Is there a title?

Ever notice that people are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don't even see the struggles that others are facing? This is an issue that enrages me at times. Why? Because there are so many people that need help or just even a smile to make their burdens a little lighter. Yes, only God can truly help them by lifting their burdens but as the body of Christ aren't we suppose to be His hands and feet? Ears, and eyes?

But how can we be those things if we are narrowed minded and focused only on our problems and in the mind set that people need to help "me."

Now, I'm not placing blame on anyone because I am just as guilty that I am self-centered in thinking that people should be helping me because my burdens are greatly overwhelming. But, looking past that society is centered on the "me" concept and it really is troubling.

How many people are aware that there are millions of animals without homes? Yet do not realize that there are even more people in the United States without a home then those pets? That homeless shelters can only house a certain number of people and that over half of those who are homeless have to sleep in the streets in all weather conditions. Or even that homeless shelters are being closed because there are not enough funds to meet the needs to run a basic shelter?

How many people are aware that slavery still exists today? Human trafficking IS slavery. It is estimated to be 27 million people enslaved today. Statics are not consistent however because the "industry" is continually growing and in some places people do not even realize they are enslaved. They are brained washed into believing that this is how life is. In the United States of America there are anywhere between 14,500 to 17,000 slaves. There are accounts of slavery in all 50 states, even in good old Chambersburg Pennsylvania.

How many people think of foster children differently? Plenty. If you talk to enough people you hear over and over that foster children are scum of the earth and are stupid and have no future. Even some foster parents treat the children differently then their own. Foster children are no different then any other child. They are children. Yes, they will have more needs but wouldn't you if after being through the dramatic events that they have experienced?

There are so many more issues in this world that trouble me.

Such as...

• hunger in America,
• global hunger,
• drugs,
• prostitution
• rape
• the system

It saddens me honestly, but there is something we can do. I know I can't fix the world, I can't even fix me. But my Savior can. and He will when He sees fit. All we can do is care and lend a hand to those who are in need.

1 Corinthians 13: 3

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Cr&c=13&v=1&t=NLT#top

this chapter is not talking about love as in a feeling but love as Christians that we are to have for one another. it is truly amazing.

Loves.

Some random thoughts ♥

What a gorgeous day it was today! =] Sadly, it is days like today that make me miss the love of my life even more. But in 130 days it shall not be a problem!

Anywho. I thought I would let you all know that Jordan has made his own blog and I think you all should follow it! =] He is actually a very talented writer in the sense that he can write all those things that I myself am not very skilled at. http://jtravis1412.blogspot.com/

Only a few more days at Ship...it is a kind of bitter sweet thing but only about 3% of me is sad that I am leaving the other 97% is jumping for joy singing the hallelujah choirs :) Ship has been a earning experience but I am ready to move on with my life and to be married to Jordan. School has made me feel like an epic failure for far too long and it is time now that we part our ways and start new lives. Yes, I shall be finishing my degree but it will no longer be #1 and have the power to make me feel like a failure at life. Jordan has taken its place and I will leave it at, I am extremely happy when I am with him and there is no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with. I love him through the good, the bad and the ugly. ♥

Okay so enough random strings of thought. Jordan is awaiting to have my undivided attention =]

Loves!

Colossians 1:21-22 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

& on bad days...

So this weekend was quite a weekend. I had one "blonde" moment after another! it was absolutely ridiculous! sigh, at least it gave Jordan a laugh when he would call from a bad day at work and hear what blonde thing I had done that day...

Anyways..

I really do not appreciate the fact that when I'm having a bad day that I can't write even when my brain is exploding with things to write. It is almost as if the depression literally sucks or eats all my extraordinary thoughts and kills my inspirations....ugh....

131 days and 42 minutes till I can be with him forever and 10 days, 5 hours and 42 minutes till I get to hug him and kiss him and go on a date with the love of my life! =]

What is a Vet?

What is a Vet? Author Unknown, but appreciated

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She (or he) is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another -- or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Parris Island drill instructor who has never seen combat -- but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs. He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by, but keeps the supply lines full. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being -- a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Jordan had this posted on his fb. I loved it and thought I would share it :)

Late night thinking...

In a vain attempt to go to sleep, I was just thinking, and had some random thoughts that are depriving me of rest. Hopefully writing will help allow sleep to feel right at home.

I'm usually just now getting off the phone with my beloved and heading to dream land. But he is at work which means I am able to talk to him because he is absolutely wonderful and tries to make sure that he calls me even if it is to tell me that he can't talk and that he loves me. However, I do grow weary sometimes that we will be in the middle of discussing something and then the clock speeds ahead and it is 10:30 (or whatever time it is he needs to leave) and we have to part for the evening and I won't hear his voice for another 24 hours. I am ever so grateful/thankful that I at least get to talk to him and hear the sound of his voice even if it is just him telling me that he can't talk. Sigh, okay okay I confess. The real reason I am still awake is because I miss Jordan. 13 days and I will get to see him for a weekend! YAY!!! I just want to see him and I can't wait to go on our date, and go shopping and go to the beach and just spending time with my future husband. ♥

Sigh, well school is almost done and only 2 classes and 5 finals are between me and never coming back to Ship again! I'm ready to start my new life with Jordan and have many adventures...

Alright I suppose I should head to bed and stop boring you with my sappiness (and my incoherency)

Goodnight! Loves!

not for me, but for Him.

Oh my what a semester it has been! I'm so glad that it is almost over; 2 more classes and 5 finals. I must say that Shippensburg has been quite the experience. In agreement with my mom, Shippensburg was not a complete waste of time because staying in high school was not the answer and I got a husband out of it. :)

Admittedly, I did not give 100% of my best and I did allow my depression get the best of me and according to Jordan, I will just do better next time around. Which I will! It's not that I do not like school; it is the fact that I do not like the "school environment." I'm very excited about starting up school again in January. I will be majoring still in English and will get a certification in Human Resource Management. (yes I will more than likely be taking the intro to online learning while I am in Kingsland but I'm not starting full time till we move to North Carolina) I will agree that my brain has turned to mush and that it is being starved of knowledge but once I start writing just to write that should help nourish it. (and as I am typing this my red butterfly chair broke :[ )

Something else that I have realized. That even though I have fallen, God always helps me back to my feet: no matter what. I am so grateful for all the second chances that I have been given. You know how some people have a list of things they want to do before they die? Well, I don't really have anything like that but what I do want to do before I go home to be with the Lord is to actually live my life. Not for me, but for Him. He gave it back to me and I want to live a life that shows Him how thankful I am for it. It is not easy and I wish it was but then I never have been the type of person to take the easy road and to go cautiously. I jump in with both feet. (it does get me in trouble sometimes) But, that is my goal. To start living my life completely for Him and to do the very best that I can, even when my depression/anxiety tell me I can't.

1 John 2:3-6 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says,"I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. But those who obey God's word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.

(I highly recommend reading 1,2&3 John! http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Jo&c=1&v=1&t=NLT#top )

There are no words to explain HOW excited I am about getting married! Honestly, it still baffles me that I am marring Jordan Travis...I mean come on! I've known him foreverrrrr and here he and I both were looking else where and we both had just given up. Then all it took was one hug, 4 times of asking for my number, endless hours texting and then 3 to 4 hour phone calls and here we are 6 months later and in 134 days we'll be married and together till death separates us. It is so amazing and I am thankful beyond words that God brought us together. Jordan is my life saver here on earth. His endless amount of patiences (that I test daily, without trying), understanding, and love are more than I deserve. Sigh :) He's the bestest. I love him oh so much!

Alright enough mushy, gushiness. *giggles* Loves!

The wonders of love. ♥

Yesterday we can say was an adventure in the sense that I have not had a depression episode like I did in a very long time. Thankfully, God gave Jordan a vast amount of patients and more importantly gave him the ability to see past my depression and still love me the same. Through all of that and once we were able to talk that night things worked themselves out.

I keep having this thought and I believe it was part of why I had such a horrible episode yesterday (other than the fact that school shall we say is like poison in my veins and this semester was not good at all). God showed me yesterday that Jordan really loves HIM and because of that Jordan can love me. If Jordan didn't love God the way he does then he wouldn't be able to love me the way he does. I'm not saying he wouldn't love me but it wouldn't be the true, pure, unconditional, Godly love that he has for me.

Also admittedly I'm very difficult when I'm not depressed and when I am, well I'm just impossible! and honestly if I was an outsider looking at me I would just want to say "just knock it off and grow up!" But, Jordan didn't do that. Yes, he had to be the "bad cop" but he did it lovingly and from 800 miles away. He also reminded me that God loves me and that everything will be a-okay.

But this isn't what this post is really about...

There's just been such a dramatic, slow change for both of us since we started talking/dating. We are not the same people and well the explanation is God has entered our hearts and we are obeying Him to the best of our ability (due to the fact that we will always have sinful natures.) Neither of us are perfect and never expect to be. But God still loves us.

These verses really stuck out to me today when I was reading my bible and I wanted to share them with you. (the real reason behind this post)

1 John 2:1-6

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely.He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world. And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. But those who obey God's word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.

1 John 4:7-10

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God--for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Okay that's more than enough for now. Loves!

Wedding planning :]

Ahhhhh! Gotta love planning weddings! So many little things to do and then once you have the majority of them all figured out, life is grand!

Let's see what all is done...

• Wedding dress
• Bridesmaids/flower girls dresses
• Church/reception hall
• Pastor
• Music (pianist, organist, singers)
• Caterer & reception planned
• Photographer (thank you Denny!!)
• Decorator
• Invitations

I know there's other things but I just can't think of them at the moment BUT if you stop and think about it, we can have a wedding just with that right there =] Just need to get my husband to be up here from Georgia!

Now it's the fact of having to wait 142 days...I keep being told it'll come soon enough...but I beg to differ.

Alright enough for now! Loves!

♥ 1 Corinthians 13: 7 - Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Ready, Set, GO!

Well hello!

So this is something new for me and I honestly have no clue what it is I'm doing but I thought this would be the easiest way for everyone to stay up to date in regards to my new life with Jordan and the Marine Corps.

Right now we have 143 days till we get married on September 11th! Ah!! I'm so excited. Words alone can't describe how excited, nervous, happy, grateful and truly in love I am. We have 95% of the wedding planning done and I can't wait! It is going to be so beautiful! =] In 23 days, my family and I will be driving down to Georgia for an extended weekend so I can see my wonderful husband to be!

Okay enough for now! Loves!