Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Monday, January 18, 2010

This may sound weird coming from one of the lightest skinned women in the world (have you seen my legs?). But thank God for Martin Luther King, Jr. He was truely an inspirational man. He brought hope to many who felt trapped, oppressed, and looked down upon. He brought an age old issue to the surface and fought gallantly to right one of the biggest wrongs in this world. Through him, even decades after his death, he has inspired many to continue to fight for what they believe in. His cause was segregation and civil rights, another person's cause may be equal employment or the chance to be considered for a college scholarship equally. He taught us to dream, to work hard for our goals, and to stand up for what we believe in. I have learned so much from him, and from other courageous individuals like him. Thank God for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the many many others who have given thier lives to better the lives of those to come.

Earthquake in Haiti

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Two days ago, Tuesday January 12th 2010, Josh and I celebrated our 8 month anniversary. Unknown to us at the time, a natural disaster of horrific measures was waging war on the world's poorest nation. At this point the death toll is at half a million, and frantic, frightened, desperate survivors are still streaming through the streets looking for loved ones, looking for water, looking for help. This was not a human made disaster, the ones looming over us threatened by ego-hungry trigger-happy country leaders. This is the way God made the earth. I'm sure many of the survivors are asking the same question, "why?". But I don't think anyone knows exactly why He decided to make earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados... Many people speculate what they believe is the reason, one prominent explanation being that it is God's way of cleansing the earth. Evidence of this is true in the Bible. Noah did build an ark to be saved from the flood. A flood that God told him He was setting upon the whole face of the earth to cleanse it from it's wicked state. So is that what God is doing when he sends natural disasters our way? I don't know. If that is His intention, does He know that with the wicked there are also many many righteous lives that have been lost too? I'm sure He does. God knows all, and He is in control of all. He has a purpose for all of us here on this earth. I do believe that before we come to earth, we are also fully aware of what our path may be - what circumstances we will live with and how we will eventually leave earth again. And we agree - WILLINGLY! If He had told me that my path on this earth was to die in a natural disaster in order to teach millions and millions of people humility, I would have agreed without a doubt to take my place in His plan. Wouldn't you? Those innocent people who have lost thier lives will be exhaulted. Don't fear for them. They are probably already sitting at the feet of our Lord, having eternal blessings bestowed upon them.
Below is one man made tragedy that did occur with this disaster in Haiti. Below are two photos of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. One magnificent work of architecture now lays in ruins. The world will miss it.
Thank you to all of the people who have already come to the aid of the survivors. I pray that help will find each and everyone of them. Please continue to give.

Christmas and New Year's Day

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Alright, here is my update. I'm sorry its so so late. We have been so so busy! Christmas was blast. We didn't get very many good pictures, but it was really fun! We did n't have the girls this year for Christmas Eve, and it was truely our first Christmas as a married couple. On christmas eve we drove around Salt Lke to see some lights, it was gorgeous! We also finished our last little bits of things and watched the movie Elf. We had our own Christmas morning in the pajamas Josh had gotten for us and opened the few gifts we had gotten each other. I surprised Josh with getting him a Wii, and I'm amazed with myself for not spilling the beans about this surprise. He was really really surprised and I'm so glad it turned out so well. On Christmas day we went to my family's house first and had cinnamon rolls and opened gifts all together. My parents got us a ton of kitchen stuff. YAY!!! And my sister put together this super cute date night bag. It was really fun. Then we went to Josh's family's house and made these little sausage and cheese cups and hung out and had fun. We opened gifts once all the siblings got there and Josh's parents gave us a whole box of oranges, then Josh's grandpa gave us a case of canned pineapple. You better believe we have been making the yummyest shakes! Josh's brother McKay is still on his mission, and he called in the afternoon. The phone was passed around and when it was my turn we joked about how we have never met and how the first time he talked to me was when he was at the airport from the MTC to Chile and how awkward that was. he also thinks that three of his susters need to be pregnant when he gets home in July (Heidi, Chandra and I). We'll see I guess. July is a long time from now. Later we went back to my mom and dads for Christmas dinner and had the Andreason traditional Lasagna. We got to pick up Kim and Shay later that night and took them home to sleep. It was a great Christmas Day. I loved seeing everyone and spending time with them. Thats the best thing about Christmas. The next day we went back up to Josh's parent's house and celebrated Christmas with the girls. They had such a great time discovering thier surprises. The rest of the weekend was really fun and I'm so glad we were able to spend it with family. I'm so thankful for my husband and for everything he does for me. He is truely the most supportive person I've ever known. He always makes me feel good when I'm down and i love him for exactly who he is.
On New Years Eve we went to Josh's old friends Ben and Pam's house to play games. Josh and Ben grew up together, and I found out Pam went to school with my friend Tasha. thier neighbors came over too so there were three couples. We played games and had tons of fun for hours. We rang in the new year, had a little bubbly, played a few more games and then the boys wanted to play poker. I was dead tired so I curled up on the couch and fell asleep. By the time Josh was ready to go home, andwe got everything packed in the car and drove all the way back to Salt Lake, it was about 3:30am when we got home. HAHA. But it was fun. On New Years Day we went back up to go bowling and hang out with Josh's family. I did terrible at bowling the first game, but second game was pretty good and I think we all beat Jordan. (sorry Jord!) Josh felt he didn't do good and wanted a rematch. We went over to Heidi and Jordan's house and had home made mini pizzas and salad and watched G.I. Joe. All of Josh's siblings were there, except McKay of course. After the movie we played the card game Scum for like 4 hours, but it was really fun. Another late night, so we went home and crashed. The next day (saturday) we decided to use the date night kit my sister had given us for Christmas. Inside was a gift card for Blockbuster. Well, instead of a movie, we got a Wii game. the New Super Mario Bros. Wii..... yeah... it was another late night of staying up to play games.... needless to say we slept in to at least 10am all weekend. (weird). but it was a great holiday season and we had a lot of fun hanging out with family and friends. Thanks to everyone for the memories!

Mini-Update

Monday, January 4, 2010

Yes, I know you need an update. Yes, I know you want to know how our Christmas was. Yes, I know you are just dying to tell us Happy New Year. All right, all right. I'll update you with a new post that covers all of this. First, I need pictures from Heidi and Candy. So until then, you may just need to cool your jets. MMMM Kay? Love you all. I will update soon, I promise!