Tuesday, September 28, 2010

one very long week...

hello friends,

first of all, i want to warn everyone, this one might be a pretty long post. i know i just lost a lot of you but i still want to write about our first week in colorado because i want to remember all of it.



however for everyone who doesn't want to know every in and out of the last week here is the short of it.



-Dom has a job. I dont have a job. we signed a lease on a place to live and we can move in around oct. 10th. goodbye, thanks for checking in.



for everyone else and for my journal purposes...



so as many of you know a couple of months ago dominick and i began to question our address and thinking about seeking a new one. after some praying, discussing, coin flipping and talking we decided to move to colorado.(there really wasn't any coin flipping, at least i don't think so) we have both wanted to call colorado home for a while and thought now was the time.


thus it began. we made a trip to colorado to check out some towns. at first we were thinking golden, co. and some other places until we rolled into ft. collins. it didn't take much time to know that is where we really wanted to be.



so we started packing up everything we own....


and took off.



we had talked to my brother, luke and his wife, ashley and were planning to stay with them while we found our own place and hopefully some jobs. they live in loveland which is about 15-20 min south of ft. collins.


so even though it felt like a long time it was also one of those, 'before you know it' kind of things. i found myself in one of our jeeps, following dominick in our other jeep pulling our u-haul.


and for those of you who haven't made the drive to colorado from texas, it's a long one. it gave me plenty of time to start freaking out. thoughts like, "what the heck are we doing?" "what were we smoking?" and "what is it going to be like to live on the street?" had plenty of time to fester in my brain.


so after two very long days of driving we made it into town and were unloading our boxes into a storage unit. we were almost done and we had just taken some things out of one jeep and i let the back hatch drop, forgetting that the bike rack was still strapped to it. it hit me on the head, right on the right eye brow. i still have a little knot.


well that was all it took. all the emotion, worries, sadness, excitement caught up with me. i started to cry big crocodile tears.


thankfully my husband is really nice to me. he helped me sit down in the front seat of the car and hugged me for a while. i started to get back up to get back to work and he told me to just sit and rest and he finished unloading by himself.


i got it together after that and we headed to luke and ashley's. it was great to see them but we were so tired we only hung out for a few minutes and it was off to bed for us.


we rested on sunday and on monday got to work looking for jobs. we have both had a few interviews but it is a tough market out here and i started feeling pressure. not just any jobs were good enough. not for us. we needed jobs that impressed people. i was really thinking this way. i was imagining how i might feel or what people might think when i tell them what we were doing for work.


so gross to remember.


anyway, that sinful pride was practically doubling the pressure i was already feeling. i was being so nice to dominick despite dealing with all this pressure. (that was sarcasm, possibly not best portrayed in written form)


looking for jobs is a full-time job in itself. finally friday afternoon came around. we both decided that it was the weekend and there wasn't much else we could do at that point so we might as well relax a little bit and enjoy our new state.


so saturday we went to rocky mountain national park.


















it was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike. we hiked to emerald lake, a pristine lake at the base of two mountains. sitting beside the lake, eating our sandwiches and observing the Lord's creation, His sweet conviction of my sinful heart began. i remembered that i am small, a lesson that comes quickly when i am around mountains and the ocean. dominick and i have been pretty tight with our money lately trying to save up and get ready to move. during this time i have made a list of all the things i want to buy when we are back in the money. sitting there observing the beauty of the Lord's creation i thought of all the earthly things i trade for the His goodness. how i long not for the Lord's presence but the crap this world produces.



it's sick.



we finished the hike with these things on my mind.



sunday morning we tried a church that dominick had heard about from a seminary friend of his. we loved it. it is called missio dei and everyone was very nice. it is a recent church plant so it is relatively small. as soon as we walked in people came over to introduce themselves and welcome us. we met one man who had moved from oregon to help with the church plant. we asked him what he does in ft. collins and his reply, "i deliver pizza."



that was all it took, "i deliver pizza." for the whirlwind of conviction on my heart that has not stopped since. i spent a lot of last week asking Jesus for mercy, but i meant in the forms of great jobs and a place to live. i did not mean the kind of mercy that makes me more holy.



i am seeing that i was not interested in an identity that was in Christ but one that revolved around my job title. it sounds so ridiculous now. and this is not a new issue. it is something that i have blindly been prideful and sinful about for years. sick

conviction always hurts.



but what a good hurt.



that the God of the universe would mold my heart to make it more like His. that he would speak to me about my sin.



what a sweet gift. i am overwhelmed.



monday i had an interview and when i got done dom told me he had gotten a job and dazbog coffee and would begin his job as a barista the next day!!! i was pumped. he also told me we were accepted for the apartment that we loved. it is a quad-plex (if that is what they are called). not a duplex but a quad-plex?? anyway, we are getting a cute, 2 bedroom, garden apt. we were really thankful for the 2bdrs because we want to be able to host guest. dom's parents are coming in oct and i am excited! anyway. it was all great news. we get to stay here!!



later that night we met with the pastor of missio dei and his wife and we like them a lot. we look forward to getting to know them better. it was a blessing to sit around their kitchen table and talk about Jesus and how good He is.



sweet time.



so that has been my last week and half. if anyone actually read all that then i'm impressed.



thanks to everyone who has prayed for us, thought about us and given us encouragment. we are so grateful for your friendship.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

taking saturday off...

we took today off to play with luke and ashley in loveland. we have a few things worked out as far as moving to co. stands but there is still plenty up in the air. we would still be thankful for all of your prayers.


here we are having a good time at the new belgium brewery.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

looking for a home...




we just rolled into golden and we definately want to live here. now we just have to find a place.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

colorado bound...




we are colorado bound to look for jobs and a place to
live. if you read this please pray for us.

thanks!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

my new husband talks in his sleep...

my new husband Dominick...


talks in his sleep.

having not lived with him before we got married this is something I have learned about him over the past 5 months.

I thought I would share 3 of my favorites time I have been woken up by his unconscious conversations.

1. after we had been married just a few weeks we went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado. we were sleeping on an air mattress on their living room floor and it was our last night before we made the drive home. I was sound asleep when I feel Dominick pushing me in my back. "are you trying to wake me up?" I ask him. he replies with a rather frustrated tone that I would ask such an obvious question, "YESSS!"

"what is it?" I grogily ponder.

"I don't think it's a big deal if those little girls get a tool out of the tool shed once in a while."

confused I ask for a repetition of his statement. again he is frustrated that I am not understanding the obviousness of what he is pointing out to me. he repeats himself,

"I SAID! I don think it's a big deal if those girls get a tool out of the tool shed once in a while!"

i'm trying to understand what you are talking about Nick, but I don't. I'm sorry.

this is when he sits up to explain it too me and begins to realize that he is not making sense and says, "nevermind." and lays back down.

the next morning I learn he was dreaming we had daughters and that I was being a little over protective.

2. about a month later I'm asleep when he wakes me starts tryig to wake me up.

"get up and look at this." he says.

this time I am a little more skeptical and so I ask, "are you sleeping? are you sure you are awake?"

again in the familiar frustrated tone, "no, I am awake, you need to look at this."

so I reluctantly sit up and ask, "what is it?"

he reaches across me at the white of my pillow sticking out of my red pillow case and makes a pinching motion, "look at theses worms." he says.

"what?!?!" I scream, which wakes him up enough to again say, "nevermind" and lay back down.

3. last night, 3:35 am, for some reason I'm lying awake when he jumps up. "it's ok baby, you were dreaming." I try to comfort him before the madness starts but he quickly replies, "I know. now I remember why we are sleeping over here instead of over there." he makes a motion toward the window with his head. then he starts reaching under our pillows. I had already put my head back on my pillow and tucked my hands under and I think, "ahh, he wants to hold my hand."

wrong.

I sit back up as he keeps searching under our pillows.

"I hid those matches under here."

over the last few months I have given up on trying to convince him he is sleeping and have played along instead.

"what kind of matches?"

"the little box kind." he answers.

"why did you hide them?"

this question required too much thought I guess because it snapped him out of it.

predictably, he replied, "nevermind." and he laid back down.

took him a minute to get back to sleep though because I was laughing too hard.




we have been married almost 6 months, aquired one dog and learned a ton about each other.

I know everyone who has been married for years and years just read that, rolled their eyes and thought, "honey, you don't even know the half of it."

but I will say, I love learning about him. I knew he was a patient man, but I have seen him be even more patient with his crazy wife.

I love that the only time he uses a frustrated tone with me is when he is asleep. I mean you can't fault people for things they do in their sleep.

he is also even funnier than I thought and I love getting to be the one that hears all of his jokes.

also we are moving to Colorado in about 4 weeks. we don't have jobs yet or a place to live. he's adveturous, and I love that.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

4th of July

here are a few photos from our wonderful 4th of july weekend.


we enjoyed a delicious shrimp boil at the lake with some good friends. our friend Tina let us invite ourselves to her lake house and we were glad she did. we had a wonderful time sitting around chatting and watching fireworks.


after we came home for the lake we decided it was time for barley's first trip to the Ginger man. the g-man is one of our favorite places in fort worth, a quiet little pub with excellent patio seating and beer from around the world. dominick and I sat with our good friend Joshua an talked about Jesus and how we can't wait for Him to come and how we want to live in a world where Jesus reigns as king and everything is perfect and we can love Him and know Him in all His glory. (was that a run-on sentance?) anyway, that's what we did over a couple of good beers. I don't know everyone's opinion about this and I don't mean to offend but it seems that a lot of my really good conversations about Jesus happen over a beer.


here is barley with her uncle Joshua.

hope this post doesn't lose me any friends. hope you're all doing wonderfully.

a new puppy!!

we have a new puppy! her name is barley and we love her...most of the time.


I just downloaded a app for my phone so that I can blog from my phone. if it is as easy as it seems I hope it means I'll be blogging a lot more.

Monday, April 19, 2010

not sure how to start...

i've got a lot to say in this one but i will start with some honeymoon pictures...

here we are leaving for mexico!!! very excited but also really tired...


here is the view from our balcony...


here is my handsome husband...



we went whale watching, it was wonderful...


we also went snorkeling...

i took this from the boat, the water was so clear...


i took this picture of these rocks i found in the ocean.


i was standing on the beach, staring out at the ocean with the water washing over my feet overcome with the goodness of the Lord. i would pick up these rocks and think, you made these Lord, people pay lots of money to have their kitchen counters look like this and you just make it. they used to be giant rocks and one day they will be sand and that is just what you do.

it was one of those moments when the Lord's presence was so clear to me that it was almost too overwhelming...overwhelming and wonderful.

a few days before i got married a dear friend of mine, a lady i loved very much, went to be with Jesus. i have missed her and remembered her over the past few months and in the heart ache clung to the promises of our good Lord. i've prayed through tears knowing that the Lord does things for good and that He is trustworthy in all things, even the things He does that i don't understand at all and that honestly really make me angry.

thankfully this lesson began on the beach that day looking at the water and holding rocks in my hand. He is good and i know that by His grace.

on another note, we have officially been married 3 months tomorrow. it has been a wonderful, painful, Jesus-dependent 3 months. it turns out i am very selfish but thankfully my husband is full of grace. it really has been delightful. dominick is so funny and so in love with our Lord and it has been such a blessing to be his wife.

also i started working at a daycare. i don't love it everyday but i'm working on it. this is my main excuse for my blogging infrequency. if you are still checking it then i appreciate it and will try to blog with more regularity in the future.

love to all, especially those who live in pa and ar

Monday, April 12, 2010

i'm married now...

and now i can get to blogging because i don't have a wedding to plan.

so let's start the catch up process. i have a lot of blogs in my head that i will be getting out over the next few weeks but for now let's talk about the wedding.



simply, it was my favorite day ever. it was such a blessing to have so many people that we love and that love us there with us to celebrate. the ceremony went off without a hitch (that i know of), which was especially impressive since we had ten flower girls.



i mean, those are some cute girls and they all did a great job handing out daisies and tossing flowers.

here are a few more pics from the best day ever...

ceremony...


this was the part in the ceremony where our family's prayed for us...


so happy to finally be married...


finishing our first dance as man and wife...


then it was time to party and party we did!!



then it was time for us to leave and start our life together...



honeymoon pictures are coming soon. until then, let me tell you, i love married life. my husband (i love saying that) is wonderful. we laugh all the time and just have the best time. he is a blessing to be married to and everyday i thank the Lord for the gift he has given me in him.

Friday, January 22, 2010

i'm still not married yet...

but i am getting closer everyday.

i am now only 43 days away!!!

in the mean time i will be staring at these engagement pictures to help pass the time.



hope it works, i am really ready to get married.