One Year Anniversary

Has it seriously been an entire year since I said 'I do' to my best friend? This year has been an incredible blessing sharing every moment with Curtis. As we talked last night about the past year, we have been through a lot together in one years time.

I lost both my grandparents, new jobs, surgery, sickness, marriage retreats, birthdays, vacations, new family members :) (sweet sweet Titus Malaki).

What a roller coaster of events! Curtis has made every sad moment, easier, and every happy moment, better! Everyday I am reminded of God being the giver of all good gifts, marriage being one of the sweetest gifts he has given! It comes with responsibility, difficulty, but more then anything, it comes with the biggest blessings of my life! I get to see Christ everyday with the way Curtis loves, forgives, and serves me! What a blessing this man is in my life! Words cannot say how much I love him! Thank you, Jesus for him :)

Dad

Sunday is Father's Day... Well I hate to brag, but I got the best. Words are simply insufficient when it comes to how much this one man means to me. The heavenly Father sure showed His love to me by blessing me with this earthly Father. I am blessed to call him dad. And to call him literally at any moment and he is there. His love for me has given my confidence to do things I didn't think I could do. His love has given me security in who I am as a woman. His love brings me to tears. We have been through a lot together and he has been a blessing the whole way. He sounds a lot like someone else I know, named Jesus. (My dad is not Jesus) But he has shown me what it looks like to be like HIM... and for that I am forever grateful!
Thank you for the blessing you are to me everyday dad! I love you more then words.
Happy Father's Day!

pure excitement!

Wow! I am terrible at blogging... Good at reading others, but bad about keeping mine up... Oh well :)
So I can't sleep, so I thought I would do a quick catch up...
October 2...(I may have mentioned this once before:) best day of my life thus far... I got to marry this incredibly handsome man, who loves Jesus and loves me :)
Fast forward.... We spent Thanksgiving in Cortez, Colorado with his family... It was good, but hard being away from mine! Words cannot suffice for how thankful I am for my new family that God has blessed me with! I absolutely could not ask for better in-laws or a better bro and sis in-law... They are such a blast! I LOVE THEM!!! Curtis and I got home and put up Christmas decorations, and thanks to mom, we had a full house of them :) It was so cozy!

Fast forward....We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my brother, mom, and mike. I made Curtis' fav, chicken pot pie! We played games and enjoyed time together! My mom and I made cookies and home made cinnamon rolls... They turned out fabulous if you were wondering! :)

Rich, Cristie, and my bro stayed the night with us on Christmas Eve... and we all spend Christmas morning together! It was so nice to be home for our first Christmas together... the morning was the only time it felt like Christmas all season! Then RJ and Rach hosted Christmas day! We ate yummy food and played basketball because it was a good 50 degrees outside :) It didn't feel like Christmas, but I wasn't sad! Because Jesus is bigger then my feelings! Thank goodness!

So then on Sunday after church, Curtis and I rode up to Powderhorn with his parents! Powderhorn is the closest ski resort to us! We stayed up there until today! We had a blast skiing, eating, and playing games! We laughed so much!

We drove home today in a blizzard... I mean, of course there was no snow when we got home, but coming off the mountain was a white out!

Curtis and I put up all the Christmas decorations tonight and got everything cleaned up! Let me just brag on my incredible husband real quick... He is the biggest help ever... He did more then I could have asked of him! I am sooooo thankful for a man who does above and beyond!

Ok so, yes, it is almost one in the morning... but I CAN'T SLEEP... GUESS WHAT?!?!

JOHNNY, BROOKE, AND KINSLEY get here tomorrow afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are staying with us til Saturday and then we are all driving over to Denver to go to the last Bronco game of the season and staying with Brooke's parents! YAY!!!!!!!

And on that note... I am going to try to sleep again... wish me luck! God is soooo GOOD! Thank you Lord for your incredible blessings!!

Things are craaaazy right now!

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. We got married 12 days ago. It already seems like so long ago. Maybe because a lot has happened in the past couple weeks. Besides embarking on an incredible journey that the Lord has blessed me with, there have been a few other big things happen.

For our honeymoon, we went to Telluride, CO/ Mountain Village, CO. It was absolutely perfect. Everything about October 1-7 was indescribable. We had a about 190 guests at our stunning outdoor wedding. White tents, twinkle lights, in 75 degree weather, yummy food, dancing, with all (almost all) of my loved ones. Seriously, I do not know what more could a girl ask for? It was a perfect day.

We came back to reality, late Tuesday evening, to house full of presents and all of my things, still in boxes. Slightly overwhelming. :) Curtis and I, with the help of my sweet mom, are finally settled in to our great little condo. We are not completely done with things, but for now, it is perfect.

I got a very bitter sweet phone call last Thursday night. My Papa, who is very dear to me and my entire family, passed away. He went peacefully, but it was an incredibly emotional night. My mom and I drove as quickly as we could to say goodbye to him. His five children were there, along with me and a couple of my cousins. This may sound very strange, but there is something so precious about seeing grown children weep over their father, who is with the Father.

Through the deep sorrow with the loss of our grandpa, I just want to share what the Lord revealed to me the night before my Papa's funeral. He revealed it to me through a dream. The dream is vague, except for one part that is clear as clear can be; the part where I was watching my Papa run and jump with the biggest smile imaginable. He was free, free indeed. Thank You JESUS. Praise You Lord!!

On a completely different note, I am officially FULL time at work. So starting next week, I will have a solid 40 hour work week. Insane. It is a first for me. I feel incredibly blessed with this job and am so thankful that the Lord has me in this place.

It is the season to be thankful and that I am.

IM A FIANCE!!!!!!!

Hopefully all of you have heard by now but I AM ENGAGED to a wonderful, caring, sweet, man named Curtis, that loves me and loves the Lord! He cherishes me and treats me better then I could have imagined! He is a blessing from the Lord and I am so thankful for him! We are now a week into planning the wedding and I am already for it to be over because really all that matters to me is that I am marrying him :) But we are so excited to start life together and for all of you to be a part of this exciting new journey we are on! Thank you for all your love and support! I can't wait for you all to meet this awesome man!

exactly a year ago...

A year ago today I landed in Vienna to start the amazing race with about 70 other interns. We raced through 4 different countries in 3 days. It was absolutely incredibly. Little did I know that the next 7 months of my life would be a priceless journey. It is really emotional for me to think about those 7 months of my life in Slovenia. The blessings that came and are continuing to come from that journey are impossible to explain other then the fact that I have a Savior that loves me dearly. I am in tears thinking about the love that Jesus has for me. It is actually really hard for me to accept because I know more then anyone that I am unworthy of His love. And that is why it is called GRACE. Trying to think about how to put into words everything that Jesus did for me while I was in Slovenia is quite impossible, but I will name a few because I want Him to have all the glory!

The biggest most tangible blessing is Johnny and Brooke. I kinda absolutely hate not doing everyday life with them. They have been the the most influential people in my life in more ways then I can count. For me, they have set the bar for what marriage should look like, for standards to live by, and for loving people. We got the opportunity to be completely vulnerable with each other, and through their vulnerability, it allowed my eyes to be opened to things Christ needed me to see. This is all in addition to, the many hours of prayer, provision, love, and sacrifice, they made for me to spend 7 months in their home. And its just a blessing that they will forever be a huge part of my life. I could go on and on, but won't :) Only God knows how much He used them. I don't even know it all yet!

Second, would be probably be just the desire that God stirred in me. I can honestly say that my desire to do ministry was really a result of being in Slovenia. I love that I get to serve Christ and do ministry as my job! There is nothing I would rather do!

Another thing that is not quite as tangible, but just as real, is my security. And really I am probably the only one who can tell a real difference but I am way more secure and open about who I am. And being able to freely communicate in my relationships about who Christ is and what He has done in me, is changing me! I have a different kind of confidence then I have in the past.

So there a few significant blessing, but I don't know if that's even scratching the surface. I have tools now to fight the enemy that I didn't know before. And I have truth that continues to shape me today!

Wow... I am incredibly thankful for the Lord's goodness and grace!

good news!

I had a conversation with one of the most influential mentors in my life (misty jaggers) before I moved to Colorado in faith. (That was a lot of prepositions in one sentence and is probably a run-on sentence. I probably should have paid more attention in 6th grade when we learned about them... oh well)

Anyway, I remember saying to her, I am not sure what Colorado holds for me, but I am SURE God's plan is bigger and better then I can imagine! Well, to be completely honest, I haven't really felt that the past few months I have been here.... Until last Monday... The church offered me another day of work and free housing! Which is huge! It is a pay raise, but more then that, it means privacy, no more commuting, being able to get more of a consistent community and schedule, and being able to do so much more!!

So on top of all of these huge blessings, there is something more. A huge desire of my heart lately, about the past year or so, has been to be a part of resident life again. I miss college, dorm life, and just that dynamic kind of living. Ok I don't really miss the sharing a room in a dorm, but there is something that is so dynamic about it all. I have this desire to be a resident director one day. And that could be because my RD was and is one of the biggest blessings in my life. She has no idea how much the Lord has used her in my life over and over again!

Ok so all that to say that I will be in charge of 5 summer interns starting in May! I will have two girl interns and 3 guy interns living in the intern house with me. Don't worry, girls and guys are separated!! I AM SO EXCITED! When the position was offered to me, my heart immediately just jumped at the idea! So I told them I wanted to pray about it first, and I did, and accepted on Wednesday! I will be moving to Grand Junction around May 20th! YAY!!!

God is faithful, even when I am not. THANK YOU LORD! AMEN!