Some Changes

I will be making some changes to my blogger account. This account will now be for Cody & I not just myself. It will mostly be used as a way to update friends & family about our life. I have yet to decide if I will change the domain from crazygal4god or not. And I have yet to decide if I want to make my blog private. Not real sure how many people read this anyway so making it private might be the best idea.

In case I choose to make it private you might wanna let me know to add you! (That is if you care to keep up)

Homeowner Blues

I've got the homeowners blues today! I have now lived in my home for a little over 3 years and have had a little bit of a love/hate relationship with it for a good portion of the time. I will say that it has been a great learning experience and a good home for me as a first time home owner. The following complaints or home makeover needs are in no particular order...

Need/Complaint #1&2: The tree in the front yard needs some serious pruning or could even use a complete extraction. It's nice that it's so big but I can't grow grass because of it and the limbs are hanging close to my roof. Mind you, I bought a new roof during the past 3 years so I would hate to have it ruined because of some tree. And about the grass, I desperately want grass in my front yard but nothing seems to like not having any sunshine.

Need/Complaint #3: Shortly after moving into this home it began to shift...and I mean a lot. Funny thing is that the inspector said it was a-okay regarding the foundation which is absolute crap because you can now see where the former owner covered up the cracks. My doors no longer close properly, the back door doesn't stay shut unless it's locked and other random ghetto things have occurred thanks to the foundation.

Need/Complaint #4&5: I desperately desire to have a privacy fence. This has been something I have wanted all along, but now more than ever. With two very social dogs it would be nice to close them in to where they wouldn't bark at every single thing that walked or drove by and I could purge the nasty bushes creating a hint of privacy at the end of my chain link fence. The nasty bushes are a safe haven for a few zillion birds that Abby loves to chase and bark at. If the bushes were gone then Abby would potentially have no reason to bark.

Need/Complaint #6: The master bedroom closet is for an infant and not two adults. So I managed to survive when I was single but it definitely does not have the space for both mine & Cody's stuff.

Need/Complaint #7: After recently replacing the toilet in the guest bathroom our master bathroom toilet decided to go ka-poot too! So it's time to replace yet another toilet...

Now regarding my own inadequacies which make my house even less appealing...

#1: I can't manage to organize the office no matter how badly I may want to. Any advice in this area would be appreciated.

#2: The dishes seem to never be done. I read recently on Ashley Ingram's blog how she cleans through out the week and I was inspired to never go to bed with the dishes undone.

#3: Dog fur...how do you get rid of it? It's seriously EVERYWHERE! It grosses me out to no end, but I can't manage to vacuum it up or brush the dogs enough.

#4: Tacking weeds and growing plants seems like a daunting task that I don't know that I am up for. I tried planting some stuff last year and it all died. However, I did notice that some of it has come back to visit. Thank you Lord for the rain every 3-5 days!

Wordless Wednesday

My Adorable Niece

I'm a Model.

My friend, Lindsey has been doing photo shoots for her wedding photographer for awhile now. At her last big deal she met a local photographer named Lauren Dennard who works for Fairy Tale Photography. She asked her to do a group photo shoot for a workshop she was holding so her and her husband were an engaged couple. Last week Lauren's two brides both had to back out at the last minute to unforeseen circumstances and she desperately needed a bride. Lindsey asked me if I wanted to do it since I was recently married and although hesitant at first decided to do it since I never got any bridals done. I had an absolute blast and here is one photograph per photographer thus far...can't wait to see the rest!!

Couples Dinner

Cody & I have yet to find a small group in our church. We still run around with many of our single friends which there is nothing wrong with, but we have needed some of that couples interaction. We have entered a new time in our lives and we need to be doing life with other people that know what we are going through. Last Sunday I was deeply convicted that it was time we start something up in our home with other couples. We will be having a First Fridays dinner night with other young marrieds in our church as a way to really do life together.

Last night we had our kick off dinner even though it wasn't the first Friday...simply because I couldn't wait until February. There were four couples present last night and we had a really great time! I enjoy very much getting to eat dinner and play a game with everyone. I had the chance to really get to know the wife of a good friend of mine which I am so grateful for. I will say that I am glad I plunged into the dinner party thing before February because I was greatly rewarded with the fellowship that occurred.

Pet Peeve of Mine

I will be honest to say that I hate nothing more than to be in the presence of many women to hear one of them start talking negatively about her husband. It makes me very sad for that man as from that moment on I know nothing good about his character but only that he is lazy, useless, worthless, or whatever other words they feel like uttering about him.

I think it is one thing to call up a best friend who knows the wonderful character of your husband and tell her he's driving you crazy. Because she knows his real character and also she knows you are just being ridiculous. But it is another thing completely to ruin his name in the presence of many women who know nothing about his character.

Proverbs 31:23 "Her husband is respected at the city gate" is a reminder to me that the words that come from my mouth regarding my man should be positive and uplifting words that will gain him respect at the city gate. How dare I destroy his character and his reputation over something silly and stupid or because I am overreacting! May we each praise our husbands among others that they may not know a negative thing about him (even though we all know that none of them are perfect). If you and I are besties feel free to tell me what's upsetting you about your man and lets figure out what the deal is but don't you dare trash him in a group of women some of which you hardly know.

Bible in a Year

How many of us commit every year to read the bible in a year and by the time we make it to Leviticus we've already given up? For the past three New Years I've said I was going to read the bible in a year, but have yet to do it. This year Cody & I decided to commit to spiritual growth in general but would like to incorporate reading the bible in a year. John Piper tweeted about his bible reading plan that leaves five days to catch up--get it here. So we are five days late already but I guess it works out since there are five days to catch up--but we started it last night. This year I hope to blog about our journey through the bible as well as some of the wonderful things I learn through the books I have on the shelf to read this year...For Women Only, The Power of a Praying Wife, and Love & Respect. I'd love your opinions and your insight as I take this journey into spiritual growth alone and with my husband.

Reading Plan Day 1: Matthew 1:1-17, Acts 1:1-11, Psalms 1 and Genesis 1-2

Honestly I have probably read all three of these every year based on my glorious attempts to read the bible in a year. But each time I read something I tend to get something out of it that I didn't before or am reminded yet again of how good our God truly is.

Acts 1:7 reads "He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.' "

What a beautiful reminder to me that my timing and God's timing are not the same. I am aware the context of this verse is regarding the ascension of Christ which in and of itself is beautiful enough for me. But when I read this last night I could help but be reminded that God has set aside specific times for each of us and knows just what is going to happen in our lives. And that those things really aren't for us to know but to be able to trust in Him is everything. This is difficult for me most of the time, but have recently seen God at work in my life by showing me that his time is perfect and mine is far from it.

Although I have read Genesis 1 & 2 before...I am still reminded of some things and even taught new things as I read it last night. One of my favorite things about Genesis 1 is that God creates the Heavens and the Earth and when he is finished he says that is it good. Then when he creates man he says that it is very good. I love that when God created man he was satisfied enough to say that we were very good--knowing we would be the ones to sin against him. How beautiful!

In Genesis 2:17 God commands Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Although I have heard many times someone say that the fall is not on Eve but on Adam I never really remembered this verse. God commands Adam before Eve was ever created. Eve may have fallen into temptation but where was Adam to step up and say "No Eve--God commanded us not to eat of this tree" I mean I've heard it preached a million times especially recently through pre-marital counseling but to read that and realize that Eve wasn't even around yet--made such a difference to me in my understanding of the role of husband and wife.

What's your thoughts?

Six Christmases

This Christmas was rather eventful as we hopped from Christmas to Christmas. My sister and her family arrived on Wednesday and we enjoyed a nice family fun night eating at Pei Wei and going to Main Event.The kids had so much fun and so did we!

Bowling as a family--Tristan really enjoyed watching but would much rather have thrown the ball down the lane himself. Little guy was able to hold the 6 pound ball!

Uncle Cody is really enjoying his time.

After family fun time Cody & I did our Christmas together. Cody read Luke 2 for us before we started opening Christmas. It was fun to share in this special time together as newly weds. We both got TOMS for Christmas among a number of other things-but the Toms pictures make me laugh the most. Only because Cody copied me.



Our first Christmas together!

On Christmas Eve we drove to Oak Cliff to attend Cody's Uncles Christmas Eve service. It was snowing the entire time so the roads were getting pretty slick. We then had Christmas Eve with his extended family on his moms side then Christmas with his immediate family after they left. We then took a three hour drive back to my parents what normally is only an hour. I really hope we never have to drive in those icy conditions for Christmas again.

Grandma gives all the grandkids teddy bears every year. I am happy to be part of this family tradition. There are even some cousins missing here since they live in China.

These are my new siblings! Christmas Eve with my new family was very enjoyable and I am so blessed to have such great in-laws! Christmas morning was spent with my parents along with my sisters family. Ellie & Tristan were both very excited about Christmas and the gift they got from Santa. (Not that Tristan really understands all that)

Tristan absolutely loved playing with his new basketball goal.

This was my favorite Christmas gift.

The kids loved Tristans new wagon--and Uncle Cody was nice enough to take them for a really long walk in it the day after Christmas.

The day after Christmas we spent most of the day with my family, but ended it eat burgers and doing a White Elephant exchange with his dads side of the family. We had a blast and were proud to take home a fanny bank that farts.

Mema and all of her grandkids! We were truly laughing hysterically by the end of this photo shoot mostly thanks to the farting fanny bank.

On Sunday we spent time back with my family since my Aunt, Uncle & Cousin came in town. It was a great way to end our Christmas celebration...Six Christmases.

Tristan absolutely loved his John Deer 4-wheeler.

Ellie wanted to play her Leapster right next to her Uncle Cody whom she adores.
.
Tristan also absolutely adores his Uncle Cody.

Our first Christmas was absolutely amazing! I am so blessed to have married into such a great family. I am also so blessed that Cody fits right in with mine. I am so excited about the many Christmases to come between us. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

A Legacy of Love

In our wedding we have planned to honor the marriages of our Grandparents as we believe they have set before us a legacy of love. I have lost both sets of my grandparents and Cody has lost his grandfather. There are still days that I get teary eyed thinking about my grandparents and how much I really loved them. I have especially been teary eyed in the past several months as we've discussed how we would honor them in the wedding.

I was still very young when my Papaw died so I don't really remember a lot about him. I remember I always had so much fun at his house. I remember his delicious chocolate ice cream that we ate in the small yellow cups. I remember his brown pillow that lies on my bed now. I know that my Grandma loved this man very much. She continued to love him over the years as she survived him by a good 12 years if not more. That is a legacy of love that we want in our own marriage...a love that lasts forever and ever. A love for someone that can't ever be replaced.

I was also pretty young when my Granddad died as it was only two years after my Papaw. I remember him a little better as I was a little older. I remember picking pecans, stacking dominoes, watching tv and eating popcorn, trips to the apple orchard and science museum, and enjoying many days playing around at the church. But something else I remembered about Granddad was that he was a servant and that he loved and adored his wife. Granddad knew what it meant to love his bride like Christ loved the church. My GeeMa was madly in love with this man and to be honest I am very surprised she survived without him as long as she did. That is a legacy of love that I also hope we can mirror in our marriage.

Codys story about his grandfather and his grandma are his to tell as I don't know him the way he does. But I can tell you that one of our first conversations when we were dating was about our grandparents and how much we loved and cherished the people they were. And how he aspired to be like his Grandfather and I like my Grandma. Hard shoes to fill, but we are willing to try.

Today my second cousin, Pam called my mom to tell her that her dad had passed away suddenly today. Her father, Uncle Roy was my Granddads brother. Roy had RSVPd for the wedding and was excited to be attending and I was excited to see him. I saw him back in April at his wifes funeral and seeing him brought back so many happy memories from my childhood. It was sweet to hear their love story and just know their life together as a married couple. Something about his death has really struck something in me. I guess with me thinking about my Grandparents a lot lately I had been excited to see him at the wedding as he was my Granddads brother. It's weird to me that the wedding is two weeks away and he won't be there. Don't get me wrong I am happy that he is in Heaven, but I guess I thought him being there would be like having a part of my Granddad at the wedding.

Recipes

Last week my mothers friend, Susan, my second mom threw me a wonderful recipe/pounding shower. The ladies brought the non-perishables as well as their favorite recipe as gifts. I have enjoyed cooking the various recipes and love adding to my new recipe box. Susan gave me a recipe box that reads "From the Kitchen of Jana Kitts". I am hoping that you guys can help me out by giving me even more recipes to fill my box with. What's your favorite recipe?

My First Shower

My first shower was two weeks ago and hosted by my best friend and her mother. It was such a sweet time to be surrounded by some of the people that I love most! It was good to see my family, my soon to be family, close family friends and my closest friends. It was such a blessing to be showered with gifts for mine and Cody's journey together. We are very excited about all the great gifts we received and can't wait to use them.

Thank you so much Chelsey & Donna for hosting an awesome first shower. And a thanks to everyone that made it out for the shower. I love each and every one of you.

Engagement

I love this picture! Hillary Wysong is an amazing photographer!

http://www.hillaryannephotography.com/

Bailee Madison

Please watch this little girls video on I Am Second.

http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Bailee_Madison/

This little girl melts my heart as she shares about why she is second and what God has done in her life. My prayer is that my own children will know God in such a way at this young of an age.

The Who's

And I am not talking about the Whos' from the Grinch stole Christmas. I am talking about wedding invitations and shower invitations. Who do I invite?

Everyone I have talked to about this says that this is a very difficult process in the wedding planning, but I wanted to see if any of you had any good advice. I started my invite list the day after I got engaged and to this day still add people all the time that I "forgot" about or didn't realize I should invite. Do I invite the people I was once really close with? Former co-workers? Current co-workers? Only those I am closest too? If I invite 5 people from work do I need to invite the other 15? Do I should send a work invitation? If I invite Suzy who is best friend with Lucy then do I invite Lucy even though I don't really talk to Lucy any more? Do I invite Kate because she invited me to her wedding?

What about showers? Do I invite any of my friends to the family and adult showers? Who do I invite to what shower? Do I only invite my good friends to the lingerie shower? Same Suzy vs Lucy story? Ahhh I dunno what to do or who to invite...

Overwhelmed by Unemployment.

I warn you all that I am about to enter a serious soap box and realize my opinions may be a little over exaggerated but I'm thoroughly irritated and uber opinionated at this moment in time. I realize that I am not alone in this unemployment boat and while I often feel sorry for myself, I know that God is going to provide for me and I am okay but at the same time I can't help but battle with a great deal of bitter at times.

I have battled with this unemployment thing for some time now. I have been searching for a job since I graduated with my Masters exactly a year ago. I have worked some part-time jobs to survive, but nothing has been truly beneficial as every month I struggle to make ends meet. Its often funny to me when a friend says "I know what you are going through, I had to look for a job for two months." I just want to say "really 2 months, that must have been so awful!" Meanwhile they lived at home and their parents paid their bills or they had enough money in savings to survive off.

I really try not to be bitter about my current job situation and am always happy for others who find a job, get a promotion and so forth. But sometimes I just can't take it any more. If someone came to me and said "dude i just got a promotion!" I'd be elated! Or even if someone said "man i put in 12 hours today and am beat" I'd respond with I'm sorry your job blows. But "I'm sitting on my butt watching movies at work" and my response is must be nice to have a job. And in my mind I am thinking screw you. I don't mean to be bitter but we are in an economic crisis, be glad you have a job.

Yesterday my friend Corrie wrote to me how she felt about the job hunt and I'm sure some can relate...the job hunt makes me want to rip my own organs out and lay them on the floor and then drive over them. agreed?

I promise to write a more positive blog tomorrow or very soon...

Content

I am trying to learn to be content with where we are now. My sister has often reminded me to just enjoy the engaged process and not focus so much on the countdown. While I am extremely excited about the days left until we get married, I do need to stop and enjoy what we have right now. It's not like I have the chance to be engaged again. I have tried hard to enjoy our engagement over the last few weeks despite my excitement.

Last night as Cody and I went through our "Before You Say I Do" devotional I came across a portion that was convicting for me. "What's your pace of life? Are you hurrying to get the wedding preparations in place or are you taking time to enjoy the process and having fun?" I'm kind of right in the middle...I'm not in a hurry checking items off my list, but I'm sure not enjoying the preparations and the relationship. My mind is set on whats ahead and not whats going on today.

Can't help but make me think of Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." So today I will try and commit to thinking about today and not focusing so much on my future.

So I am going to try and enjoy this a little more, I mean...I am only engaged once. Tonight we are going to be Wedding Crashers at a Faux Wedding at the Hilton in Grapevine. We will enjoy be a part of a ceremony and reception with all the perks. Free cocktails and dinner, cake and fireworks. What better way to embrace the engagement with a free date that benefits the wedding planning process? I am excited about our date!

More to come on this same devotion...the scripture used, the convictions had. Being engaged is so humbling for me.

Updates

Dear Blogging Friends...I haven't had a lot of time lately to sit and blog or have I? I still don't really have a job even though for two weeks I worked full-time. So really I have no idea where all the hours in my day are going. Okay actually I'm a bit of a nerd and have spent countless hours playing games on facebook. Don't act like you are above me for I know a good portion of you are playing the same games! Aside from that, I don't really know what to blog about these days...

So today I will just give you an update. I have now been engaged a little over a month and am enjoying the wedding planning. We will be getting married November 21st, 2009! I am more than excited about getting married to Cody and can't wait to start our life as a married couple. Thus far I have ordered my dress as well as the bridesmaid dresses, tuxes ordered, Cody's wedding band purchased, flower girls dress ordered, a few decorations purchased, verbally asked to borrow candy dishes, church booked, preacher, premarital counseling start at the end of August and I think that's it for now. Oh wait...the honeymoon is booked!!! So we are well on our way to planning our perfect little wedding.

For any wedding information please visit our wedding website http://mywedding.com/bushkitts
Sign the guestbook! Love you all!

My Heart

There are still days that I look down at my ring and get excited all over again. Even though I've bought my dress there are still moments that I can't believe it's really happening.I was never a girl that dreamed much about my wedding and what I would wear and how it would all pan out, but I have very much been a girl who has thought much about marriage.

I have always been anxious to meet my husband and have prayed over him and for him much over the last six years. There were times that I wondered if I would ever meet my husband. A couple years ago as a friend of mine struggled through the beginning of her marriage and would often say marriage wasn't worth it and I should be glad I was single. I never saw it that way though because I didn't see marriage as this wonderful all the time relationship. I knew the realistic nature of the relationship and that there would be tough times. I remember telling her then that I was excited about getting married and fighting because knowing whats on the other side makes it worth it. I realize there will be times that Cody & I aren't happy go lucky and we may fight, but I am excited to do life with him. I can't wait to be married to him!!!

There were times in my life that I honestly thought I'd meet, start dating and marry my husband all with in a years time. Who would have known it would just be nine months?

The Proposal

Friday June 26th was supposed to be game night at Jonathan's place. Cody came to pick me up at 6:30 and told me that we were going to go play a game since I always say he's not creative. We get in the car and there was a heart that read: "The Car. It all starts in the car. The car symbolizes our future. No matter how many times we argue or get irritated with each other this car will take us anywhere we want to go and Baby I am soo excited where its going to take us. Now listen to Brad Paisley "Then" and proceed to the next stop. The Church. I love you!!" I turned my ipod on to Then and enjoyed listening to our song as we drove to the church...

We arrive to the church take a nice scenic walk around the church to find the cross where the 2nd heart was hanging. The front of the heart read: "Stop 1: The Church. The church, what every Godly relationship should be based on first and foremost. From the start my goal for us has been to keep God in the forefront of our relationship. I pray that we would always give him control of anything and everything that we ever go through because I know that by trusting Him, God will get us through any obstacles we may ever face." The back of the heart read: "Task: Read these verses a loud and say a prayer for this relationship, that we may always keep God #1 in our lives. Ephesians 5:21-30; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 After completing the prayer its time to have a little fun!" I read the verses aloud and then Cody prayed for our relationship. Every time we pray it ends with a kiss and an I love you!! This is the moment that I realized what was going to happen as the scripture read, 'Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ...'We then drove off to the next destination...(no lie, I thought we might go to the fountain in Parker Square.)

We arrive at Parker Square and we grab the heart from a park bench then walk down to the fountain. After our very first date we went to this place and sat and talked for awhile so there are memories here for us. As we walked around to the other side I started to wonder if this was going to be the place that he would pop the question. Especially when he ran back to the car to get "something". But don't worry, it was just the frisbee. We sat on the bench in front of the fountain and I read the heart. "Stop 2: The Park. The park symbolizes the fun part of our relationship, one of the biggest reasons why I love you baby is because you love to have fun. Over the past 4 months we have spent a lot of time in the park doing just that, having fun! Whether it be by throwing the frisbee around or just bringing a blanket and looking at the stars. And if you think about it the park is really where we first decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend ;)." After reading the front I turned it to the back for the task, "Just have some fun. Throw the frisbee around for 10 minutes and talk about different experiences we have had at the park. After fun its time for my next favorite thing: FOOD!" (At this point my guess is we are going to a Mexican restaurant and likely to be La Hacienda Ranch unless he turned right out of the parking lot).

As soon as we hopped on 35 I knew we were headed to La Hacienda Ranch. It is by far my favorite Mexican restaurant!! I love to sit outside by the fireplace after I eat there so the next heart was tied on the side of the fireplace. Cody hadn't proposed yet and I love the fireplace and I thought maybe we'd eat there and family or friends might be there so again I thought...surely he will propose here..."Stop 3: La Hacienda Ranch. Ah La Ha, Jana's favorite place in the world to eat! It seems like since I have been dating you my diet has seen a huge increase in Mexican food. To me La Hacienda Ranch represents all of the different dates we have been on. Jana, one of my main goals in this relationship is to make you feel comfortable which ultimately leads to happiness. And what makes you more happy than La Hacienda Ranch Guacamole?? I love you baby!" The task on the back, "Order some chips and guacamole to go and take it to Game Night. After receiving your chips proceed back to your house for dessert!"

As we pull up to the house I noticed red rose petals leading up to the front porch and this is when I realized it's all about to go down. I was a little excited inside to say the least!! We walk up to the porch and there is an ice cream pint that has a heart around it that says "Open Me!" I open the pint and see a ring box so I hand it to Cody and put the lid back on. By the time I turn around Cody is on one knee. He grabs my hand and asks "Jana Lynn Bush, will you marry me?" I think I said yes...He gets up we hug, we kiss, we hug, we kiss, we hug some more and kiss some more. And then finally he places the ring on my hand...its beautiful!!! We go into the house where both of our families and my closest friends are waiting!!!

**Will post pictures later...**

I'm Engaged...