Happy Birthday to the best!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday- happy birthday Kley! We got to celebrate, which was very fun. I got off work earlier than usual because of teacher training, and Kley didn't have to work yesterday afternoon, so we had extra time!

Kley chose Red Lobster for dinner, and then we headed up to Ames to see BILL COSBY! We were pumped! We were so glad we got to go. We (me especially) have always loved Cosby, so it was fun to see him live! He is now 76 years old, for anyone wondering, and is still going around doing shows.

Kley, I love you and am so blessed to spend birthdays with you. Through thick and thin, I am so happy and proud to call you my partner. We have a lot going for us in this next year! :)

(He turned 26. I am still 24. I told him that it was like he was almost 30 and I was still a kid. Ha.)

Rejoicing in suffering.

I have been thinking about rejoicing in suffering the past few days, ever since Kley and I read this in our devotional a few days ago from Acts 5:

(Before these verses happened, the apostles were put in jail for spreading the name of Jesus, and then the high priest wanted to kill them, but after a conversation with the other members of the Sanhedrin, he decided not to.)

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Did you read all of that? They were FLOGGED, yet they walked away REJOICING because they were worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. That's unbelievable. I want a deeper faith. There is no way I would be rejoicing immediately after being flogged.

If you don't know what flogging is, it is when you are repeatedly whipped in the back, using a rod or a whip, sometimes even with sharp objects sticking out of it, specially designed to rip skin and inflict even more pain. Ouch doesn't even begin to describe.

How many times have I complained about something so insignificant that's just a temporary minor annoyance, like a cold or a headache? Even something as tiny as a hangnail or paper cut? It's embarrassing and shameful to think about. 

The apostles were willing to continue to preach His name, knowing full well that they would be imprisoned and beaten. How many times have I not said something that God was placing on my heart to say simply for fear of embarrassment? No one is waiting around the bend to flog me. I want their trust, courage, and bravery.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11 that five times he was beaten with 39 lashes, three times was beaten with rods, once was pelted with stones, three times was shipwrecked, spent a night and day in open sea, and many other things, such as being hungry, cold, naked, and without a home.

That definitely puts my suffering in perspective. God, I want to have a content heart, to praise You for the many blessings You give me, to trust You in whatever circumstances You place me in. You will work all things for the good. Even if not on this earth, Heaven will be amazing. 

Romans 5 says this about suffering:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I don't have a great and profound answer for how to actually rejoice in suffering, but I pray that God would mold me to be more like the apostles, who rejoiced after being flogged. Thank You, Jesus, that we can glory in our sufferings because You died and rose for us, and are preparing a better place for us with You in eternity.

Beautiful: sequel.

A little while back I wrote a post entitled Beautiful. One of the things I talked about was how sad it is that many women (and men) don't view themselves as beautiful. People tend to be really critical of themselves.

This is a really great video that you should definitely watch, called Dove Real Beauty Sketches.

In this video, an artist interviews different women, behind a curtain, and asks them to describe themselves. He then drew a picture of them based off of their description, never actually seeing them. Women described themselves way more negatively than positively.

The artist then had the women meet each other, and the artist drew another sketch of each woman based off of the stranger they had just met and the description they gave. They described each other way more positively than negatively, the exact opposite of how they described themselves.

Then each woman gets to see the two drawings. They were pretty different.

It's easy to describe the beautiful qualities of your friends and others. Today, think of a few for yourself! God made you beautiful!

Happy birthday Keaton!

Yesterday was Keaton's birthday. He turned 22- happy birthday Keaton! What to say about him...he's quite the character. In a good way. Keaton is weird, goofy, crazy, loud, sarcastic, and sometimes obnoxious. :) In a lot of ways we are very opposite. Keaton is sure of himself in a crowded room. He doesn't mind talking to new people, and in fact enjoys it. Keaton is the life of the party. He always has been, and it annoyed me to no end in high school, but I love him for it. Throw Keaton into any room and he will succeed, make friends, and have fun. He always has something funny or witty to say. He is also loyal, caring, fun, friendly, athletic, smart, and loving. 

We had quite the time growing up together- "sledding" down the stairs in blankets, playing Super Mario, playing war ball in the basement (basically throwing balls at each other as hard as you can), playing kick the can and 7 steps, many rounds of kickball with the neighbor kids, looking for frogs in the pond at the park, and running through the sprinkler. Also throw in lots of wrestling and loud car dancing as we got older. 

Keaton, you make life exciting, enjoyable, full of laughter, and lots of fun. Happy birthday to my best brother. I love you.

This is the most recent picture. You have also grown up to be quite beastly- muscular and hairy. :)

Fall Family Night.

This weekend we are having a ton of family time, which is great. Both my brother and sister are home on college fall break, along with my brother's girlfriend Rose, which rarely ever happens. It's so nice to all be home together. Family is such a treasure.

Last night we went over for dinner after work to celebrate Keaton's birthday. He is 22! Tonight we made caramel apples and carved pumpkins- classic fall activities. It was fun!

Kayla stole most of the heath bar pieces for her apple, and Karlie and Rose kept trying to pick them off.

The apples- yummy!

Keaton's apple dripping with excessive caramel. Typical.

Another typical scene of Keaton doing something loud and weird.

Kayla, Rose, and Karlie.

Daisy lounging. Rough life.

Kley watching baseball in his post dinner food coma. :)

The girls.

Pumpkin time!

The action.

Mine.

Rose's.

Keaton's. His original "totally awesome" idea was to put holes all over the pumpkin, but he got sick of it and carved a moon on the side and said it was a moon and stars. Ha.

Kayla's almost finished bat.

I guess I forgot a picture of Karlie's cat because she finished last. Oops.

All of our pumpkins! (Notice Keaton in the following pictures.)

Lit up outside.

Happy Fall everyone!

Weekend recap.

This weekend was quick and long at the same time. It was quick in the fact that we did a lot, and weekends go fast. It also felt long in that we traveled and were at home, which doesn't happen often. Usually we are one or the other.

Friday night we ate B'Bops with my family before heading to OC to watch my sister's volleyball game. My dad came with us, but my other sister had a tournament here, so my mom and sister stayed home. We got there around 10:30, and headed to the last quarter of Kley's cousin Pieter's football game (it had gotten delayed for bad weather, so it was still going that late). Then we went to Kley's parents new rental! It was so strange. They moved out of their house last week and are in a rental until April, when their new condo will be finished. We hung out there Saturday morning, visited Pumpkinland (a favorite- got tons of fall goodies for school!), went to Karlie's volleyball game (which was an exciting 5 games and they won!), ate dinner at Pizza Ranch (classic), and then headed home and arrived back at 10:30 again. We were gone for exactly 24 hours, including about 8 hours of travel, so it was very quick, but good! I'm really glad we were able to go.

Sunday we went to Church and hung out at home, which was so nice. I worked a lot on conference stuff, cleaned, got groceries, and caught up on Parenthood and Grey's. At 6, Kley had to start taking the gross meds for his colonoscopy today.

This morning Kley had his 5 year routine colonoscopy (he has a condition called ulcerative colitis). This was my first experience with him, and I was more scared than he was. He wasn't happy about not eating and spending so much time in the bathroom, but Kley is one of the most easy-going, positive people I have ever met. He rarely complains.

Now we are home and Kley is sleeping. I traded days off this week (remember my job does four 10 hour days?), so that was nice that I got to be home with him today. He went in and out of it when he officially woke up. He didn't say anything too extreme or funny, he mostly just kept falling asleep in the middle of conversations. He said it went well, he felt good, he felt disoriented, he felt his thoughts were so scattered, he dreamed about a grandpa bringing him a cracker, the nurses were really nice, and him and his doctor were bros. Ha. :)

Unfortunately, he threw up in the car on the way home, so hopefully when he wakes up he will be feeling more himself!

Happy Monday!

(Also, I worked hard during his colonoscopy on conference stuff again, and am very proud to report that I AM READY! Yay! Feels good to have such a big task prepared for.)

Beautiful.

In high school during our senior year, we had to write a huge research paper about a topic of our choice. It had to be 5,000 words, which as a senior, felt enormous. I believe I remember citing 17 sources. It was my first experience with using MLA format. Yippee.

I wrote about the standard of worldly beauty verses the Bible standard of beauty. Boy, are they different. I wrote, and learned a ton, about the different things people do/use to attempt to be and feel beautiful- make up, laxatives, botox, eating disorders, facial creams, liposuction, dieting, weight loss surgery, etc.

There are way too many girls in the world who don't feel beautiful. Notice I said FEEL beautiful, not ARE beautiful. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Not only do they not feel beautiful, but struggle with low self-esteem, an eating disorder, are excessively made fun of/bullied at school, or are suicidal. That's absolutely heartbreaking.

Psalm 139:13-16 (I encourage you to read the whole chapter here.)

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

I hope all you girls and women out there can rest in those verses above. Before you were ever even conceived, He knew exactly how you would be wired and exactly how you would look. The Creator of the universe also created you. You were created on purpose. God chose your physical features on purpose and made your body just as He wanted it to be. You are created by the Father.

Thus, you are beautiful. Genesis 1:27 says that God created man and woman out of His image. You were created in the image of God!

It upsets me how much girls struggle with comparing themselves with others, myself included, especially on Facebook. That girl is gorgeous. She looks good all the time. How does she do her hair like that? She is skinnier than me. I wish I could look like her. All the boys seem to like her. I wish I could be like her. I wish I could look like her. I wish I could be her.

Girls comment on their friends' pages all the time: "Stop being so gorgeous all the time! Not all girls can be as beautiful as you! Share some of your beauty with others!" It's fine to have gorgeous friends. That's great. But, don't ever forget that you are gorgeous too.

These thoughts flood some girls heads. I am thankful that I do not struggle with an eating disorder, I was/am not made fun of for how I look, and I feel like I have a good self-esteem. But, I know girls who have a serious problem with this, and I pray that they can find peace in how GOD views them.

Because who sets the standard for worldly beauty anyways? The world's standard for beauty is not attainable. Don't compare yourself to what you see on TV and magazines. Their pictures aren't even real anyway. Who in real life has a hair and make up team, outfit consultants, a professional photographer, and then computer systems to digitally change anything they want about the picture?

Very few people. And how do you think these models look when those people aren't around and they are on their period and have just woken up in the morning? Just like us girls who aren't models.

There is something to be said about presenting yourself well, but with healthy limits. It's okay to wear make up, just not too much. It's okay to exercise, just set healthy limits. It's okay to diet, just make sure it's very safe and good for your body, and you lose weight at a healthy rate that is appropriate for your body type.

If someone makes fun of the way you look, they aren't your real friend and you shouldn't be friends with them anyway. If a man doesn't ask you out because he doesn't find you "attractive enough," then he's not worth your time anyway and he just missed something special.

I could go on, but I hope and pray that all women out there, especially young girls, will feel beautiful today and everyday. Trust the opinion of the One who made you. He finds you beautiful because you are His. He created you out of His love.

And His opinion is the only one that truly matters in the end.

You are beautiful.