The Bachelor Finale Reaction

Wow. If there were one phrase regarding love and marriage that I hate more than any other (and I understand that A LOT of people disagree) is "I have to follow my heart". If anyone had any doubt as to why the divorce rate (and as a result the crime rate, high school drop out rate, and really just the overall moral decline) of this country is so high- this is it. Because people have to "follow their hearts".





*warning* *warning* I am stepping up on my soap box. *warning* *warning*





I think I have said this before, but I feel very strongly about marriages and the need for them to succeed. I believe this is a part of the Lord's heart that He has placed in my heart. It breaks my heart to see marriages fail, not just for the husband and wife, but mostly for the kids. The most heartbreaking part of all of this is how far these people are from knowing and understanding what love really is. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." It is THIS kind of love that calls us to more than just "following our hearts". Why is this, you ask? Well, how many times have any of us offered ourselves as a sacrifice for someone else? Or even sacrificed something that we wanted for the betterment of someone else? Now think about how many people you have said you loved. Which one out weighs which? It is this word, love, that seems to have all of us confused. "Love never fails." So why do so many marriages and relationships find themselves in the distant past after two people have seemingly selflessly declared their love for each other? One of two things is happening here. Either love does fail, and Scripture is wrong, or people don't really know what love is. Maybe I'm an idealist, but I do belive that "Love never fails". And by never, I think God really meant never. I believe that the ultimate heartache that is experienced by so many people is not that they "gave their heart away" or chose to "follow their heart" instead of "leading their heart". The true heartache is that they never really knew what the word love meant. Each of them had different interpretations and meanings of the word love instead of knowing and understanding THE definition. This is where couples fall apart. How can you base any relationship on something that two different people have two different understandings of? The thing with "following your heart" is that your heart has no direction. It only feels. And while I do believe the Lord gave us feelings for a reason, I don't necessarily think that our feelings should be the primary compass of our lives. Think about it. It's like being on a roller coaster. (Maybe that's why they say, 'I'm on an emotional roller coaster!') What happens when you're at the top of that hill, juuuust about to teeter over the other edge and give your body over to the effects of gravity- and all of a sudden, you don't feel like going down that hill? You probably should have thought of that before they strapped you in and checked to make sure there was no way you were getting out of that seat without their help. That's what happens in these relationships. People get to the top of the hill, look down, and think, "Nope! Not today. I'm not going down this hill. I think I'll just get out." And then they do, and they wonder why it's so hard to get out of a moving roller coaster without getting hurt, or hurting the other passengers. It is my prayer, and my plea to anyone who reads this that is not married yet (or if you are married), that you would know THE definition of love. Not just a definition that sounds good on camera without being cliche. His name is Jesus.



"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Valentine oh Valentine

Today is Valentine's Day! Normally I'm not that into Valentine's Day, but for some reason this year, I was somewhat excited about it. Maybe it's because I was really looking forward to spending the day with my little family. I wanted to do some fun activities with Braelyn today so I thought we'd go for a picnic in the park. It was supposed to be slightly chilly, but pleasant. As we were packing lunches for our picnic and such, little Miss Priss decided she couldn't wait until we got to the park to eat. So we had to eat at home. Which, after I thought about it, was probably a good thing. I don't know how well it would have gone trying to eat and feed a 15 month old in a park. So after we ate, we went to the park to play for a while. She had so much fun! She played and ran around the playground for about 30 minutes! (Which is a long time when your legs are only about a foot and a half long!) She went down the slide and down the slide and down the slide some more. She loved it! We all had a lot of fun just playing and hanging out and taking some candids.

I made some delicious homemade manicotti for dinner as well. We then pulled out the Jell-O I made the day before. I wanted to make some jigglers with cookie cutters. Natually, with a 15 month old, things didn't necessarily turn out as I had envisioned.

These are the flowers and strawberries that Ben gave me. What a great husband I have! He also promised to take me on a cruise next year. We've tried so many times to take a cruise and because of my school schedule, we've never been able to. Ben found one that leaves next January that should work for us. Hopefully it works out! I am so blessed. I hope everyone else had as great of a Valentine's Day as we did spending time with those you love!

Week 'O Birthdays

So this week is crazyyyy busy with birthdays in our fam. My husband's younger brother had a birthday on Tuesday and we celebrated with a tasty trip to Shogun's! (I had my leftovers for lunch today. Almost as good as the first time I ate that meal!) Tuesday was also my grandpa's birthday. Since we were celebrating my bro-in-law, we had to postpone my grandpa's birthday until Wednesday. But then we went to Cheddar's! Also tasty! My sister and I were asked to pick up a cake on the way home, so we did not realizing that it was actually frozen. Woops! It was still good, it just kinda hurt your teeth when you bit into it. You know, like when you bite into ice cream or something really cold and it feels like frostbite on your teeth? That's kinda how it felt. Anyway, Sunday is Ben's birthday! We will be the same age again! I am about 6 months older than he is, which isn't that big a deal now, but I have a feeling the older we get, the more he'll rub it in. The good thing about it is that whatever trick he plays on me at my birthday, I can always get revenge on his birthday. muaahahaha! :) We are supposed to take breakfast to Sunday school on Sunday, so I'll have to make something super special since it's his birthday! I love making special food for him. I don't know why. I guess because I know he likes eating. Apparently, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! Well I suppose I should head off to bed pretty soon. I'm still trying to recover from being sick last weekend. I lost my voice and had bronchitis. Losing your voice makes it very difficult to get your child's attention when they are about to do something that could potentially be very bad. Like, grabbing cups and placemats (with cups on them) off of the table; or sticking their hands in the toilet- just to name a few. ahhh...never a dull moment. Now I am really heading to bed. Goodnight all!

Getting started!

Wow- Ok. So I don't really know why I am doing this. I don't have time to do the things that I need to do, and for some reason I am starting a blog. We'll see how this ends up going. I will try to post the random thoughts and occurances from my day. Typically my days are pretty eventful since I have a small child. Anyone that has kids knows exactly what I'm talking about! ;) So- a little bit about me. I wear several hats. Not literally- I don't actually care much for hats. By hats, I mean roles that I have. First, I am married. To a GREAT guy. I know everyone says that, and some people may seem sincere, but I really mean it. He is great. Second, I am a mom. I have a 15 month old daughter. She is amazingly cute. Seriously. One time I counted how many times I got stopped at the grocery store by people telling me how cute she is and I counted 8 times in 30 minutes. She's really cute. And she's a great kid- even though we are entering the "tantrum" phase. Third, I am a student. I am currently working on my Master's in Marriage and Family Counseling. I am almost halfway through with school, and sadly I still have 2 years left. Yeeeeah. Also, I am a part time employee. I recently started a part time job as Administrative Assisstant for a mission organization here in town. Also, my boss is an LPC, which works out great for me! On the job training for what I really want to do! So yeah, I'm pretty busy. Hopefully I'll have time to keep up with this. I think it could be fun!