Goodbye 22! Hello 23!

Goodbye 22! 

You started out with a bang, and a lot of heartache. I learned breakups hurt no matter what.

You also held lots of great memories. Late nights, going to the trampoline park, playing volleyball at midnight during finals week, graduation and so much more.

You also brought lots of learning. Learning how to work a job all day. Learning how to interact with co-workers. Learning how to work hard. Learning that deadlines do matter. Learning that school breaks don't happen anymore. Learning that relationships with others matter, a lot.

And you also brought a lot of growing. (And a lot of growing pains.) This year has not been at all what I expected. There have been many tearful moments and a lot of heartbreak and suffering. But there has been growth. I am different than the person I was a year ago. I learned to continually cry out to Jesus. I learned that He is enough. I learned that I often have to remind myself that He is enough. My heart wants to be fearful and condemning, but Christ is enough.

It is special to me that usually my birthday falls right around Easter. This year I am cherishing Easter more than usual, and Christ laying down His life so much more. Without Him I am sunk. But there is Good News!!

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

When I titled this blog "Ramblings of Restoration" I intended to talk a lot about projects I have done redoing furniture, and my faith too. But as of now it has been about my faith. I don't consider that to be a bad thing at all. I don't even have words to describe a lot of what happened in year 22.

Depression, doubt, fear, and anxiety shook my world.

Yet in the midst of it all, God is good. He knows what is best for me, and somehow this season of life is going to be used for His glory and my good. It may not seem good now, but I trust that He is good. While 22 was pretty rough, my relationship with Christ is so much more than it was a year ago.

Hello 23!

I am excited for this year. I know God is working in ways that I can not see and I can not wait to see His plans unfold. I am hopeful that year 23 with be much more joyful, yet as Charles Spurgeon said "I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me into the Rock of Ages." 

If it takes pain and heartbreak to bring me closer to Jesus, then it is a good thing even if I fail to see how that is true at the time.

I do have some hopes and dreams for 23, but mostly just excited to see where God takes me.

I don't know where this blog finds you tonight. I want to take the time to thank you for reading it. I want you to know that wherever you are, you are not alone. I want you to know that Jesus cares about you. Cry out to Him today. If things are going great for you today, then praise Him and pray for others who are going through a storm. If there is anything that I can pray for you about, please shoot me an email! I am thankful that you took the time to read this, and hopefully I will post more regularly.

Reality

Sometimes reality is sitting on the couch barely able to keep your eyelids open while cheering on your favorite football team. 

And that's okay.

Sometimes reality is signing up and promising to yourself that you will blog everyday, and then you seriously don't want to.

And that's okay.

Sometimes reality is being wanting to look life your life is perfect and all tied up with a bow, while you're stumbling around and just hanging on as change happens everyday.

And that's okay.

Sometimes reality is being heartbroken.

And that's okay.

Sometimes reality is being afraid to share your thoughts for fear of what others will think. 

And that's okay.

Today I don't have a long blog post. I am worn out. But that'ts reality. Reality is that life is not easy. 

Reality is that life will not always be as it is today. I am waiting for restoration in several areas of my life from my Savior. I have no clue what it is going to look like, but today I am choosing to trust Him.

Hope you are having a restful weekend! XOXO

Friday!

This week has gone by incredibly fast. I had something going on every night, which I love because I am so not a home-body. But I also need to learn to rest. I hope you had a great, fun, restful week!

Here's my high-five for friday!

1. Last Friday night C and I went downtown to the art museum and took part in the Manhattan Short Film Festival. I had never been to anything like it and had no idea what to expect. They showed 10, 10-minute films at locations all around the world and had the audience vote on which was their favorite. I liked them all! Some of them were super cute, some super sad, and some super funny. It was so hard to pick my favorite!

After the art museum we headed to walk around Bricktown. We grabbed some food and sat on the canal for a while and it was a great time to just chat and relax.

2. Saturday my mom came up for a girl's day. Heritage Hills, a historic neighborhood in Oklahoma City was having its annual home tour and we had a really good time. I like LOVE old homes. The squeaky wooden floors, the over-sized moldings, the history of all the people that have made their lives in these homes. We had a great time going through all of them!

*Sidenote: on the way back to the car I told my mom I wanted to take a picture really quick. So we just happened to stop in front of this house. I was talking to my grandma that night and she told me she lived in a house in the neighborhood when a nice woman rented some of the bedrooms to young girls. According to the address my grandma told me, THIS IS THE SAME HOUSE! How crazy! Next time she is in town, I am going to drive her by it and get her to tell me stories about when she lived there. LOVE IT!

3. Tuesday was my mom's birthday so my parents came and we went to dinner at P.F. Chang's. It was good to see them in the middle of the week and have a nice little break. 

4. Friday Thursday Night Lights! I recently found out about a group called YoungLife and I absolutely love what their all about - loving kids as Jesus loves them and introducing them to Christ. You should check them out! (www.younglife.org) I am excited to grow deeper in my faith and make new friends! We went to the football game and cheered on the NW Classen Knights. It was a lot of fun despite the score being a little lopsided in the end. 

5. Half-day Friday! We work long days Monday-Thursday, and get off at noon on Friday. Today was particularly great because I was only in the office a little over an hour before heading out on a tour. We went and saw some recently completed buildings to see the furniture they used in preparation for a large project we are working on. The buildings were both absolutely stunning, and made me excited to see our project complete. At the second building, the interior designer gave us the tour. She did a beautiful job on the project. She kept saying "we" and then corrected herself to say "the client." She felt like she was actually apart of the company. It made me think I hope that when I get to work with clients I hope I can build the relationship where it feels like we are friends. She also was very enthusiastic about her job. It gave me some much needed encouragement. I love my job, but it is very different than school. The "behind-the-scenes" paperwork seems to take just as much time as the actual designing sometimes. But it was neat to be reminded that someday all our hard work will pay off. The last thing that stuck out to me on the tour was how important it is to make sure the design works well for the end user. I mean its great if its a beautiful design, but when people are spending 8-10 hours a day in the building it better work stinking well for them! 

(That was probably more of an interior designer rant than anyone wanted to hear, but it was just a great reminder for me today!)

I hope you all have had a great week as well! 

Joy

Sometimes joy just seems to be hard to find. You know it should be there, but there's nothing you can do to muster is it out of yourself. 

Maybe that's because it is impossible for us to create joy ourselves, and we can't find it in things or people.

Only God can give it. 

But sometimes I am too stubborn to sit at His feet and allow Him to wash over me.

My way seems better. My way seems more comfortable. My way seems more safe. My way means I am in control, which is something I like to be. 

But my way is not the best way. I do not know what God knows. I do not love like God loves.

My dad always says, "everyday is an opportunity to trust God."

And in this season, it seems like that is very true.

Am I going to trust Him or not?

Do I believe He is loving or not?

Do I believe He knows whats best or not?

These are some easy questions to skim over, but hard to let sink in.

But today God brought me some joy in what seems like the wilderness. 

"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." Psalm 130:3-4 

But with you there is forgiveness!!! Oh praise the Lord that he provides forgiveness! I've read over that verse several times today, and my heart still leaps with joy when I read, "but with you there is forgiveness." I am so incredibly thankful for Jesus and the forgiveness he gave me on the cross. I also pray that I would fear Him and obey Him.

Today's blog is definitely a rambling, but I couldn't help but want to share that verse. Maybe someone else needed to read it, and maybe God will use it to minister to you!

Check back tomorrow for day 3, and thanks for reading!

Write31

Well this poor little blog hasn't received the attention I first thought it would. Life has been crazy lately. Even the wilted flowers on my porch tell of the busyness. But I have so many things that I want to share. Craft ideas, funny stories, and just random thoughts that need a place to breathe.

So I decided to take a challenge. I am joining write3ldays.com and writing something everyday for 31 days. Some days may be long, and others short, but I'll be writing something! Write31 encourages writers to pick one topic and write deeply on it for 31 days, but I figure it will be hard enough for me to write everyday so I decided my topic will be "whatever I want to write about that day." That probably makes me a blogging failure, but it's my blog so I figure its my spot to write about what I want to. I don't expect that I'll have many readers, but for those of you reading this - thank you! And hopefully you'll at least laugh a few times, possibly learn something new, and know that there is someone more weird than you in the world!

So because I don't any brilliant ideas on what to write about yet, and I always want to know how people spend their days I figured I'd give you a "day-in-the-life" glimpse at what I do. So here we go!

_________________________________________________________________________________

5:15ish - Wake Up

And it's sooo early!!! I know, there are probably people who wake up way earlier but to this recent college graduate, 5:00 is stinkin early! I miss the days of class at 9:00, wearing whatever you please, and a 5 minute walk to get there. But, now a 5:15 wake-up call it is! It gives me time to shower, get ready, have my quiet-time, eat some breakfast, and pack my lunch before heading out the door. I could probably get up later, but one thing I hate to be in the morning is rushed. I like to enjoy the quiet hours as the earth seems hushed before the hustle and bustle of the day happens.

7:00 Head out the door

It takes me about 15-20 minutes to get to work. I generally don't mind the drive as it gives me a chance to turn my brain on before the day. I need the time to mentally prepare.

7:30 Worky-work!

The architecture firm I work at starts the work day at 7:30, which sometimes seems early - but its definitely worth it when half-day Friday rolls around!

Work looks different everyday and I love that! Right now I have my hand in three different projects so its fun working on different things. We have been working on a huge project that is wrapping up and it has been really busy. But this particular project allowed me to get to work with a lot of my coworkers right off the bat, so that was a blessing to get to know them better quickly. And let me just say, the other interior designers are stinkin awesome! I could write out a detailed description as to what I do at work all day, but I'll save that for another day this month!

12:00 Recess Lunch!

My philosophy is that lunch is to adults what recess is to little kids. I usually say to myself, "I just need five more minutes!" Lately, one of my coworkers and I have been sitting out on the patio and reading books during lunchtime. We have become the "book club" of the office. And let me just say I am so grateful to have her as a coworker, sister-in-Christ, and friend.

1:00 Hi-ho hi-ho, back to work I go!

There's lots to get done before it's time to go home!

5:30 Head home

Driving. No fun. Just want to be home. Blahhhh....

6:00 HOME!!

I am learning to like my little apartment. While it doesn't feel quite like home, its getting there. I would like to say I come home and fix an extravagant dinner, it's usually just leftovers or whatever I can whip up real fast.

It seems like every night after dinner I do something different, but I like that too. I am learning that after being in an office all day I just want to be outside, so my roommate C and I have been going and walking/running the trails at a nearby lake. The sunsets over the water are beautiful.

9:30,10:00,10:30 or whenever I can finally fall asleep

I usually try to go to bed sometime around 10, but if I'm really tired sometimes I don't make it that long. (#mamawprobs)

And that's a wrap!

Day 1 of Write31 is in the books!

Do you have anything you want me to share about or any fun blog ideas? I would love to hear you suggestions!

Check back tomorrow for day 2!

High Five for Friday

Lauren, from thelaurenelizabeth.com does a blog link up every Friday. I decided that I would follow suit, and look for little things to be thankful for throughout the week. So here's my first "High Five for Friday!"

1. High Five for Free Starbucks!

We have reps come into our office quite often. We had a rep come in and do a lunch-and-learn and if you answered a question correct she gave out Starbuck's gift cards. Yay! So Tuesday morning I had some free caffeine!

2. High Five for Work!

That may seem kind of weird, but for the most part I really do enjoy my job. I have the some of the nicest coworkers! We've been working on a huge project lately which has left me super busy, but I like it because that makes the day go by really fast. (Excuse the messy desk, that's also a by-product of a lot going on!)

and we only work half days on Friday, so high five for that too!

3. High Five for Fresh Flowers 

After one of the roughest weeks I've had in a while I decided to buy myself flowers. It also happened to be payday, so I earned them, right? and who doesn't love some beautiful blossoms?

4. High Five for Finishing a Book!

I just finished Emily Freeman's book Grace for the Good Girl. I thought the name was kind of strange, do I qualify as a good girl? But let me tell you, this is definitely a book I would recommend to everyone. The truth is, not one of us is a good girl apart from Christ - so anyone can read this book! Emily talks about how she relied on being strong, smart and beautiful and worked to earn her salvation even after Jesus had already saved her. It really struck a cord with me - at one point I hit myself in the head with the book and exclaimed to my friend, "I wish I could just get this through my head!" I definitely plan on reading it again. 

5. High Five for Friends!

This week has been rather difficult for me for many different reasons, and I am thankful for the people God has placed in my life. I am thankful for those who seek answers when they know something is wrong. I am thankful for those who honestly care, seek to help and point towards Christ. 

So happy Friday friends! Hope you have a fun weekend!

a new adventure.

I’ve been an avid reader of numerous blogs for several years, but I never really thought I would have my own. As a child of a math teacher and an engineer, writing was never my strong suit. But here I am, writing in my own little corner of the universe.

I recently graduated from Oklahoma State University (Go pokes!) with a degree in Interior Design and have just started my first big girl job in a new city. I want to remember these exciting times in my life - the adventurous days when joy comes easy, and the hard days when I just have to learn as I go.

I enjoy anything colorful.  I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much color in design– the more the merrier. I once painted all the walls in my bedroom a different color. I love making things, and restoring old gems to a new life. I hope to share lots of my projects that have gone well and the ones that inevitably don’t turn out so great too.

Mainly, I want to write this blog because after reading other blogs, I have come to realize we can truly be encouraged to know we are not walking this journey alone. By rambling about pieces of furniture that I restore to how Christ is restoring me, I hope this will be a place of silly stories, embarrassing moments, and joy.