Julian of Norwich

It's amazing how much I learn about God in my classes at the university.  A place where most intellectuals try to shut Him out of. I'm taking a women's literature class right now and we are beginning to read works of literature written by women over 900 years ago.  One of the author's Julian of Norwich was a devoted, in our modernized world many consider her a fanatic, religious figure.  To be honest though, I don't find her works fanatic at all.  They describe her visions of God and it is surprising (and not at the same time) that her descriptions of God are extremely similar to the way God is portrayed in even today's modern churches.  "The Trinity is our maker, the Trinity is our keeper, the Trinity is our everlasting lover, the Trinity is endless joy and our bliss…"  (A quote from Chapter 4 of her book A Book of Showings) Is this not what believers today think of when they think of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?

Sometimes it gives me goosebumps when I get these revelations in my classes.  It's nice to know that God stays near.  He is in our schools, our books, and even in the people around us whether they realize it or not.  It's all about allowing God to open your eyes to his wonderful works.  Letting him reveal to me how he is the same now and he was in the 1300s is a wonderful feeling.

Good news!!! And a great message...

I'm mid-week through the first week of this semester and things are going great.  I'm enjoying all my classes and I had my first day back to PT yesterday.  I won't lie...I am a little sore lol.  We did a bunch of cross-fit type workouts.  No word yet on my contract.  We are sending up an appeal on DODMERB decision.  Some good news to look forward to is that I might have a chance to go to Airborne School next month.  If my contract goes through as planned than I will most definitely be going.  I'm so excited and scared at the same time.  My husband and all my friends are happy that I will be joining the "cool" club haha.  The great thing is that my professors have already approved of my absence in class (I didn't waste time lol) so if all works out in my favor I will be a paratrooper come the end of March.  =) My older sister asked my why in the world would I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?!?  I asked her, how many people do you know that are crazy enough to jump out of one?  Haha...we'll now she'll know two!  (Me and my husband =P)

On another note, I saw this today and thought I would share.  It sparked my interest because in my Religion class, we have been posed with the question, "What is religion?".  Well it's too early in the semester to give my scholarly opinion on the  matter but if I were to put my "believer's hat" on, I would agree with this guy and how he thinks.  Enjoy and have a great rest of the week!

My Christmas Message

To all my family,

I say this with all sincerity that I miss you all very much and I wish we could be there to celebrate this special night together.  I want to continue our traditions with my new family so I've written my own Christmas message this year.  I pray that you will enjoy it as much as you have enjoyed the messages my Dad brings to us every year.  It's probably one of the things I am going to miss the most about Christmas Eve with you all tonight.  I love you all very much.  Merry Christmas! 

Christmas is a special time of year.  It's the only holiday recognized almost all around the world and is not just celebrated on the 25th but the whole month of December.  Think about it, that's one twelfth of the year.  This season is a whirlwind of the holiday routine: lighted houses, ornaments, presents, Santa, TV specials, church services, tinsel, wreaths, stockings, and eggnog.  One thing is for sure...when Christmas comes, you can't miss it.  It's everywhere!  But tonight, I want to bring us back to the reason why we all gather together during this time every year.  

Have you ever realized that when you look up an event on your calendar, you are using Jesus Christ as a reference point?  Jesus' birth divided history into BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini, in the year of our Lord).  Every event in history and today is dated by how many years and days it has been since Jesus appeared on Earth.  Even your birthday is dated by his!  Tonight is not just a night to celebrate being together as a family but also to celebrate the birth of God's Son who was brought down from Heaven in the form of a man to give us the ultimate gift...salvation.  It's a night to celebrate that Jesus loves us, that he wants to be with us, and not just with us...but FOR us.  

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  The entire reason for Christmas is the love of God.  The love he has for us and everything in the universe.  He created us for his enjoyment and everything on Earth for our enjoyment.  God could have created a colorless, tasteless world but He didn't.  1 Timothy 6:17 tells us that God "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."  Our sensitive ears for music and rhythm, eyes for all the colors of the world, and taste buds to experience all the incredible flavors as well.  The Bible doesn't tell us that God has love, but that God IS love.  Love is the essence of God's character...his very nature.  The reason everything exists is because God wanted to love it.  If God didn't love something, he wouldn't have created it.  He loves it all, even when we mess it up with our sin, he still has a purpose for it.  He is unconditional and loves us regardless of our thoughts or actions.  His love is unchanging.

Some people often feel alone at Christmas.  Maybe right now you feel like God is not with you.  But his presence has nothing to do with your feelings.  Emotions are unreliable and can change easily.  But there is good news for us.  We can't hide from God!  Psalms 139:7-8 says "Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there."  No matter where you are God is always with you but you must tune-in to His presence.  No matter what situation you are going through right now, God is there.  He promises this to us in Isaiah 43:2-3 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."  In Hebrews 13:5 God ensures us "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  God will always be with us because He loves us.

But just because God is always with us, it doesn't mean it is to condemn us.  Many people feel like God is out to "get" them but it's quite the opposite.  When the angel came to the shepherds, the angel said to them "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."  As a matter of fact, 365 times in the Bible, God tells us to fear not the things of this universe.  That's one for everyday of the year!  I want you to know that God is not mad at you but mad ABOUT you.  He doesn't want to rub in your mistakes, he wants to rub them OUT.  That's what Jesus did for us when He came to this Earth and died on that cross for us.

None of us knows what we'll face this next year, but we can know that God LOVS us, God is WITH us, and God is FOR us.  One plus God is a majority in any situation.  This is what we are celebrating tonight...the fact that God sent Jesus on this night thousands of years ago FOR us so that we can be WITH him forever because he LOVES us. I pray that God touches your heart with this message I've brought tonight.  It is not a coincidence that you are listening to this message on this very specific night.  May God continue to touch and bless your lives in this year and the next.  God bless.

Don't Save It All For Christmas Day

Final grades have finally been posted and I couldn't be more proud of myself.  I made 4 A's and two A-'s.  Which is really all As in my opinion.  Whoever made up A-'s are crazy.  I guess it's okay though...keeps me humble lol.  I'm great but I'm not perfect.

I haven't been up to much since school let out.  I've done some Christmas shopping but really it's my excuse to walk around and be out of the house.  I've forgotten how bored I can get at home.  I'm ready to start up another semester of school after this week.  I could just be taking this vacation for granted though.  Lord knows I need the rest after 4 months of drilling my brain on programming languages and calculus. 

I really miss my family right now.  Everyone is on this "family" cruise (I say with quotes because I'm not there, so it's not really all the family...yes I'm being bitter lol) and I can't call my parents or even my aunts and uncles.  My aunt Yomi didn't go either though...I think I'll call and chat with her tomorrow.  =)  I call my parents almost everyday.  I miss hearing their voices and chatting with them about how life is here in NC and them updating me on news of the family down in FL. I want to tell them about my grades and hear their enthusiasm.  Making them proud has always been a motivation for me to continue to succeed in life. 

I bought cookie mix and icing pens today and a few days ago I got some cute cookie cutters so maybe tomorrow I'll get motivated to start baking and getting artistic.  I think I'll give some to my neighbor.  They are always so sweet to us and they have a little boy that is too adorable.  I know he's gonna love them.  I think this is what I like most about Christmas....giving and making people smile.  I wish people would give the way they give on Christmas all year.  It's never a bad time to bring joy and happiness into another person's life.  This reminds me of a song on my ipod.  It's by a group called Avalon.  The song is called "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day".  It's a beautiful song that really reveals an amazing truth to how much the world needs love everyday no matter the circumstances.

I think I will make this the first thing on my new year's resolution list:  Give a little love everyday.
Have a blessed rest of the week friends and family.  God bless you all.

Lots to be thankful for...

Last Wednesday I had my very important APFT.  I'm happy to say I did surprisingly well.  I didn't get a 300 but I was very close.  I ended up doing 52 pushups (I only needed 46 to max), 82 situps (80 is maxing), and I ran a 16:35 on my two miles (I needed a 15:36 to max).  My overall score was 290 out of 300.  I'm still extremely proud of myself.  My last APFT score was 255 so I improved by 35 points!

This past weekend was our last FTX for the semester.  It was very well.  I had a great time even with it being extremely busy and exhausting.  It really makes a difference when you are working with people you enjoy being around.  We slept out in the woods so I had to build my own hooch.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  It came out awesome.  I came prepared with stakes, bungie cords, and 550 cord.  Below is an illustration I found that is pretty close to how my hooch came out.  We use our ponchos to make them.  Basically what I did is used the bungie cords to attach my poncho to two trees.  I used two more bungie cords to go completely across the inside of the poncho to build a makeshift type roof.  I also used 550 cord to tie the poncho hood and tied the other end to the tree so no water would come through my hooch.  Then I used the stakes to hold the sides of the poncho to the ground.  After all that, I was able to put my sleeping mat down and then my sleeping bag inside.  I actually slept very well.  It was like a tiny little room...only big enough to sleep in haha.

This week has been good too.  Today was my last day of school before Thanksgiving break.  I'll be heading down to Orlando tomorrow so see my family.  I can't wait to see them even though it's been only a month since I saw them last.  It's never a dull moment with them. 

Being that Thanksgiving is around the corner, I've been thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for.  So here is my list of the top 10 things I'm thankful for:

1. God - If it wasn't for Him, I would even be here today.
2. My Family - They are what keep me together
3. School - What keeps my mind active and my way of staying independent
4. My Friends - I'm thankful for the friends I've kept throughout the years and also the ones I've made along the way.  They all have made a difference in my life.
5. Love - Being able to feel love and give love.  It brings both joy and sadness but I'm thankful to be able to feel both all the same.
6. My dogs - They keep me active and always bring me happiness when I'm around them.
7. ROTC - Yes, believe it not I'm thankful that.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to surround myself around great people.  People that are helping to mold me into the leader I'm becoming.  It's also going to provide me with my future career.  =)
8. My house - I love being able to come into a place and call it home...MY home.
9. My car - It's reliable, economical, and get's me where I need to go.
10. My health - I'm a healthy woman who likes to keep fit and cares about my appearance.  Today I received a lot of compliments by my ROTC classmates today since I came to class without my uniform today.  It's a nice reminder that I'm a pretty lady who is valued inside and out.  =)

Well I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving!  Stay safe everyone!

And she does it again!!! Good eatin and heart felt grattitude. =)

And she does it again!  Another successful night of Italian cooking!  I guess I cook better when I'm inventing a dish of my own.  My original plan was to just grill some Italian sausages for dinner and call it a night with some buns and sauerkraut.  BUT my husband asked me if I could make some kind of pasta instead buns to go with our sausages.  He really does inspire me when I cook.  Every time he suggests something for dinner, I come up with an amazing concoction lol.   Soooo  my mind began to turn and I decided I would cut up the sausages and make some spaghetti in a red sauce to go with it.
When I get to the grocery store to buy the sauce, the pastas were in the same aisle and I thought "Man, penne pasta would go sooo much better with these sausages"  So I picked up a box of multigrain penne.  As I'm walking to the checkout I stop by the frozen section and (Light Bulb!) "Some garlic bread would be a great kick too!"  *Picked up a box of cibatta garlic bread*  This really is the everyday story of a woman at Wal-Mart. You go in for one thing and always leave with a few more items lol.
So my journey in the kitchen begins with boiling the penne for about 12-15 minutes.  As my penne was boiling I started on browning my sausages.  I cut the sausages in pieces diagonally and added them to my pan with a couple tablespoons of oil. (You can use water instead.) I also cut up a quarter of a green pepper and added that to give the sausages a little more flavor.  Once my sausages were browned, I added my pasta sauce.  You can use whatever red sauce you prefer.  I used a tomato garlic sauce.  I let this simmer for about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.  As my sauce simmered I preheated the oven to 425 for the garlic bread.  Before putting the bread in the oven a added a touch of shredded Italian cheeses on top.  I baked them until the edges were lightly browned.  Everything took about an hour prep time and cooking.  It came out amazing and it was quite simple to make! Here's the finished product:

Ingredients you need:

- 1/2 box of Penne pasta

- 1 jar of red pasta sauce

- 1 package of sausages (5 links)

- 1/4 green peppers (chopped)

- 2 tablespoons of oil

- 1 box of Garlic Bread

My husband absolutely enjoyed it.  He said he was speechless lol.

After dinner my husband thanked me for everything. Not just being an amazing cook but for being a great wife.  He told me to come to attention.  (Military lingo lol)  Then he handed me a coin and saluted me.  I saluted back thinking we were just playing Army since I'll be starting ROTC again this fall.  BUT when I looked at the coin in my hand I just about melted right there.

I couldn't be a happier wife.  I know in the near future he will be saluting me for real when I commission but I can honestly say that the best awards always come from my husband.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.  Tomorrow is Friday!!! Military Spouse Appreciation Day!!!  =)

Food, Fun, and Fierce Winds

So it's Monday and time to clean up the house after a full scheduled weekend!  But first I must blog lol.  Well Friday I had a girl's night out with my neighbors, we had a blast at this new restaurant in Fayetteville called Aspen Creek.  It was actually pretty good.  I give it 4 stars. One thing that I was sooo excited about was that they had the Monte Cristo on the menu.  Now I was suuuuper bummed when Bennigan's started closing down because they had the most amazing Monte Cristo ever.  I didn't get this though, because another item had my eye which was the Santa Fe Chicken.  It was great though.  Oh and this restaurant serves bread too with this yummy strawberry butter...oh man...the girls and I swallowed that stuff up lol.  After dinner we came back to the guys having a good time/baby sitting lol.  We didn't leave Destiny's house until 1 in the morning.  It is so nice to be able to just walk home after a great night like that.  I am sooo in love with where we live and the awesome neighbors that we have.  I mean we've only been in our house for two weeks and I feel like I've known these people much longer than that.
Saturday was Tornado disaster all around the Fort Bragg area.  We lost power at our house in Raeford luckily for only about an hour but other areas around us didn't have power for over 24 hours and some are still without power.  Fort Bragg sent out a message last night of a two hour delay on post so my husband doesn't have to report in today until noon...which was nice to be able to sleep in today.  =)  Later Saturday night, I invited our neighbors over for dinner.  It was a team effort dinner!  Each of us brought something so we ended up with pork chops, tostones, rice, bread with a balsamic dip, and yummy strawberry cake.  This was another great night of eating and fellowship.
Sunday was an eventful day as well.  As you all know my last Sunday didn't go all too great and so Sunday morning we set off to our next church visit.  We decided to go to a church called Rivers of Living Water in Fayetteville.  Well the outcome was.....we really liked it!  It's a very balanced church.  I really felt comfortable there.  They were doing their Easter play which was awesome.  I was very touched by the play and can't wait to go back next Sunday for the Easter service.  They are doing the play again tonight so if you are interested please go!  The play is called Six Hours One Friday based on the book written by Max Lucado.

Rivers of Living Water Church of God

1764 Bingham Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28304

The play starts at 7 PM

Ok Sunday afternoon was our first BBQ in our house!  We prepared allll week for this thing.  I made a pernil and homemade burgers, my husband made kabobs of all sorts, and we also grilled sausages, bratwurst, and hotdogs for the kids.  Our neighbors brought, rice and pasta salad, and chairs because of all the people coming lol.  We had all sorts of drinks including the two gallons of ice tea I made.  We had a total count of 22 people at our BBQ.  It went great!  Lots of music, talking, joking, the kids running in our backyard.  I loved it!  We ended the night with some dessert and my now popular stove-made coffee.  I could really spend my weekends like this every weekend.  I am a very satisfied girl right now.  =)  And now to clean the house!

Stay blessed ya'll and have a greatttt week!

Church Hunting

So yesterday Chris and I visited our first church in the area.  It was not what I expected to say the least.  I did a lot of googling to find a church I thought we would like.  Little did I realize what a HUGE impact first impressions could be like until trying to find my new Christ-home.  Growing up, I've always gone to whichever church my parents had picked out for us to go to.  I've never had to make this decision on my own and now that I have to, I'm realizing what a BIG decision it is to make.  There are so many things I have to analyze when choosing a church.  Not that the church we visited wasn't a holy place because it was...but it wasn't OUR fit.  I didn't feel myself being fed spiritually there and I felt the same exact vibe from my husband.  We ended up leaving during the service which I have never done before.  Once I sat in the car, I started bawling.  My husband just held my hand and let me cry it out.  I didn't understand at first...I thought it should be that easy...google up a church and start going there.  I was very wrong.  My husband suggested we go home and have a little devotional ourselves which is exactly what we did.  We read the Bible together at home, discussed what we read, and prayed together.  I'm so blessed to have him to help me through this.  He knows how important that is for me and he is eager to find a church for us too.  I also called my mom and told her what happened.  She laughed it off and told me stories of her and my dad finding a church for us when we were growing up and moving from one military base to another.  I never saw all this growing up.  I guess since what kids usually do is just follow along.  lol  Nevertheless, this all made me feel much better about my Sunday gone wrong.  We have another church on our list to visit next Sunday.  We prayed that God will direct us to the one He has for us...but I know that if this next church isn't it, it's because God has an even better one waiting for us.

Stay blessed ya'll and have a great week!  =)