You are not Alone

Today, I went to feed some ducks that seasonally live in a pond nearby. Every season there will be a new batch of ducks to the pond. For the past few weeks I've seen a mother and her baby ducks. They were so cute and fluffy when they were little! Now they're growing and look more independent. There was one though that could never get any of the bread I was throwing. You see, his neck was kinda funny. It didn't stretch out like the other ducks. And he was slow. All the other ducks would run to the bread crumb. He tried, but he just never made it in time. I started noticing him. When all his siblings were in the water doing...what ducks do, he would just sit there. While everyone was slashing and quacking, he was just kinda... floating. Floating through life. I picked him out as the underduck. Of course, the majority of us will always root for the underduck. It's the compassion within us that allows us to do that. But for others of us, myself included, we can not only have compassion for, but we can identify with the underduck.

Have you ever felt like your circumstance is so different from everyone elses that theres no way anyone else would understand? Or maybe you feel like your the only one going through the test that you are facing? The real truth is that you don't have to be alone, you don't have to face life alone. Not only is God familiar with suffering (isaiah 53:3), but he gives us the opportunity to have community with one other (Galatians 6:2).

Maybe you may not identify with this underduck. Not everyone struggles with lonliness or isolation. But, there maybe someone around you who does. I wish I could say that there was another duck that was a friend and encourager to the underduck, but there wasn't.

For now, that underduck will have to live it out on his own, but you or the people around you don't have to.

Can you pick out the underduck?

I Like to MOVE IT, MOVE IT!

I bought some rubbermaid tubs from Target today. I'm going to start packing up my winter clothes. Over the next few weeks, I'll be packing up my few belongings in preparation to move to Corpus. I've also starting updating my resume. Job hunting is not fun. :( A few words that run through my head on a daily basis: Different. Unknown. Change. New.

When these words come to mind, I'm not scared or fearful, it's more exciting. (ok, maybe a little scared) I'll be moving in about 12 or so...

I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it.
I like to....MOVE IT!

130 days

Today, Cheli and I are 130 days away from our wedding. So many people have helped us get to where we are right now. I know that without special people in both of our lives, I don't know how we would have been able to physically be here. I just want to thank all of you special people who have helped Cheli and I get to where we are. I know that we are still 130 days away but it still means a lot to us. Thank you so much.

Going to Shursh... UPDATE

Today I'm going to worship at my friends church in Ft. Worth. Many of you SRCers are familiar with Amos Garza, the Vice Superintendent of GLAD and a great friend of SRC. Well his daughters are very good friends of mine Sherrie and Trisha. The youngest of the two Sherrie and her husband Santos planted a Spanish church a few years ago. Trisha is gifted in music and serves as the worship leader/keyboard player. I was priviledged enough to preach at their church when it was not even a year old. It will be great to see how much it's grown since then. Their service this afternoon will conclude their weekend long, 1st annual missions convention. It's gong to be a banquet style service. Another cool thing: The culinary chef that is cooking the meal is the husband of another friend from LABI, Lisa. I haven't seen her in about 4 years, since she's been married as a matter of fact, so I've never met her husband! I'm also excited to see them! I'll have to update you on the speaker, the service and the food after I get back.

The service is at 2:30 since they are still renting the fellowship hall from a Methodist church. Oh! I better start getting ready!

UPDATE: I just posted pictures, but this thing is acting weird so I posted them separately above.

I did a lot today....

Today was a crazy day. I almost ran out of gas (i can hear my mom now.. "you should NEVER let it get lower than....." but by the GRACE OF GOD i made it to a gas station. I went shopping for jewelry for the girls in the wedding party, but I didn't buy anything because I want to make sure that they like it. Today, i really wished that Beth and Kelli were with me. :( Tear..

Moving on....Today I bought our ring bearer pillow! (Seth, this is what you will be carrying in the wedding!) and some ribbon for the wedding favors. Hobby Lobby is where I bought these items. Hobby Lobby is probably the best craft store out there. If anyone disagrees with that, they need to say it to my face. I also bought a medium sized, black chandelier to hang in our apartment. It is so pretty and I had been looking for one for a long while, so I called Aaron and got the green light and bought it!

When I got home, I was sticky and gross. yuck. I'm thankful for hot running water and air conditioning. We are SO blessed here in America.

so all in all, it was a good day!

Whoa, What a Weekend

I had a blast this past weekend in Corpus. Unfortunately, Aaron had to work on Friday and Saturday, but I had a few appointments, so I was pretty occupied.

• One of these dreadfully boring appointments was........ cake sampling!!! It was SOOO good. I tried strawberry, yellow and white. Guess which one I picked? .....well, you'll just have to wait and see. But believe me, I picked the yummiest one! So the cake is picked out and it's going to be beautiful! ; )

• I also talked to a flower lady. She was very kind and helpful. Everything that I picked out will look beautiful! This lady caught my vision and I think she's going to make everything look great. \o/

• I got to spend some time with my FMIL (future mother in law) she had knee surgery so she was stuck in bed. We had a McAllisters lunch in her bedroom, it was great fun :0

• Friday night, we got dressed up to go to WaterStreet Oyster and Sushi Bar. Aaron ordered me an shrimp quesadilla appetizer. Then I had some seasoned chicken alfredo something. Of course Aaron's plate was better than mine. He always gets something better than me and I always want whatever he orders. he also wanted to order sushi, but i declined. : {

• On Saturday, I had to run more errands. One of which was going to zales to get my engagement ring cleaned and inspected. Aaron set me off with all the paperwork. Poor guy. I already told him that I lose things easily, but he still gave it to me. So i didn't lose the paperwork, but I did forget to give it back to him. sorry, Aaron :(

• Saturday night, I took Aaron on a surprise date. I asked him to bring goggles (to throw him off since he was trying to guess where we were going) So he wore goggles the whole car ride while seriously trying to convince me that they improved his vision. BAha! so as we approached the restaurant I covered his eyes which made him EXTREMELY nervous. and then (after checking that there were no cars around) I slammed on the brakes just to get him hyped about dinner. We ate at Wings n More (he had never eaten there!) and I gave him a card because he's so amazing. :O
• On Sunday, there was only one service. Aaron translated to English since they combined the English and Spanish congregation. he did a great job. Afterwards there were activities and FOOD! I ate a ton! I had a hot dog and then nachos and then another hot dog. What? I was hungry :(

• Sunday afternoon we went to his pastors house for a BBQ. So it was me and aaron, the pastor and his wife, freddie the youth pastor and his girlfriend, and steve and liz, my friends that I stay with when I visit Corpus. I made my famous sopapilla cheesecake. Afterwards, we were all so stuffed that we all went to the beach for a walk. There were these little animals in the sand that would light up when we walked. It was like walking on stars. * :)*

• Aaron was off on Monday, so we got to hang out!!! we walked around Best Buy. We would have walked around it 3 times if Aaron had had his way. Then we made our way to the beach. the weather was perfect and Aaron didn't get burned even better. he tried to show me how to throw a frisbee. I'm still not very good :(

All in all it was a great weekend! I had tons of fun with Aaron. I can't wait to see him again!