Grateful heart..

I know that I'm young and in the grand scheme of things, my life is just beginning. However, one of the things that I have inherited from my mom is that I love to learn. Whether it be a new cooking technique, a life lesson or the ins and outs of the game of baseball as taught by my husband, my ears and mind are wide open.

One of the lessons I am learning right now is that my life will only ever be as perfect as I make it...or let it be. There's always going to be trials, uncomfortable situations, less money in our bank account then we may prefer....but life is truly what you make of it.

And right now, life is good.

Some of the things that are making me smile right now include:

The smell of the breeze coming off of Lake Michigan. This might seem strange...I know some people hate that smell, but something in the wind coming off a body of water speaks to me. I think it comes from growing up right on Lake Michigan, but there's something about it that is so universal and no matter where I am, all of a sudden I'm right where I want to be.

Late night giggles. I think this is partially due to Jason's work schedule, but he generally has to get up much earlier then I do. He's a 5-6 hours of sleep a night kind of man, but he still usually goes to bed earlier then I want to. I know he needs his sleep and try to be a supportive wife, but there's something about knowing that you're not allowed to talk that brings up a million things that I've been meaning to tell him. He'll try to be gracious but it always ends up with us laughing as he's trying to sleep and I'm trying to keep my mouth shut! He's officially labeled me as "that" kid at the slumber party.

Summer time food. There are certain foods that are just better certain

times of the year. We had unusually warm weather a couple weeks ago and it got my cravings going! I'm talking about papers plates heaped with anything grilled, mounds of potato salad, piles of pasta salad, baked beans and preferably finished off by sticky, roasted marshmallows and Popsicles. The kind where two of them are stuck together and will dye your mouth a lovely shade of red. Or blue. I'm not picky. :)

Anytime I get to spend with this amazing man! We've been able to go to a few baseball games already this season and it is definitely one of his favorite things to do and quickly growing to be one of my favorite pastimes. The thing is, it doesn't really matter what we do as long as we're doing it together. From Wrigley Field to our fierce sequence battles to the nights we spend on the couch, one on each end with our legs entwined reading....this man makes me deliriously happy. And he is constantly my number one thing I am thankful for.

New places, not so many new faces

The tough thing about moving is getting really settled in and letting yourself root down deep in your surroundings. So far we've really enjoyed living here, I can't think of a major complaint we've had. We love being only a short drive from Milwaukee but still living in a more rural area. This is the exactly the kind of place that we want to start our lives in and raise a family.

The thing that can be so hard is meeting new friends, finding a Church and feeling like you truly belong here. We went to an amazing Church in Chicago (www.harvestbiblechapel.org) where we were consistently fed, excited to go to Church and would often spend the rest of our Sundays discussing what Pastor James had preached about. The only problem we had there was that since it was so large we had a hard time plugging in. We went to a few different small groups and while we did meet some very nice people, we really didn't make any relationships.

One of the things we were most excited about when it came to moving to the Milwaukee area was finding a new Church and getting plugged in. We started looking for Churches before we even moved up here and even had a couple that we specifically wanted to check out. So far we haven't had any luck...we know that we were a bit spoiled going to such an amazing Church in Chicago so we've tried to keep an open mind and have even gone to them several times trying to see if perhaps the problem was us having a grumpy day or if we just really didn't like the Church.

My question is when is enough, enough? And how do you find a home Church? Do you just go somewhere that is pretty good but really doesn't get you excited about your Faith? We don't want to just keep "holding out" because we feel like every week that goes by is another one that we aren't connected when we want to be. I don't have any of the answers to these questions...but I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic and would even more appreciate your prayers that we would be led to a place that where we can be used, our faith would grow and where we will feel at home.

Eyes Wide Open

Have you ever taken one of those psychology stress tests? The ones where they list all those possible life changing events and then you check off the ones you've experienced in the past year? Part of me wants to take one just to see what it says, but the other part of me is terrified to see the results. In the past 6 1/2 months I have gone through a wedding, a move, quit a job, started a new job, quit that job and am back on the job search again. And those are just some of the highlights!

Everything seemed to fall into place when it came to our move to Wisconsin. We couldn't believe how everything worked out. It was such a blessing to be able to find a job so quickly, but unfortunately that situation took a turn for the worst. Without going into so many details, I would summarize my old work place as an unstable situation and negative environment. Between a cook that liked to scream and cuss his co-workers out and a manger that preferred to speak crassly to his female employees, it was hard to find anything good about working there (besides the paycheck of course!). I attempted to work things out by speaking with the GM and hr lady, but when they spoke with the manager he denied my accusations and even made up reasons for why I would be "mad" at him and try to wreck his career. It's one thing to be disrespectful in how you treat me but it was really hurtful when he couldn't even admit his actions. Jason and I are both glad that I am out of that place and it definitely relieved a lot of stress from our lives.

But...that does mean I'm back on the job search! It is a tedious way to spend my day, but I am confident that God has something good for me. I don't understand why I went through what I did at my previous job, but I'm glad that I didn't experience anything worse and that I had the opportunity to stand up for Truth. I eagerly anticipate what God has in store for us next and we are waiting, with eyes wide open, for what He will bring us.