Wonder Wednesday

I Wonder:

1.  I wonder why it seems that some women can get pregnant with a snap of their finger and others don't get pregnant so fast.

2.  I wonder how some people can still be gracious in the face of adversity.

3.  I wonder why it seems like evil people live longer than some seemingly good people.

4.  I wonder why God loves me so much. His Word tells me so, I know, but there are still times I wonder (He's so awesome!)

5.  I wonder sometimes that if the stars we see are just peepholes into Heaven.

6.  I wonder what my husband is thinking when he just stares into space.

7.  I wonder how Nala is doing right now.

8.  I wonder if I'll ever make it a habit of just getting up early to do the things I need to with time to spare before work.

9.  I wonder what my husband is doing right now.

10.  I wonder what I will be making first with my new sewing machine :)

Thankful Tuesday

I'm thankful for:

1.  For a husband who knows the Lord and knows what's right.

2.  For understanding parents who have learned when to give advice and when to listen.

3.  For forgiving friends, who love me still .

4.  For money to take care of Nala when she needs it most like tomorrow when she has surgery :(

5.  For another Christmas day that the Lord allowed me to see.

6.  For a sewing machine that my husband graced me with on Christmas day.

7.  For beautiful weather outside...even if it's just a tad cold.

8.  For contacts that I can sleep in up to a week!

9.  For when the time goes by really fast at work so that I can get home :)

10.  For curly hair :)



Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Everybody! I'm sorry that I don't have a picture this time around to show you that we have taken for our first Christmas :( That's a shame..maybe next year!

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Please remember why we celebrate. Whether you are with your extended family, immediate family, or just your friends this year, let's remember to celebrate Christ! He loves you!



Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for:

1.  My husband, who almost two months ago said, "I Do" to me and I to him. Amazing Day! He loves me though I'm sure I get on his nerves sometimes ;)

2.  For blogs to read. There are so many encouraging blogs out there!

3. For in-laws who love me and have welcomed me into their family.

4.  For wonderful parents, who love and encourage me. And despite difficult times and because of wonderful times have been married for 37 years and who are thoroughly grateful for each other! They give glory to God :)

5.  For sisters, who love me and they are quite cute :)

6.  For my few and faithful friends who have stuck with me through it all. Some of which include Hillary, Kaja, and Maria!

7.  For my job and that we are not particularly busy this time of year. And I have to say, YAY for Student Assistants who have helped lessen the load of my job. Thanks Amanda!

8.  That it is a quiet day in the office. Kind of ear ringing quiet...oh well, no complaints here!

9.  For gel nail polish, so that I won't have to worry about my nail polish chipping for at least another week or so!

10.  Should have been first, but as they say, I'm "saving the best for last": Thank You Lord for keeping me this year and loving me through my pitifullness, my sin and making me whole through Your forgiveness. Thank You for showing me everday that You are present, You are my Deliverer, and my Faithful Father!

Think on these things..

I'm fighting a cold...I'm punching it in the face with Vitamin C and when I get home, some more rest!

I'm also fighting ignorant thoughts that run through my head...they come in the form of prejudices, lies, etc. Things like, "does my husband really love me", "he probably thinks I'm lazy", "so and so doesn't like me", "why didn't they ask ME to lunch", all very self centered.
In the midst of all these thoughts, I decided to go to the window and take a look outside and PRAY. I asked the Lord to please help me to cleanse my mind of all those stupid thoughts and fill it with something good. Sounds kind of New Agie...but it's not.

Get this, I have a choice to think on those things that I know to be true and all of that mixed with faith trusting those things to be true. One verse that comes to mind to remind me encourage me to think on such things is:

Philippians 4:4-8

 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. 

It starts with rejoicing in the Lord, then praying about everything, and ends with thinking on those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable (anything excellent or praiseworthy).

You know what I think that happens when I start to think that way, I start to feel a bit better too! :)

The Art of Getting Pregnant

"I'M PREGNANT!!"

A friend announced to many of us in Facebook Land. "What?!" I thought. "I had no idea!" Yes, I am SO happy for her though!

Months before getting married, my then fiance and I had talked about when we wanted to start a family. He said, he wanted to start as soon as possible (after we get married). I said, I want to wait at least a year, you know to get to know you better. Back and forth for about a minute or two we went. He then said, You don't have a year. Meaning: You're getting old. Touche!

And that I am...well back in the day, I thought I would be married by age 23. But looking back, I'm so glad that I wasn't. There was so much to learn and so many bad mistakes to be made. Now I'm perfect! Wrong, again!

Every month almost, granted it's only been a few months already, I've been like, am I pregnant? Even husband has asked that a couple of times. It kind of got to the point that one night I was so irritated that I started my period that I was like really. But then I was reminded to, "ENJOY your husband, ENJOY the time you have with him." - Be Grateful

So here we are, leaving this up with God and doing things that married folks do (I know what you're thinking, but ....) and seeing what happens.

Getting pregnant is truly an art. God knows what He is doing.

Read Psalm 139

Psalm 139- New International Version (NIV)

 

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.  ¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.
 ¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

*Highlights are mine...

Happy 37th Wedding Anniversay to Dad and Mom

Don't they look cute with children?! Those children are Jonathan and Benjamin and I got the pleasure of babysitting them for about two years! And most recently with my darling Adam, as a MARRIED couple! Spectacular, huh? I can't wait to see mom and dad with our children and their grandchildren.

Okay, I digress. It is going to be their 37th wedding anniversary tomorrow, December 14, 2011! And as dad said, just today, "I could not have married a better woman!" You got that right dad!

They just got back from a week of bliss from their cruise in Hawaii...lucky ducklings! And that was just like only a few months after taking a cruise in Alaska! And not to mention, seeing their first born, ME, get married to my wonderful husband, J Fizzle, I mean, Adam.

I can truly say, that my parents are for sure in love! I know that they have always loved each other, though as a teenager I wondered through my teenage senses, were they going to make it. Well, having 3 beautiful teenage daughters is enough to send any man over the edge! I mean can you imagine living in the house with 4 women and their cycles? Okay, okay....BUT despite, the time of the month, the time of the year, or the season in their lives, they kept on persevering and best of all kept PRAYING!
In the midst of friend's parents who have been married 25 years and then getting divorces for one reason or another, I can only say THANK YOU JESUS because, it was YOU  that gave my parents the grace and the stamina to keep going! Oh there were hard times, believe you them, but there were also good times and now even better times, kind of like how some wine gets better with age or like how my husband puts it, "the spaghetti sauce gets better as the spices marinade together" (or something like that).

So my parent's marriage has only gotten better. I remember my dad telling us the story that included something like, "Divorce will never be part of our vocabulary." And that stuck with me, though at times, like I said, in my child like way, I was scared. But thanks be to God, who gives us everything we need to make it!

I just want to say again, Happy Anniversary to my young looking parents (I think that comes from taking care of themselves and especially each other) and many more!

Love,

Your Firstborn

When you say those words....to my husband, Adam

Dear Adam,

When we first started dating, I wondered why it seemed you didn't talk a lot except about things that really got your gut (I probably wasn't really hearing you). I thought I wanted a guy who talked a lot and we'd talk for hours and hours, getting to know each other and blah, blah, blah.

Well, in my insecurity I thought, "he's not really interested in me". Little did I know I was wrong.

You see, as time went on, I came to find that when you say something like, "I love you" or "I like that dress on you" or "you're beautiful", you meant it. I also found that when we are with a big group of people, you would stand back and take in the crowd and find someone to talk to that you might connect with; you aren't one of those hob nobbers, yappity, yap, have-to-be-the-center-of-attention guys.

The more that I saw this is in you, the more I came to appreciate it and thank God for that. One of the reasons being, I use to date someone who was a yapper and had to be the center of attention. Come to think of it, I dated at least two guys like that. And I thought to myself at one time or another with both, that if I were to end up married to them, I would be one miserable woman.

I am so grateful to God that He chose you for me. I still wonder why He chose to be so gracious to me but I'm grateful.

When you talk, you really want to talk and it's meaningful even if it is just surfacey things. When you say you love me, I know you mean it. I know this because you show me in a variety of ways.

Just the other day, a lady from an organization who works with the UN came to the door asking for donations. Well, if I answered the door I would have been, "um, sorry not at this time". But you stood there and listened to her. Not only that but you conversated with her in a relational way and also compassionate saying, "I wish I could help you out but I don't agree with some of the things that the UN does" and "I think what you're doing is great but is there a way I can do it online" and after she kind of stressed "well we can get your info", you nicely declined. You talked to her like you care.

Thank you for being a loving, affectionate, sincere husband and lover to me. Thank you for continuing to teach me through your life, what loving God and others is like.

Love,

Your Honey

Early to bed, early to rise...

Just makes a person plain tired.

I know that's not how the saying goes but that's how I felt, this morning.

My husband happens to be part of our Elite military...he's a Sailor! And a handsome and faithful one at that! Because he has the job he does, he has to get up even before the crack of dawn. Which means, I'm up with him...kind of.

The first several days of him being back from being out to sea and coming home, I would get up with him in the morning. He would ask me, "Why are you up?" I wouldn think with pride, "I'm being a loving wife....." Then I would think, "Don't get used to it..." That's mean! Cause I know Adam would do almost anything for me! But he would tell me, "You don't  have to Honey...go back to sleep." I'm sure he would, if I asked him to. Then I would think of my mother who is one of the sweetest women I know and wondered, "What would my mother do? Probably get up and make dad his breakfast and lunch. Then go talk to our heavenly Father."

When Adam and I were dating, we would stay up until all hours of the night, sometimes. He would look tired and say he's not but just wanted  me to be close. While watching a movie, him or I would eventually fall asleep on the couch. Usually, I would! There were times though he would be like, "It's time for you to go" so he could get some sleep.  Me, being somewhat of a night person was like, "he must be a morning person because he gets tired around like 8pm".

Now that I'm his wife, it really hit me this morning. "Now I know why you have to go to bed so early!" I told him. He was like, "Yeah..."

At night, he usually reaches out for me during the night and takes me into his arms. I love that, but either he or I will get super hot and we'll just end up holding each others hands or touching a leg or something just to be close. I think we are both grateful for a ceiling fan! But waking up at various hours of the night makes for a somewhat interrupted sleep. I THINK I'm still getting use to sharing a bed, though I love that I get to sleep in a bed with him, my husband :) *giggle, giggle* So when he does get up, at 4 o'clock in the morning, "I'm like, already?" Then I think of the widows whose husbands are no longer with them, wishing they had just one more night. (Oh the things that run through my head!)

I love my husband! I get to sleep with a man I'm married to!

I would complain and be "real" right now. But I guess when it comes to going to bed early and getting up early, I'll just have to learn to adjust and I get to do that for all of our earthly, married life. And for that I am grateful! I still have my husband!

Now do your remember the last part of that saying...well, here it goes....

Makes a person, healthy, wealthy, and wise!



From a tired but so- in- love- with- her husband- wife.

P.S. Yes, I know you're waiting on our wedding story blog....give it time :)

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

As of November 9th, 2011, my name was logged into the County Recorder's records with my new official name! I ordered our marriage license and thank God (literally!) it came quick and fast without any hiccups (as I have read from others)! Yay!

And on another note, I know I need to finish my wedding story and I will, but I just want to say that I love Adam more and more.

I called him today on his cell phone to welcome him home and to give him the good news that we have our license in. So the phone rang like three times and I thought he picked up and so I waited for him to say hello. Well, he didn't. So I just waited on the line. I almost hung up but I'm glad I didn't. Because what I heard melted my heart, REALLY! I heard different sounds as if he were walking, I heard people talking, and in the midst of the muffles, I heard him clearly ask someone to take him downtown (where I work). The conversation went something like this: "Hey give me a ride!" (Adam) "Where?" (co-worker) "Downtown." "Downtown?" "Yes, downtown!" "Why downtown?" "Because my wife is downtown!" "Who?" "My wife is downtown!"

He said, "My Wife....." *SIGH*

My Husband! I love him!

Mrs.- Part 1

I'm a Mrs. now!

For all of my life until a little less than a month ago, I was called Miss April....now I'm Mrs. April.....

Wow! I hope I don't get use to that.

Where do I even start? Our day was more than I could have hoped for or wished! The day was very close to perfect and I would not change a thing. Before I got married, I heard brides being so stressed out that couldn't remember their day, then you hear of the bridezillas, the families who fight at weddings, etc. But I prayed and made up in my mind that I was going to be very present during the day! I almost couldn't believe that I was getting married. I was waiting for someone to say, "CUT! That's a wrap! Thanks for coming in to film! SEE YOU TOMORROW!" But no, that didn't happen! And I'm glad we are living this reality.

Well, I'll just tell you about what I remember about the week. I will add a bit more pictures later!

The weekend before our wedding, I moved out of my apartment with the help of some wonderful friends! They were truly a blessing! My sister was amazed at the cool friends that I have and I think she was encouraged also that there are some pretty amazing friends to be had out there. So they moved most everything me and Adam's new place in which he would live in that week. That was Saturday the 22nd. The next day Sunday, after church, we got to show mom and dad our new place. They were pleased to say the least! Then later that day, after much procrastination, I went back to my old place and started cleaning up, thinking that I had to be thorough with cleaning, it was a daunting task. And all of my frustrations and exhaustion was lifted when I called my manager and asked her if she could use my deposit money to hire a cleaning service. To my delight, she said that she wouldn't use my money for that and that she was going to have someone come and clean the place anyways, just make sure all the trash is removed. DUDE! Do you know how many hours I could have saved, if I would have listened to Adam when he told me that? Seriously, I love that man!

So Adam came over later with his truck and helped tear down the desk and help load the rest of my stuff. In the meantime, as he was tearing down the desk, I wanted to go to the Goodwill to drop off stuff and he said, why don't you just leave it with your manager and I was like that's not going to work (she owns a consignment ship). He said, why don't you just leave it here and whatever she doesn't want she'll throw away. By then I was frustrated because I wanted to do things the way I wanted to do them. I loaded the stuff in the truck, drove away to the Good will only to find out that they had been closed since probably  like 6pm and I was not about to get out with a few homeless men around and in the dark too? No way! So with a hole punctured into my pride, I drive back. He asked what happened and I told him....I should have listened. I was really learning some things about marriage that night and submission and that I'm not always right...ouch!  I wanted to be mad at him but then I didn't. I asked God to help me. Adam later came over and asked what was wrong and I said I was frustrated, he said at him. I said  a little and I'm sorry. He just took me into his arms and kissed me and hugged and said it was all going to be all right.

This blog posting is going to be a few parts, I see. I don't want to bore you to tears. So until next blog, don't take your loved ones for granted, especially those that are so good to you!

Here's to NEW BEGINNINGS!

Two. more. weeks tomorrow!!!

And we're Mr. & Mrs.!

I can't wait!

I really can't. During this time of waiting, hanging out, planning, cuddling, looking into each others eyes, talking about hard things, etc. I can't wait to become Mrs. M!

I am doing my best to pray our way to the altar. There are a lot of distractions to be had but God is faithful, He will carry us through. There are things too personal for me to write here, things that are only know between me and God, me, God, and Adam. But I know that there are people praying for us.

On another note, there are so many things that still need to be done but done they will get and even if we don't get EVERYTHING done, it will be okay. Because when it is all said and done, we will be ONE under God.

Until then and after then, we will celebrate!

What's in store next, hmmm...Lingerie/Bachelorette party, Adam's birthday, getting my hair done, moving!

Thank You Lord for carrying us through! Amen!

Are you choosing to live Courageous?

I have this name card on the cubicle wall of my desk with my name. It says, APRIL "New Life". The verse on the card says, "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

For a lot of my life, I have been somewhat of a fearful person. I remember going through times of extreme fear, latest episode last year. It wasn't just one fear but a host of fears. It started from feeling like the Holy Spirit left me and all down hill it went. I feared that I would die and go to hell. I feared that I wouldn't get married. I feared that my soon to be husband, only somewhat of a friend (because I broke up with him) was going to run away and marry my sister, and on the list went.

I don't even know where to start, where I had to learn not to let feeling of fear control me. I know a lot of that fear also came not just because of the feeling that I felt like the Holy Spirit left me (inspite of the encouragement that "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you....I am with you always; and "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world"), but I started to doubt God's love for me. I also know, that a lot of that came because of my ignorant rebellious attitude. Maybe I'll share that painful story later.

Slowly and slowly still, despite myself, God has shown Himself to be a faithful and loving Father. Showing me His love in His discipline and His grace. Throughout this past year, I have seen how He has continued to show His presence to me by "the good and perfect gifts" that could only have come from Him or by a word of encouragement and word of wisdom.

Though my faith is not perfected yet but He who has begun a good work in me is faithful to complete it and I can trust in Jesus, the Perfector and Finisher, of my faith.

Last night Adam and I went to go watch the movie, Courageous, which I HIGHLY encourage you to go and watch. Everyone, I mean, Everyone, can take a lesson away from what you have seen. I don't want to spoil it for you.

But it encouraged me and I know it also encouraged Adam.

So again we are reminded now, as God encouraged Joshua then, "to be Strong and Courageous"!

Today is Officially 30 days!

And Counting Down!!! Yay!

And then I will be a MRS.! I wish I could think of a cool word play, but unfortunately, my mind runs blank on creativity.

Oh well!

I'll just let the whole reading world know:

I LOVE YOU, ADAM!

I Had Stars In My Eyes

But only for several brief moments...

So I'm sure the whole United States knows about the casting call for all Military Spouses in San Diego. There is a new show that these producers want to put out called (something along the lines of) Military Wives of San Diego.

I admit that when I was told about this by my co-worker who saw it on the news, I was like, oooo....aaaahhhh. Just think, Adam and I on T.V.

So I went to their website and started filling out their online application. In the meantime, another co-worker came over and started chatting. After we talked, I went back to typing out my application, answering the question, in a normal day, what does my life look like. Typing it out, sounds boring, but it is so much more than I can convey on paper without going into too many details.

I decided on that question to take a little break and text my Baby and one of my best friends. My friend, who is an actress and new director, texted me back with a verbal slap on the head with the statistics...75% of couples on reality t.v. shows lives turn into ruin, do you really want cameras in your face...ending with a #justhelpingasisterout (I can't even type that without wanting to put spaces in between).

So Babes did not respond back, maybe it's been a long day for him, I don't know.

Well, needless to say, I stopped filling out the application, started floating back to reality and here I am. One thing I forgot to tell you is that somewhere in between the stars and clouds, I thought, "I didn't even pray or ask God what He thinks."

I think I know.

38 and counting down!

Yay! We are counting down the days until we become Mr. & Mrs! I had this made by one of our friends:

And that's what we are becoming: ONE.

Yesterday, my heart beat a little faster for the man I'm falling in love with. We are, well he is looking into buying a house and me, I'm just satisfied with renting. I've been renting since I was 23 years old. Now I'm a bit older and I haven't given much thought to buying or owning a place.  But yesterday, I entered a whole new world, again, with my Baby. Despite myself, he patiently showed me what the cost of a house entails, along with those extra payments like lights, sewage, trash, etc. You know, those things that you really don't have to worry about when you're a renter.

You ask,  "why does your heart beat a little faster"? Well, in spite of my slight protests in buying a house and not having reached that "big girl" status of wanting to buy a house, he showed me like I stated before, patiently what a house entails and all that fun stuff. It was his PATIENCE that he showed to me. He didn't blow off the handle, make exasperated sounds, or roll his eyes. I could have hugged him and more!

There is so much to love about him. When I get frustrated at some things he may do, I ask the Lord to help me and He does to see clearly.

Thank you Lord, for such a manly man, who is human, who honest, who is loving, who is patient, and who is HANDSOME!

Lights off, light on, my Sailor is home!

My Sailor is home! Yay! The days leading up to his arrival were surreal and I'm glad that they went fast!

The day before he got home, all the power in San Diego and beyond went Kaputz! I had just left my office a little early for the weekend. Later I heard that my office mates got together to figure out what they were going to do. My boss made a comment along the lines that all my love for Adam must have sucked out all the power! At the time the power went out, I had just walked into the nail salon to get pampered and a half minute later, the power goes out. I said to myself, I know I don't have all that power. All the excitement that all the loved ones had that was building up for the ship to come home, must have turned out all the power. I say that in jest of course *smile*

But it did make for an interesting night. After finally getting off the back to back traffic that the 5 had to offer, I got off and went to Target to go try to find a bra to wear under my dress. Thankfully, when I arrived they were still opened. They had back up generators. Yay, Target! I talked to my sister while in there and she encouraged me to get some non-spoiling food. I kind of shrugged the suggestion off but then thought about it again and picked up some tuna and corn *smile again*

Afterwards, I came home and what better thought than to eat and then wash my car while there was still light. So that's what I did. Granted the sun started to go down as I dried off my car but that's okay. It made for a more intimate night...ha ha ha!

There was kind of a camaraderie that I felt with all the lights being shut off. My neighbor, the live in maintenance man he is, bought a battery to connect a light to, so that there would be some light outside. He found some people kind of checking out the place and told them to scram. He had in mind that there was going to be a lot of looting, which thankfully there wasn't. When I arrived at the front door to the stairs of my apartment, there was light! It was coming from some candles that someone thoughtfully put into some carefully nailed sconces on the wall. Then as I walked up the stairs, there were some random candles lit, here and there. How nice!

I went inside my HOT apartment and scrounged up some candles of my own. My neighbor/maintenance man let me borrow a flashlight. I was like, I hope I don't have to get ready by flashlight in the morning. Because I was going to leave THAT early in the morning to go see the ship with my Baby and his mother coming on it!

Since there were no real distractions, including Internet and all the other electronic distractions like t.v., I got to clean my place a little bit. Good thing I scrubbed the floors the night before! I also got to work on finishing my homecoming dress for Adam's homecoming, all under the light of flashlight and candlelight. That should be a song.

It was hot! But thankfully my complex is small enough to where I feel safer leaving the door open. Like I said earlier, it's times like these that you feel closer to your neighbors. Though I don't know my neighbor across the way and we have only passed a hi here and there, both of our doors were opened. It felt safe. She seems nice enough, at least to the guys in our complex...maintenance man and artist guys. Oh well.

It's amazing how relaxed your body feels when there is no artificial light to keep you awake. It was actually a nice, relaxing night. I could only imagine if I was distracted, how irritated I would have possibly been for Adam's homecoming.

Considering the short amount of sleep I got, I was surprisingly, okay. I went to bed like at 11 or so and my body woke up around 3:15am or 3:30am. And my body woke up because to my wonderful surprise the power had come back on. Yay! After using the restroom,  I made myself lay back down until at least 4am.

Since I had no idea how traffic was going to be that morning, I eventually popped out of bed and started getting ready. After my shower, I put on my homemade dress and after putting on some jewelry and fixing my dress, I was out the door about 5:30am. Surprise, surprise, no traffic!!!

I zoomed my little self to base, I didn't have a hard time getting onto base. After walking through the magnetometer and being complimented on my dress (thank you Sailor), I walked to my spot! At first, I was going to go where it was most crowded and maybe get on t.v. (ha ha) but it ended up being good for all of us family that I stayed put, by the barrier, by the fence.

While standing there, there was this lady who smiled and then we started talking. She was a mom (I thought she was a wife of one of the Sailors) and her son and husband were on the ship. Her son, a Pilot, her husband, a Tiger. We talked from the time I got there, until my family started coming, my friend Ciera, and then the ship! Yay! This mom, her name is Julie has four children with her husband. In which 3 of the 4 got married withing 8 months. My parents think they are going nuts, try that on for size. And one of the daughters tried on 100 dresses!!

Anyways, as Sailors, happily got off the boat, I watched families and couples as they reunited. Kisses, hugs, long embraces. Daddies meeting their babies for the first time, children running to hug daddy. All precious sites. Most of them in their whites and don't forget our Marines their uniforms. But I was looking for only one Sailor.

Finally, the time came, there on top of the stair case we saw Adam's mom's hat as they made their way out of the hangar bay onto the stairs. Adam couldn't get down fast enough. He got to the bottom of the stairs, he started walking fast, then started running with his huge, green seabag on his back, like a true trusty, shell back! I wanted to kiss him at the fence but we both had to go around. FINALLY! He dropped his sea bag, handed me a single rose and took me into his arms and kissed me and I kissed him. Over and over...

My Sailor is home...

And that is where I will stop this lovely story. The story continues and we are on our way toward a new life together. My heart is happy! I love you Adam!

Pictures speak a lot of words...

So I decided to take a break from work to look at wedding photos of other peoples weddings to get some more ideas for my photographers for me and A.J.'s (my Prince) wedding. I love the creativity of some photographers, how they can capture so much in pictures.

As I looked, I came across one picture that when I just looked at the thumbnail, it looked liked the bride was kissing her mother on the cheek as a way to honor her mom. But then I opened it up to see that she was leaning down to kiss the precious wrinkled face of her grandmother. It took me aback just a little bit and made me wish that my grandmother. Made me wish that she was here to see me walk down the aisle to such a wonderful man. She would be proud.

I know she's with Jesus and I could go the way of "she's looking down from heaven" but I won't.

I know this sounds selfish but I wish she could be here just for that one day to see one of her grandbabies get married. But she won't.

So I'll just enjoy the family and friends who will be there and look forward to what "Precious Moments" my photographers will take.

Two months to go!!

To My Baby

I'm your Honey

And you are my Baby,

You are my Man

And I am your Lady.

My eyes are brown,

Your eyes are blue.

I'm looking forward to the day

We say, "I DO!"

I LOVE YOU ADAM!

Time is ticking away....

For those of you who know DC Talk, oh back in the day, say the 90s, then you know who they are. Hence, the title of the blog...now I bet you have the song singing in your head.

Well, I thought I would take a quick break to write just a little bit. Just a little bit because my day at work is almost over. Yay!

After reading several blogs, I thought I should write.

So the plans of the wedding continue! And the Lord has blessed me with new ideas here and there. So for my table decorations, I decided to make tree pomanders. A lot of work but I saw an almost finished product that my mother put together at their house. It was cute! All that was needed was to put the "moss" into the terra cota pot.

In our office we shred documents. For security reasons, the shred quality is VERY small. These shredded documents end up in a plastic bag and put out to be thrown away by a maintanence guy. One bag was left in our office, awaiting its turn to be thrown out. Well, last week as I was passing this lone bag, an idea came to my head to use that as a filler/moss for our pots. Of course!

So I brought a can of adhesive glue and a can of Leafy Green spray paint and tried out this little project and you know what, IT WORKED! I made sure I did it outside so I didn't inhale too many fumes. Needless to say, I was very thankful to God for allowing me to think of something like this. The best part is that part of it is FREE and the rest cheap! Yay!

I'll need to post some pictures soon! 

Time is ticking away and closer until I get to say "I do (forever)" to one of the most thought men I know. On top of that, he has blue eyes and spectacular eyelashes and such a cute unassuming smile! Who wouldn't want to look into face like his? I get to :)

I love you Adam!

Anger, not a good or the best bed fellow

Well, I know that I haven't written in awhile. Right now, I'm a bit tired and a little lazy. Tired, because I mindlessly wasted energy on being angry and going to bed with IT (believe me, it's not a cozy bed fellow and God knew what He is saying when He said to not let the sun go down on your anger). Lazy, because I'm tired and really don't feel like doing much.

So you're probably reading and wondering why I was angry. Let's say it involves me, my man, and a co-worker of his. And the rest, I'm sorry, not at this time or ever you will find out why (unless of course you're our wise friends or counselor).

But I did learn something from this experience. I mean, if I don't learn it now, I'm bound to repeat it again. And to make a short saying my own, if I don't learn, I'm bound to become insane or something like that.

I learned that if there is something burdening my heart, I need to take it to God first. I think doing that softens the edges of the otherwise sharp words that would come flying out of my mouth toward Adam. I'm learning that Adam is not going to flip out on me when I share these things with him. We're learning to talk through things. You can only hash over something for so long. Then you have to move on.  And look to Jesus for my main source of strength and help.

All in all, if I keep on cuddling with anger, IT will keep me out of my marriage bed which is where I need to be with my Baby. I think that Adam and I will be better for it, if I turn to God first and see Jesus.

Wedding bells are ringing and the planning continues. I, along with my mother and sister Cheryl will be meeting with my friend since Junior High (we had a little break, my fault and another story). She is a wonderful friend!

On another note, some time ago, Adam decided to go the library on the boat. It is a pretty nice but grant it small library. But they have a lot to offer the guys and gals on the ship. While there he happened upon this book:



The Act of Marriage

The Beauty of Sexual Love

I know I've seen that book somewhere. Probably my dad's bookshelf. Well, Adam encouraged me to read it. I searched the San Diego Library Catalogue and there was a copy downtown. So I made sure I went that day to get it.

Let me say it was a very, let's say HOT read! Interesting is not the word to describe it. God is such a creative God! How he makes a man and a woman to come together as man and wife! He made our bodies so complimentary, so wonderful.

I had to put the book down a couple of times, because it was a hot read. But it was very informative without being wordly. It was so good, that I decided to actually buy a copy for me and my Baby as one of our references.

There are a lot of facets to marriage and Sex is just one of the wonderful gifts that God gave us within marriage. Yay!

In Bed

So this morning as I was preceding to turn over in my bed to get up, I looked down to see my fake diamond stud earring with its backing laying on my bed. It startled me because I thought that during the night I had ripped my earring from my pierced ear. I felt my earlobes and got out of bed to go look in my bathroom mirror. Checked my earlobes straight up and down. Pulled down on my ear lobes. I didn't see a slit, so everything seemed fine. With a sigh of relief but with a bit of confusion, I went back to my bed. I looked at the earring and then later saw the other one.

Not only did I see my earrings but I saw the bobby pin that I had had in my hair also, laying in my bed. What the heck!

The night before I remember pulling on my right ear because it was a little irritated and I thought maybe I should take my earrings out but that didn't happen. I somewhat pretty and feminine when I sleep in my earrings (not to mention that no body is in bed but me...I guess it's something like wearing your prettiest and most comfortable lingerie to bed and nobody sees it but you, but you feel pretty).

The conclusion that I came to was that, in my sleep I managed to take off my earrings and not just take them off. I put the backings back on the earrings! Not only that, I took the bobby pin out of my hair. Go figure!
I think I took the earrings out because my ear was irritated but that doesn't explain the bobby pin.

A lesson came out of this though. As I was telling my co-worker this somewhat funny story she brought up one that was just as horrific. The story of the man that was put on trial because he killed his wife in his sleep and then went to bed, later to wake up with the knife in his hand and his wife floating in the backyard pool, dead. He was claiming that he was innocent, he was framed. I don't know the outcome of this sad story, if indeed it is true. But as I listened, I thought and said, you know what he must have had such bitterness and anger in his heart toward his wife that he thought about it enough that he actually killed her. And then I thought and then said, well the Bible did say don't go to bed angry. Then I looked it up for clarification. It says in Ephesians 4:26-27: ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

So what is the lesson I learned and am learning is to forgive. Not to over spiritualize my earring situation. But my ear was obviously irritated that I ended up taking my earrings sometime during my sleep. Something that is worst than irritation is anger out of control. There are some things that are okay to be angry at. That's why God said in your anger do not sin or let it control you. Letting that fester can have obvious devistating results if not handled properly.  Even when you think you may have forgiven someone, when you think of them, does just the thought rub you the wrong way? My parents pastor spoke on this subject and  there is one other person that I need to forgive and send an e-mail to. I'll let you know what happens because God forbid it (my prayer) that anger as a fire get out of hand.

Click here to vote and help April & Adam win the Real Weddings Competition!

Click here to vote and help April & Adam win the Real Weddings Competition!

Vying for third place!

How funny it is that we would be vying for third place but that's what it is looking like. We are part of a contest here in San Diego. We are on SanDiego.com. We have been going neck and neck with Nicole and Scott and it looks like they will leave us in the dust...
It's been fun and I would be lying if I said...oh it's okay...well, it is okay, it's not my salvation but it would have been cooln to win...well, at least I get to keep the man. Hoorah!

God is great!