Thursday, July 31, 2008

my brother. my hero.



He leaves in a month for Iraq. I couldn't be more proud of him. As my little 4 yr old nephew says "Daddy, the angels will protect you and I'll take care of Momma."

Monday, July 28, 2008

i'm not creative, but i'm administrative!

I'm one of those people that feels so ordinary. Let me explain. My older brother scored like a 30 on his ACT, didn't prepare at all for it...I scored a 21...twice...and prepared like crazy for it. He received several academic scholarships...I received none. My younger brother is crazy talented in art. He makes incredible sculptures, art pieces, drawings, paintings, etc. I can't draw anything more then a stick figure. My dad is a brains guy and has the most amazing memory and so much knowledge. My mom can design and sew the most beautiful wedding dress, install telephone systems, and other high tech things like that. Zach is an excellent Manager. He has been at his store for 6.5 years. His revenue was up 75% last month compared to a year ago. I can't do any of those things. I just always feel so ordinary, so average. I am surrounded by people that are creative, smart, successful, and feel like I don't measure up so many times.

While cleaning out one of our closets the other day I came across Zach's performance review from last Spring. His District Manager rates all the things he is good at, needs improvement on, etc. She had circled 1-5 on various areas. I noticed that all the things that were in the "organization, administrative, paperwork, deadline," categories he scored poorly on...like 1's. But, on his "manager, delegating, performance of store" categories he scored 5's. I sat there at 4:30am (i've had trouble sleeping recently and was up at that time cleaning out a closet!)...I started to think of the things I am good at. I realized all the things Zach scored low on were things I am really good at and love to do. The things I am not good at, he scored high on. It was one of those moments where I realized Zach and I are a team. We both come with our gifts, talents, abilities and just mesh together.

I can't imagine both of us being like me....or both of us being just like him.
-I file everything...i have an unhealthy love for manila folders
-I budget like CRAZY...I keep a spreadsheet of our budget and then sort into categories what was the in/out of our money that month.
-I pay every bill on the 1st of the month. It throws me off to do it any other day.
-I am obsessed with Microsoft Outlook Calendar and don't know what I would do without my calendar deadline reminders.
-I live by schedules, deadlines, structure, etc.


All this to say, in moments where I question how I was wired/gifted/talented/etc...I realize that I far exceed the normal person on the administrative and organizational giftings. So maybe I'm not so ordinary- average afterall:)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

New Personal Best!!



I reached a milestone. This morning I ran the farthest I've ever run in my life! Thanks to my Nike running chip I have it perfectly documented. I didn't have to take any walking breaks either...just a straight run and I did hills! I was so excited to share this with my 3 blog readers out there.

Distance 5.53 miles
Time 53.22
Pace: 9.37 min/mile
Calories: 604 (i really like that part;)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

HOT!

The weather has been SO HOT! I have about 5 weeks until the Franklin Classic 10K run. I had put a very big goal for myself of running the 10K and doing it with an average of 9 min/miles. I'm starting to think that is not an attainable goal! I have had a difficult time getting runs in because of the heat and even worse, the Tennessee Humidity. I'm sorry, but when I see it is 97 degrees out with 70% humidity, the last thing I feel like doing is running 5 miles. I'm also not an early morning person so I dread getting up early for a morning run before the heat kicks in. Oh and I can't run at night by myself when its dark. Woah, now I see why the hubby calls me high maintenance! At this point if I can get my butt out the door and get more runs in I could do the 9 min/miles if not, hey, at least I can say I ran 6.2 miles without stopping or passing out!

Monday, July 21, 2008

wedding fun


me and the hubby:)


us jameson's.


the cute couple


the pretty bride and crazy single girls diving for the bouquet

Thursday, July 17, 2008

yeah...more married friends!

Zach and I got married young. Like 19 & 21. (he turned 20 on the last day of our honeymoon though!) We have been in an awkward place ever since. Because we got married young, we have been the only married couple in our group of friends for almost 3 yrs! If we were to hang out with all married people, most of them have kids and are about 5 yrs older then us.

Well, we are so excited that this weekend we will have another married couple in our circle of friends! Nate & Callie are getting hitched! I remember when they started dating 4.5 yrs ago! wow, thats a long time. Nate & Callie -can't wait for your wedding day in just 2 days...when we can finally say 'welcome to the married club'.

Monday, July 14, 2008

blu-ray + friends

Who would ever think that a used big screen tv, a blue-ray player, free hi def movies, and friends would create such wonderful summer nights?!!

I never thought I would ever say this, but thank you to my husband who got the PS3 with built in blu-ray for a movie experience like no other and thank you for managing Blockbuster for 6.5 yrs and bringing home free movies every night...thank you lysol cleaning wipes for making a quick clean of the bathroom when friends come over on a whim...thank you Pillsbury dough for being so easy to bake fresh cookies in 9 minutes...

i love summer. i love friends. i love convenience.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

thankful

In a recent post I talked about how my heart had changed at youth camp. Typically I go to camp as a leader thinking I will help teach others, when in reality God uses those students to teach me! I hate to keep bringing this up in my life but obviously the miscarriage that I experienced 2.5 months ago still hurts some days. For the most part I have moved on and I'm embracing life again but there are those moments where I ask God what I am supposed to learn from that experience. So I'm standing in worship one night of camp and asking God to speak to me...to answer some questions. "Why did that happen on April 17th? What could I possibly learn from this Lord? Will you heal my heart completely? Will you make my life matter? Will you please use me, Lord?"

I had this moment where it was almost an audible voice. That peace that passed ALL human understanding of the last 2.5 months. I looked up and saw a few of my students. "Krista, you are HERE. You may not understand why you lost that baby, but trust me, I have brought you to this place to love these kids in this moment. Though you lost your own child, I've given you the opportunity to teach, mentor, love, and care for these kids. You are here at camp, with no distractions, not pregnant, completely vulnerable, with a broken heart, and I use you in those moments. Be thankful that you have this time in your life to pour out. This is your destiny for right now. You are exactly where I want you to be." It was very surreal. This peace came over me. I shared the story with my small group of girls that night.

I love how when I do cry out to Him he does answer. I've gone through a difficult trial but knew that it was creating perseverance and ultimately refining me as a believer.

James 1:2-4
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Saturday

Saturday is always our big remodeling day. Zach finished the hardwood floors in the kitchen. You can see from the pictures below that it had a bad linoleum floor before and now has some nice hardwood flooring.

Floor before:


Floor after:


I also finished scraping a popcorn ceiling in the last room downstairs. It's messy and a big pain but the end result is so worth it!



We are down to our final room which is the first floor master bedroom. We are putting hardwood floors in the bedroom so I was ripping up the old carpet nail strips that line the wall where the old carpet used to be. I was ripping these strips up with a pry bar while NOT wearing anything to protect my eyes. I was moving rather quickly and had a nail fly up into my eye and cut my eyeball! It hurt, I thought I was going to lose my sight but I didn't. It's been bloodshot for 4 days now but the pain has gone away. Lesson learned: always cover your eyes when using a prybar and removing nails from concrete.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

My Brother


This 4th of July will be different. As I reflect on those that have been fighting for our freedom, it hits close to home. This is my big brother Shawn who will leave in the early fall for Iraq. It is his first time to be deployed there. He did spend a year in Korea in 2005. I'm proud of my brother. He sacrifices each day as a Soldier to make all of our lives easier here in the US. He begins special training next week for the next three months before he leaves. He will leave behind a wife and two little sons, Parker 4.5 yrs old and John Paul 7 months.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Camp 08

We just got back from camp yesterday. I got home at 5pm after unloading and went straight to the laundry room to start cleaning clothes. I was asleep by 6:30pm and woke up this morning at 7am. Guess I was maybe a little tired?! It was such a great weekend. I just LOVE our middle school kids. They are awesome and so much fun. It is such an impressionable age, so I take it very serious with the time we have to invest in their lives. Middle school worship rocks and I loved every minute of it. I didn't take my camera this year because I'm always afraid I'll lose it or break it! Hopefully I'll post more pictures soon. God did some amazing things in my own heart this weekend and I'm excited to see what else he wants to reveal.



The last night of camp the 8th graders had a big shaving cream/water balloon fight. Obviously the boys did this to me..I'm the 3rd one from the left! It was so fun and I'm sad they are moving to high school soon:(


I'm on the right on the zip line that goes 1000 ft. I'm always scared to do the initial jump but its so fun once I get going!