The 26 to-do's before 27

Last weekend, I had a birthday.  This birthday I did a lot of thinking. It's like this year, I officially felt like I was getting older, not necessarily growing up, but getting older.  I reflected a lot these past few weeks, reflected and visioned.  I thought about this last year, things that happened, things that didn't happen.  It was a good year and made me look forward to this next year, but it also made me think about some things that I hope to accomplish before I turn 27, so I have compiled a list of my 26 things to do, before I turn 27.

1.Make a quilt. I have always wanted to do this, but the thought of making a quilt intimidates me, but its a goal for me to make a quilt for our baby, and since I'll have some time,  may as well start now.

2.Pierce my nose. I have almost done this several times, but I always chicken out.

3.Get plugged into a good bible study. This is something I know I need to do, and my friends and I always talk about wanting/needing to do this, this year I hope to make it happen.

4.Run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon.  First goal, run. Period. I hate running, but I want to run this marathon.

5.Visit friends in Portland.  Justin and I have been talking for months that we need to do this, we deeply miss our friends in the Pacific Northwest, and its time we visit our favorite city.

6.Make Noonday a big deal in Fairfield.  I'm encouraged with how well Noonday has been received in our tiny city, my prayer is that I'll be out in the grocery store or running errands and people would recognize Noonday.

7.Visit another country.  It's no secret that I *hope* we will visit Ethiopia this next year, but I would love to travel somewhere Ive never been, outside of my comfort zone.

8. Go white water rafting.  This ALMOST happened last month, but we couldn't make the dates work.

9. More intentional time with my husband.  When we spent out weekend at the Lords Land it was so nice to just be together, we're working hard at being intentional with our time.  Not just sitting down and watching TV together (all though at times that's nice) but we'll take walks, sit outside, or just sit and talk. It's nice.

10. Make jam.  When we were taking care of my grandma she went through what I called a "jam phase" where she made jam all.the.time. Now, I think I'm ready for my jam phase.

11.  Get back into the piano.  I've played the piano for a long time, took lessons for several years, and even played in college. I still play, in my house, usually when I'm nervous or upset ha ha.  But there's a few songs I've been wanting to teach myself, I hope to do that this year.

12. Sew more.  A few summers ago I was really into sewing, then I stopped. It's time.

13. Build deeper relationships.  As I sit and watch social media explode, I find that we have, at times, used it as our only form of communication with the world. I'm completely guilty of this, and yet at the same time am so thankful for what we're able to do these days. I was reminded tonight, of when WIFI first came out.  I was working at a coffee shop and someone asked me if we had WIFI..I thought it was a kind of tea, so I showed him the teas...how far we've come. ha ha

14. Get outside more! We've been doing a good job about this lately, getting out and just exploring, I want to continue to do this more.

15. Created for Care.  This is a retreat for adoptive moms, foster moms any woman who has a heart for orphans and orphan care. I really want to go there this year. I've heard amazing things.

16. Organize! Organize! Organize! I've been doing good at getting organized...kind of psycho organized.  I want to continue this...but not so much in as a psycho Martha Stewart wanna be (which was where I was headed..)

17. Memorize Scripture.  I met with a friend a few days ago because I was feeling overwhelmed. She suggested I write scripture and put it all over my house, as reminders. I used to do that in college, and kind of stopped, I've since started doing it again, and wouldn't you know it? I'm not so overwhelmed anymore :) This is a must continue. 

18.Enjoy game nights. I hate playing games, board games. I've never liked them. I don't like puzzles, never have, even when I was younger.  My husband on the other hand, loves both.  I'm going to make an effort to enjoy games more. 

19.  Learn how to take pictures, we saved and saved for a camera we've been wanting for a year. Pulled our birthday money AND...it sits, waiting to be used. I need to learn how to use it. Especially before baby gets here, that's one of the reasons we bought it. 

20.  Get another tattoo.  I know what I'm getting...I just need to do it, but since our tattoo artist lives in Portland, we may need to combine this with our Portland trip 

21.  Stay in a yurt. That's all. And a tree house. 

22.  Cut out our processed food. We've slowly began to do this. It definitely is something to be done over time, but I started reading In Defense of Food, and we realized that for us and our family, we will do our best to eat a clean/whole whatever you want to call it, diet. I've been doing lots of research, and I know eating this way will take commitment, mostly on my part, because I prepare the majority of the meals, but once I get the hang of it, I think it will really benefit us

23.  Ride my bike more, I got a bell, so that should help ;) 

24.  Make homemade Christmas gifts, my family's probably reading this and groaning, but I promise they'll be good!!!

25.  Be thankful, I've got a lot. I need to remember that.

26.  Love more, a genuine love. 

We shall see how much gets accomplished this year! 

Away

Oh, hi. You might have wondered if I forgot how to write/type.  Well, kind of.  I've been working on some things, and blogging just hasn't been on the forefront of my mind lately.  Sometimes I feel like life just gets way to busy and jumbled and I find myself just making it thorough each day, which is not how life should be. I wasn't designed to "make it through" or "survive" each day, but rather to treat them as gifts, because I'm not promised tomorrow.  God's been working on my heart lately, and I've been dealing with some yucky stuff, and did not like who I was becoming, so Justin and I choose to get a way a few weeks ago, for 2 nights we choose to pack up our puppy and spend the weekend disconnected at The Lords Land. 

Okay, have you heard of this place? The story behind it is crazy amazing, and I won't do it justice so make sure you read up on them.  Basically it used to be this hippie commune/ place of "spiritual" refuge for the hippies out of Height Ashbury in San Francisco in the 60's.  This lady sold all of her possessions to buy this safe haven type place where the hippies could go and well, do hippie type things I guess, clothing was optional (not now of course) but at the time it was, and they build this sanctuary type place full of crazy houses. Anyway, missionaries came eventually and shared Jesus and eventually "The Land" became "The Lords Land" where people can go and just be with God.  We spent our time talking and just being together, which we haven't done in a while. We talked about our hopes and dreams for our family and the changes that will be happening before we know it. 

I love how The Lords Land literally has script everywhere, there are hidden crosses and hearts all over the places, you find them when you least expect it.  

So, my trusty 15 followers :) I'll leave you with some pictures of our time away, a time I'll treasure always. 

Fort Bragg

Our cute little cabin (see the tilted window, way to not conform :) )

That song "Beautiful Things" came to mind..

Such a special time away

Still

This time of the year, we seem to be constantly be busy.  I remember looking ahead to June and thinking "wow, every weekend is full, and most weeks are the same I can't wait until July..." well, now July is here and it's the same thing! ha ha. I remember summer as a kid, time seriously seemed to stop and the days just went on forever.  Now that I've grown up a bit, there never seems to be enough time in my day to get anything done.  Time. This is something that God has been speaking to me quite boldly about lately. 

Time. Time in the day, time in the month, year, blah blah blah...

I'm learning to be still. Because when I'm still, I'm at peace.  I've allowed myself to be controlled by time a lot in the last few months, and it's been driving me insane. I find allowing time to control my life takes control away from God.  

I love my app Jesus Calling, it just seems to speak to me at all the right times. Recently a portion of  my devotion read this:

Wait patiently with me while I bless you. Don't rush into My presence with time-consciousness gnawing at your mind.  I dwell in timelessness: I am, I was, I will always be.  For you, time is a protection; you're a frail creature who can handle only twenty-four-hour segments of life.  Time can also be a tyrant, ticking away relentlessly in your mind.  Learn to master time, or it will be your master."

I have slowly, once again, allowed time to be my master.  And this is a huge problem.  It's where the enemy wants me to be.  This weekend, we are escaping time. We are getting away to be still. We are going to The Lords Land to soak up the presence of the Lord and of each other. Distraction free. We will remember what it's like to be still. 

One

June 18th marked one month waiting for baby.  I'm hoping to document month by month, this picture was actually at 6 weeks (already starting off behind). The first 6 weeks have flown by, we've been so busy that waiting has been easy (for now...) we bought our first baby room purchase the other day, it was kind of surreal.  Sooo many changes have been happening or are to come, I'm hoping to write a more detailed blog about that sometime...for now, I'm off to play some games with my brothers. I'm currently working on living in the moment, and now the moment is game time. Happy Sunday friends! I'll leave you with our month 1 picture.  One month down little guy!!! We can't wait to meet you!!!