Tuesday, March 11, 2014

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Just a little motivation for your day. Thank you Jesus! With you, I have nothing to fear!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Just Getting By

When we have something to look forward to or something we're waiting for, we seem to hold our breath and float through life until that approximate time. Then we wake up and make the most of it!

That's what I've been doing. Since this deployment started, I've just been getting by. I've noticed it in my grades, my home life and just...everything. I've been forgetting things, putting things off, spending time alone, and just...not caring, about anything, unless it involves Austin or sending care packages or....whatever.
I'm sick of it.

I shouldn't be wasting this time of my life just waiting. I'm not really doing anything. I've just been...here.

God doesn't want me wasting my life. Austin wouldn't want me sitting around doing nothing. And me...I'm tired of not doing anything. I feel like I haven't done a thing since he's been gone. It makes me sick...

I mean, I've been in college, but I haven't been doing like I should. I haven't been studying like I usually would...and even when I do...I haven't retained the information. Work is...well, work. I feel like I never want to be there. I don't even care if I go...and I have bills to pay.

I just need...Jesus. I need direction. I need to pray. I need to get in His Word more. I need to make myself, though I shouldn't have to. I should want to read more and learn more about my Savior...
I don't know. Just please be praying for me. I want this...whatever I'm in to go away.

Sarah

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Coffee Care Package

My Coffee Care Package

If you are following my blog, you know my hunny-bunny is currently off on deployment. (You can read about him and us here.)
Well, I sent my first care package last week!!! I'm super-excited for him to get it. It's a coffee care package since he loves coffee so much and I know they don't get it so often on the ship.


I included:

- 2 packs of coffee cups w/lids
- 5 packs of instant coffee (different roasts and flavors)
- 1 pack of his favorite Dunkin Donuts coffee (you have to brew it though)
- 1 box of organic sugar-cane sugar-packets
- 1 can of coffee creamer
- 1 can of Folgers instant coffee
- different packs of tea
- 1 box of hot cocoa mix
- "10 reasons why coffee is good for you" (the EMT in me couldn't resist)
- a home-printed and written card with kisses on the inside
- a list of what I put in
- decorated the box with pictures and cute quotes

  









I think he'll love it! I really hope he gets the chance to brew his Dunkin Donuts coffee! 

Enjoy making your own Coffee Care Package and be sure to look out for more I'll be posting on here!

Have a blessed day! 

Sarah







Student Blues...

Salutations everyone...

Feeling: like poo. but a little excited. #confused
Enjoying: the heat coming from the fireplace behind me.
Reading: the "Switch Girl" manga.
Dreaming: of better grades and ACLS calls...
Gathering: materials to make a nerdy care-package with ;)
Realizing: bacon tastes best when you leave it fatty #yum #breakfast
Hoping: my travels to Cincy today are not deterred by this snow
Missing: warm weather, bright blue skies and the sun! Waiting for this snow and cold weather to disappear. And my hunny-boo-boo.
Discovering: dark chocolate is amazing. I'm eating all my profit. I'm going to be funding my Alaskan Mission Team all by myself.
Loving: life and learning to love myself.
Trying: my best not to get down about my recent exam results. but it's really hard. #emtstudent #ugh

Okay, like you all have caught glimpses of already, I'm a bit down. I've been spending every spare minute, every spare second to study for this big exam in my EMT class for the last couple of weeks. I even skipped the class before my EMT one to do a little review.
And I failed. I FAILED my exam. Failed it. With a whopping 52%.
I'm a little discouraged and a lotta troubled.  
I just don't understand it.

I've been studying...and that's all done to waste. I had a couple of moments when I even considered dropping the class. If I can't do this, how am I supposed to do my job? How am I supposed to save people if  I can't pass a simple 100-question multiple-choice test?
Ughhhhh...I don't wanna think about it anymore. It makes me sad.

On another note, I'm going to Cincy (OH) with my sister to get our book "The Undead Pool" (the new book in the amazing Hollows Series) signed the amazing author Kim Harrison! We went last year too, so I'm way excited about it this year! I wish I'd gotten a t-shirt to wear though...
Oh well!
Ciao guys! I gotta go get ready! Make today a blessing,

Sarah

 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Introductions and the Dreaded "D"

Introductions are in order. Especially since you're going to be hearing a lot about this young man for the next, say, eight months. Or nine months. Or ten months...
-considering he's going to be on deployment for about that length of time or longer.
-considering he's a very, very big part of my life.
-considering he's the God-given-love of my very short, but blessed life.

Yes. His name is Austin. Aust. Austi-boo.
-actually, to you all, he's just Austin. He's MY Austi-boo. 

Please, try not to let the awesome-ness blind you. I know it can be overwhelming.
 You can actually read all about him and us and our relationship here.
It's my old blog called "Winging It". I switched over to this one because I feel like I was putting our relationship in priority over my relationship with Jesus Christ. Which is just a no-no. 

Austin and I met in high school; my junior year and his senior year. My best friend introduced us and we just immediately clicked and pretty soon we were inseparable. We talked all the time, and I found an amazing friend in Austin...and an amazing boyfriend a couple of weeks later when he asked me on a date to a football game. 
We dated all up until it was time for Austin to go to college, which was about a year later. We went on a date that turned into, well, Austin telling me it was better and easier if we just didn't date anymore. That between him being in college, only seeing me on the weekends, and me being a senior in high school, that it just wouldn't work. So, we ended things. I had, however, began going to their church and found myself still going on most Sundays. I never saw Austin however...
...I still loved him though, and I often asked about him when talking to his parents on Sundays. He'd joined the ROTC program over at EKU and was doing well; coming home on some weekends. It had been months at this point and still no sign of Austin...
...Until one day my senior year, when I got a text in art class. It was Austin. He asked if it was okay if he picked me up from school and if we could hang out. I told him "yes". He picked me up and we drove around town and finally back to his house where he told me he still loved me and had missed me. Austin had dumped me though, and I was hurt. He had hurt me. I still loved him though and suddenly he became part of my life again. We saw each other on and off on weekends for the next couple of weeks...
...Then I learned that Austin wasn't doing so well in college. When his mom told me he had signed into the Marines, my world crashed down. I didn't know how to react. Austin and I had finally started mending our relationship, though neither of us was sure what that was yet. Neither of us had used the "girlfriend/boyfriend" term for the other...it was complicated....
...then Austin left for Basic Training. Like a dedicated not-exactly-girlfriend, I wrote him a letter everyday. On days that I missed a letter, I would bundle it with the next day's one. It was so easy...I found I could convey the words I couldn't say to him through writing. That I loved him so much. That I missed him. That all I wanted was him home. That I couldn't wait to see him. During this time, I graduated high school...and then Austin, graduated from Basic and earned the title: Marine. Then Austin's family and I were on our way to Parris Island for the ceremony...
...And it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Never had I been so proud of anyone else in my entire life. I cried when I saw him run by for the first time. It was so emotional. Titles like "dating" didn't matter. We loved each other, and that's what mattered. However, what we found after graduation was a timid, awkward, love. We weren't sure how to take the other...

Parris Island, Graduation.
  ...then he was gone to SOI. I didn't see him for another couple of months with little communication over texting and phone calls. Then he came in for Easter. He left. We went to see him. We came home. And then....
...My first semester of college, I packed up my bags and I flew over to North Carolina myself and went to see my boyfriend. It was the best decision I ever made. It changed something.
Somewhere throughout the calls, the texts, and the not-long-enough-visits, we had evolved into something deeper then just...I don't know. It was God-given. He had and has a plan for us. 
Ever since, it hasn't been smooth-sailing, but it's been something...amazing. I've come to realize that there isn't any other man I want to spend my life with. He's become my rock. My soul-mate. I was made to love him, if only for right now. God-willing, I get to stay with this man forever. 



Now, four and a half years later, Austin and I face our first deployment together. The dreaded "D" word. The thing no military girlfriend/spouse/whatever wants to mention, much less experience. Though there's really no way to do so, I haven't ever really truly prepared myself for it. It seems like just yesterday he was graduating from Parris Island...and now he's on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and will be for eight months or longer. 
Hence, the funk I've been in this week. And last week. 
I know God has His hands on him. Austin will be fine and come home safe and sound just like he's supposed to...It's just the thought of him being halfway across the world...I know this and still. It's killing me. I want him home so bad. But I've been trying my best not to dwell on it. 

"Don't count the days, make the days count." 

 And so, please bare through with me on this. Be praying with me. I'm working on a bucketlist of things to do while he's gone to help. I'm really concentrating on other things, or well, I'm trying to...I just keep finding myself wondering how he's doing and if he's okay...I don't know. I just miss him I guess.

Make it a blessing, I'm going to bed,

Sarah

Friday, February 7, 2014

Thursday, February 6, 2014

School Blues

Hello Everyone~

I'm feeling a whole lot better today. The sick-flu-thing I had going on seems to have finally dissipated. It's my day off work and my full day in classes, however, my morning and afternoon classes have been canceled, so I've been sitting around studying patient assessments and finishing up algebra equations...(and writing really long, run-on-sentences)...

My head is spinning with words like "tachycardia" and "pulse paradoxus". The sad thing is, everything just isn't sticking like it should be. All of this studying, re-writing, and just...everything...isn't helping me. I don't understand why. I'm only taking in maybe 40% of the information I'm reading. I had my first exam two days ago and I made a low "B". Which while that isn't bad, at all, it isn't great. It isn't what I need to be referred to the high-demand job I'm wanting. It was just luck that I made a "B" at all...I didn't really know half of the information on that test like I should have.

I should. These are people's lives that I'm going to be dealing with...I need to KNOW this information right off the top of my head, not just learn it and forget it. I can't afford to.

Just please be praying that if it's in God's will that I have this job that I do better in my studies. That I'm knowledgeable and able to remember the information I'm given. It's really discouraging. This whole "deployment thing" isn't helping.

Let today be a blessing,

Sarah