Labels

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It's an Emotional Day

Today is a rough day for me. I’m not gonna lie.


We honestly just can’t afford to get Taylor into a school by where I work (ie a good school). The school she is set to go to is horrible. It would cost us $150 a month to just get her home from school everyday and that is not a luxury we have at this moment in our lives.

I was willing to overlook a lot and be optimistic.

They are ranked 2 out 10 “stars” as far as schools go. I keep praying that it’s not as bad as people make it seem and that there is hope still, but I have my doubts.

Today is particularly hard on me since until about 2 hours ago I didn’t realize its “enrollment” time. How is a first time Kindergarten parent supposed to know when to enroll their kid? I accidentally found out today! And now I am supposed to start registration on Monday? Yikes!

I’m scrambling and I hate scrambling. I feel off my game and unorganized. I have being unorganized. So that makes my day rough.

I tried to got the schools website Taylor is supposed to attend and this made my rough day an emotional rough roller coaster for me (hint: that means it just got worse).

Their website is not up to date. I mean some of the links don’t even work. Most pages are just completely blank. And on the pages they do have some content there are spelling and grammatical errors!! How are they supposed to teach Taylor things if they don’t seem to be smart enough to do basic things themselves?!

I know that the teachers aren’t the ones that are doing the website yet they are the ones teaching Taylor (or soon to be teaching Taylor). But it’s hard to have confidence that Taylor will be getting a good teacher when she just isn’t going to a good school.

So today I sit here in near tears accepting the fact Taylor may get a crappy education because we are a “low income” family who can’t afford extra gas or to live in a better neighborhood with better schools. I know this time in our life is only a season, but for the first time I feel like a bad parent for this season. I don’t care if Justin in I can’t have shiny things, but I don’t want my kids to feel the weight of our income problems. And for the first time I feel like now it’s affecting them.

AND to top it off. I went to a school like this one when I was young. I was 1 of two white children in my class. I got picked on a lot for that reason alone (we all know kids are mean right?) I had different colored hair so it got pulled. I didn’t speak Spanish so they’d say mean things in Spanish and laugh at me. I don’t remember how I handled it honestly, but I remember that happening. Taylor is very sensitive and emotional. She will do whatever she is told to make somebody happy with her and not angry at her. I’m worried about her. I worried kids will hurt her (emotionally) or make her do things or say things that are just not right and she will do them because she just wants to make people happy.

So today is just a rough day for me. Can you pray for me and my baby (big) girl? Thank you friends.

Monday, February 27, 2012

So Sayith Tay and Jay #16

What does mommy do all day at work?

Taylor: Um work there so you can make money for all the people so we can live in a house.

Jordan: Makes toast. Once upon a time there was a girl stuck with lemurs.  But there were no lemurs.  The end.

What does daddy do all day?

Taylor: Stays home while you're at work.

Jordan: He makes dinner all day.  He watch tv.

Who should have a new baby?

Taylor: You and Daddy.

Jordan: Tracy

What is a question?

Taylor: Um its a question like why is mommy the best.

Jordan: A question means you need to answer so you can get stronger.

Why do you like Uncle Sam?

Taylor: i don't like uncle Sam because he doesn't like eating pineapples.

Jordan: because he wears a blue shirt.

What's inside cake that makes it so yummy?

Taylor: because its whip cream and stuff.

Jordan: it has eggs and you put it in your tummy.  There's a party in my tummy.  Please come to the party in my tummy.


Friday, February 24, 2012

One of Those Mommy Momments

I have written a couple of blogs about things I will miss when the kids are older. I do this to help remind myself that although they can be insanely frustrating the non-frustrating times are some of the most precious moments in my life.


Reminding myself is, however, useless in the moment. Last night was one of those nights.

Taylor is my drama queen – we all know this (she’s totally me which forces me to admit my drama queen side). Jordan is my mischievous one. Elijah is – well we’re still figuring that out.

Last night my girls decided to change things up on me. The night started off pretty well. The Fox’s came over and we had some Teriyaki chicken, rice, and ginger marinated veggies. Well that’s what everyone else ate – I have a weird chicken issue (I should tell you all about it sometime) so I had refried beans and cheese for my protein and then my ginger veggies.

Dinner was accomplished with very little mayhem. Mayhem is a great word and should be used far more often. Justin left for church and then Jordan decided that she was tired of being the obedient (mischievous) one. Every thing you told her was the end of world that resulted in an epic 2 year style tantrum of screaming and kicking on the floor. She was ridiculous! I knew she didn’t get a nap that day and kept reminding myself that as I tried to handle her choice in behavior in that moment. It didn’t go to well. Eventually out of pure frustration I sent her to bed for the night – about 30 minutes earlier then bedtime. She screamed so loud for about 5 minutes she actually made her voice hoarse!

I got her out of bed to talk to her, now that my frustration was cut into about half. I was willing to let her stay up for the 20 minutes she had left before bedtime to watch a movie with Taylor as long as she stopped her whining. It mostly worked… by mostly did not work too well for my already frustrated self.

I was getting something done with the camera and having the kids take turns saying something. Since Jordan’s eyes were all puffy from the crying and she was still trying to catch her breath from the screaming I told her I would wait for her turn until she could calm down.

She seemed to agree with that statement – of course until somebody else got a turn. As soon as I got what I needed/wanted on camera Jordan would scream in the background “I want a turn” – just in time to ruin the video. ::sigh::

I gave up and snapped at her and sent her to bed. I was done – very done – very exhausted – very frustrated.

Not my proudest mommy moment at all, but still a moment that happened ::big sigh::

So today I choose to call her while I’m at work just to tell her how much I love her. And for the record – while Jordan was being my drama queen Taylor was being an Angel! And I thanked her for her wonderful behavior the whole night.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

We Want YOU! (Said in my Uncle Sam Voice)

If you’ve read my blog for awhile you know our family has made a few “steps of faith” the last year or so. What I mean by that is we made a family decision that was impossible and God stepped in to fill the gap.


I have a dear friend that has walked miles off “steps of faith”. She has a tremendous amount of courage and faith and its inspiring.

2 ½ yeas ago Brittany decided that it was time for a new chapter of her life. She was going to work for Campus Crusade for Christ and help young adults from all over spread the word of Christ all over the world. To work for Campus Crusade you must raise enough monthly support to live on. This means the money she needs to have a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, and everything else must be covered by donation. Not just any donation, but actual monthly supporters.

Brittany has spent all this time – living outside her comfort zone – approaching people and churches to help her to help others. God has been gracious and provided so much so far, but she is still a little off her target goal.

The reason I’m writing today is to ask you to pray – can you help? The great news is that there are even companies (Christian and Non Christian) that will match your gift and in some cases double it! That means if you give $5 – she could be getting $10 or more a moth. If you give $20 – she could be getting $40 or more a month.

I will provide a list of those companies that have these types of programs as well as Brittany’s email address in case you have questions. If you work for one of the below companies please prayerfully consider if helping support Brittany is something you can do.

If you can’t support monthly please also consider a one time donation. You could also send Brittany an email and see if there is something else she may need help with. I know for a fact PRAYER is always very much appreciated.

Thank you for reading friends!!



Brittany Trujillo – Brittany.trujillo@uscm.org
http://www.brittanytrujillo.com/.
www.ccci.org/give acct# 0622002



Company List



1. AmSouth Bank

2. Abell-Hanger Foundation

3. Action For Boston Community

4. Acxiom Corporation

5. Adobe Corporation

6. AES Corporation

7. AES Puerto Rico

8. AFS Advanced

9. Aileen S Andrew Foundation

10. American Fidelity Corporation

11. Aon Corporation

12. Apache Corporation

13. Archer Daniels Midland

14. Arthur J Gallagher Foundation

15. ATK Foundation

16. AtlantaFalcons Matching Gifts

17. Austin Entrepreneur Foundation

18. Automobile Club of Missouri

19. AXA Foundation

20. B & F Partners

21. Bell South

22. BridgewaterCapital Management

23. C M Capital Corporation

24. Capital Group Companies

25. CDW Computer

26. Chubb & Sons

27. Clarkston Consulting Scott Daggerheart, Matching Gifts

28. Clorox Company

29. CNA Foundation

30. Combined Health Agencies

31. Community Solutions Fund/Thomson West

32. Constellation Energy

33. Corbis

34. Dannon Corporation

35. DaytonFoundation

36. Dell Computers

37. Del Monte (Community Health Charities)

38. Doris Duke Management

39. Dresser-Rand

40. DST Systems

41. EdisonInternational

42. EnCana Oil And Gas

43. EOG Resources

44. Fellowship of Jesus Christ

45. First Data

46. Fleetwood Matching Gift Program

47. FreeportMcmora Foundation

48. Gannett Foundation

49. Gartner

50. General Atomics

51. General Electric

52. Gewalt Hamilton Associates Inc.

53. GMAC Residential

54. Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo

55. Halliburton Energy Services Inc.

56. Hartness International

57. Hatfield Quality Meats

58. Home Depot

59. Honeywell Hometown Solutions

60. Hope Christian Community

61. Hospira Inc.

62. Host Engineering

63. IllinoisTool Works

64. IMC Global

65. Ingersoll Rand

66. Intercontinental Hotels

67. J M Smith Foundation

68. John M Olin Foundation

69. Joy Family Foundation

70. Key Foundation

71. Lilly Endowment

72. M J Murdock Charitable Trust

73. Mason Companines

74. Maury L Carter & Assoc. Inc.

75. Maverick Captial Foundation

76. May Company

77. McDonald Agape Foundation

78. McDonald's Corporation

79. Merck Partnership for Giving

80. Mid American Energy

81. Mid-Minnesota Ag, LLC

82. Miller Electric Credit Union

83. Motorola

84. Mustard Seed Foundation

85. Mutual Of America

86. NCCI Holdings, Inc.

87. Nestle

88. New Century Financial Corp.

89. New United Motor Manufacturing

90. Nike

91. Nokia

92. Northstar Foundation

93. Novus International Inc.

94. Nuveen Investments

95. Pepsi

96. Pinkerton & Laws

97. Pioneer Hi-Bred International

98. PJM Interconnection, LLC

99. PPG Industries Foundation

100. Provident Life and Accident Ins.

101. Progressive Insurance

102. Quad Graphics

103. R H Donnelley Corporation

104. Raccoon Valley Bank

105. RealNetworks

106. Reell Precision Manufacturing

107. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

108. Rosewood Foundation

109. Ryan Companies

110. Sallie Mae

111. Scitor Corporation

112. Sears

113. Show Ease Stall Co.

114. Snyder Langston

115. Soderquist Family Foundation

116. Southwest Sports Group

117. Starbucks

118. Sun-Sentinel

119. Susquehanna International Group

120. TCF Foundation

121. The Cason Group Inc

122. The John D And Catherine T MacArthur Foundation

123. The Millipore Foundation

124. The Money Box

125. The River Foundation

126. Thrivent Financial For Lutherans

127. Tom Brown Inc

128. Tomkins Corporation

129. Triad Energy Corporation

130. Tyndale House Publishing

131. UBS Foundation USA

132. Union Pacific Corporation

133. UnumProvident Insurance

134. USAA, San Antonio

135. Verizon

136. W K Kellogg

137. Wal-mart

138. Wellpoint Associate Giving Campaign

139. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

140. Wiley, Rein & Fielding

141. Williams Community Relations

142. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Easy To Get - Much Harder To Get Rid Of

What I really want to blog about is Elijah and his big boy bed, but I can’t do that without pictures and I can’t give pictures until I actually get them off my camera. So I must be patient and wait until next weekend.
So my runner up topic of choice? (Why does that sentence look so odd to me?)

I don’t know. I could talk about “Nerd Night” at our house on Friday. Or about our awesome double date on Saturday. Or our awesome meal and continuation of Nerdness on Sunday. Or our random adventure in search of entertainment on Monday. But those all seem sort of boring to read about. I mean I try not to be a “here is what we did today” blogger. I typically don’t find our lives that interesting and I’m living in it.

So I think I will instead let you all in on my excitement for today.

We got our tax return! That does not mean we get to go buy a bunch of new shiney things. Although we are getting a new TV since ours is almost dead. If you have 3 kiddos in your house and try to get things done without those said kids destroying something then you know a TV is a good 30 minute distraction while you make dinner or clean another kid’s bottom. So the TV is the only shiney thing we are getting – for sake of our (but mostly Justin’s) sanity.

Getting our tax return to us means JUSTIN’S CAR IS PAID OFF! That means in the passed 5 years we have:
- Paid off my car loan
- Paid off 1 of Justin’s student loans
- Paid off Justin’s car loan
- No outstanding debt on Credit Cards
- That is $18,000 in debt (not including credit card debt)!!

YAY! We still have $9,000 to go, but if things go as I have planned (and they RARELY do since God's plan trumps my plan everytime) then by this time next year we’ll be debt free. That means, of course, we will continue to live on our insanely tight budget which means we don’t get to “do” a lot.  We'll still function on $300/month for food for 5 people.  We'll drive as little as possible to make the $200/month for gas for the cars last. But it will be worth it. Like Dave Ramsey says “you have to live like no one else (ie: don’t eat out a lot, don’t have cable, don’t see movies, don’t do…) so later we can live like no one else (ie: be debt free and DO things stress free and debt free!) To me, and my hubby, it’s well worth it. A few years of living “tight” so we won’t have to live “tight” for potentially the rest of our lives.

This does not mean we’ll be rolling in the money at all. I mean we’re living off of one income and our rent alone is half of that income. However, it does mean that we’ll have all of our “debt” money (roughly $200/month) free to do with what we please (this will probably include Greek food once a week and cable to start).

Paying off Justin’s car is a good reward for a long hard task we’ve been trying to accomplish. So we will tough out this last year (hopefully only one year) and I will look forward to my weekly dose of Gyro (Greek) and Psyche on USA (cable).

Monday, February 20, 2012

So Sayith Tay and Jay #15

What do you want to teach mommy and daddy?

Jordan: I want to teach mommy and daddy and Taylor the dinosaur I made.  Its scary and spooky-booky-booky.

Taylor: Um, that karate.  I mean kung fu. I know a lot of kung fus - I know a kick and anything.

What is your favorite bible story?

Jordan: My favorite bible story is when daddy read his bible story (Justin reads from the bible to the kids a couple times a week)

Taylor: The Egypt one.  It happens in Egypt Jesus puts out all the animals that can fight the people and cover the town.  With frogs and bugs.

Who is Jesus?

Jordan: Jesus is baby Jesus.

Taylor: Jesus is um the God who watch us everyday.

What do you do if a stranger talks to you?

Jordan: When he sees me he wants to bite me. The stranger tries to get me with his hands and I bite him.

Taylor: I run away to mommy because I don't know where you are because the stranger comes to me if he sees me with no mommy. And yell and scream and hit them and you and daddy will call the police officer so they can take the stranger away that has me.  And you have tell the police officer my name so they don't think I'm a stranger too.

Friday, February 17, 2012

To Have and To Hold

I’m not talking about marriage. I felt the need to throw that out right away. I also feel the need to justify some things before I actually tell you why I’m writing since so many people “frown” on “it”.
We have 3 kids and 3 bedrooms. Since Justin and I enjoy have our own space (as all married couples should!) we of course occupy one of those rooms.

It’s only fitting the girls share a room while the boy has his own. It is also important to note we have all 3 kids on the same sleep schedule which means they all go to bed at 8PM. Since our girls do not like this 8PM bed time they make every excuse in the world to not sleep.

The best way – we have found at least – to get them to bed at 8PM is to put one child in our bed and one child in their room. After they fall asleep and when we get ready to go to bed we move the child out of our bed and into theirs. We try to rotate the kid in our bed to even things out. So that is the WHY we do it so turn your frowns upside down…don’t you judge me! :)

Anyway, the reason I am writing – I know you’ve been waiting eagerly.

Some nights Justin will stay up later then me so instead of moving a kid I’ll just climb into my bed next to them. Every time this occurs I wake them up just enough to tell them how much I love them and smother them in kisses as they fall back asleep.

I then usually just hold their little hand in mine. It pulls at my heart strings! There is something preciously magical about holding your child’s hand in yours. I have small hands, but I can still completely enclose their hand in mine.

To me this represents their childhood. I won’t be able to do this forever. A time will come where they don’t want to be in Mommy and Daddy’s bed, so for now I enjoy those nights where I can just hold their hands and pray. I pray that God uses those tiny hands and those tiny fingers for his glory. That these tiny hands and those tiny fingers become grown up hands and grown up fingers and work only to please our Heavenly Father. I also thank God for giving me the opportunity to be their “parent” and have these moments with them – even if they are asleep.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I Just Don’t Get It

I am not a Valentine’s Day type person. I just don’t get it. If there is a day where your significant other is “forced” to do something “special” is it really special?


If I get a rose on Valentine’s Day – Thanks

If I get a rose on another completely random day – WOW! They are thinking of me.

I just don’t get it.

So what did the Davis’ do for Valentine’s Day?

We got our mail which had cards for the kids from Great Grandpa Harold. They also contained Wendy’s Gift Cards. So we called Great Grandpa to say thank you then loaded the car and went to Wendy’s.

We brought our food home and watched a movie together. The “special” part of then night was the eating out and watching a movie. I’m pretty driven to eat meals at the table as a family so this doesn’t happen very often in our home.

After dinner Justin noticed that his other significant other (Sam of course) posted a picture on his wall. A picture of Sam with games. Games that Sam “would not buy” (hint: he bought them). And since they are fun games that must be played. Sam came over and we played the game.

It was a pretty perfect day. Much like any other day – which is how I like it. It didn’t hurt any that I won the first game – barely. But I won.

I do love those Amazons (don’t try to understand this unless you play the game too)

I just don’t get Valentine’s Day.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I Should Have Known From The Beginning

I usually pre-type my blogs elsewhere and then just copy them here.  So after I typed the below blog and logged into blogger and saw Jennifer's Valentine's Day picutres of Andrew - I realized it is Valentines Day.

This is not a blog for Valentines Day - this is just an "any other day" blog - sorry.  The Davis' just don't do Valentines Day so I forgot it was even today.  So here is my non-Valentine's Day blog.

Jordan is a special kind of kid. Her personality seems full of contradictions. And I won’t EVER tell her this (unless she reads this in a few years which is highly unlikely), but most people tell me she’s their favorite.


I did not say she is my favorite – but other people say that. Of course my “favorite” changes a few times a day depending on the kids that day.

Jordan is very motherly. I mean VERY motherly. She has such concern for when people are hurt/sick/sad.

Example: When Taylor was getting her blood drawn, being the drama queen she is, and she let out a scream – Jordan ran to the door and yelled boldly “Don’t hurt my sister!” She then looked at me with tears in her eyes and asked why the doctor was hurting Taylor.

On the other hand. Jordan is malicious.

Example: When Jordan was about 2 she used to take Taylor’s monkeys and hide them (If you know Taylor you know she was/is addicted to those things! Like some kids with a pacifier or blanky) and smile and as Taylor ran around crying and trying to find them.

Jordan is very obedient and polite. She most always says please and thank you. A good 95% of the time if you ask for help she runs to your aid. She really does love to help.

On the other hand, Jordan is mischievous. If your back is turned it seems to be her goal to do as much as she can that she is not supposed to do before you turn back around.

Example: Jordan found a permanent marker and hid it under her pillow. During nap time she proceeded to color many things in her room. I found her artwork after nap – I found the marker under her pillow a few days later when changing her sheets along with a couple of crayons, one of Taylor’s favorite toys, some chapstick.

When looking at some old pictures though – I realized there is one thing that has never changed. When Jordan is happy there is no tearing her down. She will laugh and smile at you no matter what (rather frustrating when putting her in timeout and she boldly states “I’m not going to cry” as she sets herself in the corner). However, when she’s grumpy OH BOY IS SHE GRUMPY! She’s not really a whiner like Taylor when she’s in a bad mood – she’s just grumpy.

Jordan a few months old (Just woken up by me taking pictures during nap time)














Jordan a few months ago (Not sure why she is grumpy here since I borrowed this picture from Beach Grandma)


Monday, February 13, 2012

So Sayith Tay and Jay #14

Tell me what you did today?

Taylor: Played with Connor at my birthday. I have a beautiful dance with my beautiful dress up clothes.

Jordan: I eat dinner. And I eat chips and I eat corn. And I played with dress up clothes.

Who do you want to call right now?

Taylor: Um, uh, MiMa! Because she's all pretty.

Jordan: I want to call Aunt Genny. Because she will pick me up! That's what beach Grandma said.  Because we lay down in her bed.

What color hair do you want?

Taylor: Blue - dark blue hair.  Because its so pretty!

Jordan: I want pink hair.  Because I want pink hair - its my favorite.  Then we will go buy a pink shirt. I love pink shirts.

Who do you want to meet from t.v.?

Taylor: Harry Potter.  Because I love him.

Jordan: I want to meet Tinkerbell! Because she's my favorite. She has green on. Because I loooove green.

What is your favorite drink?

Taylor: My favorite drink is hot chocolate.

Jordan:  My favorite is a green drink.  Apple juice and orange juice and chocolate juice and strawberry chocolate, and strawberry.

Who is the funniest person in the world?

Taylor: Connor because he tells jokes.

Jordan:  Sammy and Brenden is funny too. ::To Taylor:: I love Sammy and you love Brenden.

What question do you want to ask?

Taylor: What's your favorite food?

Jordan: My daddy's here! Peanut butter poo poo!

My Alarm And Me

Welcome to the inside of my head.  This is the email I sent to my "gym partner" this morning and I felt the need to share:

My Alarm and Me
We Don’t get along

It yells at me
When my sleep I rather prolong

So this morning you see
We had an argument

And lucky for me
I was triumphant

So I slept a little longer
And this morning I was late

So today my friend
I’ll be a little late for our date

Thursday, February 9, 2012

A new Goal for an Old Inspiration

Some of you may already know this story so feel free to skip to the bottom for the “point” of the story.


When I was little – I mean REALLY little I had a best friend. Matt Myers. We lived across the street from each other and he was only a few weeks older then me. I must have been at his house everyday – at least that is what my brain remembers from my 5 year old days.

In first grade we moved. And its not like first graders are good at keeping in touch. I since his house and my old house were on the same street as my grandparents I would still see Matt occasionally when I visited my grandma.

In third grade he moved. I didn’t see Matt anymore.

In Fifth grade I got a call from my Aunt saying she had been at a funeral and saw Matt and his family. She got his number for me just in case I needed it/wanted it. Of course I did!

A fifth grader is much better at keeping in touch then a first grader. So I called him. We made a plan to meet, but my pet cocktail named Lucky plucked the paper with his number off my dresser and shredded it to pieces with vigor. Since I had not memorized his number and he didn’t call me again (I’m pretty sure I actually never gave him my number) we revered to our old ways and did not “keep in touch”.

I used to sit on my grandparents porch sometimes after that. And although I knew Matt didn’t live in his old house I had this hope that I would still see him come strolling up the street to meet me. That obviously didn’t happen.

Then my sophomore year of college I was visiting my grandparents and my grandma said something to me “Oh, the Myers (Matt’s family) still owns their old house. They were renting it out, but now they are going to let Matt’s Grandpa live there so they’re cleaning up the place.”

What?! My stomach filled with butterflies as I walked down the street to their house. I don’t know who I was expecting to see or if they would recognize me. I mean my 5 year old self looked much different them my 20 year old self.

I approached the house to find a man painting out front. He stopped to look over at me and smiled. He did recognize me (or at least my red hair). I on the other hand did not recognize this man in the slightest. He looked at me and said, “Rachael?”

It was Matt! I smiled and then we just sat and talked…for hours. We remembered times of Lincoln Logs and playing Batman and Robin (I was never allowed to be Batman since I was girl). We walked through his “old” house and remembered games we played and conversations we had. We were smart this time and exchanged numbers and promised to hang out again.

And we did! He “brought me home”. It was amazing to see his parents and his much older little sister. It was an odd sense of a home away from home. We hung out that night and just talked some more. This time not about our past, but about our lives after our time together. We learned about each other and our plans for life.

We talked on the phone a few times after that with plans to meet again.
I walked out to my after taking my CBEST and looked at my phone to see a few missed calls from Matt. I also had a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail and my world seemed to start moving in slow motion – I totally felt like I was in a movie. It was Matt’s dad. Matt had been hit by a car while jogging at school and was in serious condition. He probably wouldn’t make it.

There was such a mixture of emotion. Fear. Hurt. Anger. Seriously? We JUST started to connect again? Why?

I called my boyfriend at the time (now husband) a wreck. I needed to go see Matt, but didn’t know what to do. Justin told me he’d take me. We searched the internet. We called hospitals. We could not find what hospital Matt was at. I just sat and cried and prayed for a miracle.

The miracle did not happen. And my first best friend went to be with the Lord (rejoice in the fact that he is a believer and spending his eternity in God’s presence!)
Matt’s family started a 5k at CalPoly – Where Matt was hit. All money raised goes toward scholarships in Matt’s name. A recent conversation with coworkers reminded me of this and I think I’ve decided that I need to do this 5k. It’s in the fall every year around the time of Matt’s death. So friends my NEW GOAL inspired by my OLDEST FRIEND is to run in Matt’s Run (that really what it’s called!) in October. You can join me if you want!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Picture of the day we "reunited" at his old house.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Great Gym Dilemma

I’m a petite girl. NOT because I eat healthy. NOT because I work out. In fact I eat junk and only just started going to gym. Don’t let my size fool you. I am a weak and rather unhealthy person and because of my size nobody (like the doctor) ever tries to get me to “eat better food” or “workout”.

My dilemma is I can’t afford to lose wait. I already have health issues due to being underweight and I don’t want to make it worse. So how in the world can I get “healthy” without making myself more unhealthy?!
I started by just going to the gym once a week with a friend. In 6 months I lost about 10 pounds. NOT my desired result. So I have done a lot of research that I’m hoping is accurate and will be now going to the gym 3 days a week but avoiding the workouts that burn fat and doing workouts that instead create muscle.
Today is only day 2 and my body is doing a great job at reminding me how un-fit I am! I got a crossfit type workout done with my good friend Neya at 6 AM this morning. I hate 6 AM. I hate crossfit type workouts. I love Neya.
There are now things from my normal routine that I despise thanks to these 2 days of gym time
1. I hate that I work on the 2nd floor at work. The stairs look at me and laugh.
2. I hate that the ice machine is on the floor so I have to squat to fill my cup with ice. It giggles at me – I hear it.
3. I hate that I thought it was a good idea to put my cream cheese in the bottom drawer of the fridge. The only reason I did THAT squat was because (as every knows) bagels are just icky without cream cheese.
4. I hate wearing heals – enough said
5. I hate doing my makeup. Well I hated that already, but now I have to convince my arms its worth their time to lift up long enough to put on eyeliner. They disagreed every few seconds.
I do LOVE sitting in my chair right now with a heating pad on my lap. The heating bad is not for sore muscles or anything – it’s just because I’m cold. I look forward to a meeting-less day today so I can just sit in my comfy chair all day.
So let’s pray this works. I need to gain weight working out and get fit without losing in more weight and further jeopardizing my health.
And on a side note…anyone of my ECCU peeps that want to join me (because I do love company) I’ll be at the ECCU gym Monday/Friday at 4:30PM and Wednesday at 6:00 AM.

Monday, February 6, 2012

So Sayith Tay and Jay #13

So I have officially given up on editing the video for last week.  Sorry friends.  So for round two I chose to NOT edit and just ask the questions one at a time.  So here you go!

If you could be a super hero what would your super power be?



What is your favorite dinner?

















What is the craziest face/dance you can make/do?
































Tell me about your owie.
















What's your favorite game to play?
















AND 3 hours later after waiting for them to load - I have decided the "video" blog will only be for special occasions LOL.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Care To Join Me In A Happy Dance?

First – I promise I have not neglected “So Sayith Tay and Jay” – we are having some technical difficulties with the video, but as soon as I get it figured it out I will post the video and probably just stick to typing for awhile until I work out the kinks.


Second – the real reason for writing is a praise of sorts.

James 1:2-6

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

On April 16th 2011 we moved into an apartment we couldn’t afford. We prayed and knew it was time to take this step of faith (click here for full story). God provided and we have paid rent in full and on time.
God is Good

On January 31st 2011 I received a letter in the mail from our apartment complex stating our rent is being raised. And now we step out in faith again; relying on God to provide.

Isn’t it exciting?! I cannot pay my rent – only GOD can. And I’m excited. Being forced to rely on God brings comfort. I have more faith in his ability to provide for us them my ability to provide for us.

I mean honestly – who would you rather have on your team? Me or God?

I am also very excited this time around because God is giving me “heads up” that He doesn’t have to give.

When we first moved – we moved not knowing where the extra rent money would come from.

This time I know (or I assume I know). We will be paying off some debt by the end of February (which means “extra” income not going towards that debt anymore). Our rent will go up effect March 1st.

Isn’t God good!

Yes I was hoping to have some wiggle room and be able to buy some “new” things we would like around the house. But having a place to live and seeing God’s perfect timing is a reward in itself. And for that I am thankful.

God has our family living life with every penny spent on “necessity” and not on “luxury” for this phase in our lives. He has a purpose for this that we need to embrace and enjoy. Learn the lessons we need to learn to help shape us into the people He needs us to be for reason not yet known…

How exciting!