Lessons I Learned from 6 years of Marriage

Happy Monday! 

Here's to kicking a case of the Mondays away!! 

At the beginning of this month Babe and I celebrated 6 years of husband-and-wifeness! We had a beautiful weekend away in Flo, visiting Manatee Springs State Park. While driving over I shared some of the lessons that I learned over the last six year on Instagram. And because today had a way of bringing those things back to mind I figured I would share them here, because life has a way of reminding you just what is important. Never forget to cherish the people you love and hold them close. So here's to hugs and life and having a tribe of people to walk through it with. So very thankful he is part of mine... 

6 things I've learned over 6 years of marriage

1.) Life needs balance; like someone who sings loud to every song on the radio and someone who doesn't even know the words because he's a melody person or someone who says "hey let's jump out of this tree" and someone else who says "crazy woman, you have to check and see how deep the water is first"

2.) Love and life will change you, but you hold tight and stay grateful because marriage is a commitment to have each other's backs!

3.) Marriage is as much a journey as the rest of life, just enjoy the ride.

4.) Marriage isn't a fairytale... It's better than that; it's real life lived out in all its bittersweet glory.

5.) Babe's answer (aka: be careful what you ask for) You love the person, no matter how much you hate their bad habits

6.) Being a good spouse and knowing how to best care for your partner is a never-ending learning experiment! Someday I will get better at his love language and I will learn to put my cereal bowl in the sink, among other things... 

And with that I am off to Love him by doing the laundry, because today has been hard for him and freshly laundered (and put away// because somehow I can never get this step down) towels, make him smile! Marriage really is an endless learning curve and I'm so thankful he's never given me a grade! 

Any other married folks? 

What lessons have you learned over the years?

#TravelTuesday 4// Laying Aside Fears of International Travel

As someone who loves adventure and thrill, it surprises people to learn that international travel scares me. I am usually up for anything! But after Greece, international travel scared me and I never really had a strong desire or need to see other parts of the world. Fear told me that the United States was full of enough beauty for a lifetime- and it is, full of so much beauty. But being afraid to step outside my comfort zone, and cutting off anything outside the borders of the U.S., discredits the rest of the amazing world that God created.

What am I afraid of? I think mostly the unknown. I like knowing what to expect. Do I think other places are really any scarier or more dangerous than the United States? No, not really. I think all places have things that it is right to be cautious of, in their own way. I just know the things to be afraid of in the states. Going to a new place means not knowing the things to be that I should be wary of.

It also makes me nervous to not be able to communicate with people. A communicator by nature, I love to talk to people, I love to be able to share stories and learn more about them and speaking different languages makes that hard. It makes me nervous not being able to understand what those around me are saying and not being able to join in on conversations. But my trips to Costa Rica helped alleviate some of that fear. There is a lot that can be spoken with expressions and having interpreters helps and sometimes you just branch out, make a fool of yourself and try to learn their language on-the-go. People are generally kind and willing to be helpful, in between laughs at all the things you said completely wrong! It really is true, that the best way to learn a new language is to immerse yourself in the culture.

But if I am being truly honest, I think the thing that might scare me the most is how God will use this trip to change me. I believe that travel in the U.S. can impact my heart and teach me things, but I am not sure if those trips will ever have as high a probability of creating pivotal moments in my life that can truly change parts of my heart. Change and me, we have never really gone well together- change has a funny way of rocking your entire world off its axis. I don’t enjoy having my world rocked, but I know that anyway He chooses to change me will be for the better- for His glory- it just doesn’t make it almost any less terrifying. God has a way of asking big things of those who follow Him. He breaks our hearts, over and over again, for what breaks His. He invites us to be part of the story He continues to write and it is, all at once, exciting and scary! Pivotal moments in life are usually never easy; they come with challenges and heartache, filling your heart with things that can tear it clean in two. But God is there, always with you, holding you, helping you and mending your heart. I need to remember that! And so I tell myself that, over and over, because I refuse to NOT do things because of fear! Fear will not stop me, because fear CAN NEVER stop God and He is always on my side!!

And so I remind myself of that and of all the wonderful things I would have missed out on if I have chosen to let fear take the wheel... 

//The beauty of Greece & Turkey// Sure, I was already there when my fear kicked in, but if I had chosen to let fear define my trip I wouldn't have truly seen the beauty that the country had to offer! 

//This miracle moment// My first out-of-country mission trip to Costa Rica was all girls (at least those of us leaving from the states) to drill wells with Agua Viva Serves. We worked alongside those in the community where the well was being built and other Costa Ricans employed through Agua Viva. The team helped me learn some spanish and then showed me how to work the drill rig! Helping with the pipes made me feel a sense of strength I had never experienced before and gave the guys a good chuckle to see that a girl could do some of the heavy lifting (they were very wary when I first asked them to teach me, especially since, in the Costa Rican culture, manual labor jobs are seen as men only work). Then, in the midst of all the mud, and the sweat and shoveling, a pipe striped and that pipe, the others connected to it and the drill bit all broke off from the rig and disappeared into the (now very deep) ground. We were worried that we had just lost all the progress, a weeks worth of labor hours, as well as expensive material literally down the hole; but God showed up in a big way and the guys were able to find a way to get the pipes out of the ground, find the striped pipe, replace it with a new one and keep going! I would have missed the elation and praise and smiles of that moment if I had let fear keep me from getting on the plane! 

//Babe's first mission trip// That first trip to Costa Rica, proved to me that I can live outside of the fear I had created in my head! The God moments of that trip began opening a door in my heart which led to another trip with Agua Viva Serves, but this time WITH BABE! This was his first mission trip ever (I had done others in the US when I was in youth group), but this was his first. It was so great to experience that time together and to watch God work through and around him! (man am I going to miss that face while I'm gone!) 

//And now for AFRICA// God used each of those moments to open the door of my heart, inch by inch, to say to me, "You! Go to Africa!" It was small at first, a nudge on a nudge, and then He screamed it at me!! And so, here I am go! And I am ready; even if my heart flutters and my knees shake a bit! I am ready and open and anxious to see what He will teach me!! 

Any travel advice for this nervous girl? Anyone been to Kenya? 

Anywhere fun you've been adventuring lately? Or plans to adventure soon?

Join in for this month's linkup and let's travel together! Just add your link below! 

~On the 2nd Tuesday of every month I will be sharing a new travel destination and would love to see where you have been exploring! 

~Any linked posts will be pinned under Travel Tuesday on my Pinterest. 

~No real rules, as I am not a huge fan of those sorts of things! Just add any travel related link and I encourage you to peek around and see where everyone else has been. Leave a little love where you like! 

~Feel free to grab the image from the sidebar and add it to your post so others know where to link up. 

Excited explore the globe with you all!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Laying Aside Fears of International Travel// Part 1: I'm Going to Africa!

Tomorrow is the second Tuesday of the month and time for another #TravelTuesday linkup, but this months post will be a little different than previous ones. Over the next two days, in preparation for Africa, I am sharing some of the things laying on my heart and some big fears I have when it comes to travel. I know what you might be thinking, that with my usual "just do it" attitude and love for big adventures, how could I be scared of travel? Well, to be honest, international travel freaks me out. It has for a while, but I do NOT want to let fear keep me from living life to the fullest and experiencing what God's great world has to offer... 

It’s really funny to me that to start this year off I burned away some of the things I felt were holding me back or weighing heavy on my heart. FEAR was probably one of the biggest of those- of not doing things for fear of the outcome. I have also been calling this my “let it be” year- whatever it is, whatever comes, whatever God places in my path, I am just going to let it be and see where He leads me. Well, this year one of those moments came in the form of the opportunity to go to Africa, on a vision trip, with other staff members from Summit Church, where I work in Children’s Ministry. And as soon as I was asked to go 'fear' tried to rear its ugly head and wrap a vice around my throat.

A little backstory: I discovered, while on our honeymoon in Greece, that international travel was not all I thought it was cracked up to be, at least for me personally. While it was a beautiful trip, I spent much of my time anxious and nervous and out of my element. So after finding Summit, and deciding to make it our church home, we learned that they had a strong tie to working alongside those in Africa. I thought “well, I can be supportive from the states, but going just wouldn’t be something that’s for me.” Flash forward a few years and a mission trip to Costa Rica (I had a “minor” freak out while we were in line to board the plane and was on edge for a bit, until I settled in and soon felt at home among the Costa Ricans and was blessed with an amazing experience) and there I was sitting in service when it was mentioned that people should join and go to Africa. My heart jumped and felt a nudge- you know that little push that says, “hey, you! I want you to listen to this. Maybe you should go to Africa.” I brushed it away, thinking this is the people pleaser in me coming to a head now that we were invested in Summit. So I let it slip away.

A little later and I found myself working at the church, where, as a staff member, it is strongly encouraged that you go to Africa once every 5 years. I thought, “welp, how am I going to work my way out of that one?” And a little voice whispered, “you’re not.” Then the summer teams for Africa come around and I felt my heart jump again- nudge, nudge. I considered looking into joining a team, but then, fear… So I looked for other ways to plug in with our Africa partnerships and we began sponsoring a sweet little guy from Malawi. But the nudges didn’t end.

And so, I sat and I prayed and I asked for a sign, “Lord, you know me. You know the fears that will continue to stop me and you know I am horrible at making decisions. You also know what a people-pleaser I am. Is this really you telling me to go or is it the people-pleaser in me wanting validation? Ok look, if someone asks me to go, then I will know You want me to really consider it!” Yes, I ended with consider it, knowing full well if God wanted me to go to Africa He wanted me to go and not just consider.  So I ended my prayer and I left it alone.  And then trips came and went for another summer and the trips for this upcoming summer had also already been set and I thought I was in the clear. I even thought that I might actually consider joining next years trip, to the organization through which we sponsor, had even briefly mentioned sitting in on one of the Africa meetings to Babe and just decided it wasn't for us right now. And it wasn't, for us... 

Because out of the blue, just a little over a month ago I got asked to possibly go on a trip to Kenya. Not only was the trip just about a month away, but this trip also came with the added possible commitment of going back in August. That God! He’s definitely got a sense of humor! “So you wanted to wait for me to be glaringly obvious that you should go? Well, ok, how about going twice?” Because this trip will include working with kids, they wanted people from our children’s ministry team to go. A few of the people that were first asked could go in April, but committing to go back in August was tough, as the August trip will be the first week kids go back to school. That led to me- no kids, nothing holding me back from being able to commit to going twice. God was just sitting back and shaking His head with a chuckle, I can just picture it now...

To be honest, I still tried to look for a way out. I met with the guy who initially asked me (our global partnerships coordinator, also going on the trip), so that I could get some of my questions answered. Every question I had (every possible excuse I kept in my back pocket if I wanted to let fear win) was met with only open doors that I had no ability of closing. I sat in that meeting and I just knew, “I am going to Africa.” Sure, I had to discuss things with Babe, but I pretty much committed. If God wants me in Africa, Babe isn’t going to stop Him. And apparently neither was I. And so, here I go, on Thursday, to finally say yes to something God has been nudging me about for a while.

Maybe this trip itself is why He was nudging me all along, giving me 2+ years to prepare my heart for something huge! To prepare my heart for truly surrendering this decision to Him. My walk with God has always been one where I keep trying to take the wheel, but after John Wayne died, I realized that trying to steer things myself was only ever going to leave me in a tangled mess on the highway. And so this year I committed to letting it be- to stop trying to take control- and He is using that surrender to take me far beyond anything I could have ever imagined for this year.

Am I still afraid? Yes! But I am excited too! I am excited to see how this will impact my walk with Him. I am looking forward to getting to know the Matlacks more and to meet those they work alongside in Ngando, the community we will spend the majority of our time in while we are in Nairobi. I am so thankful for the opportunity to take part in this trip and so thankful that God is bigger than fear!

March Currently// Beach Bound Happiness

Linking for another currently edition with Anne and Jenna

Wishing// 

For a beautiful, sunshiny weekend! I am heading to the beach to celebrate a friends birthday. Our Florida weather has been stunning lately, but it seems that every time I prepare to head for a weekend at the beach the rain decides to head this way. So I am wishing for the weather to stay just as it has been all week: sunny with just enough of a breeze to keep you from getting hot, but without making you feel cold! 

Craving// 

Some yummy oysters by the beach!! Gimme all the oysters!! 

Going//

To the beach!! Yay for New Smyrna Beach and all the comes with it! The Garlic, JB's... oh my food loving heart will be in heaven!! I am also currently planning our next Flo adventure! I am thinking Myakka River State Park, for a walk among the treetops! 

Wearing//

My new shop happiness very soon!! Tomorrow is the last day to grab my new "you keep me safe & I'll keep you wild" beauties at my cost; the price will go up after they hit the shop! Plus, there will be fewer styles and colors to choose from, so take a peek here and here and grab a pretty for yourself! Also, which colors are your favorite? I am trying to nail down the final choices that will make it to the shop and would love to know what people like!

Learning//

About how all this small business owner stuff works! I have taken a few courses to try to learn the ins and outs of small shopness (totally a word), read through dozens of how-to and what-not-to-dos, and played around with all kinds of ideas. I'm still not sure about how it all really works, but I think that's half the fun. So I am taking it one day at a time and am excited to see how my little shop will grow! I am learning a lot about myself and about stepping out of my comfort zone this month, in more ways than one! This part is the part I can share for now and I am excited to share more in the near future! 

Just be Thankful// 10 Thankful Things for a Monday!

If I am being honest, last week about knocked me clear off my feet. There was no reason in particular; the more I tried to pin it down the more frustrated I became. You know those weeks, the ones when you post happy things, wear a smile and try your hardest to turn it around, but it simply feels like trying to cover a cut with a bandaid that is just too small. And so we escaped for the weekend and I spent some time in the middle-of-nowhere-Florida, refueling my soul. Alas, Monday came at me with a cold and my "lovely lady visitor" all at once. And so, I am meeting it head on! Remembering to take the time to be thankful works wonders for me. Here are 10 things I am thankful for right in this moment... 

1// A weekend away with Babe! and Flo! 

2// The ability to explore & hike & adventure, to climb fire towers and just breathe in God's gorgeous creation!

3// Mondays that include breakfasts with best friends!

4// Having one of my childhood besties back home for a visit (she now lives out of state), this time with her sweet baby boy in tow!

5// Getting to visit with said out of state bestie and our moms for the morning!

6// Getting to see my brother and his pregnant wife, who were also in town from Georgia!

7// Finding out the newest little addition to our family ^^ is going to be a sweet baby girl AND that she will share my middle name! Way to make an aunt's heart feel really big!! 

8// A strong cup of coffee!

9// A warm blanket!

10// The fact that this list could go on... but that I also have a free afternoon to say that this is where it ends, because today gets to be one of those 'get in a warm bath, in the middle of the afternoon and read an awesome new book, while I soak away my aches' type of day! 

Hope today finds you feeling renewed!! 

What things are you thankful for today? 

Happy Things 2016: January Happies!

Happy Monday Friends! Hoping that Monday has you pumped and ready for a new week, but if not, maybe a little dose of happiness will help! Today is the first of my Happy Things for 2016! I would love to have you join and share yours too!

These 5 things made me really happy in January!

1.) Flo's first out of state adventure was a huge success!! We loved our trip to Georgia and can't wait to adventure again soon!!

2.) It is finally cold enough to have a fire in the fireplace! Not only that, it has stayed cold enough! Florida is freezing y'all!! We have had a fire in the fire place every night for the past week. And the make it even happier, we moved our bedroom into the living room. We usually do this once it stays cold enough. We take the mattress off the bed and plop it right next to the fireplace. We build a fire big enough to last well into the night and I fall asleep with my face only about a foot or two away from the flames! It's absolutely lovely; the flames dance and create a colorful display behind my closed eyes, while the pop of the burning embers play music that lulls me to sleep. Seriously, if you have a fireplace and have never done this, you need to! Especially if you have kiddos! We don't, but piling into the living room when my nieces and nephews are over and having a "camp-in" by the fire while play games and watching a movie= perfection!

3.) Teaching my niece to play Sorry! Sorry was the game we grew up playing as a family. Last week I ran into her and her mama at Publix and they came over to play by the fire for a bit. She is almost 5, so it was really fun to have her actually grasp how to play and for her to get to play by herself (with our help). We would give her the best options and she would get to pick how she moved. It was hysterical to see her little brain decide who she would "Sorry!!" Apparently, I was the big target! But in the end it came down to the two of us (kicked poor Uncle Andrew right out of the running), literally both of us waiting on a 3 to get our last man home. Ultimately I ended up winning, so it was also really neat to get to teach her how to be a good sport. It's something I have trouble with myself sometimes, so I told her it was ok to want to win but that a true winner is one who can lose with grace! A good lesson for both of us for sure!!

4.) Seeing The Sound of Music with my sweet mama!! I love going to plays and this was the first time getting to see the stage version of Sound of Music, as well as the first time in our new downtown Orlando theater! My Sound of Music loving heart was very happy!!!

5.) Orlando day hikes!! I love adventuring and I love getting to go away in Flo, but it also makes my heart really happy when Babe and I have days off together to explore in our own backyard! So the other day we did just that and headed up to Little Big Econ State Forest to go to Kolokee Trail that a coworker had recommended to me. It was a beautiful day! Weather in the high 60's and sunny. The loop cuts through some of the Florida trail and was really well maintained (probably one of the most maintained trails we have done). It was a great area to check out for any of you local Orlando hikers!

Other happies: beautiful sunsets, lots of oyster eating, best woman wedding accepting fun, farmers market days, 4Rivers dates with friends we met on the road

What are some of your happies?!

I would love to see! 

Join the link up and share your happy things for 2016!! 

Link Up Rules: 

- Share a post (up to 2) about anything happy; it can be 5 happy things, 1 happy thing, really just anything for the month that has made your heart smile! 

- Feel free to share the image above so that others can link up their happy things too!

- Leave a happy comment on at least one other post

- I will interact with all posts in some way (comments, pinning to Happy Things 2016 board...)

- Share your happy things on Instagram using #happythings2016

- Come back on the last Monday of each month to share your happy things for that month and start a community of people who are adding a bit of cheer to Mondays! 
- Link up will be run through Friday of the same week

An InLinkz Link-up

January Currently

Hello 2016!! Hello January!! Hello to another year to make mistakes, get things right a time or two and just soak in everything that this year has to offer! 

I'm linking up with Jenna and Anne for the first Currently Link-up of the year. Here is what my year is currently looking like... 

~Loving~ Our most recent Flo adventure!! It was Flo's first big, out-of-Florida trip and she loved every minute! We traveled to Savannah, Georgia and I can't wait to share our adventure with you all. 

~Organizing~ All the pictures and videos from our trip, so that I can get them ready to share next week in a post (or two) about our big adventure! 

~Craving~ Oysters! Just thinking about our trip has me remembering all the yumminess that we enjoyed and the oysters were ah-mazing!! Can we go back now?! 

~Resolving~ My resolution for the year is actually not to have one. I am letting go of all the musts, the need-to-dos, the weight of worrying and trying to control things. I guess in some ways it is a resolution, but it's not. I have nothing to live up to, no goal I HAVE TO meet; instead I just want to live in each moment. I want to soak in this year and look for ways to find happiness in even the smallest of details. Maybe that is a resolution after all? Find happiness... 

~Reading~ Back in November I wrote a review on the Instant Happy Journal. It is a great little journal for thinking on happy things all year (or letting go of the bad ones)! I have skimmed it. I have answered a few of the prompts in my head or with friends as we scroll through the book when we are watching TV (it currently sits on my coffee table). I am excited to really start writing down my thoughts each day (or maybe every third, because who am I kidding, it will probably be an as I remember thing). I really want to start being more conscious of the happy moments. Happiness isn't a destination, it's a journey and a way of viewing our circumstances. 

In 2015 I challenged myself to posting one Instagram picture each day of something I was thankful for; some little moment in the day that made my heart happy. It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be. Some days there were so many moments that I could have posted, other days I would get home at night and realize that I hadn't taken a single picture. I would think back on the day and realize the moments that I had failed to appreciate for what they were. Other days were hard days; days that made it harder to find joy. But I finished out the year! I looked for ways to find light in even the cloudiest of days and it is really nice to have that to look back on. I am not attempting that again this year. At least, not on Instagram. Daily was a lot and I really just want to enjoy the moments and live in them without feeling like I have to grab my phone (it will make Babe a lot happier too; he and my phone have a pretty strong disliking of one another). Instead I am going to blog once a month about just 5 things that have made me happy that month! Want to join me?! I figure the best way to find happiness and spread joy is to share those things with one another. So on the last Monday of each month (because Monday is a great day for some happiness boosting inspiration) I will be posting my 5 happy things and would love for you to share some happiness too (it can be 5 things, it can be one thing, really just any post that shares something happy)! More details to come on the 25th!

To kick-start the year of #happythings2016 I am giving away a copy of the Instant Happy Journal to one happy reader! Maybe you can share one of your responses to the prompts for your happy post! Happy entering friends!! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hoping your year is off to a great start! 

What is your January looking like currently?