My Wish for You in 2011

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.


May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.


May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!


May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy



May the problems you had, forget your home address!


In simple words ..............




May 2011 be the best year of your life!!!

2011 Resolutions!... Yes, with an S!

Can you believe it's almost 2011? Crazy! This year flew by... and what a wonderful year it was! I can't remember what my New Years Resolution was for 2010. I think it was to floss after every meal or something. My dentist would have loved me if I really did it but obviously that didn't happen! This year I have 3 "resolutions" that I am going to try and keep up with. Numbero Uno is at the top and my biggest priority: read the entire Bible. Steven and I plan on doing this one together. Our plan (thanks to some of our dearest friends, John & Rebekah Lovell) is to do 2 chapters in the Old Testament and 2 chapters in the New Testament (starting from the beginning) each day. Once we finish the New Testament we will jump to Proverbs and Psalms. We should finish in about 10 months... giving us a few months of cushion in case we get tied up every once in awhile. We are going to keep a whiteboard on our frig and each day update it with the new chapters for that day! I am excited. I have never read the entire Bible and I can't wait to learn, grow, and love more! My 2nd one is to learn and experience as much as I can with my new camera! I love photography and with my new camera that Santa brought me this year, I can only imagine where it will take me! I plan on reading the entire manual, keeping up with photography blogs and maybe even entering into photography contests, attending photography/camera classes with my good friend Lauren May, attempt at Photoshop, and taking as many pictures as I can! My 3rd (last but certainly not least) is to Live, Laugh, and Love more in 2011! That is pretty self explanatory! So wish me luck! I feel really good about these and actually have the drive to do all 3! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Years Eve/Day!

Santa Came Early!

Steven and I got our Christmas present early! Her name is Nora and she is an absolute doll! She is a Cavachon which is a mix between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon aka the cutest puppy ever! She was 7 weeks when we picked her up (DOB 10.10.10), weighing 3lbs and 3oz. She will get to be about 12-15 lbs. There were 3 girls to pick from. She was the biggest, not the most playful but not the least, not the most curly hair but not the straightest. She is a perfect addition to our new Castardi Family! Her and BooBear get along great. She thinks she is as big as him and he thinks he's as small as her. They do everything together! We are still training her to not go potty in the house and we are training him not to eat her food. Steven and I training to pay attention to both the same amount! What a joy she is to have around for us and Booti! My whole camera is filled with her already and we have only had her for a week! She is super photogenic! Here are some pictures of the family!

Sweet Baby Nora!

Nora loves her new bed!

Booti loves his new bed too!

2 Peas in a Pod!

Nap Time!

Wait... Booti doesn't like his bed!

Castardi Family Photo!

Misconception

So every once in awhile Steven will have a thought and he will just open up Word and start typing. He doesn't ever share it with anyone (besides me), which is weird in our world today... everyone shares EVERYTHING... blogs, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, etc. This one particular thought though was really good so I got permission to post it on "our" blog! So, here is a thought that turned into a couple of pages about 6 months ago from my hubby. Enjoy!

 

"There is a misconception. Actually, it’s the biggest misconception probably in the world. Some people are aware of it and debate…others don’t even care about it…others would rather not even know the Truth. This is a pretty scary world and this misconception will either simplify your views of this world, or complicate them even further. However, this misconception needs to be revealed and people need to at least here one side of it that is very rarely even talked about. It’s rarely talked about because it’s the scariest truth that I can really think of. Again, it is a misconception.

 

The misconception is this. People think that they are good that occasionally choose to do bad. This is the complete opposite of the truth. I told you it was scary. Actually the truth is everyone of us..including me and your mom…are inherently bad that sometimes choose to do good. If we were to be completely honest with ourselves and really think about it, its not that surprising. Think about on your way to work in the morning for example. We do a list of things that are wrong or mean. Even if you don’t physically do these things, you think of them, you want to do them. Maybe flip someone off, or want to run someone off the road, poison our bodies with fast food, pollute the ozone with our cars, etc, etc.etc. But wait…we stopped and let that one car cut in line to get off the exit. And really it still probably angered you. So when you get out of the car at work if someone were to be standing there with a camera and microphone and asked “were you nice on the way to work today”, your response would be “yeah, I let this guy cut in line”.

Most people don’t even think about his misconception and really most don’t care. People do not want to hear that they are bad people…I know I don’t. People sleep better at night thinking about letting that car over. Or maybe you gave a homeless person a dollar out of your wallet with over twenty dollars in it, or maybe you held the door open for someone. I don’t know. The point is people instinctively will think about the good they do…therefore if that’s what they are focusing on, that is what we believe we are….good.

This misconception has taken a very wrong turn as well. People have come to the point of not taking the blame. Instead it is so much more convenient to blame….guess who….GOD. “Why does God allow these bad things to happen?” We all hear that question, but no one really sticks up for the big guy after the question is asked. There’s a little thing called FREE WILL.

Most don’t take this term into consideration. I hate to say this is a very dark place we call home. Let me give you a very simple example. I guy robs a woman in an ally. A lot of people tend to ask, “why would God allow that to happen”. Wait a minute. First, we all should realize that God didn’t rob the lady, the guy did. Second, God is all knowing…not all controlling…this is where free will comes into play. “Well then why didn’t God stop the robber” you ask. Well I think I just explained it as simply as I could…He knows, He doesn’t control. Free will=Our choice, not Free will=God controls. Ultimately, if we didn’t have free will, a gift I might add, we would be robots. Robots are controlled by a remote. God didn’t want to sit on His thrown and point a remote at us.

There is some great news though…I mean like the best news ever. We have an opportunity to be a light in this dark place. I mean really shine and make a difference by offering our light to others who are really not shining themselves. We cannot control other people. I mean, God doesn’t control other people…why should we think we can. BUT. We can influence people, and by influencing I mean shining. It’s a really simple metaphor if you think about it. We’re all in a giant cave. No one has a flashlight. But by doing good and consciously choosing to do what is right we will start to shine. Look at it as ,doing good=fuel for a lantern. The more good, the more fuel, the more light.

But then

Like I said in the beginning, this misconception can be made very simple and fixed, or you can question and complicate it even more so. This is not my intent by the way. This is the truth. The more you know God, the more you will shine. It’s very simple. God=light. As does God in you=light. You can choose to represent good, which is God. Now, because we are inherently bad, we ultimately have to choose to do good. Not vice versus. 

The more you know God, the easier it is to make these decisions. God is a doctor who wants to do surgery on us. Clean our wounds and help us shine. But he will NOT force this on you. We have to choose to want to choose to do good and represent Him. We have the potential to be a giant shining army of goodness in a dark world. God is love. God wants this. He will not force his troops to do battle, but I’m sure He would love to lead us into battle if we chose to."

Compassion

Compassion (defined by Wikipedia): one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself.

*Side Note: It would have been nice for someone to tell me that Wikipedia can be changed by anyone. I thought that if Wikipedia said it, it was true. Who knew?

Anywho... I am defining compassion today because it is one of the many words Steven and I strive to be on a daily basis. Our best compassion is given through, get this, Compassion International, Inc. (how clever is that organization's name?). To give compassion internationally is a great mission and through Jesus' name is even more so (if you ask me!). So I am here to tell you about the kid that we give compassion to internationally and have been for about 2 years now. His name is Lovenson Lewis. On November 17th of this year he turned 9 years old. He lives in Haiti with his father and 8 other siblings. We get to write letters back and forth to each other (translated each time) and he will even draw us pictures everytime too. He loves to play soccer and with marbles. Here is his picture.

Adorable right? We think so too! We remind him all the time of God's love. Not only do we pray for him but he prays for us too. To think that there is someone in HAITI praying for Steven and I is a pretty cool thought!

It is funny how God works. Steven and I were planning on taking a year long mission trip to South Africa with the Global Year Organization. We were going to be the Student Life Directors to about fifteen 18 year olds. We would have been working in an orphanage and at the School of Tomorrow with Build the Nations. We had talked to our families about it, prayed about it, started diving into the Word to prepare ourselves, and even had our sponsor letters sealed and ready to send out but decided that God has bigger and better plans for us. Bigger and better than SOUTH AFRICA? We don't know what it is yet but we are ready for His guidance. We are excited to see what is in store for us as newlyweds as a couple and to our faith. Maybe we will get to visit Lovenson sometime (that would be truly amazing!). Global X (NPCC mission organization) has a few trips to Haiti that we are going to check out. All we can do is pray for God to give us a clear picture of what we are supposed to do according to His will! A daily prayer for us is "You know what our will for us would be and what is in our hearts but we are praying for Your Will to be done." What are you praying for?

Quotes To Make You Think

Usually if I find 1 good quote for the day I am happy but today was unusual. Today I have 3 unbelievable quotes and I have a feeling that I am going to have more days like this because I am reading Radical by David Platt and WOW, is it full of wonderful things to live by. As Steven says though, "There should be a big WARNING sign on the front of the book." Wess Stafford, president & CEO of Compassion International explains the book the best. He says, "David Platt challenges Christians to wake up, trade in false values rooted in the American dream, and embrace the notice that each of us is blessed by God for a global purpose... This is a must read for every believer." Don't say I didn't warn you if you decide to read it... you're life will be changed. Well back to my quotes for the day:

 1. "You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give." - Winston Churchill

2. "The problem with most of us is that we work for our money instead of letting our money work for us." - Rick Warren

3. "...I cannot help but long to be a part of this kind of scene in the church today. A scene where we refuse to operate in a mind-set dominated by an American dream that depends on what we can achieve with our own abilities. A scene where we no longer settle for what we can do in our own power. A scene where the church radically trusts in God's great power to provide unlikely people with unlimited, unforseen, uninhibited resources to make his name known as great. I want to be a part of that dream." - David Pratt

No Fair

So I spent 10 months working out and watching what I ate before the wedding. The first 9 months I was working out the wedding plans and I watched the sweets go into my mouth and the last month I spent working out at the gym and tried to eat healthy! Then I go on the honeymoon and gain all of it back. How come you spend so much time trying to lose weight but can gain it back so quickly? Then on the other hand, Steven didn't really try to do anything and he looked REAL good! On the honeymoon he gained like 8 pounds and he is already back to looking REAL good! No fair. If life was fair though we probably wouldn't like that either... just something to think about!

Here are some pictures from the honeymoon! (Wedding pictures coming soon!)

Life Words

"When you set a goal, don't focus on the problems, focus on the promises." - Rick Warren

God makes over 7,000 promises to us in the Bible. I think we should be able to find a few to focus on. Steven and I have many goals for our life together that range from one end of the spectrum to the other but more importantly we have only a few words that we want people to remember us by. At the end of the day and our lives, people aren't going to care about the goals we set for ourselves but what we did along the way to achieve those goals. The words we would like to be associated with are: Christ-driven, giving, adventurous, compassionate, and selfless. Those words are the goals that we are striving for. What words are you striving for? Are you really living like you want them?

Engagement Pictures

Here are a few of our favorite engagement pictures (taken by Megan #1 and Megan #2).