Because I'm a Planner

Before I get started on the topic of this post, I wanted to share this video with you. I came across it yesterday, and Tenth Avenue North is one of my all time favorite bands. As I was listening, I was so encouraged and reminded of the verse John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." I was also reminded that this world has nothing real to offer us, and if we live for earthly pleasures, we will be let down time after time. But, if we seek after the cross, we will find redemption, peace, beauty, purpose, and joy in Christ.

Now, onto today's topic: planning.

When it comes to planning, I get a little bit extreme. At any given moment at work, you might find me checking my iCal along with a desk calendar open and my Outlook calendar pulled up. I want to make sure that I have time for everything (since I'm in such high demand...) and if I'm honest, I probably want to have all of my calendars memorized (I know, I've got issues). I can tell you when meetings are, when company holidays are, and I can probably tell you every vacation day I'm taking through the end of 2013. I always have at least one to-do list going, but usually more. I know way too many birthdays, and I have them written down. I know dates for events that are really far in the future, but I've already written them down and memorized them.

Here's why: When I was in high school, I was really involved at student government and clubs. I also traveled with the debate team for a few years and I was on the yearbook staff. By amount mid-sophomore year, my mom got tired of the frantic last minute, "I HAVE TO BE AT SCHOOL IN 20 MINUTES!!!" coming from my room. Since I didn't drive yet, that meant she had to drop everything and get me to where I was supposed to be. We talked about it...and I started planning out my days so that I could tell her when I needed to be where ahead of time. Well, me being the way I am, I couldn't leave it at just a list with dates and times to hand over to my mom. No...I had to dive in head first to being a planner through-and-through. At age 15, I began scheduling out my day by the hour...and sometimes minute. I continued this through most of college. Thankfully, I'm no longer that extreme with a 8-5 job, but I do keep at least two calendars at my fingertips at all times...and most of them are color-coded.

The one thing I've always been really bad at is planning meals. Obviously I depended on my mom for that when I was in high school. In college I had the caf, which was only open during certain hours and was basically built into my day. Before Jason and I got married, I'd go to the store every week, or every other week, and grab some basics and maybe one main recipe to cook. Most of the time that worked out pretty well because I knew at least one dinner would probably be out on date night, and the rest of my dinners were kind of random. That worked for me just fine.

Then, I got married.

Now, I plan meals like I plan the rest of my life: way ahead of time, in bulk, and extreme. Each week I find the recipes I want to use for the next week and make out a list by day. I sit with a calendar in front of me so that I'm able to coordinate (for example, on Tuesdays we have small group, so I usually make a crock-pot meal). After that, I make my extensive grocery list and I hit the grocery store on Sundays. When I get home, I unload the groceries (Jason helps), and I write out our "meal plan" for the week on my college-repurposed dry erase weekly calendar. Whooh...I'm tired just thinking about doing all of that this weekend...and it's only Wednesday.

List of meals for next week. Along with my iPad that has all of my recipes stored in it.

This week.

So, why am I blogging about this? Well, other than the fact that it's probably a not-so-subtle cry for someone to help me learn to go with the flow, I'm really just looking for new ideas. Jason and I try to eat dinner at home about four nights a week. I try to take my lunch to work all five weekdays, and Jason takes his about three days a week. We also both eat breakfast at home. I just need to figure out a better system for grocery shopping and meal planning because four months of this has gotten really exhausting.

How to you grocery shop/meal plan for the week?

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A Month in the Making

I'm not really sure what the title of this post means, but it seemed appropriate. Sometimes the title just rolls from my mind, through my fingers, and onto the keyboard without making much sense.

Jason and I have been married for 4 months, 6 days, and about 45 minutes.We've experienced a lot of craziness in that amount of time. Just to give a brief overview, this is how our lives have looked over the past few months:

We thought we may be moving to a different city. We thought we might be moving to a different home in Birmingham. We thought we'd stay where we are. We really thought we might be moving to a different city. We decided to stay where we are. While we were figuring out where we were going to live, Jason changed jobs within the same company he already worked for, so now he works a full-time job and a more than part-time job as well (rather than two over-part-time jobs). We've been to six cities in four different states, not including our honeymoon. We've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a New Year, all in different places.

It's been crazy. 

Thanksgiving in Daytona Beach, FL (Jason's hometown)

A fun little trip to Disney World in Orlando

Christmas in Destin, FL with my family

Bringing in 2013 from our couch

We spent New Year's Day in Atlanta visiting the Coke Factory

We took a little weekend getaway to Nashville earlier in January

In the midst of all of the craziness, we've also been learning A LOT. We've been learning how to live together, how to like each other since we now live together :), how to show love to each other (even when it's hard), what our roles in marriage look like Biblically and what that means practically, how our roles within our families have changed, and how to just live life day-to-day as a married couple.

I'll be honest, it hasn't been all easy. In fact, the first three months were rough at times...not rough ALL the time, but at certain times. We've had handfuls of people tell us that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Jason asks me about once every two weeks why people say that to us so often, and my only real answer for him is because it must be true.

I will say this though...through the ups and downs, the arguments and sweet moments, the traveling and the nights at home, the craziness and the simple silences, I've learned to see God's grace so much clearer than I could before.

Since I've been a believer, I've prayed that someday my future husband (I didn't know Jason then) and I would quickly grow to be united mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Since we got married, I have gotten so frustrated because I just didn't see that happened at the beginning of our marriage and I didn't understand why God didn't want that for us.

But then, almost like it was overnight, things started to change. I honestly don't think that Jason or I have done anything to change, but God definitely opened our eyes and changed our hearts. Over the last month or so, I've began to see God's grace all over the place, or at least that's how it feels. Jason and I regularly pray that God would do something in us/in our marriage that is so insane and radical that it's evident that only He could accomplish it, and I truly believe that has happened...or is beginning to happen.

I know I've got a long way to go, and I pray that by the grace of God I'm given many many  more years to grow, but I believe that God has allowed certain opportunities and circumstances to come into our lives that have taught me about my role as a wife and how that affects every other facet of my life (my job, my family, my home, my friendships, etc.). The biggest thing that God has begun teaching me though, is that my identity and my role in this world doesn't start externally with my  marriage, it starts internally with my relationship with Him.

I guess the title to this post does make sense when I consider the past month or so. These last few weeks have been so sweet, not only as a newlywed, but as a believer. I hope that it's the foundation and the making of a life in which I am ever-growing in Him.

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Snow Day(s)

Welcome to 2013 everyone! This is my first official blog of the year.

Currently, snow is coming down pretty hard here in Birmingham, AL.

I'm pretty excited about the fact that it's snowing, even though it probably won't stick. Growing up in Florida, the closest thing that we ever saw to snow was the sand on the dunes on a really really cold day. Living in Birmingham, snow is a little bit more frequent, but not nearly something is ever guaranteed.

That being said, today's snowfall has made me remissness about my first few snow days. The first time I saw snow was as a sophomore in high school when I was on a debate team trip in Boston, MA. There are probably a couple of pictures of that circling Facebook, but since Facebook was brand new back then and you had to be in college to create an account...I don't have the photo readily available for my blogging purposes.

The next few times I saw snow was while I was a student at Samford. We used to joke that Samford would usually cancel classes either right after it stopped snowing, or right when it was unnecessary to cancel classes at all (i.e. the time they canceled classes after 1 p.m. on a Friday). Anyway, here are some pictures from those glorious Samford Snow Days!

Samford with a little snow around Christmas in 2009.

The February snow in 2010.

Samford the day after the 2010 snow.

Somebody made a really good snowman and I took credit for it. Hehe.

So excited that it's snowing for my Florida guests.

Such a fun night.

February snow in 2010. Samford's quad...right before classes were canceled.

The other time that I've really seen snow was when I studied abroad in London. It snowed probably 3 for 4 days while I was there, and I honestly got pretty used to it. It was never a super heavy snow, but that's probably for the best. One thing I did learn though, this Florida girl does NOT know how to build a snowman.

The view outside my window at Samford's Daniel House in London.

My snowman...he's just short.

St. James Park in London.

Unfortunately I won't be able to "play" in the snow today. But regardless, it really is beautiful. Here are some pictures from my view today:

Our office in the Lakeview area of Downtown Birmingham.

University Blvd. through out window.

University Blvd.

Parking lot.

28th St. S facing St. Vincent's Hospital

Well there you have it, a Southern Snow Day.

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Job Moments

What are "Job moments" you ask? Well, they're what I consider moments when we look at our life, our family, our career, our whatever, and everything it's all upside down. When we feel like we're low as low can get. When everything that has mattered to us is gone. When our hearts are broken. When we get to the point where we literally think the only thing that hasn't been taken from us is our life.

We've all been there. We've all watched as aspects of our life that we put so much hope and assurance in slowly dissipate (or quickly, as it was for Job).

Source

I know I've been there. I have vivid memories...memories that are painful to remember. I remember falling on my knees, crying out to God; questioning His goodness, His greatness, and ultimately His power over my life.

I've continually been brought back to the book of Job. Job lost everything...literally EVERYTHING. So much so that his own wife told him over and over again to curse God and die.

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” - Job 2:9

But Job didn't; instead, he worshiped. He praised God in his suffering. He mustered up enough faith to seek joy through his suffering. In my opinion, Job was unhappy through this time. It wasn't like he was okay with all of this. It wasn't like he was walking around with a smile across his face. He thought he was going to die. Everyone surrounding him was telling him that he's sinned, and this was punishment for his unrighteousness. But in Job, we find an underlying theme that there is quite a big difference between earthly pleasures and happiness and eternal joy. 

In a sermon that I heard a long time ago, the pastor pointed out how Job goes on and on and on at the end of the book praising God and extolling His greatness. And even though Job is among the most righteous of men, God stops him and basically says that Job can't even begin to comprehend His greatness. Job responds in a way that I pray I would, but in reality, I know I would not. Job shows humility before the Lord:

“I know that you can do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 
 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ 
 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you; 
 therefore I despise myself,
    and repent in dust and ashes.”
- Job 42:2-6 

In our "Job moments", how many of us respond this way? How many of us direct our heart and our minds toward eternal joy and bow in humility before our King? I'll be the first to say that I have failed at that time and time again. 

I look at the world around me. A world full of evilness and wickedness. A world full of hatred and condemnation. A world full of tragedy and sorrow. 

I'm reminded of a verse in Proverbs that says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." (19:21) Although I know without a doubt that many men have plans for evil, wickedness, and are full of hatred, I also take comfort knowing that at the end of the day, when all is said and done, only the Lord's purposes will remain. 

I don't know a lot and I am not a bible scholar; I don't claim to be, and I know I never will be. But I do know one thing: focusing our hearts/minds/lives on eternal joy is of the utmost importance. God's word says that none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10). The fact that this world isn't in utter chaos is only by the grace of God. The fact that we can recognize evil and mourn when we're faced with tragedy is only by the grace of God. But when our focus is not on a happy, prosperous, pleasure-filled life on earth, but rather on eternal joy that comes from our Heavenly Father, we have more to live for. And in our "Job moments", when we're fixed on eternal joy, we don't seem to question God so much. We are able to see every day as an opportunity. We are able to say, as Job did, "'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" (Job 1:21)

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09.22.12 - A Wedding Story in Photos {Part 2}

{Part Two} Life is Beautiful

photos by: Cody Jordan

www.codyjordan.com

09.22.12 - A Wedding Story in Photos {Part 1}

{Part One} Before the Vows

 

photos by: Cody Jordan

www.codyjordan.com