It's been a while...

So it has been a while since I've blogged. I officially now don the title worst blogger ever. (jk) It is definitely time to update.

The latest on the Blowey clan:

1) We will officially have been in our house for about a year as of September 1. I'm loving living in a house and having some place to call my own. It always sucks to pay that mortgage every month, but we take so much pride in our dwelling. My new passion in life is decorating my new house. I just bought a coffee table and I love it (after a whole year, I got a coffee table) and I'm saving my mula to go to Canton this October and find all the fun little decorative stuff. I have no idea what I like until I see it but I get really excited when I find the one thing I want to put in my house.

2) We have a new family member. Her name is Raider and she is the most enthusiastic thing that I've ever met. She is white lab with red markings (Raider fits her so well.) She is full of spunk and it is such a new experience having a puppy. We are really blessed by her and she brings so much happiness to our famiy.

3) I am finally feeling more and more comfortable with life here in Houston. I've made some great friends and Josh and I have grown so much together. I could not have ever imagined how much my life would have changed since college and I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people here. God has graciously blessed me here and i would have never thought that. More and more to come with the blog.

Spring Break is finally here....

Have you ever felt like singing from the rooftops, jumping up for joy, walking with a skip in your step. Well today I officially feel like that. Why? You may ask. Well...

SPRING BREAK is finally here. I have never been so excited to have a week away from work and I'm so glad that I can have time away from my wonderful students. I'm pretty sure that spring break is for teachers and teachers only. I have so much planned, but I want to sit on my couch and do nothing. SO... here is the plan.

Monday: Sit around, run to the dry cleaners, work out, blog, find home decor that I might want to purchase in Canton (starting early)
Tuesday: work out, sit around, read, then dinner at the Blowey's
Wednesday: work out, sit around, rodeo with the hubby
Thursday: work out, museums, rodeo with the hubby
Friday: shopping around, hanging out with friends.
Saturday: St. Patty's party at Whit's.
Sunday: the last day and then back to the daily grind.

What are the top 5 things you are looking forward to this week?
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM

My bff came into town Friday and we spent all weekend hanging out like old times... It was amazing. I miss her so much :(... Anyways, Friday night we went out to eat at Toro (my favorite little japanese restaurant) and had wine (it was the bomb dot com) and lots of food. It was wonderful, now I just need to see pictures because I have officially dubbed myself the worst camera picture person ever. I always forget that I have a camera and then when I have it I forget that I have a camera, so I miss the moment. Anyways after Friday we went to get our nails done and that was awesome and I forgot how much I loved having my nails done. (Reminder that I have to do that more often). We then traveled to Katy mills and she made me spend money. I blame her for the wonderful things that I now have hanging in my closet. We definitely had a shopoholic moment on Saturday and then I realized that I had to come back to the real world and save money. Boo! Then we had pizza night, wine, and ice cream. Watched Step it Up 2 which I had never seen and I loved it. I know am inspired to take lessons and make my own crew and try out for ABDC 3. So that was my weekend in a nutt shell. I had a great time and loved seeing my bff again. She is awesome.

Sunday night we had small group bible study and we started this new bible study called Ignite: Redefining and Purifying your Faith. The just of the bible study is to explore the faith giants of the bible and then explore how to have the faith that they had at that time.

The first session was titled: What Floats your Boat? Listening to God. The story of Noah. The funny thing about Noah is that not only was he (and his family) the only human survivors of the flood but that he tends to have this magical story. "Sometimes we forget that being a Christ-follower means jost that: following. We take the first stpe and then we just sit there wondering why we don't have apassion and victory in our spirtual lives." (pg. 6) Noah is a following and the only person he followed was God. God said turn one way and he did, do this and he did. He must have looked like a crazy fool. Anyways I have discovered, like the book says, that we are trained to her the sounds that matter the most to you. It is crazy to think about it! I really only hear the sounds that I have trained myself to hear. So how do I really listen? This is the question, I have to really stop myself and think about.

My cute little nephew and neice

So I have been asking several people to pray for my mom and step dad because they have inherited 2 grandbabies. A long story short, they are wonderful kiddos...

Calub the cowboy!

Hailey-Poo

And the best picture of all:

I had a very interesting conversation with my mother today about the kiddos. My mother is a wonderful woman who is very tolerant and patient. She has captured such a heart of Jesus during this time and it really shows. She was telling me that she was listening to a sermon in the morning and the sermon was about a pastor's daughter. The pastor's daughter had three children and the last of her kids was born with out any ears. The daughter was so upset about this disability. After a while the daughter called her father back in tears and exclaimed, "He chose me." She had come to the realization that God had chosen her to raise a disable child because He knew she would be able to handle it. God speaks wonders through other people because talking to my mom she has also come to the realization that God has chosen her and my step-father to raise these kids. They are their children now and are wonderful, intelligent, and funny. My mother has really done an outstanding job and I know that they could use all the love, support and prayers from people all around them. It is definitely not easy to let your grown children leave the nest but then all of a sudden gain new kids. Please pray for them. Calub is 19 months old and Haily is 5 and such a bright child.

Realizations

I just had a realization and it is funny how that happens to you after you make a decision and know it is wrong. I am always complaining about not having friends, but I have officially found out that I'm the reason I don't have friends. I remain to myself and I'm content with that because I'm too afraid to let myself be transparent. I remain at home because I'm too afraid that people won't accept me. I see that people try to make an effort for me and I return with avoidance. I really don't know where this stems from. If I have some weird thing that happen to me when I was younger, I'm not really sure. But what I do know is that I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being the reason that I sit on the sidelines all the time.

I make a vow to myself and people that enter my life on a daily basis. My vow is to make an effort. I make a vow to do the things that I say I'm going to do and not back out because I'm scared. The worst thing that could happen to me would be that I don't get along with someone and I know that I can get through that. I definitely need to be that person off the sidelines. I vow to let my yes be yes and my no be no.

A long time coming...

So it has been a crazy, crazy, crazy year so far. I have been so wrapped up in my own little world I have not had time to update this little blog. Let's see where we left off.

The Blowey news: Well we have officially moved into our new house. I have pictures I just can't find my camera because I'm pretty sure that Josh has used it on one of his many infamous hunting trips and has stored it away somewhere. So hopefully we will get those pictures up and about soon. I love my new house, sometimes I wish that we lived in a neighborhood that had more young friendly couples, but nontheless the house is awesome. So much better than an apartment. We have yet tol stock the house with all the furniture that we need and I have no eye what so ever for decorating so I will invite people over once we figure out how to make the house our official home. (I just need to hire Keri to do it all for me)

Now that we have a house I guess the question becomes when do we fill it up with lil' ones, well we will be waiting on that one for a little while longer, but I do feel the baby bug every now and then.

One of the strongest struggles that I have here is figuring out where I belong. I'm so use to being a homebody and not transparent to allowing people in my life. I get so jealous of others who seem to find friends in a place that I've lived for almost 2 years. However, I'm trying to put myself out there. I do have amazing people in my life who I consider my friends, but I struggle to find friends in the same walk of life who I can be my whole self with. But we are praying and looking for that. I love my job and my friends at work. I couldn't ask for a better job. So there is the update for right now look for more in the future.

Destruction of a Church

So... I had a very interesting converstation today with my wonderful mother. To start off this blog entry let me describe my mother. My mother is incredible. She is a very hard working women and is very strong in her convictions. I look up to her very much, she is the first person that I call when I need advice (which is quite often), she is the first person I call when I need prayer (which is quite often), she is a rock in my life and my sister's. I love you mom.

Well my mother and my stepdad attend a Cowboy church. Now if you don't know what that is, just think about it. It'a a church that Cowboy's attend. Mostly Cowboy churches are in small towns all around Texas. My mother and stepdad live in Glen Rose, Texas outside Ft. Worth. Over the past couple of days the Cowboy church has had a falling out. A man with responsibility in Cowboy church inc. spoke on Sunday at their church and he seemed to put his two cents into what their church has developed into. Apparently, the Cowboy church was not fulfilling its rightful duty as a "Cowboy church". The real problem has been that my mother's church has lacked effective leadership over the past couple of years and because of that their church has developed into something that is very comfortable for them.

Now I don't know alot about Cowboy churches, but I know that when a church lacks effective leadership the church tends to develop in a way that is comfortable for it's members. One thing that I know is that effective leaders look out for what God believes is best for their flock. I find it hard to change in that aspect, especially when a non-effective leader has been in place. When this guy spoke on Sunday he demolished the hope within the church. Spoke about things in such a way that it turned people off. I know when people step out and speak their mind they are bound to push people over the edge. But churches split up because of differentiation of beliefs. When that happens one of two things can happen: 2 churches form or one whole church is destroyed. I hate that. I pray that this does not happen for the church, but it is so hard to have your church critized for the work that it is doing and told to get its act together.

That was my vent for the day! Please pray for my mother's church, it is a very hard concept to hear about. So I definitely know that she is struggling.

Thought of the day... (thank you for answered prayers)

I am in awe of how the Lord answers long awaited prayers.

Thank the Lord today for a prayer that has been answered after a long prayer time....