Sneaky Puppy

Look who figured out how to climb onto our super comfy bed! Can't say that I blame her. It's so much more comfortable than the floor. She's lucky that she's so stinkin' cute!

Backpack Outreach

I never really thought of myself as a good writer and surely not a good enough writer to have an article published in a newspaper.... but here it is. Soon, it will be published in the Neighbor to Neighbor newspaper of Clay County. I am honored to be able to share all of the efforts of Canvas Church with our surrounding community. I give all the glory to God!

In preparation for the upcoming school year, members of Canvas Church in Orange Park, FL embarqued on a backpack outreach to help kids in need within the Clay County area. To fulfill this need, Canvas Church along with 99.9 Gator Country hosted a school supplies drive for the community in hopes of gaining enough materials to fill 250 backpacks. Not only did they reach this goal, but they were able to attain enough materials to fully stock 300 backpacks. This event included fun for the entire family including great music broadcasted live by 99.9 Gator Country, face painting, bounce houses and some amazing giveaways for everyone that came out.

The opportunity to sponsor an entire school presented itself. Through this sponsorship, Canvas Church was able to reach a broad spectrum of families within the community. On August 20, members of Canvas Church set up shop in the cafeteria of Grove Park Elementary School for a backpack giveaway. They served this school with several different fun stations for the kids including headband making, face painting, individualized backpack labeling, balloon making courtesy of O2B Kids and much more. The night was a huge success. A need presented itself and Canvas Church along with others within the community stepped up to bless the kids of Grove Park Elementary School. For more information, check out Canvas Church's website at http://www.canvaschurch.net/.

90% is better than 100%

I have really been struggling recently with money, but who isn't?! I have been very selfish at times and have wanted to spend it how I think we should spend it. In fact, while putting together our budget, I left tithing for last. If we had any money left over, we would give it to the church. This would be after all our bills were paid and some spent on personal items. Some Sundays we didn't give anything because of poor planning. I'm definitely not proud of this, but it's a very real issue in our lives.

Over the past few weeks, the sermon series at our church (canvaschurch.net) entitled "Mine, All Mine" has really convicted me. The sermon on "My Money" really hit home. Instead of putting God first and giving to Him first, we were actually giving to him LAST! How selfish is that?! So, with our last paycheck, we put our trust in God and gave our 10% as our first expenditure instead of our last.

Luke 6:30 says, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

I am already starting to see this good measure in our lives. On a good week at work, I have been getting about 18-20 patients (I get paid by the patient). By the end of the week it's looking like I will have seen 30 patients this week. Praise God! I want to encourage each of you to put your trust in the Lord and He will prevail!

Hazard to Myself

I'll spare you any pictures with this post! Before I was headed back to work, I decided that I would go ahead and start dinner. That way, all Erik had to do was heat it up before he went to class tonight. I was thinking I was being such a good wife, mindlessly chopping the onions, when all of a sudden..... the knife slipped! I have never been in so much pain in my life. I had a gaping hole in my thumb. I was screaming and crying hysterically because it hurt so bad. Erik pulled me over to the sink and began rinsing my wound out. Meanwhile, Luna scurried over to me and got between me and the sink and leaned on me while I was crying. Only 3 months old and she was so concerned about me. It was like she knew what was going on! Such an awesome puppy!

After putting a paper towel over my thumb and applying pressure to it, he had to sit down and take some deep breaths. He was going to get sick himself. He couldn't stand seeing me in such agony! A paramedic, who has probably seen worse things couldn't bear to see his wife in pain. I am so very fortunate to have the husband that I do! God has truly blessed me by placing him in my life!

I called work to tell them what was going on and they urged me to stay home, against my own will. Afterall, I am a massage therapist and it would be pretty difficult to massage without using my thumb. So, Alas I sit at home with a gimp thumb and my very loving husband and puppy!

Meet Luna

It's offical! We have begun the expansion of our family! Erik and I went to go get sweet little Luna. She's still pretty unsure about us. She has a little bit of an ADD problem, but whodoesn't?! fan, toy, us, fan, toy, food, us...

We are super excited to have a dog in the house. It will be interesting to see our parenting skills of the little pup...

It's not all about me

It's amazing how one little situation can teach you so much about life and about yourself. Today, I felt a little adventurous so I went to the equestrian center to swim laps in the pool. I had a set routine in my mind and did not want to be bothered. I simply wanted to do my swim and be on my way. God had other plans for me today.
Shortly into my swim, a very cute 6 year old girl asked me what I was doing. I grudgingly said, "I'm swimming laps," and hoped that she would just let me finish this lap. She responded, "No what are you doing? Are you swimming backwards?" I patiently explained to her that it was called the backstroke and taught her how to do it. I told her to swim with me, but it was too hard for her to keep up. So, I thought I was in the clear and I could peacefully continue my swim. Midway through my next lap, this cute girl appeared behind me struggling to catch up to me. I soon realized that she really wanted me to show her how to swim. I taught her the butterfly stroke, breaststroke, sidestroke, backstroke and freestyle. Before I realized it, I swam 950 yards!

Things that I learned today:

• It's not all about me sometimes
• Slow down and live in the moment
• Patience truly is a virtue and I think I'm getting better at it
• Children have a way of lightening your mood and perspective
• This cute little girl helped me just as much as I helped her
• I really love swimming and forgot about it for a while

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these."

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Erik

10. He has a good work ethic and has compassion for others.

9. He has dinner ready for me when I get home from work!

8. He makes me laugh.

7. He is a Godly man.

6. He willingly makes a grocery run for aleve and ice cream if I don't feel well.

5. He is the next Lance Armstrong.

4. He makes me feel special.

3. When he is at work, he calls just to say "hi."

2. He loves Mexican food just as much as I do!

1. He loves me a lot!