Chatter

I once heard a difference in male and female friendships being described as men get to know each other by sharing activities and women get closer by sharing secrets.

This is SO true! My dad and I do things together, my mom and I talk together.

When I get back from hanging out with girlfriends, Jeremy asks what we did. When I tell him we talked... for 3 hours... he can hardly believe that was enjoyable let alone really fun!

Recently I've been much more conscious that sometimes our female-secret-sharing, although necessary and beautiful, can sneak up on us gals and make "sharing time" turn into "over-sharing time."

How do we define gossip? What is too much?

Where is "the line" drawn where restraint is shown and we don't say the next nugget of information we have??

I think part of the answer is when it's no longer helpful or good.

I see this when people (not excluding myself, of course) talk about their spouses or boyfriends. Why share about that incident? Why do I need to know this? Is it helpful or good to me?

OR when we talk about someone else's relationships or decisions. We examine their lives like it's our job to judge or fix or correct. I have that pit-of-the-stomach feeling from some word vomit today that was not helpful in any way towards anyone. Thank to Lord for grace & forgiveness.

We need to share our secrets. We need to bond the way we bond best! But I think we need to also learn to be quiet. Learn to be ok with having some secrets to ourselves and not having a vocal opinion on everything.

I'm learning this. Learning slowly.

"Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly."

2 TImothy 2:16

With love from San Dimas,

Paige

Life check

So apparently 1) I'm obsessed and 2) I should be her PR person because I REALLY like Shauna Niequist and am in a phase of reading everything she writes.

Here's a recent tidbit of questions she encouraged readers to think about:

Am I proud of the life I’m living?

What have I tried this month?

What have I learned about God this year?

What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey?

Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small?

Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?

I really like those questions. I don't feel like they're unrealistic and they challenge us to always be forward thinkers, not getting stuck in our same old lives we lead.

Something that I've realized lately is that I'm adopting some bad characteristics. Some tumors on my soul that I haven't even noticed or decide to get rid of. I think it was due to complacence. I got negative, pessimistic and not full of the love of Jesus. I'm changing that, and these questions help me identify why those tumors are living there in the first place.

I hope they do good things in your life too. :)

With love from San Dimas,

Paige

Pure Joy

Since I've been married the next natural question I get is,

"Soooooooo when are you guys thinking of having kids??"

It's a natural question; one of which I ask my married friends (about every time I talk to them)!

After that question always comes their advice, especially if they have had kids.

Yesterday Jeremy and I were in the doctor's office (no, not because I'm having a baby- totally unrelated) and Jeremy goes to get a shot while I'm in the waiting room. Next to me is this ooooold man, waiting for his name to be called.

He started up a conversation and you can tell he was a charmer. One of those old guys that can talk to anyone and make them laugh. Well, after a few questions he asked, "Are you two married?" "Yes, sir!" I replied.

"Do you two have kids?" he asked

"Nope, not yet!"

And before I could go on he gave a genuinely disappointed "Awww..." reply as he shook his head.

"My advice to you two, have them as quick as you can!" he said earnestly. "And have a dozen, if you can afford it! Having kids is the best thing. You better get started..." And he went on and on about the joy having kids is.

(And yes, I made him repeat this to Jeremy once he came out :))

And despite whether Jeremy and I will be on Cheaper by the Dozen #3 or be the next Duggar Family, I loved the passion in which he spoke about the joy of family. I imagine him as a grandfather to huge family where it's filled with joy and laughter and loud squeeking babies at the dinner table on holidays.

I hope I see life in that way. Loving it so much that all that can pour out of me is pure joy the things it brings.

Here's to cute babies, adorable old men, and enjoying life.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

If I wasn't _____, I'd be ______.

One of my favorite authors/bloggers is Shauna Niequist who wrote "Cold Tangerines" & "Bittersweet," perfect books of celebration that have helped me through the transitions of moving cities, leaving familiar, and being a wife.

She wrote a blog today about this topic: "If I wasn't ____, I'd be _____."

I always love fill in the blank things. Unless it's Mad Libs because I still don't know the difference between an adjective and an adverb (and please, don't try to teach me it again unless it's in a song format which I'd actually remember).

Anyways, here are a few of the lies I tell myself.

If I wasn't so unmotivated, I'd be thinner.

If I wasn't in an unfamiliar place, I'd go for a run outside.

If I wasn't overwhelmed, I'd start this project today.

If I wasn't afraid, I'd be more confrontational.

As you see there's a trend in the lies I'm telling myself- motivation. I'm blaming my motivation on external things rather than myself.

Take a few minutes and see what your lies are today. Maybe you'll see a trend too.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

Flag & Friends

I had a wonderful week :)

Jeremy was out of town training, Caleb was working intense hours at the hospital and Ryan was gone working on wildfire crew, so the 3 of us friends gathered in Kalie's home in Flagstaff, AZ for some memory-making times.

You know there's just something about good friends that warms my soul :) Friends you don't have to pretend around or explain yourself. Friends that you can tell things to without judgment and know that even if they think it's ridiculous, it doesn't change how they love you. I hope everyone in their life can find a good friend. They're the best.

Kalie's sister Hannah came up from Prescott for a few days and was wonderful to be with as well :)

Here are some taken on my phone.

Blurry. Me and Kalie's cat who I hated, bonded with, then loved. Still don't know her name. I just know her as Kalie's best friend. ;)

Hike with Mazzie to get her energy out! Loved that pup.

Mazzie working out with Kalie.

So I'm kind obsessed with Kalie's friend, Joy's baby Tessa Mae. And Joy, she's great too.

It's so fun to have gone through college and marriage beginnings with these two. So funny looking back on our adventure of friendship at APU and where we are now.

(Yes that's Jeremy on the left when we were "just friends" and I'm the white one in the sun :))

And I stole this from Kalie's blog.

With love from Pasadena,

Paige

Vacation & Home Base

Well, it's been too long since I've blogged last!! I've started getting texts so I'm back in the game :)

Jeremy and I have had such a wonderful month of vacation! We have been told to make the most of the time we have in between jobs, and we have!

First stop: Maui!

Jeremy and I had the pleasure of staying with Tiffany & Jon Russo, my friends from high school, in their home in Maui! I put a million pictures on Facebook, but here are a few of our favorites:)

Second stop: Sacramento!

It was so fun to have a week in Sacramento with my family! We got to have great time with the kiddos and Josh was home from work a ton so we got to spend lots of time with him too! Love family time!

Tahoe day with mom & dad:

Third stop: Pasadena!

We are spending May in Pasadena. So far we have gone to APU's Spring Graduation where many of our friends got their diplomas, I've learned how to sew, lots of time with the family and enjoyed some great relaxation!

Mother's day brunch hosted by Mary:

Fourth stop: Arizona/New Jersey

Next week I'll spend a few days in Flagstaff, Arizona with two great friends, Elli & Kalie, as Jeremy will be heading to New Jersey for the week for a first week of training. Then we will be in Pasadena two more weeks! (He has at home training those two weeks) We are so excited that at the end of our time in Pasadena we get to be a part of Jeremy's good friends Kyle & Katie's wedding on June 5th!

Fifth Stop: Sacramento/New Jersey

For the month of June I will be in Sacramento and Jeremy will be in New Jersey for his training. My wonderful friend Sarah will be getting married June 24th and I am SO excited to share that day with her!!

Home Base:

Jeremy and I found out that our home base for his position will be the Bay area! We will be living in the San Jose/East Bay area unless he gets called to fill another position. We refer to it as our home base, as we will be going back there whenever he isn't helping out somewhere else! We potentially will be moving in July. :)

It's exciting to still be in CA, as that means we are close to many friends and family. And although I've spent some time in San Fran, I'm new to different parts of the Bay area and we are excited to explore!

So that's the latest in our lives!

With love from Pasadena :)

Paige