There's something about this time of year...

And the skies.

There's lots of crafts involved in my weekend. I'm really excited about it.

She's crafty. Have a blessed weekend.

I love you too.

If you haven't heard yet we are reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan in our women's study group, and like everyone else in the group, I am STOKED. We started out with really good intentions with our first book, unfortunately the spark was never there with the un-named book. But before any of us even started Crazy Love we were excited. I truly feel this is a book that is going to grow as women of Christ and sisters in the Lord. For so long I've felt the pull to have a closer relationship with women in my life and I couldn't think of a more awesome group of girls to grow closer to then the ones God has placed in our group!! It's so much easier to make it through the harder moments in life when you have a sister holding your hand, and even more fun to celebrate the highs.

Yesterday at work was rough for me. I had plenty of things to do but nothing that seemed to motivate or inspire me. So for a mental break I turned to the Crazy Love website, http://www.crazylovebook.com/, and watched one of the videos they have. It was called Stop and Think. And in 15 minutes it rocked my world. I know that I have "accepted Christ into my heart as my Saviour" and am forgiven of my sins through God's Son, Jesus, that he gave to us an eternal sacrifice. But seldom do I recognize what a tremendous amount of love that really is. And that without asking for it, it is given to us. Just waiting for us to realize that its there. The creator of the universe is waiting for us to simply say, I love you too.

Last night in growth group we touched on letting God be the Lord of our lives. And how when we stop doing things because we think it will please God, and start doing things because we WANT to please Him, and we WANT to love Him, how much easier our walk becomes. That thought was on my mind while I was watching this video and it all seemed to really click for me. His love is so easy for us to have. And He wants us to have it. That's all He has ever wanted for us. So to embrace that love and the One who gives it to us should be what dictates how we live our lives. Our motivation should stem from that. I was so overwhelmed with a feeling of complete love after this. Our actions for the Lord should be out of love. Our actions toward each other should be out of love. Its a really easy thing to lose sight of, I know I do often, but it should be something we are always coming back to. The love of Jesus Christ. And how we can emulate it in our lives.

God bless you. I love you.

Oh man.

This is pretty embarassing. But I also think its pretty hilarious. My friends always get on me about singing to songs that I don't know the lyrics to. I thought I pulled it off quite well. Apparently I'm wrong.

I'm off to brush up on my kareoke skills. God. Bless. You.

I.S.T.

This past weekend, my good friend Anne and I attended my cousin Kristen's wedding. She was marrying her boyfriend of 5 years, Jasvir. The unique part about this union is that Jasvir and his family are Sikh, which is a branch of Islam, so there were two ceremonies to appease each side of the family.
(The temple where the ceremony took place)

The first ceremony was the Indian ceremony, taking place at a temple in Sacramento. Anne and I were very excited for this first part, because it was a glimpse into a different culture that we otherwise would not have had. The invitation stated 9 am as the time the first wedding would begin. So I arrived at 9:15 figuring they may be running a few minutes behind. Well I was wrong, they weren't running 10 or 15 minutes behind, they were running 2 hours behind. This is when were told about I.S.T. Indian Standard Time. Apparently the times on the invitations are merely suggestions to them, and they show up whenever they feel like it, even if the event is waiting on them.

So while we waited we made some small talk with some of my relatives and killed some time in the parking lot. Soon the groom and his family arrived. He looked like a prince! After the bridal party was on their way we were aloud to head towards the temple, it is customary to wait for the groom's family procession first.

Once we got into the foyer of the temple we removed our shoes and covered our heads with scarves. For seating inside the actual temple we sat on the ground with men on the left side of the room and the women on the right. Just a note if you ever find yourself in a Sikh temple and you are sitting on the ground, do not put your feet in front of you. Apparently its a huge sign of disrespect for your feet to pointing towards the prayer book. Trust me. I know. Once the ceremony began it was interesting. Everything was sung in a different language, that I think was Punjabi. They translated on big projection screens. My cousin looked as much like a princess as Jaz looked like a prince. Despite the cultural and belief differences, I was very honored to be able to expierence that. I gained some knowlege on Islam and their culture.

The American ceremony also started nearly two hours late. But as soon as dinner was served we had a great time. They sure do know how to throw a party. There were some traditional Indian drummers that played along with the band and they were legit! Not to mention how amazing these people are at dancing. We danced until 11 then it was off home. Poor Anne was so wiped she was asleep before we hit Davis. Overall it was a great time. So here's some pics.

I hope you had a beautiful weekend. That didn't run on IST. God Bless.

Amazing, God.

I found myself driving the other day, talking myself out of a cranky mood. I was actually praying, asking God to clear my mind and give me peace for the day. As I did this I was reminded of the two kids I used to nanny for.

They were young, 5 and 7 and temper tantrums were a common occurence if naps weren't taken or their favorite toy was snatched by the other. I had developed a way to calm them down. We would take three deep breaths, then we would count our blessings. Usually by the time we got to five they were laughing and smiling, their problems from a few minutes ago gone.

I was really humbled thinking about this. They didn't ask God to take away their troubles, they decided to instead praise God for all of the good things that far outway the bad. Here I was cranky because of this or that, yet I had just come from an amazing fellowship with the girls. I had a meeting at Jessup and its looking like that process is going to be reality in the next few months. I made it home safely in the rain. I was fed and warm.

I decided that I would not pray for God to take this anxiety away, but I praised Him for all of the blessings I take for granted everyday. A big one for me this week, was my drive to work. I complain about my commute more then I should, but as I slowed things down this week, I took the time to see the beautiful pictures God was painting for me on my way home.

This was Monday during the storms. I was amazed at how low the clouds looked
This is by far my favorite view this week, it was on Wed. after the storm was clearing.
This weekend I am attending my cousins wedding. It should be beautiful.

Count Your Blessings.

Hello.

Hi. My name is Ari, of course if you're reading this, that is probably a fact that you are already well aware of. Anyways, I'm going to go brainstorm some sweet blog ideas and make it look all fancy. I'll be back with more later. Promise. God bless.