Books. I love books.

I love books.  Mmmmm, I don't know if that gets across what I mean.  I devour books. I love the smell of books, I love opening books, I love feeling the pages in your hand. I love reading late at night or mid afternoon. I also love finding something surprising, and when the story twists or you find something new or a new genre or discover a new author.  Love it love it love it. 

Did I mention I read the end first that way I can relax and enjoy the story?  Otherwise I power read through it to discover the end, and then have to read it again to enjoy it.  I figured out I could read the end first, and then mosey through the story, smart girl.  I don't like all books, but if I find a book I like, I zip through it and I disappear into the world of the story. I've tried explaining this to friends, but many don't understand.  When I'm reading everything else is gone, I don't hear anything, I don't see anything, I'm living in the story.  I've had many times where people have to be right next to me, and poke me a few times before I realize they are even there.

Courtney was bothering me while I was in the middle of an awesome book the other day and I was frustrated, so she showed me the video of Julian Smith, and it's about not interrupting him while he's reading a book.  I cracked up. 

  

This is definitely how I feel sometimes, especially if I'm in the last four chapters or near the end of the book.  There is just nothing better than sitting down with a good book.  To be honest with you, I've read three books in the last 20 hours. ::Sheepish grin:: Court took me to the library, and I showed her around, and I found this new author named Tera Lynn Childs, she's fantastic.  She writes in the fun fantasy genre, and so I got the starts of her three different series, two about Greek mythology and one about mermaids.  Whose a happy camper?  This girl.  That and I only have 40 more pages to go on Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring.  ALSO exciting book news is that Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris comes out tomorrow, AND Rick Riordan's final book to the Kane Chronicles Series is coming out tomorrow.  Guess who is going to be sitting by the pool reading her face off tomorrow?  Me. 

Super cute, right?

I'm so glad I married a man who also loved to read, we've agreed that an amazing bookshelf is a necessity in our house, we've both taken shop, so if we can't find it, we'll build it. We have also agreed that a nook to read in is high priority when we buy a house, and if it doesn't come with one, we will find a place to make one.  Way excited. I get to see Jeremy in 18 days. goodness I miss him.  Good thing I have good family in Florida and amazing books to keep me occupied!

So here is what I've been reading/going to be reading in case you are interested in picking up some rad awesome books.

1. oh.my.gods By Tera Lynn Childs (It's about Greek demi-gods going to school)-Just finished

2. Forgive my Fins By T.L.C (same as above author) (mermaid awesomeness)-Just finished

3. Sweet Venom By T.L.C  (about the descendants of Medusa fighting monsters)-Just finished

4. LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring By J.R.R Tolkien (You all should know this)-almost finished

5. Game of Thones Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire By George R.R Martin (fictional middle ages-esque fantasy land, where kings fight over the one throne)-half way through

6. Deadlocked By Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse novels)-start tomorrow

7. Serpent's Shadow By Rick Riordan (Egyptian demi-gods saving the world)-start tomorrow

8. Heat Wave By Richard Castle (based off of Castle the ABC show, just plain fun)-start tonight 

9. Fins are Forever By Tera Lynn Childs (sequel to #2)-sometime this week I hope

10. Mark a book of The Bible By God and the people who wrote it. I'm working my way through the Bible and I finished Matthew and Hebrews today, so I only have 8 more books in the New Testament to finish, which is my goal before I go to Texas in 15 days. Woot woot!

I've been pretty busy here in Florida, lots of beach time, and hanging out. I'm getting quite the tan, and using lots of sunscreen which is good. Went to Asia Fest on Saturday, and tonight Court and I are going to go see The Lucky One I read the book a couple weeks ago, so I'm excited to see the movie.  If you don't love to read, I apologize as that is a dirty shame.  

However, if you do, I hope you like this last picture, it's a cartoon bookcase and I love the colors and books and stories within it.  It makes my toes smile :-)

Love,

Your friendly Floridian bookworm,

Amber Jane

Also. Jeremy started BEAST this week, which is hell week and crazy amounts of stress, so please pray for guidance and wisdom as he leads his team through trials this week.  He's a really cool guy, and has a calm head, so I know he'd love the extra prayers and blessings that you'll send!

Florida and Poi

Time is sometimes a tricky thing, Jeremy usually gets 15 minutes to call on Sundays, but the past few weeks it's been either Tuesday or Wednesday due to different reasons.  When he does call on Sunday it's usually at like 5 pm, my flight was from 430 pm-10 pm.  GUESS WHO CALLED AT 4 pm!? Jer. It was awesome.  He's doing really well, and had a better week and had some grilled cheese, I suppose that makes up for a cruddy start to the week.  This week his band (he's in the band flight) is playing at the Alamo and another place so that's pretty cool that they are going to rock it out, Jeremy plays the Tuba. Stud tuba man.
My flight was grand and I sat next to a really nice Hindu lady and we talked for a couple hours about life and everything. Quite awesome, however, I forgot to pack snacks.  I was slightly hungry and thought, man I could really go for a chocolate chip cookie. 2 minutes later, 2 MINUTES, a chocolate chip cookie appears in my face (I was reading LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring and when I read I completely space out and can't hear a thing) and the air hostess is like, "darling, would you like a free chocolate chip cookie? They are warm!" Ummm...yes. You don't have to ask me twice. And so I got a free chocolate chip cookie during my flight...love.
Florida is very nice, today was my first day, Court and I did some walking around and got some errands done which is always good, and my LED poi came in the mail.  Now, I know I've talked about my poi, and now I have my own LED poi that light up, the color they are is spirit, (blue, purple, and pink). So if you would like to see a video, check out the video above. Super stoked. If you can't get it to work, I also have it on my facebook (can't tell I'm excited can you?)
We also got pretty lost and ended up on an airport road, and then at the mall stopped and were talked into buying some shakes, although I think the ice cream was better than the shake. We tried on those 5 fingered shoes, they were pretty darn comfy, I really liked them who knows, maybe someday. I also saw a GORGEOUS PINK convertible.  Ahhh...love it.
For lunch Court and I hung out and went to a Cuban restaurant called "Little Havana".  They never had anyone from Iowa from there so I signed their wall, "So good I'd slap a lamb for another sandwich".  We almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard, it's good to hang out again.

 Tomorrow we are hitting the beach, all Aunt Sara had was some SPF 8, which works for them because they are tan, but for pale-as-a white-washed-fence-me I needed something a bit stronger so I picked up some 50, I'll work up a pretty good tan, but I need to stay protected at the same time. I'm so excited to spend time with Aunt Sara and Court.  This weekend we are going to Busch Gardens, I've never been, it should be quite cool.

see the pink car?

I'm so glad I'm on this adventure,
BTW. A few people have asked me how to follow, and if you don't have a blogspot or utilize google+  there is a button on the right hand side that says follow by email, and all you do is type in your email address and it will email you my posts to your email. Very easy. :-)
Love,
Am

God's Fairytale...Adventures Ahoy

              The hardest thing to do is rely on God.  We say it so easily, and spontaneously, of course we rely on God, what else would we rely on.  I don't think I've truly understood relying on God until today.  I recieved a short phone call from Jeremy explaining some things that may mean I may not see him when I first planned on seeing him in a few weeks, but would be able to at some point at a later date.  My heart plummeted and I felt like someone had stabbed me clean through with a burning sword.   I love my husband with all my heart, and I've trusted God with him and his safety. I've also prayed for God to help me rely on HIM more, and to learn to walk in God's great adventure, be careful what you pray for.

When Jer and I had our wedding it was beautiful, so many things I loved about it, and still do.  I believe my favorite part (or one of them) was what the sermon and our hearts were about, the adventure of marriage and going after God.  We knew it would not be easy.  God does not promise you a relationship of light rolling hills and nice spring flowers.  A walk with God is filled with mountains, craggy passes, bubbling brooks, rainstorms, rainbows, and valleys. 
It's filled with everything.  I'm reading a book right now called The Sacred Romance, it is about finding a romance with God and how HE wants to take you on a fairy tale with ups and downs to fufill your life. It also talks about arrows in our life that we believe, that we are not pretty enough, or that God doesn't care, or that God will abandon us.  To be honest, the last is something that scares the daylights out of me. I'm terrified to be alone, terrified that believing in romance and God is going to let me down.  Throughout the Bible you see God say, "I will not abandon you, I will protect you".  But look at how often things get mighty close, Abraham and Isaac with a father holding a knife above his son, or Job and all his aflictions, he loses his entire family and everything he owns.  Terrifying.  God allowed it, but God also redeemed it.  Sometimes I ask God for a supporting role, please don't put me in Job's main character shoes, I don't know if I could handle it.

What does God have around the corner...

I have no idea what God wants of me, I've been seeing bits and pieces of what I believe is my calling in the last few months, and as I work to discover more of God's heart I realize that God is not a nice guy sitting in a tree.  Nor is he a fire and brimstone guy.  What God is or what he does is creates a story that will speak and ignite our heart and display his glory. 
We all know the fairytale ending, Jesus wins. I just have to keep my hands on the reins and trust that God knows what he's doing, even though there are rikety bridges, scary witches, and distances to cross that seem they will take a lifetime. Falling in love is scary, falling in love with the King of the Universe and realizing what an adventure you got yourself into is terrifying. 

Dressed and ready for our adventure...superman and sparkle :-)

What I need to remember is that God is not done with my story.  He is not done with Jeremy's story.  Everything is happening for a reason, and God is going to mold us and shape us into beautiful arrows that he can use. 
To the adventures God puts us in,
Aj
Edit: Talked to Jeremy tonight, and we are solid on the graduation date. :-) Also he picked our bases, 4 in England, 1 in Italy, 1 in Japan, and 2 in Colorado.  I'm kind of fingers crossing for Italy or Japan, although I'm way game for any of them.

Knitting, poi, and letters

Today I'm at Kelsey's house in Denver, it is a beautiful day and we already went for a walk this morning.  She has a pretty little hound named Frodo, and believe it or not I'm not dying from allergies. I way approve, but don't want to jinx anything. :-)
We get along great though, this morning I slept in a bit (only till 830) and Frodo crashed in the bed last night, and when Kelsey left she put him in the kennel, so I got him out and he came up and cuddled right up to me.  Sigh...dogs are definitely in our future soon.  Kelsey and I found a California Pizza Kitchen last night and got some super veggie pizza, it was pretty intense veggie wise but pretty good, I liked it.
           Received a letter last week from Jeremy which was quite exciting, my morning had been a little rough since I kept smacking myself with the poi in the face, and ear, and eye, and thigh, and back, it got a little ridiculous actually. So I angrily walked inside, grabbed a glass of wine, mixed it with apple juice, (I know I'm weird), sat on the kitchen floor while listening to some relaxing music and tears just streamed down my face.  I missed Jeremy, I was sore, I was frustrated, and I was in a new place.  After I had my glass of wine, I had a wonderful talk with Aunt Holly, who is, just fantastic. I love her to bits, she is an amazing, strong, and passionate woman who excels at what she puts her mind to. Love it.

tools of the trade

 After our chat, I discovered that I had a letter in the mail :-).  Love getting mail, even better is mail from your husband who is miles and miles away that you won't see for another month in a half, totally made my day.  Later that night we went to a cabaret show, and it was fantastic.  Jeremy is doing well, he is Dorm Chief and he's getting along quite well.  They had to spend 3 hours changing sheets getting them perfect...good thing it's not me in BASIC, I don't think I could handle it.  I'm so proud of him. He's a good cookie.
I've also been sending him letters covered in glitter stickers and crayons, just something to make him smile.  Got to have SOME glitter in BASIC right?

Other than that, I've been working on poi and my mad knitting skills. :-) I'm actually getting fairly decent, it's exciting.  Tonight Kelsey and I are going to grab some cupcakes from Fat Cupcake Bakery, and then we are going swimming.  I did Ab Ripper X today, so I figure it's okay if I eat a cupcake (heck, it's ALWAYS okay to eat a cupcake).

Way nice to see Kelsey as I haven't seen her since we've left Africa (she's the one I took the week long road trip up to Durban).  I'm having a nice time, and enjoying seeing people that I don't get to see that often.  Right now I have my letters, and I'm sending my love in letters, and spending time with God.  I'm exploring who I am and who God is to me, and I'm excited to see Jeremy in May to share everything I've learned with him.
Life is good, God is great, and I need to go grab my cupcake!
Love you all,

Amber Jane

Denver, Colorado...I think I'm in love

I think I'm falling in love, with Denver, Colorado.  There are so many things to do here and the people and culture and just allover atmosphere is intoxicating. It's just beautiful. There's little shops and fun places, and art is everywhere.  I'ts also nice outside, which is good, because then I can go outside and practice poi and such, although today I practiced for 30 minutes and kept hitting myself and I was so angry I was quite possibly red in the face.  I'm usually good at everything I put my mind to, but this is taking more work, at least some of the harder moves, I knew it was coming, but when you are bad at things you usually just press on, but with this, when your bad, you have two balls of rice smacking you to remind you over and over and over and over again.  It gets old fast.  However, I want to get better, so I'm pressing on. :-) I'm really enjoying my time with Aunt Holly and Tristan, they have a really cool bond, and I'm just getting to know them on another level and it's been awesome.
   I've been able to talk to Jeremy on the phone a few times, he's doing well, Dorm Chief so he has lots of responsibilities but from the sounds of it, he's getting a hang of it.  He is a great leader in our marriage and I'm sure he's being a great leader for them as well.
Anyways, I'm just trying to take in everything, and enjoy my time here while I can.  Although I can tell you that I'll be fighting along with Jeremy now to come back to live in Denver one day.
I hope you all have a grand day.
Love,
Am