from us to you. :)

  

The holidays have been very busy for us, as has getting back into the swing of things with school since I've been pretty sick for the past week. I'm not sure when I'll start back posting regularly, so I just wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas and say that I hope everyone had a very wonderful holiday season and happy new year! :)

I hope you are all able to reflect on the past year and go into 2012 with a fresh outlook and new goals. And that you have a very blessed new year.

From our family to y'all, thanks for following and sharing in our lives with us! And we can't wait to see what's in store!

family weekend.

There is a lot going on, but I just wanted to stop in and say hello. :) I hope y'all had a good weekend and got to spend time with family and friends!

Nate's grandpa came down from Minnesota this past Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday. Then we took him down to stay with the rest of Nate's family in SC. He's celebrating 90 amazing years of life this month and it was really great to be able to spend this time with him.

(thanks for the picture jen!)

How did you spend your weekend?

packing boxes!

Hey guys! Life has been extremely crazy and I've kind of fallen off the blogosphere. I've missed y'all! I just wanted to update everyone and let you know what's been going on with us lately.

I've been working hard at school. And Nate's studying hard and working hard. He took a test the weekend before last to get certified in Business Analysis and passed on the first try which was super exciting! He had put so much time preparing for it and put so much energy into it, so I'm super proud of him for passing.

We're also getting ready to drop off our Operation Christmas Child boxes. I haven't been blogging about this as much as I've wanted because things have been so busy, but we're almost ready to drop everything off now! Our goal was 50 boxes originally. Due to some changes we made in our budget, we ended up cutting our goal back to 25, which we met! We had a lot of help from our family and friends and have managed to exceed that goal! My parents helped us purchase a TON of things to put in the boxes. And our AWESOME friends Ben and Heather contributed two more boxes. And then Nate's mom and sisters filled ELEVEN more boxes. The wonderful Laura and her husband over at unpunctuated life. are also filling boxes for OCC. So even though we had to cut our goal in half this year, we still ended up almost reaching fifty with the help of everyone who joined in the cause! And it was so great to work together with everyone and see everyone help out in their own special way! :)

 

Here I am filling boxes.

And here's the assembly line Nate made!

And here is Chloe "helping out." Really, she's inspecting what's going in the boxes to see what she can sneak back into her crate.

This has been such a great experience and we've learned a lot. We definitely want to do it again and we know much more about how to do things better and more effectively next year. We're really excited about dropping off the boxes so they can make their way off to the children!

I'm going to try and start posting some more. And hopefully I can get another "Thrifting Thursday" post up again this week because I found something AWESOME I want to share with y'all. Hope everything is going well with everyone! Miss you guys!

i feel pretty, oh so pretty!

 

Aunt Jen bought her a new dress. And she is LOVING it.
She thinks she is the STUFF.

moving day!

So. Now that we're pretty much settled I figured I would start updating y'all on the craziness that has been the past two weeks.

Our moving day was Saturday the 20th. We had hired movers. And my awesome friend Mary had come up from Columbia to help me out with the cleaning and unpacking and arranging. I had to start work on that Monday and had to go get a TB test read that day, as well as go to the sheriff's department to get my background check and fingerprinting done. So we had decided that Nate would stay at our apartment to wait on the movers (who were supposed to arrive at noon), Mary would head to the new place and turn on the power so the AC could start doing its thing, and then I would take care of everything for work before going to meet Mary.

Sounds simple, right? You would think.

I'm leaving the courthouse to head to our new house when Mary calls and tells me she can't get the air to come on. After talking to her some, I find out it's because the power won't come on. We try everything we possibly can to try to get it work and nothing happens. So I call Nate. At this point, it's 2:00 and I'm expecting the movers to have gotten there by now. When he answers the phone he tells me their morning move is taking longer than expected and they don't know when they're going to be there. Then I tell him our issue with the power, so he calls the electric company and tells me that someone will be out within the next three hours to fix whatever's wrong.

Fast forward to about 6:30. Mary and I have been waiting four and a half hours in a hot, powerless, empty house with a smoke detector that is screaming at us because the battery needs to be changed. And Nate has been waiting all day on the movers, who have gotten lost twice, to get to the apartment.

Abby and I waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

FINALLY, the guy came and fixed the power situation around 7:00. And the movers found Nate. And at 9:30 that night, they made it to the house. We pushed and pushed and pushed and helped them unload everything as fast as we could and they were gone by 11:00. 

Needless to say, we didn't get even half of what we wanted to done on Saturday, but thank God that we did get moved in. And nothing was broken or lost. And we had the help of our great friend Mary, as well as our wonderful, loving family (who came on Sunday to help clean) - which made a HUGE difference. So despite all the insanity of the weekend, we definitely were blessed!

And here's one of my favorite things in our new house.

The lights over our kitchen table!

If you read all of this, then I am pretty impressed. And appreciative. It means a lot that you would take the time to invest your time in our lives. :)

I'll update y'all soon on the rest of the move, the new job, and hopefully get some pictures of the new place posted! And I'm slowly working my way through all of your blogs. I've missed so much in the past couple of weeks!

dreams.

Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write down your top three dreams. Now write down what’s holding you back from them.
(Author: Michael Rad)

It's been awhile since I've done a trust30 post. I had committed. I was sticking to that commitment. And then I just let life get in the way of it. But I'm getting back on track now. No clue how long it will take to get through all of the prompts, but they WILL all be done.


Anyway. To my top three dreams.


ONE.
To have at least two children and stay at home with them until they are in school. Right now, this dream hasn't been fulfilled because Nate and I are waiting until we're in a more stable living environment where we actually have room to at least put a crib. We're living somewhere cheap now to save money so we can move to that more stable place soon. We're also working on saving money so we can afford for me to stay home with the children and better provide for them. So maybe these things aren't keeping us from fulfilling our dream, but rather helping us to reach it more quickly?

TWO. 
To more seriously pursue my artwork. Currently, I feel like I'm not doing much to reach toward this dream due to lack of time. I feel like there are so many other things I need to be focusing my time and energy on that I push this to the back burner. I keep telling myself that once I get these other things figured out, then I'll start focusing on my art. I have a feeling that if I started focusing on my art more, I would probably be more productive in my everyday life because I would have a creative outlet. I just haven't done anything about it yet. I'm going to make that an actual tangible goal this week. I am going to start spending at least one hour a week creating. 

THREE. 
To be in charge of whatever it is I am doing as a teacher - whether it means having my own classroom or doing behavioral therapy and creating my own programs. I have been working for two years now under the supervision and direction of other educators. I have a BA and a M.Ed. and experience and a good bit of knowledge (I think) and I have so many things that I want to do with my children. I am ready to have that responsibility. With the job I found most recently, I was finally given a taste of that responsibility and it was WONDERFUL. Unfortunately, it was just for a summer extension program and due to the fact that it is a private school where there is already an amazing staff, I might not be able to stay into the fall with a full-time position. And due to the job market and the way things are in the education world right now, it has been difficult to find the job I'm looking for. But I'm still looking. And still pushing forward. And despite the things that might be holding me back, I am going to continue pushing until this dream does come true.

What are your dreams?

 

boiled peanuts and birthday cake.

This will be my LAST birthday post. Promise.
Here I am, in all my birthday glory this weekend. Ordering my wonderful husband to take my picture. Getting boiled peanuts with my birthday cake because I can down a bag in about five minutes. And having my mom explain to me that my candles are in tens and ones because we're teachers and that's just how we do things around here.

Does anyone else get really embarrassed and feel really awkward when people are singing happy birthday to you?

PS.
We are now officially at 20 followers, which is pretty cool! So thanks from both of us to all of y'all - it means a lot that you would join us on this journey of our life!

it's my birthdayyyyy!

Well, not technically. It was actually on Monday. But I've been busy. I don't have much time right now. But I just have to stop by and say that I am SUPER excited for three reasons.


ONE.
Nate got me a great new leather purse. Pictured here:

 
TWO.
I got some new birthday chucks from the parents!

THREE.
I got a ton of money to use on new books for my nook. The first book I'm getting ready to start reading is "The Happiness Project." A few more I bought are "One Thousand Gifts," "Still Alice," and "Pictures of You" by Caroline Leavitt. If any of y'all have read any of these, let me know how they were or what you thought! I'm pretty excited to get started on them!

PS.
Look at these awesome birthday cupcakes Nate's mom made me! (I LOVE penguins, btw.)

And the great card that came with them and surprised the mess out of me with confetti!

Basically, I'm having a pretty great birthday week.
More in-depthness to come soon. Promise! :)  

i carried a watermelon.

So, how was your Fourth of July weekend? What did you do that was special?

Nate and I had some craziness; but overall, ours was pretty good.

On Thursday night, Nate and I were on the way to get dinner and run some errands when we experienced some pretty serious car troubles. We had to call our friends, Ryan and Steph, who were AMAZING and came all the way to the mechanic's to pick us up. But it was a blessing in disguise because we got to go to dinner with them when we hadn't seen them in at least a month. :)

On Friday Nate got a call from one of the guys at the shop. Me, being the GENIUS that I am, locked the car using the security system and didn't leave the key FOB with the key. So of course, when they tried to get into the car they couldn't. So Nate had to come all the way back home to get the rest of the keys and take them over to the shop.

After that trip, we went to our new favorite spot - JASON'S DELI!

Nate is in LOVE with their salad bar.

And I am absolutely addicted to their Chicago Club.

smoked turkey, bacon, provolone, organic spinach, roma tomatoes, smoked red pepper cilantro aioli, herb focaccia. <3

Pretty yummy.

We went down to Columbia this weekend to see the family.

On Saturday morning, Nate and I shared a watermelon that was quite delicious.

chloe jumped in my picture.

nate loves his knives.

After our tasty breakfast, we spent the day with Nate's family. We went shopping with his sisters. He actually came too! I got a pair of silver sandals from Payless for only $6 and a pair of nude flats from Target for $12. Which was SUPER exciting because I love love LOVE shoes, but don't like to pay a lot of money for them. And you just can't find shoes as cheap as you can find clothes.

We were supposed to go to my grandma's house with my parents for dinner on Saturday night, but her power went out, so we all met and went out somewhere instead. After dinner we got to go by my parents' house and look inside! They're doing a ton of renovations and aren't living there right now and we didn't think we'd be able to go in because the hardwoods had just been redone. But we did - and it looks great! I can't wait to see the finished product! :)

On Sunday we went to church and lunch with Nate's family. His sister, Jen, and her husband brought their little girl over so we could give her the birthday present we got her. We had to miss her third birthday party because it was the day Nate's back went out and we had to rush to urgent care. :(

Being the teacher that I am, I have to get her a book every year. This year was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. And we just happened to find a floor puzzle to go with it on clearance!

opening her gift!

working on her puzzle with aunt "smeshmie"

all done!

We also had a belated birthday celebration for Nate. And his mom baked his absolute favorite. Carrot cake. It was AMAZING.

After all of that, we packed up all our things, loaded up the dogs, and headed to my grandma's house for our second try at dinner. Everything worked out and she fixed a wonderful meal consisting of roast, string beans, squash casserole, homemade rolls, tomatoes, and quite a few other things. And for dessert?

homemade cherry cobbler!

We came home Sunday night and spent our Fourth pretty low key. We had some stuff to figure out regarding the car situation and we were exhausted from our long weekend with the family so we ended up heading to a small farmer's market and getting a ton of fresh, local fruits and vegetables and then finishing up our grocery shopping, fixing dinner and eating together and spending a relaxing night watching Cosby reruns.

But we had a great weekend full of family, friends and celebration. We had watermelon, ice cream, cake and cobbler. We got to worship freely in a church of our choosing. I'd say we had the perfect celebration of our Independence Day. :)

chloe says bye! :)

invent the future.

So. Here is day seventeen of the trust30 challenge.

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

My favorite quote of all time is Alan Kay: ‘In order to predict the future, you have to invent it.’ I am all about inventing the future. Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now.

(Author: Cindy Gallop)

Well, this one is going to be short. To be honest, I don't know what the future holds. And I'm not big on spending hours dreaming up exactly what I want my future to look like. Because it's not in my hands. You know what they say, 'We plan. God laughs.'

I've said it before. I'll say it again. I want to be serving the Lord. I want to be the best wife and mother I can be. I want to be working with children who have special needs. I want to be able to spend a lot of quality time with our family. I want to be able to spend a lot of quality time with our friends. I want to pursue my art. And I want Nate and I to be able to do the things that are important to us. To me, that's a pretty bright and successful future.

And I think we're making that happen right now.

What do you see for your future?

happy fathers day. :)

to our dads.

happy fathers day! :)

we love you.

we miss you.

we're sorry we couldn't spend this special day with you.

but we can't wait until we get to see y'all very soon!

fifteen minutes to live.

So I have committed to this. 


And today's prompt is:

Gwen Bell – 15 Minutes to Live

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
2. Write the story that has to be written.

(Author: Gwen Bell)

Soooooo...here goes...

I don't have much time left and there are so many things that I can think of to say.

Before anything, I need to be sure that Nate knows how much I love him.  He has been my best friend in this world for so long now and has been so supportive of me.  He has taken care of me, stood by me and always made sure that I had all I wanted and was able to achieve my dreams.  He has brought out the best qualities in me and helped me see the areas in which I need to grow.  He has never allowed me to settle and never accepted less than the best from me.  He has believed in me and because of his faith in me, I have been able to gain hope and confidence in myself.  I'm blessed to have known him and grateful for all he has done for me.  He is such a strong, smart, capable man.  And my hope is that he goes on to find happiness after I'm gone.

I also need to be sure that my parents know how grateful I am for all they have done for me over the years.  They brought me into their lives, raised me and took care of me.  They put up with a lot from me and were way more patient with me than I probably would have ever been if I were in their place.  They have always been a strong support system.  And for all that they have done, I need to say thank you. And 'I love you,' to them both.

To all of my family and friends, I am so thankful for everything they have done for me.  I know they have had to put up with a lot!  I have been blessed with a great support system and wonderful people with whom I have been able to spend my life. I couldn't have asked to be surrounded by better people. I love them all.

To everyone I have wronged, please forgive me for what I have done to you. And to those who I have been holding grudges against, I forgive you.

Finally, don't forget - "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. " - Romans 8:37-39

 So. What would you say if you had fifteen minutes left to live?

there's no place like home for the holidays.

So this holiday season has been pretty wonderful.

Nate and I have been blessed with his new job. We discovered that we're a little over a month away from paying off another student loan, meaning there will only be ONE left. I got to spend extra time with my three amazing kids the week before Christmas. Nate and I got to spend three days in Columbia with the family. We got to see parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. We were blessed enough to be able to afford to give gifts and cards to everyone. We enjoyed a lot of good food and good times with family. It even snowed in COLUMBIA the day after Christmas - and the snow stuck!

Now I am taking my day off to recover from the past weekend and get everything in the apartment back in order.

And I figured I'd move on to truth number six since it's been awhile...

6. Something you hope you never have to do.
I hope I never have to move somewhere north of the Mason Dixon Line. I HATE cold weather.

Chloe, on the other hand, LOVES it. Abby? Not so much. Last year, Abby was the one running through the snow and playing in it while I had to hold Chloe just to keep her warm. This year was the exact opposite.

Now it is time for me to do some more housework and get some running in before the hubby gets home. I will leave you with some pretty insightful words that were on Dave Ramsey's Facebook today:

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change."

What words of wisdom have had a great impact on your decision making and how you live your life?

Also, I got a Barnes and Noble nook for Christmas. So if anyone else has one, let me know! I want to figure out this whole book sharing thing.

it's christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you! We hope it is filled with joy, peace and love! And thankfulness - not just for friends and family and all that you receive during this blessed time, but for the most wonderful Gift of all. :)

blessed.

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately. We've been driving all over the world, Nate's been working extremely hard, and I've been trying to get all the loose ends tied up for the end of the semester and for graduation. So I guess I'll just start where I left off a couple weeks ago...

Nate and I had a pretty great Thanksgiving. He had the entire week off and I had three days off. His grandpa came down from Minnesota and stayed with us for a day. He was supposed to be here longer, but the airline does what airlines do best and screwed his flight up. He had arranged for someone to take him to his plane in a wheelchair, but the person never showed. By the time someone got there and got him across the airport, the plane had left. Early. Without him. Sooooo we had to go pick his baggage up at midnight and then Nate had to go back the next day and get him. We packed up for five days away and loaded the car with all our bags, the dogs and all their belongings, Grandpa G and all of his belongings and Nate and I. I had about 10 inches worth of room in the back seat which I had to share with Abigail, Chloe and my purse. Then we drove Grandpa down to Columbia and spent the next couple days with Nate's family. We had a very yummy Thanksgiving meal. I made squash casserole and pumpkin cookies. And Nate made sauteed green beans. We played games and spent a lot of quality time with everyone, including our adorable niece, Alexa.

This face is priceless.

I really do love this girl!

Everyone worked hard on these decorations!

Heidi, Christiana and me with Grandpa G!

The placecards.

Nate and Alexa!

We also took advantage of the fact that we had the whole family together and took some family pictures...

And here we are! :)

The day after Thanksgiving we packed up all our stuff and the dogs and loaded the car back up. This time, sans Grandpa and his bags, which meant Abby and Beans got the backseat all to themselves and I got to sit up front. Actually, let me make a correction. I got to drive. Down to James Island (Charleston). While Nate got to nap. Wooooo. Hooooo. We spent the next two and a half days camping with my extended family. It was a ton of fun! We had all the essentials. S'mores. Campfires. Bikes. A buffet for every meal including things like brisket, homemade biscuits, oysters and pancakes. A flat screen TV to watch the Clemson v. Carolina game. You know, the necessities.

Watching USC kick Clemson's tail!

This works WAY better than a campfire! And burns marshmallows in about 5 seconds.

Our beautiful rented motorhome.

The James Island County Park is decorated in amazing displays of Christmas lights every year, so we got to see that every time we went out at night. Plus, they have a winter festival and adorable Christmas shops. I got an penguin ornament with our names on it for our tree! (I buy one everywhere we go. I'm not big on themed trees. I like them to be personal and unique. Also, I'm obsessed with penguins. I want one for a pet but Nate keeps telling me no. I have no clue why.)

The trip down to Charleston was great and the perfect way to relax. And it was so nice to see so many family members. Overall, I'd say our Thanksgiving break was pretty amazing. :)

Now, two weeks late, I'm going to end with a list of things for which I am EXTREMELY thankful. I know I have more updating to do, but we have been so blessed that I don't want to go without this.

I am thankful for...
...the love and grace which bas been bestowed on me by my perfect Father.
...my amazing husband, who constantly puts up with me, takes care of me and loves me.
...our two beautiful, adorable, crazy puppies who make sure our lives are never boring.
...the amazing families we both have and the fact that we can be near them and spend so much time with them.
...being given the opportunity to get to know so many amazing children and their families and be a part of their lives.
...finally finishing school and the fact that I was able to go to grad school for free.
...being able to stay in Charlotte and not having to move eight hours away.
...being able to get super cheap flights so we could go visit family we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise.
...all my amazing friends, who, even though we don't talk as much anymore, are always there.
...finding a church home here in Charlotte.


I could add many more items to this list, but it's almost 11:00 and I have to be at school at 7:30 in the morning. AND we have to drive to Columbia late tomorrow. Needless to say, I need sleep if I'm going to function at all. So the rest of the updating will hopefully come very very soon.

Goodnight. :)

playing catch up!

So last weekend ended up being GREAT.

We couldn't go visit the family because I thought I was going to have a crazy work schedule. But then my therapy session on Saturday morning was cancelled, so Nate and I got to make a road trip up to a corn maze and spend the day together. It was our first time going to one and was a ton of fun!

Then, I got a random phone call from a school I had interviewed at like 3 months ago. They had needed a teaching assistant and I was one of the top three candidates, but they ended up going with someone else. She had to leave the position, though, so they called me in for another interview. I went back in and the next day they called and offered me the job. So I started last week and I have now been working there for a week and a half! This job has been such a blessing and answer to prayer. And I love it! So thanks to all of you who were praying. It means a lot.

This past week and a half has been pretty crazy. Between the new job and my job doing ABA and driving to Columbia and working on weekends and trying to visit the family I've barely had time to stop and breathe. On top of all that, Nate has had a lot going on with work. He has been super busy and it's been very crazy. We have barely had time for each other, much less for family and friends. So if y'all want to be praying for that, we'd GREATLY appreciate it.

We did get to spend the weekend in Columbia this past weekend, though. And we got to see family members we hadn't seen since Mother's Day. Which was nice. And even though we couldn't be with my mom on her birthday, we did get to come down for the celebration with the family. It was a weekend jam-packed full of things to do, but getting to spend time with everyone was completely worth it. We really hate that we can't spend as much time as we want with all of our family. But we definitely try our hardest and have learned to treasure every moment we get with them.

And on that note, here are some pictures from our weekend in Columbia!

The most adorable pirate EVER.

Me, Nate, Jenny, Matt and Alexa on the hayride!

Nate and me with Alexa!

Nate made me play basketball.

I love this little girl! :)

My mom and me at her birthday celebration! :)

Blowing out her candles! :)

Chloe hanging out at her grandparents' house!

And the end of our trip...Abby was READY to be back home and sleep in her own bed!

And now I will end with truth number five.

5. Something you hope to do in your life.

There are a lot of things I want to do in life. And it's really hard to pick just one. But I think one of the biggest for me is that I hope to be able to make as much of a difference in the lives of the children I work with as they make in my life. No matter what each child is like, each one of them teaches me something. The ones who are slow to learn teach me patience. The ones who are full of compassion teach me how important it is to care for others and always be willing to lend a helping hand. The ones who are dismissed by others because they might be aggressive or say mean things teach me to look deeper because there is usually a bigger issue there. These children brighten my day when I'm feeling crappy - whether it's through a hug or a smile or an "I love you Miss Stephanie." And I hope and pray everyday that I can be the teacher, guide, helper, friend, advocate, comforter... that they need me to be. It really is amazing how you start off wanting to teach and then you realize how much you are really learning.

What do YOU hope to do in life?

we eat WAY too many tacos.

I woke up with a headache AGAIN today. And took some medicine, went back to bed and slept in AGAIN today. Now I'm finally up getting things done around the house. And making a yummy Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch. :)

This weekend was pretty good. On Friday, I worked and then came home and fixed tilapia, baked mashed potatoes and salads for dinner. I really could eat seafood everyday. Then on Saturday I worked all day long (from 10 to 5). And Nate ended up driving down to Columbia to help his friend Ben pack up all his stuff because he moved up here to Concord. I spent all Saturday night here by myself watching 90210 and Law and Order SVU reruns until he got home at 10:30. Then on Sunday morning, we went up to Concord to help him unpack all his stuff. After we got home, we went looking at apartments. And we actually found a couple we like - YAY! :) And when we got home we ate dinner. Guess what we had? It starts with a T and ends with ACOS!!!!!! My new favorite, in case you couldn't tell.

We're in seriously bad shape when it comes to groceries right now. No bread, milk, or cheese. No TACO SHELLS. No popsicles. Just to name a few things. But at least we have the things I need for my lunch.

Oh, and here are some more pictures from the Walk Now for Autism Speaks. I didn't do a very good job at documenting it, but Nate's family came and Heidi took some good ones. So I stole these.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway...where the walk was.

Nate jumping.

Nate and Heidi.

Me, Rebecca, Wesley and Nate!

The Pit Stop Challenge!

She was fast!

I was not!

And now it's time for truth number four!

4. Something you have to forgive someone else for.

Hm. You know, I try to make it a habit to forgive others for things they've done to me as soon as I can. Because I really hate harboring resentment against people. And God says that we are to forgive people who do wrong against us "seventy times seven." I didn't always live this way, and I found out pretty quickly that holding grudges can make you a very bitter and angry person. And life just isn't worth living that way. We weren't meant to live life that way. So I really can't think of a single person I have yet to forgive for something. 

And that is all. :)

EDIT: Apparently we are in worse shape as far as groceries go than I thought. And we're out of lettuce. So no salad for me. Just chicken. :(  It's definitely going to be shopping time when I get off work.