Blessed to be a Part of a Blessing!

 

  There is no way I can express what my parents have done and who they are to me.  My mom and dad have blessed me, taken care of me and supported me not only threw my childhood but all of my adult life. In the worst times of my life, when I thought no one understood and I felt so alone, my mom was up nights praying for me. My dad walking me threw so much of my brokenness with his understanding and his constant acceptance of where I am in life and loving me anyway. I have put them threw a lot of heart ace and worry over my short life, not to mention all the financial burdens that has come with having a kid like me...yet never once have they held it over my head, never asked for an apology or been bitter by what I have put them threw (and trust me when I say, I know for a fact a lot of other parents would have been!)! All they have ever shown is love and thankfulness that I am so happy now in love with Justin and that God keeps blessing me in spit of myself!
  Now that I am married they have opened the same love and generosity to him. They have helped Justin and I so much threw the first year of our marriage by letting us stay in their home with ridiculously low rent. It has helped so much that even though Justin was laid off a week and a half ago, we have been able to keep up on all our bills without filing for unemployment and feel secure that we can continue to do so until he starts a new job.
  They have never let up on allowing God to use them in my life and in the lives so many others! Now, for whatever amazing reason, God has given Justin and I the honor of being a bridge for them to receive a wonderful blessing! A meeting between these amazing new Grandparents and their first genetic grandchild, Arianna Faith Jubilee Lilley! The first Lilley grand-baby! My parents have just landed in Kona Hawaii and should be enjoying Greg, Rach and Arianna right now! I know it sounds odd and even stupid but I got chocked up, had tears in my eyes the moment I new my parents where getting off the plane and meeting the newest member of our family. I couldn't help but imagining what my parents faces looked like and the happiness they must be feeling. I am so full of joy because God has given me this small role in His plain for my parents first meeting with her!

  Thank you God for allowing Justin and I to give a drop of water back to the people that have provided me with an ocean of blessing and love!!!

A New Year

  It's a new year with new starts! New Years Eve was a blast, went to Nat's house and enjoyed spending time playing games and eating some of the best home made noodles ever! YUM! I was able to see Jennifer, an old school friend that I haven't seen, well since school! It was so nice to be able to see her even if I didn't get to spend as much time catching up with her as I would have liked to. Mandy and Jen came as well as Eric, Nat's boyfriend who I had never met before.

  We all enjoyed a great game of Spacefarers of Catan, which I had never played before but was really fun (mostly because I won) :D After that game Mandy, Jen and Jennifer had to go to other engagements. So Nat, Eric, Justin, Nat's Mom, and I played a train game...the name of which escapes me at the moment. The point of the game was to get your train line from European city to another. But it couldn't be just any two cities, you where given what cities you had to connect on little cards. I lost...really really bad! LOL it was fun just the same as Nat and Eric where being very entertaining and slightly competitive about it. After that game was over it was almost Midnight, sadly Eric had to go home before the New Year but Justin and I hung around to see the ball drop at time square. It was a very fun but quiet way to bring in the New Year and I loved it!

  In other news, Mom and Dad are going to Hawaii in February to see Greg and Rach and the new baby. I am so excited for them and can't wait to see all the pictures they take! Much less exciting (but still exciting for me) Justin and I found a great deal on all the seasons of Ranma 1/2, one of my favorite anime, and he bought it for me...just like that out of the blue! He really is one of the most giving and kind people I know. He was so excited for me, and what meant so much more to me then the DVD's was the spirit in which they where given to me. He was just so pleased he could do that for me and it was a reminder to me of how greatly blessed I am to have such a wonderfully kind man as my husband! This is also kind of cool because Justin and I are starting to learn Japaneses using the Rosetta Stone program and we plain on watching the show in Japaneses after we watch it in English to see if we can understand at least some of it. We also start school in about a week, (though we do not yet know what classes we will have.) and I am really excited and am really hoping to be able to have classes with Justin again this semester! It really makes the classes so much more fun when we get to take them together!

  As fare as prayer request updates, Justin and I have been only doing so so on our new years resolution to have a bible study together every day. We have only done it about every other day and we would love some prayer on this. It is something both of us feel is very important and really want to do better! Another prayer request would be that Genna (my best friend) and I are trying to fix some communication issues we have been having and could use every ones prayer on this as well!

  Well certainly not the most inspiring or interesting update but an update none the less. :p

A Beautiful Christmas!

Beautiful Christmas

  This Christmas has been a wonderful one. Justin and I started the day in a very lazy way by sleeping in until 9am. I helped mom rap some gifts, then I got ready and we went over to see the Griggs clan. Justin and I where given 3 gift cards that we hope to use this weekend ;). I also got some great makeup and Justin got a new watch and wallet!

  We then went over to Karma’s where she had stayed up all night making a big dinner for us all. Justin and I ate our dinner at the “kiddy table” with the girls, (the kid table is always the best place to set!). I got to have some much needed girl time! I love the fact that I can just be so real with my nieces and I always have such a blast talking with them, for their ages they really are amazingly mature!

  After dinner we opened some more presents and took a lot of pictures! Carlen then gave her gift to the girls which where two new piercings for each of them. Annie and Dilia both got nose piercings and navel (belly button) peircings, Dilia and Brit both got Tragus piercings on both their left and right ears. Annie also got a Helix piercing. After taking pictures and because I have been thinking of getting done for a while I got my right ear pierced with a Tragus. (Which hurt much less then I thought it would! Hardly hurt at all really!)

  By the time we where all done with all the piercings it was time to be heading home. When Justin and I arrived we found Mom and Dad talking to Greg and Rachel on Skype and we where able to talk to them for quite a while before the connection got dropped. It was so nice to be able to say Marry Christmas though.

  When we went back up stars my mom gave me the best gift I had gotten all day! My cousin’s daughter Olivia (I think of her more of a niece then I do my second cousin) had made Justin and I hand made ornaments! It brought tears to my eyes and truly made me feel so loved! And where I would not trade the time I got to spend with my nieces today I have to admit that I really wish I could have seen my Fish family too.

  That pretty well covers the day! It went too quickly but was greatly enjoyed. God has so greatly blessed me, I have a wonderful family and I am so thankful for every one of them. It is days like today that I realize that God really does give us what we don’t deserve and what a beautiful gift that is!

Finals and Holidays

     Justin and I finished our web design final projects in class today so our semester is over, all of our essays are completed and our web pages written :) Now to focus on getting things ready and set up for Christmas! Looking forward to it but I still have so much I have to get done and things seem like they will never stop being busy, but at least it should be a fun kind of busy for at least the next few weeks!

    As for New Years Justin and I are hoping to get to go over to my good friend Natalia's house for catching up with good friends, playing games and some of the best home made noodles ever! Lets just hope Nat can get the time off! If she doesn't get the time off I doubt things will work out for her to be able to have the get together. :(  So heres hoping her bosses will be nice (for once) and allow her to take the day off!

     I also figured I would throw in a picture that Justin took a few hours ago. (because I don't really have any pictures to put in for finals or Christmas/New Years and a blog without at least one pic seems boring) Sooooo here is a picture of me holding my cat truly acting like a big baby...(I told you I don't have kids that are cute so you get what you get people!) and yeah I'm letting him ;p 'cause was just too darn cute! We truly are such a sad duo!

But come on...IT'S CUTE!

Our Front Yard will Never be the Same!

Well it's gone. The middle tree in our front yard has been fading the last few years but this year was it's last. It was dieing and the branches were threatening to fall on the house or onto the cars parked in the street. So today three men with three very large trucks came and put our poor tree out of it's misery:

 Front yard looks weird to me know...anyway, sorry the pictures aren't great, I think the guys cutting down the tree thought I was crazy for taking pictures and I am pretty sure it was kind of freaking them out. Most where taken very quickly...the only excuse I have for the last few being so bad is for the fact that it was cold and I had no shoes on...yes I know, I know...only me~

Anyway the only other "exciting" news for today is that I have a much needed new tire on my truck! So now I can drive it again!

My truck "Kenshin"

My new Tire!

The tire on the other side that has yet to be changed but is ok enough to drive on...

This one is actually in a lot better shape then the tire that I got changed. I am get this one changed next week :P Well know that I have procrastinated getting my essay done...(you know the essay that is my final and is due on Friday)... XD Back to work :P

P.S. Sorry this entry is so bad, perhaps after Finals I will try to fix it up and make it look nice :D

My First Family Blog

Well here it goes, my first blog. I don't know if I will do well at keeping this blog up to date, but after a year of marriage I have learned it is getting harder and harder to keep in touch with people and making sure everyone is apprised of all the little going-ons in our family. So I have decided to start a blog in hopes it will help keep the lines of communication open with family and friends that no longer live near by or that I just don't get the chance to see as much as I would like to.

As anyone reading this blog should know, my little family consists of three. Justin my wonderful husband, myself (the crazy one) and my adorable cat Fox...yep that's right, my cat. (As I don't have kids that is what you get people :P) At any rate, Justin and I lead relatively hum drum lives but I will do my best to keep this blog up to date with any news that may come up.

With this being my first blog I figured I would do a very quick recap over the past year. Let start with where this family began, Justin and I got married November 28, 2008 (and yes if your wondering we did get married on black Friday). It was a wonderful ceremony but of course I would think that, it was MY wedding. It started with my brother Greg rolled out the aisle for me, which was very symbolic for me as he has always been a big part of helping me find my path threw life. My beautiful sister-in-law Rachel did SO much to make that wedding happen but the most beautiful gift she gave us had to be the song she played as I walked down the aisle, she wrote it for me. My sister Angei was my Maid of Honor, another symbol for me as she has always been such a "Rock of Gibraltar" in my life. I was also blessed enough to be given away by my father and have my mother there to light my candle in the Unity ceremony. Justin's family likewise where amazing, Justin's mom and Aunt went out of their way to make us the coolest castle cake, it went along with our Celtic Mid-evil theme. His best friend Ryan Booker was his best man and I don't think there has ever been a man that lived up the title as well as he did! Right after our wedding, we where able to bring my Brother Greg and his wife Rach to the airport where THEY went to Hawaii (so ironic) where they now live. Justin and I went up to Estes Park and had a wonderful honeymoon that lasted a very short week ;)

After all the wedding excitement it was back to classes and back to work. I work part time with my family at Decker and Son Sausage Company and go to school for Digital Media. I can honestly say I love school and I have a fantastic job, I think the job part has more to do with the people I work with rather then the job itself though. I know it's weird but I actually really love working with my family! They are fun people to be around.

Justin is going to school for Management in the IT field and was working in a call center for HP when we where first married. Alas about six months after our wedding he was laid off and was forced to look for work elsewhere. It turned out actually very well for us though as it didn't take him more then a week to find a new possession out at Fort Carson! That is mostly thanks to Devin, an old High School friend of Justin's who recommended him for the job. My amazing husband then managed to land two promotions in a little over 5 months working there. But with these promotions came more responsibility and he decided to take a brake from classes in order to better focus on work. I also took a sabbatical from school, first just because I could and then because of a miscommunication with the school that kept me out of classes for an extra semester. The miscommunication has been fixed and Justin and I are now back in classes. We have both been working heard, especially Justin who just last week tested for his Security Plus certification and passed with an 885, only 15 points from a perfect score!

Other big events that have happened this past year have been few, but the few have been rather monumental! My sister Angei got married to Adam Weber this past summer in Seattle. I was blessed to be my sisters Maid of Honor and I even got to shot some of the reception photos. Mom, Dad, Justin, J.K. and I all enjoyed our stay in Seattle. The wedding was beautiful. Justin and I even got to stay a few extra days to enjoy all Seattle has to offer! Another exciting thing for me is (though it has nothing to do with Justin and I) my bother Greg and his wife Rachel are having a baby!!! I don't think I have every been so excited about a new life coming into this world as I am for Ariana Faith! Only a couple more months and she will be out here in the open air with us! YEY! I can't wait to meet her! But enough of my goo an gahing over my new niece. :)

Presently the only really exciting thing going on for Justin and I is our plain to move in Feb, that is if we can get into the apartment we are looking at getting. We have been living with my parents for the past year and they have been very kind to let us stay for so long. We truly have enjoyed living in the house I grew up in and being able to spend so much time with my parents. But we feel it is about time we get out on our own and we are looking forward to starting this next year in our own place! Unfortunately we are a little uncertain on what the upcoming year will be like (read prayer request below for more info) but I have to say, after this past year of marriage I am very excited to see what the future holds for us!





Prayer Requests:
Justin and I would like to ask for every ones prayer during the next few months, we are trying to focus our lives back on God. We have both had our ups and downs before we where married with our faith but we want this marriage and our lives to be Christ centered ones. Alas right now we are really struggling to see where He would guide us in the coming year/s. We are at the stage in our lives where we both have dreams and goals but we are just not sure which way we should go with them. I am a firm believer that God puts faith filled desires in our hearts, but we both have SO MANY OF THEM! For instance we would both like to do at least some missions after finishing our degrees, but we are unsure if we should try and pay off our student loans before we try to do a YWAM DTS or if we should do a DTS and then come home pay off our debt and then if we choose, go back and serve in messions. Justin also has a great deal of interest in local politics and we are wondering if he should take things a step further and get more involved, if we should buy a house and plant some roots and if it should be a greater focus for us to keep our ministry closer to home. Most importantly though, if I had to choose for everyone to pray anything for us it would be that we keep our faith, walk in obedience and to not give up when we do stumble and fall (because let me tell you, we both have our daily struggles and we fall away so often!)