The Blessed Life

Our church has been studying/going through The Blessed Life, by Robert Morris over the past month. Our pastor said it would be life-impacting and it has been. The whole book is centered upon giving and blessing others, mainly in ways of finances. If you know me well, you know that money is not my thing. I am not good at budgeting, not good at saving, and I am very much an impulse buyer. Thanks to this book, I have been reminded of what it means to live within my means, to be a good steward, and to be diligent with what God has given us.

4 years ago Jaye and I enrolled in FPU (Financial Peace University), a 12 week class about how to "live like no-one else (now) so you can LIVE like no-one else (later)". We were convinced about this class so we switched to using only cash, made ourselves a budget, and were all set to be debt-free in 2 years. Fast forward to today...we have not been using cash, we've only increased our debt, and I have definitely not been living by our budget. Why is it so easy to loose sight of that end goal? Why do I find it so easy to spend what we do not have? YUCK!

So...thanks to The Blessed Life I have been reminded of what it really means to be content with what God has blessed us with. HE has given us all we need and promises to provide.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  

This verse is always a conviction point for me as I think about how I spend my $$ and it doesn't say much about what should truly matter and about heavenly treasures as I am quick to spend on earthly/material things. I have seriously thought about writing this verse in sharpie across my debit card so that every time I pull my card out, I am reminded of this truth. 

So, here I am...wanting to be different, desiring to be wise. I've cut up my credit cards, have been working on a budget for our family, and have actually done REALLY well the past 2-3 weeks and haven't bought anything we don't need, no extras. As I've been thinking through all this, God has placed opportunities before us to give to others who have very real and tangible needs. To be honest, it does scare me a bit to think about giving what I feel He is calling me to give as it means less money in savings and less to fall back on...but I feel the tugging and I want to be obedient. I want to allow God to use us to bless others and that means being diligent with what we have and living within our means. Debt free is no longer 2 years away, but many more...but it is possible.

Goodbye Girl, Hello Boy

Last week I spent a whole morning sorting through Hope's closet and her room. As she has outgrown her clothes, I've put them in boxes and then labeled them with the size. We've been doing this for 3 1/2 years with the thought that maybe someday we'd have another little girl to pass them down to. Our garage rafters are full of these boxes, carefully packed and labeled. When we thought about adding to our family, Jaye and I both pictured our family consisting of two little girls. We have enjoyed Hope so much and know of so many families who have two little girls and just love their family dynamics. I personally love the relationship the little girls have with their Daddy. I always just pictured 2 girls in our family.

Going into our ultrasound last month I had tried to be sure to look at lots of boy stuff and think about having a boy, just in case... As much as I wanted another little girl, I wanted to be prepared for a boy and didn't want to be disappointed. I will admit there was a few seconds where I was a little bit bummed that we wouldn't be getting our 2nd girl, but ultimately, I knew that God had chosen a precious baby boy to join our family and I was happy he was healthy and well! I will be the 1st to admit that I am not a fan of boy stuff so far...it all has balls or monkeys on it...not my thing. But, there's gotta be some cute stuff out there!!

So anyway, as I was packing up clothes last week and preparing a trashbag full of clothes to give to friends, I found myself coming to terms with the end of saving clothes that I had hoped to see and use again. I am so glad we can bless others with the clothes that Hope has been given, it was just bittersweet to really realize that we are moving on! So now I have LOTS of boxes to sort through...saving a few favorites to someday give to Hope, and then making up bags to pass along to friends with little girls at different ages. Time to say goodbye to girl and hello to boy!

As I think towards our sweet Hudson, I've been hit with the responsibility of raising a little boy. Not that raising a girl isn't responsibility, but I feel like there is a bigger need to really raise our little boy to be a man of God and a leader. I want Hudson to be a spiritual leader, to be kind and compassionate, to someday lead a family of his own.

At church we've been going through "The Story". A few weeks back we read about Rahab and the role she played in helping Joshua and Caleb in the capturing of Jericho. 2 weeks ago we read about Ruth and Naomi and how Boaz redeemed them. Both are stories that I love and have known, but something I didn't know is that Rahab was Boaz's mother. I was struck with the thought that Rahab must have set a Godly example for her son and he must have seen the ways she served the Lord. Rahab raised her son to be a man of honor and integrity, compassion and kindness. Who Boaz turned out to be is  result of who Rahab was and how she raised him.

So...bring on the BOY and Lord give me wisdom!!!

Almost 4 months later...

It's been a REALLY long time since I've done anything with this blog. I thought my computer had crashed so I have only been checking e-mail when at work and checking facebook from my phone...the blog fell to the wayside. Let's see....what have the last 4 months held for our family?!?!

JULY: 

We did our 1st run together as a family. We did the Aquarium of the Pacific 5k and it was an adventure! I was so proud of Jaye as he finished his 1st race...he ran the whole thing!! He has been so great about being disciplined to run! I completed the race pushing Hope in the stroller...not sure I'll every do that again! It is quite complicated pushing a stroller around lots of people, trying to find a spot to get into the groove. Anyway, we all finished it, got medals and then enjoyed a really fun family day at the Aquarium!

We enjoyed our 2nd annual Howard family camping trip! It was in the 90s but we had fun anyway! Jaye took Hope fishing (with her Barbie pole) and it was such a fun and relaxing weekend, just the 3 of us! We definitely LOVE camping together and will continue to do so for years to come!

AUGUST:

I honestly have no idea what we did in August. Guess I could go back and look at pictures, but no big trips or adventures stand out right now. 

The biggest piece of excitement for August was my 1st Dr.'s appt. We found out in July we were expecting baby Howard #2 and our Dr. confirmed it in August! We are due around March 22nd! We told our families after that appt. and everyone was so excited!

SEPTEMBER:

Jaye and I ran our 1st 10k together. It was an 80's themed run and it was HOT and I was miserable! The race started late in the day, it was in the 90s, there was only 1 water stop, and it was a lame course...BUT our costumes were GREAT!!! It was a fun adventure together!

I was blessed with the opportunity to head to Key West, FL for 5 days in September to visit my best friend and her family. It was such a relaxing and refreshing trip for me! We spent our days on the water, exploring town, finding great places for lunch, and just enjoying being together! I must admit, the time away (ALONE) was much needed!! 

September brought opportunities for leadership. I stepped up and started co-leading a table at our Mom's Group at church. This is the 1st time I've really gotten involved in anything since leaving my job at a church 5 years ago. God was calling and I answered. We've been blessed with a great table of ladies! Also in September, Jaye and I were asked to pray about leading a table at our Wednesday night couples ministry. 

OCTOBER:

October started with a 1/2 marathon for me...one that I did NOT train for. Between the HEAT of summer and being pregnant/exhausted, I only got out maybe once or twice a week and mostly walked when we did get out. Thankfully, my wonderful friend Heather was/is also pregnant and we agreed to walk the 13.1 miles together. I don't know why I thought it would be a walk in the park, but it was TOUGH! I'd rather run a race ANYDAY!!! But, we finished and the company was WONDERFUL!

Jaye and I began leading our couples table group and it's been going great! We have a wonderful table and its been really fun to begin to truly connect with everyone! I've really enjoyed seeing Jaye lead and I am proud to sit by his side and help out when needed! 

Last week, on the 26th we had our "big" ultrasound. To be honest, we were all hoping for another girl...but God had other plans for our family! We are happy to have a little boy, Hudson, join our family in March! We are all excited about the prospect of a fun Star Wars room for him and all the new adventures that lie ahead with a little boy! Mom is still a bit overwhelmed at starting over with the stuff and clothes, but God will provide what he needs. 

I have begun actually running again. This is week 3 of trying to be disciplined and get back into the groove of things! We have a 5k this Saturday, I have a 10k in 2 weeks and then a 1/2 coming up in December in Vegas! Gotta get going so I'll be ready for that race in Vegas!! I refuse to walk it! 

SO...that is where we are at. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of updating this thing again!!!

Sea World!

I had to attend a conference on my birthday this year, so we decided we'd go to Sea World 2 days later to celebrate! It was wonderful to get away for the day, just the 3 of us! We had a great day together!

We are getting smart...rather than try to see every show each time we've been choosing 2 things we want to see and then we can just enjoy the day and not feel rushed to get to the next place. Our 2 shows this time were Cirque De La Mer & Pets Rule. They were both great and the weather was perfect!!!

This trip, Hope really wanted to touch a Starfish with her Daddy!

She says it feels like a rock!

Hope really liked looking in all the stores this trip. We told her she could pick 1 special thing to take home. She chose a cute little stuff penguin that she named "Mary".

Hope & Mary on a big turtle!

Hope's favorite thing to do is collect smashed pennies! She's up to about 30 in her collection. Mary was helping Hoe turn the wheel! Too cute!

I am so thankful for days like this one. We are so fortunate to be so close to Sea World and am grateful for days to enjoy God's creation and enjoy my 2 favorites!

Family Disney Day!!!

Last Friday we got to take Grandma, Grandpa, & Great Grandma to Disneyland. Hope was so excited to have her favorites all in one place! We had an amazing day and I am so thankful for the memories we got to make together!

Hope and Grandma on the carousel. We learned that Grandma LOVES carousels!

Such fun memories having Grandma, Grandpa and Great Grandma all at Disneyland with us!

Hope was so excited to take Grandma on the Ariel ride!

Checking out Cars Land for the 1st time!

Watching the Radiator Springs Racers with Grandpa!

Each ride she picked Grandma or Great Grandma to sit with!!

13.1: Only HALF Crazy!

On June 3rd I did something I never thought I would EVER do...I ran a 1/2 marathon! I trained hard and diligently ran 3-4 times each week with a long run each weekend in order to get myself ready and it all payed off! I'll let the pictures tell the story of my adventure!

Got my bib number and timing chip for my shoe...ready to check out the Expo!

Running with friends is SOOO much better! Dianna (in the middle) has been my cheerleader and coach and got me through my long runs leading up to the race! It's so great having a friend to train with! Amie (on the left) started running when I did and this was our 3rd race to run together!

Waiting at the start...waiting for our corral to get to the front so we could take off! There were over 40 corrals of runners!

Several of our miles were run on the 163 freeway. Cool place to run but the slight slant of the road really did me in by mile 10! My knees were not happy with me at all thanks to the freeway!

We had to pee around mile 5 and one of the ladies who runs the Sweaty Bands booth saw us and asked to take our pic since we were both sporting our Sweaty Bands!

Best part of racing = the medals!

We DID it! My knees were hurting bad so I stopped by the 1st Aid tent after we finished and requested some ice!

We clean up well! Ready to hit Sea World for the day!

We finished the race in 2 hours and 41 minutes. If we hadn't taken 5-6 minutes for our potty stop we would've had an even better time! Oh well, that's what happens when you focus so much on hydrating prior to the race! All in all we had a really great time and I am ready to run another! For me, the last 4 miles were the hardest as my knees were hurting pretty bad from the freeway running. I hadn't experienced any soreness on my long runs prior to the 1/2 so it was quite the challenge to keep going! I have found that a run/walk ratio works well for me so we consistently ran 4 and walked 1 throughout...until mile 12 where I had to just keep running the last mile or so because it hurt too bad to walk! We did it and we got our medals to show for it! 

I am hooked on "racing" and can't wait for the next one! Jaye and I are doing a 5k together in July and then I have 4-5 smaller runs planned for Sep-Nov and have already signed up to run the Las Vegas 1/2 in December with one of my favorite friends! I can't wait for the next race and the next medal!

6 Years

Yesterday Jaye and I celebrated 6 years of marriage! I am so grateful to be married to my best friend and I am so blessed to share my life with him. Jaye works hard to provide for our family and he puts us first over work, friends, etc. Hope and I are so lucky to be his "girls". The past 6 years have been full of adventure, laughter, and shared memories! Life just keeps getting better! Originally we planned to go to Vegas for a few days to celebrate our anniversary but Jaye couldn't get time off b/c of his new job. My Mom offered to take Hope overnight so we had 28 hours to celebrate and adventure together! We played it by ear and made it up as we went and ended up having so much fun together!!!

 Saturday night we dropped Hope off and headed out for dinner at The Melting Pot. It is one of our favorite treats! My Mom insisted on taking pictures since we were "dressed up"...the one above was taken by my Mom and the one below, by Hope!

 Our dinner was amazing as always but the best part was dessert! We had the Snickers fondue and it was incredible!!! SOOOO yummy!

 Sunday morning we slept in, watched church online and then went for a 3 mile walk together! It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to walk hand-in-hand with Jaye! Jaye decided he wants to try the Couch to 5k program that I did and I am sooo excited for him to get active! I have big dreams of us doing raced together someday!

 After our walk we got cleaned up and ready for our adventure! Last year we had gotten pedicures together and decided it should be a yearly tradition. So, after lunch @ In N Out, we found a nail place and enjoyed sitting side-by-side and relaxing!

 After pedicures we headed out to wine country. I had found a great deal on a wine-tasting so we did that and then took some fun pictures on the grounds of the winery! Our hands-down favorite wine is Keyways Moscato so we were more than happy to bring a bottle home for later! Yum!

 Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

After our adventures in wine-tasting we grabbed dinner at "Sushi Love Boat"....it was amazing !! Thanks to Yelp we found all shorts of fun places that we'd highly recommend!

aye found a cigar lounge and wanted to check it out.  Once a year or so Jaye likes to enjoy a cigar so this was a fun treat for him to find a great shop and mark a few off of his list of ones to try. While we were there we remembered there was going to be a solar eclipse within 30 minutes...we found a tissue box in the back of the car and made our own little viewing box. It actually worked pretty good! We felt so silly standing in the middle of a random parking lot in Temecula, trying to view the eclipse. We made several new friends who were also trying to view the eclipse!

After our eclipse viewing we headed home and enjoyed some wine and cigars on the patio. It was so nice to be home alone, in a quiet house!!! Overall we had an amazing 28 hours together and it was so much fun! Amazing how refreshing and heart-satisfying quality time is! So thankful for the past 6 years we've gotten to walk together!! 

Gladiator Rock n Run

One of the things I am loving about my new hobby of running is the fun races that I get to run with some of my favorite people! I love that my brother and I can now "race" together and do these fun events side-by-side! Granted, he is WAY faster than I am and in WAY better shape than I, but he is gracious and kind and sticks by my slow side! Here are some pics from a mud/obstacle run we did together a few weeks back....
 

 

 Our "mud run" was definitely a lot of fun but a lot of work as well! I walked away with some pretty good cuts, scrapes and bruises from all those obstacles but it was worth it! We had fun together and I wouldn't trade memories like that for anything!

May 19

I woke up early this morning to get ready for work and happened to check Facebook before crawling out of bed. (oh the joys of an iPhone) As I checked I came across a new album that my Uncle created, filled with pictures of my sweet cousin. As I looked at each picture, my eyes filled up with tears as I remembered Ryan and then also remembered how this day 15 years ago changed my life.

15 years ago today I was in Guatemala, on my 1^st mission trip. I was 16 and my parents were trusting enough to send me down there alone with the intent of meeting up with another group that would already be down there. That 1^st trip to Guatemala changed my life in many ways. It was on that trip that I learned to love like I had never loved before. It was there that I felt my heart come alive in ways that I had never before experienced. It was in that place that God called me to serve Him through missions. It was also in that place that my heart was broken and I learned to lean on others and to trust in His plan for my life.

Rewind about 2 weeks prior to this day 15 years ago…it was Mother’s Day. I remember being at church, in our youth room, when my Mom showed up. She had gotten a call saying that my cousin was in the hospital and that he was very sick. She was planning on leaving from church to go down to San Diego to see him. I asked her to go with and her and I left.

Walking into Ryan’s room I remember being overwhelmed with the number of tubes and machines and wires. It seemed as though he was attached to everything and there were medical devices everywhere. His skin had turned purple in some places and his body was so swollen. I had never seen anyone so sick in my entire life. I don’t really remember what came next or what else went on over the course of that day, but I remember that first impression.

Over the next week my Mom would spent a lot of time at that hospital while my Dad helped me get ready for my trip. I was supposed to leave for Guatemala in less than a week. I’m pretty sure we visited the hospital a few more times that week, but I can’t remember the details.

Before I knew it I was off to Guatemala, on the trip/experience of a lifetime. I was a part of a medical team that trip and I was so excited to assist in rural clinics and to observe surgeries and give injections in the capital city. 15 years ago today, after our morning was spent doing medical work, we were taken to a local hospital where there was a ward for small children and babies who needed medical care. There were probably 10 little ones in there and we were able to hold them and rock them and love on them. I think this may have been our 1^st day there. I held 2 sweet babies that day, Luis Miguel and Maria, both babies with a clef lip/palate and both were in that place to gain weight so they could be big enough for surgery. I think they were both around 6 months but were nowhere near the 10lbs that was required for surgery. Holding those sweet babies changed me, they captured my heart.

When we got back to where we were staying that afternoon I was told that my Dad had called and would call back later. In my heart I knew that something wasn’t right but I had no idea exactly why he called. That evening someone from the staff came and told me my Dad was on the phone and they stayed in the room with me while I took the call. They must have known what he was about to tell me. I will never forget sitting in that office, hearing that my sweet cousin had died, and then feeling the embrace of the sweetest 2 people. George and his wife Kathy just sat with me once I hung up the phone. They let me cry. They held me and hugged me and reassured me of God’s promises. I don’t know how long we were in there but I remembered that eventually I walked out of that office and joined my team in the meeting room. They were singing a song that I can still remember to this day. My heart was hurting and yet I knew that God was there. I learned that evening to let others near, to let them in, to allow them to share in my grief.

To be honest, I don’t really remember the rest of that trip other than that we kept getting to go back to hold those babies. I was given the choice of coming home early to attend the memorial/funeral or finishing out my trip. I chose to finish my trip. By the time I left to return home I had already promised the staff that I’d be back that summer for 4 weeks and I knew in my heart that someday I’d be back to stay.

So Cal Color Run

Little did we know, but this color would soon be EVERYWHERE!!!

Team "Color Outside the Lines"....clean and ready for our "run".

So grateful for these girls and the fun that we had at the Color Run! At each kilometer a different "color" was thrown on us...

By the end of the race we were COVERED with color and never looked better! We had so much fun laughing and running together and left that morning determined to sign up for another one!

 When I got home Hope wanted nothing to do with me. She said it was too messy for her. Jaye took some great detail shots of my color-coated self! The only thing that could've made this race better would be a MEDAL!!! I am hooked on this thing called running and love my collection of medals that serve as proof of each of these fun races I have run!