secretarial position, but helping out also with some of the art and layouts on the monuments. I am really really enjoying the job and really enjoying all the people that I work with. It is such a blessing to have this job. The Lord has truly provided for us thus far. I trust him fully with our future.

That's all for now, but I hope to post pics of our new home soon! :)

On Forgiveness

People are hesitant to forgive because deep down they understand that true forgiveness would be an invitation to the offender back up to the same moral level as the offended. When we ask for forgiveness what we are asking for is grace. We are asking for the one we have offended to forget the offense altogether and carry on as if it had never happened. This is an audacious concept and why true forgiveness is such a difficult thing to give.

After a person realizes that they have done wrong they are moved to a lower moral level than they previously occupied. They know it and the offended knows it. It is natural, perhaps even just, for the offended to relish their newfound position on a higher moral level as a consolation prize for having been offended. This, however, is where grace comes in. Grace understands that this perceived moral discrepancy, while extremely evident, is an illusion. In reality each of us have committed offenses against one another and have lowered our moral standing consequently. Grace remembers Paul’s words, “In humility consider others better than yourselves.” Allowing someone who has offended us to remain on this illusory lower moral level is impossible if we are considering that person better than ourselves. Therefore, the Christian has no choice but to forgive. Not only to emulate Christ’s forgiveness of ourselves, but to combat pride in thinking of ourselves above others.
- BLAKE

On the Wireless Mouse

Unless you’re working on a desktop with a monitor that is excessively far away from the port for the mouse, there is absolutely no reason anyone needs a wireless mouse. They suck up batteries, they are inherently less reliable, and they are easier to lose. Yet, here I find myself typing this on a laptop with a wireless mouse. The same wireless mouse I’ve had for four years. I know I have put far more money into the batteries for the mouse than I would ever dream of paying for the actual mouse. The replacement procedure for the mouse is a difficult and frustrating one, often resulting in a loss of connection between the USB input and the mouse that forces me to try to figure out the completely random pattern of button presses and unplugging necessary to reignite communication between the two infernal devices. On top of all of that, I’m out of batteries now and find myself forced to work with the two square-inch touchpad on the laptop with a broken left click and low sensitivity.
But, I have no intention of buying a wired mouse, though they only cost about $10. For whatever reason ,when the batteries aren’t dead and the communication between the mouse and USB is working, when the sliding panel is not stuck and the mouse is on the right surface, I beam with pride over my wireless mouse. Occasionally I even place the mouse on the armrest of my chair where no corded mouse could go and work from there for a while. Not because there is any necessity in doing this; just because I can.
- BLAKE

Our Wedding!

Here are some photos from our wedding that I edited!