Time Flies!

I have been so busy lately.  Busy doing what?  Living and loving life.  It's that simple.  I really haven't been doing anything too out of the ordinary but having a great time :)  

Today is Valentine's Day.  Us first thing in the morning:

 

Peter and I both worked all day but we got to see each other for a little bit when he brought me a frosty at work!  It was so sweet and actually had nothing to do with Valentine's Day haha.  The best part was just seeing him :)  I actually gave Peter his gifts last night-2 thermal shirts from Gap and a picture frame collage of 4 wedding pictures of us.  I had been hunting all over for one that I liked but couldn't find one.  Then out of the blue I found one that is so gorgeous with a cherry wood color and it was on clearance for $5!  I was pumped :)  The frame is now on the wall by the entry door of our house.  Here's what it looks like:

I wish they had it in lighter or silver frames because then I'd get some for the bedroom and put some of our vacation pics etc in them.  Maybe I'll keep looking and find some of those!  Peter bought me a very pretty ring from JBR that is being sized right now so I'll get it in a few days.  This is what it looks like though:

He also said that I'll get the rest of my present tomorrow when we get to Chicago so I'm excited to find out what that is?!  We also sent each other corny little apple icards while at work.  I digged up our wedding vows and sent my portion to him with a note that it's the true meaning for our Valentine's Day. :)

Over the weekend we celebrated my birthday and Steph's birthday by having a double date.  We went to the movies and saw "27 Dresses" which was really cute.  It was my pick and I thought it was pretty funny too.  Everyone agreed that they enjoyed it.  Following the movie, we went to Barnes & Noble for about an hour to kill some time before dinner at Bravo's.  Dinner and talking was great, but I was suffering terribly in my back.  Since I've been going to the chiropractor, he's been fixing my "misaligned hip" and boy did it hurt over the weekend!  When we went back on Monday he said that was normal because of the severity of the misalignment and because it affects a central part of my body with sitting, standing, etc.  It feels a lot better now thank goodness!  After a yummy dinner, we went to Eat N Park to talk more and have some dessert.  It was a very fun evening.  I had every intention of capturing some of the evening on film but was too wrapped up in what was going on that I completely forgot.  Oh well haha.  

Aside from chiropractor visits every other evening and our double date, we finally got a good amount of snow this week!  So much that I left work early and it was a messy commute on Tues and Weds.  I loved it though!  I love the snow and am glad we got more than a dusting or 2 inches.  On Tuesday we got about 5-6 inches.  Some of that melted but then Weds we got another 2 inches or so.  Unfortunately it warmed up and was sunny all day today so some more of the snow melted.  

Here's us in the morning bundled up for the snow!

And a few shots of from our front porch:

And Glass Run Road on our way to work:  completely snow covered.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I turned 24.  Do I feel older?  Nope.  haha

Even though I had to work all day, I had a good day.  Work was relatively easy--meaning no major stress, but the best part was that I went out to lunch with Peter!  I took about an hour off just to go to lunch.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Such a great break in the midst of work.  Peter picked me up at work and brought me beautiful flowers!

Peter knows I'm not a rose girl.  My favorite flower is gerber daisies and I love blended mixes because they are just more colorful and prettier with the variety of flowers in one vase.  These ones definitely brighten up my desk!  

See?  Told ya they were beautiful!  They had daisies, morning glories, mini carnations (which I really like also), ferns, roses, and more!

We went to Eat N Park and split a Chicken Portabella Hoagie (one of my favorite sandwiches!) and got the salad bar.  It was such a yummy lunch but the company was what made it so excellent.  It was pouring when we were leaving so Peter went to pull the car around like he always does-he's such a sweetheart.  :)  While I was waiting for him, I had opened the door for folks running in from the rain.  One lady had an umbrella and saw that I didn't and that Peter was turning the car around so that the passenger door was closer and she actually waited and walked me out to the car under her umbrella.  She said she was reciprocating my kindness of opening the door.  It was such a small gesture, but really was thoughtful.  I never encountered a stranger who went that much out of their way to be nice.  I've had people hold doors for me as I walk in behind them, etc but she actually waited a few minutes.  Her husband laughed because he thought she was trying to dry the umbrella and she said no she was waiting to walk me out and he said to just give me the umbrella because they have 10 others just like it and winked at her.  I wish I could encounter more folks like her.  

Anyways after lunch we stopped at Starbucks and I got a Chai Frappuccino :)  Going back to work was kind of a bummer but it was nice to know in 3 hours I would see my hubby again!  

I also went to my first ever chiropractic appointment today.  My back has been hurting and it got exceptionally worse this week so Peter thought it was worth a shot since we only pay a $10 copay with his insurance and then can submit it to my BOF for reimbursement so it's basically free.  So we went.  Apparently I had misaligned my right hip.  I was told before that one of my legs was shorter than the other but didn't know it was "misaligned".  I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not because I'm feeling sore right now but that was said to be expected.  My body was used to how it was and he kind threw things out of wack...well into wack,but not what my body is used to haha.  We have another appointment on Friday so we'll see.

Here's one last picture I took at work while I was taking pictures of my flowers:

It's of my every growing collection of pictures of my love :)

"Sometimes God calms the storm...

Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child."

I bought a print of this and framed it for in our bedroom. I actually got it on allposters.com for $2 which allowed me free shipping instead of paying $5.95 for shipping when I bought Peter's 2008 3 stooges calendar for Christmas. For some reason it spoke to me then and since then I feel like I'm gaining a better understanding and perspective on just what that means.

God never promises us to take away the "storm" that we're in....whatever that may be. BUT---He does promise to always be with us in/during the storm.

This past week at our bible study on Tuesday night I spoke with some ladies-about the same year old as me and 1 who was well older than me. And it was very disappointing to hear their thoughts on what we were learning about. Each of them were basically saying that if they make the conscious decision that whatever they are doing is wrong or needs fixed, all they need to do is pray "God take it away". Unfortunately that's not the case. God gives us our situations for a reason and a purpose and until that purpose is fulfilled, it doesn't "go away". Sometimes it will be with us for our whole lives because it is molding us into who God wants us to be. I guess they've just never had to deal with something like that yet maybe? Who knows. I sure hope that when the time comes, they'll know it's not that easy. If that were the case, we pretty much wouldn't even need God because He wouldn't be helping us, we wouldn't be being faithful....it would just be "Take it away" and "poof!-it's gone".

I'm learning more and more that when something is going wrong or whatever situation I'm in, I try to look at it with the question in my mind "God-what am I supposed to be learning here? What is my lesson?" and it truly makes all the difference in the world. Sometimes I could be completely outraged by something but if I ask myself that question, the rage is substituted for questioning and chasing...chasing after God's will.

For instance, when Peter had to go to DC. I was really upset because it was his days off, his boss is a jerk, I'd miss him, etc etc etc. But when I was alone on Saturday and questioning the situation, struggling over the importance of it relating to me-I really suprised myself. Maybe because first of all, the situation really didn't have anything to do with me at first glance. After deeper inspection of it though, I proved myself wrong. It had an indirect affect on me of course with Peter not being there for a weekend, but that's not the end of it.

The major thing I heard God telling me was that He was all I needed. A very good reminder because anything could happen to Peter in the blink of an eye. And I'd be devasted. Truly devastated because he's my best friend, my husband, etc. But even in the worst case scenario, God would be with me-a comforting fact. Sometimes I think it's so easy to put God on the back burner even to Peter because we work apart all day and I am so excited to talk to him, find out how his day was, hang out together, etc....but even though those things are all good, God is more important. It's almost like the physicalness of just having Peter in person makes it more challenging to keep God #1. But I have to. So that's been something I guess I've been challenged with lately and God used that weekend kind of to open my eyes and show me that Peter could be gone in a second...and where would I be? I'd still have God...which is all I need.

Don't get me wrong---I love Peter to death. I would do anything for him and am the happiest and luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. But that doesn't mean he comes before God. And I never intentionally make that decision, but in retrospect can see that sometimes my actions reflect that which is something I just need to work on. As much as I love connecting with Peter, I love connecting with God more. And God wants me to have Him as #1.

In summary: on earth, Peter is #1. In everything-God is.