Hello Weekend!

Hello again.

Well, in case you were worried- Grey's did not disappoint.  The premiere episode was a little different- kept you wondering what was going on for most of the episode, but in the end it was good.  Plus, next week is a fill-in of everything that happened in the months in between. 

I don't think Jered quite knew what to do when he looked over and saw I was sobbing as they unhooked McSteamy's life support.  Yes. Very sad episode.

I had the chance this morning to catch up with Private Practice since I missed the premiere of the season.  Wow.  Wow.  Charlotte and Cooper... what a surprise.  I think she's the only woman on the show with no desire to have children, and she just found out she's pregnant.  With triplets.  Wow.

As another woman who has zero desire for children (right now), that just... yikes.  Don't worry guys- someday I will be excited to have little kiddos, but not for quiiiiite awhile.  None of my own, thank you.  I am content and happy to play with other people's kids, but so not ready to have my own yet.

Well, enough of my television updates, that's not really what this blog is about.  Haha, well, I guess that's not necessarily true.  This blog is about whatever is on my mind, so sometimes it is about my favorite TV shows.

I don't know if it's the excess time I have to spend on Pinterest, or living in the city instead of a small town where I wore scrubs to work everyday, or what, but I have this constant itch to be more fashionable.  Unfortunately, a liking for jeans and t-shirts and hoodies, and several years of college, have made me incredibly lazy when it comes to clothes.

It's actually kind of fun because Jered will occasionally poke his head around to see what I'm looking at on the computer and point out the looks he likes.  It's really quite endearing.  Needless to say, I've gone through my closet several times to find what I have that I've forgotten about and what I can transform into one of the looks I've found online.

I've also gotten a little addicted to some "fashion" blogs.  I find myself torn because I enjoy looking at the outfits and getting ideas, but at the same time, I think it's ridiculous that these girls take pictures of their outfits everyday and make a blog out of it. 

And for that reason- this will be my only post about my fashion desires.  I want my blog to be about more than what I wear.  I want my blog to be deeper than a day by day journal of outfits. 

With that, I leave you.  Not much today, but I need to get back to looking for jobs before Jered gets out of class! 

Happy weekending!

Aim

A Kleenex Night

Hey y'all.

Oo.  I was just reading a southern girl's blog, and that came out of my mouth.  Keyboard.  Whatever.

We are yet again, can you guess?  That's right sitting in the library.

Jered is supposed to be doing homework.. He's looking at land in Wyoming, muttering something about me crushing his dreams because I don't want to move there.  My thought is, we're not moving anywhere until he's out of school and we're out of debt.  So why worry about it yet?

If you're worried, like I was when I saw what he was searching, just know that yesterday he was choosing the land in Iowa that he wanted.  (Compromise, right?)

Guys- tonight is the night.  Tonight is the night for which I've been waiting months.  Do you know?  Do you know??

Yes.  Yes, that is right. My beloved Grey's is returning.  Tonight, Jered and I will hop in bed, have some hot cocoa, and I will pull out a box of tissues because my heart will break all over again.

You think I'm joking, but I'm completely serious.  Last season ended with one of my favorite character's death.  And I cried.  I cried like a baby.  Like a real friend had died.

I know last year I told you that Cristina was my favorite character, but Lexi is a close second.  Lexi Grey was Meredith's sister.  I loved her because she was funny, awkward things always happened to her, and she was kind of tragic.

In case that's too small to read, it says, "I can't think about anything or anybody and I can't sleep... I can't breathe, I can't eat, and I love you, I just I- I love you all the time, every minute of every day."

This was, I think, the week before she died.  She said this to Mark, or "McSteamy," her ex-boyfriend and love of her life.  They were totally going to get back together.  And instead, they were in a plane crash, and he held her hand as she died. 

(I realize that I probably sound like an annoying, petty high school girl in this post, but what can I say?  I fall in love with characters.)

Lexi always seemed to get real tear-jerker cases.  She was involved in the case where they had to unplug a woman's life support and her husband came back to kill all the doctors who were part of it.  She witnessed a crowd of parents who lost children in a plane crash, stay at the hospital for one little girl who survived until her mom got there.  Then, when she arrived, the other parent's lied to the mother about their own children's deaths so she wouldn't feel guilty. 

She was super tender hearted.  It was always evident that the cases touched her, often much deeper than other doctors.  I think she probably had one of the best hearts on the show, and yet everything seemed to go wrong for her in her personal life.

Well, I think I've rambled on long enough about my fictional friend.  If you get a chance- check out the show tonight, but only if you have time to get addicted to another show.  Just a heads up.

Alright, I'm going to go.  Jered is now looking at land in Tennessee.  Heaven help us.

Later,
Aim

A Lion's Mercy

Hi all.

This weekend we visited Jered's family.  It was a lovely visit, complete with baking, hair coloring, a movie night with popcorn, and watching the Emmy's over a bowl of ice cream.

I was intrigued by the sermon we heard on Sunday as well, so I'm going to share with you, my notes from it.

The title of the sermon was Law and Order: The Verdict.  It was the fourth and final sermon of the series they had done.  The passage used was Romans 3:21-24.

The Pastor shared a story, which I am not going to share, except for the end question: which is more meaningful, a lick from a lamb?  Or a lick from a lion?

Point:  Mercy from the "Judge God" is more meaningful than mercy from our "Father God."

It's simple to forget that God is our judge sometimes.  Maybe that's just from growing up in a family with a loving Dad.  That's easy to relate to in my mind.

The pastor shared a quote by Dwight Edwards, which I tried to find for you online, but failed.  Instead you get my version of it.  Basically, he claimed that we have no understanding of the lion's "raging fury" over our sins.

Wow.

So, assuming we can bear to wrap our minds around that ugly truth, we then have to "get right" with God.  How?  By realizing three major truths from the passage.

God's mercy is given, not earned.  (3:21)  How unbelievably terrible would it be if we had to earn our forgiveness.  Yikes.  Instead, God gives an alternative reality by inserting a loophole in the law.  No, it doesn't come without a price.  In fact, the greatest price was paid.  In "the great exchange,"  Christ's life of perfect obedience can be credited to our account, and in the same movement, our sins are credited to his spotless record.

The second step is receiving that amazing gift through faith in Jesus.  (3:22)  A quote from Pastor Erwin Lutzer was also shared.  Unfortunately, again, you get my rendition: When you come to Christ, you aren't coming to give, but to receive.

And finally, it is needed and available to all.  (3:24)  We all fall short in our role of glorifying God.  Isn't that an interesting concept?  We fall short in our role.  I don't think about it that way often.  That resonated deep in me.  My goodness, how many times have I fallen short and not even given it a second thought.  And if I did, did I realize I was failing at my job?  My purpose in life?  Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Thank God, He is a merciful lion.  Thank God, He sent us a perfect lamb.  Where would I be without the combination of the two?  I shudder to think about it.

Well guys, that's all I am going to share for now.  Until next time, goodbye!

Aim

Hairs

Hi guys.

This is just a silly, little post.  Nothing of any real significance.  Really.  

All this is, is a hair tracking post.  As you will see, the four of us: Jered, Katie, Jesse, and myself, we all had nice long locks of hair.  Jered looks back at these photos and says, "Ah, those were the days."  I look back and think, "Why did I touch my hair?"

 

 For, as you may recall from an earlier post, I tried to cut my own hair and ended up having to go get it chopped off at a salon, where I promised the girl that I would never again try to cut my own hair.  Luckily, Katie is the best sister ever and chopped hers off right along with me.

In January, Jered surprised us by having Katie go with him to chop his hair off so that he would look more professional when he was in nursing school.  He visited me at work and nobody recognized him at first.  

By now, Katie's hair and my hair has made a significant improvement, but alas, we are still far from where we were.  Give us another six months to a year, and we will be in good shape as far as we are concerned!  

But wait!  What is this?!  By some strange twist of fate- Jesse chopped off his hair!  This is a strange, new world we are in people.  

Well, that is all for this silly recap of hair over the last year.  With that I leave you, until next time when I may have something worth writing about. 

Aim

Major Spoiler Alert!

Hi friends!

 

I received the link for our wedding photos this week!  Huge thanks to Seth and Lance for capturing some precious moments on our beautiful day.  Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order because blogger mixed them all up, and frankly, it's more work for me to put them in order than I care to do right now.  Enjoy!

 

A shot of the rings.

Our flower girls and ring bearers. 

In case you couldn't tell, Tyler's sign says "Uncle Jered! Here comes your girl!"

Putting Mom's corsage on her.

My fabulous bridesmaids- 

Don't know what I would have done without them.

Jered and the Groomsmen.

Reading our very first journal entries to each other.

Helping Dad get ready.

 

*Kiss*

"First Look" with Dad.

Our wonderful wedding party.

Ooo!  That's my husband!

Alright chall- that's all I'm letting you see right now!  Time to get out of this library basement. (AKA- the Pit of Despair, as I recently nicknamed it.) 

Goodnight!
Aim

Pride Stopped Me

Hello again.

I feel compelled to explain that I had intended to write last week... In fact, I did write last week, but I never got around to posting it...

This is why:  Last week, I still wasn't too excited about venturing out on my own.  I did however, go to a coffee shop to blog.  I carefully took a mental picture of the wifi password as I gave my order, and sat down to start writing.  Unfortunately, I proved to be computer illiterate and couldn't figure out how to put in the new day's password.  I spent forever trying to figure it out and finally had to text friends for help.

After about 45 minutes of this, I figured out how to do it, but to my horror realized my mental photograph must not have been as clear as a real one would have been.  By then, I had been sitting there for so long that I was too embarrassed to go back up and look at it again.  I contemplated going up and ordering another snack, but I just couldn't do it.  I had meanwhile typed up my post in Word, so I left it at that and went back to the apartment. Defeated.  (Go ahead and laugh at my stubbornness if you must.)

So, here, a week later, I will give you my thoughts from last week...

Fall has begun.  I don't care what the calendar says- I can feel it.

To celebrate, I purchased my first jug of apple cider last night and relished in a nice hot cup of it while Jered watched football before bed.  It was delightful.

I am currently out on my first solo outing in the city. [Haha- we all know how that one turned out.]  I am sipping a tasty cup of iced chai tea and smelling coffee beans in the coffee shop near our apartment.  (Obviously I haven't made it very far on my own yet.  Maybe I'll make it further by the end of the day.)  [I did not.]

So, I had mentioned before that I read The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker.  Fantastic author by the way.  If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may remember a post about his series The Circle, titled Black, Red, White, and Green.  At the time, I had only read the first three because I did not know there was a fourth.  At this time... well, that's still all I've read- but I fully intend to read Green as well.  Maybe I'll reread the whole series...

Anyway, I'm getting lost in my head here.  The Bride Collector, yes, that's where we were.  I don't want to reveal too much, but I guess I can tell you as much as was on the back of the book, right?  It's about the murders of seven beautiful women.  The serial killer is literally psychotic, and he thinks he's on a mission from God.

The book takes you through the search for the killer through the minds of a detective, the killer, and a mentally ill woman who is sought out to help the detective because of a gift she possesses.

Ok, there's my minimal plot summary.  The great part of Ted Dekker stories is that they're never just stories for the sake of stories.  They always seem to have a purpose.  A message meant to get across for someone in need.

This story is about beauty and God's favor.  It goes into the mind of a woman who is intensely self-conscious, and follows her into the realization that she is worth more than she ever imagined because she is God's favorite.  Now, of course, we are taught that God doesn't have favorites because favoritism is wrong, but that's where the twist in the book comes.

We are all God's favorites.  Each one of us.  We're all taught that we have His unconditional love countless times throughout our lives, but I wonder if the idea of being His favorite changes the way we look at that a little bit.  I know it did for me.

I mean, I'm used to being the favorite sister and the favorite oldest daughter of my parents.  (Har har.)  But to be a favorite of God.  Dang.  That makes me feel pretty darn special.

Well, that's really all I feel like sharing at the moment.  And now, so Katie can get off my back, I will share some apartment pictures.  

Alright then, that's all for now.  Talk to you later.

Aim

Tid Bits

Happy Friday!

I am pleased, and a little proud, to announce that our apartment now has curtains!  Of course, since it is us, things didn't go exactly as we planned, nonetheless, we have curtains.  And they are hanging in the apartment.  Don't look too close.  I am a beginner.  Pictures later.  I do have my camera again.  (Thanks Kelly!) 

Tomorrow my family is coming to visit our humble abode.  Not only are they coming to visit, they are bringing gifts!  By gifts, I mean a real bed.  My bed.  My beloved, comfortable mattress will finally replace the futon, whose bars and mattress springs become more pronounced each night.  No longer will I hit my head on the overhang of the futon on which the top bunk is meant to be perched.  (That happened twice today.  N.G.  Not good.)

Assuming the roominess of the van holds up, we will also have my dresser to replace the one that has currently made a full box of my clothes homeless.  Woohoo for everything having a place!

In other news, the job hunt is on for nanny positions.  I'm hoping to find a good fit soon.  Meanwhile, the apartment is coming along nicely and becoming home.  Oh, and today, I made chicken enchiladas for dinner.  Jered ate the whole thing.  Then I made brownies and added cream cheese for fun.  Yummm.

Also,  I finished Mockingjay and The Bride Collector this week.  Fantastic.  The first time I read Mockingjay, it was my least favorite of The Hunger Games.  I enjoyed (if you can use the word enjoy for The Hunger Games) much more this time.  Maybe appreciate is a better word.  I was completely blurry-eyed for half of the end.  Goosebumps were also prominent through about half of the entire book.

The Bride Collector was excellent as well.  At times it was difficult to follow because it goes into the mind of a schizophrenic.  More on that later.  Right now, my husband is looming over my shoulder because he is ready to leave the library. So I bid you ado.

Later,
Aim