Week 2: Blessings, Blessings, and More Blessings!

Hi friends... I'm excited to say that I am now officially a WORKING WOMAN... and boy did I work today! First I should start where I left last week:

As most of you know, my first week in San Antonio was very difficult! Lots of tears and loneliness, but I'm happy to say that the 2nd week has been much better. Now don't get me wrong... I still cried just not 5-7 times a day! :) I am slowly beginning to make friends! Lots of blessings have come my way over the last week! I've developed friendships with a few people who live in my apartment complex. I feel my most treasured blessing of this past week was being led to Alamo Heights United Methodist Church--specifically New Heights Community.  I have felt so welcomed and at home at AHUMC! I am looking so forward to growing spiritually and making wonderful Godly friends there!

My second major blessing was my TX license!! I was actually delayed in working because of some Human Resources issues and delays getting my license! Thankfully, they came in on Tuesday which leads me to today: MY FIRST DAY OF WORK!

I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it surely wasn't what I got into! What I can say is that I survived, and in doing so, I have a new confidence in myself as a woman and Speech Pathologist!

Not a day goes by that I don't miss my family and friends in MS, but I am embracing and enjoying life. This past week has taught me that God listens to our prayers. He hears us! He has guarded my heart and mind from negative thoughts and feelings. I thank everyone so much for encouraging me and praying for me. I know that He is the giver of life and life abundantly! I pray blessings over each of you, and I look forward to sharing many more great stories from the great city of San Antonio!

Always remember to live, laugh, and love God's way.

xoxo amanda

New City, New Job, Welcome to Life as an ALMOST working woman!

I haven't blogged in quite sometime! Perhaps maybe because I was so busy with graduate school or maybe because I just felt like I didn't have anything to share. Regardless, I have something now. So here it goes...


Tomorrow I celebrate Week 1 of being in San Antonio, TX--my new home. For those of you who don't know I took a job here. San Antonio is beautiful. The perfect "big city" atmosphere, but with individual areas that give a small town feel! The RiverWalk is beautiful and the shopping is FABULOUS (if you have all the money in the world). Six Flags is wild with many roller coasters!  I was feeling on top of the world experiencing all these things this past weekend. I just couldn't believe that this amazing city is where I am calling home! I was on Cloud 9...then my mom, sister, Anthony and Derek left. What seemed to be so amazing wasn't so amazing anymore! I had no friends or family to share this beautiful town with. 


So from Sunday until today I would say I have cried around 20 different times. For one reason or another, whether it was a text from my Dad or a call from my mom or something I saw on Facebook. There have been times when I would just cry for absolutely positively no reason at all other than the tears just kept coming! I was to the point of devising a plan to get a U-Haul to San Antonio to move this small town MS girl right back where she belongs! 


My area manager for the company I work for is a strong Christian woman, and she knew how down I was, so she invited me to the revival at her church tonight. Greater Love Missionary Baptist Church on the Southside of San Antonio. I immediately said yes because I felt led to go! My experience tonight was definitely one of revival. Revival of my spirit, but more importantly the message revived in me thankfulness for what God has so richly blessed me with. There are 3 things that I have learned over this past week:


1. I forgot how blessed I was to be here. I let worry and loneliness take over my blessings and joy. When we lose sight of what God has given us and forget to be thankful for those blessings then we are setting ourselves up for worry.


2. God doesn't lead his children into anything that they cannot bear. He has me here for a reason. Although I don't have full grasp of what it is, I know that I am taken care of. I am redeemed! Psalm 107 says let the redeemed tell their story! I will not let my story be of sorrow and sadness but rather how wonderful God's goodness, and how Great He is! 


3. Worry gets you NO WHERE... well other than crying 5-7 times per day! My sweet friend Lauren Scott posted this verse on her Facebook status this morning: 


In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)


My prayer is that I learn from this experience. I cherish the opportunity to experience something beautiful, but most importantly that I always remember to be thankful to my gracious God for giving me each of these things. I am happy to say that my spirits have been lifted and I have found my joy despite the ups and downs of moving to a new city and taking on a new job! I will wake up tomorrow ready to start Week 2 with a whole new outlook thanks to the One who gives blessings and mercies anew every day!


I love each of you, and I hope to keep you updated on my  great experiences in San Antonio!

New Year, New Lifestyle!

So, with 2011 comes many, many changes in my life!  I'll be graduating from grad school, getting a job, which may mean moving away!  With all these changes, I decided to proclaim 2011 as my year of changes!  I'm going to become healthy and financially savvy, in addition to becoming a speech pathologist!  So far, I am happy to say that it's going well!  I'm developing great new eating habits without limiting my ability to enjoy social outings!  I'm also exercising!!  Next week, I'll begin training to run a 5K!  I decided this would be a great goal because it will benefit me by increasing my health, but more importantly it's a charity event, so getting healthy will help others!! What a great combination!

Today's blog is to tell you a little bit about ways I'm changing what I eat!! Hope these tips are as helpful for you as they have been for me:

1. Drink lots of water!  Doing this increases the health of everything and DECREASES calories that come from sodas and other nutritionally empty drinks!  Don't like water?? Crystal Light packets are a great way to make water tasty without ruining the healthiness of water!

2.  Grilled NOT fried!  It amazing what calories you save when electing to eat grilled foods rather than fried!

3. Be INFORMED! Most all chain restaurants have nutritional information on their website!  Do a little research!  This will help when friends ask to go out to eat!  Going into the restaurant you'll be armed and ready with healthy choices that won't blow your calorie limit!

4. Free Calorie Tracker.  If your like me, it helps to see what your eating!  At www.livestrong.com you can track you calorie intake as well as calorie usage!  Put in what you eat and the exercise you do, and you'll know where your at on a day to day journey!

5. Cooking? I cook for one, but most recipes are made for 4, so it's always tempting to go and get seconds out of the Good Earth Mediterranean Chicken and Pasta I just made!   What I've found is go ahead and pack up the rest of that in individual containers for later meals!  With it already in the fridge, your less tempted to grab those seconds making the portion more appropriate for a reduced calorie limit!

These are just a few tips that have helped me over the past few weeks! I look forward to updating you on my progress!!

Thank you Lord for continually giving me motivation and encouragement through your presence!!

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

My Bucket List... :)

So for the past few weeks, I have come to the realization that I will be graduating soon and going out on my own.  Although I have always been one to have goals set, I decided to make a bucket list.  Some things on the list are easily attainable and will come within the next few months while others are lifelong goals… I’m sure as time progresses, I’ll add more to the list, but this is a start. 

And so it begins…..My Bucket List:

Develop a deeper relationship with Christ- I don’t know if there will ever be an “end” to this or atleast I hope not.  I want involve God in every aspect of my life.  I want to strive to increase my faith by learning about him and developing my prayer life. I want to develop a God perspective so that I can see the beauty and grace that life has offer.

Graduate: Of course I have a countdown for this… 178 days until completion of my Master’s degree… This includes a bunch of mini-goals like passing the ASHA Praxis, finishing my thesis, completing my final externship!  All the many many things I have left to do! What’s so great about graduation is that I will finally get to start a career that I am completely passionate about. Speech pathology has been a God-given path for me, and I definitely found my “nitch!”

Find a job that I LOVE! Oh the joys of “big girl world” as my Dad would call it! I’ve always wanted to be that person who wakes up every day excited about work, and can’t wait to start my day.  Speech-pathologists do SO much and we have the opportunity to work with different populations in a variety of work settings, so I want to find the job that has my name written ALL over it.  I think this will come with time as I experience life as a speech-pathologist!  I look forward to every day of my future career.

Go to Italy, Greece, Australia, Alaska, and Israel: This is a short list of all the places I want to go… Mainly for the natural beauty of these places… I do plan on going to these one day.  SOMEHOW!

Fall in love… Oh the infamous “fall in love.” Although I know there is no such thing as a “fairy tale” relationship, but I am a hopeless romantic. I want to have a relationship with Christ as the center.  I could spend days saying what falling in love for me would be, but I don’t think they allow that many characters in the blog post… I might have to save it for another one! J

Build/Buy a house…. And decorate it!  I have a secret passion, and that is interior designing. (I suppose I can thank my Aunt Susie for that) So naturally I want a house that I can invest all my creative artsy ideas into!

Be a Mom…This is somewhat self-explanatory!  I love children and when God sees fit, I would love to have them as my own!  Until then, I will just love all my sweet kids that I have for clients!

Master the art of personal finance… This is actually a goal I hope to achieve before I graduate!  The other day it hit me that I should start learning about these things before I move far away from my sweet Daddy who won’t be able to help me every step of the way. So far I plan on reading two books about personal finance.  We’ll see how that goes!

Make a quilt… My great grandmothers always enjoyed sewing and quilting, and I am blessed to have some of those quilts.  I plan on keeping that tradition going and plan on starting my first quilt once I graduate and have a job to support all my new hobbies!

Write a family history book… This is an idea I developed about 6 months ago!  I was ready to move forward with it and then school started back. HALT!  But hopefully I’ll begin this soon!

Become healthier… I think this is a lifelong goal that will change as I age!  I just want to strive to be the healthiest Amanda I can be! 

Learn something new every day…. I always like learning things and I want to always have the desire to learn new things and expand my knowledge in a variety of ways.

Become fluent in Spanish…. This is a running joke with my father.  He just doesn’t understand how I could have taken 3 years of Spanish in highschool and 4 semesters in college and not be fluent…. Maybe I’ll take a sabbatical from work and emerse myself in the language… perhaps in Spain?? I’m thinking for 6 months to a year? Yes… add that to the travel list above! J

Live in a place where there are 4 distinct seasons… I want springtime and rain, summer and sunshine, fall and red leaves and cool breeze, and winter with SNOW SNOW SNOW! And I’m going to get it!  You better believe this is a heavy contender in where I choose to take a job next year…

Learn to love deeper, laugh harder, and live for Christ! 

Amanda

Surrender

Over the past few weeks, I've been dealing with uneasiness regarding a relationship in my life.  I felt like I was doing all the right things for everyone involved striving to meet the needs of the relationship, but deep down I was struggling.  There were times I couldn't contain my concern and we just couldn't seem to come up with  a collaborative way to help the situation. I would blame my worry and negative emotions on the actions of others reminding myself if they would just change one little thing it would help so much.

This week only worsened the situation and I had an increasing anxiety about it.  I was trying to figure out what was wrong and what actions I could take to change the situation.  The actions I took only made the person withdraw even more consequently increasing my anxiety. Thursday night I was at the peak of my anxiety crying asking God what to do, what could change to make it better. At that moment, I thought I was upset because of the actions of the other person, but I WAS WRONG--I just didn't see it then.  After much prayer and tears that night, I felt relief that I had come to point where my feelings were out in the open with God, even though I know he is all knowing. I began to contemplate on what the other person could be feeling and how my actions could have forced that person away.  My neediness for a "relationship fix" only made the problem more prominent. I had come to a place of understanding, or so I thought.  Fortunately, God can continue to show you things even when you think there is nothing else to see or understand.

Saturday night I sang in choir at church.  I was feeling good, but the whole situation was still in the back of my head--perhaps because I had made these revelations in my head, but I had not shared them with the other person involved. We sang three songs and a choir special 1. Love the Lord your God 2. Let Our Song Be a Sweet Aroma of Praise and 3. Lord I Give You My Heart.  Why is this important?  Because it was about surrender.  What had I not done in this relationship? Surrendered it to God.  I was so invested in making it work and making the other person see why I was upset, that I failed to see God's purpose for the relationship.  I was striving to do all the right things for what reason?  Selfish reward.  I wanted to prove that I could make this relationship work.  Although on the surface it seemed that I was having a power struggle with the other person, it was actually a power struggle with God.  I wasn't crying Thursday night because I was upset due to the actions of the other person, I was upset because I couldn't find a way to do it within my control.

Today I feel revived in the spirit of surrender and confident that the future of my relationships are in the hands of God Almighty.  By his grace my eyes were opened and I am forever thankful.  I challenge everyone to surrender their heart, soul, and mind to Christ.  Don't hold back and attempt at having control.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and future." Jeremiah 29:11

What a powerful thing to know that we have the Creator of the world to molds us and provide hope and   a future.  My prayer is that I'm continually open to learning how to Live, Laugh, and Love--God's Way.

Amanda

OPTIMISM

Yesterday, I came across this quote by Helen Keller, "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

Recently, I've been somewhat lackadaisical with my attitude towards school.  The way I see it I've been in college non-stop since the week after my high school graduation.  I went every summer. Yes, I finished my first degree a whole year early, but now that I'm just months away from my second degree, I am feeling "burnt out" on school.  As I was sitting on my sofa playing on Facebook, I came across the above quote!  And boy did God use that to adjust my pessimistic attitude.

The life of Helen Keller is a phenomenal story of optimism despite obstacles.  What God showed me through this quote, was that if a lady such as Helen Keller who had far more life-long obstacles that I could ever imagine and still remained optimistic and hopeful as well as confident in her ability to adjust and learn, my "burnt out" attitude should be NON EXISTENT.  I am now even more thankful for my ability to learn quickly and efficiently, and that I have a place like South Alabama to cultivate my knowledge and help me grow as a future speech-pathologist and woman.

The next seven months will require an optimistic attitude as I'll be completing my Master's thesis, certification test, degree, and final externship, but what is 7 months compared to a lifetime enjoying a career of service to others and a blessed life with wonderful friends and family who love me.

Just another way God shows me how to Live Laugh and Love.

amanda

And the process begins...

After much contemplation as to whether or not I should start blogging about my life, I've decided its a go!  Although I don't necessarily have an important event that people would want to follow like a wedding or a baby, I do have a journey one that will have no end--for life with Jesus Christ is eternal.

Over the past year and a half, I've learned much about myself--actually alot more than I ever imagined.  It all started when I decided to move 2 1/2 hours away from my family to go to the University of South Alabama for my Master's in Speech-Language Pathology.  HUGE decision on my part since I'm particularly close to my family, but one that I do not regret. Much prayer and thought went into that decision and I'm forever grateful because my experience here has been one of gaining knowledge and friendships.

I think every young woman who goes out on her own feels a sense of self and accomplishment.  I know that as soon as I stepped into my little apartment I got this great feeling of "I'm finally here!" Little did I know that I would be transformed and by the life God had for me here. This is only the beginning to a great journey.

A great friend of my family, Dr. Russell Louden, told me that God has given us the stage called life and the greatest role one could ever play is the role of yourself. It's our responsibility to live every moment to bring glory and honor to the Giver of Life, laugh and take joy in all the many blessings He has given us, and to love one another with God's unconditional forever love!

I look forward to sharing all the ways God continues to show me how to live, laugh, and love.

amanda