Sleeeeeep

Happy Valentines Day!

While all of my girlfriends got diamonds and roses, I got a goldfish and a cactus!!

And THAT is why Ethan is perfect for me, he knows I'm not a diamonds and roses kinda gal, I'm a cactus and goldfish kinda gal. (Yes Mom and Dad, I will take care of this one and it won't end up in your garage, Promise!)

Actually, I got cactus seeds and sweet pea seeds...Now Ethan is calling me Cactus Jane and his Sweet Pea, and I'll have plants to represent his love for me. Sometimes I'm prickly like a cactus and sometimes I'm sweet like a pea. But predicting my phases at any given moment is about as easy as predicting the moon's phase at any given moment (see you'd have to Google that or look on your calendar!) which is why he also calls me Luna.

Speaking of the moon, I am so tired!! I love sleeping, it's seriously my number one hobby. You could say I am the queen of sleep. But lately I've been having nightmares every night!!! Which got me thinking. As Children of God we are promised good sleep, did you know that?!

Proverbs 3:24

when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Psalm 4:8

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

I think that covers nightmares as well as insomnia. So start declaring sweet sleep over your nights, because you've already been promised it!

For Valentine's day Ethan took me to this little hibachi grill in LR. Benihana's or something. I am terrified of hibachi grills!!! Seriously, not my idea of a good time. I hate fire, I hate knives, especially when they're being flipped, and I hate being teased by someone I can't understand. Thankfully, our cook barely even talked to us, so I could enjoy my night.

On the way home while we were jamming out to Jesus Culture, my new favorite band :) I got to looking out the car window, and you know when that happens I'm about to realize something profound. And sure enough, this time was no exception.

I'm going to tell you even if you don't want to hear.

My thought processes: (a peak inside Brandy's brain)

Me and Ethan are about to be really poor

Dad and Mom used to be really poor

Dad used to work for MCI, they were poor then

I'm so glad he got that job at IBP (Iowa Beef Processors, Iowa Beef and Pork, I am Bob Peterson, no one really knew what it stood for)

I am so glad Tyson bought IBP and Dad is so awesome he was one of the few selected to move

Did I just say I'm glad we moved?

*glance at Ethan, drumming on the steering wheel*

Yeah, I'm glad we moved.

OMG! John Tyson didn't know this, but when Tyson bought IBP it was because God needed us to move to Arkansas because I needed to meet Ethan here. John Tyson, you did it all for me!!!!!

Moral of the story, our steps are ordered. Every teeny tiny step is ordered.

What if Dad had picked a different major, taken a different job??? Well, I mean, somehow everything in God's plan would've still worked out, but are you getting this?!?! Things that we don't think matter, DO!! Things that we think matter, matter more than we think!!

Everything happens for a reason :)

Gum Gum Plans Plans

NEW JOB!!!!

I got an awesome new job that I should definitely tell everyone about.

It's at Acxiom. And while I know my wonderful boss Danielle from church, I was still quite nervous about starting. Mostly that I wouldn't be smart enough, we'll see.

(These events may be slightly out of order)

So I get there on Monday, and I walk in and there is chocolate cake! Yes!! I LOOOOVE cake!!! And chocolate!! So, pretty much I could've been hit by a train and stiill would've liked the job, I just hope there's chocolate cake everyday.

Anyway, next they take a terrible picture of me and stick it on a badge that I have to wear ALL THE TIME, fantastic, and it lasts until the end of my career there. Maybe when I'm 40 I'll think it's a good picture, but for some reason, my cheeks look extra chubby in it.

Next they show me my awesome cube!!! Ok, I know it's weird to get excited about a cube, but I saw where my dad keeps his interns..........ha just kidding :) but kinda seriously. It's more than just a tiny desk at the end of a cube row!!

I got a laptop to work from home with, a headset to answer my phone with, sometime I'll start working right?! ;)

All of the excitement of the week got me thinking. How many times (in the past year alone) have I been devastated by people that I thought controlled my destiny!? *Slightly random, I know, but it will make sense, or maybe just in my brain*

How many times in our lives have we let people get the best of us? Getting let go by an employer, not getting accepted into the school of our choice, etc etc and the like.

I just get so torn up about stuff like that, it's like "HELLO BRANDY!! these people don't control your future, God does"

I didn't get laid off or rejected because I'm not good enough or smart enough, NO! It's because God has a different plan, and He's trying to make it more obvious to me.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Keep that in mind if you're going through a transition right now and it feels out of your control.

Now, I am seriously craving some ice cream, brownies, cookies, chocolate cupcakes and gum. And some guitar/singing praise songs with Ethan.

Snow Stories

Conway finally got snow! If you can call it that. Arkansas snow, well southern/central Arkansas snow, comes and leaves usually within 24 hours; so I don't know if you can really call that snow.

To me, for snow to be "snow," there must be at least 3 inches, it must be pure, none of this misty drizzle business, and it must be on the ground when you wake up a minimum of 2 days in a row.

I don't want to burst anyone's snow bubble so I'm going to tell a few stories about when we lived in Iowa and we had real snow....and it was miserable 90% of the time......

As most of you probably don't know, there are like 2 hills in the entire state of Iowa. I mean decent sledding hills. I felt a pang in my legs just now as I'm remembering running four miles up hill down hill last summer, so there are some small hills, but 2 big hills.

One of them is at a public park. Silver Sioux. It should be treacherous lightening death hill sioux. When my parents were teenagers it was an inner-tubing hill, and there was a lift that carried the sledders back to the top. I mean, this bad boy is probably a good quarter mile of steep steep steep. Now, it's a quarter mile of steep steep thorn bushes with a tiny little trail, just barely big enough for a sled. In good snow, the thorn bushes are covered; however, the more people that sled, the more uncovered the thorn buses become. Last winter, under 40 inches of snow, it would've been impossible to even get there, let alone sled. But this past December was kinder and we enjoyed several afternoons on the hill.

Imagine. 10 degrees outside (probably colder, but I don't want you Arkansans to have a brain freeze), trudging up this hill with bearskin army snow pants, a marshmallow coat, a ski mask, a scarf wrapped several times around your mouth and nose, carrying a Laura Ingalls style toboggan....gasping for air, chest pains...why is it so hard to breath? Are you really this out of shape? No, unwrap the scarf a couple times to let some air flow (yeah sometimes I wonder if I even have a brain) :D

You get to the top of the hill and it is a looonngg way down. That red circle marks the landing spot!

Now you get on the sled, Rylee, You, Bryce, in that order. And fly. You are going so fast you can't even breath, let alone scream. The only sound is the wooden tobaggon scraping over the thorns...and the next thing you know, Rylee flips over you and Bryce flies off behind you, and you are on your back on the ground, the ice cold snow scooping into your coat, gloves, and pants as you race, headfirst the rest of the way down the hill. Finally, you slow to a stop, and don't know whether to laugh or cry. You sit up, get oriented, look around for your companions. Rylee's halfway up the hill, Bryce about in between you guys. Then you realize "WHERE IS THE SLED?!" In a panic you begin to search, until Rylee finds it, along with her stocking cap, deep inside a thorn bush. And all of a sudden, that wet feeling on your back is slightly comforting, and your happy it's not bloody thorns.

Moral of the story, the state of Iowa needs to clean up their park!!

Nothing can compare with last winter though. 40 inches. 6 foot snow drifts. INSANITY. I have seen nothing like it. Thankfully, I have a totally awesome family and everyone had fun.

Snow makes some of the best memories, some of the best bonding times, so while Conway has this snow, everyone should get outside and have fun in it :)