Day 24-Something you’ve learned

Hmm... there are loads of things I have learned... I guess I'll pick one thing I learned the hard way:

Credit cards are extremely dangerous. I applied for and received my first credit card when I was 18. I have had them since then and I haven't always been the most responsible user of my credit cards. A couple of years ago I had wracked up over $15,000 worth of credit card debt... a huge amount for someone making $20,000 annually at the time. With alot of hard work, and a significant raise, I am making considerable progress toward getting that debt paid off. But, it just wasn't worth it. The meals I bought on my credit card, the shoes, the jewelry, and everything else, just weren't worth it.

All of you who haven't fallen into this trap, DON'T! It's much easier to budget and save for those items you need, and you'll value them more, trust me!

Thinking about this sweetheart today!

I love this sweet girl and hope she has a family commit to her soon! She deserves all the best this life has to offer! I love you, sweet Oksana!

Momma cat gets spayed!

So, I have a really soft spot in my heart for cats. I would love to rescue every one I encounter, but know that I can't. I am fortunate enough to live in the apartment building farthest back in our complex, thus out of the line of traffic, and there is a family of cats who the neighbors all love and feed. In the 14 months since I have lived there, I have seen her give birth 3 times. So, I decided, enough is enough, it was time to get her spayed. Thus far, she has trusted me enough to let me pet her and hold her (briefly), so I used her trust to capture her and get her to the humane society to be spayed. That was yesterday.

I love her dearly, and plan on releasing her once she is healed, but oh is she mad!!! Anyway, I am happy because I don't have to see her 6 lb. body birth any more babies.

Here are two pictures of her hanging out on my car... she used to do that pretty often. Time will tell whether she forgives me enough to do so in the future.

Fur-Baby Friday...

Featuring: Annabelle

I love this girl! She is so sweet and so curious about everything! She makes me laugh non-stop with the silly things she does! Here are some photos of her chilling in the Chinese take-out bag!

Day 23-Favorite vacation

I've had lots of "favorite" vacations, but I really, really enjoyed my vacation last year, so I will talk about that one here. So, my mom called me in June and asked if I could get a week off over the 4th of July to go up north to my grandparents' cottage. (FYI: up north is a small town called Big Bay, just outside of Marquette MI) My grandma passed away in 2009 and we needed to get the cottage ready to sell, so we planned to mix in some cleaning and packing with some good ol' fashioned vacationing. It was an amazing week and we had loads of fun. It was bittersweet because some of my mom's siblings thought that they would go together and purchase the cottage so that everyone could enjoy it, but instead one of my mom's brothers decided he "didn't like to share," and wouldn't agree to let it be a joint purchase. So, despite it being an amazing week, I look back and am sad because I know that it will be my last week up there. My mom spent most of her summers up there growing up, so it is especially sad that she won't be able to spend her future vacations there. Anyway, enough of the sadness, here are some fun photos of our trip up north!

Waiting for the parade to start. Every year there is a 4th of July parade in Big Bay put on by the kids at the special needs camp in Big Bay. It is so exciting for the kids, and basically all of Big Bay comes out for it (all 500 residents).

This is my lounging on my raft in Lake Independence. It was SO relaxing!!

Riding the jet ski!

Jet ski!

Me, my mom, and my sister standing on the shore of Lake Superior. It was gorgeous!

This time with my aunt Julia! Funny that my mom and her sister are wearing blue and my sister and I are wearing black!

We celebrated our last night by going out to a Cajun restaurant in Marquette. The food was great!

On the way back, we decided to go on a boat trip on Lake Superior to look at some sunken ships! We had great seats on the front of the boat on the upper deck!

Me on the front of the boat... what a beautiful day!

Good Bye, beautiful Northern Michigan!

Day 22 - My favorite city

One of my absolute favorite cities in the world is Berlin, Germany. The history and culture of the city is amazing, and I just love spending time there.

This photo of Berlin is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Day 21-Picture of yourself

Me at the pool last summer (2010)

Day 20 = Nicknames

I have a lot of nicknames, but I'll stick with the more commonly used ones...

Ebeth
Zabet
Lizzie
Lizzie-lee
Sissie

I despise the names Liz and Beth, but for some reason everyone in my family insists on calling me Liz. It's rather annoying, and not my name, but they're family and they do what they want, right?

Day 19-Something you miss

Maybe this is a silly sort of thing to miss, but I really do miss my undergraduate years. Life was so carefree and I had a great group of friends who I had loads of fun with. I know it's impossible to go back, but I miss the simplicity of life then.

AMAZING NEWS!

So, in March I reported on Kirill, a sweet orphan who was denied a mommy and daddy because the judge thought he would do better in an institution. Well, his parents decided that they wouldn't accept that answer and took it all the way to the Russian Supreme Court. Late last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Kirill DID deserve a better life, and granted his parents custody of him right then and there. They still have to wait 5 days to get all of the official paperwork, but he is theirs and no one can change that. Praise God, amazing news!! To see the post from his parents, go here.

Day 18-Something you regret

There are loads of things I regret, but very few that I regret enough to go back and change things. I am one of those people who believes that everything happens for a reason, and all of the choices in my life have made me who I am today. That said, I do regret trusting one person as much as I did. Several years ago I had a best friend, who was also my cousin. She and I talked daily and texted all the time. Although we lived in different cities, we were really, really close. Anyway, long story short, she betrayed me and began actively trying to turn family members against me and using information I had told her in confidence as weapons against me. During this time I found out who my true family was, and who were those I was better off forgetting. It was an incredibly hard and trying time, and I still struggle with trust. I have a very hard time telling people anything deep about myself because I fear that it will be used against me at a future date. I know that her willingness to behave in the way she did says more about her than me, but it still hurt.

So, now, the positive in that situation. First, as I said above, I was able to weed the bad apples out of my life. Second, I came away with my head held high because I did not stoop to her level and begin spilling her secrets, and trust me there were a few juicy ones. But, finally, in my moments of great despair, I turned to the church. I hadn't gone in years because of a bad experience in high school, but I knew at that time something was missing and I felt in my heart it was God. In those difficult times, God whispered for me to come back to Him, and thankfully I listened. Even years after I was betrayed, I still struggled with the experience, despite having fully forgiven my cousin, and God spoke to me again. He told me to change the way I saw the situation. It wasn't the greatest moment of betrayal in my life, it was the moment I turned from my old life to one with Him. Since that moment, I have been free in my experience with this cousin. Sure, I would have loved to avoided the entire situation, especially since it affected my mom and her mom's relationship, but I am eternally (and I mean it) grateful for the experience since it led me to the cross.

So, maybe this isn't a post about regret, but that's what popped in my head when I saw the subject line...

Day 17-Something you’re looking forward to

I am SO looking forward to my vacation this year. Last year we went north to my grandma's cottage. It was bittersweet because it was the last summer we would be able to spend up there since the cabin was being sold, but was an amazing adventure, all the same. So, this year, we are heading south to Lake Cumberland. We have a cabin/house rented that sits right on the lake, and we are looking forward to spending lots of time on the water. So, here's a photo of my sister and I tubing on Lake Cumberland in 2009. It was awesome, can't wait for new adventures!