The move is going pretty well still, although we're not quite done. But we're doing better than we ever did at the last apartment as far as getting things unpacked and organized. I think it's b/c we don't have a hugemongous spare bedroom to just stack boxes and random junk in. We don't have the space to do that anymore, so we are being forced to unpack. We also don't have to room to leave picture frames and artwork laying around just b/c I can't decide where to put them. So I think we've already put more stuff up on the walls than we ever had up at the old place. lol. And it looks so good! Yay!
While I was unpacking a box in the office earlier, I found a bunch of random notebooks. I was flipping through them and found a bunch of interesting stuff. Like the notes from the college girls' class I taught at Juno one night. I was pretty impressed with myself, I must say. I'm not sure I could put together that good of a class anymore. lol. I'll have to post that one sometime later, b/c it's got some good thoughts in it. I also found the notes from the devo I gave in the girl's cabin at camp in Brazil 2 years ago. It was on Ecclesiastes. I got so much Bible reading done that week, mainly b/c there wasn't anyone to talk to besides Micah. So when he wasn't around and everyone else was talking and having fun in Portuguese, I sat all by my lonesome and read my Bible. And that's when Ecclesiastes became one of my favorite books of the Bible.
I also found the journal I kept from that first week at camp. I had forgotten how many mixed emotions I experienced that week. Like, I remember that it was tough, but reading it reminded me how much pain I was in that week. It was so overwhelming to me to be in a foreign country where I knew I would live one day, to be surrounded by people I didn't know who spoke a different language (which is stressful enough for me when they speak English), and to try so hard to communicate with people. I was mentally exhausted and on the verge of a massive breakdown by day 3 of camp. The breakdown came on day 4. lol.
I found something else in one of the notebooks that I don't remember writing, don't remember where on earth I got it from, but it's pretty awesome, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's the ABCs of Marriage.
Affirm him daily.
Be his biggest cheerleader.
Count the blessings I have in our marriage.
Don't criticize him.
Encourage his hobbies.
Fight for his reputation.
Give him my body, mind, and heart.
Help him with a project he wants to finish.
Inspire him to chase after his dreams.
Just gaze at him adoringly.
Kiss him all over his face and neck.
Love him in spite of his weaknesses.
Make sure he knows he's the only one you'll ever want.
New nighties never hurt!
Offer to rub his feet after a long day.
Pray for needs dearest to his heart.
Quit nagging!
Remember whey I fell in love with him.
Stay committed and faithful to him.
Take the initiative when it comes to sex.
Understand where he's coming from.
View him through God's eyes.
Write him a love letter.
eXamine my own heart daily.
Yearn for God and His Word.
Zealously protect my marriage.
Showing posts with label Brazil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brazil. Show all posts
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
"Good is the enemy of great."
This was Nick Saban's inspirational message to the Alabama Crimson Tide today. Apparently it worked. We beat Kentucky 38-20. Great game. 4 interceptions. It was a really exciting game to watch. I just thought that was a really good quote and that I should share it with you.
Today was a pretty fun day. Micah and I slept in. It was my last day to really sleep in before I have to go back to work. Sad day. So I took advantage of it. Then for brunch Micah made me a sausage, egg, and cheese omelet. It was pretty awesome. And we watched the Bama game together...well, kinda. I watched, Micah played WoW, and then watched the replays of the really exciting stuff. lol.
After the game we went over to Joel and Tansy's for a little while. Randy wanted to show us his presentation that he has been showing to the elders of the congregations he is visiting.
I guess with him being here raising funds and stuff, it's got me thinking a lot more about going back. Micah and I have been talking about it a little more often. I'm getting really excited about learning Portuguese and starting to plan our ministry. We've got to go back (again) next summer. Don't get me wrong, I love Brazil. The trips are a lot of fun, and I know that I'm very lucky to have been twice, because most people will never get to go at all. It's just a little frustrating that we have to go so often. It feels like we just got back, and now we're starting to plan our next trip. We actually don't have to go back until December 2010, but we'd rather go during the summer, than wait til the last minute and something come up. ((For those of you who don't know, Micah is a permanent resident, but not a citizen. That means that in order to keep his residency and his permanent visa, he has to enter the country at least once every 2 years. And tickets are so expensive and it's so much time travelling, it's not worth spending any less that a couple of weeks. We try to stay 3 when we go.)) But it's going to work out pretty well, because Micah has to do a field lab as part of his degree program, so he'll just do that while we're down there. (If I get to go and stay the whole time.) So I'm getting excited about what I can get involved with while I'm down there. We might go to camp again, which I would love. We spent 2 weeks as counselors at camp on my first trip down there. It was stressful, but still a good experience. If he ends up working with his dad, then I'll probably work a whole lot on my language skills, and also get more acquainted with the culture. I'm hoping I'll be able to go and spend the whole 3 weeks. If I'm still at Lowe's, it shouldn't be a problem. I've earned enough vacation time, and they like me well enough that I can get it worked out like I did for the last trip. If I'm not at Lowe's, there's no guarantee it'll be quite that easy.
Tonight we had J&T over to our place for supper. We haven't really gotten to hang out with them much since they got married. I cooked Mexican chicken, which is a recipe that their mom makes a lot, so Micah and Joel were really excited about it. As soon as Joel walked in, he was like, "It smells like Mexican chicken in here." Then we played Apples to Apples. Very fun game. We laughed a lot.
I guess that's all I have for tonight. I've been trying to keep my posts shorter, but I'm not very good at that yet. Maybe I just need to start posting more than once a day, but keeping them really short. Idk. I'll get the hang of it eventually.
Remember: don't settle for good when you can do something great. Go do something great today. =)
Today was a pretty fun day. Micah and I slept in. It was my last day to really sleep in before I have to go back to work. Sad day. So I took advantage of it. Then for brunch Micah made me a sausage, egg, and cheese omelet. It was pretty awesome. And we watched the Bama game together...well, kinda. I watched, Micah played WoW, and then watched the replays of the really exciting stuff. lol.
After the game we went over to Joel and Tansy's for a little while. Randy wanted to show us his presentation that he has been showing to the elders of the congregations he is visiting.
I guess with him being here raising funds and stuff, it's got me thinking a lot more about going back. Micah and I have been talking about it a little more often. I'm getting really excited about learning Portuguese and starting to plan our ministry. We've got to go back (again) next summer. Don't get me wrong, I love Brazil. The trips are a lot of fun, and I know that I'm very lucky to have been twice, because most people will never get to go at all. It's just a little frustrating that we have to go so often. It feels like we just got back, and now we're starting to plan our next trip. We actually don't have to go back until December 2010, but we'd rather go during the summer, than wait til the last minute and something come up. ((For those of you who don't know, Micah is a permanent resident, but not a citizen. That means that in order to keep his residency and his permanent visa, he has to enter the country at least once every 2 years. And tickets are so expensive and it's so much time travelling, it's not worth spending any less that a couple of weeks. We try to stay 3 when we go.)) But it's going to work out pretty well, because Micah has to do a field lab as part of his degree program, so he'll just do that while we're down there. (If I get to go and stay the whole time.) So I'm getting excited about what I can get involved with while I'm down there. We might go to camp again, which I would love. We spent 2 weeks as counselors at camp on my first trip down there. It was stressful, but still a good experience. If he ends up working with his dad, then I'll probably work a whole lot on my language skills, and also get more acquainted with the culture. I'm hoping I'll be able to go and spend the whole 3 weeks. If I'm still at Lowe's, it shouldn't be a problem. I've earned enough vacation time, and they like me well enough that I can get it worked out like I did for the last trip. If I'm not at Lowe's, there's no guarantee it'll be quite that easy.
Tonight we had J&T over to our place for supper. We haven't really gotten to hang out with them much since they got married. I cooked Mexican chicken, which is a recipe that their mom makes a lot, so Micah and Joel were really excited about it. As soon as Joel walked in, he was like, "It smells like Mexican chicken in here." Then we played Apples to Apples. Very fun game. We laughed a lot.
I guess that's all I have for tonight. I've been trying to keep my posts shorter, but I'm not very good at that yet. Maybe I just need to start posting more than once a day, but keeping them really short. Idk. I'll get the hang of it eventually.
Remember: don't settle for good when you can do something great. Go do something great today. =)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thought for the day
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving."
I saw this on a random sheet of quotes on our memo board at home and it just reminded me of the blog I posted yesterday. I guess that's something that has just been on my mind a lot lately, so I see it in everything.
What direction are you moving in today? My direction probably wasn't the most positive one, at least for the first half of the day. I think I'm really really needing a vacation from work, and because of it, my attitude is definitely suffering. (Good thing I'm on vacation next week then, huh?) Hopefully the break will be enough to help me keep a more positive attitude at work.
After I got home from work tho, my day was more constructive. I worked out (P90X kicks my butt!), took a shower, started watching the season premiere of House online, ate at Los Portales w/Micah, came home, finished the season premiere (I'm so excited about this season!), and now I'm writing to you while Micah studies for his 2 test tomorrow. So maybe I didn't take any concrete steps toward Brazil like I was talking about yesterday. Not yet at least. Maybe now that I've admitted to being a slacker it'll motivate me to actually get up and do something about it. =) Talvez, eu preciso practicar meu portuguese. (That says "Maybe I need to practice my Portuguese.) And there's probably something wrong w/that sentence structure or something, which means I REALLY need to practice. lol.
That's all I have for today. I'm really liking this blogging thing so far. It's nice to just get my thoughts down on paper (ok, not real paper, but you get the idea) so I can organize them a little. In my head they're just all kinda jumbled up. **Nostalgic story real quick, then I'm done for real:: Saying my thoughts were all jumbled up reminded me. Micah used to ask me what I was thinking a lot when we were dating. Most times, I couldn't really pinpoint anything in particular b/c my thoughts jump all over the place, so I would explain to him that my thoughts were like bubbles. They hung around for just a little bit, then another would run into it and pop it...then that one would float away...and so on and so forth. So eventually instead of asking me what I was thinking, he would just tell me to pick a bubble.** Ok, nostalgic story over. Good night!
I saw this on a random sheet of quotes on our memo board at home and it just reminded me of the blog I posted yesterday. I guess that's something that has just been on my mind a lot lately, so I see it in everything.
What direction are you moving in today? My direction probably wasn't the most positive one, at least for the first half of the day. I think I'm really really needing a vacation from work, and because of it, my attitude is definitely suffering. (Good thing I'm on vacation next week then, huh?) Hopefully the break will be enough to help me keep a more positive attitude at work.
After I got home from work tho, my day was more constructive. I worked out (P90X kicks my butt!), took a shower, started watching the season premiere of House online, ate at Los Portales w/Micah, came home, finished the season premiere (I'm so excited about this season!), and now I'm writing to you while Micah studies for his 2 test tomorrow. So maybe I didn't take any concrete steps toward Brazil like I was talking about yesterday. Not yet at least. Maybe now that I've admitted to being a slacker it'll motivate me to actually get up and do something about it. =) Talvez, eu preciso practicar meu portuguese. (That says "Maybe I need to practice my Portuguese.) And there's probably something wrong w/that sentence structure or something, which means I REALLY need to practice. lol.
That's all I have for today. I'm really liking this blogging thing so far. It's nice to just get my thoughts down on paper (ok, not real paper, but you get the idea) so I can organize them a little. In my head they're just all kinda jumbled up. **Nostalgic story real quick, then I'm done for real:: Saying my thoughts were all jumbled up reminded me. Micah used to ask me what I was thinking a lot when we were dating. Most times, I couldn't really pinpoint anything in particular b/c my thoughts jump all over the place, so I would explain to him that my thoughts were like bubbles. They hung around for just a little bit, then another would run into it and pop it...then that one would float away...and so on and so forth. So eventually instead of asking me what I was thinking, he would just tell me to pick a bubble.** Ok, nostalgic story over. Good night!
Monday, September 21, 2009
UP!
Hello all! Val here! So we have decided to start all over with our blogging. We weren't too successful at it when we first started it, so we're going to try again. Most of our family lives a few hours away, and it's hard to keep everyone updated on what is going on in our lives day to day. So! If you want to keep track of what we're up to, subscribe to our blog!
Another reason we wanted to start a blog now is that we want to get into the habit now, before we're REALLY far away from everyone. The plan is to move back down to Brazil here in the next few years, and we want to keep everyone updated while we're down there too. This will be our tool for letting everyone know what is going on when we can't talk on the phone everyday. We can post pictures and tell stories that you might not hear in a 30-minute phone conversation.
Here are some things you might find in our blog:
~School. (Micah is finishing up his Bachelor's degree in Missions right now.)
~Work.
~Movie reviews. Both of us LOVE to watch movies.
~Funny happenings.
~Family events.
~Random thoughts.
~Quotes.
~Devotional thoughts.
~Sounding board for us to bounce ideas off of.
~And anything else we might come up with!!
So here's the thought for the day:
Tonight we went to campus and watched the new Disney/Pixar movie UP. Extremely cute movie. Hilarious. I laughed soooo hard. It was also a little different from other Pixar movies. There were a lot of sad parts in the movie. Pixar isn't exactly known for putting out tearjerkers, but this one definitely was. And very thought-provoking as well. Hence the blog posting. =)
Here's a quick summary of the movie (no spoilers! don't worry!). There is a young boy and girl who love the idea of exploring. They nearly idolize a famous explorer, and dream of one day going to Paradise Falls, a place in South America that this explorer discovered. They grow up and get married. Life happens. Their savings fund for Paradise Falls soon has to go towards new tires, medical bills, etc. Before they realize it, they are both old and have still not realized their dreams of moving to Paradise Falls. The husband goes and buys plane tickets, but just before he surprises his wife with them, she gets sick and dies. (Told you it was sad!) And that's just the beginning of the movie. So don't worry, I didn't ruin anything. That was mainly just backstory.
As funny as the movie was, it made me think about a lot of things. It is so easy to let life get in the way of our dreams. We plan on something, and then life happens, and our plans get pushed back. And then something else comes along, and they get pushed back more. And sooner or later, we've completely forgotten that we had plans to do it in the first place. For us personally, this means that our plans to go to Brazil need to be in front of us everyday. Every single day, we need to be taking action to make that happen. If it becomes a passive thing in the back of our minds, it gets forgotten, and it never happens. Or it happens years later than we had originally planned. So what are the steps we're taking right now? Well, for one, Micah has gone back to school to finish his Bachelor's degree in Missions. I am (sporadically) working on my Portuguese. I'm hoping to get the Rosetta Stone software soon to help speed that process up. And both of us are starting to get involved at church. We are both still trying to find our niche. I am about to start teaching the Ladies' Class on Wednesday nights. I am also leading a teenage girl's Bible study with another girl about my age. And we both plan on getting involved with the Lads to Leaders program that the congregation is trying to start. Micah participates in worship in many roles, and is hoping to start working on his speaking skills more as well.
Who knew that a Disney movie could provoke so much deep thought? I guess I've rambled long enough. If you've stuck with me this long, I appreciate it. Remember to subscribe to our blog!
Love you all,
Val
Another reason we wanted to start a blog now is that we want to get into the habit now, before we're REALLY far away from everyone. The plan is to move back down to Brazil here in the next few years, and we want to keep everyone updated while we're down there too. This will be our tool for letting everyone know what is going on when we can't talk on the phone everyday. We can post pictures and tell stories that you might not hear in a 30-minute phone conversation.
Here are some things you might find in our blog:
~School. (Micah is finishing up his Bachelor's degree in Missions right now.)
~Work.
~Movie reviews. Both of us LOVE to watch movies.
~Funny happenings.
~Family events.
~Random thoughts.
~Quotes.
~Devotional thoughts.
~Sounding board for us to bounce ideas off of.
~And anything else we might come up with!!
So here's the thought for the day:
Tonight we went to campus and watched the new Disney/Pixar movie UP. Extremely cute movie. Hilarious. I laughed soooo hard. It was also a little different from other Pixar movies. There were a lot of sad parts in the movie. Pixar isn't exactly known for putting out tearjerkers, but this one definitely was. And very thought-provoking as well. Hence the blog posting. =)
Here's a quick summary of the movie (no spoilers! don't worry!). There is a young boy and girl who love the idea of exploring. They nearly idolize a famous explorer, and dream of one day going to Paradise Falls, a place in South America that this explorer discovered. They grow up and get married. Life happens. Their savings fund for Paradise Falls soon has to go towards new tires, medical bills, etc. Before they realize it, they are both old and have still not realized their dreams of moving to Paradise Falls. The husband goes and buys plane tickets, but just before he surprises his wife with them, she gets sick and dies. (Told you it was sad!) And that's just the beginning of the movie. So don't worry, I didn't ruin anything. That was mainly just backstory.
As funny as the movie was, it made me think about a lot of things. It is so easy to let life get in the way of our dreams. We plan on something, and then life happens, and our plans get pushed back. And then something else comes along, and they get pushed back more. And sooner or later, we've completely forgotten that we had plans to do it in the first place. For us personally, this means that our plans to go to Brazil need to be in front of us everyday. Every single day, we need to be taking action to make that happen. If it becomes a passive thing in the back of our minds, it gets forgotten, and it never happens. Or it happens years later than we had originally planned. So what are the steps we're taking right now? Well, for one, Micah has gone back to school to finish his Bachelor's degree in Missions. I am (sporadically) working on my Portuguese. I'm hoping to get the Rosetta Stone software soon to help speed that process up. And both of us are starting to get involved at church. We are both still trying to find our niche. I am about to start teaching the Ladies' Class on Wednesday nights. I am also leading a teenage girl's Bible study with another girl about my age. And we both plan on getting involved with the Lads to Leaders program that the congregation is trying to start. Micah participates in worship in many roles, and is hoping to start working on his speaking skills more as well.
Who knew that a Disney movie could provoke so much deep thought? I guess I've rambled long enough. If you've stuck with me this long, I appreciate it. Remember to subscribe to our blog!
Love you all,
Val
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