Lyrics Say It Better

"I don't know how I got to where I am... All I know is I wanna go back to the moment I fell in love with grace, and hear You whisper, 'Hang on hang on I know your hope seems gone. Hang on hang on sometimes the heartache makes you strong...'"

"Jesus take this heart that feels so cold again and make it new. I hold this hope inside that You'll never leave me... All I want is for Your love to hold me..."

"Life is so much more than what your eyes are seeing. You will find your way if you keep believing."

"When you are grounded by your doubt, when you're surrounded and there is no other way out, I will be all that you need and I'm here for the asking. Let Me be your everything... Look at all that I will bring in exchange for what you have; let Me be your everything."

"You said You'd never leave or forsake me. Then You said this life is gonna shake me. Then You said this world is gonna be trouble to my soul. This i know; when everything falls apart Your arms hold me together. When everything falls apart You're the only hope for this heart."

"I've never felt so torn before; seems I don't know where to start. But it's now that I feel Your grace fall like rain from every fingertip washing away my pain. I still believe in Your faithfulness...even when I don't see I still believe."

"Please be my strength cause I don't have anymore."

"You stay the same through the ages... Your love never changes.... You make, all things, work together for my good."

"Whatever You're doing, inside of me, it feels like chaos, but I believe that You're up to something bigger than me."

Being a Christian

Lately I have been wrestling with "being a Christian." I know...I'm probably not supposed to do that. But I've been wrestling with the while idea of being a "good" Christian and tired of failing to be a "good" Christian and almost wondering if being a "Christian" was right for me cause it didn't seem "to work." After a Facebook chat with Kate , talking with Jason, and finding hope in words heard during Sunday school and in worship music, plus being able to pray again, I decided that I need to be a Christian. But this is the kind of Christian I want to be:

Cry Of My Heart

Lately things inside my heart haven't been so smooth. Things inside my head have been discouraging and tearing me down. I have been failing. I was sharing these thoughts with a friend, and this is the prayer she replied with.

Father,
We cry out for your hand of mercy to heal us. We are weak and we need your love to free us. You are our rock, our strength in weakness. Rescue us. You are our hope and Your promises NEVER fail us. Our desire is to follow You forever. You are so good to us. Forgive us everyday we wake up and aren't blown away by the incredible expanse that is Your love. Our names are written on Your hand and we thank you for this. You are the greatest EVER! May you forgive us for our imperfections, our lack of faith, and our doubts. We thank you for loving us through them, and for remaining faithful even when we don't deserve it. You are Almighty God and we offer up our hearts to you as living sacrifices. Thank you for your perfect peace.

Help us to love you in spite of our human incapacity to understand your perfect love.

Take it all, Lord.

Amen.

Viva Las Vegas

To live in Las Vegas means...

You lock your front door even when you are home.

There is a plethora of vanity license plates on cars.

You have to remember your alarm code and disarm it when you walk in or out the door.

Being outside in the afternoon usually means you will feel warm and sweaty no matter what activity you are doing.

You can drive 45 minutes and never leave the city or repeat a route.

There are palm trees!

For the most part everything is colored in shades of red, brown, and tan. (Until you are on The Strip, that is.)

There are too many choices for grocery shopping: Walmart, Fresh & Easy, Trader Joes, Vons, Winco, Costco, Albertsons, Smiths, Target Greatland... And there are usually five or six of each choice within 5 miles of your location at any given moment!

In-N-Out!!

Fans and AC are blasting almost 24/7.

You have to pack away the brand new Oaklie winter jackets that you got for Christmas and you love.

Four way stops are overused, and so are stop signs.

Starbucks runs the coffee market.

Two-thirds of the grass you find is artificial.

You can't leave butter out on your counter to be perfectly room-temperature spreadable. You have to refrigerate your butter...

HARD water = Brita water pitchers + hard water stains....

Your apartment complex has three pools and you swim almost every day.

Most roads are at least 3 lanes.

You have to have a sense of humor.

Your car is always steaming hot when you get in it.

Feeling cold is rare.

Sheets, blankets, and comforters are for decoration only.

There is so much to do...from shows, plays or concerts, to festivals, shopping, markets or events. As well as disc golf, hiking, running, and attractions such as Lake Meade, Grand Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, Boulder City, Mount Charleston...

There are sooo many places to eat out at that you could pick a different place every day and not repeat! There's the familiar: Tropical Smoothie, Little Caesars, Dominoes, Sweet Tomato, Beni Hana, Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panda Express, Denny's, Chipotle, In-N-Out, Famous Daves, Panera, Great Harvest, Five Guys, Sonic, Johnny Carinos... And the new: Rubios, Cafe Rio, Chilies, Macaroni Grill, Joe's, Jason's Deli, China-a-go-go, Hard Rock Cafe, Ranch House, On the Border, Rasing Cane's, Chuckecheeses, Weinerschnitzel, P.F. Changs... Practically every restaurant you've ever wanted to go to is here in Las Vegas.

Keep Falling In Love

In this new phase of our lives, I want to intentionally build habits that will strengthen our marriage and keep the passion alive. I've found some great ideas at the following links, and I'm going to be implementing them immediately.

25 ways to communicate respect to your husband / 25 ways to show your wife you love her

100 ways to make your marriage rock

30 day husband encouragement challenge

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!

Guilt Free Ice-cream

Like a lot of people, one of my biggest downfalls when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle is sweets. I love desserts. I like candy, but I love desserts and ice-cream, especially in the summer or after a long day. I do believe in moderation more than elimination, but someone needs to tell to my heart, because it seems if I eat one sweet I just keep eating more and more, so it's almost all or nothing!

I've been inspired by with some "guilt-free" ice-cream recipes I have come across. So far I have only had time to try one, but it was a winner! And soo easy to make!

The original recipe was: 1 bag of frozen berries, 1 cup of yogurt, and 3/4 cup of sugar. 

When I made it I completely eliminated the sugar, used Greek yogurt, and squeezed in half a lime for a little zip. The taste was really nice! It is more like sorbet and not anything like a chocolaty caramel ice-cream, but way better than no dessert at all!