Memory Bank #2 - Overwhelmed With God's Blessings

Although I still wrestle with not worrying about our financial situation and not having jobs, God has been soo good (of course!) and I know that He will be faithful to provide, because He has been faithful in the past. I have been overwhelmed this summer with an overflow of God's blessing, and I don't ever want to forget that! Plus I want to proclaim God's goodness.

We saw God provide in incredible ways this summer. At the beginning of August we had car trouble with both Jason's Honda and my Ford. Using local, trusted mechanics that my family had gone to for years, we got both taken care of and God provided all the money to cover the $700 of repairs. Then only a week before we moved to Vegas my car was having more issues - it was leaking antifreeze. Our local family mechanics were unavailable, but a family friend in the auto-shop repair business referred me to Dave at Reynold's Radiator. Come to find out, Dave was an old family friend on Jason's side of the family and I received several more very positive referrals to him after my car was already there. He went above and beyond to get the repair taken care of for a very affordable price. He even changed the oil (although they do not normally do that) and while my car was there noticed another problem with the AC but was able to refer that to a mechanic to fix that too. My car was well taken care of by a web of trustworthy mechanics God put in our life and God provided extra money to cover the repairs again.

I love getting an iced americano or iced coffee drink. Since we were trying to spend as little as possible this summer I tried to limit my indulging in coffee drinks. But I had awesome friends like Kylie who would make me a latte after morning Oula workouts and like Mel  and Heidi (also my sister) who would surprise me with coffee at work or take me on a coffee date! They have no clue how much that blessed me! Plus I was able to get several free drinks through coupons, etc.

Our familes, both Cross & Moseley,always go above and beyond to bless us with encouragement, financial assistance, love, and support. They are the best!

Through the generous blessings of our support team, the amount of our rent is covered in monthly donations!

We got the exact apartment we were hoping for at an affordable rate! Our apartment is such a blessing!

The Florence Carlton Community Church blessed Jason with an internship opportunity and really opened their arms to welcome us in to their church. They people of that church are so giving! And Jason's internship was a valuable learning experience.

I was blessed by working for my dad again at Missoula Vet Clinic all summer. Jason was able to get a lot of odd jobs and caddy at the Stockfarm plus be paid for his internship. God really provided opportunities for us to get money.

Once we moved to Las Vegas God kept blowing us away with blessings! Upon move in the Reichert family and Dan was here to help unload and Bethanie and Daryl came with snacks and drinks to unpack. The Reicherts and Thompsons also gave us small, handy things that were very necessary for starting up such as toilet paper, paper towels, dishwasher detergent, hand soap, a frozen casserole, banana bread, water bottles, etc. We felt so blessed by their thoughtfulness!

God is so good and He is so faithful. We are eagerly waiting to see Him continue to provide financially and with jobs!

A Shower of Blessings

I'm finally gonna start the official "wedding posts"!! But this does mean I have to start pre-wedding, so no wedding pics yet! They will be coming soon though!

In June Kylie and Heidi hosted a lovely bridal shower for me at the Hartzell's house. If you remember, this was my second shower, because Jason's family hosted a surprise one for us in May.

Josie loved to help open gifts! I received many gifts to stock our kitchen! It was quite a blessing!

The food served was delicious! Chicken salad with all sorts of toppings! And very yummy raspberry-limeade, plus berry cream puffs!

I'm so thankful for Kylie an Heidi who put a lot of work into planning and hosting the shower! And I'm thankful to all the ladies who came. Kylie had them all tell a story about me or tell how they knew me, and many of the "stories" really blessed me!

Each lady also gave me 2 notecards, one with a recipe and one with marriage advice - two of my favorite things!

This shower was definitely one of the many ways God blessed our marriage.

Anonymous Blessing

Jason and I were really stressed, I mean really stressed, about the groomsmen situation for Friday night. In fact, it might have caused a bit of frustration and conflict. You see, my mom had graciously paid for one hotel room at the Hawthorne for the guys on the Friday night before our wedding. This was super convenient because it's within 5 miles of the wedding cite, and all the guys could stay together (fun!). But there would be a total of 9 guys needing to sleep that night, and the hotel wouldn't allow that many in one room. So we could get a second one, but we had no clue how we would pay for it! If we canceled both rooms then the guys couldn't all stay togther (they'd stay and get ready at their own houses), which was never how I pictured it going! Plus, I wanted my getting ready photos. We kept going back and forth...get just the one room and make a few guys stay somewhere else -- but that's rude!!...get the two rooms -- but who will pay??!!...get no rooms -- but where will they stay?? Will there be getting ready pictures??

Most of these conversations took place at 11pm at night (tip: don't have stressful conversations at 11pm at night) or threw text while we were both at work (tip: don't have text conversations about something super stressful). As you can guess, this had become a heavy burden on our shoulders. All of the sudden I got a new text:

"There is an extra room reserved and paid for at the hawthorne for groomsmen as a wedding gift for the bride and groom..."

It was from a number I didn't have in my phone, and I, nor anyone else, still don't know who it was. But I thank God for anonymous blessings, and since the person was so humble as to send an anonymous gift, I'm going to brag about them on my blog.

Dear Anonymous Giver,
THANK YOU! As you can tell, you relieved a HUGE burden on our shoulders. We were already feeling silly for being so frustrated over something so small, but your text brought so much peace to the situation and our hearts. Thank you so much.

God is GOOD! All the time!

God is always good. This year at Corban I have been blessed to room with my close friend Kate again, and our meeting two summers ago was definitely by God's hand. Our hall is full of freshmen (only one other returner except our RA) and they are all very friendly and we have a lot of fun. My RA is very sweet and fun too! He's given me a full load of classes that'll keep me very busy, but all of my professors are very fun and my classes are interesting! I will be very busy with homework too! He has given me a great job here at the gym - last night I got paid to watch a volleyball game (and keep score)! Even with being injured this summer, I'm still running with the top 5 girls here and should do just fine this cross-country season. I'm NOT playing basketball!! For cross-country we have three 6am workouts a week...so I should be in such great shape and stronger for my season (and wedding!!)! He has blessed me so much!

Being away from my fiance is always hard cause we miss each other, but as we stay centered on God all we do is grow closer and closer! And this is the LAST year we will have a long-distance relationship!! God is so good!

Speaking of my wonderful fiance...I'm so proud of him! He is out in Wyoming seeking and serving God with his whole heart, and really reaping the rewards of faithfulness. In LaGrange Wyoming, there is pretty much the college, a church, and a restaurant/convenience store. Most kids have to get jobs in Torrington or Cheyenne or Scotts Bluff which involves gas money, mileage on their car, and dangerous roads in the winter. Jason was hired on campus, which pays almost all of his tuition each month! Then God blew both of us away...Jason was hired at the restaurant across the street! No driving, no gas money!! He waits tables there and it's going great. But God didn't even stop there... Jason was looking for a church where he could get involved in the youth group and possibly help with worship too. There was one about 30 miles outside of town that needed help with youth and worship, so he was praying about it. He knew if God wanted him there, He would provide the gas money. Well, God answered Jason's prayer a different way. A man from the church across the street from Jason's school approached Jason and said that Jason had been recommended to help with the youth group and wanted to know if he would. So starting next Wednesday he's going to be working the youth...right across the street! Wow! God is so good! I'm so excited for Jase and this ministry opportunity. God has given him a huge gift and calling in this area! And I'm super excited to spend the rest of my life with him and serve the Lord together!