Male vs Female

So before we got married, I thought TJ and I had so much in common. We love Jesus, like the same food, hobbies (frisbee) we are both math people. Then we got married. And I realized we are very different! We were praying last night and TJ's prayer was very sweet. About 3 minutes but he said everything I was feeling. Then my turn...10 min later TJ is laughing as I'm praying that God will give someone dementia. The point of the prayer was to ask God to help us forget the lies of the world. TJ says "help us forget the lies" Amanda says "and even if you have to give us dementia for awhile so we can forget them, I would be ok with that because I just don't want to remember them anymore" Point of the story, girls use more words than boys. This is our life :)

Break us of our need for the familiar

We fix our eyes on You, You are God alone


We fix our eyes on You, You’re our only hope

For all we have to lose is our very souls



We fix our eyes on You, You are God alone

We fix our eyes on You, You’re our only hope

For all we have to lose is our very souls



Save us from these comforts


Break us of our need for the familiar


Spare us any joy that’s not of You


And we will worship You


Yeah, we will worship You



Satisfy us, Lord, in Your unfailing love

Satisfy us, Lord, that You would be enough

We have nothing here, let Your kingdom come



Save us from these comforts

Break us of our need for the familiar

Spare us any joy that’s not of You

And we will worship You

Yeah, we will worship You



Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah



Save us from these comforts

Break us of our need for the familiar

Spare us any joy that’s not of You

And we will worship You

Yeah, we will worship You

Carlos Whittaker- We Will Worship You




My need for the familar is great. When things arent familiar, I tend to lose it. Life appears to fall apart. I am miserable. Change makes me terribly uncomfortable. I hate it. Strong word, but i HATE change. Gradual change so that I can look back and not realize change happened, I am fine with. But change that happens within an hour rocks my world. In reading the Bible tonight you can imagine my shock when I couldn't find a verse that says "I will not change your world abruptly and radically in a short period of time" Its like the Bible wasn't written just for my comfort. This song just puts into words all the frustration, nerves and worries I have for the future. Define comfortable "free from stree or anxiety" that is what I would love to be, but God never promised that. Lately He has done nothing but redo our plans over and over. It has gotten to the point where I don't know why we make plans. Its a joke.

Life is precious

The events of the past two weeks have really shown me how delicate and precious life is. We have had a friend pass away, a family member in the hospital, and a coworker hit by a drunk driver. The news flashes stories of an infant abandoned in a toilet. We live in a fallen world that needs a Savior. With all the tragedy that has surrounded us lately, it is easy to slip into a state of worry. One that is paralyzed by fear of what is to come to the point that we miss what is already here. After a long talk and much prayer, the Lord has challenged us over and over again to trust Him. To abide in Him. To rely on Him.

Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.



How thankful I am that my Savior knows me; my failures my strengths, my dreams and passions. He knows my heart and all my misguided energies. He knows how often I lose motivation to spend time in the Word, yet he never gives up on me. He knows that when I fail my husband and lose my temper, that I am still His child and He still loves me. What a tremendous blessing it is to have a Lord and Savior who has endless patience with me.

As Tamanda faces changes on the horizon, graduation, full time employment, rotation, the Lord has proved Himself faithful (as if He needed to...HA!) He continuously places people in our path who can support and encourage us. We have started the marriage class. In the first class, Butch challenged us that as a married couple we should be mentoring unmarried couples and by the end of the class, we should have written our own premarriage class. Oh goodness. Overwhelmed. I tried to hide my wedding ring. TJ informed me that people will still know we are married. He is typically correct so I went back to flashing my new bling.

Needless to say God is stretching us.

Newlywed Adventure

Goodness life is busy. This morning brought a whole new world of adventure. Getting ready for school/work without power. Challenging. Thankfully the Lord is merciful and held off the power outage until i had finished drying my hair. Amazing how the little things impact me. So thankful to TJ's family for buying him this HUGEGINORMOUSGIGANTIC flashlight that I held in the bathroom so he could get ready this morning. Ah yes adventures of the newlyweds.

As posted last time we are trying to reduce expenses, which explains why our heater has not been turned on yet. Don't freak out, don't stop visiting us. We will turn on the heat if you come by :) But instead of the heater we have invested in a little friend we like to call, Kevin.

Meet Kevin Spacey. He is our new best friend. He can take a room at 55° and heat it up to a balmy 65°. TJ bought him for me with some of our wedding gift cards. Best husband EVER! So Kevin sits in our room/bathroom etc making our lives better without the expense of the heater running throughout the whole house. What a life :)

Also, today is our one month anniversary. God has taught us that marriage is hard. It forces you to admit your weaknesses because they are so clearly exposed to your spouse. He has taught us that without Him we can do nothing. Marriage has exposed what a selfish person I am. From silly things like wanting the first shower to not wanting to do laundry, I am selfish. TJ is the most gracious patient man I have ever met. Even this morning I had to apologize for not being Christ like in my "I-Hate-The-Cold" attitude. Yet he forgives me and moves on without ever bringing up the past. What a sweet man.