My Brother

So I hope the rest of my family doesn't feel left out but I now need to write about my older brother Jason.  He is the second of the four of us so the order is Ryan, Jason, Kelly and Me.  I feel this need because Jason is also facing a huge change in his life.  He is moving to Tampa, FL...

I will start by telling a little bit about my and my brothers relationship because it has been an interesting one :)  When we were younger, we pretty much despised each other.  I know I was the annoying little sister that always had a crush on his friends and he would put bubble gum on my blankie!!!!! Yes Jason, I am still upset haha!  Anyways, so this lasted for a while but then one day it all changed.  I remember the day perfectly.  I was in fifth grade and had just called my select league soccer coach to let him know that I would not be playing anymore.  I was kinda down... Jason may not have realized it but he made my day.  He asked me if I wanted to play a snowboarding video game.  I was so excited that he wanted to spend time with me (this was the time I should've known my love language was quality time).  So we sat there playing the snowboard game on Playstation!  This was a pivotal point because we realized we could actually hang out together.  Yes over the years we still got on each others nerves but we also grew a lot closer.

When Jason went to college, he faced some struggles that affected his life.  I am going to be completely honest here:  his struggles did affect the rest of our family and for a long time I held his struggles against him, because I was angry that they were affecting our family, but now I know that he needed to go through those struggles in order for God to bring him to where he is.  God brought him through and showed us all His grace.

Over the years, I have come to realize just how similar Jas and I are.  Which may be why we didn't get along sometimes.  He has been such an amazing brother and has allowed God to use him.  Especially in my life, Jason has really helped me through times of struggle.  He is like my dad in this sense. We can just sit down and have a deep, meaningful conversation and still end on a light hearted joke.  I am so grateful for the bond God has made between he and I.

So, this move is hard for me and I know I will cry and be sad, but I know that God is going to use him immensely.  Jason has a gift from God to tell his story and love on people like no one else I know.

Jason,

Thank you for allowing God to completely guide this decision and take a leap of faith towards His will.  He is going to use you in amazing ways!  Love you!!!

My Sister

I cannot begin to express just how thankful I am for my amazing sister.  God truly blessed me when He planned for us to be in the same family.  She has always been my sister and has become my best friend over the years.  The way our relationship has grown and evolved is only by God's grace.  I think it was destined from the beginning that we would be close.  We were born just 18 months apart, became followers of Christ not too far apart, and even got married within a year of each other!  I was so relieved to have her close through that whole process.  She was encouraging through the hard times and always there to giggle at the fun times.

We are approaching a new chapter as sisters though.  This one may be quite different than all of the others.  Yes we made a smooth transition into marriage.  We were able to split our clothes evenly and understand that we would need to make dates with each other since we now had husbands.  This next part of life, mainly for her, will be so different and I can't help but think it will be different for me too.  She will now be a mother and I will be an aunt again!  This means she will have another priority in her life and it may be harder for us to get together.  I know that our friendship will continue to grow, but sometimes its just scary to face new seasons.  This sounds selfish of me and maybe a little weird but we have gone through things together most of our lives and I guess it's just a little weird knowing we aren't going through this one together.  I love her so much and can not wait to meet this new creation.  My hope is that our friendship will grow even stronger through this process.. and that Brian and I will get to babysit lots (of course after gma and gpa have been asked already:)).  And I look forward to the day that we will maybe be pregnant at the same time!

Me and Kel at my wedding

Me,  Kel and our dad at Kelly's Wedding

I love you Kiki!!

You can see Kelly's baby bump here: http://davidandkellybebee.blogspot.com/

Maybe a glimpse of Heaven?? Chris Tomlin - How Great Is Our God (World Edition)

Forgiveness...

This word is one I don't like sometimes.  It seems hard and my stubborn self doesn't want to take action on what the word means.  BUT I have to realize that I have life because of forgiveness.  Jesus died so that I could be forgiven.  I rarely think about this and how that forgiveness has impacted my life.  I focus so much on my own struggles and why I don't feel like I am where I should be spiritually, so I forget the gloriousness of God's forgiveness.  I often struggle most forgiving my husband and those that have hurt me.  Some things are so silly and yet I allow them to ruin an entire day!  I want to start a new path though.  One where every day I wake up and realize how awesome God's forgiveness is!

God tells why we should forgive so simply and impactfully (is that a word??)

Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

I want to forgive so that I honor what Christ has done for me....once again, definitely still learning!

New Beginnings

Life always brings new seasons and this newest one for me, I can already tell, will be the one that teaches me the most... it's a fun thing called marriage!  Before Brian and I got married and even engaged, I "knew" I would be an expert at this new season, but I am quickly learning that God has a lot more to teach me.

Let me introduce this wonderful man who God brought into my life almost 4 years ago...

He is so handsome :)

I am such a blessed woman to have this man in my life.  He is one of the most caring, loving, and spiritually discerning people I have ever met.  I know the last may sound like an odd characteristic but it is one way I know the Lord molded Brian for me.  He knew that I would need this in my life. I love this man so much!

Since this blog will be a place I share the things I am continuing to learn, I will share the biggest thing I have learned so far in marriage.  I am so unbelieveably selfish!  I want my way and most of the time don't regard anyone else's thoughts especially my husband's.  I know I have already said things that have hurt him, but my hope is that the Lord rids me of this chronic sin and allows me to see things through His eyes.

Just a few more pics from our wedding day:)

It was such a fun and joyful day!