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1) For technology! I had a pretty amazing experience on Sunday where God really spoke through a pastor at a church I was visiting. While in Oklahoma visiting some friends I visited Antioch Norman. The worship was amazing (as in bring me to my knees amazing) and the visiting pastor called my name out of the pulpit and had a word from God for me. It was such a sweet and emotional service! I heard what God needed me to hear that morning. I love technology in that today I have gone back and listened to what the God had to say to me again and again. If you want to listen go here, he mentions me by name at about 13:15
2) For the love of arts and crafts! I spent some time at Hobby Lobby today getting fun stuff for some gifts for a bridal shower we are throwing for my dear friend Sarah. I'm so excited about what we are making. I will post pictures after October 15th. I love being able to be crafty and create something beautiflu!
3) I know I have said it before but I L-O-V-E when I can find cute shoes in my size! Here are my newest find! I saw these at ROSS, they did not have a pricetag or the price written on the bottom. I was worried they would be too much because they are Fossil. The lady told me they would be $26... I told her SOLD! I was at another ROSS later (I often frequent multiple when I'm looking for something!) and saw the same boots with a pricetag $49.99! I goggled them when I got home $149! I got a DEAL!
4) My bed! I have been sick the last few days and have spent much time in bed! I am thankful for a comfy bed with comfy covers and a dog who likes to cuddle with me! It helps to make feeling miserable a little bit better!
5) Good conservations with old friends. I have had a few good conservations with an old friend in the past week. You know someone is a good friend when they can tell you the things you don't want to hear because they know you need to hear it. I love what God is doing in my life and am amazed at how He is working in the lives of those around me. I am seeing prayers answered in my life and the lives of those I have been praying for! I love watching Him at work!
I got on today to write my Thankful for TODAY but really am just so overwhelmed with my thankfulness I have for my amazing friends. The last few days and weeks have been blessed with sweet friends. I was laying here thinking about all the amazing people that the Lord has brought into my life and know that those people are there for a reason. So today I am thankful for friends. I'm thankful for friends who live far away and yet still love me. My heart flutters a bit when I hear Sweet Home Alabama come out of my phone because I know it is a dear friend from Minnesota! I am thankful for the random calls (and sorry to all those I have not returned calls to... it's been a rough few weeks!). I am thankful for being able to spend time over a meal catching up with friends whom I haven't seen in a few weeks! I love being able to laugh and joke about life and talk about what God is doing. I'm thankful for friends who help me to seek the Lord! I am thankful for friends I have known my entire life and who I can pick right back up with after not seeing each other for months (but will see this weekend)! I am thankful for restored friendships! I am thankful for the friend who spoke hard truth into my life last week when I really didn't want to hear it! I am thankful for girls who I can be real with, fallen on my knees crying out and who choose to walk through it with me. I am thankful for the friends who tell me (and show me) that I am worthy! I am thankful for friends who speak my love language to me. I am thankful for the friends who open their arms to me. I am thankful for the friends who pursue my heart. I am thankful for the friends who pray for me! I am just thankful to be able to call so many amazing people my friends! Thank you so much for living life with me and loving me well!
One of the above mentioned amazing friends sent me a text today that was so sweet to my heart! This is one of the many reasons why I am thankful for her friendship...
"Jen sought the Lord, and He answered her and delivered her from all her fears. She looked at Him and she was radiant, and her face shall never be ashamed. Jen cried and the Lord heard her and saved her out of her troubles. The angel of the Lord goes with her, encamps her as she respects the Heavenly Father! ~Psalm 34-4-7; adapted a bit ;-)"
Well it's been awhile, 45 days infact since I last wrote. Life has been CRAZY! But in the midst of that has been really good. I'll give y'all some of the highs and lows of the last 45 days...
HIGH: August 5th was my first day "offically" in my new position at work. I even have a name plate outside my door Jennifer Smith, LMSW MCOT Team Leader It's been a good transition. I have been learning more and more about what type of supervisor I desire to be (and not to be). I've really enjoyed having a team and running the program! LOW: Within my first two weeks I had to fire someone, welcome to the world of being a supervisor!
HIGH: I was able to spend a long weekend in Minnesota with my best friend Emily and her family. I was able to meet my sweet little Olivia and just had a great relaxing time with people so dear to my heart! We spent time at the house playing, went on a boat ride down the Mississippi and went to a Twins game! LOW: I sprained my ankle the day before I left for Minnesota. I had to keep my foot wrapped and was on pain meds the entire time I was in Minnesota.
HIGH: The book THE HELP, I spent a good amount of time on my trip to Minnesota reading and read the book THE HELP. It was such a good book. I have always enjoyed reading and sadly have not had much time over the past few years to read for fun. This was a great book! I highly recommend it! LOW: The fact that you just cannot put all the information of a book into a movie. The day I finished the book I went and saw the movie THE HELP. It was a good movie but there was so much good stuff left out!
HIGH: The changing of seasons! It is official... 2011 has been the hottest summer in the history of Texas! We have had 70 days that have reached over 100 degrees! I am so glad for cooler weather and long for fall to get here! We have gotten glimpses of temps under 100 and I'm so excited for more! LOW: With the changes in the weather and it being SO dry out, my allergies have kicked in high gear. My eyes are watery and itchy and my throat has gone from scratchy to almost unbearable! I have not been able to swallow with any amount of comfort for 4 days now!
HIGH: It's Football Season!!!! LOW: I can't think of a low about it being Football season! :-)
So anyhow that is about it! Not to much has gone on because I've been so busy at work. Things are finally settling down and I am finding that I have more time which is great. I have time to do fun things like read, take Daisy to the dog park and maybe even go on a date! Hopefully you will hear from me again before another 45 days goes by...
1) Cheap American Airlines tickets!
2) I get to go "HOME" in 31 days!
3) I get to see my best friend and her husband in 31 days!
4) I get to meet my sweet little Olivia in 31 days!
5) In 31 days I get to leave town and just relax for a few days with people I love!
Oh right this is suppose to be a blog about living in the here and now and what I am thankful for today....
I am just so excited to go to Minnesota in 31 short days. I haven't been home in over a year and half and my soul longs for good ol' Minnesota time. While today was a good day and there are many things to be thankful for, I will write about those another day because today my heart is overflowing with joy about going home! Being in Minnesota typically brings me such peace and rest and I'm excited to have that after these last few months. I am still praying that by that time I will be about two weeks into a new job (speaking of which, I got a call today that puts me one step closer to that!!) and I will be in need of a break. So today I am thankful for my roots! I am thankful to call myself a Minnesotan and while I may never physically live in that state again a piece of my heart will always reside there!
I have had such a lazy weekend and it has been great! It has been 7 days since I've worked (I was sick Tuesday & Wednesday and I had already planned on taking Thursday and Friday off), I spent the majority of those days in bed or just not really feeling well. On Thursday my friend Melissa and her husband Ben stopped off in Fort Worth on their cross country move. Thursday we went to the Twins game and sadly the Rangers won. On Friday we had a lazy morning reading and drank warm drinks and then headed out to lunch. As they left I headed back to the bed to continue to rest! Then I packed up and got ready for Girl-a-palooza. Kati, Erin & I headed out the lake where we spent the day floating on our rafts, eating Mexican food, watching the fireworks and just talking girl talk. We headed back to Kati's from there and watched the all time chick flick... Dirty Dancing! It was such a good day!
On my way home on Saturday I stopped off at Half-Priced Books and picked up two new reads. I spent the afternoon reading until a friend called and took me to supper. After a great supper I came back and picked up the book. I was reading gods in Alabama It was one of those I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN type of books and it was 1:57am when I turned the last page! This morning I got a text from a friend asking to meet for breakfast which was great. The rest of the day was spent in bed reading Between, Georgia, napping and just being lazy. It's been a great weekend. I'm excited to get back to work tomorrow and see what the week holds.
I know that through this blog I try to remind myself to live in the here and now, but there are some things about the future that I have been praying a lot about lately.... The possibility of a job that allows me to have the months of June, July and August off, and really what this next year and years to come are going to look like as many of the people I love are moving away and life is changing. I am also looking for and planning trips to see some of the people I love and miss the most (namely Em and Les). I'm excited about what God is going to do in the months/years to come, but to be totally honest I'm kinda scared about all that I don't know...
1) Emily Waterston Heinis! Today she joined us in the 30's club. It's been a fun club to be a part of so far. Emily and I have been friends for 25 years! We played softball together as little kids. We have lots of fun memories of times spent by the lake and our crazy antics as 10 year old girls. Over there years we have stayed close friends and she has become more of a sister to me. This year she had a cute little baby girl who will one day call me Aunt Jen. I am so thankful for this sweet friendship! I love you Em!
2) Having the ability to stay home from work and still get paid. I woke up this morning and it felt as though I had been hit by a MAC truck, granted I have never really been hit by a MAC truck, but I am guessing that it would feel much like how I was feeling this morning. My whole body just was achy and I had a pretty high fever. It felt as though I was going to fall apart, every movement I made cause me great pain... So I stayed home, stayed in bed most of the day and will hopefully wake up renewed tomorrow (I find this unlikely to happen since it's 11:12 pm and I still feel like poo)
3) Orange Juice. When I was growing up my dad did not believe in taking medicine and therefore my brother and I never took any medicine. I mean we got our shots as needed but when we got a cold or the flu he would not give us medicine, instead he would buy us some orange juice and tell us that would make us feel better. It always seemed to work... so this morning what did I do? I went and bought some Orange Juice! And in the moment it really did make me feel better! I have come to really appreciate how much vitamin C (and other vitamins) can make me feel so much better. So today I am thankful for orange juice, even though I am not totally better, I will credit it for helping me get back to being 100%
4) The Internet! Today between my numerous naps I had to fill the time somehow. Remember how I said it hurt to move, well I tried to do as little as possible of that. The Internet allowed me to continue to lay in bed, not move very much and still be entertained for hours. I browsed though numerous websites, caught up on everyone lives via Facebook, looked up airfare for (near) future trip and even ordered Rangers Twins tickets for this Thursday night's game (more about that to come!). The Internet has allowed me to stay connected to the world when it hurts too bad
5) Yahweh (Self-Existent One), Elohim (Mighty, Strong, Prominent One), Adonai (Master) and Rishon Va-Acharon (The First and the Last)! I told you that I started a new Bible study Know God by Name, well these were the first 4 names I have learned about. It has been such a good study so far. I love learning more about God and what the Bible says about who He is. It's amazing to look at all the different names He has and how they all mean something. I am so thankful for Kati and Erin who continue to walk through life with me and am thankful that we can jump into this study together. My goal is to never fall behind. There is 7 weeks in the study and each week is broken up into 5 days. My goal is to get all five done within the week and never to have to do more then one session in a day. If I am able to do this, it will be a first....
These last two weeks have been so very busy! I feel as though I have had little to no free time. Today was the first time I got home from work while there was still day light out and it just seems as though time has once again slipped away from me. I spent some time tonight thinking about this time last summer and how crazy busy I was. I was working 40+ hours a week, taking two classes and doing 23 hours a week at my internship... CRAZY! As full as these last couple of weeks have been, it's been a good full, a good crazy. I'm filling my time with things I enjoy and people I love. I have worked almost a 100 hours in the last two weeks but I've also been able to so things that were fun (and some things that needed to be done) here is a recap of the last few weeks and a few of the highlights (and lowlights)....
* Spent time with sweet friends as we watched our beautiful friend Sarah try on wedding dresses for her big day on 11/11/11 followed by a day spent with those same sweet friends trying on bridesmaid dresses. Both dresses were found and purchased... you'll have to wait 3 1/2 months to see pictures though!
*I over 9 hours in the car with Sarah in one day as we made a day trip to Oklahoma to scout out potential wedding venues (which we were successful in finding!)
* I have spent some time at the pool with a new friend and her daughter. I love new friends! It's always fun to see who God brings into my life!
* Cried over not getting the job that I was so hopeful for
* Rejoiced when another position opened and I applied for it! Praying this is the reason the other ones did not work out.
* Did my laundry and realized that I have the same shirt in 16 different colors! It's the boyfriend pocket V-neck Tee from Target and I L-O-V-E them! Side note: I made a trip to target this evening to get some necessities (toilet paper if you must know) and saw that the new colors of the shirt are out. There is a mustard yellow color that I loved. I restrained, but I have a good feeling that I may soon have 17 (or 18 or 19) of the same shirt in different colors in the near future!
* I have stayed out way past my bedtime this week. Last night Kati and I went to go see The Howell's (one of the bands that Kati's boyfriend is a member of) play at a bar nearby. We stayed till the end (Again us roadies give up a lot for the band!). Erin ended up joining us and it was such a fun time.
* It has been record highs hot outside lately! One of the many downsides to this fact is that it is so hot to let Daisy play outside for long. She has been HYPER lately. I took her outside tonight after dark and she ran and ran and ran! I love summer but I am looking forward to Fall and cooler weather!
* Because I have been working crazy hours I don't get home in time to watch the all important TV shows. I canceled my cable about 3 months ago because I rarely watched it and I figured I would save money BUT I forgot that So You Think You Can Dance comes on in the summer. Well FOX has joined the bandwagon and started showing there shows online. I love it, I can now catch up on SYTYCD and not miss the amazing routines!
* Many of my other hours have been spent browsing on my new favorite website www.Pinterest.com I have and will continue to spend hours on this site finding new things!
*Tonight I started a new Bible study. I think I'm gonna like it... I can tell you more about it later....
So that's about it.... my life over the last couple of weeks.
