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Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Weather blues.

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Yesterday was a gloomy day with consistent rain. While Jimmy was working, I ran a couple errands with my friend Kristen and as we sat in Starbucks talking for a while, we talked about missing California and the sunshine. Here in Anchorage, summer weather is rainy weather. Overcast, gloom, and rain. After a week of amazing sunshiney weather, the rain yesterday had me feeling rather melancholy. I began to think about the fact that if I’m already feeling gloomy and it’s not even winter yet, I’ll be in trouble come November and on, when the first snow will fall and there will be less than 6 hours of light a day. For some reason, it started to really bum me out. We’ve been here for a little over a month now, and yesterday was the first day that the weather actually got to me. I began to worry about the future and learning to adjust and handling my emotions, as well as my husbands. I came home, sat on the couch and stared blankly at the wall for a good 20 minutes. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. So I grabbed my laptop and began to look through pictures. I was tempted to look through photos that were taken in California, but felt like that wouldn’t do me any good. I felt an urge to look at recent photos instead…and thats when the unexplainable sadness that was weighing on my heart began to lift. I realized that I am surrounded by so much beauty here. A view such as this…

…less than 15 minutes from my house.

The fact that I am lucky enough to be making a home with the love of my life and sharing this journey with him. A journey of unmade beds, piled up dirty dishes, and leaving lights on. But also a journey of slow dancing in the kitchen (yes, we ARE that couple), decorating with what little we have, and quality time in the AM before he goes off to work.

Getting encouraged by some wonderful wives here and my sis-in-law back home to pursue my love for photography further…(not to mention having them be my guinea pigs and pose for me so I can get the experience!)

and last but not least, taking full advantage of it when the sun does decide to pop out and say hello.

By the end of the day, I realized that this won’t be the last time I’ll get the weather blues. But God will remind me once again, how good He is and how much He has blessed my tiny family. So once again I will say, we are blessed. So. Incredibly. Blessed.

Bring it on snow and darkness, I’ll be welcoming you with open arms.

Posted in Adventures, Married Life, Photography, Thoughts | 12 Comments »

This Is Home.

Friday, July 8th, 2011

our backyard at 11:48pm

Today we purchased our first car together. Our time over these past few days and basically since we’ve moved in has been spent accumulating the food, supplies, and important things we need to be on our own. We are learning, taking the steps, and going through the motions…newlywed status. Although we have been married for two years we are finally on our own for the first time. It’s scary, exciting, stressful, overwhelming, thrilling, and absolutely wonderful. Being here has made me realize how blessed we have been throughout our marriage and how thankful we are for his family providing us shelter. Now that we have left the nest and built our own, things have definitely changed. Petty disagreements, staying up late making budgeting lists, fighting over who does the dishes only to make up with kisses and tickle fests minutes later, getting blessed with pans, plates, and cups from our new neighbors. Yeah…I’m lovin’ it here. Absolutely.

As we drove home from the dealership in our new car, Switchfoot’s “This Is Home” came on the radio and as I stared contently out the window I thanked God silently for a roof over our head, food in the fridge, and now a car. When I turned to glance at my husband, I saw that same content smile on his face. Life is good. This is home.

a celebratory batch of cookies i made after dinner tonight.

Posted in Thoughts, Updates | 15 Comments »

Leaving on a Jet Plane…

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

picture taken and edited by Jhen Stark

The next time I blog, I will be blogging to you straight from Anchorage, Alaska! I can’t believe how fast time flew by in a span of 10 days. Please keep Jimmy and I in your prayers/thoughts for a safe flight(s) within the next few hours (I get uneasy and jittery on planes) and smooth travelling. The time has come to say goodbye to sunny Southern California and say hello to snow, hours of daylight and darkness, and definitely a new adventure.

There are so many things and people I’m going to miss. Starting with family. I’m going to miss my mother-in-law’s selflessness and wise words when I’m caught in a bind, my father-in-law’s teasing and stealing food off my plate, spontaneous photography adventures with my sister-in-law Jhen and talking in blog language, My brother-in-law Jon who NEVER fails to crack me up and has perfected timing for “Thats what she said” jokes, shopping trips with my sister-in-law Jacky and her voice of reason (mostly when it came to purchases, but so many other things too) and last but definitely not least…my sweet niece, baby Josselyn. The little girl who could instantly cheer me up during all those times when I was missing her uncle. I know that if it weren’t for her, it would have been much harder to get through these last few months. As much as leaving everyone is hard to think about, tears well up in my eyes within seconds when I think about saying goodbye to her.

But I’m certainly not intending for this to be a sad post. Bittersweet, absolutely….but my heart is SO full and the timing is so right for us to finally leave the nest my in-laws have so graciously opened up to us and begin making our own. God has been so good to us this past year and for a while I wasn’t able to see that. Oh my, so much has changed. We are so blessed. SO blessed!

Be back soon!

Posted in Adventures, Family, Hubby, Thoughts, Travels, Updates | 12 Comments »

Virginia part II.

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Here are the rest of the photos from my trip to Virginia. Although I took a lot of photos, There were times when I put the camera away and simply let the memories that Jimmy and I made be just between us. And I was glad I did, because I got the best of both. I was able to capture memories that make my heart flutter again when I look at them (which is every day since I’ve been home) and I now have private wonderful memories to think and talk about with my husband. Enjoy!

Lately we’ve been hearing friends and family saying, “There is a reason why God has you in this situation.” (I’m looking at you, Momma Hammer) And after thinking about it for a while, it seems that they are so right. One of the reasons we know this is because of the people in these pictures. Meet the Gallipeau’s. Jimmy became really close with another Airman who was in the same position as him and was unable to go home to his wife and beautiful little girl. When I came to visit, we found out that it was the same weekend his wife and daughter were coming too. We spent most of the weekend with them and got to know them and hear a little bit about their story, which is absolutely beautiful.

It was a huge wake-up call for me as well, because to put it bluntly, I was thinking that I had it so hard. But I can’t imagine what Falon, Cameron, and their daughter Ariana must have went through. It also felt SO nice to be able to talk about how things have been (and yes, including our frustrations with our husbands being kept away for silly reasons). I know now that if Jimmy got to go home on time and when he graduated tech school, we would have never met them and became such good friends. Fortunately, Cameron was released recently and is now reunited with his lovely family. As for us, Jimmy is still there, and I am still waiting. But as challenging as this time is and will be for however much longer we need to endure it, I’m pretty confident that even if he’s stuck there for another month, I would do it all over again.

Thank you Lord, for giving us the strength to be apart and giving us blessings such as great friends and memories to make this time a little more enjoyable

Posted in Adventures, Hubby, Married Life, Thoughts | 8 Comments »