This is what I found in my flowerbed on Sunday afternoon. Just another great reminder of God's newness and beauty in our lives.

Psalm 90:17 -And let the beauty of our Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. KJV

I know this verse might be a little hard to read because it's KJV but I really liked how it mentioned the beauty of God coming on us through the working of our hands. It just goes to show that a little work can let God's beauty shine through anything you do. Have a blessed week everyone!

Here I am!

I know, I know. It has been about 3 months since I've last blogged. I could use the excuse that I have a husband at home now but I know almost all of you do too so really I have no excuse. I don't want to write a book about the past 3 months so I'll just fill you in on some of the more exciting things that have happened.:)

Christmas

In December Steven and I were able to travel home to Indiana to celebrate our Christmas with my family. I am so thankful and blessed to have a husband that loves my family as much as I do and wants to spend all holidays with them. We were able to see our niece and nephew grow, walk, and talk while we were there. Everytime I go home its so hard to leave again, especially with the little ones that grow so quickly! We also took our dog Bo to my parents house. We were a bit worried but Bo did a great job. He is an awesome dog who is very easily trained. He only had one mess in the house and that was not his fault. He threw up but we think it was because he has been eating so many different things that had fallen on the floor or whatnot from the Christmas celebrations. He did a great job in the car as well on the way there and back. Over our Christmas break we also visited some friends we had met in Italy last summer. They live near Chicago so we drove up there for a few days. They have 3 wonderful children and it was great playing on the frozen pond, hanging out, and getting to know them better. Steven and I did look seriously at schools for him and houses for when we move back. Steven's dream is to go to Notre Dame for law school but we both know it is difficult to get accepted there. If it were to happen we would be so thankful but we are willing to follow God's plan for our lives and want to be where he wants us.

Army and School

In January Steven had two big changes in his life. He got out of the Army and started school at Campbell University. So far he loves it. Some statements he's made. "It's so different from the Army. People are actually nice and want to help you." "There's a lot of reading." "I'm going to get a 4.0." I love how my husband is so dedicated and motivated and I know he will do very well at school.

Bo

I can't brag enough about our smart puppy. He now sleeps outside of his crate at night. He knows 5 tricks including sit, shake, lay down, speak, and roll over. He's a super good dog and we enjoy every minute with him!

Valentine's Day

Yesterday we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together in the 4 1/2 years we've been a couple. We were both busy this weekend working on school work and National Board certification for me but I did make Steven a 9 pound turkey for lunch on Sunday and we just spent the weekend together. I love my husband and every day is fun with him no matter if it's Valentine's Day or not. He's told me and others before that being married isn't hard if you're both willing to work on it. It's like being married to your best friend. You get to do fun things together, share a lot of neat experiences, and be loved no matter what. I do love my husband.

Future

There will be a few things happening in the near future. On March 5th Steven will finally get his surgery on his shoulder. He is getting it during his Spring Break so he will be down and out on his break but I will do my best to take care of him. Luckily it's also free through the Army. Since he was stop lossed we get 6 months of free health care so it's completely paid for.

Also in May and June Steven is traveling to Guatemala and earning 9 credits of Spanish as well as doing missionary work and helping out in an orphanage. It will be hard for me to let him go again but I'm planning on meeting him down there after school gets out for me. It's always an adventure with my husband and I absolutely love it!

So that's what's been going on in my life in the past few months. What about you?

A week or two of blessings!

Okay, so I know it hasn't been too long since I've typed up a blog but A LOT has happened in the past few weeks that Steven has been home. And luckily for us they've all been total blessings.

Let me start with the first thing.

After Steven got home from Iraq I was driving his car to work because he needed mine with the bigger space to pick up his things that were coming back from Iraq and to take my parents around when they were here. So I submitted and drove his car for a few days. I had told him how bad the breaks were and he said he would take it in to get it looked at. Basically whenever I would stop the steering wheel and whole car would shake. So the next week, Monday, he drove the car to work let's just say by the next day we had a new car. Yeah, I had to drive it for 4 days and he drives it once and gets a new car.:) But I do like our new car. It is a Ford Focus, brand new, gets about 35 miles to the gallon and the coolest things is that it has this sync mechanism where you can hook up your ipod and just tell the car your command and it plays whatever song you want. Same with your cell phone. Steven just has to say "Call Kristina" and it will call me and he talks to me through the car. Pretty neat feature. Now all of these things are extras we don't need but the car was a really good deal and it should last us for a while.
Here's a picture of it. Same color and everything.

Another exciting experience was our annual Halloween party. I thought I had the best costume ever. I'm going to post the picture and see if you can guess what I am. At the party a lot of people asked who I was and I didn't like explaining it to them. I thought it was pretty recognizable but I guess I was mistaken. Steven and I had fun seeing what other people were dressed up as and even though my costume was hard to distinguish, I did get runner up for best female.:)

White trash couple. Richard and Kathy

Mario and Luigi, Matt and Lauren

Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Stuart and Emily.

And one of the most exciting things is........we got a new puppy!!! He's a yellow lab and his name is Bo. He's the cutest, smartest, sweetest thing ever. Two years ago I would've had to beg Steven to get a dog and last week it was the other way around. He was the one begging me to let him get it. I agreed and I'm glad I did. He's a really good dog, a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Here are some cute pictures of him.:)

Bo on the ride home

Bo's first bath

Sleepy daddy and puppy.

And last but not least I surprised Steven with a few things when he got home from Iraq. One was tickets to see two of his favorite artists, Casting Crowns and Matt Redman in concert. And the other was a couple's massage. We really enjoyed both of them and have loved the time we have spent together the past few weeks. I truly love my husband and enjoy every minute I get to spend with him!

Us and the RBC center in Raleigh

Matt Redman

Casting Crowns

He's Home!

I probably don't need to say anymore than that but I will. :) Steven came home Tuesday the 20th (I know, I'm slow). And it was an awesome reunion. We had some time to ourselves and then my parents came down that evening and spent a few days here. We ate out, played games, and just enjoyed each other's company. I really and truly love my husband. He makes me laugh almost every minute I'm with him and he is so kind, loving, considerate, and just plain great. I am looking forward to the rest of my life to spend with him.

Home again!

The plane

Our first meeting

Beautiful roses he brought to me at school! I love having my husband show up at work in the middle of the day!:)

Almost here...

Hello all.
Last time you heard from me I was 1 month away from having a husband home. Now I'm just three days! I'm trying to be super excited but sometimes I'm just not. I think it's because it's so hard to believe that I will have a husband here. When you're on your own for 10 1/2 months it's not that easy to just quickly change everything!
But this weekend I've been getting the house ready. I cleaned the kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. Tomorrow I might try the upstairs. I might not too. We'll see.:) Everyone says "Your husband won't care if the house isn't cleaned." And I know they're probably right but I want Steven to come home to a nice house after being gone for so long. I know that if I was gone for a while and came home to a mess I would be disappointed. So I just hope he isn't when he sees it.
So far I know he's supposed to be here on Tuesday sometime between 10 and 5. The time isn't narrowed down but hopefully I'll hear more in the next few days. My parents are planning on coming down Tuesday and staying until Friday or Saturday. That will be nice because Steven wants me to go back to work so I can use my days for a vacation later on. So he'll have my parents to hang out with.:) I know I have the rest of my life with my husband so I'm not jealous.
So if you think about it, say a quick prayer on Tuesday for our reunion. I know it will be great. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with my husband!
Don't worry, pictures will come..........

It's called Prayer, and it works!

Some of you may have heard and some of you may not have. But the big news around my side of town is that Steven is coming home a month early!! He will be home in 4 weeks! How did this happen you might ask? Well let me start from the beginning.
Before the deployment happened we were hoping Steven wouldn't have to go. He was supposed to get out of the Army in October of 2008 but unfortunately because of the Stop Loss policy, had to go on his unit's deployment to Iraq in December of 2008. Before Steven left for his deployment he hurt his shoulder during PT one morning. It was too soon before his deployment to get it looked at or taken care of so he just went with his shoulder injured. At the beginning of the deployment he and his guys were very busy, going on missions, doing patrols, etc. But after June when all troops were to be out of the cities he has been sitting around watching movies and reading books. As this time continued on he thought it might be a good time to see about getting his shoulder looked at. He heard it was a possibility that they would send him to Germany to get an MRI and hopefully back home early to have surgery on it. Then that idea was nixed. For no particular reason either. So as you can probably guess, Steven wasn't too happy being stuck in Iraq, doing nothing, with a hurt shoulder and not even supposed to be there in the first place.
At the beginning of the deployment Steven mentioned the possibility of coming home early with the ADVON party. Those are the troops that left early to get everything set up. They also come back early so their deployment is only a year. Well, after Steven knew he wouldn't be sent to Iraq, his SGT worked hard to get his sent with the Advon party in October. When he told me about that possibility I started praying like mad. I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up because the Army has a track record of ruining them. But prayer is always key.
At a bible study on Thursday night my friend Emily told me about a way her husband started praying. Instead of asking God for something, he tells Him. I thought, what? You can't tell God what you want and expect him to do it for you! But then we talked about all the times in the Bible that someone has changed God's mind. In 1 Kings God tells Isaiah to tell Hezekiah he will die but Isaiah pleads with God and Hezekiah lives. Abraham talks the number of people down from 50 to 10 to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. So I thought I'd give it a try. The next morning I prayed to God in a way I never had before. I said, "God send Steven home early so he can get his shoulder looked at. I know you can do it, so do it (please)." I had to add that please in there because I just felt bad telling God what to do. But I continued to pray like that for the next few days.
Sunday Steven called me and told me that it wouldn't happen. The Brigade did not okay it so he would come home with the rest of his unit. I was heartbroken but not defeated. I knew that God still had power in him so I continued to pray and told God what I wanted him to do. Less than 24 hours later Steven called me back and told me he was going to mess with my deployment countdown. He would be coming home in 4 weeks! You have no idea how excited I was. After I got off the phone with him it was all I could do to pray to God and thank him for listening to my prayers. I knew God could do it and he did! I had the faith and I was blessed because of it.
Now I'm in the process of getting everything ready for my husbands arrival. I need to clean the house, buy a lot of groceries, wash the car, mow and weed eat the lawn. It's an unending list but I'm so thankful I have to finish it 4 weeks ahead of time.
So next time you start praying. Try telling God what you want. It worked for me!

Surprise!

How beautiful are these flowers? I was surprised Tuesday afternoon. I got a call to go to the front office and on the desk was this marvelous bouquet! Of course I didn't have to look to see who they were from. My husband of course. It was nothing special, no birthday, anniversary, anything. He just wanted to let me know how much he loved me and missed me. (It's okay, you can say "aww" now.) I just thought I'd share them with you through the Internet since most of you can't see them in person. I wish I could capture the smell because they smell wonderful as well. I hope your days and weeks are filled with special surprises too!