Too much

Have you ever found yourself SO tired that even moving around sounds painful and unnecessary? Yeah, I'm there. It is only the second week of school people and I am beyond tired now, I'm downright exhausted. My brain forgot where it's off switch is. I honestly can't stop thinking. When I'm at work, I'm worried about school and if I'm doing everything there to the best of my ability because by the time I get a chance to do any homework, I'm running on fumes. When I'm at school or doing homework, I'm worried that I'm missing something at work, maybe I forgot to return a call or send an email. And all the while I am worrying if my husband feels loved. Am I making a concerted effort to make him feel like he's more important than anything else? Am I making him my top priority? Is our house clean enough? Do I have time to cook dinner? Are his clothes clean? I realize that he's a big kid and can do all of this himself but I absolutely LOVE taking care of him. I want to be the one that washes clothes and cooks and cleans - and he helps, I'm not some 50's house wife. But I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I believe now when my mom said you can do too much, so much that nothing seems good enough...i'm so there. Sorry to dishearten you or be debbie downer but I had to get it out of me. Pray that I have the strength to work 40 hours a week and go to take my 12 hours and do WELL in them, that I can give my husband the attention and love he so deserves. That's it for now...

Dogs are Hilarious

Everybody, Manu; Manu, everybody.

Manu is the reason we started getting dogs (we have 4). We had just gotten back from our honeymoon and we were out shopping with our gift cards we got from the wedding and we came across PetsMart and they were having an adoption day. I'm a sucker for dogs, LOVE them! Well, we were getting ourselves psyched up to give the girl our money and take the little booger home. He was so well behaved. The girl must have known how completely vulnerable we were because she proceeds to tell Manu that he has to leave his sister. WHAT?!? He's related to that adorable little girl in the crate with him? We'll take her too!!! So needless to say, he began our craziness.

Well, the kid is just a slight bit skittish and he definitely does not enjoy watching Bryan pick on me. I think he fully believes its's his God given duty to protect me because he'll whine and bark at Bryan. It's pretty hilarious. At least we know that if anything ever happens to me, I'm pretty sure I'll be safe. All this background to tell you a story that happened last night. I had school and got home pretty late so all 4 of our dogs followed me everywhere I went. I went into our guest room to help my hubby design a logo for his upcoming event at one of his pools and I lay down on the bed because I'm exhausted. Our dogs are not allowed on the bed - not even their paws; keep this in mind. Bryan comes and lays down by me and we're talking about our days and school when he proceeds to tickle me. I'm screaming and yelling like I always do; makes it more fun. This freaks Manu out A LOT!!! He's wimpering and whining and just down right freaking out at this time because of all the shrieks, screams, roaring laughter and I tease and say, "Manu help!! Help me Manu!!" Next thing I know he is on the bed inbetween Bryan and me gnawing at Bryan. We get him off the bed finally and tell him that's a bad thing, NO! Well, Bryan starts at it again and here comes Manu again. He's going to get Bryan if it's the end of him. He got such mixed responses last night. I'm telling him good boy one second for protecting me then having to show him that the bed is a no no. Fun times.

Hope you enjoyed that story! Tata for now!

We're human...

Today has been interesting, I'll say that at least. It's also had me on my knees a lot more than usual. Today is a day for firsts in our nation. Who knows if we'll go in a new direction or the same direction and it's not really our decision. It is however our leaders' decision to make. So, do you pray for them? I struggled with this at first. I know in both testaments we are called to pray for our leaders but didn't really want to pray for Obama and justified it by saying well, he's not really our leader yet. But he is. He is now. I've been devastated today to hear the hatred in the voices of Christians about our new President. I get that he isn't who we wanted, who we prayed for to take that office but he's who our nation chose. He's one of the billions Jesus laid down his life and died for and we owe him our intercessions, our humbled prayers.

President Obama, we're praying for you. God bless you in your next four years. He'll never leave your side. Find comfort in His presence man.

2 Blissful Years

That's right. Two years. It has gone by so quickly; to think that two years ago was our day for a white dress, tuxes, pink roses and black bridesmaid dresses (that drove most people crazy). It was our day to say in front of God and everybody that we pledged our lives to Him and to each other.

This year we celebrated in true Reno fashion. We made plans that didn't quite fall through. We've gotten on a biking kick lately so we took the day off to go biking. We planned on coming home to dress up (for once) and go have a nice, romantic dinner, just the two of us. Our night ended up consisting of taking our four adorable babies to have their yearly vaccines because a vet in the area was doing them for $20 and we ended up saving over $200. Instead of celebrating with each other alone and all romantic, we went to our favorite dive with our new friends/neighbors. Love is better shared. :)

The other element of the anniversary celebration: Spurs vs. Lakers - we got tickets. This is the most exciting game I have ever seen in my life. My first time to see Kobe Bryant live and in person. First time to say hi to Mark Jackson, Jeff VanGundy. First time to truly loathe the colors yellow and purple. It was a tight game, ups and downs, goods and bads and some dang good/lucky shots by all; favorable calls by the refs and then the kinds that made you want to send them packing. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary; in silver and black.

Some facts about us from these two years:

- I'm going to spend the rest of my life in school - this makes me sad (and quite the exaggerator)

- We wear t-shirts and gym shorts pretty much all the time.

- We have four dogs: yes, we know we're crazy.

- Three of them are over 60 lbs - even crazier, we know.

- We recently painted our bathroom baby blue. We plan to paint over the hideous baby blue VERY soon.

- We like to go biking; me, if it's flat level ground only. ;)

- We love the Spurs!!

- We just bought our first house! Woo hooo!!!

- We had to buy me a bigger car for our four dogs; then Bryan's car broke down - he is not sad.

- I ride the public transportation system. It's not at all like the movies.

- We have a very nice dining table that we only use when guests come. Normally we eat on the floor at our coffee table in the living room so we can watch TV.

- Bryan is an artist and really talented but tells nobody. I have become his voice since he won't.

- We went to the furniture store to buy a mattress and came home with a 7 piece bedroom suite.

Ok, that's it for now.

Holidays

Well, back to work for me after a nice, long, relaxing week off. It was nice to get up and not have to go anywhere, to sleep without worrying about waking up on time and to take a leisurely pace about our mornings. Bryan really needed the time off, especially as he moves into his new position at work. His boss requested that he take time while he had it. He had some pool problems during his time off but that's pretty normal and they were fixed quickly and easily so that's always good!

The Williford clan came in for Christmas. Alyssa and her boyfriend Jamie came with Andrew. They were here for a few days before Christmas and Andrew got some hours in working for Bryan which he was really thankful for. My dad and Kim came through on Christmas afternoon to pick Andrew up on their way to the deer lease so we got to see everybody but Aaron and his new girlfriend Lauren (I hope that's her name, wow, I'll feel bad if it isn't). We went to the movies on Christmas to watch "Marley and Me". It was SUCH a good movie. If you are sentimental and cry easily, I'd bring some tissues, my sweatshirt took a beating!! Bryan's pool had a few issues on Christmas so I went home to watch the Spurs play Phoenix with Andrew. Wow that was an intense game. I'm a sports lover, I have to be, grew up in a house full of boys so I learned to love it early! My knee will remember the game for a few days to come for sure! Phoenix was up in the last seconds and the Spurs had possession and Roger Mason drained a three to win the game and I jumped up and went crazy and had an altercation w/ the coffee table on the way off the floor...it won. :)

December 29 was Bryan's birthday. The day was pretty relaxing. I had a haircut that morning so we had lunch together and then we took our dogs for a walk/jog at Williamson County Park for a few hours then we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I had been planning and scheming for a month for a surprise party for Bryan. He's not really big on being the center of attention and tends to drag stuff out of me so I've been a basketcase for a week thinking he was going to find out but he was totally surprised and thankful. He did however say he was going to pay me back, haha. We had a lot of fun! I posted pictures to our shutterfly account. The address is: www.abreno.shutterfly.com if you want to see them. I got him a cake shaped like a basketball for his birthday, he loved it. I had to make a decoy cake and everything at home though so everything seemed normal and he didn't catch on to the party. :) It was really fun!

I hope everybody had an awesome holiday season, a merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

It's Been A While

I was reading a few friends' blogs today at lunch and realized it's been way too long since I have posted something of my own.

A lot has been going on lately meaning for me, life has been crazy busy. All I have to say is three more semesters. I can do this! I'll only have an associate's degree after it's all said and done but it's a degree AND I'll win the bet my brother and I have. See, he's 16 and said he'd graduate high school before I got a college degree, he never specified what kind of degree so, yep, I win! :) I've been learning a lot as far as researching designs and companies and what you need to know before creating something so that the logo can make sense without words; been learning how to use page layout software and make it do the hard work for me. It's been a really awesome journey and I'm excited to still be on it!

I'm teaching myself to play guitar. Yep, you read it right, teaching myself to play guitar. They say if you've played piano that guitar will be a breeze to pick up. There are some elements I am learning to where I could agree with that statement but there are others, such as strumming for example, that I could not disagree more. It will come with time I'm sure but for now I sound a little like a broken record, very scratchy and jumpy and then I can't finger the chords anymore because I'm concentrating on what my other hand is doing. Yeah...until that day comes, God bless my poor husband for having to listen to the Intro for "Kerosene" by Miranda Lambert over and over and over again.

My hubby got a promotion at work. He'll be head over all aquatics pretty soon. They had a little rearranging within his department since they are getting a new rec center this Summer. Pray for him when you get a chance that God will calm his nerves. I keep telling him Lamentations 3:25. He's a mix of emotions right now, very excited but at the same time a little scared of all the responsibilities that will come with stepping up to this new position. :) He is an amazing man and I know that he will do an exceptional job; he has a passion for what he does that is so contagious to the people around him. I just love it.

I don't think that even scratches the surface of what has been going on lately but it works! I hope everybody is doing fabulous during this holiday season!

Today and the next four years...

My friend Nate made an excellent post this morning and I just wanted to share it with everybody:

Nate’s Noise

Election Thoughts-A lot of fear and anxiety has gripped our nation these past few months. Concerns of the economy, concerns of the election, health care, education, war (and rumors of war), security, mortgages, retirement, etc. I know about half of our country is in turmoil, and the other half is rejoicing; over the next President of the United States. Regardless of how you feel about it, I still think this is the biggest reason why we live in the greatest nation.

As Christ-Followers, our freedom is not in the person of President. Our contentment is not in our government, but our freedom and contentment is in the Lord. And it is the Lord who has given the authority of our government. As John 19:11 says, "Jesus answered, 'You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has {the} greater sin.'"

We, as Christ-Followers, are reminded of how we are to interact with governing authorities in Romans 13:1-2, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves."

So even though there may (or may not) be an agreement with Obama's philosophies on life, religion, politics, etc; God has placed him in this position of leadership and authority. I find comfort in that. I find comfort in the fact that regardless of who is in the Office of President, the Lord’s ways will prevail. Yes, we as Christ-Followers can be concerned about some issues we face, and some solutions presented for these issues; but that is why we can always voice our opinion through congressman and senators; and continue to work with our government to ensure these solutions address our concerns.

But above all, we (as Christ-Followers) honor the Lord with how we honor and pray for the governing authorities. So I ask that as a church, and a body of believers, we would come together to pray for Obama, our judges, and our representatives like we've done in the past. That we would continue to show the unconditional Love of Christ to everyone around us; as II Timothy 1:13-14 says, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to {you.}” May the Lord God Almighty (El-Shaddai) continue to shower the United States of America with His blessings; as His body continues to work faithfully unto Him.