heaviness

there are times when i just feel the heaviness of sin.  right now i'm just feeling sad about the holds satan has in the lives of those around me.  he is sly--really sly.  he really pisses me off!!!  last january i started praying that God will help me love what he loves and hate what he hates--it is moments like this that i feel like God has answered this prayer.  

i feel heavy

freeway names

The other day i was driving along and for some reason i started to think about how we name the freeways.  Whenever we talk about a freeway with 3 digits we say the 4-0-5, the 1-33, the 2-41, but why don't we say the four hundred and five, the one hundred and thirty-three, the two hundred and forty-one.  

so from now on i'm going to call them the four hundred and five ...and so on! 

Soon to return

Yay my boy comes home tomorrow!!!

i've really missed him this week while he has been away at camp with the youth group!

i can't wait to hear about all that God has been doing this week in the lives of our kids and i can't wait to reconnect with my joshie!  

(ps. it is tough being the one at home-- doing nothing but working while the other is off having fun, but i guess i shouldn't complain considering i did go to europe for a month last summer...opps?)

my God has done mighty things for me!!!

so for the past few days i've had this song stuck in my head!  normally having a song stuck in my head would drive me nuts, but this song has really been good for me.  

i don't know if i actually know the words, because it is a new one for me.  it goes something like...

"i'm going to stand and praise my God

my God has done mighty things for me!"

and having these words stuck in my head this past week (so i guess it isn't the whole song stuck in my head because i don't know all of the words..) has really been a great reminder for me.  i've just been able to reflect on the truth of these words and i've realized that i typically live life without being daily reminded that God has done mighty things for me and that i must be praising him.  

so i'm trying to live a life with the knowledge of who God is and with the recognition of what he has done for me, so that i can then go out into the world praising him and sharing him with all whom i encounter through the joy that he has given me!

sick of being sick

So i've been sick basically since May.  yes it has been on and off, but it is basically the same thing again and again.  

first i got bronchitis--so antibiotics, resting, missing a week and a half of school.  then ear ache/throat thing--call doctor and he is booked so sends me in a prescription.  then again ear/throat thing...my ear hurt so bad that i was almost in tears my whole birthday dinner--go into doctor he says i have a throat infection and gives me a stronger prescription to get rid of this thing for good.  i take the last pill for my prescription...the next day my ear starts to hurt again.  for a week my ear is hurting and bugging me so i just take advil religiously and it seems to be okay.  finally last wednesday i get full on sick...AGAIN! i mean full on sick--sneezing, congestion, soar throat, achey all over, ear hurts, and so on.  so i go back to the doctor (yet this time its another guy because my doctor's wife just had a baby--yay for them!)  so this dude tells me i have some sinus problems.  puts me on antibiotics, flownase (nasal spray), over the counter sudafed, over the counter noise spray.  he tells me that if i'm not 100% in two weeks then i need to go get a cat scan because i have some serious sinus issues.  

so i'm hoping and praying that i can beat this thing and beat it quick.  ---i'm sick of being sick!

i'm sick of the lack of compassion.  

we need God

i just read a news article about human trafficking in the U.S.  It was about two teenage girls...and i just feel so sick and paralyzed now.  

our world is so sick!  we need God!  we need Him desperately.  

just reading the stories of these two girls and learning that these girls are just broken down until they are nothing...it just kills me.  I was just reminded of this reality and i feel so compelled to be praying for this huge problem.  

there is so much pain in our world.  we need to pray for the lost.  we need to pray for those who have been completely brainwashed and made into slaves.  we need to remember those who are not strong enough to pray for themselves.  we need to pray for God's redemption in this situation throughout the world.  

 

the lost art of confrontation

confrontation-why do we live lives where we act like all is good in our little world when in reality it isn't?

We need to rediscover confrontation.  This is something that I've been learning this past year which is way hard!  But God's been showing me that I need to be someone who lives by my convictions, especially those which are biblically based.  Last semester I was given many opportunities to stand up for what is good.  It was difficult and it didn't always end in a "thank you Kaitlin for speaking truth to me," but more often in a lost friendship.  But God has given me a peace about that because I was speaking the words He gave me.  

So for sometime I've been thinking about this one situation and I just know that I need to confront.  I'm nervous, but I know it needs to be done.

Muffins!

Today marks the end of my 10 days with Muffin...

For the past 10 days I've been house sitting in a beautiful house in Robinson Ranch.  This family has the sweetest dog whom Josh has renamed "Muffin."  Roxy is Muffin's legal name, but she will always be fondly remembered as Muffin.  Josh has this thing where he thinks that whatever thoughts pop into his head must be the way things ought to be.  Point in case: Muffin.  Josh met Roxy and within the first hour he decided she didn't look like a Roxy, but he was positive that she was "Muffin."  And so we went with it and he was actually right this time (and when I say he was right this time I mean to say that he isn't always right when he decides to rename something/one/animal).  Muffin became our pride and joy this past week despite her one flaw.  She pees.  

And when I say she pees...i mean she pees a lot.  So I decided to rename her breed, for her and for her alone.  She is a Shitzoo, but I think this is a mistake...she is really a Peezoo!  Yet the weird thing is that it is a submissive thing.  So when you first get home she is so excited to see you that she can't control it and every time you bend down to pet her, she squats down to the ground and starts peeing.  Yet once you've been home for five minutes, she is fine (as long as you don't get her too excited).  At first this was a big annoyance, yet after the first few days I learned that if I brought her outside as soon as I got home and petted her several times until the pee stopped, she was fine the rest of the time.  So once this problem was resolved--i fell for Muffin!  Josh and I totally love this dog.  Neither of us really liked shitzoos before, but now we are like we could get a shitzoo and name her muffin!---we love her and totally want to adopt her!

Events of the Week at Muffins:

1. Jamie and Megan came and we had a little sleep over

        *I love my girls!

2. We thought Muffin swallowed a squeaker toy

         *Josh and I came home on Tuesday around 11:15 from a movie and 5 minutes after we walked in the door, Roxy/Muffin was trying to bark (or so we thought) and it was just squeaky and I went over to her and held her and felt her throat and it felt and sounded like a toy was in there.  So I freaked out!  I made Josh call the vet and listen to the recording so we could take her to the animal emergency hospital, because I'm the worst house sitter ever!  I leave her alone to go to a movie and she swallows a squeaker--great!  So Josh and I call the place, find out where it is, and hop in the car.  I pick Muff up and remember she pees a lot, yep, she pees all over me, but I'm like its okay we just need to save her!  So we are in the car and we pull off of their street and I'm like wait we need to go back and get her owners' cell phone numbers so we can call them and let them know what is going on.  So we turn around and as we do, we notice that she hasn't been squeaking.  Weird right?  So we get out and bring her back in and we just let her be for a minute and no squeaking and I feel her throat and it feels fine.  Then she started barking normally and we are like...okay, this seems to be good.  So we are like alright...well we don't want to take her to the animal hospital and have them charge us/them a ton of money if she swallowed it and seems to be fine.  So we opted to just observe her and hope all is well.  So next day I called their vet and told them that I think she swallowed a squeaker toy and they basically freak me out and are like you need to bring her in for X-rays ASAP because this horrible thing could happen which would cause this other really horrible thing to happen and she wouldn't live very long or this other bad thing could happen which leads to this other thing...and you get the picture...they freak me out!  So I'm like okay great I have to call them and tell them I ruined their dog.  So I left them a message and finally her owner calls back and she is like oh Roxy is fine.  I'm sorry I forgot to tell you she has asthma and her trachea collapses sometimes and it sounds kind of squeaky.  So luckily, all of that was for nothing...but it scared the shitzoo out of me!

3. I killed 32 spiders in their house

        *Yes I counted!  Because I hate spiders and I killed 4 the first night I was there and then the next day there were more and they were big and all looked related.  So I freaked out and started counting.  Let me tell you I was able to kind of overcome my fear of spiders and I came close enough to them to smash them (and one time one of them touched my toe--eww!).  But yes I killed many-a-spider and only 2 got away all week.  One of them saw me spot him (and he was one of the huge mamas) and he was still and I ran over to grab my shoe and he ran to the corner under the cabinet and I reached for him, but he slipped into the crack and it creeped me out!  Then the other one that got away---i totally let him.  I woke up in the middle of the night sick and had to go get water and I was too tired and sick to kill him, so I let him live.  

It was really a good week aside from all of the spiders!  It was really nice to have a house all to myself.  No parents, no sister, no no one.  I love having that privacy and freedom to do whatever and not have to talk to anyone.  It was also nice to be able to have time with people one on one without other people being around.  

So I love Muffin!  I love house sitting!  (if you know of someone looking for a house/dog sitter give them my name...i love it!)

I miss Muffin!  I miss having a house all to myself!

Josh's Broadcast! (aka sermon)

Last Sunday was Youth Sunday at Josh's and my new church, Pacific Church of Irvine.  So it was a big day for us or rather a big day for Josh.  But let me tell you, he rocked it!  It was great.  

The whole service was run by the youth and by our youth leaders.  So Josh was given the privilege to preach the sermon and let me tell you I was rather impressed.  He basically shared with the congregation what he has been preaching this past month in his series--You Tube, Broadcast Yourself.   He was preaching about how everyone is broadcasting something, everyone is sending out some message.  So he talked about how we need to be broadcasting Jesus to the world and how once we have been transformed by the grace of Christ our story is enough to change us and it is enough to be a testimony to the world around us.  Specifically he talked about broadcasting in the ordinary, being creative in the way we broadcast, and how we broadcast in community.  

So if you have some time to (i think its about 25 minutes--i just listened to it and i should have payed more attention to the time it started...opps?) i would highly recommend  you listen to it.  I'm proud of him--shoooot---he did a great job and blew everyone out of the water.  So check it out!

Josh's Sermon

Engagement photos! part 2

So Mary has put up some of the pictures from last Tuesday!  

so if you want to check it out (because Josh and I are so good looking or if you are just curious or if you're just bored)...go for it!

 http://www.maryrosenbaum.com/erwin

Anyways I know I mentioned this last Tuesday in my blog...but I'm thrilled that Mary is doing our photos because she is simply amazing and our wedding pictures will be amazing!

jamers this weekend

so this past weekend jamie came and visited!  it was such a blast to see her and hang out.  i'm house sitting this week so jamie and megan came over and we had a blast hanging out and catching up and celebrating jamie's birthday.  

my favorite moment was when we decided to go get donuts on monday morning and eat them next to the lake. so as we were sitting there jamie commented on how funny it was that we were all sitting there eating fattening donuts as people all around us were running and exercising--it was great!  so defining of who we are... fatties (all though we still look real good) who eat a lot of junk!  then we commented on how when you're 20 you are supposed to be in the best shape of your life...well---we are all hoping that isn't true!--or that we will be inspired to get in shape this year??

anyways good news!  so while jamie was here this weekend it finally gave me the opportunity i had been waiting for.  i had a question to ask her that i wanted to wait to ask her in person and she said yes!!---JAMIE IS GOING TO BE ONE OF MY BRIDESMAIDS!!!!  I'm so excited to have my best girls all around me for my wedding-Reenie, Megan, Sarah, and Jamie!

so yay for the new addition...my jamie girl!

engagement photos!

so tonight Josh and I finally got to do our engagement photo session.  it was such a blast.  our photographer Mary and her husband Adam shot us tonight down in laguna beach.  it was so fun and comfortable shooting with them.  (well maybe for the first five minutes it was awkward,) but they were so great that five minutes into it we were comfortable and having a good time loving each other while someone captured those moments.  

it was such a blast.  i'm so excited to have them shoot our wedding--it is going to be gorgeous! Mary makes you feel so comfortable and so I'm confident that she is going to make our wedding look just stunning.  (Mary's pictures are so wonderful I just love them check them out at http://maryrosenbaum.com/!)  I'm so eager to see how the pictures came out tonight!  I bet they are great, but i'm just hoping that i didn't mess them all up.  There were a few times when Mary would say okay lets take some serious photos and I would just loose it every time--I just can't keep a straight face when i'm asked to and it is especially hard when Josh is whispering in my ear making me laugh.  so anyways I hope they turned out well--but i'm sure they did because did i mention that Mary is extremely talented?!