that time of year....

It's that time of year in Nevada where the weather teases you with 2 days of spring weather and then it's winter weather for the rest of the week...Monday it starts all over again


That time of year, where my birthday is coming up and this year was awesome already!! I am beyond grateful for the dear friends in my life. Words just brush the surface


Being 28 was a tremendous learning experience and for 29 I'm believing for even more growth and reaping the fruit of lessons learned :)


Being encouraged weekly by other women has changed my life...literally I am not the same person


Some phrases that are said stick to you....


Faith doesn't deny a problems existence. It denies it a place of influence

out of this world

On our way back from our weekend off together, Andy and I stopped at a house at Lake Tahoe that Andy has worked very hard on. It's taken several years to complete but it's finally done and the owners were doing an open house for everyone that had worked on the house to come and tour the finished project.

We got bused up in Q&D's own transport bus and were the first ones there. Were greeted by the owners at the door and toured the house. I can't really find the words to describe the house except to say it is out of this world. One whole side of it is glass that overlooks the lake and it's not a deep house but tall, 4 stories high. Just one of the few examples of the luxuries. It had a glass elevator incase you didn't want to climb up and down the stairs. Complete with glass doors that open and shut as you get in and out. I didn't even know one could build a house like this. Speechless was what I was. Andy was glad that he got to finally show me the house he had been working on for oh so long and the reason for many redrawing of plans.

Andy and I were talking to the bus gal on the way back and we were asking her if she would get an opportunity to tour the house and she said she would rather not cause it's like seeing something but never being able to have it. That got me thinking, even though the house was in a class all by itself and only for a few people in America could build it, and it was breath taking, I wouldn't want to live in it. Plus I couldn't imagine cleaning up all the face and hand marks on the glass that my two children would make :)...

I like my life and am content with our house. I'm grateful for where I am and don't see that the one who dies with the most expensive house wins in life. I want to help build up my house and not tear it down with the words I speak to my children and my husband. I have recently been learning about Proverbs 14:1 " The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."

So we left the glass house to go back to our house that day and our real life with our two wonderful kids who make life interesting and exciting and to my husband that is by my side

6 years later...and still

learning and loving each other more through the years....and coming to a deeper understanding of what one friend wrote for us

marriage is not only enjoying the fettuccine but sharing the burden of choosing the restaurant

just got to do some stuff!

I have recently been seeking employment. I have applied to the 2 hospitals here in the region for a per-dium position. Basically I would make my own schedule and work as needed. I had worked on several floors so I knew what type of patients I would like to care for :). There were some things I did NOT want to do. (work on the medical floor was one in particular) At the same time, I've been listening to this gal speak and one of the topics she talked about was grace.


One of the subtopics was determination and work (everyone cringes). The example was Namaan and how he traveled along ways to seek Elisha to get healing. He put all this effort into going to Elisha and then Elisha tells him to go to the Jordan and dip seven times in the river and he

"became furious and went away and said, Indeed, I said to myself, He will surely come to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leporsy"

in other words

I don't wanna....it's too hard...I want Elisha to wave his hand over me!


and I realized that there somethings that I just have to do and rather then an instant miraculous, wave your hand and it happens, there are some things that I got to physically go out and do.

This really hit home, when finally I got to speak to a real life person on the other end of human resources and she told me that because I have been out of direct patient contact for awhile the hospital wouldn't employ me in a perdium position but I would have to try part time or full time place.

So this is the door that is open, that if I want to work I will have to DOOOOO. Honestly I was hoping for this miraculous phone call from the head of ICU saying "we've waited 5 years for you and finally your here, can you come and work for us just a few times a month!!!".....yah probably not going to happen.

So I think I'll keep things as is for a bit longer but now I know what I need to DOO to get the job :)

another lesson from my garden

I like this kick I'm on about lessons from the garden. :)...So this morning, I decided it's time to prune the roses. When Andy bought this house 7 years ago (wow...been that long), there were already roses planted which was great. When we got married, roughly a year later, I decided to take on the task of learning how to prune one. Fortunately, my mother in law is an expert rose pruner. She has a whole courtyard of roses and they are always looking amazing. She gave me some tips and some basic knowledge.

Last year, I decided to take a class about rose pruning at Idle Wild park. It certainly was an eye opener for how seriously some people take pruning. My teacher was particularly animated and forbid anyone to cut any leaf or stem without his approval. I wanted to shout "they're just roses!!" but kept my mouth shut wisely and learned from the rose pruner guru. It's amazing how much longer it takes to prune my roses now. No longer do I just snip here and there and it's done but I spend looking at the rose, thinking about where I want it to grow and particularly in which direction.
I study it.....
look at it....
then cut off the dead pieces
and angle my clippers and cut exactly 1/2 inch above a new growth bud and cut with the angle pointing down and out. I know that in the late spring and late summer, because of my pruning, I'm going to see some beautiful roses and the plant is going to flower again and again, not just once, thanks again to the the pruning.

It occurred to me this morning, how much this reminds me of what Jesus does in my life. How he encourages me to grow in certain areas and encourages to take away the dead areas in my life. He examines me and is with me and shapes me into the beautiful woman he created me to be. No easy task, but I'm grateful for the pruning cause in a different season......watch out......growth!

deep roots

I really enjoy gardening.. It relaxes me and is one of my favorite hobbys in life. I was weeding the other day (which is quite relaxing....funny as this sounds) and I was pulling out these weeds that were so shallow and no problem just to toss aside and remove. I then came across the roots of the very very large tree in our backyard as the roots run right alongside and now inside the flower bed.. It was like cement. No way I could pull that thing out. I was trying to cut part of it away and it didn't move an inch. It was literally like tying to remove a cement foundation


I thought to myself, I want to be like this tree root. I want what I believe not to change just because I'm around other people...but because it's something that the Holy Spirit is bringing to my attention that needs to change. I want my roots to go deep.....in good things