Wednesday, March 24, 2010

24 Years Ago

24 years ago a "little" 10 pound, 10 ounce baby girl was brought into the world.
Her parents named her Jennifer Lynn.

Her momma loved her from first sight - her 3rd child, her 3rd gift from God.


From the minute her daddy held her, she became "daddy's little baby girl".

They loved her so. She grew up fast too!


Alot has changed in those 24 years. She went to kindergarten, made it through high school, went to college, and even graduated college. She had many skinned knees that got kissed better, many spankings for being bad and rewards for being good, many hugs to tell her she was loved, and many words of affirmation spoken to her. She met many people, had many friends. She met her true love. Her daddy gave her away. She moved away and started life with her prince charming. She grew up....way too fast.


Though many things have changed, there are some things that haven't.

Her momma still loves her, and has her as one of her best friends.


And she's still her daddy's baby girl and will always be!


And on her 24th birthday that "little girl" wants to say something. She wants to say thank you to her parents for bringing her into this world and for loving her so much and bringing her up in a Godly home. She wants to say thanks to them for always putting up with her and showing her unconditional love. She wants to thank them for being wonderful people and tell them how much she loves them! She wants to tell them that they're her heroes - and they mean the world to her!

Mom and Dad.... I love you and just wanted to say THANK YOU for everything!

Love,

Your Little Girl - Your Jennifer Lynn

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Friendship

Laughing Together


Working Together


Celebrating Over the Little Things With Each Other


Being Random Together


Being Yourself With Others


Talking for Hours About Anything and Everything




Add these all together and you get friendship, which is priceless!

- Jenn

Monday, March 22, 2010

Randomness

I haven't posted in a few days so I figured I'd post something today. However my mind is scattered about so this post will be a lot of randomness. Oh well, it'll be fun...

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This month has definitely flown by. Has it went so quickly for anyone else? It seems like it was just the beginning and now we only have a week and a half left in it. Of course the last week of it is the best part of the month to me anyways, not sure why that would be. It's not like there's a special day in there somewhere or anything.

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Josh and I went to a new church yesterday. It kind of happened "by chance", as I woke up late and we didn't have time to make it to our normal church service. So we headed up the road to a different one. The church was having their missions' conference and I was definitely blessed by and encouraged by it. The speaker challenged us to "take the next step" even when the next step is the hardest to take. It left me thinking about what the next step is for me.

I really liked the church that we went to though. It's relatively small, less than 100 people and definitely traditional. However, the people were super friendly and the service was definitely a blessing. It was nice to have the "close knit" feeling in church. It kind of reminded me of the church I grew up in. That's probably why I felt so at home. We just might have to make another visit, or two, or twenty to it.

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There's a lot of different needs that I have been praying for recently. If you would like, you can pray for them as well. First, as I had posted before, I've been praying for the situation in Morocco. I'm praying for the deported workers and the children left behind, as well as for the rest of the Christian workers in the country. It's definitely weighing heavy on my heart and I think and pray for them often.

Second, I've been praying for Josh's grandpa. He's been really sick with one thing after the other since the beginning of February. It's been a rough road for him, but he's still fighting and holding on to God's promises. He's 82 years old and such a great testimony of God to everyone around him. We're just praying for his health and strength though and for the doctors to have wisdom in how to treat him.

Third, I'm praying for my cousin. She's also been in the hospital for over a month. She's had a lot of complications and the doctors are doing everything they can to treat her. So we're just praying for her and for the doctors continued wisdom in treating her and for her family.

Those are the three requests that have been on my mind the most. I've also been praying for our country (with this crazy healthcare bill) and our leaders to have wisdom, our pastors and spiritual leaders (to continue to stay strong in the Lord and be able to lead us as Christians), and for our churches (to continue to have the boldness to stand up for what is true), as well as many other requests. If you have anything I can pray for, just leave it in the comments section and I'll be sure to pray about it!

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We've still been trying to exercise and lose some weight. It's definitely been a rough road though as far as sticking to it. I have lost 6.5 pounds since I started, though that doesn't seem like much to me and I feel like I can hardly notice. I'm trying my best to cook healthy meals though and stick to eating right. Anyone have any tips on how to stick to it? Any good recipes or exercise plans?

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Well I guess that's enough randomness for today. I've got lots to do around the house and am not feeling quite up to par. However the housework is calling me. I'll post more later.

- Jenn

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

It's That Season Again...

It's that season again - italian ice season that is. Last night Josh and I went for a walk together and stopped at Rita's to enjoy our first italian ice for the season. Yum, that stuff is as good as ever! I had a Swedish Fish Gelati and Josh had a Cotton Candy Gelati - good stuff! I'm definitely happy Rita's is open again and we can enjoy their delicious italian ice for the next few months!



- Jenn

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Feeling Productive

Today was the first time in a long time that I truly felt productive, like I got alot accomplished. At the beginning of this week I had made a "to do list" of things I wanted to get accomplished during the entire week. I already have almost half of it done and it's only Tuesday! I love feeling as if I've actually achieved something, gotten something done around the house. I think the "to do list" helped me see each of the things that I needed to do instead of just having them all floating around in my head and accidently forgetting about them. I think I may start making a list each week. I always feel good crossing things out as they get done anyway. But cheers to feeling good about accomplishing things and cheers to continuing on with it!

- Jenn

Friday, March 12, 2010

Please Pray!

Please pray for this situation in Morocco. It's one very near and dear to my heart. Foreign workers have been deported and families have been torn apart. Children are left without their parents, and parents without their children. There's a chance it can happen to more orphanages as well. Please pray for God to intervene. I know that He has a plan for all of this and can do anything! Watch the video to get a glimpse into what is happening. You can read more about the story here as well. Thanks for your prayers!

- Jenn

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Praise His Name

I thought of this song this morning while I was processing some things that are on my mind. The lyrics are so true and basically say that in all circumstances, no matter how difficult they are or how hard they are to understand, we should praise His name. So incredibly true! So no matter what we're going through, whether big or small, we should always praise His name! Listen to the songs and the lyrics. I'm sure you'll be blessed by it.

- Jenn

Friday, March 5, 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busyness seems to be our "life story". Sad, I know. It seems often times we get so caught up in the a busy life style that we forget to take time to sit back and enjoy the simple things in life and the things that mean the most. I'm trying to enjoy those things more and more. We only have this one life to live, so we need to make the most of it and not get so caught up in everything and forget what matters most. My encouragement today is to take time to enjoy the little blessings in life - the things that matter the most.

- Jenn