Grace Living in Grace

Friends are awesome. My friend is awesome. I am sure we can all relate to the times when you have frustrations or questions wandering in your head, and having a friend to talk to about those troubles is much needed. But how precious it is to have a friend to rely on that gives sound advice- not based on bias, jealousy, strife, pride, or even just ignorance, but instead, pure wisdom coming from a heart that is faithful to God. That is my friend, Gabbie. She does not just listen to my problems (which is still a treasure to have in friendships- to share each other's burdens!), but she gives her two cents of advice that is always backed by scripture, even when it is not easy to hear. I think that we both have grown so much together due to our constant and complete honesty, and the genuine effort to sharpen each other in the faith. "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." -Proverbs 27:17 This past week, I was struggling with something. I felt it wa...

Do you ever have those mornings when you wake up and have a rushing flood of “things to do” pouring over your head that result in an instant headache? That was me this morning. Crap! I left the dirty dishes out last night. Oof, I never got to doing that laundry and now Alex has no clothes for work. Where did I leave my jacket? At the gym? Oh man, I still need to call maintenance about that stupid toilet... The car still needs her oil changed... My aloe plant looks like it’s suffering from neglect, even though we just bought it a few days ago.... What time am I supposed to go to work again? I NEED GROCERIES! And with all these stressful thoughts and questions, I got out of bed and noticed the cherry-on-top: our super soft, fluffy blue pillow was nothing but a soggy trace of fabric with its stuffing spewed all over the bedroom floor, thanks to our dog, Blue, who was NOT sleeping in his crate last night (I am such a softy, and keep thinking if I leave Blue out, he will eventu...

Is it just me, or does it seem like trying to start healthy habits come with annoying or negative consequences? Just a few examples... I was told that reading at night before bed helps with getting to sleep faster. I tried this last night, but there was a very limited selection of books in the house, so I asked Alex what book I should read. "Oh! Read that series I had from high school, under the TV." This book is called The 5th Wave . If you have heard of it, it is a book about aliens coming to earth... or something. I have only read the first few chapters so I am not quite sure myself! This seems like a good idea, right? I should be able to get some sleep from this, right? Well, it DID technically work, I was out like a light after I finished reading. HOWEVER, I had a pretty horrible dream last night about some crazy person killing someone I knew and loved! This just happened to be after reading a book that related a similar event where the narrator kills some ...

"So what do YOU do?" THIS. This question.  I receive this question on a regular basis. One of the most annoying questions for me to answer at this stage in my life. Why? 1. This question is typically asked right after a lengthy conversation about Alex's career, which essentially means, "Wow! Looks like Alex has such an exciting career! Now, while he is basically being Aquaman in submarine city up in Connecticut, what is his wife doing?" So yes, the question is usually asked in CONTRAST to what Alex is currently engaged in; therefore, if HE is diving, Grace should be engaged in something driven and exciting as well. This leads to my second point... 2. This question comes with the assumption that there should be something MORE to what I am doing right now other than being married. Therefore, when I answer, "Oh, I am still trying to learn the ropes for being a wife right now...", you better believe I get looks. It is almost as if the word "...

So... I could dedicate my first blog post to giving some introduction of who I am, but there are a thousand ways to do that! How do I pick just one?! I could kick it off with a funny story from this past week to make you laugh while learning a bit about my awkwardness. I could pour words on this page about the people in my life who have shaped me into the person I am today, like my friends and family I am inexpressibly thankful for. Heck, I could even just slap some "Get to Know Me" facts on this page so that you know what you are getting into in this blog... OR, I can just forget the intro all together, because this is my blog and, let's face it, intros are difficult to write, and just end up spoiling everything else you are about to read (And may I mention that you sort of got a hint of where this blog was going on my blog description? So read on!)! To be fair, maybe I should just spend some time introducing myself on this first post... I mean, who wants to read about ...