working from home.

Since being in Maryland, I've been working from home. It's amazing. I really do like it. But sometimes it's hard. I stay home all day by myself, and I miss being around people. I sit on a computer all day and I miss human interaction.

I tried to make my office space fun - not just a boring desk where no one would want to spend their day. 

I've learned a lot about myself and about how to efficiently work from home...

*Always get ready for the day. 

If I don't brush my teeth, wash my face, shower and get dressed, my day is doomed. You have to feel ready for the day and get out of the PJ's!

Some days I even put on makeup & earrings and feel extra special and nice :)

*Take breaks. 

Okay, so I'm still working on this one. But my husband helps me a lot! If you were in an office setting, you would walk to the printer, go to a neighbors office to ask questions, take a lunch break. Don't restrict yourself to the desk all day long. It can be daunting and really bad for your mojo.

*Keep normal hours.

Just because I'm at home with all of my work here does not mean that I can or should work outside of my normal hours. When I first started working from home, I felt like I needed to just 'work a little longer'. This was false, and so not good. I'd say that and sit at my desk way more than the normal 8 hours/day. I was letting work keep me from doing anything else, because it was so easily accessible.

*Get your house stuff done before you go to work. 

I like a clean house. I like everything to be in it's place. And if it's not... I can't stop thinking about and then I'll have to do it anyway before I start working. I clean up the kitchen and pick up around the house before I go to the office. That way if you walk to the bathroom... and see clothes on the floor, or stuff all over the counter, you don't end up cleaning on your potty break. This is hard for me...

*Find something that you love to occupy your time after work hours.

I started stitching... and I love it! Having something to look forward to doing in the evening has been so great. It's nice to have something to look forward to and distract me at the end of the day. I look forward to getting done work so that I can work on my crafts. And it's given me something to do that other people like too. I have already given a few away as gifts and now, I'm considering selling them to make a little extra money on the side. Why not make a profit off something that you love doing?!

Anything else that I should be doing while working from home? 

Sincerely, Loo

Thankful

Where has the time gone? It's already February and it feels like I just left Savannah a few days ago. 

A new year has begun, and it is incredibly overwhelming to stop and think about all that has changed during the last few months. 

After living with my parents for a few weeks, and dealing with the paperwork and stress of buying a home, and Chris commuting an hour and half to and from work, we were able to move into our beautiful home! 

move in day :)

We moved in just in time to celebrate Christmas and New Years, which was so fun. Since we have been married, we've been moving every year at Christmas time, so we had our very first real Christmas tree, and we were able to enjoy our decorations! We had friends and family visiting and even had our dear friend, Amber who was visiting home from Australia come visit and stay with us fro New Years! I was also able to go to Lynchburg, VA (where I went to college) to visit with one of my favorite people who graduated as a nurse! Couldn't be more proud of this woman and the hard work she put in to make her dreams come true!

Congrats Sarah!!! (& so good to see Kelsie & Alli too, love my college roomies!)

Chris did an amazing job cutting down his first real Christmas tree!

enjoying our home and watching Christmas movies.

Baltimore Inner Harbor celebrating 2014 with Amber!

We church shopped for quite a while, and it was honestly pretty discouraging at first. We LOVE our church in Savannah, so we had to pray hard for open hearts and minds as we began our search for a church home here. Well... I think we found it. The Foundry is an amazing place where we have met amazing people. We feel so welcomed every week and fall a little more in love every time we go!

Moving to a new place... even if it is just an hour and a half from home... is really tough. Working from home has been amazing, but it gets lonely. I miss sharing an office with my best friend and having amazing people around me all day. Evenings are my favorite time when Chris comes home. It has been a challenge to not use my family as a crutch and just 'run home' every time I need to be around friends. Don't get me wrong, its amazing to have them so close, but I know that community needs to be built here, in our new home. 

This week has by far been the most overwhelming of the year so far... I thought this was going to be a very lonely, quiet week, with Chris traveling to Chicago for work, however, he has been by my side through a tough time. After driving him to the airport Monday and driving home, he called to say his flight was delayed until Tuesday morning. So I got to spend another night with my amazing hubby...great! Except that Tuesday morning was an icy one. As we drove in the dark to the airport, we were 2 miles out when we hit a patch of ice. This was the most terrifying moment of my life. I had no control of the car... we spun in circles across the highway... into the exit ramp... hit a highway light pole which threw the car into another circle and finally stopped when our car slid backwards up onto a huge highway sign that had been knocked down minutes before by another car. Within seconds after stopping, I looked up and saw another car sliding straight toward our car. Chris leaned across toward me while the other car slammed into the passenger side of the jeep. As we got out of the car and called 911, one after another, cars hit the same icy spot and spun out of control. We would watch one car spin and another car start spinning until they crashed and then moments later another car would start sliding and crash into the other two. It was like a horrible scene you would watch in a movie. There were 11 cars that had to be towed away, and many more that were able to drive away. 

All of this to say, Chris missed his flight... we sat at the scene for 2 hours in the freezing cold. It only looked worse once the sun came up and you could see all of the damage. What a crazy morning! 

*Thankful for our friend Jon who sacrificed being on time for work and came to picked us up and took us home.

 

Thankful... this is the only word that makes sense right now. I am so thankful that after spinning out of control on the highway, and smashing into a light pole, Chris and I walked away from the accident with nothing more than a scrape on the leg and a stiff neck. I cannot stop thanking God for keeping us safe! I miss my car, and I wish I could stop replaying what happened in my mind. But my car can be replaced and memories will remain... but sitting on the couch with my husband last night, with tears running down my face, I tried to put the words together to tell him how much he means to me and all I could say was 'I love you so much'.

It feels like this was just another reminder of how precious each day is and to never take for granted the opportunities we have to love on those closest to us! 

Sincerely, Loo

a new adventure.

This past month has been crazy... And the next month will be even crazier!

We bought our first home...in Baltimore! (what? I never ever in a million years thought I'd live in Baltimore)

We are moving again... back to Maryland... in just 2 1/2 weeks. It's overwhelming when I stop and think about all of the details, and it's very bittersweet to be leaving Savannah, but we are very excited for this adventure.

it's already so cold in Maryland...

We have been praying that we would have peace and direction for our future. After a year and 11 months, our time in Savannah has come to an end and Chris has accepted a job in Baltimore. 

Really cool story, Chris was contacted, interviewed over Skype and after a few days was praying that we would have peace and know what our future was and as he said "amen", the phone rang with the offer. We knew at that point that it was what we had been waiting for.

We found an amazing realtor and drove all over Baltimore county for 2 days and finally found the perfect house! 

We are trading our palm trees for beautiful oak trees in a few short weeks!

Here is a sneak peak of our new home...

Sincerely, Loo

Serving Together

Serving others is one of the most amazing things to do. It is humbling, challenging, and it can be very rewarding. Serving in the church has been a part of my life for a long time. Whether is was taking care of babies, teaching little kids bible stories, singing in choir, cleaning, leading a bible study, or anything else that was needed.

Serving with my friends was always a bonus. 

Change dirty diapers, and talk to my best friend at the same time...

Sing in the choir, and get worship next to my closest friends...

Recently, I've understood the importance of serving with the valuable people in my life more than ever.

This is why I recognize how much of an honor it is to get to serve with my husband!

Serving together has helped us grow and become better people, and better spouses.

We still have our own things that we like to do, he runs sound, while I play with babies.

But we are serving the same God within the same church, and we find opportunities to serve alongside one another and be challenged together.

As we sat in our small group the other night with a bunch of other married couples, I began to realize how blessed I am to get to serve alongside of him, and how much it has impacted our marriage.

Here are 4 things that I've learned about serving with your spouse:

1- Serving together makes you happy

When you are helping other people and teaching others about Jesus, you can't help but be happy. It is one of the most amazing things that we get to do as Christians, is to love others. There is an unexplainable joy, and sharing that with your spouse is incredible. 

When my husband and I get to serve together, and I see his leadership and passion, it puts the biggest smile on my face. I'm already a proud wife, but that takes it to the next level.

2- Serving together helps you learn new things about one another

Even when we think we know a lot about our spouse, there is always more to learn. Serving together stretches us and challenges us, requiring us to be more vulnerable. 

When my husband and I started leading a small group, we both had our own way of doing things, and we had to learn how the other person taught, led and communicated in this type of setting.

3- Serving together makes you fall even more in love

There is a bond that you create when you are depending on a partner in a leadership/servant role. When we serve together, we need each other, and rely on each other. There is a deep connection that cannot be reached any other way. We connect when we are serving together, but also when we are preparing together. We learn together and challenge each other. We see our strengths highlighted, and step in during each others weaknesses. We become ONE in a new way. The way that I love Chris has significantly changed since we began serving together. 

4- Serving together deepens your foundation

When my husband and I traveled to India, we were asked to share with the people everywhere we went, in churches, schools, children's homes, offices... at times, I was nervous, anxious, overwhelmed and scared... but having my husband next to me to pray for me and hold my hand was what helped me remain focused and have the faith I needed.

Our relationship took a huge leap during those 12 days of travel. Our marriage changed drastically during that trip. We experienced each other in a whole new way. We became so focused on God, and the role that He plays in our marriage.

This is a picture from India, when Chris was sharing in a church in Delhi, the capital of India. There were 700 people crammed into a room that was at least 100 degrees, worshiping and praising Jesus, with many hanging in the windows and doors just to hear the words spoken.

Comparison

I love being inspired by how other people live their lives. It's fun to see beautiful Instagram photos, and to read beautiful mommy blogs. I enjoy seeing how these beautiful people, live their beautiful lives, with their beautiful babies, husbands, homes, things... it's just beautiful.

Really, it is.

But, how easy it is to compare my life to these beautiful women's lives and end up finding myself feeling very uninspired, and defeated. Feeling as if my life is inadequate compared to theirs.

I never want to be the type of person who is envious of other people's lives and forgets to live my own. My life is beautiful, and full of blessings, and I want to embrace the life that God has blessed me with. My handsome husband, beautiful family, nice home, fun adventures...

I've had the same conversation with multiple women in my life, who end up spending more time dreaming about what it would be like to live these "fairytale lives" they see on social media, rather than embracing their own fairytale. 

God individually blesses us with our own beautiful lives.

I feel like there are some others out there though who live vicariously through their Instagram feed, Facebook, or favorite blogs... thinking that these lives look perfect. 

I bet those people think the same thing about other people in their lives though. 

No ones life is perfect... no matter how lovely their photos are, or how beautifully decorated their home is, the fact that every photo portrays exactly what they want you to see... its never actually perfect.

I'm learning to love my life for what it is and to embrace who I am and what I have. 

Because they are all beautiful blessings.

Sincerely, Loo

laying in a park with my favorite person.

Year 2

Two years ago on this day, I married my best friend.

It seems like just yesterday I was asking God... "when will I ever find my husband?"

I was single for 5 years.

At times, I lost hope. I didn't think I'd ever find "the one".

Everyone told me that I was "too picky"...

Through my single years, I was in many weddings, most of my friends were dating, engaged or married. I felt sad, hopeless, frustrated, lonely, even isolated at times. I clearly remember the nights when I would leave events, church services or friends houses and sit in my car crying out to God asking Him why I was still alone. 

My non verbalized thought process was plain and simple... go to college... meet a great guy... get married... follow him wherever he went... make babies... live happily ever after.

Well I watched this play out for most of my friends, but after college, I was still single, and then a few years passed, and I was still single. I was confused and felt so unsure of what I was going to do.

Then it hit me... like a bouquet smacking me in the face at a wedding... you know... because I was the girl who stood in the back with my hands behind my back during the bouquet toss...

I was so dependent on that being my story, that I wasn't open to the story that God had already written for me and my love life... He wanted me, my whole heart, my whole life.. He wanted my attention... and He got it!

I had hit such a low point of feeling sorry for myself, and pitying myself for still being single, that I had no where else to turn, than into His arms. 

In an old journal, with tear stains on the pages, I wrote that I'd never be able to find a man on earth who would love me the way that Jesus Christ loves me. The selfless, death bearing kind of love.

How crazy... God was waiting for me to realize the magnitude of His love. Finally, I clearly saw and felt that Jesus' love was way more than I was searching for in a boyfriend/fiance/husband. 

Nothing can compare to the way He loves me.

Did realizing this mean that being single was all of the sudden a walk in the park? Definitely not. 

But realizing it, helped in the moments of weakness when I felt like all hope was lost.

And then at the perfect time... when you least expect it, or even want it... God brings the man you've been waiting for into your life.

After God had captivated my heart... he brought Christopher Reese back into my life (we knew each other in high school). I was pretty certain he was NOT the one I had been waiting for... I was finally okay with being single, I was in a groove and he was not about to mess it up.

I told people he was not the one. I questioned him and his feelings.

However, after 2 months of earnestly seeking God's direction and listening to His voice,

He said yes, Chris is THE ONE!

Chris and I dated for 6 months...were engaged for 3...and we've now been married for 2 years!

Chris is my best friend and I am so thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life with him.

 But I am also so thankful for my single years with Jesus, that prepared and shaped me for this.

I realize more and more that I wasn't just waiting for the right guy... Jesus was waiting for me to love him the way I so desperately wanted to love a man... and because I learned to love Him the way He deserved, I believe that I am now able to love Chris the way that he deserves.

Happy Anniversary Christopher Reese, I love you!

Sincerely, Loo

Here's to another year of being married to my bestest friend...

Proverbs 31

I pray that God continues to reveal to me what it looks like to be clothed in strength and dignity. 

May we be women who are faithfully clothed [to endow with a particular quality] with strength and dignity. That when we encounter people, they are able to see strength and dignity overflowing. That our presence alone shows the power and worthiness of Jesus Christ Himself.

That fear of our future is dismissed, and that we live our lives with abounding faith , fearing nothing but the Lord.

Let me be a woman who speaks with wisdom, and pure intention. Laying aside my own agenda and remarks, being slow to speak, with a tame tongue. Let my words be God's words, and may they encourage others.

My prayer today is that I would live a Proverbs 31 life.

To be a passionately devoted woman, completely and loyally loving Jesus with my whole heart so that I may be able to love others with His love, the kind of love that only He can give.

I am human, I am imperfect, I struggle, but with his provision and guidance, I can live this life the way I am called to.

Sincerely, Loo