Goodbye 2011

Tez and I will be heading to a national conference tomorrow led by the ministry that he works for which means we will be bringing in the new year with TOOONNNNSSS of college students...
Let's just say we're packing out Chatanooga... so if you are there when we are- I apologize in advance!!!

National Conference Promo Video from CO National Conference on Vimeo.

The two speakers I am SUPER excited about are John Piper and Matt Chandler... (not to HATE on the others speakers, there are lots of love being sent their way I just haven't been introduced to them - minus Harry Reeder, who I am also excited about- the only man, in my opinion, who has business wearing a sweater vest)

You can hear some awesome Matt Chandler sermon's here (I particularly love his Ecclesiastes series)

Don't even get me started about how much Piper has helped me live out my faith. Ok i'm getting started: These two John Piper books have particularly been awesome to me:





You see on and off in my life I have struggled with depression. Before I read any of these books I assumed I was depressed b/c I wasn't a "good enough" Christian, which only got me more down. Piper was really one of the first people to help me understand that I wasn't ABNORMAL, and while some people don't struggle with depression, some people DO. Actually GREAT men of the faith struggled with it (the second book shown are testimonies of such men). His books are awesome in teaching you perspective on depression and how to fight it, or "How to fight for joy".

It was a process for me, but I don't experience depression as often these days or as intensely. I am not one to say that I have OVERCOME it. Many factors can contribute to my depression and some days it's like the perfect storm aligns and I have a bad day, but I have hope and I know how to fight it now, and as stupid as it sounds, I have accepted it as me, which I feel has made all the difference. If I KNOW it's something I struggle with rather than telling myself "I SHOULDN'T be feeling this way as a christian" or "I'm just making things too big of a deal" or simply just ignoring how I feel and making myself "try to be happy" I can now admit that this is part of my walk and particular struggle which helps me to try to understand why I am feeling this way and helps me to fight it rather than ignore it or pretend, and helps me to ask the Lord to help me fight it, which makes all the difference, b/c I honestly can't do it on my own.

I don't know if I will get an opportunity to meet Piper, but if I get the chance I will tell him what I just told you. I will try to sound eloquent (which tends to not happen, don't let me tell you about the time I met Tim keller... sigh) and I'll try not to tear up when telling him how God has used him in my life- in order to not freak out the dear Pastor.

Seeing as I have gone to this conference for the past 6 years- 3 while in college and 2 as the cute staff guy's wife...at least from my opinion ;) I always come away from this conference refueled and ready to start the year....

that is, after a day or two of sleep recovery...
B/c at 26 I'm getting a bit too old to keep up with the college kids these days....

 

Ode to Yearly book goals....

Goodreads reminded me that I am at 22 of my 25 book goal for the year...

This really frazzil's my checklist mentality.

Tez and I are attempting to watch less tv and this is very much helping me right now...except for when pertaining to having to finish this short little book about theology. Reading Lewis' brilliant thoughts before bed can prove to be quite redundant. Literally... I am at the bottom of the page and I can't remember why said character is saying what he is saying and then I realize I was kind of dozing and then the struggle is not even UNDERSTANDING the book, just keeping my eyes open.

I begin to regret not choosing the one about wardrobes and childhood....

I have headed to bed at 9:3O for the past two days, early... one would say....
I get the big pillow and prop it against my sleeping pillow to make the ideal reading position.
I turn on the lamp on my nightstand...
Toby the chuihuaba dives under the blanket and wraps himself in a ball beside me...
I confidently open the book to the page I was last on....

I realize that while I am on that page I probably checked out two pages before that and need to reread the previous two in order to understand what's going on at this point. I flip some pages back....
by the time I get to where my bookmark previously was Tez finds me sleeping soundly,

He turns out the lamp, places the book on my nightstand....
and, the next morning, proceeds to make fun of how I fell asleep at 9:40 last night...

the dog days are over?

Tez and I never meant to be the cat and dog family couple...

 

In fact, we never even meant to be the cat couple...

But then the unfortunate breakup occured with my brother and his girl and Bella had no home, what is a good sister to do about that?
We said we would help out and keep her at our place until a proper home was found... and that home ended up being ours...
cat's aren't too bad if you can get over the kittly litter thing

And this one is so fluffy... gah! i just can't stand the cuteness!

 

we became cat people....

we became THOSE cat people... we will bust out iphone pictures of our cat in a heartbeat to help illustrate our stories of her oddness/cuteness, thinking they are the best things in the world, as the listener calculates our sanity...

every good story needs an illustration...

 

Maybe only cat people understand....

then another unfortunate brother breakup occured... this time a chihuahua puppy was involved. My brother was willing to divvy up the remains of it all to the next bidder....

He fell asleep in my arms...

 

We would take the chihuahua until a better home was found and hope that he would get along with Bella- the cat...

(I can hear you now...calling us suckers)

 

This chihuahua was fluffy too....dang it.

And now we have two crazy animals and one is much more naughty than the other.

He gets in trouble for peeing and pooping in all the wrong areas and just when we thought he had it mastered (for there was no pee and poop to be found for days) we follow some smells to under our bed...

and it had become a landfill....

I psyco cleaned on my hands and knees (literally)
and seriously contemplated how we got here (and maybe still am, hence this post)

After cleaning I banned Toby from our bedroom.
He wined and cried outside my door and I felt so bad...
He put his paw under the door so I could see it inside our room to give me a hint of what I was missing,
"I just want to snuggle with you in those warm blankets" he subliminally told me
but I stayed strong!

Today Tez and I go to Lowe's to figure out a way barricade our dog from going under our bed...

b/c I like the end-of-the-day-in-the-bed-snuggle with him too.

 

a quite nacrassistic post:

Sometimes I feel like Tez and I could have our own sitcom.
Here is a convo we had on the way back from church yesterday that had me laughing:

Tez:I really liked the last hymn we sang at church today. The lyrics were awesome. Did you like it?

Me: It was good, however, I could NOT figure out the melody for the life of me. Sad that the choir left early, its hymns like that where we really need the choir to carry us in. I guess they assumed we could just hack it.

Tez: Yea, well you know what they say about assuming.

ME: Yea

Tez: No really, do you know what they say?

Me: Yes, it makes an ass out of you and me.

Tez: I actually think it's me and you.

Me: No, I think it is you and me b/c the u comes before the M & E in assume?

Tez: Oh,you're probably right... well English isn't my first language.

Me: Yes, it was....

Tez: Well it's not my mother's tongue.

Me: You mean "mother tongue"?

Tez: My point exactly.