Valentine's and Impacting the World

Every February brings the holiday that is known for hearts and roses, chocolates and balloons, and the obligatory "date night". I celebrate Valentine's Day, but I'm also a firm believer that love should be shown 24/7, not just once a year. I'm sure most people carry the same opinion. Everyone loves love, right? Well if you don't, then I wouldn't suggest that you keep reading, because it just gets "mushier" from here on out.

My Valentine this year, as has been for the past 8 years, has been my amazing husband, Brendon. (EIGHT years?! What?!) He's really amazing and if you've ever had the pleasure of meeting him, you'll agree. He's funny, he loves Jesus, he's driven, hard working, slightly sarcastic, and he's my best friend. Let me show you the card he got me, just to highlight everything I said about his personality.

Like I said, he's pretty humorous.

Everyone who knows me knows I love pictures, so here's some from yesterday.

                                               
                                      My Valentine's Day inspired nails.

  Pretty roses my hubby brought home, because all most girls love flowers. Guys, take notes. 

He got me this ring too. So beautiful!

We had dinner at Wasabi. N E V E R. A G A I N. The food wasn't bad if you could get past the massive crowds of people that stretched out past the front door. Next time, we're just going out to dinner the night after because the crowds were ridiculous. People who had reservations still had to wait over an hour to be seated. We saw waitresses crying, people angry, babies fussing, it was a mess. By the time we got a seat, Brendon wasn't feeling good and he was feeling nauseous so we just ordered and got our food to go. :( Poor guy. Good thing is, he's feeling much better today!

But before we left we had a really great conversation. Like, I said earlier. I love love. And one of the many reasons I love my husband is because he gives awesome counsel, especially when I most need it. So, lately I've been feeling like time is going way too fast. Sometimes, I feel like I'm being smothered by time. Almost like it's a wicked stepmother hovering over me and reminding me about everything I haven't done. I've always wanted to impact the world and sometimes I struggle with the reality that my version of how I impact the world isn't the same as God's version of how I'm going to do it. These past few weeks, I've really struggled with wanting to be an impact and being discouraged that what I'm doing is not enough. I shared my heart with Brendon and I love what he said, "Every act of obedience to God is an impact on the world."

WOW.

Every act of obedience to God is an impact on the world.

That was certainly eye opening for me. Thinking about it from this perspective also helps me feel better and encourages me to be obedient to Christ. For anyone out there struggling to find your purpose, all you can do is obey Christ and everything will fall in place. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that early that morning, I gave Brendon his Valentine's Day present from me. We didn't do big presents for each other this Christmas and instead we put the money towards a vacation, so it was really nice to be able to buy him something that he has been wanting. I got him an Aimpoint Pro, which is a high tech red dot sight for his AR-15. His reaction was really sweet. I can't seem to post the video on here, so here's the link for it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203252713104341&l=2996097952771447755

Here's a picture of him cheesin'. It turned out to be a pretty fun day and a great week in general!

Until next time!
Angie

Even in the Storm...

I've been so busy with school and work these past few weeks that I haven't had time to do what I needed, much less what I wanted. So finding the time to blog has been hard...hence me writing at 1 am when I have to be at work in 5 hours.

So let me start with the past week. I've had two really bad days this past week, one of them being the worst day of my life...and that's putting it mildly. I won't get into details, but I will say that my faith was tested is being tested and I have to constantly remind myself that God's plan is better than anything I could imagine, so why worry? Honestly, it's easier said than done. I found myself questioning God and questioning myself. I was mad at God for a time; I just didn't understand. I think that a lot of us---whether Christians or not---find ourselves that way. Christians question God when things go wrong because we feel like we're entitled to good things and want answers that we feel like he owes us. But here's a heads up; HE DOESN'T OWE US ANYTHING. And unbelievers question God because they just legitimately don't understand why bad things happen. They tend to say that "God allows things to happen" and ultimately yes, He does, but many fail to understand the will of God and the purpose of his will. I learned so much about that this week.

I was broken.
I was hurt.
I was depressed.

But I have an awesome God and he welcomes the broken, the hurt, the depressed, the mourning, the thieves, the murderers, the adulterers, the suicidal, the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the prostitutes.

My God welcomes the SINNER.

And I'm so thankful He does, because I'm a huge sinner. I sin every single day and still He forgives me and gives me grace. I question His will every day and still He wants nothing but the best for me.

He is so amazing.


Things I learned this week:

1. My husband is more supportive and caring than I could have ever imagined. Ever.

2. My timing is not the same as God's timing. (His is better!)

3. Everyone makes mistakes; no one is perfect, even though we expect certain people in certain professions to be.

4. Silence is golden. Soothing. Comforting. It's just gooooood sometimes.

5. True contentment can't be found anywhere, but Christ. (Money, things, cars, jobs, friends, spouses, children, entertainment, successes...NOPE. Been there done that, IT. DOESN'T. WORK.)



"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

3 Year Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary this past August 14. They say that that's the end of the "honeymoon" stage, but I disagree. We've been together for a total of 6 and a half years and I can honestly say that each day we fall more in love with each other. Cheesy? It might be, but it's the truth.

When we first met, we were freshmen in high school. We didn't start dating until our sophomore year. This is the very first picture that we took together. I'm pretty sure this was taken in January of 2007.

WOW...I know, the hair. We looked so funny back then. Thank goodness it only gets better with age!

                I had to throw this in. I haven't seen Brendon in glasses in FOREVER.

2008 was a little better. This was our first movie date. And if you know us, you know we LOVE movies.

              Even though this was only a year later, the lack of hair makes it look like years had gone by!

This was a picture we took at the movies. 

And then came the long awaited senior prom. I was so excited, by then, we had been dating all throughout high school and we knew we were going to go together....it was kind of understood. So there was no sappy "will you go to prom with me" thing, but our prom pictures looked great!

And after that I was off to college! This a picture from our early college days. 

GO GATORS!!!

Brendon proposed on March 19, 2010. Here are two pictures from our engagement photos. 

Let's just say we were soaked  by the end of the shoot. 

We were married 5 months later on August 14, 2010 at the Budder Mathis House in Glen St. Mary. The venue was beautiful and the day was just perfect! Here's a link to our awesome venue, The Mathis House! http://www.theglenvenue.com/

Love this picture!

I asked Mom and Dad to walk me down the aisle. 

                                                 And...3 years later, this is us:

I'm certainly looking forward to many more years together. I'm so thankful God brought us together at such a young age!

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies."  Song of Songs 6:3