30 Days of Thanks: Day 8

**This post might be a little mushy-gushy or what ever you want to call it.

 But I don't mind, so enjoy the tiny glimpse I am sharing about my love life.

Day 8:  

I am thankful for my sweet handsome boyfriend and best friend.
I could not have been blessed with a more wonderful, genuine, kind, down to earth man in my life.

Each day I grow more and more thankful for this sweet man.

God's timing with bringing him into my life couldn't have been more perfect and today I get to celebrate 6 months with this handsome man.

He has brought so much joy into my life, and he constantly inspires me to want to be a better person.

His love and passion for God is something I have always wished for in a man, and I am so thankful to finally have found a man with that quality.

I love that he is constantly teaching me new things.

Hopefully one day I will be able to fully understand him when he speaks Spanish to me, but I would definitely say so far I do pretty well.

I am thankful for how laid back and easy going he is.

He helps me slow down in life and pick and choose what battles are really worth battling.

We may disagree on politics at times, but thankfully instead of arguing with one another we simply communicate our beliefs and knowledge about topics and we see each others sides.

I am also very thankful for his family.

He has been blessed with such a fun and unique family.

They are such welcoming and genuine people.

Each and every one of them has a love for God and they all volunteer at our church.

It always puts a smile on my face seeing his entire family every weekend giving back so much to our church and they always do it with a smile on their face.

I am also thankful for the relationships and bonds I am developing with them, especially his mom and littlest sister Jess.

Recently this past weekend Bryce and I were a part of a prank that we played on our Junior High Pastor where Bryce "proposed" to me on stage and in return my part of the prank was to say no and run off stage.

We tricked all of the junior high students but especially our pastor.

Later that weekend Bryce's mom had walked up to me and told me how she saw the video of the prank and she thought it was hilarious.  

She then looked at me and said, "We almost had ya in the family." 

In which I replied, "Almost." ha ha 

I just adore that entire family.

God has blessed me in so many ways this past year, but he has especially blessed me with such a wonderful man and relationship.

So short story long, I am blessed and beyond thankful for my sweet and handsome boyfriend that God placed into my life.

God is so good.

<3

30 Days of Thanks: Day 7 -Vlog

30 days of Thanks: Day 5 & 6

Day 5:

I am thankful for my sister Aubi.

The Papa to my Mama

My twinsy

My Aub

My Aubi Duab

One of the very few women I've looked up to my entire life.

She has always been there for me through the ups and downs through out my life, and I can not begin to thank her enough for all she has brought into my life.

She was there for me more than ever in the lowest part of my life last year.

She held me when I cried, she reassured me that God had a plan for my life even though I couldn't see it at the time.

She promised that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

She has helped me grow so much through out the years and I am so thankful for that.

I am thankful for the unique bond that we have as sisters.

I will never forget our apartment days and the interesting neighbors we had.

Freestyle Fridays

Karaoke nights

Watching the strangest infomercials on Saturday mornings while listening to our neighbors scream at one another.

Thinking our apartment was on fire, so we grabbed our laptops and ran outside to the parking lot...only to realize we were the only ones outside and the smoke was coming from the neighbor below who was barbecuing illegally.

Our many trips to Niketown and Fat Tuesdays.

Mama and Papa cooking nights.

Our first couple of nights in the apartment cooking and being resourceful with the only cooking utensils we had...which were scissors and a fork.

So many good, fun memories with her.

I am so thankful God blessed me with her.

 

Day 6:

I am thankful for my oldest sister Gabby.

My Gabrielle.

My Big Sis.

My personal GPS.

My "I did dad, I did" sister

She is one of the most compassionate and selfless people I have ever known.

She loves fully and gives fully.

I have never met some one who is so giving to others and so thoughtful like her.

(Other than my Gram Cracker)

She has taught me how to have a child like spirit.

I look up to her in so many ways.

I try and be as thoughtful as she is towards people.

I am so thankful for all the times she has listened to me vent and been there to help guide me and pick me up when I tend to doubt myself.

I am thankful for her words of encouragement.

She has such a sweet spirit and she truly deserves to be blessed with the best.

I treasure the times I have with her.

She is one of my absolute favorite road-trip partners.

I can not express enough how thankful I am that God has placed her in my life as my older sister. She has bestowed so much wisdom and love upon me, and she is always there for me.

With all of that being said, it is her birthday today!

She is the big 2-9!!

Happy 29th Birthday to my Gabrielle. 

I love you so incredibly much and I am so excited for you to move back to Vegas.

I am looking forward to our morning coffee dates and breakfast days again.

I have missed you so much.

I love you sissy!

Happy Birthday <3

I am incredibly blessed with the two sisters God has placed me with.

I couldn't have asked for better family than what God has blessed me with.

 

30 days of Thanks: Day 3 & 4

Day 3:

I am thankful for STRIVE and our FUSE students and leaders. 

STRIVE was such a success, and we were able to give so much back to the Las Vegas community.
339 junior high students and leaders served all across the Las Vegas Valley.
From 
painting curbs 
sorting books
pulling weeds/picking up garbage 
to  
cleaning entire class rooms from head to toe
helping out at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and the Ronald McDonald house
and so much more.
There wasn't anything we didn't do.
How cool is that?! 

I'm also super thankful for the wonderful team and staff I am blessed to be a part of at Central Christian Church.

All of the long, long hours that our team put in with:

phone calls

e-mails

texts

flyers

excel sheets

meetings

late nights

site visits

bumps in the road

and

more meetings
it ALL paid off.

I can not begin to describe the joy that it brings me to see the images pouring in from our STRIVE work day and seeing all the students and leaders working so hard, and doing it with such a HUGE smile across their face.

It is truly inspiring to see such selfless acts of service.

I am so so so proud to be a part of such a wonderful team and ministry.

<3

Day 4:

I am thankful for maple bars and red bull editions the day after STRIVE.

30 days of Thanks: Day 1 & 2

Well hello!

Who can believe that it is already November?!

November 2nd to be exact.

Two days in to November already. Cray Cray!

So with that being said I wanted to jump on the "30 days of Thanks" train that a lot of my blogger friends are doing.

Obviously I missed day one. But that's okay, I like to play by my own rules.

So with that I shall incorporate Day 1 & 2 into this fancy little post.

Day 1:

I am thankful for my absolutely wonderful friends that God has blessed me with in my life.

I am surrounded by such supportive individuals who love me and care for me in a way I have never experienced with past friendships.

My friends are all so genuine and so God centered.

I love that I get to work a long side them doing God's work and I get to simply do life with them.

From small group, to FUSE groups, to weekend services, to celebrating holidays with them and weekend trips away from Vegas.

I am just simply blessed and so incredibly thankful for each and every one of them.

<3

 

Day 2:

I am thankful that our event STRIVE is this Saturday.

We have been working almost every. single. day. on this event for the past 7 months and now it is tomorrow! It is so awesome seeing all the hard work we have all put in to this event.

Hours and hours of e-mails, phone calls, excel sheets, site visits, meetings, etc. have been put into this event. 

STRIVE is going to be the LARGEST student community out reach that has EVER happened in Las Vegas and I am incredibly proud and blessed to be a part of it.

With that being said since STRIVE is over after Saturday, that means I will have some what a normal schedule again AND the best best best part (which is what I am thankful for) we get to have Tuesday off. 

So instead of going in and working on STRIVE stuff like normal, I will be at home sleeping and relaxing with my sweet pup...oh and of course going and VOTING.

So, plain and simple, I am thankful to have Tuesday, November 6th off of work.

I will finally get a day of rest.

Amen.

mind-FULL

Ever feel like you have so much on your mind that it makes you feel literally exhausted?

Unable to keep your eyes open.

Short of breath.

As if someone knocked the air out of you.

That sums up my day today.

I went to bed exhausted last night and woke up even more exhausted than I was yesterday.

I don't think my mind and thoughts took a break while I slept.

I woke up feeling stressed out.

Pit in my stomach.

Short of breath.

Not particularly how I wanted to start off my Monday.

Thing is none of it faded as the day went on. It increasingly got worse and worse.

To the point where when I got home I was just simply over the day.

I just wanted to erase today and move on to tomorrow.

I hate feeling like that.

I don't like feeling like I want to erase any day that I have.
I want to enjoy every single day I am blessed with, no matter the difficulties it brings sometimes.

But today I just felt completely OVER it.

When I got home, I felt like I wanted to do something to keep myself busy, because let's be honest I am always constantly doing something or going some where (just ask my family), and yet today I didn't have anything to do when I got off work.

I should have been thankful right?

But I wasn't at first. 

I felt like I was missing out on something.

So I looked for things to do...

- laundry

- cleaning my room

- checked my phone to see if I had any appointments that I didn't remember.

But, there was nothing in my calendar for tonight.

After I finished my laundry and cleaning I laid on my bed trying to think of something to do.

I grabbed my phone and decided to finish my reading for my small group.

After I finished my reading, it left me some what more relaxed than I had felt earlier.

I sat back and thought about the scripture I had read, and then I reflected on my day and all the worries and stresses that I let completely steal my day away from me.

I felt silly for allowing my past hurts and scars to creep in to today.

My life today is nothing like it was a year ago.

The people in my life, are nothing like the people from my past.

Today I am surrounded by friends and family who love me more than I could ever ask for.

I've been blessed with an amazing best friend who I can vent to about anything and everything and she brings me back down to Earth when I get all worked up over stresses or worries.

I've been blessed with a wonderful man who is so passionate for God and gives every part of himself to serve God and people.
He is so genuine and caring towards me, and I am constantly thanking God for bringing him into my life.

Looking back on all those positive notes about where I am today, makes me thankful that I had nothing going on tonight.
If I hadn't had that 'quiet' time to sit back and reflect on the good things in my life I would probably still feel overwhelmed and upset over today.

That 'quiet' time changed my perspective on today, because in reality today wasn't bad.
 I just simply let my worries and stresses steal away my day.

Thinking about all of the blessings in my life that I have to be thankful for helps bring me back down to Earth and out of the mindset of letting my worries/stresses overwhelm me.
I now feel as if I can breathe again.

The pit in my stomach is no longer there.

The tightness in my chest from the stress has loosened.

Sometimes when things get crazy, when your mind feels so full of junk and stress to the point that you feel overwhelmed, you just have to take a minute, sit down and take a deep breath in and focus on all the good in your life.

Don't let all the worries and stresses and negatives take over your day.

No day is worth wishing you could erase it.

Trust me, at the end of the day you'll wish you wouldn't have allowed your day to be wasted.

Thankfully for me, I still have 2 hours left of today to focus on all the good.

"what's my purpose..."

I'm sure I am not the only one who has wondered what their purpose in life is.

I recently went through an old journal of mine that I had completely filled with entries and thoughts from a few months ago and I came across an entry from about 10 months ago where I asked myself that question...

What is my purpose...

Why was I here on earth?

What was I meant to do?

Was I meant to make a difference?

Did I not have a purpose?

At the time I truly felt like I had no purpose in being here...I couldn't see what it was I was meant to do.

I didn't feel like I was really going to make an impact in any way, but I also know that I was also in a different place at that time in my life.

I was experiencing a really bad break up, but at the time I had no idea that it was going to shape me into the over the moon happy person I am today.

I had no idea that it was going to throw me head first into my faith and that I was going to experience so much growth with my relationship with God.

That it was going to cause me to truly figure out what I wanted to do with my life and where I wanted to go career wise.

Now, I still don't know the exact direction I want to go career wise with ministry...but I have a better idea now after having spent a week at junior high camp this past week.

It's amazing to me still how much life changes in such a short amount of time.

I of course vlogged about it, because hey...it's what I like to do.

<3