Blessed Beyond Belief

Ever since I posted about trying to do something kind everyday for someone, I have been so blessed by the kindness of others.  It's been truly incredible to look back and see that each day I have been given some sort of gift.  This first few days I was somewhat frustrated by all the blessings -- I know this seems silly, but I kept thinking, "This is not how it's supposed to have been.  I was supposed to be the one doing things for others, not the other way around."  Yes, I can be that prideful.  But these gifts have humbled me and reminded me that the Lord is glorified through both giving and receiving.

And please don't get me wrong -- our life is far from perfect.  Remember that I mentioned Mathis' car has broken down several times in the past week??  But above any of the trials or problems we face, we are constantly aware of the blessings we have in this life.

Here are just a few of the amazing gifts I've been recently been given...

• "Just Because I Love You" flowers from Mathis 

• A free blog-makeover from KMann Designs (look for it soon!!) :)

• Chocolate truffles left mysteriously on our doorstep.  There's a story behind this one, but one of our friends (we cannot figure it out!) left the most amazing chocolate truffles for us at the house.  I wish I had a picture of them, but I ate them too quickly. :)

• My friend Kristen bought me these magnets, because they reminded her of my blog. SO SWEET!!  And they came at the best time, because I'll soon have a new design.  I'm VERY excited about a fresh look, but change is hard for me.  I love this sweet little design, and it's bittersweet for me to say goodbye. :)  These magnets will remind me of this blog's first look.

• And tonight, I came home to another package at the door.  My sweet friend Laura sent me the best Christmas package EVER!  Here's a picture of all the stuff together, and another one of me sporting the beautiful red pashmina and personalized coffee tumbler.

I cannot explain the feeling you get when someone goes out of their way to do something kind and unexpected for you.  It is the best feeling.  Knowing that you're receiving something you don't deserve.    I hope that I can continue to bless others in the same way that I am blessed.

Weekend Wrap-Up: SNOW Edition

We have had a very busy weekend filled with some winter wonderland weather! :)

On Friday I spent my last day observing in the schools for this semester.  Little did I know when I left the house at 7 that morning that I'd be spending the day on a field trip to see Santa.  I accompanied the K -- 3rd grade kids to a children's museum in Roanoke where the main attraction was getting to visit Santa and his reindeer.  It took nearly an hour to get there, and we had to drive through the mountains which made a lot of kids carsick or "bus-sick" as they liked to call it.  Here's some pictures of us coming down the mountain into Roanoke.

The school I have been doing my observation work is very far out in the country.  As soon as we got into downtown Roanoke all the kids started freaking out over the taxi cabs, and the "skyscrapers".  They were so cute, and they kept asking if we were in the "city" yet.  One child compared Roanoke to NYC.  Bless their little country hearts! :)  All the driving was well worth it, because these kids were sooo excited to finally get to see Santa.

Santa even pulled out his guitar and sang a few songs.  It was cute to watch!

That afternoon I got back into Christiansburg and found out Mathis was having more troubles with his car.  It has broken down several times this week -- we have taken it into the shop, reluctantly paid $$$$$, picked it up and within hours it's stopped working.  It's almost like this sweet little car of 180,000 miles has a death wish.  We're determined to make it last awhile longer, and we're going to pick it up at the shop again this afternoon.

I went and picked up Mathis, and we went to a few sporting goods stores together.  We got a foam roller to stretch out with, and some warmer clothes for running.  All the Reebok warm running clothes were 50% off, and we got some great deals!  I feel ready to tackle running in the cold VA winter months now.  I got some great leggings that I'll probably wear to my 5K next weekend.  Mathis thought I looked funny trying on some earwarmers.  I opted for a beanie hat instead, because I couldn't get the earwarmers on right! :)

That night we took it easy and grabbed a pizza.  I was EXHAUSTED from the field trip!! :)  On Saturday morning I leaped out of bed to see if there was snow on the ground.  By 8:00 am there was already a blanket of snow covering the ground.  I have to admit I had gotten pretty jealous of the snow that had arrived in Texas earlier in the week, so I was excited to see that we finally got our share.

The view from our bedroom window

More pictures of the snow outside our house.

It looks really dark in these pictures and in reality, it has been very dark and cloudy here lately.  We haven't had many sunny days, and I don't know if it's cause the clouds get trapped in the mountains or what.  Most of the time I like that cozy feel, but every now and then I miss the sun.

Eventually, Mathis went outside to play with the kids next door.  They are some of the cutest kids we know.  We love living next door to them!

Together they built a snowman. :)

Here's a video of our "kids" playing in the snow.

After hanging around the house for most of the morning we decided to head out in the snow.

This is what it looked like driving out of the neighborhood.

We even saw a snowplow coming in to clear out the roads!

The first place we went was to a craft fair at the rec center.  My friend Kristen was selling some of her handcrafted nursing covers, wipe cases and paci pouches.  Her stuff is absolutely adorable as you can tell from this picture I stole off her blog. :)  She is thinking about opening an Etsy shop, so I'll be sure to let you know if she does -- these items would make WONDERFUL baby shower gifts!

After the craft fair, Mathis and I went to buy some gifts for our Angel Tree kiddos we're sponsoring through church.  I picked out some jewelry for my girl from Target, and Mathis got a few sports DVDs for his kid.

That night we headed over to a friend's house and had a big potluck meal.  The food was soooooooo good, and we definitely ate WAY too much. :)  After eating we went to a Gospel Choir concert at Virginia Tech.  Some of Mathis' classmates were singing in the choir so we went to show our support.

The choir was very talented, and it was a fun way to spend the evening.  We got home and stayed up to watch the Big 12 Championship game.  I was very nervous at the end, but so proud of our Texas Longhorns.  Even though I'm a Baylor fan at heart, I have really been pulling for UT this year.  I will pull for any Texas Big 12 team once they get far enough.  Mathis and I are becoming Longhorn fans with each passing football season, and I really wanted to see Colt McCoy do well in his Senior year.

The snow is starting to melt today, and I have a lot of school work to catch up.  We really had a great weekend though, and we're just got to push through the next few weeks before our long break. Congrats to those of you who are still reading at this point -- that was a looooong weekend wrap up. :)

Home Sweet Home with snow. :)

Wacky Wednesday followed by a Thankful Thursday

Yesterday was just a bad day through and through.  We had to take Mathis' car into the shop and wound up paying $1,000 to get it fixed.  I really questioned the amount of time we're spending on our education, and the things we're sacrficing to make it happen (living close to family, having real jobs and earning money).  While we're very blessed to have the opportunity to be in school, at times it's a long, hard road.  Sometimes I feel like we're just spinning our wheels, and that one or both of us will be in graduate school for the rest of our lives.  And the weather yesterday was really gross -- cold and pouring rain. Meanwhile Texas hogged all the "snow", and I was jealous of them for getting a snowfall before us.  Later on, I tried to get my run on at the gym, and it wasn't happening.  Major FAIL.  I had a crummy attitude to match a crummy day.

Today I'm trying to break out of the negative mood, and remember the things I'm thankful for.  Many blogs host a Thankful Thursday, and as a pick-me-up, I thought I'd try to post about the things in life I'm currently thankful for:

• I'm thankful for friends that I could text/call yesterday and complain to. :)
• I'm thankful for the fact that I talk to my Mom every day, and she's always there to listen.
• I'm thankful that my sweet husband who picked me up from school with a dozen red roses.
• I'm thankful that Mathis then cancelled his plans last night so that he could cook a special dinner for us.
• I'm thankful for my health and my new interest in running.
• I'm thankful for the upcoming Christmas break and the chance to be with family again.
• I'm thankful for our dogs and the way they (sorta) unconditionally love.
• I'm thankful for Jesus.
• I'm thankful for the homemade bread that Mathis' grandmother sent us in the mail yesterday.
• I'm thankful for the kindness of my classmates.
• I'm thankful for the chances I get to sleep in on the weekends.

I could keep going for MANY things, but that only reminds me that I'll never be able to list it all.  My cup is full, and I'm grateful to the Lord for His provision in my life.

Mitzvah

Yesterday I received an email announcing the end of NaBloPoMo: the 30 posts in 30 days challenge.  Although the main month to blog everyday is November, the email said that NaBloPoMo also sponsors other month-long blogging marathons.  The other months have themes, and December's theme is Mitzvah.

While I have absolutely no intention of continuing to blog everyday, I was still interested in what the other month's goals were like so I read on!  December's is simple: give something, to someone, everyday of the month, and then blog about it.  They joked that obviously the goal is to act with kindness, and not give other people black eyes or anything like that. :)

Something about this call really struck my heart.  As I follower of Christ, I am called to love others.  This is something we've been talking about at church, and my homegroup has been reading the book of James which calls us to act upon our faith.

Sometimes Most of the time I am so self-centered.  I spend the majority of the day thinking about myself.  My needs, my wants, my goals, my work, my school, my family, my friends, my clothes, my body... me me me!  While I think a certain amount of this is normal and actually productive -- you can't help others until you help yourself -- I know that I can really improve the way I spend my time.  This month I'm really going to try to do something everyday for someone.  This is something I try to stay mindful of all the time, but this month I've decided to really be focused on making sure I follow through.  I'm not going to blog about most of it, because I'm not doing it for "show", but every now and then I may report back for accountability. :)  Especially if I end up doing something really cool like this.

The acts of kindness can be as small as an encouraging email or phone call, but I'm going to try to make sure to think out-of-the-box some days too!  I also want to keep my heart in check, and remember I'm not doing these things to simply "check" the day off.  My prayer is that the Lord would reveal to me who I should do something for each day.

I'm really excited to be doing this challenge around Christmastime.  It's such a great way to be reminded of the greatest gift of all -- Jesus Christ.  Coincidentally, my friend Erin blogged earlier today about a way that she's decided to give back this year.  It's really a great time to think of others and to be reminded of all that we've been given.

What are some ways that people have shown you kindness?  What has meant the most to you?  What about ways that you have shown kindness to others?  If you have any real great ideas, I'd love to hear them.  

I Did It!!

Today is my final post of NaBloPoMo!!  I did it!  Phew!  30 posts in 30 days.  It wasn't too hard for me to post everyday, but I'm sure some of the posts got pretty boring at times. :)

I've got a huge test tomorrow, so I need to start studying.  Thanks for reading all my posts this past month.  See you in December!

The Little Tree That Could

The day after Thanksgiving I realized that I was VERY excited and motivated to decorate the house for Christmas.  Everything was clean since we had company over for Thanksgiving, and it just seemed like the perfect time to break out the holiday decorations.  It was even cold outside.  Right about then was when I posted this.

Well 5 minutes later my Christmas spirit was crushed.  After I lugged our tree up from the basement I noticed a small hole in our box.  A hole that had been chewed open.  Let me backtrack and say that when we lived in Abilene we kept all our Christmas decorations in the garage.  For a few weeks we had a little visitor to our garage named Ralph.  Ralph the mouse.  I liked to think about Ralph like this...

And then came the one time when I saw Ralph and nearly had a heart attack.  The other times I only saw "evidence" of Ralph.  Evidence that came in the form of little presents left throughout the garage.  It wasn't long before Ralph parted ways with us, and he was completely forgotten.  Unfortunately evidence of Ralph made its way out her to Virginia.  In our Christmas tree.  As soon as I pulled out the first part of the tree, little pellets fell everywhere.  DISGUSTING and so upsetting.  Mathis tried to salvage the tree by shaking it off outside, but we couldn't pair to put the poop tree up in our house.  RIP Christmas Tree.  You saw us through our first two years of marriage.  They were good times.  Good times indeed.

The first year in our tiny apartment.  I can still remember the Sunday afternoon in November that we decided to rush out to Walmart and buy our first tree.

And then our second year in our duplex.  Again the tree was up in mid-November, and this time we had both Gracie and Carter to "enjoy" the tree.

What's really funny about the tree is for awhile I wasn't even sure I wanted to put it up this year.  And now I was devastated to find out we weren't going to have one.  About this point Mathis and I decided to venture out to do some Black Friday shopping.  We went to Walmart and looked briefly at their fake trees.  I decided that it wasn't worth spending the money on, and we left.  When we got back home I realized my Christmas heart was longing for a tree.  So Mathis did what any perfect husband would do and took me back out to Walmart.  He is truly wonderful!!!  We settled on their cheapest tree -- a 6 ft. tree for the bargain price of $20!!  We bought some lights and happily drove home.

Within a few hours I had the sweet little tree up and decorated.  I didn't think all our decorations would fit on it, but most of them did!  This little tree is perfect for our small living room, and I love it.  I'm still mourning the loss of our other tree, but I'm really grateful for this new one.  This tree will be a perfect second addition to have years down the road -- I think it'd look great in a bedroom or large entry way.

I decorated a few other places, but I think I'll save the rest of the pictures for the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes.  I didn't put everything out this year, but there's just enough to enjoy.  My favorite decoration is my new fiesta snowman on the fireplace mantle.  I realized that I love snowmen -- they're the majority of Christmas decorations I have.

I've been burning an evergreen candle that smells wonderful, and the cooler weather has really made it feel more like the holidays.  I'm getting so excited to go back to Texas and spend time with our families -- it has been TOO long since we've seen them (or had Mexican food for that matter). :)

Have you decorated yet for Christmas?

Carter and Gracie's Thanksgiving

I meant to include this video in my last post on Thanksgiving.  It's been awhile since I posted a video of the dogs.  This is them on Thanksgiving enjoying some smoked turkey. :)