Moving to Redding

It's official... Matt, Malea and I are moving to town. This is a long awaited answer to prayer and we are so excited/nervous. We looked at a duplex yesterday that we would really like to get but we are still waiting to hear back from them. I've already packed 2 boxes but I have a LONG ways to go. I don't think you ever realise how much stuff you have until it's time to box it all up! So I've got a lot of work ahead of me but I am happy to do it because it means that we will be closer to all of our friends and pretty much everything else. :) Redding hear we come!!!

God totally healed me!

Tuesday night I woke up about 2am (so I guess technically it was Wednesday but whatever) and my throat was killing me! I never seem to get the flu or any of the other seasonal sicknesses but EVERY dang year I get the soar throat, runny nose, lose your voice thing. I've already had it once this year and I was miserable for 2 weeks! Needless to say when I woke up the other night and my throat was killing me I was super frustrated. It's hard because my job is to talk to people on the phone all day so I knew that I wouldn't be able to let my voice rest on Wednesday.

So there I am awake at 2am, frustrated to no end, and not able to sleep because my throat hurt. I rolled over and popped a Zinc lozenge in my mouth (I had put them on my night stand because I kind of had a feeling it was coming) and I just started praying that God would heal me. I finally fell back to sleep but when I woke up at 6:15am it was still really hurting. I thought about just going back to sleep but I knew that I had a lot of work to do so I dragged myself out of bed.

All morning my throat bothered me but I kept praying, drinking lots of water and popping those Zinc lozenges (they're from Trader Joe's and they are the best!). Later in the afternoon my throat was feeling a little better but I still wasn't 100% so I tried to take it easy and I skipped my afternoon walk on my treadmill.

Last night when I went to bed I was anticipating another miserable night but I totally slept well, except for getting up and having to go to the bathroom, and this morning when I woke up my throat felt great! Praise the Lord! I've never only had a 1 day sickness but I'm so grateful that God healed me and that I can get back to work, working out, and life as usual! Woo-hoo!

4 Years

Today Matt and I have been married for four years. I can't believe it has been that long! In some ways it feels like the time has flown by and in other ways it feels like we have known each other forever.

Four years ago we were married at the Mt. Shasta Resort and it was a gorgeous wedding. We still have people tell us that it was the best wedding they ever attended; one of our friends even told us that it was better than her own wedding--now that's a compliment!

Little did Matt and I know that we were in for the greatest adventure of our lives. Our first year of marriage was not all bliss but through the tough times we learned how to love each other deeper, how to communicate more effectively and how to argue without killing each other. :) Matt and I are both very passionate and stubborn people so it was an interesting year figuring out how to make things work for us. But through it all our first year was still amazing. In only 1 year of marriage we bought our first car together, started building our first home together, and moved in with my mom (woo-hoo!). The living with the in law thing was a temporary solution to how to save a ton of money when building our first home. I know it wasn't Matt's favorite thing but we were both grateful for the free housing. We also celebrated our first year of marriage with a trip to Seattle that Matt planned as a surprise for me. We had an amazing time dining at fancy restaurants, wine tasting, buying art, and walking around the city; we absolutely fell in love with Seattle.

Our second year started off amazing! We were completely caught up in the construction of our new home and somehow, even though we were at my moms, we discovered a deeper and greater passion for one another that we had not noticed in our first year together. I cannot describe how much fun and joy we had together building our first home and dreaming of the days when we would start a family together in our home. In January of 2006 we moved into our new home and it was such a joy and a miracle from the Lord. That month we totally saw God move in our lives and provide for us financially in a way that we had never seen him move. It turns out that Matt had calculated our payments wrong so when it was time to move in we found out that it was going to be about $300 more than we had counted on and we freaked out. I remember both of us sitting on our bed, at my mom's, and crying because we thought that we were going to have to sell our house before even moving into it. But God totally came through for us and even though the numbers didn't add up we trusted in him to provide for us (as we felt he was moving us to do) and there has never been a month that we have come up short! Through that experience God totally brought us closer to Him and closer to one another. That year was also filled with more trips and adventures. That summer we took a week long trip to Kauai (thanks dad!) with my family and we had so much fun! Matt and I both love the beach so we soaked up the sun, and snorkeled and surfed our hearts out while we were there. A month later we celebrated our second anniversary with at trip to Colorado Springs for a friends wedding. We spent a week out there sight seeing and I enjoyed taking strolls down memory lane with Matt as he showed me all the places he used to go as a kid growing up there.

Our third year started off even better than the other two. Matt and I continued to grow deeper in our relationship with one another and God continued to work in our lives even though it didn't always fell like it. Looking back I remember feeling like I was in such a dry season but I see how God used it to strengthen Matt and I and I remember feeling so blessed hearing Matt's cries to God to speak to me. Matt loves God so much but I have never seen him get so angry with the Lord as he did when he was crying out on my behalf. That winter we hosted our first Thanksgiving and our first Christmas in our new-ish home and we enjoyed hosting many other parties with friends and family. We were also fortunate enough to get to do a lot of traveling this year. Thanks to my wonderful dad, who believes in showing his kids the world, we were incredibly fortunate to get to take a 12 day cruise to visit 5 European countries. We spent 7 days on the open seas where we stuffed our faces with great food and rode out a huge storm that put up 40 ft swells--it was unreal! Once we reached land we got to tour Cobh, Ireland; Southern England; Paris, France; Brugge, Belgium; and Amsterdam. We also spent an extra day in Holland to tour the tulip fields before our flight home. On our way home we took a 4 day layover in NY which was so fun. Matt had never been to NY before so everything was exciting to him and we made the most of it: seeing a Broadway musical, eating at fancy restaurants and visiting the highest building in NY. After that 3 week trip we headed home and only 10 days after our return Matt left for Chile for 1 month. That was a hard month but it was also so neat in other ways. It was great to see our relationship grow even though we couldn't see each other and sometimes we went days without being able to speak on the phone. Needless to say though I was happy to see him when he got home! After that was when Matt came home and wanted children, so like I mentioned in "Our Story" we flipped a coin and the adventure began. What an exciting way to end three incredible years.

Many of you know the story of our fourth year: pain and heartache but HUGE growth in our relationship both spiritually, mentally and physically. Every year I think, "it can't get any better than this" and every year I am proven wrong. Our fourth year has been absolutely incredible. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband; a man that loves me so much that he would do anything for me. I think this year God had not only given us a deeper love for one another but he has deepened the level of our friendship. I cannot imagine my life without Matt. He is the most honorable, respectable, loving, caring, and amazing man that I know. I am SO BLESSED to have him as my husband and I am SO EXCITED to see him take on the new role of fatherhood. I am actually more excited to see Matt be a dad than I am to see myself be a mom. He is going to be so amazing and I know that it will just blow me away!

So here's to you Babe! I love you, I respect you, I am so proud of you, and I definitely consider myself the luckiest girl in the world!

God's Goodness

Sunday night Nathan preached a great message but the one thing that stood out to me the most was what he said about God's goodness. He said that "one of the greatest schemes of the enemy is to blind the world from seeing how GOOD God is." This statement hit me like a ton of bricks because how many times in my life have I been so focused on what I'm not getting that I miss out on how much God is really blessing me? Probably a lot! It's so easy to get caught up in what we aren't getting that we lose focus on what we've been given. So I decided that I wanted to proclaim to the world some of the good that God has done in my life. I have been blessed so much by the Lord that the least I can do is to recognize that and be grateful for it. So here's some of the good:

1. God has blessed me with great parents who may have stopped loving one another but NEVER stopped loving me
2. God has blessed me with a great family: sisters, a brother, cousins, 4 uncles and incredible grandparents
3. God has always blessed me with great friends: always the right ones for the right time in my life
4. God has blessed me with an amazing husband that loves everything about me: the good, bad, and the ugly
5. God has always provided for me financially even though sometimes it seemed impossible
6. God has always provided great jobs for me; I don't remember the last time I had to look for a job, because the right job has always come in His perfect timing
7. God knows that I love to travel and has provided incredible opportunities for me to live on the East Coast and Hawaii, and to visit every state on the East Coast, the Grand Canyon, Los Vegas, Colorado, Ireland, England, France, Belgium, and Holland
8. God has blessed Matt and I with a beautiful home which we have been able to use to bless others
9. God has blessed me with 4 nephews and 1 niece all of whom are healthy and adorable
10. God has blessed Matt and I with the incredible gift of a baby who is healthy and growing inside of me

These are just a few of the MANY ways that God has blessed me in my life. I am so grateful for all of the good that God has done in my life and even though I know I will still have doubts I pray that I can look at all of the ways God has blessed me and have faith that whatever the situation I know that He is in control and that He has my best interest in mind. What are the ways in which God has been good in your life?

4th of July--What a day!!!

The 4th of July was a very eventful day for my family. Despite the fact that there were no fireworks this was probably the best 4th of July ever! At 4:30am I got a call from my mom saying that my sister had just gone into labor. Only an hour and a half later we were all racing to the hospital. With no drugs and no surgery Alisha popped out Parker Joel Knudsen at 8:56am on Friday morning! Parker was 7lbs, 10oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He is perfect. I instantly fell in love and I think he is the most adorable baby boy that I have ever seen. Here are a few pictures from Parker's birthday:

Mommy and Daddy with baby Parker

Me and baby Parker--he's so cute I couldn't stop kissing him!
Parker showing us his eyes for the first time, snuggled on Grandpa's lap
After all the excitement of Parker's birth the day just kept getting more exciting. My cousin, Tim Nelson, ran in the Men's 10,000M for the Olympic trials. He didn't qualify, but he came in 10th place which means that my cousin is the 10th best runner in the whole nation in that event! How crazy is that!?! I was glued to the TV watching the race; Billy and I sat about 2 feet from the TV tracking Tim. He was at the front of the pack for the first part of the race but then toward the end he started slowing down (the paper said he cramped up a little) and he was in the middle of the pack. It was just so crazy to see my cousin on TV running for the Olympic Trials!!! We are all so proud! Here is a picture of the article that was in the paper. I should have gotten a picture of us glued to the TV, that would have been better. :)

Money

I was just reading Amy's blog that mentioned Nathan's quick message at the Stirring last night and it got me going. I just have a few things to say and I'll probably offend everyone, but that is not my intention.

Yesterday Nathan got up at the leadership meeting and then again last night at the Stirring and talked about how we are $14,000 under budget for this year. To be frank this REALLY makes me angry (and that's my nice way of saying it). I do not understand it at all!!! You all know that Matt does the finances but just to be clear I don't know who gives or how much anyone gives, only Matt and Meghan know this. What I do know are the over all numbers and every time Matt and I talk about it I get sooooooo heated. I know that we are in a bad economy right now and that some don't have as much as others but when it comes down to it EVERYONE has $10 or $20 extra a month. Sean said it well yesterday, he said that we should all make a pie chart to see how much we are giving to other areas in our life. How much do you spend on gas each month, on food, on entertainment, on your pets, etc. If you are giving 25% of your income to entertainment each month and none to God... well let's just say that you need to check your priorities.

Okay, I'm getting heated... changing the subject...

Nathan has said it many times "we don't need your money, God will provide" it's not about you giving us your money, it's about our family calling us into a deeper relationship with God and who doesn't want that? So many times the Bible talks about sacrifice and about giving God your best. If God is calling us to sacrifice then I think we should be making sacrifices! Matt and I have always agreed that we would figure out what we wanted to give (for our tithe) and then give $50 or $100 more than that just so that we could see how God would provide for us. It has been amazing! Every time we do this God totally provides for us; we have literally received checks in the mail, random gifts from family, etc. we never know where it's going to come from but God ALWAYS provides and because of this our faith in God has been dramatically increased!!! Sure we still have our doubts, but like I said in my earlier blog, we are always learning. Just this weekend we were talking about some big expenses and when we needed to have them paid by and after working out the numbers it was amazing to see that by the end of our deadline God will have provided EXACTLY how much we need, and that's just what we figured on paper, I'm sure He will end up providing so much more!!!

I think giving is SO important, not only does it financially support what God is doing around us, but it allows us to grow in faith and it allows us to be free from the burden of money that the world has put on us. If you weren't around for the Money, Sex, and Power series in the fall you should totally check out the podcast.

I think I've said enough and I hope that I haven't offended too many of you. Please just see that my heart is not to condemn but it is to call out the greatness in each one of us. We all need God and we all love God. God loves us all, and God needs us to give back a portion of what He has so generously blessed us with. Please at least pray about it, don't just turn a deaf ear when Nathan talks about money.

God is Good!

It's funny how we never learn but how God is always faithful. We always think that we know the best way to run our lives but really when it comes down to it... we have no clue. I am learning, AGAIN, that God is good and that He is always faithful. He has blessed me in so many ways and even though I may not have answers to some of life's questions I know that in the right time God will give me the answers. I am so blessed. I have an AMAZING husband, a beautiful home, a wonderful family, 2 cute kitties, great friends, and so much more!!!

Yay for me!!!

I logged onto my work email this morning and this is what was there to greet me:

"Congratulations to Anna and Robin for winning the May contest of most calls generated and most meetings scheduled. That’s $250 a piece!"

Woo-hoo!!! I totally forgot all about the contest!!! I'm so excited! My birthday is in about a week and a half so this is a very good birthday surprise for me!!!

Geico shmeico

You know those Geico commercials that say if you call them you could save up to 15% and then the little gecko taunts you and says that if you don't call "it's like saying you're too rich to get up off the couch to make a phone call." Well I always thought it was crap but recently we found out that our Farmer's agent got fired and then a series of events unravelled and we realized that she had totally screwed us and for the last few month we have been paying WAY more for our insurance than we needed to be because she didn't feel like calling us to tell us one minor detail that made a $50/month difference! So of course we were pissed and Matt started researching better rates. Today he finally called Geico and we found out that the commercial is actually true! Matt called, got through to somebody right away, and over about a 20 minute phone call saved us 37% a month on our insurance AND we now have better coverage!!! Holy cow! That works out to be about $76/month which will definitely come in handy with the rising gas prices!!! Praise the Lord!!!