My Funny Valentine

I love Valentine's Day. I blame my parents. When I was younger my mom would decorate the house with paper hearts and cupids, and we would always make Valentines cards for everyone. My dad would get us kids a gift. Usually just chocolate bunnies and such, and this year dad got me a chocolate bunny. Love ya Papa.

I also love Valentines Day because when I was eleven I had a Valentines party. I invited some of my friends over and we decorated our own cupcakes with red, white and pink sprinkles, and candy hearts. Back when they said "be mine," and, "true love." Now they say, "tweet me," and "text me." Lame.

We also played games that I found out of my American Girl magazine. I worshiped that magazine.


So Valentines Day for me has always been more than just a day you celebrate because you're in a relationship with someone. It is a nice perk however! This year Gerald still got me something even though he's in Afghanistan. How sweet. Now for those of you who don't really know G, he is extremely cheesy. Cheese to the max, is what I always say. He also loves the cliche lines and the cheesier the better. What a goober. I love it. So knowing that, this years gift was not out of the ordinary. Behold.....the hoodie-footie snuggle suit.


Now, I never remembered having footie pajamas when I was a kid, so having them as an adult is different. I don't know what to do with it....I also feel like the kid in the Christmas story when he wears the bunny suit, so I call this the "bunnie snuggie." The feet zip off and it has a hood. Not sure why it has a hood, but I've only had it for 2 nights so maybe the reasoning for the hood will present itself soon. It's really soft and warm, but sometimes too warm. Some people have suggested that I wear it camping, so it will get some extra good usage from that on those cold nights. Gerald suggested that I stuff it with newspaper and act like it's a real person....at least if I do that I'll get to ride in the carpool lane! ;) and freak some people out when I take it to the movies, ya know, the usual.
I love you Gerald! Happy Valentine's Day!


Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

My Long Break

My, my, my, so much has happened in the month that passed between my last post. My bad. To start off I'll tell you my Urbana experience.

Most of you have heard it from me already, so in it's simplest terms, I learned more about who Jesus is, (not that what I knew before hand was wrong, or not good enough), and because of experiencing more of who He is and what He's done, it made everything sweeter. Worshiping with 17,000 people is amazing, but worshiping the God of the universe in community with each other and sharing in God's grace made it indescribable.

A view of the stage inside the stadium where the St. Louis Rams play.


This is the whole group


I mostly got to hang out with these cool people (minus sophie and renee) because we were in the same hotel.


I got to see the Gateway Arch, which was cool!


Did you know there's a museum underneath it? In this photo Ben is trying to swim and find Lewis and Clark....he never found them.


January was a bizarre month for me. I had my routine, but for some reason it still seemed off... Part of it was dealing with not talking to Gerald that much. The whole month of January I talked to G on the phone 5 times. Ouch. Ever since he moved to a new location, aka "the ruins," he's only been calling once a week. It took me the whole month to get used to it (which was tough and depressing), and now it's better and we only have 80 more days until he's home for his vacation. Yeeesssssss. As of late, he's been hanging out in those mountains behind him in this photo (this photo was taken at FOB Todd. So many places he's been!). We call the spot in the mountains, "the summit," and he'll be switching back and forth between the ruins and summit for the next little bit. Him and the guys also have 2 puppies, Dora & Scooter, that follow them around and are good moral boosters. G's been hanging out with some of the guys in the Italian Army, which have brought some delicious Italian cuisine his way, and will hopefully come my way when he gets back.


On another note, one of my New Years resolutions has been praying for my grandparents every day. For Christmas my grandma gave me a journal to record all of my hopes and dreams in, so I decided to write my prayers for them in it every night. So far, I have written in it every day since January 1. Ya persistence! Through it I have become more intentional with my prayers for them. When I was younger my prayer was, "and help grandma and grandpa to get saved. Amen." Now, I'm seeing them differently as children of God who need his grace and life just like the rest of us.
Love these two!


Sorry for the long break in my posts but I've made it back!
Enjoy the rest of your week!

My Deja Vu

I am currently sitting in the Bute's living room with a small Shih Tzu named, Duncan, on my lap, watching Queen Latifah act crazy on the People's Choice Awards. I've never watched these before and usually never do but. . . .oh well. That's not the point of this post. The point is I am back in the house I used to live in for 4 months. Even though I'm only here for 4 days taking care of Duncan, it feels so nice to be back. Moving in with Kaytee last year was the first time I had lived on my own, and it was a good "first" to have, even if it was only for 4 months. I like this feeling. Hopefully soon it will last longer than 4 days :)

Tune in next time for my thoughts on Urbana.

Thanks for listening.

My uncharted waters

Since the new semester started and Gerald leaving for Afghanistan there have been a few things that I had to deal with for the first time. Let's take 'em one at a time shall we?

School: This semester has been my hardest one yet, and also my heaviest work load since I started (16 credit hours-4 design classes and 2 generals). 3 midterm design projects, 4 final projects and a final test certainly kept me busy all semester. This is also the semester where I took nothing but upper-division classes (minus the 2 generals). The thing that's unknown about the Interior Design upper-division classes is there is no such thing as "finals week." I'm assigned my final project a little after midterm and I work on it until I turn it in during "finals week." and let me tell you--I need all the time I can get. I cannot even remember how many nights I stayed up past 3 or 4am scrambling to finish drawings for my perspective/rendering class (seen below). Surprisingly however, this has also been my best semester grade wise. At least I know all my hard work paid off!

Final project--concept, "bridge the gap." Project for a youth center in Portland, OR (Portland is full of bridges so I ran with it). I'm not very satisfied about the board presentation. Better luck next time I suppose.






Moving on. . .

Intervarsity: The past few years I have only been to a couple of IV events, but this semester I started getting more involved. I attended the "large groups" every Thursday, went on a weekend retreat in October, and also went to other little events. It's been great. So great that they asked me to be the "President." IV is a club on campus and every club needs a president. It's really more of a coordinator. I accepted, but am changing the name to "Chief." You may call me, The Chief. I schedule all of our events, make sure large group is squared away, and that everyone is doing what they need to be doing to make Intervarsity great.

Also with IV I'm going to Urbana. What is "Urbana?" you may ask. Urbana is a missions conference put on every three years by Intervarstiy. It's huge. At least 20,000 people will be there. I cannot wait! and I don't have to wait much longer because I leave on Sunday the 27th. The conference lasts 5 days and I come home Jan 1, 2010, so it looks like I'll be ringing in the new year in St. Louis, MO. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Gerald: That's right, he gets his own category. He's been in Afghanistan for 121 days and I get to see him in 127 days (that's right, I'm counting. Deal with it). I've mailed a few letters to him but yesterday I sent my first package. It has some homemade cookies, a "cheese ball and crackers" that he requested, socks, wet wipes, other snacks...the usual. This whole deployment has definitely been like stepping into uncharted waters. This is G's second time over there so he knows the ins and outs, and he helped me get ready for it. Regardless of how much I tried to get ready, I don't think I could have truly been prepared for what deployment does to my emotions and spirit. Nevertheless, phone calls with G, fellowship with family and friends, and moments with God always triumph.

My, my, my, are you still reading? Here's some good news--you made it all the way to the end. Thank you for withstanding my long post!

That is all

My Winter Wonderland

I've changed my background to fit the season! I think it's so calming and beautiful.
Technically it's not winter yet, but I think the 6 inches of snow outside overrules that fact.
Enjoy!

My Veteran

Shout out to Gerald!



You're the best combat medic in Afghanistan!


See you soon :)

My favorite season

My yard has been extremely pretty this past week and I wanted to share it with you.


Kellie, getting ready to attack! JK. she did chase me though.







I'm standing in our driveway for this one.


Fall is my favorite season. Do I have to explain why?! :)
What's yours?

My First Year

Shout out to my boyfriend who I've been dating for a whole year!


Thanks for the flowers and chocolates!


The flowers are beautiful!




It's been a wonderful first year!




p.s. sorry about the transparent pictures. I need to find a new background.

My Giving Tree

I'm going to do something fun for the next year with my layout. Every season will get a new template. Since it's fall I found this great template! Now that it's up, however, I don't know if I like it. It makes all the pictures I upload transparent. Does anyone know how to fix this? Is it fixable? Also, the links to my friend's blogs are gone and I don't know how to get them back.......come back friends!
Nevertheless, here is "the giving tree."
(that's the name of the template)
Enjoy!

My Green Thumb

I think in fourth grade my Sunday school teacher had us plant seeds in a pot (probably to symbolize growth etc...), and then we could take them home and keep them!

After my "Moss Rose" grew out of the pot I transplanted it in our little garden. They have come back every year since then magically appearing in a different spot. Sometimes they're on the north side, or the planters by the garage--it's really quite strange how they hop around, but at least they come back!

The flowers were different colors (purple, orange, red, white), but now they're only pink and yellow.

So I just wanted to share with you guys my "Moss Rose" that has been at our house for 12 years!

My Day One

Tuesday Gerald left for Afghanistan. He called me at 6am before he got on the plane for Maine then before he left for Ireland, so day one was bad but thankfully, not as bad as I thought it would be.

I'm not sure how the rest of this will pan out or when I'll talk to him next, so we're just going with the flow, trusting God and relying on his peace.

So until that wonderful day when G comes home, I am counting down the days.

This is my, day one is over and only 364 more to go! face...

My Last Trip

This past week I flew out to North Carolina to visit Gerald for the last time before he deploys to Afghanistan towards the end of the month.


It was one of the best trips we've had so far, which made me happy since it was our last one. We talked a lot about the deployment and what we each expect to come from it in each other and our relationship.

(Ocean Beach Isle, a beautiful place full of beach houses and a great beach too!)

(this leads to the ocean and filters into little canals by the beach houses).

(The OCEAN!)

1 Peter 1:3-7 is a great passage that sums up what I want to come from this deployment. Here is just verses 6-7---
⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(view from my airplane. Can you say beautiful!)

I want nothing less than this time apart to "result in praise and glory and honor."

“Gloria Deo Omnis Laus et honor sunt Eius" (Glory be to God. Praise and honor are all His).

My Sweet Escape

A couple of weeks ago (July 6-11) I was working at a home in Liberty for class credit during the Parade of Homes. From my house the drive is about 40 min each way, but I didn't mind. I drive to Huntsville every Sunday, but since I drove up that way every day it caused me to have a new perspective. Most of you know how scenic that drive can be, (and how scenic any drive is when you live so close to the Wasatch mountains), so I was excited to drive up and back almost every day because this is what I saw....



Obviously I took these photos while driving, which isn't the smartest thing, but.....oh well.







Once I made it to the house this is what I saw...


The view was all around me and I enjoyed the chance to be "swept up" by it.

"Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei" (The heavens declare the glory of God)

My new title

When Amy told me on Tuesday night that she was going to be induced the next morning it took me FOREVER to fall asleep. All I could think about was what the next day was going to be like. It was a very long night.

It was a strange feeling being with Amy & Pete the whole day. I got there at 10am and chilled out in the room with them until about 3pm. I don't know if most siblings get that chance to see their sister during those first stages of labor. Maybe I'm just lucky, but that time I had with Amy was very bonding, and it will always stick with me.


Needless to say, I was so anxious in the waiting room. The nurse said we would wait outside the door and listen for the cry. I think you could hear a pin drop with how quiet we were in that moment (for Anne, that's saying something!). We all have those moments when our view and perspective of God grows and gets bigger--well this was mine. When I heard her cry for the first time I knew that God was in this place. It was so beautiful, so perfect, so innocent, and felt so surreal. That cry reminded me of how awesome God truly is. I started crying because I was in awe of the God of the universe. That day had lots of memorable moments, but I think I will remember this one the most.


When Pete brought Jane back in from getting cleaned in the nursery Amy introduced her to us as Jane Annebelle Gompert. "Jane" has "Jan" in it (my mom), and Annebelle has "Anne" in it (Pete's mom). I'm not sure if anyone else saw because they were talking, but I was watching Amy hold Jane and talk to her..."hi baby..." It was so sweet and I was so proud of her. This was another moment for me. I knew she was going to be a good momma to little Jane.


Obviously this day was a special day for me :)


I am an aunt now to beautiful little Jane Gompert.


Jane Annebelle Gompert
June 10, 2009 4:29pm
8lbs 2oz
20 1/2 in

that is all.

It's summer time!

I wanted to share with you guys some stuff that I've done to kick off my summer and some cool stuff I've been reading about, and from grow group.

1--My friend Tina Merrigan is now Tina Commins! She was married on May 16th, and I am so happy for her and Dave.

Tina has been part of a group of girls I call, "the gal pals." Sabrina, Stacy, Suzy, Tina and myself have been an accountability group for the past 5 or so years. Lately we haven't been meeting, which I miss, but we have still kept in touch with each other.


2--I just got back from my trip with Gerald. It was really fun to spend that time with him and I'm looking forward to his trip to Utah at the end of June.

These two pictures are from Wrightsville beach and the military ball (don't you just love my dress?! I do). If you want to see more pictures you can check out my facebook.




3--I just started a Rob Bell book called, "Jesus wants to save Christians: A manifesto for the church in exile." I'm only in chapter 3 but I have really enjoyed those 3 chapters :) So far it's been about the history of the nation of Israel. Their time in Egypt, how God delivered them, the Ten Commandments (my favorite part. It was a new way to look at the ten commandments), the covenant between God and the Israelites, King Solomon and the building of the temple, and the prophesy for the new covenant (Jesus).

The book has also helped my connect things to what our grow group has been studying in Hebrews. The thing I have learned the most is that Jesus is better and superior than anything, and that he is all we need. The book and grow group have shown that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, and more importantly, has shown me WHY he was the perfect sacrifice.
It has been really cool and I'll keep you guys posted on what else I learn.

Well, that's my update. Thanks for reading.