COUNTING on God

Backseat driver

2011-01-06T20:45:00.002-05:00

Do you ever stop and think what is going on?? I have done that a few times recently. More like what in the world is happening? It is a weird feeling. It is a good time to sit back and think

"I am soooo glad God is in the driver seat and I am not!"

When life seems crazy I am so relieved that I know who I am. I am a child of God. I am not going to lie I am going through a very difficult time. Things are not what they seemed and changes are taking place. Over these past few months and even years I have tried to be a backseat driver to God.

"Do you really think this is where we are supposed to turn? You are going a little slow maybe we should drive faster? I am not sure this road will take us were we are suppose to end up."

Well now I am desperate for God to take the wheel completely and to go the route He has planned. I don't need to be a backseat driver to God because God knows exactly how to get were we are going and the best way to get there.

God speaks

2010-12-14T00:14:00.004-05:00

I recently was on an airplane and there was a crying baby. For some reason this baby was upset and letting everyone know about it. My initial instinct was to be annoyed. I was for about 10 seconds and then God spoke to me.

He said this baby is crying and crying but there is no reason for it. It should know it is in its parents care and they love and care for it. They will protect the baby and keep it safe.

God then said apply that to yourself. You are so upset and crying and crying. God said "You are in my arms and in my care. I love you and care for you. I will protect you and keep you safe."

Wow! I am so amazed by God. We should always stop and listen for God. This time he made sure I heard what he was saying but other times I need to stop and listen. I am trying to make more of an effort to quiet myself and my thoughts and listen for God.

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"

1 Corinthians 10:31

God loves us

2010-12-12T19:27:00.003-05:00

I was reading in Luke the other day. Sadly, I was thinking maybe I should be reading something else I don't know if I am going to get anything out of what I am reading. (Bad thought I know) Anyways I kept reading and was stopped in my tracks when I read this verse.

"Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples..."

Luke 22:3

I read that and had to just stop and think about it for awhile. Now I have read this before but this time it scared me. That is a scary thought that Satan entered Judas. It made me think that I want to be so filled with God and his Holy Spirit that there is no room for Satan.

God loves us. God loves us so much! I am trusting in Him.

"Do not fear, for I am with you; for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I wil help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

Getting yelled at by a book

2010-12-09T13:36:00.002-05:00

Ok I used to worry a lot. When I say a lot I mean A LOT. Turns out we are NOT supposed to worry. Now I already knew this and had a scripture memorized to help me with it.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he has done."

Philippians 4:6

So I would casually say this verse to myself when I was struggling with worry. I generally would put the worry to some other part of my head for the time being but it would come back. This verse is literally saying DON'T WORRY. Not only are we called to not worry about some things this verse says DON'T WORRY about ANYTHING! Wow.

Now for someone like me who used to worry a lot this was a high, hard calling. "Wait you want me to not worry at all? How is that going to work?" In order for it to happen we have to change the way we think. I picked up this book called Battlefield of the mind by Joyce Meyer. Through this book and others God showed me that my thinking habits were wrong. There was a point when I was reading the book and it felt like I was being yelled at! I knew worrying was wrong but no one had ever yelled at me about it. Most people are pretty sympathetic. I was being called out. I didn't realize that this was such a big sin in my life.

"Remember it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it"

James 4:17

Ok, God told me I needed to change this sin in my life then I needed to change it.

It is so great to cast our worry on God. And Jesus says,

"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

Matthew 6:27

No we can't. This worry was satans foothold in my life. Some of the things I worried about ended up happening but did my worry do me any good? I don't think so. But while I was worrying satan had his grip on me.

My life seems a little crazy right now but I am determined to not worry. God has everything under control and worry is a waste of time.

By the way the verse above has a promise to it

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

God is amazing!

2010-12-05T23:42:00.003-05:00

We all go through trials. I am currently going through some troubles but thankfully God says in his word

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing".

James 1:2-4

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problem and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

Romans 5:3-5

Endurance is hard. 2 Peter says that "A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day." God is working in his time and I am thankful that he tells me that I need to develop my endurance. Humanly speaking it seems like I have been enduring this trial for awhile. But I need to be confident in God and his timing.

I am doing my best to listen and do exactly what God wants me to do. It is so interesting how when I read these verses it seems as though God is saying to me there are great things that come out of trials. I have known this is true from previous trials but it is so nice that God reminds us.

Jesus went through trials. The very people who should have been loving him were set out to kill him. They treated Jesus horribly. Jesus loved them and wanted to show them what great things he brought for them but instead of seeing it the people beat him and nailed him to a cross. It is overwhelming to think about this.

No matter what I am going through Jesus understands because he went through trials. He went through trials and knows what he is talking about. So in his word he tells me to consider this trial an opportunity for great joy and to rejoice. God is speaking very clearly in these verses so I must obey. He is telling me to find joy in these circumstances and thanks to his Holy Spirit he places joy in me and I accept it. He tells me to rejoice, I will rejoice in him!

When I feel like I have been beaten down I look to these verses for help. When my thoughts want to get the best of me and satan wants to lead me in a different direction I need to stick close to God. I am doing my best to do the right thing. It is not easy but God is right here with me. God is amazing!

Don't miss this

2009-08-08T23:01:00.007-04:00

I know that Trav you are probably the only one that reads this so Hi how are you :) I am going to write anyways because I know you really like to read it.

For the past few months every time I walk home from work I have to remind myself "Don't miss this". Every day I get to walk down 5th Avenue and it seems so easy to just go through the motions and not realize where I am and what I am doing. I am living in New York City. If you had asked me 8 years ago if I would ever live here I would have told you no. I am also working for a worldwide 5 star spa company. Again if you would have asked me about this I would have said no. It goes to show that you don't always know what God has in mind for you and how His plans are more than we can imagine.

Since May I have been working Monday - Saturday. Having only one day off hasn't gotten to me yet. I have been going to our NJ location one day a week to make sure that their finances are in order and to get their audits done. To get to our Short Hills location it takes me 2 hours door to door. Luckily I can usually get some work done on the train so that it doesn't feel like a waste of time. I have actually really enjoyed working this much because I am very blessed to love what I am doing.

Travis and I don't get to see each other as much as we would like. During the week I am generally sleeping by the time he gets home and he is sleeping when I leave for work in the morning. I kiss him goodbye and say "I'll see you tomorrow". It seems weird but when we do have time together it is very special
So going back a ways my parents and Maureen came to NYC for my birthday. It was the first time that my mom and Maureen had been here. Mom actually really liked it here she was so surprised how many tall buildings there could be. It was so great to have them here!

Travis made his Off Broadway debut in For Lovers Only Long Songs Nothing but Love Songs!!! He did so great in it and I went to see it 3 times! I am so proud of him for how hard he is working and how much he is embracing the city and his career.

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Travis got a show!

2009-05-14T16:30:00.003-04:00

We are pretty excited because Travis got cast in a show for the summer! It is I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. He actually has done the show before in Rochester. He is the understudy for both male roles in the show. We are not sure how much he will actually be performing but we feel so blessed that he got cast. Rehearsals start June 8th and the show opens June 18th. He will have to go to Westchester probably Wednesday -Sunday. It is only about a 30 min train ride from Grand Central so it isn't that bad. Also Travis now has a bio check outhttp://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Travis_Taber/

I have really been enjoying my new position at work. The downside is that Travis and I now have opposite schedules. I am out the door at 8:20am and back(depending on the day) around 6:30. Travis generally works 1:15 - 9:45 and doesn't get home until around 10pm. By 10pm I am in my pajamas and in bed soon after. When he starts the show he will be home much later. So we make the most of the time we do have together! I am doing the yield management for Spa Chakra http://www.spachakra.com/spachakra.htm but I am also doing payroll, making all the deposits and doing the auditing for Spa Chakra on Fifth Avenue. I really enjoy my job and feel incredibly blessed.

2009-04-28T17:55:00.003-04:00

Well I guess some time has pasted since I last posted anything. I am going to try to remember what has been going on in our lives.

Back in March my younger sister came for a visit. She came with a friend and had a wonderful time! I didn't get to see them too much but they sure did make their way around the city on their own! They ate out and shopped a lot! It was refreshing to see her!

In April we were able to get back to Rochester for a week. We took the Mega Bus so round trip it cost us $4.50. Yes that is very very cheap no one has an excuse not to come here to visit for that price! The way there was very nice because the bus came right on time and it wasn't even half full so we had some extra room. It is great to see family and friends and enjoy the slower pace of life there. Travis was able to get quite a few games of disc golf in while I went shopping with Maureen and went to see Carrie. Another exciting aspect of our trip was that we got to do a drive by of Bethany and Aaron's new house! We love spending time with them and playing our new favorite game Spouse-ology. The week went by quickly but we were thankful to fit in seeing many of our friends and spending quality time with family.

The day before we left for Rochester I received my offer letter for a new position at the company I work for. The position is quite a bit more money and it is exactly what I want to be doing which is an answered prayer! So as of May 1st I will be doing yield management for Spa Chakra! I am super excited and hope that I do a great job! Yield management is simply understanding, anticipating and influencing client's behavior in order to maximize profits. I am told that I will be working at the spa I am at right now(Cornelia Day Resort soon to be Spa Chakra on 5th) and then in about 6 months making some trips to our other spas and helping them to make more profit. Soo exciting!

Travis and I have gotten into the habit on Saturdays after our small group and Sundays after church of going to Central Park and playing frisbee, taking a walk, geocaching or simply taking naps. We really enjoy this, it is like a little escape! Sadly our small group ended this past weekend. We met some really great couples and will miss our time together on Saturday mornings!

Yesterday Travis and our friend Abel began a project of building shelves in our apartment. They worked long and hard and plan on having them finished by saturday. I took the oportunity after work to stop at Anu's while our husbands were doing man things so that we could catch up. We were both impressed with what our men had accomplished that day and are excited to see the final product. I will have to post some pictures when it is finished.

I am sure there are many things I left out. But that is what has been going on with us lately!

Cable?

2009-03-24T19:17:00.004-04:00

Travis for his birthday asked for cable. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not interested in paying for cable television so his parents stepped in and gave him a few months of cable for his birthday. The main reason he wanted cable was because we live right by the subway and when it goes by it messes with the television. The picture goes black and we don't know what is happening on the program we were watching. We actually got pretty used to it and had a good time making up what the people where saying(Well at least I had a good time with it). Anyways we now have cable. We got it Friday and when I got home from work that night it took me at least 5 mins to figure out how to turn the T.V. on! Since then I have taped 5 episodes of Jon & Kate plus 8 and spent way too much time watch HGTV. Saturday evening Travis had a poker game. Athena and I left our husbands to play poker went to Anu's apartment and hung out with her and Diana(her cousin). It was a great night with some great women!!!! It was so refreshing to hang out and talk! I had a great time even though there was a big dog there!

Today at work I got a hair cut during my lunch! After I came back to the office everyone was very surprised. My hair looks great(and I didn't have to pay $180)! I warned Patrick my new stylist(haha) that it wouldn't look like this tomorrow!

Becky(my little sister) is on her way as I type to the City. She is coming with a friend and staying until Friday. I have to work the whole time she is here but I have a feeling she is more interested in shopping and site seeing then she is hanging with her old boring sister :)

Meeting our "friend" Lauren Graham

2009-03-20T20:41:00.011-04:00

Yes you read right, Travis and I met Lauren Graham last night! Oh you don't believe me? Here is the picture to prove it.

Ok I will back up a minute. Yesterday was my wonderful husbands birthday! We had a great day together. It began with some breakfast and then continued with Travis watching Lost, Heroes and most importantly March Madness! While he did that I finished up making his birthday cake.
I surprised Travis with a hair cut at the Spa I work at. Some of you may have heard of the salon at the Spa. It is The David Evangelista Salon. The cut would normally cost $180 good thing we didn't have to pay that much! We then got some dinner and then made our way to the theater to see Guys and Dolls. We enjoyed it! Travis did a show with a guy in the cast so we were able to go backstage after the show. We went on stage and talked and then we met Lauren. Travis and I really enjoy her work and were pretty happy to meet her. So I think that Trav had a great birthday!

This is Travis on our way home with his new hair cut.

Ok there is more to tell but this post has taken me 4 hours to write so I better wrap it up. This is a picture of the June Jacobs travel kit that I got at work today for free!!!(It sells for at least$165) Oh yeah and I got one of the massage therapist to work on a knot that I have in my back. Oh the perks of working at a spa!!!! :)

New Job!

2009-03-03T18:33:00.006-05:00

Our friend Jack works at Cornelia Day Resort and he got me a job interview there. So on Friday I went and had a great interview. The CEO of the company actually said during the interview "I expected you to have one of those beanie hats on with the propeller. " He had seen my resume and that I had a masters in math and I guess he expected a nerdy looking girl. I thought this was pretty funny and I totally expected it...I get that a lot. I got a call later that afternoon and was offered a job! So yay I have a job.

Cornelia Day Resort is now owned by the company Spa Chakra. They own spas all over the world including the Spa at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. I was told that I would probably be working at both Cornelia and The Waldorf. I was hired to make reservations for the spa. During the interview however I did make it known that I would like to move up in the company and I was very interested in further opportunities. They were actually talking in the interview about how there would be some opportunities for me and it sounded like that was going to be an option in a few weeks. So I have my foot in the door and I am going to see what will happen from here.

So I had to get treatments over the weekend so that I went through the experience of the spas and could explain it to others. On Friday evening I had a massage at the Waldorf! It was wonderful! I first got to pick my scent that would be in my foot bath and sprayed in my room. Then I was taken to my room and changed into a robe and slippers. I then was taken out to have my foot bath. The bath was actually in the floor. I sat and then the therapist opened the floor and then my seat was lowered so that my feet where in the water. It was pretty cool. The massage was great and the room was the biggest massage room I have ever seen. I went and got a facial at Cornelia on Sunday and that was wonderful too!!

My Dad was here this weekend! He was sent to Fort Dix for two weeks so instead of hanging around the fort this past weekend he came into the city. Travis and I went and met him at Penn Station Saturday morning. We came back here to get settled and have lunch and then headed out to see some of the city. We went to the post office(it was crazy there) then to Times Square, saw where Travis works, where I just got a job, and then to the upper east side to pick something up. After that Dad said that he pretty much saw it all. Dad took us to dinner Saturday night and we played some Wii that night. We just hung out on Sunday. Dad wasn't really interested in seeing too much else he said we should save stuff for the next time he comes haha. It was a great weekend!

I thought since my post was so long that I would post a few pictures of the apartment to keep you all interested! This is our kitchen table all set up for Thanksgiving dinner this past year.

The Weekend

2009-02-24T19:10:00.013-05:00

Saturday morning Travis and I went to the upper west side to meet with our Growth Group from church. We are in a marriage group and are going through the book Love and Respect. This group just started 2 weeks ago but Travis and I are excited about it because we met some great people in our last group and we are looking forward to getting to know the people in this group better.

After our group we went to The Container Store. We bought some cables to put hanging shelves up in our living room a few months ago.

This time we bought a spice rack for the cabinet that I can't really reach in the kitchen. I really like it because it sits in the cabinet and then when I need it I can just pull it down. It is also nice because now Travis doesn't have to be home for me to get something down.

Sunday we went to church, came home to play some games and then at night headed over to Jack and Jenny's(They live in our building so it wasn't a long commute) to watch the Oscars. I really don't watch movies often and didn't know any of the ones they talked about. I didn't even know some of the actors. oh well.

Last night some of Travis' friends from high school came over for pizza. They are in a band call The Hoodies and are in the city to play a show on their tour. We ended up playing the Wii and needless to say when we played Mario Kart I beat all the boys:)

I guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Where to start

2009-02-20T14:42:00.003-05:00

After reading Bethany's and Amy's Blogs for years I have finally broke down and started one. I am hoping to use this to keep people up to date on what is going on with Travis and I in NYC. This morning Travis had to stand outside and hand out advertisements for a gym. The poor guy was so cold he called me and I could hear him shivering(It would have been nice if he was told that he would be outside). The up side is that by doing things like this every month he gets a free membership to a really nice gym in Manhattan! It is interesting to see the perks like that that are available here. Last week Travis did promotional work for a different company for 2 hours got paid for it AND got a year subscription to Netflix! Great deal if you ask me.

Today as like many other days I had a moment were I missed Wegmans. While at the grocery store I was approached by a man who pointed and said "look at these new plants" and then pulls a children's book from behind his back and wants me to buy it. So silly! I smiled and said no thank you. I don't think he was suppose to be in there.

I am sure that most people wonder what our apartment looks like. I know that when people hear New York City apartment they automatically think small. I used to think this too. I was traumatized one day when I watched an episode of Oprah and she was showing NYC apartments. The one apartment the person could sit on their toilet and cook on the stove at the same time! (gross) Some of the apartments are small but I don't think ours is. We are very blessed to have our apartment and we love it! I will have to post some pictures in the future.