2 blogs in 1!

I haven't written in a while, and over the past couple of days I've been thinking about two things. So I'll write them as two separate blogs, but they're all being posted together. Two birds. One stone. Let's do this.

Knowing When to Push...

So I went jogging/walking the other day and I really had a goal to jog most of the way and to go at least 2 miles. Well I went almost 2 and a half miles, but I walked most of the way. I could blame it on my 3 year old dog who, in the middle of a good jogging stretch, forgets what she's doing and runs smack into my legs. But I really doubt it's that.

The problem is that when it starts to hurt, I quit. My goal is to get in the habit of running everyday that it becomes second nature to me. That running can be a stress reliever, a way to get away from it all for a little bit. I don't know that I want to run races and marathons, but I do know that I want to run. For miles and miles. 

Even though I'm literally talking about running here, there are many of other things we can replace running with. School, work, relationships, God, family, etc. The list could go on forever. How many of us, when things get tough, want to back off or quit? We have to know when it's worth it to push through to get the results we want. 

My goal is to run a little more every day so that I eventually get up to where I'm satisfied. Even if I can only run 2 miles. That's 2 more miles than I can run now. My goal is 5, but I'll start where I can and then push until I, one day, get up to 5. Or 10. 

What's Worth It?

Over the past week, I've been going through our monthly bills, wondering what is really a necessary bill. We have our house note, car note, phone bill, utilities, etc.  Most of our bills are things we need. However, our Dish Network bill is one that I've been thinking about. Do we use it enough to justify $50 a month? Even if we do use it enough, is that something we can live without? So, we discussed it and decided that we don't need it. We went through the weekend with it and this morning I called and canceled it. 

Let me tell you, this is definitely something we use. Sam watches TV when I'm at work, and I watch TV when I'm on breaks from school. But we don't NEED it. We have a PlayStation3 and a laptop with wireless internet. We are still able to watch our shows. We have a Netflix account so we can still watch movies. I don't see anything that we will be missing because of it. The only deal is convenience. It's not as convenient to turn on the PS3, log into Netflix, and then find what you want to watch. It's super easy to turn on the TV and go. But, is it worth it? No. 

I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for other things we can cut back on, but this is the first one that popped into my head. It'll take some adjustments. But I also thing this will help me to be more productive around the house. I can't just turn the TV on and veg out all day. I can get up and re-organize, wash clothes, clean, cook, etc. Things that I should be doing everyday but don't happen because I get lost in TV show marathons or movies. I'm not saying that getting rid of Dish is going to completely turn my life around. I still want to lay around sometimes. But hopefully it won't be as often :)

Think about it. What are you paying for that you really don't need? That money can be used more wisely or you could put it into a savings account. 

Rae

A few days left...

until the semester is over! I have two finals, a notebook, and a manual due along with one more lab and then I'll be finished! I'll technically be a 3rd year. I'm excited! I have about 3 weeks in between my last final and the first day of summer classes. This summer, I'll be at Lamar for my clinic. I'm happy to go back because I'll be getting a lot more experience with hearing aids and I'll be close to home! But I'm pretty sure starting in the fall I'll be in Houston three days a week. It's ok, I'll be done before I know it.
Sam and I saw "Water for Elephants" last night. It was a good movie, but it wasn't as much like the book as I would have liked. All in all, still a very good movie. Two thumbs up.
P.S. My birthday is in two weeks. I'll be 25! I can't believe I'm going to be 25. I'm getting old.

Anyway, I need to go study. I have a lot to do over the next few days and I can't afford to waste any time! I'll update after finals, hopefully to say I've managed to make all A's this semester!

Rae

Chicago, Church, and Cleaning.

Let me start off by saying I had a fantastic time in Chicago. I went there in August, so it wasn't a new city to me anymore. We didn't do the tourist (visiting buildings and important places) thing this time. We did, however, stroll over to Millenium Park. It's the home of the bean...you know...this one!

The Bean!!!

It's so cool! And you can see the Chicago Skyline in the reflection. On our way to the bean, we ran into Vince Vaughn. No big deal. Whatever! I was freaking out! But I couldn't get my camera out fast enough but I managed to get a picture of the back of his head. It's totally him. Zoom in. He's the tall one with the sideburns. I promise it's him.

It's Vince Vaughn. For real!

Anyway, other than that, we had a fantastic time in Chicago. The convention didn't seem as interesting as it was last year, but it could be because I spent most of the time I was there in meetings about the Student Organization. Either way, it was fun. It's in Boston next year, so I'm excited!

Last week, a bunch of people and myself participated in a Human Video for Palm Sunday. It was to "Dry Bones" by Gungor.  The song is amazing. Anyway, I'm going to post the link off of my friend, Deirdre Field's facebook video, and hopefully you'll be able to see it. If not, I apologize for teasing you. 

We will be doing that video again tomorrow, along with "Beautiful Exchange" by Hillsong, and "Living in Me" by someone's name I can't remember at the moment. That one is a really upbeat, cheeseball kind of song. It's ok though, I still enjoy dancing to it :) And "Beautiful Exchange" is an amazing song, as it naturally would be since it's by Hillsong.  So, if you're in the area and you don't already have plans for Easter Sunday morning, you should come join us at Triumph Church Nederland. We'd love to have you! (shameless plug...)

We have practice and dress rehearsal today starting at 2. I've been up since 9 cleaning my house and I'm nowhere near finished. But I have two clean dogs, a clean living room and kitchen, lunch is cooked, and all of the clothes are washed. So I have made some progress today. 

Let me just say that everytime I sweep, I have enough dog hair to make a new dog. Whether I sweep once a week, once a month, once a day, it doesn't matter. I always have enough hair to make an entirely new dog. It's ridiculous. Like the dog hair king is out to get me. 

I recently read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. What an amazing book! The movie came out yesterday, but I haven't had time to go see it yet. Maybe I'll go either tonight or tomorrow evening sometime. I also just finished The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. Another good book. The last chapter almost made me want to throw the book at the wall, but Mr. Sparks tied everything all in perfectly, like he usually does. I can't wait until these last two weeks of school are over so I can dive into all the books I can possibly read...until summer school starts in June. 

That's about all I've got for now. I have to go get everything ready for practice and rehearsal. I have a feeling we may be there several hours. By several hours I mean 6 or more :)

Have a beautiful Saturday and a Happy Easter!

Rae

Grown-up purchases, dressed up, and traveling!

Wow! It's surely been a long time since I've updated this. A lot has been happening lately. My Honda decided she was tired and she died on me. So, a few weeks ago we added this new addition to the Guerrero family:



This is not MY car, but it looks just like this. It has everything: navigation, leather seats, sun/moonroof, heated seats, etc. We are so blessed. We named her Ana. She's our first big purchase besides our house.








In addition to the car dying, our refrigerator decided it was time to go also. So last week we had a new refrigerator delivered:

Nothing special, just a fridge.














I'm obviously most excited about the car. I love to drive it and I feel awesome driving it. She's currently getting fixed...apparently there was a cracked rim (the disadvantages of a used car) and they are fixing it at the dealership. So at the moment, I'm driving this thing:

It's ok. Not my favorite, but it's free while they're fixing Ana.

Moving on from that, this past Friday we hosted our White Coat Ceremony. What's that you ask? It's a banquet honoring the 3rd year Audiology Doctorate students. Before they leave off on their 4th year externships, we send them off with their white coats and a gift. We had a wonderful ceremony on the 8th floor of the Library and I believe everyone was pleased with it. It was very nice and everyone looked great, especially these two beautiful people:

I LOVE this picture, courtesy of Stacy Waller. Sam has been trying to grow his hair out since like January and he finally gave up and cut it back to how he used to have it and I have to say, I LOVE him with short hair. It's really a huge difference. His face is so much more joyful with short hair. He's a different person. I promise.

Here is a picture of my class. We're the best class ever.

Other than that, things have been going good. School and work have been consuming most of my time but I'm trying to keep them balanced.

Oh, and I'm flying Wednesday to this lovely city:

Chicago!!! My class and I went there in August and we didn't get to see everything. Our national American Academy of Audiology convention is there this year. So we get a second chance to see everything we missed! So I'll be gone starting tomorrow night and I'll be back Sunday. 

That's about it! I'll definitely be updating when we return from Chicago. And I'll definitely have lots of pictures!

Love,

Rae

Sharpen me and I'll sharpen you.

Proverbs 27:17 (ESV) " Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

If you're like me, you've heard this verse a million times and you think about it for a little bit and then move on about your life. 

The King James Version says "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." 

It is important to choose your friends wisely. Their behavior, good or bad, will have an effect on you. I know personally that I have picked up traits from people I hang out with often. In my case, they have been good traits. Honesty, humility, genuineness, and a pure heart are just a few of the character traits I have seen in close friends or relatives and I strive to possess more of each of these. 

1 Corinthians 15:33. This is a bible verse I hold close to my heart. 

"Do not be deceived: 'Bad company ruins good morals.' "

NIV says, "Bad company corrupts good character." 

This is not a "you are a bad person and you need to change" kind of blog. This is a blog strictly for me. A written challenge, if you will. I need to challenge myself to be the kind of person people want to be sharpened by. I want to be a humble, honest, genuine, and pure-hearted lover of Christ. I want to be the Proverbs 31 wife. I want to be the kind of person people love being around and can't wait to hang out with again. Not for selfish reasons, but because I love Jesus so much people just can't get enough of it. They strive for that kind of companionship. I believe it's how we should live. I want to position myself with people who are that kind of people. They sharpen me and I sharpen them. 

In addition to being a good "iron" for my friends, I want to be that for my husband as well. If you look two verses above Proverbs 27:17, you will see an example of a horrid wife. 

"A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand."

A leaky roof versus a mean, bitter wife are one in the same. You are trying to get out of the awful weather so you come inside only to notice you have a leaky roof. You are now under the same conditions you were when you were outside. Same with the wife. You deal with people all day and you come across people who are hateful, bitter, rude, deceitful, etc. You come inside, hoping to get away from it all and you have a wife who won't quit bothering you. She's rude or critical of you. She doesn't trust the decisions you make as the head of your home. 

I want to be the wife that my husband loves to come home to and get away from the world with. A wife who bears his children and makes his house a home. A wife who he can be vulnerable with. Someone he can talk to about how his day went. His ups and downs. His successes and his failures. Someone who will be his strength when he is weak. Someone who will take care of him when he is sick. Someone who will be by his side no matter what. I want to be someone who can sharpen him. We, as a married couple, should be continually sharpening each other. Two imperfect people, joined in the union of marriage, have become a perfect covenant. Surrounding our Father. He has made us a perfect union. Never to fall apart, never to break. Never to cheat. Never to be rude to each other. Never to fight unfair. Never to walk out.  

I have a spectacular husband. A God-fearing husband. One who is loved and respected by many. One who works hard to take care of his family. Who never complains about work. Even when he works 12 hour days, he never whines. When our funds are getting low, he never worries. He says "we pay our tithes, so I know God will provide."  He has faith that our God will take care of us. He will be our shelter, our strong tower, our provider, and our very help in time of need. 

I am very blessed to have Samuel in my life. He truly is a blessing from God. I'm so thankful that I found someone who will challenge me, who will sharpen me, who will care for me, and who will love me. I'm so happy I get to spend the rest of my life with him. Working together. Wrecking lives for the Kingdom of God. 

I hope you enjoyed me spilling my heart and my goals. It's hard to open up and become vulnerable, but a lot of times it's what someone else needs to read. To know someone else doesn't have it all together. 

Rae

De-clutter the clutter.

Ok so I had to go grocery shopping today, and Wal-Mart is usually my grocery store of choice. Today, I told myself I would look for a hamper to put in our bathroom to catch the dirty clothes. We usually just throw it on the floor but I want to be more sophisticated. I chose a hamper. Then I decided I would like to de-clutter the space underneath our bathroom sink. This disaster area annoys me every morning. I decided that today's the day I'm going to fix it. So I grab two slide-out bins. I also remember that I have yet to get a full-length mirror for our room to help me get ready in the morning. I usually dress myself and trust that everything looks good before leaving. Now I can let my vanity get the best of me by checking myself out before I walk out the door. Next, I had to grab a few groceries and finally I'm out the door...determined to de-clutter my house. Starting with the bathroom. Sorry to those of you who were expecting pictures. There were none taken. Pictures of my bathroom cabinet just don't seem appropriate. Use your imagination. Anyway, an hour later, I now have a de-cluttered and re-organized bathroom cabinet. I also managed to get rid of some things that had been stuffed away in the corner. I feel so much better already! I also had my lovely, manly husband hang the full-length mirror. In anticipation for spring weather (please come soon!), I grabbed a few storage bags to store sweaters and long-sleeves. I can store them in our closet until it's time to take them out next year. Usually they just kind of hang around in the closet at the back. I'm in the mood to spring clean my house right this minute, but I have work in about 30 minutes so it won't happen today. But I did get our bathroom fixed up. As soon as this cold, nasty weather is gone for good, I'm spring cleaning!

Rae

Idle Time Failure

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever had this happen. You finally get a day off from school or work and you plan out your entire day. To-do lists, shopping lists, etc. Then you wake up that morning and you don't do any of it. You spend the entire day watching tv or reading. That was me on MLK day. I planned on reading and taking notes for school and grocery shopping and doing all kinds of productive things. And I failed. I'm admitting to the fact that I enjoy lazy days, but too many of them are unhealthy. Today, I WILL be productive! I get a second chance today to try and make up for what I failed to do on Monday. I didn't plan on waking up until around 9, but I couldn't sleep past 8. So I'll be getting my day started early and hopefully I'll get everything done on my to-do list!

On another note.
I love to read. So I thought about investing in a "Nook" by Barnes and Noble or a "Kindle" by Amazon. Well. You have to buy the device. I figured that part. But what I didn't know is that you have to buy every book you want to put on there. So I come out cheaper buying actual books. I'm sure it's a lot easier packing just a kindle than several books for a trip. And you get to keep all of your previously-bought books all together on one device. So anytime you want to read it, you have it right there. But I don't see the value in one of these guys yet. I'm sure eventually I'll snag one of the aforementioned reading devices, but for now I'm content with paper books. What are your thoughts about wireless reading devices? Do you have one? I also know that with iPods, iPhones, and iPads, you have an iBooks option that you can do. So if I already own that device I can just add books on there. That may be a better idea for the moment.  Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm going to start my productive day!

Have a FANTASTIC weekend!!
Rae

Here are the links to the previously mentioned reading devices: