Young Life

Hello all. Yet another rainy day here in Missouri. Pretty sure you have all watched on the news, but we've had quite a problem with flooding lately, and it's not going to get any better if it doesn't stop raining like it has been. On a good note... it's making everything green again!


Brian and I have been looking for a way for us to grow together in our faith and also some way to minister to others. Well... we have recently just got plugged in to Young Life (plugged back in for me...) All through high school I went to Young Life and absolutely LOVED it. I'm sure some of you have heard of Young Life, but if you haven't it is basically a place where high school kids can come and be KIDS, while being introduced to Christ. It takes a lot of dedicated people to keep a nationally recognized non-profit organization like Young Life going. My parents joined the committee for our area soon after I graduated college and have been helping out ever since. My Young Life leader in high school was a woman by the name of Tonya. She absolutely without a doubt had the most significant impact on my adolescent life. She was the most amazing friend and mentor. She is no longer involved with Young Life (she has 4 kids of her own), but to this day I still call her my "Young Life leader". We still talk regularly and she is constantly checking up on me to see how I'm doing. It's WONDERFUL having such an amazing follower of Christ in my life to look up to. Oddly enough, she works at the Vineyard where Brian and I got married so we got to plan my wedding together :) God works in mysterious ways.

With all of that said, I really hope to become that sort of influence in some girl's life like Tonya was in mine. It will take lots of time and commitment, but I think Brian and I are ready for something like this. I am by no means a perfect person, but I think even lending an ear and telling someone that God loves them can be enough. Just BEING THERE.

So... keep Brian and I in your prayers the next couple of months as we train to become Young Life leaders.

Tomorrow is Friday! That will put a smile on anyone's face...

Foggy London Town

Ok so I apologize for being such a slacker when it comes to posting our London pictures. I assure you have tried, but I've been swamped at work, and my stupid computer at home refuses to work. With that said... here is a recap of our amazing London adventure...

Where to begin? We were only there a week but it felt like so much longer. We crammed so much sight seeing into each day it was ridiculous... necessary but ridiculous. We saw everything there is to see in London and then some. It was so amazing have Brian's Nana there with us. She told us so many of her stories from the war and showed us all of the places that were important to her. I'm so thankful that we have someone like that in our lives. She is a plethera of history and information. Every day thousdands of WW2 surviors die and we don't even realize it. It's sad that we don't take advantage of all of their knowledge because soon they will all be gone. There is so much amazing history to be seen and learned in London. Walking through Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral alone were absolutely breathtaking. (Also a bit creepy beacause there are tombs of kings, queens, writers, war heros, etc. everywhere)

We did our fair share of pub crawling as well. Brian's younger brother Brad was stoked because the drinking age is lower over there. You can't walk five steps without running into a pub. They are everywhere and so cool looking. (I've got my fill of beer for awhile I can tell you that much) I'm not sure I quite understand their appetites over there though. Obviously tons of fish and chips, lamb, pork, tuna, and some other wierd stuff. I was definitely ready to come back to american food after a whole week of it.

The Imperial War Museum was probably one of my absolute favorite things about London. So many cool things to see. The best was the Holocaust Exihibit. I think I had chills the entire time walking through that. Some of the things I saw made me physically ill to look at, but it happened and we don't ever need to forget that.

It was definitely a long and tiring week (my feet still have blisters from walking so much) but I would LOVE to go back again someday. A week is not nearly enough. I'm so thankful we were given the opportunity to go...

Here are a few of my favorites from the week. I will post all of them on facebook once I can figure out my stupid computer at home.

Buckingham Palace

Picadilly Circus... it was like a mini Times Square

This is the Pub where Brian's Nana and Grandad first met...

Above: Big Ben and the houses of Parliament

The London Eye... a.k.a... one HUGE ferris wheel... great views up there. A bit scary though.

Picture Above and Below... Tower of London...

Westminster Abbey

Above: Me at the place where Nana stayed after her house was bombed during the war.

All of us, minus Brian, at Windsor Castle... the Queen stays here most weekends.

Inside of the Swan and Bottle... another pub.

Ok well that will have to do you for now because I have to get back to work. I'll post the remaining 300 pics on Facebook. ha! One more story before I sign off... So we were walking down the streets of Picadilly Circus. It's really like New York... people walking on the streets everywhere. WELL... I put my arm out and locked it with Brian's so I wouldn't lose him when I hear "ELLO LOVE!" It was some HUGE drunk scottsman... definitely NOT Brian. Scared the crap out of me, but then I couldn't stop laughing. Moral of this story... look before you grab your husbands arm.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

LoNdOn HeRe We CoMe!!!!

So Friday is the big day! We fly to Cincinnati at 5:45pm (gotta leave work a bit early, darn) and then it's on to London! It's about a 7 hour flight from there. I've never had any problems sleeping on a plane, and since it will be night time anyway I don't think it should be too bad really. Brian on the other hand can NEVER sleep on planes. I might have to slip something in his drink otherwise he'll end up keeping me awake too. Ha!

I have no clue what our plans are for the week we are there, and frankly I don't care. I'm just so pumped to be going. I hear that the food is awful which sucks, but hey it will be good for the diet. My parents and everyone else on the planet have made me promise to take a million pictures, so I will for sure have an interesting post with lots of pics when we return on the 22nd. Pray for our safe travel!

On another exciting note... I finally got a new phone! Brian and I started our own contract with At&t. Kind of exciting. He got a new phone as well. Both of our old phones were ridiculous. Mine is a Blackberry so I'm still trying to figure it all out but so far I love it! We'll see how much I love it after the first bill comes....

Ok well back to work now. Wish us luck on our trip and I will talk to ya'll whenever we get back!! Everyone have a good weekend and following week!

Holy Snow.

I think in some of my previous posts I've stated how much I love St. Louis because it snows, and how pretty it is and blah blah blah, but I've come to the conclusion that I HATE SNOW. It was almost 80 degrees on Sunday and now... it's a dang blizzard outside. There is already 6 inches of snow on the ground at our house and here I am at work wondering how in the CRAP I'm going to make it home. I'm not saying the roads are impassable, but it's those dummies that decide they know how to drive in the snow and drive way to fast and cause a huge 10-car pile-up that has me stuck for a good 2 hours. This is seriously like our 5 or 6th big winter storm this year... being in Texas for so long I forgot how bad it can really get. I have no doubt that if today were a Saturday I'd be ecstatic about all of this snow, but NO... not today. There is no way I'm getting out of here early either... too much to do, and from what I've heard, "we never close." Wish me luck on my drive home...

This weekends weather was a bit different... so nice. Our first nice weekend in a while. Saturday I opened all of our windows and cleaned the house from top to bottom. SO much better. Saturday night we went to Buffalo Wild wings with Gretch and Justin. Sunday we went to the driving range... Brian has been dying to pick up a golf club again. I'm actually ready for golf season to come back around too... I got really into it right as the season was ending last year.

Ok well I know this is boring, but a post is a post, and I have to get back to work... I so wish it was Friday.

Out of the dog house...

So... if you've read my previous post, then you are well aware of my Valentine's Day horror. (ha ok I know it wasn't the end of the world... but it was CLOSE). The following week he made up for it with these:

I know the picture is kind of hard to see but it's like six little diamonds arranged in sort of a circle. I love them, but I most definitely didn't need jewelry for him to make up for it... lots of money that we don't have, but whatever I'll take it! So... he's officially out of the doghouse. (PS... for those of you who know me well, please take note in the pictures of how I have given up biting my nails... thank you thank you). Oh ... and I know they are really late but here are some pictures of the Grand Hall at Union Station (where we stayed Vday...) So beautiful!

The new job is going great... the days go by so quickly because I'm constantly busy. Sometimes I even forget about lunch, which is SO unlike me. I'm learning a lot and I know I'm getting some great experience in my field.

I'm not really sure what else to report... not a whole lot going on lately really, except that we leave for London in like 15 days or something... so pumped. No big plans this weekend yet really... layin low as always.

Hope everyone is well. Bye for now....

Not a happy camper...

Hello all... I hope everyone had a marvelous Valentine's Day with their loved ones. I had quite the interesting one to say the least... going to try to make a long story short here so bare with me. So Thursday, Valentine's Day, I sit at work all day anxiously awaiting what presents I might be getting. When no flowers or anything came to work I drove home knowing that something would be waiting at the house for me. However, I came home to a gift-less house. That morning, I left Brian a basket full of Valentine's stuff so he'd have it when he came home for work (he got off at 2PM because he had class that night). So I figured surely he'd leave me something but nope. NOTHING. Now, take into consideration that it was that special time of the month for me, and you can just imagine how upset I was. I balled the entire night until he got home. He apologized a million times for not getting me anything, and I'm still not too sure why he didn't, but needless to say he was not on my good list that night or the following day. I was just really hurt that it was our FIRST Valentine's as a married couple and I got nothing. It's not like he had to spend a lot of money or anything... a card/note, flowers, anything you know? Also, all I've done for the past MONTH is talk about Valentine's Day... hence my blog posts about how much I LOVE Vday...

So Friday comes around and I'm still hurt... at work I can't think about much else and when I get off and head home I'm not sure what to expect. He did end up getting me flowers... said they were an apologee and that he'd find a way to make it up to me. I know he's really sorry... you could tell that just by looking at him, but we won't have Valentine's Day again for another year and it won't be our first one...

Saturday we went downtown to the Hyatt like we had planned... we really did have a great time, but the whole time I'm kinda just waiting for SOMETHING to show me that he's really sorry and he's trying to make it up to me but nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I really just need to come to terms with the fact that he is a GUY, and he always will be. He doesn't think like I do and he cannot read my mind. Why don't they realize that it's not about how much money they spend? All he would have to do is spend some time writing me a note or lighting some candles... ya know?

Ok I'm done venting. Everything is fine now, but NEXT Valentine's Day better be out of this world! ha!

ExCiTeD!!!

Yes people... it's true...Valentine's Day is TOMORROW and I couldn't be more excited. However, my excitement will have to carry over until Saturday, because like I explained in my previous post, that is when we are celebrating, and I can't wait!! I hope everyone has some amazing things planned for their valentine. I have a couple of things planned for tomorrow that he doesn't know about ( I can say that because he NEVER reads my blog... seriously.) So... we'll take lots of pictures this weekend during our Valentine's celebration. First Valentine's as a married couple :) Speaking of that... we will be married 6 months next month... insane! It feels like yesterday.

In the spirit of Valentine's, (how many times have I typed "valentine" in this blog already??) I thought I would let you all know why my husband, my valentine is the greatest...

- He is just as goofy and strange as I am... I'm glad people can't hear our normal day-to-day conversations because they would think we were nuts

- When I'm cooking he comes in the kitchen and talks to me about my day

- He's smart, kind, caring, trustworthy, and PATIENT with probably the most difficult woman on the planet (yeah... me)

- During the day he'll send me text messages that say, "I can't wait to see you tonight!" when all we do is sit around and watch TV together.

- We laugh all day, everyday

- He is a professional cuddler...

- He says I love you all the time and just because

- He is my soulmate and best friend for life

I love you baby!!

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone!!