"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."

It has been a pretty good weekend a must say!
Friday night I picked up one of my dearest friends, Porsche, from the airport and enjoyed catching up with her at Toot's! On Saturday I slept later than intended because I did not sleep well again. I went out shopping with my mom for some new running shoes, as they were a part of my Christmas gift, we just had not gotten around to shopping yet; we also picked up some embroidery I had done (see pictures below). I finally found a pair that I am hoping will work, I have some weird feet so I have to be very selective in my activewear shoes. After we were done, I went back home and got ready to go out to eat with some of my Zeta sisters before step show! I was so proud of our girls, they were so classy and did an amazing performance! Today I went to Sunday School and Church followed by an exceptionally long nap. I also attended a superbowl party with my family which leads to a rather humerous story.

For the Superbowl, my family was invited to the home of some of our friends who live around the corner from my parents. There was so much food and it was soooooo good! Well in this house they have a home movie theater in their basement. It is awesome to say the least, the screen is aproximately 12 x 5 feet. Well also in this home theater they have  these super awesome movie theater seats. I was sitting in one of these awesome chairs and excused myself during the 3rd quarter to each some chili. After I finished my chili, I went back down to the basement to reclaim my super awesome movie theter seat. One thing I failed to mention is that these seats were on a platform and the room was pitch black...you probably have an idea of where this is going...Also being the diva I am, I decided to look cute and wear high hieels to this party.

Pitch Black Room+ High Heels + A ledge+ the most ungraceful person in the world = Chloe falling flat on her face

Yes so who needs half time entertainment when you have me?! If you are wondering, I am ok, a little bruised up but all in all I could not quit laughing. My poor mom wanted so badly to laugh but she knew she shouldn't! Once she saw that I was laughing we did laugh together. I will be sure to post a picture of the nasty bruise I know I am going to have on my arm. I am thankful I had a water bottle in my hand instead of my plastic cup with coke from earlier! That would have been one big disaster! All in all it was a nice evening and I am very grateful to the Wright Family for inviting my family and me over this evening. I am now sitting at home about to nurse my bruised arm watching Glee with my roommate and two very sleepy puppies. I have never really followed this show but I really like it! I think I might just be hooked!

I must admit, I have been a little behind on my devotionals this weekend so I do not have much deep insight for this particular post except God is very faithful. I feel so blessed with all he has given me and I know if I keep striving to glorify him and asking him for my life to glorify him that he will be faithful to me. I know things are hard for me right now but I know that every day God heals me a little bit more and my faith grows more too. I am thankful for how deelply he is stirring within my heart right now and for speaking to me so loudly! This is where my title for my post came from today. Even though I tripped and fell in front of everyone, being able to genuinely laugh uncontrollably was one of the best feelings I have had in a really long time.

 "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." Job 8:21

May God open your heart to his Blessings that he has given you this week!

These were both items I already owned and then had them emroidered at embroid me of Murfreesboro. I was so pleased with how they both turned out! I am very excited to wear the apron during some tailgating at MT games this fall! I also feel so fancy now that I have a monogrammed bath robe as well :)

Also this was so cute, I just could not resist! As I was sitting here writing, Georgia was so sleepy she was falling asleep with her head up! They are both of her. So sweet, love my baby girls!

Thirsting for the Word

Hello Friends!
I know I am a little behind! The past two days have consisted of a lot of sleeping, running erands, working on things around the house and Doctor's appointments. As mentioned previously, I am having a hard time with sleep right now because I do not feel like I am getting restful sleep due to vivid dreams. I woke up this morning after almost 8 hours of sleep and had to go back to sleep because I felt like I had not slept in days! I am just grateful that I have this time off to try and adjust to my medication and do have the time to get the rest I need.

I feel like I have this continual thought process going on in my head of what I want to write on there but then when I sit down to write I can not think of any of it, ha! I guess that is what we call writer's block. I am just going to go with what is on my mind at the moment and maybe it will all come back to me!

I have started reading the book called The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It was extremely popular when it first came out about nine years ago. I borrowed it from Caitlin a couple of years ago and am just now getting a chance to read it. It is not a book you read chapters at a time though, it is a 40 day journey so you only read a few pages each day. I really believe God works in the most mysterious ways. This book has been sitting on my night stand for literally over a year and the other day I decided it would be a good time to start reading it since I have the time to commit to it right now. I don't know much about Rick Warren but after only reading for three days, all I can say is WOAH. I truly believe these words came straight from God through Rick's fingers. I would like to share a poem with you from Day 2 that really touched me as is seem to spell out everything I have been going through during this journey of mine.

You are who you are for a reason.

You are part of an intense plan.
You're a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God's special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You're just what He wanted to make.
The parents you have are the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God's Plan in mind,
And they bear the Master's seal.

No, the trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you'd grow.

You are who you are for a reason,
You've been formed by the Master's rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God.
Written by Russel Kelfer

I just felt like this came straight out of my heart and was able to say some things I have not been able to say and that there was someone else who might trip up on this blog and need that poem.

The title of this post is "Thirsting for the Word". I have been extremely convicted since 2011 began to really dig deep into the Word of God. It is not that I do not like reading it, quite the contrary, but as I have shared, I have not devoted my time and heart like I should have been to reading the scriptures. One of my daily prayers has been that God would give me an unquenchable thirst for the Word. Well again, when you ask in accordance with God's desires, he gives! I have been reading things I have read over and over before and seeing things through completely different eyes. I recently had a conversation with my Grandma, who is by far one of the people I respect and admire most, and she commented that one of the great things about the Bible is that we can read it over and over and each time learn something different from it. Also one thing I believe is that God will point you to a specific scripture for a reason. For instance the other day I wanted to start a new book in the Bible so I came upon 1 Corinthians and felt God say, "Alrighty Chloe, read/study this book right now". So I was like Ok! Also if you didn't know, my name is in 1 Corinthians 1:11 :) .

I have shared some of the things that have touched me so far but one today came a me literally like a cast iron frying pan. I literally think my heart stopped for about 2.5 seconds and I backed up and reread the passage. It was from 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. Here in this chapter Paul is writing about marriage. He talks about how it is better to not be married but if you can not control your desires it is better to marry than to burn with those desires. That was nothing new to me, again I had read this, heard sermons on it etc. However, one particular verse really stood out to me. It was verses 32-35 and 35 is what really struck me. Here is is:

³² I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. ³³ But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— ³⁴ and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. ³⁵ I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

As noted, I am coming out of a break-up and still healing from that and while I have come a long way, it is still hard at times, especially with the upcoming Holiday, to not feel the loneliness of being single. I am also in a stage of my life where many of peers are getting engaged and married. I even at one point decided I was never going to get married because I was so tired of getting hurt that it was easier to lock up my heart and protect it than share and also if I set my expectations of a man so high it would be easier to continually say there is no one out there for me. Well this verse totally rocked my world and perception of all that. This told me "Chloe, it is ok to get married, and you will one day but do not be concerned about that right now. Right now God is doing a work in you that he can not do if you are married or in a dating relationship." Even at this moment as I write this, I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit upon me affirming this in my heart. It is truly one of the most comforting things and thoughts and conversations with God I have had in a long time. Oh and get this, my itunes is on shuffle right now and the song "Walk By Faith" by Jeremy Camp just came on...God has a history with me of always playing this song when I really need to hear from him. As my dear friend/Second Mom Mrs. Jeanie says "There is no such thing as irony in the kingdom of heaven". I don't have much else to say except if you are struggling, keep holding on, God is right there with you.

To God be the Glory Forever and Ever!
Blessing to you loved ones!

When you truly ask, God truly gives!

Wow, all I can say about the past two days is WOAH....As I mentioned in my last post, I did not get the job that I was really hoping/counting on getting. Yesterday (Tuesday) it really hit me that I was back to square 1 and had to start all over again. I just felt so low yesterday and could barely muster up the strength to even get cleaned up for the day, it probably didn't help that is was super rainy and nasty outside as well.


Brittany and I went to her boyfriend's family's hardware store to get the remaining concrete blocks I needed for my backyard. He was so sweet and put them straight in my car for me! When we got back, I got cleaned up and then went to fill out an application for substitute teaching. After I got back home, I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. Side note to interject here as well, I am on a medication that one of the side effects is vivid dreams so I do not always feel rested even if I have had 8+ hours of sleep. I ended up sleeping for over 2.5 hours. When I finally woke up, I still just felt so down about the job that I just stayed in bed for the rest of the evening induced into a TV coma. Around 10:15 I did venture out of my house to Sonic, because nothing helps a down trodden spirit like a Sonic drink! Well in the middle of my Sonic trip, all that pent up emotion from the day came pouring out during a phone conversation with my mom. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of it all but I know the car hop must have thought I was crazy, sitting in my car at Sonic at 10:30 crying...I pulled myself together enough to drive home and sneak in without my roommates noticing that I had been crying/was upset and once again barricaded myself in my bedroom and "wallowed in my sorrows" (I will be using this phrase quite often : P ). I had my pity party and then ended up talking for several hours with my former boyfriend. I will keep the details of this conversation private out of respect for him, but I will say that it was a much needed conversation. I appreciate him staying up until the most ridiculous hours of the morning talking with me as I continue on this journey of mine.

Now you may be wondering what the title of this particular post means. Today (Wednesday) I have somewhat had my head screwed back on straight and was able to get my focus back on God and out of that nasty pit I was in Tuesday. I have been praying very fervently that God would turn my life into something that glorified the name of Jesus in all that I do and that he would put me where he wants me. I believe that not getting that job I really wanted was a way of him saying to me "Ok Chloe, How much faith do you really have in me? How fully do you trust me?" . I will be honest, it is not easy. I told my dear friend Brittany the other night during our conversation that I truly believe being unemployed right now/since graduation is right where God wants me. I know many people may view this as laziness or lack of ambition, but my heart, body, mind and soul are in some SERIOUS need of healing (thus my journey I keep referring too). At some point I will share some more of the specifics of this journey but I am not quite ready yet. Anyways, back to my point, I realized that I have been going 100 miles an hour since I was about 12 years old. Yes there have been periods of vacation but I just have been go, go , go and never really let my walk with Christ "set" and become firm. I was convicted of this during my quiet time this morning when I came across this passage :

1 Corinthians 3:10-14

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. ¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

This passage reminded me of a sermon I heard by John Piper while attending Passion 2011 earlier this year. The whole message talked about making Christ our foundation and not doing things, even though they may be done in Christian love, to bring ourselves glory but because that is what Christ calls us to do because Christ is to be the foundation of all we do. I realized that my foundation is clearly very broken right now and I am slowly rebuilding it day by day, one concrete block (ha ha ha, I know I am so funny & punny-if you don't get this ready my entry from the previous Saturday) at a time. With every block that I put back on my foundation, I want with every fiber of my being for it to be nothing but a reflection of Christ. I have been in such a place in this journey of mine that on some days (much like the one I had yesterday) literally all I felt like I had was Jesus. I would just imagine myself sitting at his feet saying "Please Lord, do with me what you will but free me from my bondage but let me glorify you in the process". I was really convicted about this too recently when I read an article about God's timing. I think I may have put the quote on one of my entries since I started this blogging but in summary it said that when we suffer/are waiting on God's timing, we shouldn't ask God to get us through to the end but to simply just keep our eyes focused on him. Click here to read the outline of Dr. Stanley's outline of a sermon he preached on this (I am almost positive this is the same outline he used for the article).

If you haven't picked up yet, I am quite a long winded person. I can not say things in a simple way, I like to go on and on when I speak and write. I actually struggled a bit with writing in college because of this! The whole point of everything I just said above is that I have been asking God to change my heart and to let me be only a reflection of Christ. I believe that through everything I am experiencing right now is because Christ is working in me. As I mentioned above, I have always been such a busy body that I did not make the time for scripture, prayer, and mediation with God like I needed. Now, I have nothing but time. It has been amazing to see what God has been able to do in such a short amount of time, I have to be faithful in return though and know that he is going to provide a job in his timing as well as the many other prayers I have been uplifting during this journey.

Well I know I still haven't talked about the Beatitudes lol, but maybe one day when there is nothing else eventful and worth discussing I will finally blog about it. For now though, I believe it is time for me to call it a night, old grandma Chloe didn't get a nap today! I will end this post on a lighter note though with a few pictures from my day today.

Sweet Blessings to you all! (like all 3 of you that read this : D)

This was some very delicious homemade peach cobbler I had at church this evening!

While I was gone today, my mischievous little dog Georgia decided to get on top of the counters and in turn knocked off a glass pitcher that was sitting on the counter, talk about a mess to clean up! I found dirt and puppy paw prints on the counter tops to prove it!

But, I couldn't stay mad at her too long, because she is just so stinkin cute!

Praising God through Gritted Teeth

Well today has been to put it simply, quite a mix of emotions. I know I said I was going to talk about the sermon about the Beatitudes but that it going to get delayed again. I am pretty drained at the moment and would like nothing more than to slip into a TV induced coma, however, I am going to push through that and do my best to reflect on this day. 

Today started out great, I woke up feeling pretty good and had a really wonderful quiet time with God and set off about my day which included a trip to the nail salon and a visit to my old place of employment. I had a great visit with some of my old coworkers. Let me interject here to say that I had been waiting on a call since last week to find out if I had gotten a job that I had interviewed for. Well in the middle of my visit I got the call. The information I got was that they had decided not to hire anyone for this position and they were only going to keep the current employees and rework their schedules. This was a huge disappointment. I had really been hoping that this job would work out because it was everything I had been looking for in a job. It was 40 hours a week, benefit eligble, and the type of job I would be able to work and not have to take home with me at the end of the day. In my prayer time this morning, I prayed that God would allow me to live in a way that would glorify the name of Jesus. Well when you truly ask for something, God answers. As I got back into my car I wanted to say "Really God, Really? Why, I have been through so much lately, can't you just cut me a break for once?" , instead I through gritted teeth (metaphorically speaking) said "Ok God, you know what is best for me and the plan for my life and this job wasn't in it".

After a few more errands, I made my way home, trying my best to stay positive and trust that God was in control. I got back into bed with my pups, as I was still not feeling well from yesterday, and began the job hunt again. At some point earlier in the the day, a verse from a song I had sang in choir came to me. It was from Psalm 139. I looked this up and it proved to be tremendous comfort. Here is that verse:

Psalm 139
1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.


This particular Pslam to me feels like aloe does on an intense sunburn. It calms and brings peace to a tormenting heart, such as the way mine felt today. Also as I was falling asleep last night, my sweet puppy Savannah fell asleep on my arm and I looked her and thanked God for even the simpilest blessings. I think that God provides these so many times throughout even our entire day. This is something I have been trying to remember today in the midst of my disappointment, that I still have so much I am blessed with and one job rejection should not be the end of the world for me.

Here is a picture of Savannah that God spoke to me about acknowledging him in even of the smallest of blessings.

Later in the evening, I was able to go to a basketball game to watch my little sister cheer and then have frozen yogurt at Sweet Ce-Ce's (which is AH-MAZING) with my two life long best friends, Caitlin and Brittany. One of the things I have emjoyed most about graduating from college is being able to spend time with them, as well as my other close friends. After we finished, Brittany drove me back home and we had a long visit and conversation about this journey of healing I have been embarking upon. At some point I will explain what this whole journey has been about but for now, we will just say it is a "trifecta" of factors that I am currently dealing with. It has been very hard for me to open up about this journey and it still is, thus one of the reasons I am writing this blog. We had a long chat and again I feel so blessed because she reminded me that I have some incredible friends in my life who I will always be able to trust and who walk with me no matter what. While I have always known this, something about this particular conversation we had made it even more reassuring. I struggle a lot with trust and with my "trifecta" right now trusting people has been even more difficult as I have been very let down by people who I thought I was close too and whom I thought should have been able to trust. Ultimately, I know I have to trust God before I will be able to trust anyone else and I fully admit I do not trust God like I should. Years of let down by various people on earth has led me to live a life that generally trusts no one. My prayer every day is that God would heal my heart and I would be able to fully trust him with my life.

I know this seems like more of a debbie downer post but this is truly my life right now. I am in such this crossroads where I know I can choose to take the narrow path or fall down the path of darkness. I desperately more than anything in this world want and desire to live a life that fully reflects the heart of Jesus Christ. I am begining to be at the point where I am ready to abadon my heart to Christ and do whatever he wants me to do in order to accomplish that. This is so scary to me as I am quite the control freak but I just love Jesus so much, I want this so badly. Like a story my pastor told at church yesterday, a little girl asked her mom that if God was so big he could hold the world in his hands yet he lived in each of us, doesn't that mean he should shine through us? This is what I want....

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

Sunday....Oh how nice it is to have my Sundays back. For the past year my Sundays have been consumed with sorority meetings, group projects, and homework. Today was the first "normal" Sunday I have had in this journey of mine. I went to Sunday school followed by church. The sermon today was on the Beatitudes, more thoughts on this sermon tomorrow. After church I stopped at Whitt's Barbeque to pick up a very tasty lunch consisting of a B.B.Q. sandwich, macaroni & cheese, and green beans.

 As mentioned in my previous post, I am newly single. Well while I was in this relationship Sundays, were one of the few days of the week we were able to spend time together and have a routine, which consisted of going to Sunday school, church, and then back home to have lunch or out to eat somewhere. Well today as I sat eating my Whitts at my kitchen table alone, I became somewhat saddened. I was in my home alone eating and couldn't help but think of how much I sorely missed the companionship, fellowship, and being able to share my love to someone through preparing a meal and sharing it through conversation over the meal. While the urge to shed a tear or two came upon me and as my mother says "wallow in my sorrows", I fought it back and tried my best to remember that where I am right now is exactly God's plan for me at this moment.

After my meal, I took a much needed nap with my baby girls. After I woke up my roommate discovered that we did not have any hot water. So here we go on another adventure. I called my Dad and asked for advice as to what I should look or call because I had not clue what to do. After much investigating, I did finally discover that the pilot light was indeed out on my hot water heater. Well my roommate and I read the instructions and attempted to relight it but after several failed attempts we decided to stop trying as messing around with gas and fire is not something to be taken lightly. I did eventually cave and asked my dad to come and fix the pilot light. I now know how to properly relight a pilot light on a hot water heater. I will also note that my concrete block method did indeed stop the pups from digging! I did discover they picked a new spot to dig though and it is where my neighbor's raspberry bushes are and she has let me know before they are very precious to her...therefore I will be going back to Lowes tomorrow to buy yet again 6 more darn concrete blocks....sigh...

After the hot water heater dilemma was settled, I have took it pretty easy the rest of the evening. I haven't been feeling 100% today, I think I am passing a cyst : / I event missed Bible study tonight, but I was able to rest and spend time with my roommates and puppies eating movie theater popcorn, sonic, and watching movies. We are currently watching the movie Valentine's Day, I am having mixed emotions about it, thankfully I have seen it before and there are some very sweet stories that aren't too mushy :) I will close with the beatitudes that I will write about tomorrow.
Blessing to you!

 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:3-12

Taste of Spring in January

Wow what an incredible day it has been today! I have had to constantly check the calendar to remind myself that it is actually January because it hit 70 degrees here in Murfreesboro today! It was such a beautiful day and I am sad to think that by next week it could be snowing, boo. I was able to spend a wonderful day running errands with my two pups and a trip to the bark park! The girls and I went to the post office, bark park, Lowe's, the gas station, and the car wash.

Let me preface this story/blog/future stories by saying that I am newly single and trying to rely less on my parents to do things and learn to become more independent. This is one of the greatest adventures I am embarking upon in 2011 and where much of my writing will stem from. I will admit that while I greatly enjoy my independence I have been pretty co-dependent my whole life, thus making this new chapter of my life to be quite difficult, frustrating, and pretty hilarious at the same time.


Here is my funny story for the day. One of my dogs, Georgia, has been escaping from the fenced in back yard for a couple of months now, well actually started this summer but she figured out how to get past the traps recently, so I had a new wooden fence installed to keep her from climbing over. Well instead of going over, she now figured out how to go under! I was finally able to block the hole she had made to get out but now she has been trying to go under my neighbor's fence and let's just say this isn't the first time and my neighbor is not shy about letting me know when she starts digging holes. The only thing I could come up with that I was capable of doing right now and could afford to do is buy concrete blocks to cover up the gaps where she had been digging and the fence wasn't flush to the ground.

Anyways, I went to Lowe's today to make this purchase and it was rather interesting! First I had to figure out where these blocks were in the store. Ok finally found them, then there was the task of getting them in my cart without breaking my french manicure and being the stubborn person I am, I insisted on not asking for help. I finally after a few scrapes later, got six concrete blocks loaded in my cart. Well being the genius I am, I forgot I also needed to by some picture hanging supplies while I was there. So my next task was to get my now ridiculously heavy cart down the isle to find the other supplies I needed. I finally get my cart moving, I almost had to do a running start just to get it to move (sad I know, I should probably start working out ha ha). I finally found my other supplies and then took off to the check-out counter. After I had paid I had the fun task of getting to my car that I had parked far away because the dogs were still in the car since we had just left the bark park. After what felt like a trek to BFE, I made it to my car. I will pause and say at this point I had indeed broken a sweat. With the cart to my car, now came time to unload all six of those darn concrete blocks. With the dogs curiously staring at me out of the back window, I slowly but surely loaded all those blocks into my trunk. After leaving Lowes we stopped and got gas and went through the car wash and headed back home and yes you guessed it, to unload those stupid concrete blocks that I was beginning to loathe at this point. I backed my little four door Volvo into my driveway, which I might add is slanted, and not surprisingly it hesitated to accelerate for a second. Finally I was home and now it came time to unload the concrete blocks yet AGAIN. After six quite strenuous trips from the car to the backyard, all six blocks were successfully unloaded! WOO-HOO finally!!!!!

I wasn't in the clear yet however; next I had to shovel dirt into the holes that GA had dug and even out the ground. Thankfully, this process was not as difficult as I expected it to be. After I finally had the ground evened out, I had to place all the concrete blocks up against the fence. I also dug a hole in the middle of the back yard to try and encourage GA to dig there instead of by the fence. I was trying to get her to watch me and encourage her to dig with me so she would get the idea but in order to get her attention I had to take away the toy she was preoccupied with at that moment (which by the way, was a toy she had stolen on one of her escapades from when she escaped out of the backyard). Not thinking about how much GA likes to jump, I placed the toy in the tree where I thought she couldn't get it. Ha boy did I think wrong! Next thing I knew, I was watching my dogs scaling the tree to get the toy out!!! It only took her a few attempts before she finally got her toy. At that point, I knew she wasn't going to pay attention to my digging attempts. At that point I was so exhausted I decided it was time to call it a day on my manual labor ha ha ha. I was able to capture a picture of GA in her rescue attempts! Here it is:

Just call her spider-woman!

To wind down this crazy day, I treated myself to a pedicure, some Zaxby's, and the movie Dream Girls with my roommate. Posted below are a few more pictures from this weekend thus far. Here is a picture of my baby girls right now after their big adventures today!



Sound Asleep

 I absolutely cannot wait for spring and summer to finally get here! I have never enjoyed the cold weather so today was such an incredible blessing! I will close this text of this post with a verse that has been on my heart today. I am so grateful to God for blessing me with such a wonderful day, it was truly one of the best ones I had in a very long time.

 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:12-13



My Valentine's Day Wreath I made for our front door





I reorganized my spare closet and now you can actually see the floor!



Welcome to my new and improved Blog!

Wow, I have not updated this blog in almost year! I have just graduated college and have much more time on my hands and I believe a perfect time to pick up blogging! I have begun this year in a whole new chapter of my life as well as a healing journey and I am looking forward to using this blog during this process. It is pretty late so I need to get to bed here in a few minutes but I will leave you with a quote from an article I read yesterday that was very powerful.

"To wait for the Lord mean our focus is on Him, not simply on our desired outcome"-Charles Stanley