Friday, September 23, 2011

Fall time & missions

Happy Friday, everyone!
It's the first official day of fall and I couldn't be more excited! Fall time is my very favorite time of the year. I love the cooler weather (like 80 degrees here in Florida, lol) and all of the warm and cozy decoration. Bonfires, hoodies, pumpkin bread, fall scented candles, cool breezes, and a sense of a fresh start with kids going back to school! :) Love it all! I love Fall even more now that I have our Wedding Anniversary in November! Oh and did I mention my Birthday is in September?!

I want share something very exciting for me and near to my heart! I have officially signed up for a 2 week missions trip to......UKRAINE! My heart is absolutely bursting with such joy and anticipation! The trip will take place most likely in May (still waiting to check airline prices and coordinate with the missionaries there). I told God that I would go and that I feel extremely called to this trip but he would have to provide my deposit. The deposit was $200 and we simply did not have that extra cash right now. It was a leap of faith and a little scary but I was also filled with such anticipation and faith! Well, sure enough GOD CAME THROUGH!!! God provided my deposit and I was able to 100% commit to the trip!!!!!!! :) This time it will only be me going, as Chris feels he isn't supposed to go. Although I will miss him greatly, I am excited to see what God has in store for me on this trip!

When I was 18 years old I went on a missions trip to Romania and it forever changed my life. God broke my heart for Europe and although I know Chris and I will travel to many different nations, Europe is what my heart burns for.

Will you please join me in prayer for this trip? Pray for my team I'm going with....that our hearts will begin to be prepared for the ministry at hand and that we will see MANY come to know Jesus!!!! :) Also, please pray for the funds I need for this trip...God knows! I trust him so much and I'm extremely excited to see how he provides every penny!!!!!!!! :) If you are interested in supporting me, you can comment on here or contact me on my Facebook!

I AM SO EXCITED! This is what I am called to do and to be in God's perfect will for my life is such a Beautiful feeling! I stand humbled and amazed at all God has trusted me with...I just long to do MORE for his Kingdom.....USE ME JESUS!

"What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." ~Mother Teresa~

Love,
The happy little Housewife

Thursday, September 8, 2011

An interview with my hubby.

~An interview with my hubby~

Me: Hi Honey, you’re so cute! Thanks for taking time to do this with me! Okay, so let’s get started.

Me: What is your favorite meal that I cook?

Chris: My favorite meal that you cook is Tacos because I know how much you love Mexican food and it reminds me of Mexico and that is where we met…and it’s really good!

Me: aw what a cute answer, this is going good so far! Next question: What is your biggest pet peeve that I do? (I’m scared!)

Chris: When you do laundry and forget that you still have a load in the dryer and it sits there for 2 days. I especially hate it when you also leave a load in the washer. Now we get to re-wash mildew smelling clothes and de-wrinkle the stuff in the dryer. Thank you for our wonderfully low energy bill.

Me: Oh honey, why didn’t you pick something a little less revealing of my shortcomings? haha! Okay, moving on---question #3: What is the most fun aspect of being married?

Chris: I wouldn’t consider this necessarily to be “fun” or “funny,” but I love the fact that we are almost always on the same page because it makes our sense of humor funnier to us, and it helps with understanding each other’s hearts.

Me: In your opinion, what is the hardest part about marriage?

Chris: I think the hardest part about marriage is knowing that I fail at things that you need or want. It’s difficult when I can’t provide or emotionally supply the desires of your heart 100% of the time. As a man it brings up feelings such as, “Am I a good husband…” I want to be the best that I can be for you but my flaws and inabilities prevent me sometimes.

Me: What is your favorite memory of our first year of marriage so far?

Chris: The time when we were driving over the skyway bridge and we were going to Clearwater beach…we were blasting country music and it was just a good, good day.

Me: If you could give our marriage a song, what would it be?

Chris: “Whoop there it is”


Me: no comment.

Me: What’s your favorite thing about me?

Chris: I love the fact that there’s something that happens to me when you put your arms around me or just look at me that always makes me melt. It doesn’t matter if I hate you in that moment or love you to death.

Me: Aww shucks. Thanks sweetheart! Okay so, what is the best way a wife can encourage her husband?

Chris: well, there’s different ways that you can encourage your husband and that is usually specific to the man that you’re married to. But for me, it’s being noticed that I’m upset about something even when I’m not showing it. For instance, sometimes I just need a hug but I may not show it or even realize that I need one. It’s when I receive a hug or an encouraging comment or simply just being noticed that I’m upset at a time that is most critical for my heart.

Me: What motivates a husband to do romantic things for his wife?

Chris: Realistically being nagged to a certain degree helps but too much nagging will create ignorance. So there’s balance with that. A man has to repeatedly be reminded of what his wife’s heart wants. We forget. Communication is very important in this area because if the wife doesn’t get what she wants, insecurities and concerns about not being a good enough wife and needs that aren’t met start to arise and create a hindrance on the marriage. There is cyclical approach to romanticism. If the man is being romanced, he will desire to romance his wife and vice versa. So if you want to ask what motivates a husband to do romantic things for you, it’s YOU.

Me: What is one thing a wife should avoid saying to her husband?

Chris: Husbands don’t always have the right approach to things so it’s important to understand the motives behind everything they do before making an assumption of what they’re doing because the end result will most likely be different than what you are envisioning in your head. It’s important to not discourage your husband with negative words or hateful comments. Your husband will usually react in a negative way to specific words that he doesn’t take very well.

Me: Is leaving the cap off the toothpaste really a marriage issue like everyone talks about?

Chris: Of course it is! The reason is because God usually puts two people with extreme differences together so each individual can be pruned and balanced in certain areas. One person is usually not going to care about the toothpaste and the other will. It teaches patience for one person and how to be more organized and clean for the other. All in all, put your toothpaste up and you won’t have a problem!

Me: I am definitely the person that leaves the toothpaste cap off. Haha! What is your ideal relaxing evening with me?

Chris: My ideal relaxing evening is to make s’mores in front of a fire and swim in the pool until we’re pruny. Then you would give me a back massage.

Me: Lol way to sneak that one in there, honey ;) Here’s a fun one---if you could take us on vacation ANYWHERE in the world where would you take us and why?

Chris: I would probably take you to Hawaii because I know how badly you’ve always wanted to go there and we love tropical places.

Me: Where do you see us in 10 years?

Chris: Married (obviously), with 4 children and a successful business and we will have traveled the world together.

Me: One last question: What’s THE best marriage advice you can give for couples out there?

Chris: This is a two part answer. Number one, spend as much time together as possible because you learn absolutely everything you can about each other. Part two is to get past the “tit for tat,” “he said, she said,” “you did, I did” thinking and comments in a disagreement and to get to the bottom line. Feelings are hurt if you don’t get to the bottom of things as quickly as possible, so it is important to figure out what the root of the problem is, create a healthy solution with equal compromise if needed and forgive whatever needs to be forgiven.

Me: Yay! Thank you for your time, honey! This was fun and we should definitely do this again with me in the hot seat next time!!! ;)

Love,

The happy little housewife

Monday, September 5, 2011

Loving difficult people.

Hey everyone! :)
Yes, I'm still alive! ha! I think I need to start setting alarms on my handy dandy iphone to remind me to BLOG! Out of site, out of my mind! :/

I thought I would share what the Lord has been teaching me lately. It's a topic that is very "common" but yet so hard to truly learn and practice every day. That is.....

Loving difficult people.

Throughout my life, I feel like I've had more opportunities than most to love people that are hard love. I know you all could probably say the same thing so I am not trying to say that MY situations in life have been more difficult. I've been reflecting a lot on this topic and the Lord reminded me of a time many years ago that he began to teach me this.

I remember crying my heart out one afternoon as a little girl. The wounds in my heart from things that had happened to me in my childhood seemed to go so deep that I almost couldn't bare it anymore. I remember this afternoon so vividly because I was sitting on the floor in a family members's bathroom. I was sobbing my heart out asking God WHY did I have to love the people that caused me so much hurt? It just wasn't fair! At the moment, I felt God telling me to look up and what I saw changed my life forever. My eyes were immediately drawn to a simple plaque that read, "People need loving the most when they deserve it the least"

In that moment, something inside of me changed. I got it. God was calling me to a deeper level of loving than what is normal or comfortable. As I sat there, on the bathroom floor on that rainy afternoon, looking up at that tiny wooden plaque, God began the healing process of forgiving those people who had done horrible things to me and had stolen my innocence at such a young age.

I am not saying this has been an easy journey of loving difficult people...no, not at all! I still have days where emotions surface and I want get angry again. But every time, God is still there with me, helping me to walk in love no matter what. God's grace is such a beautiful thing. Without it, none of us would be where we are today. It is my heart's desire to love unconditionally, no matter what has been done to me.

I know I'm focusing on what was done to me as a child but this applies to issues today too!
Loving people who are just downright mean to me, loving people who gossip about me, loving the lady who cuts me in line at the grocery store, loving people who judge me for whatever reason....LOVE no matter what! :) Love is a verb, not a noun. What are we doing to actively love those difficult people around us?

This scripture sums it all up! :)

Luke 6:32-36

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Sincerely,
~The Happy little House wife~