Goodbye

goodbye blogger. hello tumblr. 

www.thekeslers.tumblr.com 

see you there. 

-lk 

Letter to me

Lately I've been reminiscing about my 4 years in high school. I even watched my high school graduation just to see what I was like then.

I started thinking about if I could have written myself a letter. A letter from 21 year old me to 17 year old me. I would have told myself so many things that I wish people would have told me or things I wish that I had listened to. I think the letter would look something like this: 

You are going to make mistakes and some of them will be devastating, but some of them will be the best mistakes you ever made. That guy that you think you "love" well, you don't love him. You're 17, you haven't even experienced true-heart stopping-over-the-moon-and-back-give-your-lif-type-of-love, but you will someday. You & Lindsey will eventually stop fighting as much. Your mom is actually right on a lot more things than you are & she truly does love you more than life itself. You will go to "school" North Carolina looking for something, but you'll find that what you're looking for is not there. What you're looking for is inside of you. Invest your time in what really matters. Read your Bible outside of daily homework and truly try to apply those principles to your life. The man who you dream of marrying really does exist. He's everything you ever could have dreamt of and more (& yes, he does love your choice of baby names). When the hard times come, and they will, remember that your foundation is not someone or something, but that your foundation is set on the rock who is Jesus Christ. You will truly grow to love food... seriously, you love it. Isaiah 41:10 will always make you tear up. You do finally discover your favorite color. Your mother-in-law will become one of your best friends. MySpace & Xanga aren't cool anymore and you will regret opening those accounts because you forget the password and you cannot delete anything written so they're stuck floating in cyberspace. Spring time is still a difficult time for you. Even though some of the friendships you have now won't always be as strong as they once were don't let that stop you from loving with your whole heart. I promise, you don't regret it now.  

Maybe that's something what the letter would look like... If only, if only...

Probably more than you cared to know

The Basics

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Height: 5'9"

Profession: Nanny?

Relationship Status: Married & lovin' it!

Religious Views: Jesus

My Favorites

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Car: My car because it's paid off. I really want an FJ cruiser though!

Favorite Movie: I'd rather listen to music than watch a movie most of the time.

Favorite Hobby: Photography

Favorite Song/Singer: I don't have just one favorite song... it's more like 20 favorite songs. Mostly older music.

Favorite Book/Author: Eh, I'm not a big reader.

Favorite School Subject: Lunch? Does that count as a subject?

Favorite Vacation Destination: I really want to go to Europe.

Favorite Food: Mexican food. Always.

Favorite Restaurant: Hmm... seriously, I could eat anywhere. I love to eat.

Favorite Animal: Birds, I think.

Favorite Store: Target, probably. It has everything.. or Costco - I could spend hours in either of them.

Favorite Childhood Memory: Playing hide & seek throughout the neighborhood. 

Favorite Baby Name: Jared & I talk about baby names a lot (well, mostly it's me talking and him listening). Our favorites are: Jericho D. (we're still trying to decide on a middle name that starts with a D), Paul Elliot, Gregory Phinehas, & Caroline Mae. 

Favorite Person In Your Life: Jared 

This or That

Chocolate or Vanilla: I could swing either way.

Big Mac or Whopper: Whopper

Coke or Pepsi : Coke!

Beer or Wine: It depends on the occasion, but I like both of them.

Coffee or Tea: Tea

Apple Juice or O.J.: I thrive off of both. We always have at least one of them in the fridge at all times.

Facebook or MySpace: Facebook

Summer or Winter: Summer

Cats or Dogs: Dogs

Rain or Shine : Shine

Chips or Popcorn: That's a toughy... I love carmel popcorn & I love salty chips.. so both!

Salty or Sweet: Salty!

Morning or Night: Night

Movie or Play: Movie

Money or Love: LOVE.

Breakfast or Dinner: Both

Forgiveness or Revenge: Forgive

Paint or Wallpaper: Paint

House or Apartment: House, but I sometimes miss the apartment lifestyle.

Do You?

Have Any Pets: Nope

Have Any Children: Nope

Smoke: I'd be lying if I said I didn't like a cigarette every once in a blue moon.

Drink: Occasionally

Exercise: Eh, sometimes.

Spend Your Life On Facebook: Try not to

Play On A Sports Team: Haha no way!

Belong To Any Organizations: Nope

Love Your Job: Oh my gosh, yes! I love, love, LOVE, it!

Like To Cook: The better at cooking I get the more I like it!

Play An Instrument: Nope

Sing: Only in places where I know that no one can hear me.

Dance: Every chance I get!

Speak Multiple Languages: Nope

Ice Skate: Oh no. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

Swim: Hate it.

Paint: On walls- not canvas.

Write: When I have to process things.

Ski: Nope

Have You Ever

Stolen Anything: Yes :-/ I hate that I did it, and I'll never do it again.

Been Drunk Before Noon: Nope

Got Caught Telling A Lie: Yes

Got A Speeding Ticket: Yes

Been Arrested: Nope

Littered: Yes

Failed A Class: Haha, yes.

Screened Your Phone Calls: Yes, no, yes, no.. yes.

Eaten Food Off The Floor: Yes

Stuck Gum Under A Desk: Yes

Wished You Were Someone Else: At some point in my life, sure.

Cried During A Movie: ALL the time

Other

Describe Yourself In One Word: Loyal

Biggest Fear: Losing Jared

Your Proudest Accomplishment: None that are coming to mind

#1 Priority In Your Life: Jesus

Dream Job: Momma & documentary photographer

Where Are You Right Now: Home

Where Would You Rather Be: No place else

Place To Visit Before You Die: I don't know about where I want to visit before I die, but before I have kids I want to visit all of the states. I'm almost half way there!

Song Played At Your Funeral: It is well with my soul... 
(that question is depressing to think about)

Rough Day

On Wednesday I got to "work" (I'm a nanny and I love it so I don't really consider it "work") and as I was feeding sweet Lily her bottle she started to poop. No big deal, right? Wrong. I thought, wow that's a big poop because my legs are really warm and I can really smell it. I picked Lily up off of my lap and yup, she had pooped through her diaper and onto my legs. Thankfully, I had jeans on, but still... ew. I cleaned her up then cleaned myself up and that was that.

Later that evening Jared was at his Bible study and I was at home. I decided to get a bowl of ice cream to go along with my movie. I turned to put the ice cream that I scooped out into my bowl and the next thing I knew the brand new half gallon ice cream had fallen into the nasty mop water that I was too lazy to drain out of the sink... So I had no ice cream. It was awful. I watched half of my movie then Jared took me to Wal-Mart to get a humidifier because my allergies have been going crazy lately so that kinda made me feel better.

Seriously, Wednesday was not a good day for me. Today was much, much better and I'm thankful for that.

Tonight we had our small group meeting/session/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. It was really encouraging. I truly love being in the group that we are in. All of people are pretty diverse so it makes for some great conversation. Jared & I are very blessed.

In happy news: We are one day away from having electricity in our sharn (mix between a shed and a barn). Jared's sweet grandfather is hooking us up with electricity so that Jared can have a workshop/man cave. Jared & I (mostly Jared) have spent the last two days digging a ditch from our house to the sharn to be able to run the wires from the house underground to the sharn. It should be completed tomorrow. I can't wait to have electricity out there and for Jared to have a place to go and build stuff. I'm already thinking of things I'd like for him to build/fix. :)

Hosanna

Last Friday I got my first tattoo!

Originally, I was going to get hosanna written across my wrist from left to right, but because I have the small wrists of an infant I decided to get it long ways. Make sense? Like from up to down.

I've been wanting a tattoo for a l-o-n-g time, but I could never think of anything that I'd be ok if it was on my body for the rest of my life. Recently there have been some pretty sad things happen in my family and I really began listening to a lot more music and just trying to sort it all out or fix it in my head.
I was listening to the Hillsong song, "Hosanna" and I began to do some research on the word. Long story short the word hosanna used to mean and still does mean "a cry to God for deliverance/help" in the past however-many-years-or-so the new meaning has become, "to give praise or adoration to God". As soon as I read the meaning I knew that's the word I wanted. I just knew. I got the tattoo on my wrist because since I'm the type of person that wants to fix anything that's wrong with a person or circumstance, and since you generally associate fixing things with your hands, I figured the wrist is the perfect spot. Does all of that still make sense? Good.

I know people generally have a lot of apprehensions about tattoos, but I grew up around them and I look at them as art or a form of self expression so they're cool in my book. No, I don't think it's a sin to have a tattoo. That's just ridiculous. I wouldn't go overboard like the cat lady or anything. ;)

My mom, sister, & Jared were with me when I got my tattoo. We had to go to three different places because the first two had insane wait times. My mom and sister kept asking me over and over again to make sure that this is what I wanted and they were telling me how to give the tattoo artist an exact direction on what I wanted. (My mom once went to get an iris and came out with a marijuana leaf. And Linds went to get a brown star on her ribs and came out with a black hindu star. Both true stories.)

Once the tattoo guy, Wil,  started on my wrist some of my hair started to fall out. Seriously, I had about 1/4-2/4 of a handful of hair that just came right out. That's nerves for ya! The tattoo didn't hurt that bad, but it did hurt. As soon as Wil was done it stopped hurting.

You can't see it well, but it's all I've got! :)

I don't regret my decision in the slightest and I'm really happy that I did it!

What's New

Jared & I bought bicycles. When I say bought what I really mean is that we paid an arm and a leg for them. But it was by the far the best purchase we've made in a long time. We bike about every day. At first I wasn't so sure if I'd like it especially because I'm married to the most competitive man in the world and everything is a race. But I really do love it. It's a great exercise (which is on the brain since bikini season is right around the corner) and we really do have a lot of fun.
We live relatively close to the Trinity Trails so we just throw gently place the bikes in the back of Jared's Tahoe and drop in on the Trails after a short car ride. Recently we went to Mineral Wells State Park and rode around on their trails. I just love being outside and enjoying God's creation. Nature is one of the main things that shows me how much the Lord loves us. He could have created the world to be much less enjoyable, but thankfully He didn't. When we were riding around in Mineral Wells we managed to find every mud puddle that had a horse poop mixed in and rode as fast as we could through the puddles. I got stuck multiple times and my expensive running shoes were quickly turned into mud buckets.

Finally our small group started back up. A lot of people had several schedule conflicts with meeting every so often so we postponed it for a couple of months and now we're back together! I love being in a room of believers. We have one common denominator that binds us all to one another, but we are a very diverse group. I'm really excited about the direction this is going in and I can't wait to see what God does with us.


Honestly, I'm not enjoying this whole blogging thing as much as I thought it I would. I can never think of things to write about. I've got the time to keep up with it, but I just can't think of anything that people would want to read about. Maybe I'll think of something soon. :)

Until next time....

Our whoa week

I can't fully describe how this week has been. It's been a lot of highs & very few lows of which I am so thankful. So many things have come together and happened for us that were completely unexpected. Like things ranging from small little accomplishments to huge-wow-thank-you-Lord things. 


A big one for me was that I have gone 3 FULL days without feeling e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d.. Since about December I have felt like I needed a nap to get through the day and I never felt rested. Jared has had a lot of patience with me about this and I know it's been difficult for him. I know it makes me sound like a wimp, but seriously I was so tired that I could easily fall asleep anywhere at anytime. I feel much better now and I'm praying that I continue to feel better. 


Something that may have helped the sleepiness during the day was that we got a kingsize bed. If I were reading this I would think this sounded stupid and materialist, but we needed a kingsize bed. Jared and I are not small people. I mean I'm smaller than him, but I'm tall and I need space to sleep. Jared takes up about 3/4 of any sleeping space and that leaves me with little room to breathe let alone sleep. (I'm not saying Jared is fat, he's just got a big build and muscle packed on top of that.) My dad was generous enough to not only give us his kingsize mattress but a bedroom set also. And all of these items were barely used. BRAND NEW TO US!!! (Thanks to my awesome Jimbo, Zach & Brent for helping us move the furniture!) 


Another great thing to add to our awesome week was that we were able to sell our previous bedroom set within like 4 hours of posting it online. I was so worried that it was going to get damaged in the transition of moving it around to find a place to store it until we could sell it. But the Lord worked it out so we only had to move it around once then into the back of some guy's trailer to take to its new home. 


From the money that we made on the bedroom set I was able to buy new bedding for our new bed. Jared and I learned that you cannot stretch queen sheets to fit a kingsize bed. It was worth a try though. I went shopping today and seriously got the most amazing deals on just about everything. I really don't like to spend a lot of money on things that really won't matter in 5 years... or really on anything. I'm cheap and proud of it. I also found some gift cards that were given to us as wedding gifts 15 months ago and they were still usable at the specified stores! Awesome! 


All in all, I know that the Lord blesses us not because of anything we do, but because He loves us. He does it all on His own accord. I have really felt the love of the Lord this week. I felt His encouragement and strength... something which I have not felt in quite a while, honestly. I've always known He's there, but I've truly felt His presence. 


I don't say any of this to boast in any shape or form about our goodies this week. All of this worked because the Lord allowed it. I know it would have failed miserably without His guidance and perfect timing. 


I'll post pictures soon of the new stuff. I really love it! :) 

What the hell are we doing?

That's what I say to myself. 


I'm sitting inside my warm & cozy living room while watching the rain fall outside. I have food in my stomach, a roof over my head, money to pay the bills, music that fills my ears, but when I wake up tomorrow all of this could be gone. 


Haitians are said gross 1,300 per year. 80% percent of Haitians are below the poverty line which means they don't make 1,300 PER YEAR. One thousand and three hundred dollars. That's less than half of Jared's paycheck every two weeks. We get by off that & more every 2 weeks and Haitians typically earn that in one year. I cannot imagine it. 


Jared & I have been talking a lot about Haiti. We've seen the horrific photos, videos, and heard some of the most gut-wrenching stories. It brings us to tears more times than not to hear people talk about what's going on in Haiti. They survive on what we could call "nothing". I think about all the things that I have that I think I couldn't survive without (i.e. cell phone, laptop, music, food every day, clean water every day, bathroom facility etc.) and it makes me furious that I have become so accustom to living life this way. Don't get me wrong- I know I am very blessed and God has blessed us with the means to live this life that we do. I am very thankful, but I also take it all for granted. I take it ALL for granted. 


Life is not about having all of these "things"! (Here comes the rant...)  


People are dying and we are saying we need more material things.


(I'm not saying material things are bad, but they are not the substance of life.) 


I feel so angered because of where money is being spent. Where my money is being spent, where the government's money (America's money) is being spent, and where the church's money is being spent. A church that Jared & I have debating fully joining is now building an expensive cat walk from their parking garage to their church. God forbid the church goers get wet while walking into the church. People are hiding underground to attend church in some countries, but in America we build cat walks. In America we are fed this health, wealth and prosperity gospel that tells us that if we believe their message that God will "richly bless our lives". What about taking all that money for the cat walk and putting it into counties like Haiti, Africa, China- the places that really need it and help them build up their churches and send others out to do the same. What if the health, wealth, and prosperity thieves preachers actually put ALL the money they receive into other people's pockets instead of their own. What if all the money that was coming in to Christian churches and ministries went to help those in need. I know that churches and ministries have to pay bills too. The money that is left over needs to be sent out. It needs to go toward helping those in need. 


Look at where your money is going. Are you tithing so that your church is able to send people out to spread the gospel? Are you spending your money on crap that you don't need? I know I have. Just think about what you're doing and how you could impact someone else's life by the means which God has given you instead of your own frivolous gain. 


Rant is over. I just couldn't hold my tongue any longer. 

Yearn

I've tried writing a few blog entries, but then I think that no one would care to read them so I just hit delete. (Not that anyone will really care to read this one either!) :)

Since Jared's knee surgery I have been e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. I haven't slept well, I've been overly emotional, and not I haven't pleasant to be around. Part of it was Jared's knee surgery and part of it was that I have not spent a single moment with the Lord in a looong time. I've been trying to conquer so many things in my own strength and completely fail every time. 

Tonight I had some time to myself to think about the trials that I know are coming and how I need to handle them. I realized tonight that I'm going about all of this the wrong way. I'm trying to fix all of this and I cannot do it. I'm not relying on the Lord to sustain me, give me strength, and I'm not trusting God to take care of me. 

There are some big things coming my way starting tomorrow and I've got to give it all over to the Lord. I don't need to give it over because I want these things to have a good outcome, but because these situations are not mine to control, they are His. 

I am so incredibly thankful that the Lord allows us to cast our cares on Him. Honestly, I'm on overload right now. Without the Lord's help I cannot shoulder one more thing. I realize how much Jesus cares for us and wants us to come to Him. 

I want to yearn after the Lord. I want to fully realize that my next breath is fully dependent upon his sovereignty. I want to just throw up my hands and shout to the Lord that I cannot do this without Him, and I'm tried of trying to. 

There's a little insight into what's stirring in my soul. 

Hello TwentyTen!

I cannot believe it's 2010. It's been 10 years since Y2K... that's crazy! 


Our 2009 year was a roller coaster. Jared & I celebrated the '09 countdown in Downtown then flew out the next morning for a long weekend in Southern California! We had an amazing time and also it was the first time in our marriage that we had to love each other through a difficult circumstance. God has been faithful to grow us a lot since that time. This year to ring in the New Year we made dinner at home and stayed up way too late talking about everything that we wanted for the coming year and just laughing over everything! ...Jared broke our fireplace and that was hilarious. (One of the main things that kept us laughing all night!) 


We always heard the first year of marriage was trying and difficult. For us though, it was really just the first few months. Don't get me wrong, we had many ups and downs, but they never lasted long. I am very grateful that God allowed us to struggle together and learn from it and grow closer together. 


Jared & I normally don't make New Years resolutions, but this year we did. Normally we make fun those people who make resolutions. Sorry, we used to think it was a goofy idea. Our goals for this year are.... 

• Get completely out of debt! We've set up our budget for the year (assuming jobs stay the same) and we are so excited! Thanks to Dartmouth we've got a lot of debt to knock out this year, but we can do it! 
• Both of our personal goals is to eat healthier, work out more, and get in better shape. Since Jared's knee is blow out he'll have a long road of recovery ahead of him once he has surgery, but we're confident that he can do it. 
• I really want to get into the habit of having a daily quite time. I want to really understand the Bible better, and really dig into who God is. I want the Lord to make my heart more like his. 

We've got a lot ahead of us. It's not going to be easy and we're going to have to make a lot of sacrifices, but I cannot imagine the feeling of victory once the year is over and we've completed our goals.