Mustard Seed

I am enjoying being apart of this girls' Bible study so much! Fellowship with these Godly women encourages me greatly! We are going through Mary Kassian's book "Knowing God by name". In today's devo, it talks about the name "Richon Va-Acharon, which means the First and the Last.  I just wanted to share this portion because it reminded me of how BIG our God is and how amazing it is that He cares about us. Hope it brings you a sense of humility as it did for me. We serve a mighty God!

"Have you ever stopped to consider just how big the universe is? If you were to build a model of our solar system to scale, you could begin by placing a softball on the goal line of a football field to represent the sun.  Mercury and Venus would be like pinheads on the 5- and 8-yard lines.  Earth would be the size of a mustard seed on the 12-yard line while Mars would be the size of a grain of sugar on the 18-yard line.  Jupiter would be a marble on the opposite 38-yard line and Saturn would be the size of a pea placed halfway through the opposite end zone.

In order to include Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, you would have to add four more football fields onto the end of the first one. Pluto would be like a speck of dust almost 500 yards away from the softball-zied Sun. And that's just our solar system!!!!!"

This is how I have always thought about the solar system, but it is a
lot bigger!! Much bigger!!

Wow. And I guess since everything revolves around the Sun, you can assume that to have an accurate scale, you would have to add 5 more football to the opposite side of the Sun to complete the picture. I cannot grasp why God would create human life on our "mustard seed", let alone show some sort of care towards us! But He did more than that! Jesus himself became one of us lowly people ON that mustard seed! That just blows my mind. Makes me think twice about placing so much importance on the trivial things in my life.

Thank you, Father, for giving us life, when you created so much more to worry about.  Thank you for DYING for this mustard seed! You are Higher than the Highest!

BLESSED Day! (No luck about it!)

As you already know, Friday was JB's birthday. I must admit- I procrastinated buying him a gift.. I had some things in mind, just never could quite find "it". So as I was leaving work, I told myself that I HAD to decide on something before his family party that night. First, however, I had some errands to run. I had $50 in my pocket and needed several things, including JB's present! (Tight budget, I know!) Since JB has cracked down on the debit card usage ( :/ ) due to me spending a little too much, I was determined to stick to my $50. 

Stop #1- The paint store. My mechanic is a friend of my dads. He fixed my car the other day and didn't charge me a thing- Praise God for talented friends! In return, all he wanted was some new rags. Sooo, I went to the paint store to get them! Cha-ching: $10.  Balance= $40.00

Stop #2- Lifeway. I have joined a sweet girls Bible study on Tuesdays nights and needed to buy the book! Lifeway had it of course so I bought it and a impulse buy (travel size leather Bible) at the checkout for JB to go with whatever (if anything) else I got him. Cha-ching: $20.  Balance= $20.00

UH OH. 

Now, JB is not materialistic. But you see, he spent more than $20 on my b'day gift. More importantly though- he deserves something more for his day of birth! I just really wanted to get him one of the things I knew he would like, not something dinky from Walmart camping isle (my default).

Stop #3- Post office. I needed to check our cute little PO Box. When I opened it up, there was this large envelope from a survey company.  I opened it and guess. what. i. found. Get ready. $30!!! Cash inside!!! I couldn't help myself from laughing at how God cares about what I get JB for his birthday. The guy standing beside myself must have thought I was a little crazy, but I just walked out still laughing. Balance= $50.00!! AGAIN!

Stop#4- Guitar Center. I got out of my car and was walking up to the door and just guess what I found on the ground next to my car......... a $5 bill!!!!!!! I absolutely never find money, so at this point, I am ecstatic about my findings today!!! Balance= $55.00!!!!!!!!!!

I now feel that this is my Divine Destination.

I walked into the store.  I know this is one thing JB has talked about wanting, but not something he could splurge on "just because". It's some sort of drum thing that sits on your lap. JB is always drumming his fingers on something- he says he hears the music in his head and likes to tap along (he's so precious). I asked the guy working there if he had anything like that, but didn't tell him my budget.  The guy showed me more drums for your lap than I knew existed. I finally decided on one that he priced as $65.... I thought to myself that JB wouldn't be toooo mad about me swiping the magic debit card for that extra $10, since it was his birthday present after all! 

Up to the counter I go with this wooden box looking thing that they deem to be a drum. The guy rings it up and says that it is ON SALE! My favorite words!!!! On sale for $49.99!!!! Wooo Hooooo! I have that much in my wallet, plus a little extra thanks to the side walk outside!! With tax, my total came to:

$54.99.................. Can you believe it?? That's no luck, people. That's God giving me a laugh and a hug, saying that He cares! He cares about my day, my husband's birthday, and my finances! Praise my sweet Jesus :). 

Balance= $0.01   AND   a heart full of joy!! 

Vera

I had a huge moment yesterday. Let me back up. In college, there were many things I needed. Money (!!), food, text books, friends for sanity, etc etc. But there was one thing in particular that I needed. I consulted this every day. It went with me everywhere. For the last 2 years of my hectic college experience. My dear Vera Bradley planner.

Now I know this sounds crazy, but this planner organized me! And with that pretty "paprika" pattern! I was in love. I was even slightly addicted to it (I realized this when I lost it for a solid 3 days).

Since then, I have graduated from college, gotten a full time job and married JB. I said to myself "So long Vera planner, I am done with that crazy time in my life where I have to write down the 15 item to-do lists in the margins of each day's space."

Yesterday, however, I caved. I had a moment when I realized I still had zillions of dates, times, appointments, to-do's, grocery lists, phone numbers, and work schedules floating in my head!  Now, I own one of those dinky dollar store purse sized planners... but I just couldn't handle it anymore. I needed a new Vera. I am starting another job and the process of purchasing my own home! I needed something to write down all of those floating thoughts that were subconsciously stressing me out, even though I didn't even realize it.

So I bought one. A beautiful 1 and 1/2 year Vera Bradley planner! I am already filling it up and am loving every minute of it. If I sound like a psychopath, I don't care- judge if you want. But it is saving my sanity by cutely organizing my life, one day at a time! :)

don't ya love it?!?

inside view- complete with a pocket and stickers!!! bliss.

Bass Birthday Week!

This week is full of birthdays! My hubs, his mom, and his sister are all having their special day!

Jess' day is Thursday! I hope she has the most loveliest of days! We will all have to go out for some crazy dinner where J will introduce us to a random new piece of food- and chances are we will all love it!  She is great about trying new places and unfamiliar things! Happy birthday sis-in-law!

JB's is Friday- I'm wondering what I should surprise him with. We aren't good at gift giving. I mean, we love to buy each other things here and there, but can never wait until the next holiday. It is ALWAYS given early! So of course, he already has my "b'day gift". But he still surprised me with something on my actual day, so I want to do the same! Boys are sorta expensive though.. so I'm still thinking of ideas. Any thoughts?

Mama D's birthday is Saturday. She deserves a wonderful day too!! We love you very very much! Can't wait to celebrate this weekend!

Mama D and Jess

Me and JB on the honeymoon :) I love this pic of him.

I am so incredibly blessed with such a wonderful extended family. I know the best is yet to come!! So, happy birthday to you all! Much love!

Mood: Inspired!!

I just realized that I said I'd post pictures of the Magic Kingdom from the vaca.. and failed to do so. Maybe because the fourth of July in the Magic Kingdom wore me slap out. And as we were being herded through the park all day, I could only snap a few good pics. Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful day! But very tiresome- henceforth the lack of blogging. Check out the rest of the pics on FB :).

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to blog about today! I wanted to give a couple of shout-outs to some of my new favorite things!! They are so absolutely wonderful, I am deeply inspired to quit life and stay home/rummage through junk stores and craft all day every day. But, I won't do that of course.

For you creative people out there, check out pinterest.com! It's a wonderful site that is almost like blogging- only with pictures and very few words.  You can post (they call it "pin") pictures that you have run across and want to share with your followers. You can also follow and "repin" other people's pictures on your "board" to spread the idea. Very versatile and unique to everyone's interests!

Stumbleupon.com is my old faithful.  Customize your own search engine and see what you "stumble" upon!! This is where I get most (well, really ALL) of my pins from!

And lastly, I have fallen in love with this blog!! www.centsationalgirl.com. This chick is sooo on top of her crafting. I found it, of course, from stumble. Reading the DIYs and project gallery ideas gets me super psyched. NERD. I know. JB tells me all the time. But I don't care. I'm spreading my nerdy excitement with you blog friends!

Comment and tell me if you like these websites as much as I do!!

Happiest Place On Earth!

DISNEY!! yes, that's right. We went to the Animal Kingdom today in Disney World and it made us very happy! JB's mom booked us a trip to Orlando for our graduation and birthdays, so the week of the long-awaited vacation is finally here! Jessica and Bethany (our cousin) went too.  Today was our first day and our first park. Here are some pictures that sadly do not accurately express how "magical" our day actually was! But they will do :).

Our resort! Thanks Mama D!

Excited about Disney!

"Tough to be a bug" 3D show!

Tree of Life

Termite mound on the African safari

Me in Asia

Cool bicycle in Asia

Tomorrow we are going to the Magic Kingdom for my favorite day of the year!! 4th of July!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!! I'll post my epic picture memories tomorrow night :) Happy B'day America everyone!