I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." -Psalm 91:2
fortress: any place of exceptional security; stronghold. (dictionary.com)
refuge:shelter or protection, as from the weather or danger. (dictionary.com)
exceptional security? i'll take it. i'll have to say, despite my almost daily worries and having to literally re-give it to God every morning...God is at work and it shows! if you read our last post, you will know that zach and i are attempting to pay for his school monthly so we don't have a big sum of debt at the end of it (700/month on top of all our other financial responsibilities!). i just want God to get glory in it all and we did experience a few God moments throughout our desperation in praying through all of this.
well, earlier this week zach's boss approached him as he was leaving and asked him to come into his office. zach went in, not sure what to expect. his boss asked him if his bonus seemed small this last paycheck, zach said yes and his boss handed him a check for $500.00. this was good. :) God has our backs.
i went to the dentist last week and found out i had a lot a lot of cavities :) the receptionist told me to estimate paying for the first set of fillings to be around 90.00 as my copay. feeling a little nervous about this, i said okay and she said this was a higher estimate but to expect that and she'll let me know later in the week what the cost will be. she recently just called to remind me of my appointment next week and i found out that it is actually only going to be fifty...God has our backs again. :)
and lastly, zach estimated that each semester of school was going to be 3500, and so that is what we took the loan out for but turns out that his tuition this semester is actually only 2350, so once again that is much more manageable. it's been cool to see the fingerprints of God taking care of us.
although it's still difficult and we're being very frugal, i think we'll be able to get through these next couple years alright. i know God is our fortress and our refuge and He will not let us be put to shame. Jesus is good and He knows what we NEED. i just want God to always get the Glory through this all and i will always open my mouth to tell of His wonderful deeds.
things are going well for us, we're just learning more and more how to be adults and manage a home and get by. :) i wouldn't want to do it with anybody else, and Zach has been such a rock for me through all of this. that's what's going on with the Soper's recently and we'll be updating you all again soon!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Proverbs 16:3
"Commit your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed."
We have this hanging in our kitchen and boy do I need it today. I think the reality that life never does slow down, and the responsibilities only begin to pile on are really hitting me today. Sometimes, I just long for Heaven and this is one of those times.
For starters, I am extremely dramatic, and I've always been taken care of. Zach has a good head on his shoulders, and really keeps us grounded. :) However, I thought I'd share some things going on in the Soper household.
We began a "payment plan" to pay Zach's schooling while he's still in it, this way we have an interest free loan and we'll be out of debt when he graduates. However, this means we have to pay $700.00 a month for the next ten months, on top of rent and all our other monthly bills. We are going to officially start a cash only budget starting tomorrow when he pulls out the cash. We will be living very frugally, but this verse about gives me peace that our plans will succeed as we commit this all to the LORD. I think He's proud of us for being proactive about it. I pray He blesses us financially, and always allows us to be able to make these payments as Zach and I both HATE debt. I'm glad for Zach to get his education and I am already praying for God to provide a good job for him once he's done. I know that this is life, and it's real and it's hard and it doesn't slow down...but I don't want to waste it worrying. I'm learning to give it all to God and to breathe deep and enjoy what we have, which is so much. I appreciate this time in our lives when we're poor and preparing for our future because it will bless us later when we have kids and what-not. This is such a short period in our lives and I know it'll be over before we know it.
I love being married and there's no place in my life I'd rather be than right here, living a newly wed life with my amazing husband. It's fun to learn, to grow, to be challenged together. Zach is such a hard worker and I know he's determined to prepare for a family someday and I am so grateful for that. Just pray for grace as we are learning all our responsibilities as well as learning more about each other and what's important. God is good and He's with us every step of the way. We feel so fortunate. :)
Hope you all are doing wonderfully!
We have this hanging in our kitchen and boy do I need it today. I think the reality that life never does slow down, and the responsibilities only begin to pile on are really hitting me today. Sometimes, I just long for Heaven and this is one of those times.
For starters, I am extremely dramatic, and I've always been taken care of. Zach has a good head on his shoulders, and really keeps us grounded. :) However, I thought I'd share some things going on in the Soper household.
We began a "payment plan" to pay Zach's schooling while he's still in it, this way we have an interest free loan and we'll be out of debt when he graduates. However, this means we have to pay $700.00 a month for the next ten months, on top of rent and all our other monthly bills. We are going to officially start a cash only budget starting tomorrow when he pulls out the cash. We will be living very frugally, but this verse about gives me peace that our plans will succeed as we commit this all to the LORD. I think He's proud of us for being proactive about it. I pray He blesses us financially, and always allows us to be able to make these payments as Zach and I both HATE debt. I'm glad for Zach to get his education and I am already praying for God to provide a good job for him once he's done. I know that this is life, and it's real and it's hard and it doesn't slow down...but I don't want to waste it worrying. I'm learning to give it all to God and to breathe deep and enjoy what we have, which is so much. I appreciate this time in our lives when we're poor and preparing for our future because it will bless us later when we have kids and what-not. This is such a short period in our lives and I know it'll be over before we know it.
I love being married and there's no place in my life I'd rather be than right here, living a newly wed life with my amazing husband. It's fun to learn, to grow, to be challenged together. Zach is such a hard worker and I know he's determined to prepare for a family someday and I am so grateful for that. Just pray for grace as we are learning all our responsibilities as well as learning more about each other and what's important. God is good and He's with us every step of the way. We feel so fortunate. :)
Hope you all are doing wonderfully!
Friday, July 15, 2011
living the dream.
It's been a while, and boy have we been busy! The one thing we've really noticed since being married is that life is NOT slowing down. We feel kind of behind on things we need to do, but at the same time we're amazed at the progress we've made! Our house is almost all set up, we just want to make it a little more homey by hanging up pictures. I've worked out a weekly chores list which is humorous and helpful both at the same time! I've gotten into the habit of planning meals for a week and grocery shopping all at once! I absolutely LOVE cooking. It's been super fun to take care of Zach in that sense. We've also started collecting and sorting out coupons into different categories whether it be date night, car stuff, fast food, groceries, etc. I hope that will come in handy and we just keep learning and learning!
If you know me well, you know I LOVE a clean house so it's almost like every Saturday is a deep cleaning kind of day. Hopefully our chore chart will keep that from being so much work on Saturdays when we should be out enjoying the beautiful summer weather while it's still here! We do really work well as a team though, and I'm amazed at how willing Zach is to help in that area. What a wonderful hubby I have!
Last weekend was an awful adventure of traveling, and I thought maybe we can humor you with that one! My cousin got married in Missouri last weekend (congrats Tony and Claire!!) and we really wanted to be with the family to celebrate. Our great friend Alex Krelo got us buddy passes and we were gonna fly standby. First problem: there are no direct flights from SLC to St Louis OR Kansas City. Second problem: Even after we reach the airport, our destination is still 2 hours away so we had to rent a car. Okay, so we get to the airport around 3 o'clock Friday to try and catch a 4 o'clock flight which was supposed to be open! We get there and the flight was booked. We wait to see if we make it and at the last minute she calls our names! Two people didn't show up. It seemed perfect. So there we are flying to Chicago, Midway airport and were hoping to catch a 9 o'clock flight to St Louis. We get to the Customer Service desk and ask them to be put on the list only to find out that the flight has been delayed 4 hours! She says we'll definitely get on because people won't be willing to wait. Well, the flight didn't take off until 1am. But we had no choice but to wait! We made some friends at the bar and talked about all kinds of interesting things but once 11:00 hit we were exhausted (but too cold to sleep!). Finally we reach St Louis at 2am, and have to rent our car and still make the 2 hour drive. Poor Zach, I slept a little in the car but then forced myself to stay up when I heard him talking to himself to stay awake! haha. We reached Moberly, Missouri (small small town) at 4:15am. That was the roughest thing ever! We went to sleep and wake up to texts from the family telling us to come join them for breakfast at nine. Well, we came here to be with family so of course we do. :) The wedding was nice, a Catholic ceremony at 1:00, and then the reception at 5:00, with drinks and appetizers in between. We get to bed by midnight on Saturday night only to wake up at 4am to make the 2 hour drive back to the airport. We return our car and are at the airport plenty before the first flight goes out. I will spare you the details but lets just say after the 5th time we didn't get on an airplane I just lost it. Poor Zach had to deal with his crying wife who was running off 4 hours of sleep two nights in a row. I sent out a text to friends asking them to pray for us, and Heather Wright let us know that her parents live super close to the airport if we need somewhere to stay. Well we kept trying to make some flights, got on two but then got pulled from them at the last minute (heartbreaker). Eventually we did give up because every flight going out was booked. At about 5pm we got to Heather's parents house and I showered, got on my pajamas and watched a movie with Zach. We were so tired, sad, and drained from the day that we were sleeping by 8:30. The next morning we were up and ready to go by 5, and praise God we caught BOTH the first flight to Denver, and then the next flight out to Salt Lake like it was nothing. Both flights were overbooked but we still got on somehow! So I did end up working on Monday which I was really nervous about. :) That was our horrible travel story. Don't fly standby when you can't afford to wait around. haha.
Last night was quite the opposite of that story. Zach and I had an amazing date night starting at dinner at Biaggi's (SO GOOD, go there if you haven't and order the bruschetta for an appy...delicious!) and then walked over to Pioneer Park to help pass out flyers for our amazing church. There was a lot of foot traffic there, so the Rock Church is definitely more known because of it. I pray God brings people on Saturday night because of it. Then Zach and I headed home to get our bikes and go for a nice ride at dusk. :) We rode to a park around our house, layed on the grass and talked about our goals and dreams. I love him, and I'm so excited for us to accomplish things for God together. Once it hit about 8:45 we made the ride back home. I've loved riding bikes this summer, and I'm happy it's such beautiful weather!
Well, that's a good glimpse in our lives. Tonight is the Open House which we're excited for! We love being with friends and family, and we also love celebrating marriage, so it's truly a win/win! Hope you all find yourselves well and happy. Until next time... :)
If you know me well, you know I LOVE a clean house so it's almost like every Saturday is a deep cleaning kind of day. Hopefully our chore chart will keep that from being so much work on Saturdays when we should be out enjoying the beautiful summer weather while it's still here! We do really work well as a team though, and I'm amazed at how willing Zach is to help in that area. What a wonderful hubby I have!
Last weekend was an awful adventure of traveling, and I thought maybe we can humor you with that one! My cousin got married in Missouri last weekend (congrats Tony and Claire!!) and we really wanted to be with the family to celebrate. Our great friend Alex Krelo got us buddy passes and we were gonna fly standby. First problem: there are no direct flights from SLC to St Louis OR Kansas City. Second problem: Even after we reach the airport, our destination is still 2 hours away so we had to rent a car. Okay, so we get to the airport around 3 o'clock Friday to try and catch a 4 o'clock flight which was supposed to be open! We get there and the flight was booked. We wait to see if we make it and at the last minute she calls our names! Two people didn't show up. It seemed perfect. So there we are flying to Chicago, Midway airport and were hoping to catch a 9 o'clock flight to St Louis. We get to the Customer Service desk and ask them to be put on the list only to find out that the flight has been delayed 4 hours! She says we'll definitely get on because people won't be willing to wait. Well, the flight didn't take off until 1am. But we had no choice but to wait! We made some friends at the bar and talked about all kinds of interesting things but once 11:00 hit we were exhausted (but too cold to sleep!). Finally we reach St Louis at 2am, and have to rent our car and still make the 2 hour drive. Poor Zach, I slept a little in the car but then forced myself to stay up when I heard him talking to himself to stay awake! haha. We reached Moberly, Missouri (small small town) at 4:15am. That was the roughest thing ever! We went to sleep and wake up to texts from the family telling us to come join them for breakfast at nine. Well, we came here to be with family so of course we do. :) The wedding was nice, a Catholic ceremony at 1:00, and then the reception at 5:00, with drinks and appetizers in between. We get to bed by midnight on Saturday night only to wake up at 4am to make the 2 hour drive back to the airport. We return our car and are at the airport plenty before the first flight goes out. I will spare you the details but lets just say after the 5th time we didn't get on an airplane I just lost it. Poor Zach had to deal with his crying wife who was running off 4 hours of sleep two nights in a row. I sent out a text to friends asking them to pray for us, and Heather Wright let us know that her parents live super close to the airport if we need somewhere to stay. Well we kept trying to make some flights, got on two but then got pulled from them at the last minute (heartbreaker). Eventually we did give up because every flight going out was booked. At about 5pm we got to Heather's parents house and I showered, got on my pajamas and watched a movie with Zach. We were so tired, sad, and drained from the day that we were sleeping by 8:30. The next morning we were up and ready to go by 5, and praise God we caught BOTH the first flight to Denver, and then the next flight out to Salt Lake like it was nothing. Both flights were overbooked but we still got on somehow! So I did end up working on Monday which I was really nervous about. :) That was our horrible travel story. Don't fly standby when you can't afford to wait around. haha.
Last night was quite the opposite of that story. Zach and I had an amazing date night starting at dinner at Biaggi's (SO GOOD, go there if you haven't and order the bruschetta for an appy...delicious!) and then walked over to Pioneer Park to help pass out flyers for our amazing church. There was a lot of foot traffic there, so the Rock Church is definitely more known because of it. I pray God brings people on Saturday night because of it. Then Zach and I headed home to get our bikes and go for a nice ride at dusk. :) We rode to a park around our house, layed on the grass and talked about our goals and dreams. I love him, and I'm so excited for us to accomplish things for God together. Once it hit about 8:45 we made the ride back home. I've loved riding bikes this summer, and I'm happy it's such beautiful weather!
Well, that's a good glimpse in our lives. Tonight is the Open House which we're excited for! We love being with friends and family, and we also love celebrating marriage, so it's truly a win/win! Hope you all find yourselves well and happy. Until next time... :)
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