16 miles!!!

Well according to gmaps pedometer Eric and I rode a little over 16 miles tonight on our new bikes! The funny thing is that I didn't even realize we had gone that far.. we just kept talking, laughing and riding! I really want to get a seat like this for Lucas to ride in. Totally Kidding!! Although, it does really make me sad that he can't come along with us. He loves being outside.

Not a whole lot has gone on this weekend. Last night we went to our church game night and we had a really good time. Alicia came with me and we were cracking up when we pulled in the parking lot. First of all there were only about 6 cars and half of them were Buick's! (That should tell you something about the crowd that showed up.) We had fun playing Catch Phrase and Apples to Apples with everyone... especially "Bubba". After that Alicia and I got some ice cream than came back to the apartment.

Today Eric and I got up early and helped hide Easter eggs at the church. I love Easter Egg hunts... especially when it's little toddlers stumbling around trying to find the most obvious eggs! :) So Cute!! We didn't really do a whole lot after that.. mostly just lounged around and watched TLC! Oh I do have to say GO BUCKS! They beat Georgetown in Basketball!!

Well I think Eric and I are going to watch a movie! Everyone enjoy your evening! Oh also, please pray for our church. Tomorrow is the start of our revival services and I have a feeling that God is going to do some amazing things!!:)

Choose Life!!!

My message for my blog friends today is simply, Choose Life!!! Take it as you wish!! For me, this is allowing myself to experience life. Meaning, I am allowing myself to become vulnerable to heartache, grief, sadness but also I am able to experience love, happiness and joy!! So simply, Choose Life!!


Also, here is a cool link that my friend Denise showed me. This allows you to see all the states (even countries) that you have visited. Here is my map. You may be wondering how I visited some of the states without visiting others. I only clicked on the states that I really considered myself "visiting", not just driving through. :)



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Crossing between the mountatins

Do you ever get really frustrated with God's timing? Do you ever feel like things are never going to happen for you? I do! Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry at God... just confused. I know that God has not only a plan for my life, but the perfect plan! Sometimes I just wish that I could figure that plan out, or that He would show me more of the plan. I do know that the times when I am truly in despair and needing something to hold onto, God reaches down and takes hold of my hand and gives me a small glimpse of the ultimate plan for me.

I guess right now, I feel kind of like I'm standing in the valley between two HUGE mountains and all I can do is look forward at the next mountain that I have to defeat. I look behind me and I see an ocean of all sizes of mountains that I have already walked, fallen, climbed, inched, and ran up and down. Those mountains of course represent all the trials and up's and down's that I have experienced. However, this mountain that I'm facing now is much bigger than any other that I have seen. It's huge, I can't even see the top!! In fact, I can't even climb it right now... not sure why, but I just can't! Which means, that I'm back to the exciting time of waiting time, which I have come to love (sense the sarcasm).

I know that God wants to use me during this waiting time. It's just that being a human, I start to get frustrated and forget about God, and start thinking about me. I then start informing God that His plan for me is all wrong, and surely He must have messed up or gotten me confused with someone! Than I stop and notice my face starting to grow warm from embarrassment, I notice that I have tears streaming down my cheeks because I have shown my lack of trust in my best friend! Not only, have I become this selfish being, but I have proven my lack of faith! The thing that blows my mind is that no matter how selfish I am being, God is always there holding me and giving me the ultimate peace!

Battle Scar!

I am so thankful for the sunshine and the nice weather. Today Lucas and I met up with my friend Alicia and her (parents) dog Oliver and went to the park. We were so excited to experience what Columbus calls their "dog park". Finally we arrived at and discovered that this "dog park" was actually just a playground behind a school. We decided not to go there and instead went to Sharon Wood Park (I think that's the name of it). We had a really good time, even though we got yelled at (firmly instructed) to not walk our dogs on the bike path.

We had a good time walking with our dogs and chatting and just enjoying the weather.. UNTIL.... we came upon some mud on the sidewalk! Since there was a man pushing a stroller on the other side of the sidewalk I was trying to avoid him and avoid the giant mud puddle on the other side. This didn't work out so well!! I guess I stepped right in the mud puddle and slipped and some how ended up with my body all twisted on the ground. The funniest part of my fall was hearing Alicia behind me saying, "oh Oh OH!" It was so funny! That poor man, he didn't know what to do. He was nice and asked me if I was alright! I am alright, although I have a cool battle scar on my knee! :) Here is a pic. that Alicia took of me and Lucas after I fell. Forget my bleeding knee, I was ticked about the duck poop that was on my foot! That's what I am pointing to.

After our fun at the park, we decided to eat lunch at Camille's! Highly recommend their fruit smoothies! :) We had a good time discussing Christianity and ignorance!

Thanks for the good day Alicia!!! :)

Bump in the road

Friday night Eric and I went for a walk and as we were walking we noticed a bump in the road that Lucas was very intent on smelling. As we got closer we noticed that it was a cute little frog. Thinking it would be funny to watch the frog hop away for fear that Lucas would eat him, we encouraged Lucas to "GET THE FROG". Well Lucas did just that! I'm certain that he tried to bite it! As soon as he bit the frog he instantly started foaming at the mouth. So yeah, Lucas encountered a frog, and I'm sure that his next encounter he will be a little more cautious! :)

What happened to Lucas?

As foam and saliva started spewing from Lucas' mouth and he rapidly shook his head, I started to well.. FREAK OUT! Anyone who has been around me during an emergency knows that, at times, I tend to not be the calmest person like I should! Since Eric was there and he was perfectly calm, I decided that it was okay to freak! So you may be wandering what happened. We're going to do a little quiz. Since the story is totally random, and I don't think anyone could guess, I want to know what you guys think happened to him?? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think happened! :) I will post more either later tonight or tomorrow and give you the answer! Oh and by the way, Lucas is perfectly fine now! :) See ->




Here are some pictures that I found and thought you would enjoy! :)

My Halloween costume for next year. (J/K)

This is why we don't over-feed Lucas! Where is his neck?? :)

Blog Block!

Eric dyed my hair last night! He dyed it shiny Laura!! HA HA :) He did a good job. It looks a little bit darker than it normally is. I don't know why, us girls feel the need to constantly be doing things to our hair. It's an obsession!! HA HA

Due to all this rain, I haven't been able to be outside, nor have I really wanted to. So... that means that I've been doing a LOT of reading. I finished my Karen Kingsbury book, Beyond Tuesday Morning. It was really good... totally predictable, but good. Last night, well really it was about 1am, I started reading Hannah's Hopes. It's really good. I highly recommend it for anyone who is having or has had problems having children (through adoption, miscarriage or infertility).

God has really been speaking to me these past couple of days. He has been showing me His promises in His word and speaking to me through other people. I told you that Eric and I had dinner on Monday with an elderly couple from our church. I have been thinking about them all week. I think it's interesting how God seems to put people in our lives at the right time. God knew that Eric and I needed some encouragement with everything that has been going on lately, and so there he put Bill and Esther to be our cheerleaders! :) I now have been praying that God would use me to bless someone, the way that I have been blessed by others so many times.

Well I don't really have a lot else to write about. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Maybe I will have more profound thoughts next week! HA HA :) The rain seems to be flooding and fogging my memory and therefore inhibiting my thoughts from spilling out into this post! :)

The Long Walk Home

Today Lucas and I decided to go on a little journey. Okay, really it was my idea, and poor Lucas, being a dog, got drug into it... literally! :) We decided to take a walk around the block. We had made this walk before, so I wasn't really worried about it. Well Lucas, about half way through, pooped out on me and so I had to carry him for a little while. We finally made it the whole way. I later found out, thanks to Gmaps that our journey was approximately 5 miles! :) :) I was excited about that! Normally when I work out at the fitness center I only run about 2 miles, so 5 miles is really exciting! Well here are some pictures of Lucas and I from when we got back from our journey! ENJOY!





Not really sure why I made my "not impressed face", but I thought you all would enjoy it! HAHA :)

Our busy, but fun, weekend

Eric and I had a really good and busy weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner with our small group. After that we went to a friends office and watched a movie in the home theater that he had built! It was awesome! :) Nothing like sitting in a leather recliner with your feet up, while watching a movie! HEHE :)

Saturday was Granny's birthday and we met everyone for lunch at Polaris! :) We had a good time seeing everyone and catching up with family! After that Eric and I went and saw The Ultimate Gift. That movie was great!! I highly recommend it! We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening relaxing and reading. Now, my family always tells me that Eric and I have the most interesting encounters with people. Well we had another one Saturday evening. We decided to go to Fazoli's for dinner and right when we walked in we noticed everyone was starring at us. Once we ordered and sat down, the manager came over and said that we looked EXACTLY like a couple that worked there. So we just laughed and continued eating. Well we noticed as we sat there, that we were on display, because several employees would peak there head around the corner and look at us. They also came over and cleaned the booth next to us about 10 times! So as we left the restaurant, the manager pulled out her cell-phone and asked if she could take a picture of us! HAHA It was very funny!! :)

Sunday was a fun and busy day! We went to church in the AM and PM. Sunday afternoon Eric and I played some football outside. Lucas sure enjoyed playing monkey in the middle as we thew the ball back and forth to each other (poor dog, he never caught the ball). After church Sunday night we went out to eat with Bill and Esther! They are the cutest elderly couple in our church! We went to Bob Evans and had a really great time with them. Actually, we had such a good time that they invited us over for dinner on Monday! They are seriously such a Godly and encouraging couple! They told us that we were their adopted grand kids! :) They also told us that next time we come over to their house we aren't allowed to be the guests anymore. Meaning, we are to treat their house as ours!

Here are some fun pictures of Eric and I playing football. Notice Eric in the tree!! What a crazy kid!!

Peace.

Why is it that every time we...I mean I... get hurt (by friends, jobs, circumstances) I run to everyone else except for the true Counselor and Healer. I think my cell phone bill would be a LOT less if I would rely on Him more. The past few months and especially the past few days, whenever trouble has arose, I found myself quickly digging through my purse looking for that silly phone. Immediately, I call Eric and spill the news to him and expect him to fix everything. Now, don't get me wrong, I feel a lot better after talking to him, but he can't give me that true peace. The peace where you know that everything is going to be alright. The peace that only God can give. My friend, Alicia pointed me toward a sermon that someone at her church preached. It is really good for anyone looking for peace.

The Sermon
This website will take you to their online sermons web page. The sermon that I am talking about is the one titled "How to find the peace of God" by Julia Pickerill

I also wanted to say thank you to my friend Alicia. Thanks for sticking with me during these rough times! Your friendship means a lot to me. I enjoy the time we spend talking about our life journeys, God, boys (HAHA), and just everything! It's nice to have a girl to talk to!

First wasp of the season!!!

I saw my first wasp of the season today!! AHH!! I don't freak out as much as Tim does, but I do not like them!! I am really enjoying the weather here. It says that it's 70 out today!! YIPEE!! I have the screen door open and Lucas is sitting in front of it listening to the birds and waiting for someone to walk by so he can bark at them! HAHA :)

Well we had a great weekend in Indiana. We went there for Trina's (my sister-n-law) baby shower. She is due VERY VERY soon and we are so excited to have another little niece!! Ella will have someone to play with now.. or should I say boss around! HAHA!

Yesterday was so nice. I sat out in the porch in capri's and a sweatshirt and sipped my iced tea and read my Karen Kingsbury book! It was so nice! When Eric got home we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a little walk. Well, it turned out being a 6 mile hike! It was fun though! It reminded me of when I went to Laura's house and she said let's go on a bike ride. So I agreed not knowing that a bike ride to her consisted of being chased by a 3 legged dog and biking for like 4 miles! HAHA Good times!!

Well I may try to write more tomorrow. Everyone have a super day! :)

*WARNING* This is a long post!!!!

You may want to block out some time to read this!!



About a year ago, after we were done eating at Taco Bell, I stood up and asked Eric if he was ready to leave. I didn't realize that his response to this question that night would than open up a discussion that revealed my selfishness and soon to be God's direction for my vocation. I could tell that Eric had something BIG on his mind. Without even answering my question he went into how he felt that God was speaking to Him about possible mission work. In my mind, I was thinking, OH FUN, he wants to go on a mission trip! How exciting! Little did I know, that this "mission trip" that he was talking about was our life. Meaning, he wasn't talking about going away for a week, or a month. Instead, he was talking about quitting our jobs, leaving our families, and leaving behind the "American Dream" that I was very insistent upon having!

I believe that Eric said something to me along these lines: "Shelly, I really feel like God has been speaking to me about doing mission work. Not just going on mission trips, or helping out with our local church. I mean actually using my talents as an 8-5 job!" (Of course the conversation was a LOT longer than that). Anyway, after Eric said this, I told you my first reaction was excitement! After he explained the fact that he wasn't just talking about a "one time mission trip" and instead a career, my excitement turned to anger. I'm still not sure if I was more angry at Eric or at God. That day, our fun time of sharing and laughing at Taco Bell, quickly turned to me not talking and Eric asking what was wrong. This is when the battle between my selfishness and God's call for my vocation started.

A few weeks went by and I didn't dare say anything else to Eric about missions and he (poor Eric) didn't want to bring up any "mission" talk either. At this same time we started looking for a church. The church that we found just happened to have a month long series on missions. During this month a different missionary would come and speak on Sunday mornings. I remember sitting through those services and constantly telling myself to not act like I was interested. After each service Eric would ask me, "so what did you think of the service today?" I would usually reply, "oh, it was good. those missionaries seemed really cool. so where do you want to eat lunch at?" I thought that if I didn't act interested than Eric wouldn't ask me anymore questions.

This worked for about a month. I next remember one of my friends from work asking me to go to a Women's Service with her at her church. At this service the speaker talked about listening to God and trusting that God will talk care of you. I found myself sitting there with tears steadily rolling down my cheeks and God saying, "why won't you trust me?" I ended up talking to my friend that night and sharing with her all of my thoughts and frustrations. On my way home, I started to realize how selfish I was being. I realized that my reasons for not wanting to do mission work were because of the things that I wanted. For example, I know this sounds silly, but I wanted to have the cute 2 story house with the white picket fence and the golden lab running around with our 3 kids chasing it while I was sitting on our wrap around porch reading my book. WOW! This scenario to me, was what life was worth living for. For some reason, I also thought that God owed this to me. I mean this was my dream, and it does say that God will give us the desires of our heart. But what I didn't realize is that those desires were mine, not God's.

God slowly started taking that white picket fence down one board at a time. He slowly revealed to me my selfishness and started to plant in me different desires and dreams. Be careful when you ask God to change something, because He will! During that time I started praying and asking God to remove my desires and fill the hole with His desires.

After my experience at church with my friend, I had another similar experience. This time I was on my way home from work and all the sudden I started BAWLING! I almost had to pull over, because I couldn't see the road! I was embarrassed at first because to passer-byers I looked like a typical woman basketcase! God spoke to me that day in my car. He once again asked me that dreadful question, "why won't you trust me?" Once I got home I didn't dare share that experience with Eric for fear that he would call the mission headquarters and have us on the next plane to Africa! Instead, I kept it inside and tried to forget about it.

During the next two months I wrestled with God on this issue and told Him that I wasn't willing to do that and give up my dreams. This was in November and also the same time that I quit my job to stay home and do foster care. On December 16, 2006, Eric and I decided to go on a little date (I have a previous post from this date). We went to Southern Ohio and had a great time! We ended up watching The Nativity. I thought this was a great movie and I really enjoyed watching it as a reminder of our Saviour's birth. However, something that Mary said to Joseph in this movie started to stir up questions within me. The Story
Joseph and Mary knew that if they stayed in Nazareth, that Mary's baby would be killed by Caesar Augustus. Knowing this, Mary had to make the decision to go with her husband and leave behind her family. I believe her words in the movie were something like this, "Joseph is my husband now and I must go with him and follow him where ever he leads." WOW! Mary was willing to leave behind everything (her family, her friends, her dreams, everything). On the way home that night, I told Eric that I support him and where ever he goes, I will follow.

So after this God really started to speak to me while I was at home "waiting for foster kids". He started to show me my true purpose for being here on earth. He continued to reveal my selfish desires, which happened to be what was stopping me from wanting to do missions.

After much prayer, fasting, talking to our pastor and our families we decided to start the mission process. The first thing that we had to do was fill out an in-depth 8 page application. After that we had to take a few tests and than we were ready to attend the Cross Cultural Orientation. We attended the orientation this weekend and had a series of interviews along with hours of personal testimonies, group activities and informative sessions. On Friday night after our first interview, Eric and I met together and started sharing how we both felt that God confirmed our call to missions.

The rough time line for the rest of the process is as follows:
(keep in mind that this is the shortest path possible, assuming no problems or additional waiting, which is not likely)
We should know within the next few weeks what they thought of us at the orientation weekend. If we get a thumbs-up from them, we will go to Kansas City in November for another in-depth assessment. After that, we will meet with the regional directors (world directors) and interview for positions that they have available that our skill sets match up with. If after an interview, a regional director wants us to come and work on their region, a contract is drawn up for us. We would then go to NTS (in Kansas City) for a semester of 'missiological training' before we headed out to the field. The length of commitment for the field work is 3 years.

Thank you so much for those of you that made it all the way through reading this. I know that it was a VERY VERY LONG POST!! Eric and I are really excited about what God is doing in both of our lives and the direction that He is leading us!

We're back!!

Eric and I had a great weekend away at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. We went away for the Cross Cultural Orientation that they have! It was great!! We learned and God revealed SO SO much to us! I will write more about that later!Well I don't really want to write a lot now, because when Eric gets home we are going to sit down together and write some things that God has revealed to us. So I guess...
ps. I borrowed the Natalie Grant cd Awaken. It is an awesome cd. I think I'm going to buy it as soon as I have to return it to the library! Highly Recommend it though!!! :)

Christy, my best friend!!!

I first want to start this post by saying Happy Birthday to my dear sister, Christy! :) I wish I could be there with you on this special day! Although, I know you're having a good time seeing how I called and you were headed to a scrapbook store! Wish I could be there!! :(

Well this post I want to dedicate to my sister who is and has been, truly my best friend! I don't think I have ever told her how much of an influence she has had on my life!!


Dear Christy,

I'm going to take you back a few years. I still remember when you stepped off the plane after being sent to Russia. Something seemed different about you. There was a special glow to your face. You were smiling. I don't know if you remember, but the first words that you said to me on that day was, "I'm sorry!" I was shocked! Was this the same person that just a month before built an imaginary wall in our bedroom so we wouldn't have to "share a room".

As the months went on after your return from Russia I continued to notice small changes in you. For example, at night time I always saw you sitting on your bed reading your Bible and writing in a journal. I always saw you at church worshiping with your eyes closed, instead of looking around and not paying attention. I saw you go to the altar and beg God for forgiveness. I saw you change... step by step, day by day, I saw you change!

I don't know if you ever realized how much of an impact those times had on me. I noticed that I started wanting to journal, and at night I to sat on my bed reading my Bible and journaling my thoughts. I didn't do this out of the blue, I did it because it was modeled before me! You were and are my role model!

I know that in High School I had some really tough years and you were the one that stuck closer to me than anyone else! I had a lot of disappointments and heartbreak! I even remember that you took one of my ex-boyfriends to meet his probation officer every Tuesday! What a sister!!

Another thing that I remember doing with you was shopping. You worked at Mikasa and after you would get your paycheck, you didn't go and spend it like most people did. Instead, you would pick me up (your little bratty sister) and take me shopping and tell me that I could get an outfit, purse shoes and all!! I thought that was so awesome!

There are so many good memories that I have of you I could basically make an entire blog about those memories. I just wanted you and everyone else who reads this to know what a good sister I had/have!

Thank you Christy, for being that person that stood in the GAP for me. Thank you for standing up for me (especially with that boy that you threw into the lockers). Thank you for being a Christ-like example for me! Thank you for showing me how to be a good mom! I still look up to you and you are still my best friend! I love you!!

Love,
Your little sis