real life hannah banana

INSPIRATION FOR THIS POST

So, I would call this a 'faq' post, but no one is asking questions yet! Haha...so I will just call this a list of random facts about me and my life!

photo taken by mama near Holden Village, WA

I have been married to the love of my life for nine months today.
We have two lovely children.
Our oldest, Hunter, is my step son.
Our yougest, Adalia, is not biologically my husband's daughter.
Jesus loves me, despite my past...but more importantly, because of my past.
I am a bible-believing, non-denominational Jesus follower!
I play the cello and sing.
My favorite things to do: (besides spend time with my family) hike, sing, canoe, blog, camp, go to farmers markets, learn to cook, and take pictures!
I am twenty-two, almost twenty-three.
56 has always been my favorite number...for no reason that I am aware of.
Green is HANDS DOWN my favorite color!
I am technologically illiterate.
I have completed three semesters of school for Natural Resources.
I took a few years off of school to join the Air National Guard, and also ended up getting married and starting a family!
My husband and I would love to buy a farm, raise some animals, and live as sustainably as we can manage. (shoot me an email if you want to know more about this!)
My husband is starting a new job as a personal trainer with a Lvl 1 Crossfit Certification.
Phineas and Ferb is my favorite cartoon!
We are excited to expand our family, and I am starting some ovulation testing next week!
I blog. (hahahahaha)
I love great music...a few of my favorites are: Sara Bareilles, Adele, The Band Perry, Chris August, Goot, Eels, Eric Hutchinson, Colbie Callait, Jose Gonzalez, Peter Bradley Adams, Missy Higgins, Shawn Mcdonald, and Paolo Nutini.
My parents are my heros. See why here.

If you are curious about anything else, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email!

to kill a woodpecker

Everyone should be kissed, often and well, by someone who loves them.

Everyone should be kissed the way my husband kissed me at the end of the day yesterday. After some daytime drama, a few disagreements, and a major baby breakdown, Tom kissed me like it was our first kiss. He kissed me in such a sweet, gentle way the I felt all his love for me in that one moment.

And that is just one of the million reasons that I love my man.



AND, more happy-ness! Things are coming together beautifully for Tom's new job that starts next month! It is such a weight off our shoulders to have some of the unknowns figured out! Woo!

my attitude was stinking more than adalia's poopy diaper...

Good morning! This is my new perm...after two days of sleeping on it, getting spit up on, and chasing our energetic three year old around the house! I promise to post better pictures of it after I have some time to shower!


Topic of my heart today: have you ever tried to change your attitude without changing your circumstance?

This morning as I was playing with our two kids, I got the bad mood bug. And for like thirty minutes I just kept thinking, "Once Tom gets home, I can give him the kids, take a hot shower, and work on changing my mood." One problem with this idea is that if I wouldn't have changed my mood before Tom got home, I probably would have been rude, needy, pushy, quick to anger...towards Tom, my unsuspecting and sweet husband. My bad attitude would have had the potential to ruin his day. The second major flaw in that plan is that I would have learned nothing. I would have let my laziness of character win this battle. I wouldn't have to pray through it. AND rather than giving glory to God when I finally worked up a mood change...I would have thanked my husband and my shower. God deserves praise and it is so easy to steal that praise away from Him and give it to 'idols' and others.

So, that is another lesson learned.

A question for my readers...and a sneak peek at my topic for tomorrow: how many of you (mothers and wives especially) have felt that restlessness in your heart to do something...anything besides your mothering and wifely job? To clarify, how many of you just get burned out and think that you just want to be a rocket scientist today or a doctor or a barista or an adventurer, rather than doing what God has called you to do? Maybe a discontentment...  Anyway, HIT ME UP! Let me know what you think...what have you gone through in this regard...and any wisdom you could pass on about the subject!

ugliness.

Darn hurt feelings.

Today, I got my feelings hurt and took it way too far.

Tom said something to me that I took offense to. And I should have checked his character against my feelings; I should have KNOWN that my Tom would never try to say something to hurt me. I should have taken what I know about him, and held it up next to how I was feeling and said "Hey, this doesn't match up. I must be overreacting."

Instead, I got super defensive. Then I took all that nasty hurt and threw it back at him, feeling like I deserved a HUGE apology.

And he apologized. And was defeated.

And as I watched him explain and apologize, my heart broke. It softened. God said, "Look at what your pride and entitlement got you. Now YOU are in the wrong. Now you have to apologize. And that means you have to let go the thought that you deserve to be babied and pitied."

I was so thankful for my forgiving husband, but also for God meeting me there right in that moment and opening my eyes and my heart to the reality of the situation. I was wrong, DEAD wrong.

Isn't pride so hideous?

sometimes you just have to drop it...

Arguements are brutal. They make me want to hide away somewhere. And my pride steps in and picks my words for me, and usually sets the tone for my attitude.

And sometimes, I KNOW I'm right. I feel strongly about proving a point. I think that it is what is best for our family.

And still...sometimes, I have to drop it.

I have to set aside my arguement, my side of the story. I have to not only drop that subject, but avoid bringing up a hundred other subjects that I know will cause strife.

This morning, my pride won. And I feel this gap between my heart and Tom's heart. But I know how to heal it...my pride is just begging me to hold onto my anger and hurt feelings.

I will make things right. Even if it is through gritted teeth.

Hannah:1 Pride:0

"serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people"

(Title quote is Ephesians 6:7)

Hello! First off, I have 993 page views! Woo, almost one thousand!

Secondly, I had the LOVELY opportunity to babysit my fabulous friend, Kayla's, children. They are so cute and they played so well with Adalia! We all had a blast! We played trains, read some books, watched Mickey Mouse, ate some pizza, and then zonked! Fun evening. I was very blessed to be able to serve them. And God blessed me back...because I locked myself out of my house and had no house key with me. But, rather than panic, I shot up a fervent prayer and checked the front door. Sure enough, it was locked. But I gave it a tough shove (it's warped from the heat this summer so tends not to close sometimes) and found that it hadn't latched quite all the way, so it OPENED! Woo! I had a sleeping baby in her carseat, and no other options to get into the house, so THANK YOU GOD!

Anywho, productive day today for me! I got tons of laundry done, some general cleanup, a brief nap, and I wrote up our offer on the farm!! I also got a shower in. I feel on top of things and quite optomistic today. *fingers crossed for no curve balls this week*

I think that I will do a vlog in a couple days here...chat it up with my awesome readers...who will, on that day, be listeners and not readers. Haha!

Oh, ALSO, happy to report, Tom's phone is all up in working order, so I got to hear his voice this evening...so soothing for me!

It's late, and I find it unwise to stay up too late after baby sleeps, so I am off. Good night, cyber-friends!

warning: i am going to complain

Tom's phone broke :(

And he works like ten thousand miles away from home.

And the phone company can't do anything till he is back in town.

Darn technology.

Just so all of you know how TRAGIC this is...Tom is the greatest husband in the world. If you have a husband, you may be disagreeing with me. But seriously, he is. He calls me every night that he is away to ask how my day was and to tell me that I'm awesome and that he appreciates how hard I work for our family. He tells me about his day and that he wishes I was with him (sometimes he says naked, but that allowed cause we're married- ha). We talk about our weekend plans and usually get a little bit bummed out about how short our weekend will seem.

SO. My point is...THIS SUCKS.

That is all.

Oh wait, this is a picture of him...in all his amazing-ness.

P.S. If you create a teleporting machine that can let Tom work far away but still be home between shifts...I will love you forever and somehow find a way to pay you millions of dollars for your smarts.