'Tis the Season...to Be Jolly!

"Fa lalalala lala lala!" Yes I just sang a Christmas carol online hahaha. Well so far this Christmas season has been very busy, yet very merry. I have gone downtown with friends and family to see the Christmas tree, made Christmas cookies & candies to give people, bought gifts, wrapped gifts, exchanged gifts, put up & decorated the Christmas tree, put the outdoor Christmas lights up, written & mailed Christmas cards, & gone Christmas caroling at the nursing home (& had a blast singing there last Sunday). Yes it has been busy, but I have been trying to enjoy it along the way too.

So last Sunday my boyfriend Mark & I exchanged Christmas gifts. And guess what? We both gave each other the same photo of us in a picture frame! I opened his gift first & starting cracking up because I knew I had printed the same photo & also put it in a frame along with his gifts. What are the odds? I thought that was very cute and sweet. I guess great minds really do think alike. ;-)

We then went to church together which was nice. Then he came with me to the nursing home to watch me sing Christmas carols to the residents there with my singing group. 

 

My sister also came with her three older daughters & everyone had fun singing along to the music & listening to the kids ring the jingle bells.

Later, we went to my sister's house & visited with her & the kids & had fun. I also gave them some of my Christmas cookies & they scarfed them all down joyfully.

Me & my youngest niece Adelise in our matching Christmas outfits lol.

We are so cute together. :-)

My boyfriend Mark & my niece Adelise. Adorable!

So last week I made five types of  Christmas goodies to give people as gifts: peanut blossom cookies, pina colada cookies, Mexican wedding cake cookies, peanut butter cornflake candy, & puppy chow. It all came out delicious. But I sure am glad to be done baking all of my Christmas cookies & candy though, it's a lot of work! I finished it up over the weekend & now I'm scrambling to give them away before they start to dry out lol. I didn't have to do all this work, but I wanted to. Christmas just doesn't feel the same without all the Christmas cheer and goodies.

 Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies.

Pina Colada Cookies.

 

Peanut Blossom Cookies.

I am looking forward to the hustle & bustle to die down at work. Since I work in retail it's been more stressful lately, but the extra cash in my paycheck I got tonight was nice to see. I've been able to pick up extra hours lately which has been a blessing, among many other blessings I've been receiving lately. I'm looking forward to upcoming Christmas parties with family & friends & ringing in the new year too.

So what are some of your Christmas blessings that you are most thankful for lately? And what are some of your favorite Christmas traditions or memories?

God bless. Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year to All!

Very Thankful For...

So I turned out to be right. My previous post did turn out to be my last post as a 25 year-old. As of Thanksgiving Day Nov. 22, 2012 I turned 26 years old. And I had some great birthday celebrations. On Wed. Nov. 21 I was off work so I started out the day with a delicious birthday breakfast with my family at Lincoln Square Pancake House.

Later on that night I had a yummy birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse with some of my good friends and my cousin. I even got the waiters to embarrass me by telling the whole restaurant it was my birthday and everyone in the place yelled, "Yee haw!" to me. Hahaha. It was fun.

On Thanksgiving day aka my birthday Nov. 22, I got off work at 3pm. After work, I went to my aunt's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate the holiday and my birthday with my dad's side of the family. Afterwards, I went to my boyfriend's parent's house to eat dessert, celebrate my birthday, and take part in their "Thankful Basket" family tradition.

This is how a thankful basket works. Each day of the two weeks before thanksgiving you write something you are thankful for on a piece of paper. You then fold it up & put it into the basket. Once Thanksgiving arrives, you gather the family together, pass the basket around, and each pick out a note and read it until all the notes have been read. For extra fun, you can also try to guess who wrote what. It helps if you can recognize everyone's hand-writing too haha.

I really enjoyed taking part in the thankful basket tradition with Mark's family and I think it's a great tradition to have. It reminds us of what the holiday season is about: giving thanks to God for the many blessing and lessons He gives us in this life. Right now I'm thankful for so many things that I think I will have to make a list here for you all to read.

What I am very thankful for during this Thanksgiving and Christmas season:

• My salvation & personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• My wonderful boyfriend Mark who is such a blessing and encouragement to me. :-)
• My wonderful family.
• My wonderful friends from work, church, and every where else in between. Also to my friends who are my family in Christ.
• All the ways God provides for me: financially, with food, with shelter, spiritually, emotionally, physically, etc.
• All the ways He uses me to serve Him through: The Christian singing group I'm in that sings at the nursing home, the Christian artists group who supports, encourages, & provides great fellowship, the small group girls Bible study I'm in who are always there for me, & the many other ways God uses me to encourage & witness to others.
• For my life & being able to serve Him everyday that He blesses me with air to breathe.

I hope you all have a great month of Christmas celebrations. Just remember that "Jesus is the reason for the season." God bless. And remember to keep: being thankful, running, dancing, singing, laughing, and loving others during this holiday season.

What are you thankful for during this Holiday season?

Happy Holidays...

I had a great Halloween and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and my birthday which is on the same day. I love the holiday season and I'm glad it has officially begun. I went to haunted house with some friends, passed out candy to treat-or-treaters, and went to a Halloween costume party with my boyfriend. We went as Popeye and Olive Oyl and had a great time.

I'm looking forward to celebrating the holidays with my boyfriend, family, and friends by my side. Who knows this might be my last post as a 25-year-old! Haha. I will write a longer post next time when I have more to share. Until then dance, laugh, live, and love! God bless. :-)

The Perfect Day

Since most of my post is positive I will get the disappointing news out of the way. Just in the last few weeks I found out that the job position I thought God had opened up just for me closed. Yes God closed one door of opportunity in my career path. However, I know that He will open up a window somewhere else, at some point. And I'm looking forward to that. In other news, God is answering prayers in other areas and that is wonderful.

My relationship with my wonderful boyfriend Mark is going well and I'm loving every minute of it. Two Sundays ago we got to spend the whole day together and it was great! I went to church with him and his family, went to his family's house to eat lunch and watch the Colts game, and then went to a church cookout and hayride. We had a blast and the weather was perfect. In fact the whole day was perfect. I will never forget that day. :-)

Here's a picture of Mark & I at the church hayride on Oct. 14, 2012.

Also, I had a great time yesterday and today hanging out with my sister minus her five children. It was nice to have some one-on-one quality sister time and to have some fun. Yesterday we celebrated my birthday a month early by doing something we've wanted to for the last five years. I love touring old historic houses and yesterday we toured the President Benjamin Harrison house in downtown Indianapolis.

Then we each ate a yummy cupcake at 111 Cakery on 16th Street downtown. I had a pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese icing and she had a turtle cupcake. It was delicious. We ate dinner at a Peruvian restaurant in Fountain Square called Mama Irma's and it was awesome. I had cilantro rice with chicken and vegetables and fried plantains on the side. Later on, we went to Burlington Coat Factory where I found some much needed new purple slippers for only $6.99 and a cute headband for only $0.98! I love a bargain.

Today we watched a movie called October Baby at my house. It was a really touching story about a 19 year old girl who found out she was adopted and set out to find her birth mother and where she came from. She also learned that she had been born out of a failed abortion attempt and that she had had a twin brother who died as a baby. It was a tearjerker, but it was also very encouraging, joyful, and had some good comic relief in it as well. I highly recommend it.

My music practices have been going well and singing last week at the nursing home went great again. I get so much joy and encouragement from singing to the people there. And so do they. They are always so thankful when we come and they always say that they look forward to us coming back. I look forward to singing to them next month about Thanksgiving and about Christmas in December as well.

I'm also excited about some fun fall activities I have coming up in the next few weeks. I'm going to a haunted house this weekend and a Halloween party next week. There are good things to come ahead and I'm thankful and blessed to enjoy it all. Thank you Lord. Until next time...dance, laugh, live, and love. :-)

Pleasantly Surprised

So since my last post on here I've had: two more singing practices, celebrated my brother's 22nd birthday, seen my nieces and nephew sing in front of church during church service, and had two more dates with the nice guy that I mentioned in my previous post. Each date we go on, is better than the last one we went on. He is a very funny, smart, cute, honest, and sweet Christian guy. I feel very blessed to have met him and am enjoying getting to know him better each day.

We have fun when we hang out and really enjoy each others' company even if we are just talking or playing cards together. We had the best date yet last night. He made me dinner, fully furnished with delicious food and drink, candlelight, and even some Kenny G music (per my suggestion ha ha). It was better than any five star restaurant you could eat at, because I knew it was from the heart. We had some great conversations and a great connection.

We even took a little personality quiz for fun to see how compatible our personalities are. And we seem to be pretty compatible and be hitting it off pretty well. Early this morning, he asked if I thought we were becoming more than just friends. I said yes.

He said, "I think I have a girlfriend now. What do you think?" I responded sarcastically, "Really who is she?" Haha. Then I said, "I think you might have a girlfriend now." Then I asked, "Does that mean that I have a boyfriend now?" And he said, "I would say so." So as of today, we have both decided to pursue a dating relationship with one another. And I'm pretty excited about it. :-)

I'm excited to see where the Lord takes me in the future. I'm also excited to see what doors He will open in my career, dating relationship, serving opportunities, friendships, and in the pursuits of my passions and dreams. May the Lord establish my plans and steps! Not my will, but His be done.

As it says in Proverbs 16: 1-3 & 9:

"1 To humans belong the plans of the heart,
    but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

² All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
    but motives are weighed by the Lord.

³ Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans.
⁹ In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps."

Stood Up, But Not Standing Down

So in case the title of this post hasn't given you a hint as to my topic yet already, this post will involve my new blog theme of dating. Yes it's been a busy week and a half since my last post, but I will quickly bring you up to speed.

On Friday Sept. 14, I went to a play with the Christian artists group couple I told you about in the last post. One of the girls in the group who likes to act was acting in the play Arsenic and Old Lace. It was a hilarious play! After seeing it I really want to rent the original 1940's movie version on Netflix sometime which had Cary Grant & Boris Karloff in it, if I'm not mistaken.

On Sat. Sept. 15, I relaxed at home most of the day and then went to the Beech Grove Fall Festival that night with my family. I was suppose to have a first date with a guy I met online that night but he texted me an hour before we were suppose to meet at the bowling alley and said he couldn't make it. At least he let me know though that he was going to stand me up. I prefer courtesy to none at all. We both decided that the fact that he lives an hour and a half a way, was too far apart anyway.

On Sun. Sept. 16, I sang at the nursing home for the first time with the music outreach group I'm now a part of. I really enjoyed it! The residents in the audience were so responsive and most of them sang along, smiled, clapped, and one elderly gentleman even said several times, "Good job guys!" It was a very encouraging and uplifting experience. And afterwards we got to talk to a few of the residents and they were very supportive of our singing and thankful for us being there. God really is working through this music outreach group!

On Tues. Sept. 18, I had a fun girls night out with two good friends of mine from work. We ate at a yummy Mexican place for dinner, got frozen custard, and then visited at my friend's house. We had a nice time visiting and catching up. Later on, we even got pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. I've been in a pumpkin spice mood lately with the cooler fall weather we've been having.

On Wed. Sept. 19, I was suppose to have a second date with a seemingly nice guy. We were suppose to meet at 2pm to play putt putt at a local putt putt place. When 2:15-2:20 rolled around and he had not yet returned my call or text I decided I wasn't going to wait any longer. I was hungry anyways so I went and got some lunch. Stood up for a second time in less than a week. That was fun haha.

As I was eating my food in my car it dawned on me that another guy I had been talking to, whom I had met online, but had not yet met in person was also off work that day. I texted him and asked if he would like to hangout since my other date had canceled. He said sure and it was a beautiful day so I drove and picked him up. We went to a local park and swung on the swings and talked.

Then we went to Starbucks, I had a delicious pumpkin spice latte, he had a salted caramel hot chocolate, and we played Uno with the Uno cards he had brought. All in all it was a better date experience than the other one that had happened earlier in that day. So even though I was stood up, I did not and am not standing down. Just when the Enemy thinks he has you discouraged in life, God likes to prove Him wrong and encourage us all and lift us up all over again.

Today Sun. Sept. 23, I had singing practice with my music outreach group, ate at Olive Garden for dinner with my dad and his girlfriend, then went for a 2.5 mile walk to the park with my brother. It was a beautiful day/evening for it and it felt good to burn some calories. I need to start getting back into more indoor exercise as it gets cooler out, but until the weather gets too cold out I still prefer working out outside lol.

I may not know what God has in store for me in the future, but I know He's got some good plans for me. His plans way are better than anything I can ask for or imagine. As in says in Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." May He do more for us all, more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Until next time...walk on, sing on, date on, and don't stand down!

God is Good!

This week has been an amazing testimony to the faithfulness of God when you fully trust Him with every area of your life.

On Sunday, I had a good time of communication with God and I re-surrendered all of the areas of my life into His control and not my own. I told Him whatever He wanted to do with my life, He could. That includes my finances, my dreams, my passions, my relationships, everything. Not my will, but His be done.

On Monday, I finally had the interview for the possible new career path I had mentioned in my last post. And even though the other position I had applied for had just been filled over the weekend, God made a way and created a new position just for me! In the next few months I will be able to transition into this new position, in a new area, at my current job and I'm very excited about it! It will be more mentally challenging, a better use of my skills, and it will pay a little better too, which are all answers to prayer!

On Tuesday, I met with a young, married, Christian couple who I found on meetup.com. They lead a Christian artists group, a Christian artists Bible study, and a Christian praise band among other things. They are passionate about bringing other Christian artists together for fellowship and encouragement to others. I had a great time meeting and getting to know them better and they invited me to a local play that one of the actors in the group will be performing in on Friday night! I'm excited to get to know them better and meet other Christian artists like myself in the near future.

On Wednesday, I went for a 1 mile run around my neighborhood. It was my first time running again since I fell running a few weeks ago and hurt my knee really bad. It felt good to get back into it and not let my fear of possible injury hold me back, from getting the exercise I need and doing what I love. After running for about 16 minutes I also trimmed bushes and pulled the weeds in my front yard for 1 hour. So now my house has better curb appeal again and looks like someone actually lives there lol.

On Thursday, I met with an older married, Christian couple who I also found on meetup.com. They lead a Christian acoustic outreach group in which they sing and play guitar once a month at a local nursing home. They also write, publish, and sell their own songs, books, and games online. They are a very sweet couple and we had a great time getting to know each other today. We also had a great time singing together and practicing the songs we are going to sing this Sunday at the nursing home.

Overall, I can tell that God has some amazing things in store for me and I'm so glad that I'm trusting Him with all of it because it's way better than anything I could do on my own! Praise Jesus!