My Favorite Pasttime

I love to read. Really truly love it. I love the stories, I love being transported to different places (to familiar places when rereading favorites), the way I just get wholly absorbed in a book. There is little better than enjoying a good book.

found @ we heart it

Some of my all time favorite authors include Madeline L'Engle, Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, and J.K. Rowling. Ooh, and Nicholas Sparks is good, too. I also love the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants quartet, Chronicles of Narnia, Trixie Belden (three cheers if you remember or have heard of this series!), and, inexplicably, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones. It's a cute little book written in verse that I can just read over and over.

found @ we heart it

A book I read a little while back and just recommended to a friend today was There's No Place Like Here by Cecilia Ahern. The book is a fun flight of fancy where a girl who is obsessed with not losing things ends up in the place where lost people and things end up. Very good!

found @ we heart it

Anyone else who just loves to read?

Finding Healing

Lately, I have been feeling ready to engage in real life, free to move past my painful divorce-to-come. But the pain of the betrayal, the failed marriage, that still lingers. Haunts me really. It keeps me up late at night, because rather than feel miserable when I fall asleep, I read until I've chased the pain away.

I also pray that I will be strengthened through the Lord, to forgive, to find healing. I know that, in the end, running from the pain will not bring healing. Only in handing it all to my Savior will I find true healing, and it will be in His time. (That's the hard part). I must pray to find strength and healing, not for the pain to be removed. For there is a difference.

Praying for courage to face the pain, to find thorough healing.

Linking up with my dear sisters at Jen's.

One Year Ago

found at we heart it

I posted just the once last March. My whole world was turning upside down. And now I can't believe its been a whole year. And what a year! We almost fixed our marriage a few times, but now I know that it is finally over. My heart is completely broken, but I'm getting stronger every day.

I am learning how to stand on my own two feet again, after being part of a couple, even if it was extremely dysfunctional by the end. I am learning to be my own person again, to be my own hero. I am building a new life...because it's not the same life I had before, while I was married, or even before I got married. This is a brand-new chapter. I thought I still knew myself, but I didn't. But I am getting to know me again. And I know I am going to be ok.

I am leaning on God daily, thanking him for the days I feel strong and independent. He got me through the days when I couldn't stand on my own feet, and so I thank him for the fact that I can now. I really believe he wants me to know I am strong, and I can do it, with Him standing right behind me.

Last year I got advice to start exercising, and I did for a while. This past week I have been exercising twice a day, and it is really making me feel strong and happy.  It is such a positive addition to my routine.

This has been a year full of ups and downs, and major life changes. I'm finally free now to move on and rebuild. I didn't want this divorce, but I have finally accepted it, and that is freeing me to grow into my new life.

Strengthen Your Heart

Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. (Psalm 31:24)

As my one word for the year, hope has been very real to me already this year. I have hoped for things that already have not panned out. But I know that my hope in God will always always be fulfilled.

As I have walked in the ways He has asked me to, God has been there with me every step of the way. He is filling me even now with new hope for a brighter future. My heart has indeed been strengthened and renewed. I can look forward now and really see the brightness the future has in store. I wake up happy, and have fallen asleep happy. Some nights, I still fight the tears, and sometimes, it feels a little odd to be happy...but I think God understands that too.

Found @ We Heart It

My hope is ever in the Lord because He is ever faithful, ever the same. It is a beautiful thing to know that even if everything else were to fall apart, I would still have a safe place to fall. He is showing me that safe place now, filling me with a new hope for a new future. Blessed be His Name.

Humbled

I want to thank the Academy....No really, thank you, Cole for awarding me this. This is such a neat honor. I started blogging as a way to express myself and maybe find community. That what I had to say would touch others, that is a wonderful bonus.

The rules accompanying this awesome award are as follows:

found @ we heart it

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 8 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers and let them know about the award.


7 new facts about me:
1. I'm not a huge fan of rollercoasters, but I loved Space Mountain..
2. And I loved Disneyland; I can't wait to visit Disney World someday.
3. Because I truly believe that you don't ever have to outgrow Disney.
4. My favorite Disney Princess is Sleeping Beauty- in the blue version of her dress.
5 Even though my favorite color is pink.
6. My favorite Disney non-princess movie is Lilo and Stitch
7. And my favorite Pixar is Monsters, Inc. "Scary monsters don't have plaque.

found @we heart it

(Linking all the the facts together like that was a blast!!!)

 Now on to the new recipients of this award:

Kari

Amanda

Joyful Jones

Amy

Jen

Jen

Surviving a Two Year Old

Stephanie

Congrats to these lovely ladies. XOXO

Something Good Happened

My step-grandmother's memorial service was this past Saturday. I got to know her a little better than I had known her in life. She was an incredible woman. She was kind, with a big heart, she knew how to be content, she loved being a wife and mom, she loved to read. If I am even half the woman she was, I will have succeeded in life. She is truly one of my role models. A neat thing: she took dance from Martha Graham, one of the modern dance pioneers. How awesome is that?

Something that particularly struck me was something my step-grandfather said when he was saying a few words at the family gathering before the memorial service. He was talking about how they met. "She was divorced, and I was divorced, and when we met, something good happened." That really gives me hope for my future. And I think that Grandma is glad I found that. Her whole life story just inspires me.

So much that her children shared during the service touched my heart. How my uncle started his remarks with "Life is unfair. You didn't get to have my mother as your mother" Or my step-mom talking about how much Grandma loved her son who was born with Down's, and felt that he truly brought their family together. My grandma's heart was so big, so welcoming. My step-mom shared with me that Grandma really loved that she and I shared a love of reading. After the memorial service,  I found myself sitting in her corner, reading. I thought it was very fitting.

You will be missed, Grandma, but I know you are doing a great work on the other side!

Dream Big

I believe in big dreams. Today I am fantasizing about my dream home. Right now the only room I really call mine is the bedroom at my mother's house. And I spend most of my time away from it because of my live-in job. So I feel like I don't really have a place I call home, or that I make mine anyways. SO here is my dream home...most details I might not get, but it is fun to dream!!!

found here

What you can't see here is my wrap around porch which may resemble something like this...

found here

Love the fireplace!!!!

On to the inside...a great view from the living room!

found here

So beautiful, right?

And this sign by the stairs!

found here

Come on into my kitchen next...

found here

Could use a bigger table, though; I want a big family.

Somewhere, this tray will have a home:

found here

I love the soft light of candles!

The last stop on tonight's dream tour will be the master bedroom:

found here

The key criteria here was cozy, and room for two, because love will find me again someday.

Do you like my beautiful dream home...but wait there's a bonus dream.

found here

Yep, at 23, I am dreaming of one cozy looking fort!

Thanks for sharing in my dream journey!

All pictures found on weheartit.com