Today is FRIDAY

FRIDAY!!!!!!

Yippeeeeeeeee :)

This will probably be a very short blog post but I'm in such a great mood that I figured I'd write it out!! :) My only complaint about today is that I had to work on this gorgeous day and therefore missed out on spending it outside. Work was pretty busy so I guess that was ok. 

I am excited about this evening!! My friend Shannon is in town with her husband for her twin brothers wedding.  I'm really excited for both Nathan and Laura and its such a gorgeous day for a wedding. The last wedding I went to was my own. ;) 

Other really big news is that Matthew is currently on his way to his interview for vet school!! He had to go to Goldsboro to meet with an alumni representative who is doing the interview. I'm praying for the Lord's hand to be over the conversation. Anxious and excited to hear how it goes.

This weekend, UNCW is bringing the dance company Pilobolus to Kenan auditorium!! They are such an amazing company.  It's hard to explain exactly what style of dance they are so here's a video of some of their stuff. Just absolutely amazing!! Matt got us tickets to see the performance for tomorrow night. Plus!! I get to take part in the master class that they will be having tomorrow morning!! :) Super excited about that!!

I'm very thankful for a husband who works in a school because we get to take part in Spring Break!! I know he's ready for some time off and I'm ready to have a change of scenery for some time. So, for our spring break, we are headed up to Buffalo to visit my sister and BIL and their 2 beautiful girls. :) We'll be there ALL week long. We have already planned on dying eggs with Kaia and Olivia for Easter. I also going to try to get them to take us to the original place where Buffalo Wings came from. ;) I've been but Matt has not so it will be fun to experience it again. Not much more on our agenda other than that. Matt's never been to Canada and Buffalo is very close to the boarder. That might be a possibility but who knows!! We'll see. Matt's aunt used to work for Delta so we are flying on buddy passes. Please pray for safe travels and that we get a seat on the flights that we need to!!

Are you having Spring Break also this coming week?? If so, what do you have planned to do?? :)

A hui kaua.....

God's Power is Great

I just had a very interesting encounter just a little bit ago. Today is Thursday and I had dance this evening. Matt had a baseball game out of town so we both were going to be eating separately. No big deal. As I drove home from dance, I was listening to some worship music. I really had no idea what I wanted to eat. I've just exercised for almost 2 hours and not real interested in a burger and fries. BUT!! I also don't want to go home and make something. So, I pull into Chick-Fil-A to get a salad.

*I love their southwest char-grilled salads. So yummy!!*

I drive up to the speaker and give my order. The girl on the other end gives me my total and tells me to pull around. There are about 3 cars in front of me so I had time to get my money ready. 

And then I look up.

The young lady that has just taken my order is handing the next customer their order. No big deal I know. Just doing her job. What she's supposed to do. 

"Welcome to Chick-Fil-A. May I take your order?? Will that be all?? You're welcome. It's my pleasure."

As I watch her hand the next car their order and then finally the one in front of me, my heart starts speeding up. I can't figure out why!! Softly, I hear the Lord say something to me. My heart races even faster!! 

"God, you want me to just tell her that?? What in the world?!?!"

He speaks again and repeats what I need to say. By this point, I'm at the window and have handed the young lady my money. My heart is in my ears!! 

She hands me my drink.

I say thank you.

She hands me my food.

I put it on my seat.

Then I turn back around and just open my mouth...

"Do you need anything else?"

"Well, yes. What's your name?"

"My name? Tatum."

*Ok, so I saw it on her name tag but I was still trying to get up the courage to actually say what I needed to say!!*

"Tatum, you need to know that you are loved."

She chuckles "Ok..."

"I just needed to tell you that." 

Huge smile on her face because I'm sure she was as shocked as I was haha

"Ok, well thank you!!"

And that was it. I drove off. I have no idea who Tatum is. I don't know if she's in high school or college. I'm fairly certain I could not pick her out of a crowd. So, why did I have to tell her that and not the dozens of people I waited on today?? Why did I feel the tug to talk to her specifically and not the teacher I had for ballet tonight?? 

I have no idea.

But what I do know is that God works in far different ways than we understand or can even begin to comprehend. This past week, one of our other pastors spoke at church. He made a comment that I thought about when I was driving away from Chick-Fil-A. He said, "What if you don't know if it's God speaking to you?? Well, if you are feeling something that will encourage someone and not cut them down, then you should say it. God doesn't give you words of belittling and cutting remarks. He gives words of affirmation and encouragement." I knew it was the Lord talking to me because of how my heart was beating so fast. I knew I would regret driving away and not saying something to her. I hope that in some slight way I encouraged her. I probably won't see her again since I don't go to Chick-Fil-A that much. A seed was planted though and it's in God's hands to bring others into her life to help that seed grow. 

God is moving in powerful ways and if we allow Him, He will use us to help spread His glory, love, and forgiveness. I want to be used!! I want to see His awesome power first hand!! 

Has God tugged on your heart lately?? Have you responded or walked away from a moment?? Listen to His spirit and follow what He says to you. You may be happily surprised by the outcome. ;)

A hui kaua.......

Springtime!!

Several weeks ago, our worship pastor at church taught us this song. The first time I heard it, I absolutely fell in love with it. The lyrics are very catchy and its a great song to dance around the house to. :) *Of course, I'm not speaking from experience. ;)* This video is a live version of it from Bethel Church. Grab your dancing shoes because it will have you on your feet dancing around!! And more than likely I will guess you will have it stuck in your head for a while. :)

Enjoy!!

A hui kaua.....

EXTRA!! EXTRA!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!

Hello one and all!! Since there has been some time between this and my last post, I would like to catch you up on what's been going on. First off, today is March 22 and for the past 2 weeks we have been having some VERY warm weather in NC. Not that I'm exactly complaining, it just means that this summer is probably gonna be a scorcher!! 

Anywho, a few weeks ago I stepped out my front door and these were blooming!!! Aren't they gorgeous??

Well, they are very beautiful and I now have 5 bushes in my front yard bursting with colors of pink. The Azalea Festival is not for another few weeks and by the time that comes around, they're all gonna be gone. 

*I honestly don't remember the last time we had Azalea's blooming during the actual Azalea Festival....hmmmm.....*

Moving right along in the world of Joanna. I did my first guest blog!! :) My older sister, Rebecca, asked me to write a post for her blog last week. She asked me to write about our Daniel Fast. If you'd like to read it, click here. Just go check out her blog in general!! She has some great posts on a regular basis. More regular than mine. :-p

*My two beautiful sisters. Abigail on the left and Rebecca on the right.*

And now, for news from around the world.

As you all know, Matt has applied for vet school. The last step that he had to take from our end was to take the GRE. Well ladies and gents!! The GRE has been taken and we have a wonderful score!!! :)

*Even this book would not have helped ME. Glad I wasn't the one taking it. :-p*

I am not a test taker. Never have been. In fact, when I take tests, I get real bad anxiety and basically just sit there and cry. Its really bad. If I was the one having to take this test, I would have been a nervous wreck for the past month!! My husband on the other hand?? Well, he was nervous for sure but he has also been studying his butt off to make sure he was as prepared as he could be. We had a talk a few days ago about taking the test and I found myself getting very nervous for him. It almost felt like I was the one having to take the test and not him!! Not a great feeling. He spoke pretty confidently that he was going to do fine. He had prepared himself as best he could and that's all he could do. The rest was in the Lord's hands. 

There has certainly been a lot of prayer going into this process (I'm sure you are all ready for us to have some answers to I will stop talking it haha!!). In order to be eligible for any kind of financial scholarships, Matt needed to get a 1080 (I have no idea what the numbers mean or how the scoring goes. I just know what number we needed.) He called me at work right after he was done and told me his score........

1100!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so happy!!! He worked so hard and was so determined to do good. This was joy to my ears. St. George's told him to call them as soon as he got finished with the test to tell them his score (Because the GRE is taken on a computer, you get your score as soon as it is finished. You don't get your essay score right away because someone has to read that.) After talking to St. George's, Matt was told that they would call him if he got an interview and when/where it would be. Since they were just waiting on his GRE score, they couldn't set up an interview till they got that. They got in touch with him today and said that he definitely has an interview and will call with details of when/where that will take place!!!!!!!! :) 

Praise the Lord!!!!!! We have taken the steps toward this and it looks like things are falling into place. There is still a LLLLLLLLOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGG way to go before we actually move but this process has gone very smoothly. I think Matt is happy with the outcome so far and we both are so excited to see what happens over the coming weeks. 

*Pretty soon I'll HAVE to blog every day to keep you all updated on life in a new place!!!*

I think that just about gets you caught up on life here in Wilmington. In little over a week, we will be traveling to NY to visit my sister and bro-in-law for a few days. Pretty excited about that. Can't wait to see my little nieces that aren't so little any more!! There will be PLENTY of thoughts and memories of that trip to write a blog about. 

Stay tuned!! :)

A hui kaua.......

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Hello dear friends. I wanted to share this link with everyone. Our home church believes in extreme faith. For the past couple weeks, we have been reading through John. Currently we are on chapter 16. A couple cool facts about John:

*James and John were brothers and partners in their fathers business

* He was the first and youngest disciple of Jesus

*John and James left everything to follow Jesus

*Jesus committed the care of his mother to John 

*Jesus referred to John as "the one he loves"

I don't want to make this into a very long post because the video speaks for itself. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all write about the miracles Jesus did while on earth. However, they don't write down all of them which means that Jesus was doing many more miracles on a regular basis. Our culture and way of life has turned into a microwave society; we want it now and not later. In some aspects, that's good. For example, praying. When we pray, we should pray for right now. Jesus prayed for people to be healed right then and they did. When he returned to the Father, he didn't leave us alone. The Holy Spirit is with us. Therefore, we have the same power as Jesus did to see healing take place!! 

*Is that good news or what!!!!!*

Let me also say this. Just because we pray for someone to be healed and nothings happens right then, God is still working. He has heard the prayer and will answer it. The seed has been planted. God wants everything to be to the glory of his name. Delays are not unanswered prayers but building blocks for something bigger. He allows delays so we can handle the blessings he gives us. *Go check out John 11, the story of Lazarus.*

Check out this video. This just happened recently at our church. They played this during worship at our church on Sunday and I was in awe of God's power. 

God does miracles. We just have to believe and step out in faith.

Powell | Bookstore Testimony from Life Community Church on Vimeo.

So, who can you pray for today?? What do you believe God can do?? :)

A hui kaua.......