Glamor and Dishonesty.

LONGEST POST EVER.

I have a million thoughts buzzing around my head. I can't seem to focus on one long enough to blog about it so this post may end up quite congested.

I really feel like I need to take some time and prioritize myself. I feel like I waste too much time on things of unimportance and I don't focus enough on things that really matter to me. It's been leaving me feeling very bland lately. Like I'm not making the difference that I should be. I think I need to work on a list of what matters number one to what matters the least and spend the most time on things on the top of the list and less time on things closer to the bottom (i.e. facebook!). Seriously, sometimes I suck.

Now. What is being a Christian? So many people get stuck on the building and the clothing. But it's so much more. It's more than Sunday mornings. Being a Christian is about having a true, loving relationship with Christ and about spreading and sharing that love. It doesn't have to be going door-to-door to share your beliefs. You don't have to press what you think onto others. It's about living differently. Above the influence, so to speak. It's about doing what's Godly, people will see the difference in you wether you speak to them about Jesus or not. Also. People that do not know Christ will judge Him by the way Christians live. If as a Christian you're being judgemental or unkind to people that do not know Jesus, they will think that He (or everyone that believes in Him) is judgemental/unkind. I helped out w/ a youth group while I was in college and the youth pastor there repeatedly told us two of the most important things we can do as Christians are to love and be real. I couldn't agree more. In life those are two of the most important choices you can make, to love and be real.

I am a huge, huge One Tree Hill fan. My first year of college at Williston, one snowing weekend I started watching Janelle's first season of One Tree Hill and my other Janelle and I spent the rest of the weekend finishing it and soon had the rest of our roommates obsessed. We each bought a season so we could watch them together and would spend days skipping classes and watching episode after episode of OTH. Well. I finally convinced Erik to start watching from season one w/ me and we're now in the third season. The episode we watched last night was about, long story short a bullied high school student bringing a gun to school. Mostly my point from this is that I don't think we realize how much our kindness/unkindness effects others. People really know how to be cruel and it's so sad. I've been working at the middle school this week and they did a poll: 49% of middle schoolers at Sidney Middle School feel bullied at school. There were a lot of other %'s that ended up so sadly high like them feeling uncared about etc. It's so sad. Do you remember that? I was talking w/ other teachers today about those polls and reminicing on what it was like to be in middle school and getting made fun of for what you wore? And anything else the cruel kids would come up w/? Awful. Two things you will not find here: glamor and dishonesty. I'm very about being real and being loving. But I do not believe this life is glamorous. Beautiful yes. Heartbreaking yes. There are so many adjectives to descripe this life. Good and bad. But in honest real life there isn't glam. Sweat yes. Tears yes. Joy yes. I will not try and portray our lives as anything less real than they are. I am a complete optimist so, yes you will more than likely see the positive side of situations but if something sucks it is what it is. I won't try and glam up anything, that isn't. But. I love. I love everyone and everything. I see the best in everyone and every situation.

I'd also like to give a quick shot out to one of my middle school students. Raymond Jolley. If you're reading this one, you're great and you deserve to hear it. Every time I sub at the middle school Raymond has something to ask me that follows up on the last time I was there. Example. The first time I subbed w/ him was while I was coaching cross country and before I had taken my national boards exam. The next time I was there he was asking me how I did on the test and how cross country was. When I was there today he was asking me if I was working at a salon yet and asking questions about Erik because he'd read our blog. He even called Erik by name. Raymond if you're reading this, really you're one of the most considerate people I know. You're so great! I love trying to remember details about people so I can try and bring it up the next time I'm w/ them. I just think it's so kind/considerate and it feels so great when some one takes the time to follow up w/ you and show you they care. Thank you for that! Like Canada and Adam checking in today to ask if I was excited for Grey's. You are such fabulous people.

Since my last post we traveled the 900 miles to Idaho for Thanksgiving, which as Erik said took us so much longer than it should have. We really had the best week w/ Erik's family and our friends. Erik's sister-in-law Amber had a baby shower before we arrived that went we were informed went SO well. (: Later in the week Amber let me look through all of the gifts they recieved. Josh and Amber are so blessed. They recieved so many wonderful gifts! While we were going through gifts I was asking Amber what they had decided on for a name. Lilly Alyssabeth Blair. (They're not 100% sure on the spelling yet). But I think it is the most perfect, perfect name. I've really always loved the name Lilly, it's one of my nicknames for my sister so that may be why I'm so found of it, but it's really so sweet. Amber's older sister's name is Alyssa and Josh and Erik's younger sister's name is Bethany so the middle name is a combo of their sister's names which I think couldn't be more perfect. So great. We also had a little chat about the way relationships have been changing between my friends and myself, w/ us growing up at different rates and having different priorities. To you friends that have completely different lives that me, but we still know how to love each other anyway, I truly appreciate you. But Amber's respones was something to the effect of, just wait until you get married. (: Ha. Really it's so great when you can relate to other people, like they're going through or have been through what you're going through or have been through. It's so nice.

We really had a great trip! We got to see so many wonderful people that matter so much to us! Erik's family. Grandparents, Nancy and Jarvis, parents, Micki and Greg and siblings, Josh, Amber and Bethany. Our friends, Kara and daughter Alyssa (unfortunately no Tanner), Canada and daugheters Addysin and Paysley (unfortunately no Adam), Clint, Ashley and Devin. And all of the great members of Erik's grandparent's church. To everyone else that we didn't get to see, we would have loved to and I'm terribly sorry it didn't work out for us this time around.

I love spending time w/ Erik's family. They matter so much to Erik which I think is a really huge thing and we always have so much fun when we're there. I'm not the best traveler but I always feel right at home in their home. They've always been so welcoming. Spending time w/ Erik's sister and his sister-in-law has always been a scarey thing for me, it's like being in middle school all over again, feeling insecure and not knowing what to expect. Girls are so much harder to get than boys! Ha. But I love getting to know them. I love spending time w/ Bethany and hearing about her relationships. It helps me so much to understand my relationship w/ Erik. They're so much alike. I feel like every arguement Erik and I have Bethany has as well in her relationships, and hearing it from her perspective, from a girl point of view helps me to understand so much more what Erik is feeling. I love the coffee dates I have w/ Amber and Micki when we have girl days together. We always have the deepest convos and I learn so much from the both of them and their relationships. I love that. Erik and I really blessed w/ the greatest examples. Erik's brother Josh is a really great man w/ a great begining to a beautiful family.

I have so much more to share but this is too long to begin w/ and GREY'S ANATOMY JUST STARTED.

Pasta. God Bless. LOVE. Kate. (:

"Love the ones that let you love them and treat the rest the best you can!"

--Clint Smith

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them"
--Mother Teresa

Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
--James 1:19