9/30 Things: 10 Influential People

{To know what I'm talking about and to see previous posts, start here}



9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.

1. Bryan
He has taught me to be more involved in the world and what goes on around us. To care (somewhat) about politics and who's doing what to take care of the people. To be informed. He's also taught me to do research on anything I don't fully understand so that I'm fully informed of what it is that I want to know. (He researches everything and anything all the time!!) He's also taught me to give people the benefit of the doubt. He's very good (sometimes too good) about doing that whereas I am not. But I try!

2. A and V
As these girls have entered my life I have become more relaxed and laid back. I've learned to slow down and appreciate life rather than worry about how clean my house is. Not to say that I DON'T worry about it, just not as much.

3. Cathy {my momma}
She has taught me to kind, gracious, and forgiving to everyone no matter how much or how often they have hurt me.

4. Mel {my grampa}
He showed me what it was like to have a father as mine was absent. He showed me what it was like to see a man love a woman unconditionally. I based what I wanted in a husband on this man.

5. Jan {my gramma}
She showed me Jesus. Not to say the rest of my family didn't, because they sure did. But she taught me songs and Bible verses. She made sure we prayed before each meal and loved on others who didn't have much or anything at all.

6. Jon {my uncle}
He was also my inspiration of what a dad would have been like as well as what I wanted in a husband.

7. Kim {my aunt}
She's always kind of been like a big sister to me. I've always looked up to her. Growing up I loved the way she dressed how she did her hair. I loved how people always loved her so I would try to be like her. Of course now I have come into my own sense of style and attitude but she has definitly helped me become who I am.

8. Jeannie (Conrad) Hefner
She showed me to not care what others think as long as you are living as Christ would have you live. That it's okay to be goofy and crazy and light-hearted because WHO CARES!!? hehe

9. Jenny Kim and Jordan Milliken
These girls both taught me that it's okay to be super smart. They taught me to question the things that are being taught to me and not just accept everything as it is. They taught me to really think about things for what they are and to understand them further. That there is always something to learn.

10. Michael Murphy
This guy taught me what dating actually is and how it's suppose to go. He got it through to me of how it was all suppose to work and because of him I met my now husband and we dated and courted correctly. I'll be sure to teach my own children what he taught me about dating.

Seven Month Old Babe

My baby V is seven months today! Wow oh wow.
Just a few updates on this babette:
I thought she was getting a cold because she had a drippy nose last Thursday the 19th. Turned out she was cutting her first teeth!! On Saturday I could feel the top of the one on her left and then Sunday I felt the top of the one on the right! She was pretty happy considering, that's why I didn't think about her cutting teeth. But they're there! Yay!
She can also sit up fairly well now too. Every now and again she'll fall backwards but not very often. She can, however, go from sitting to on her belly by herself.
She can also scootch backwards! Whoop!!
She also "talks" all the time. Lots of "adadadadadada" and raspberries. That's her new favorite, the raspberries.
She also cocks her head to the side a lot. It's adorable! Ahh.. love her.
And she loves her family. Each of us gets a different response from her. A gets a squeal of delight because she knows it's playtime. Daddy and I both get arms raised for us to pick her up and hold her but she knows daddy means fun time and mommy means snuggle time.
She still clams up around people she doesn't know. She gets very serious and just watches the people as they try to talk to her and get her to smile. But they keep trying!!

Ugh.. I so love this little babe of mine.

8/30 Things: What are 5 passions you have?

{To know what I'm talking about and to see previous posts, start here}



8. What are 5 passions you have?


1. Loving and serving others as Christ would.
Giving to the homeless or those without, helping people who are down on their luck, loving on people who need the encouragement or a just a boost. I love to give especially when I see a need.

2. Being a good wife and momma.
I'm sure others feel this way but I just don't feel like I make the cut. And I'm terrified that I'll screw up my kids! But I'm trying and I keep trying because I love, love, love my family.

3. Art: Photography, drawing, painting, pottery.
Art brings me such joy. When I get the chance to sit down and make a piece of art, I feel accomplished, proud, and like God is working through me to create something beautiful.

4. Becoming organic and natural.
I'm loving becoming a hippy. My hair is starting to feel so much cleaner and free. I no longer wash my face with facewash but with honey and baking soda and it's clearer and less red. I feel healthier when I don't eat grains and sweets. And I'm sure I'll find more to make natural.

5. Organizing and simplifying.
I love an organized house. And since we've put our house on the market and my Aunt, Gramma and Mom came and packed up most of my house for showing it's so much simpler and easier to keep clean! I can't imagine going back to having all that stuff so a lot of it may go once we do finally move. Who knows! But I'm loving this.

7/30 Things: My Dream Job

{To know what I'm talking about and see previous posts, start here}


7. What is your dream job, and why?

My dream job is to be a photographer. I love photos, capturing precious moments in a beautiful way.
I think I could possibly be good at it but I'm going to need to take classes on how to use my camera. I did take a class in college that used a film camera. I l o v e d how some of them turned out. The black and white photos even made the worst of the photos look good. I really want to do it again someday.
Someday.
Until then I'll just keep at my second dream job.. being a momma.

6/30 Things: Hardest Experience

{To know what I'm talking about and see previous posts, start here}


6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

When I was thinking about this my first thought went straight to my father. But it was more like that's what my first thought should have been. In truth, that's my life. Yes it's very painful but it's a part of my life, I've never known different. My second thought went to when I was 17ish.
I don't want to get to descriptive or detailed because it was really painful for me as well as for some other people, things have been forgiven, and things have been put in the past where they belong. But to stick with the 3o things, I'll put down a brief overview.
Basically, I chose a boy over my very best friend. And it all went downhill from there.
I was homeschooled so my only friends were in my youth group. So after said boy and I broke up I had no one. Everyone basically sided with him and I had already lost the friends who wouldn't have sided at all. No one would talk to me and the youth minister was new to our youth group, new out of college, and wasn't seasoned enough to know how to deal with this sort of thing.
I feel like I'm making this sound on the light side of things but I can assure you that they weren't. Things were really bad and I was really broken.
I had been going to this youth group my entire Jr. Sr. high career. I had been going to that church since I was ten. After one terrible choice on my part I was now a black sheep. My family decided to leave this church to attend another one just for me.
Things carried on into my freshman year of college. I brought my past, my hurt, with me.
And when my old youth group came to my college for a high school event things came to a boiling point. It got really ugly between me and the youth minister because of something I said. I went back to my dorm room and sobbed for hours. The next morning I was going to drive the two hours back home to be with my mom when he found me. We talked argued for another hour. Things were so misunderstood, feeling so badly bruised, that there was nothing either of us could do or say to fix it.
To put time between us would be the only thing that was left to do.

It's been 10 years. Things are cordial between me and the youth pastor. I think unspoken forgiveness on both of our parts. My best friend and I are reacquainted and I'm very happy to have her back in my life. That was a very incredibly painful time in my life and took me quite some time to cope with it. Years. If I could I'd want to redo the whole thing from start to finish knowing what I know now. But I grew up and learned things because of it. But heaven knows I wouldn't want to go through it again.