Aha!

   As silly as it may sound, for a very long time, I have struggled with the idea of men having feelings.  Obviously it makes sense when a man is sad about a family member dying or is happy because his team won the game. But whenever I hear a man say something about "it really hurt my feelings when...", I instantly think "Wha??? ..I didn't know you had feelings to hurt..What are you talking about??" The first time I remember seeing my Dad cry, I was surprised and confused because I honestly didn't know that men had the physical ability to cry. Crazy, right?
   Well I have started reading For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn-I'm 3 chapters in and already, you guys are making more sense to me! Chapter 2 has been my favorite so far-Your Love Is Not Enough: Why your respect means more to him than even your affection. A man would rather be respected by his wife than feel loved by her. My first reaction to this, as a woman, is "what does that even mean?? If I'm showing you I love you, obviously I respect you. Why is feeling respected more important than feeling loved?" Well, as I read and the author revealed answers to those questions, past conversations with men popped into my head.  My brother-in-law asked me one day, "Ari, why do you act like I don't know what I'm talking about?" I went home feeling like he was mad at me and I had no clue why! All I had done was told him that somebody had said something contrary to the advice he had given me. I wasn't at all saying "Frank, you have no clue what you're talking about. Thanks for the dumb advice." But after reading chapter 2, I'm guessing Frank probably felt like I didn't trust his judgement and therefore, he didn't feel respected by me.
   So then I'm thinking-well, geeeze! Where's the line in all of this?? How do I know if I've accidently disrespected a man?? To me, this is completely overwhelming and intimidating. I don't want to ever come across as disrespectful. And I don't want to walk on eggshells thinking I can't joke around with a guy. (P.S. Ladies-publicly teasing a guy can sometimes be a huge problamo. Be careful what you say/how you say it!)
   The chapter answers my questions: show him you trust and respect him by allowing him to do something without interfering-don't nag at him to get something done (he already knows!)-understand that your man is not stupid-and build him up! There were more points in the chapter-these are pretty big ones though. Anyway, after that chapter, the whole respect thing makes way more sense to me and I understand why it is so incredibly important to a man. Whether you're in a relationship or not, you need to read this book. And men-there's a For Men Only book too--I'm sure there's helpful insight on women in there :)

Fun Times!

Meh! (Gabbie and Hunter know whats up! haha!) I love you guys! Had an awesome night with the family celebrating Gabrielle's 14th birthday! She got super cute stuff, we got to share some funny inside jokes, and the girls were sweet enough to teach me some songs on the piano! Thanks!! Happy Birthday Goosie! I hope this next year is amazing just like you!
Anywho-I am going to bed on time tonight! I have my first meeting with my mentor teacher for service learning tomorrow! Good night everyone!
P.S. Remember to tell your family you love them-they are a gift from God :)

Daily Stuff and a Prayer

Well it's been a busy weekend but I haven't had much to say the past couple of days. I told you I watched Australia the other day-and then I watched it the day after that because I love it so much. And Hugh Jackman is in it. :)
We had Frank's dirty 30 party on Friday night which was a lot of fun! Southern cookin'-wii playin'-and lots of cuuute babies! Every baby in my sister and brother-in-law's small group is so incredibly cute I could just die. They need to host small group and I'll just snuggle all the babies. :)
Today we cleaned up Gramma's house-Levi and Caleb and I watered/weeded the front and back yards. And it was good to just hang out with the family and do something to help my Gramama :)
And then tonight I babysat the Bisgroves! Love those kids-love that family! What a blessing they are! :) I got my first fit from Mister Connor tonight about eating a corndog-he opted to go to bed early lol So cute :)
Tomorrow is my sweet Goosefraba's 14th birthday-I can't believe how old you are-it's nuts! I'm excited for her birthday party! Then monday I get to meet with my service learning teacher and I get to see all my favorite high school teachers and people in the office! Yay! I'm so glad I got placed at Higley! Go Higley Knights! :)
P.S. I think we should all say a quick prayer for the family of the man who was killed today at Texas Roadhouse in Gilbert. My family knows very much the power of prayer-11 months ago today our prayer warriors lifted us up and surrounded us with prayer and we are sooo incredibly blessed for that and I think much better off than we might've been otherwise.
Father, I pray for healing for the Zamora-Robles family. Wrap Your loving arms around them to comfort them in this horrible time. Father I pray that they are surrounded by people that will love and comfort them and constantly lift them up to You in prayer. And I praise You that one day, You will conquer death once and for all and that death will lose its sting. Amen, Father!! Amen! I love You, Lord!

Amour-Upendo-Liefde-Dashuri-L-O-V-E

Yay! Guess what?! I finally got placed for my service learning! Awesome! I'm at Higley-so now I get to see my office buddies and some of my favorite teachers! :D  <---that's me being excited! Anywho-this is going to be a short post cause I have a little homework to do and I need to eat dinner. I watched Australia today (Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman) and it is so incredibly romantic-I've just been in a cloud since then. I don't know if you do, but I get wrapped up in movies, so I feel like I'm still in them even after its over, which is so nice with romance movies. If I could live in movies that would be wonderful. If Hugh Jackman would marry me, that would also be wonderful...sigh.. <3 So if you haven't seen that movie, go watch it asap. Its awesome! Also, I highly recommend Pride & Prejudice-such a romantic book and movie. I should just be a movie character-wouldn't that be nice? I know I'm not the only girl who wants a truly romantic, adventurous, wonderful romance story for herself. I love love! :)

Life Decisions & Movies!

So I know I said the other day that I'm thinking I don't want to get married. But then I watched "Killers" yesterday with Ashton Kutcher-he was such a sweet husband in that movie! So now I'm re-thinking...if God would provide me somebody amazing and schmokin hot like that, that'd just be awesome. :) Speaking of movies, I've seen a lot lately-here's my reviews: Munich-horrendous. don't watch it. Sleeping Beauty-the bomb, obviously. Green Zone-good but I probably won't watch it again. Date Night-ha! larious :) Killers-makes me want to get married. What movies have you guys seen lately that were good?
Anywho-I'm in an intro to education class and every day that I'm in there, I re-think becoming a teacher. I don't know that I really want to do that. I don't know that I'd even make a good teacher. So that makes me want Jesus to just rapture us soon so I don't even have to make a career decision. Hopefully the service-learning coordinator will place me soon so I can get in a classroom and find out if this is maybe something I want to do. Sigh..I don't know why people make growing up sound so fabulous. It so is not! Tests, homework, classes, work, bills, relationships, responsibilities...psh I'd rather be a kid! :) Maybe I should just go work at Disneyland-I can play Sleeping Beauty! :)
I'll post more later--going to run some errands around school!

Procrastination Station!

Alright I have 6 minutes to blog-I like to start at even times for my homework which is just another way of saying that I procrastinated so much that yet another hour has gone by, so i might as well just take up these last-now 5-minutes to do something I want rather than do homework. :)
I had my banned books & censorship class tonight--what do you guys think of banning books and censoring what students read? (4 minutes..)
Anyway, on my way home from class, I notice the car behind me is flashing their lights at me. I don't recognize the car, one of the front headlights is dimmer than the other, they're following closely....I'm thinking "what does it mean when someone flashes lights from behind??" And I'm about to call Alyssa to ask. Anyway-naturally I check to make sure my doors are locked, hope I hit the next green light, and start thinking about a random route to take so I don't lead this person to my house. And then Amanda texts me "Hi!" and she pulls up next to me smiling. Super sketch Mandy. Super sketch. Haha
Ok about 30 seconds left. Oh nope. Nevermind. I'm out of time haha Hope you enjoyed my random story :) Love you!

Post Numero Uno

Hi family! My only followers :) This blog is just a bunch of random randomness, so I hope you enjoy! I'll keep you updated on funny stories, highlights of my day/week, thoughts, adventures, whatevah! I know you are getting so excited right now haha :)
First blog thoughts: Now I know I'll get a bunch of comments about this one but lately I've been feeling like maybe I'm not supposed to get married? And with all this talk during the Money, Marriage, and Me series at church about how hard marriage is & this and that, why does anyone get married in the first place? I dunno..I'm just not getting it right now..  Ok comment away on that one! :)
One last thought before I go eat my delicious smelling dinner! Anyone have ideas for a special thing we could do for Scott's one year? I think it is stressing Mom out and we want to be together as family that day. Any cool ideas you've thought of/heard before? (Kinda like the balloon releasing thing that we did for his birthday) Let me know! I love you fam! :]