My Refuge

" May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. " 

- Ruth 2:12

Refuge. 

In definition, this means, "a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble." This verse in Ruth, specifically the ending, has had such meaning for me this past year. To be honest, I have struggled with it. I have struggled to fully believe and trust that God is truly...truly, my refuge. And, as we are coming up on what marks ONE YEAR of living in Texas... I am reflective. 

This move has caused me to grow on so many different levels. Some small and some so deep that they require more than a blog post to explain and express. I have been in awe of God's fingerprints on my life and how He has used each and every situation to mold, sculpt, teach, grow and direct me. Through big mistakes, through loneliness, through new friends, new living situations, new experiences and strangers...

I have seen how MIGHTY my God truly is. 

In a few short months, Andrew will be leaving his full time job and going full time with his pursuit of his masters degree. This means that I will be the main source of income for us...

Yes, thats what I said. Me, Aly, owner of a business of which I stamp spoons and forks and personalize them to make every day life a little more intriguing .. this business of mine will carry us through these next few years. 

This concept...astounds me. 

I am beyond grateful. I am insanely scared. I am excited. I am honored. 

I am amazed that God has decided to give me this fun business For Such A Time Designs, "for such a time as this" to allow it to provide for us while my husband is in school. It puts even that much more worth into each and every person I serve and each and every piece I create. 

This past year has had so many exciting moments of growth and increase for my business. And though as a business owner, it is so important to see increase in sales, ultimately, my main goal has never been for myself...but for the people I come into contact with. My goal, has always been to show each and every person love and to show them that I care about the details of their life. My desire is that when I receive an email from a customer about personalizing a spoon or fork for an event or time in their life, that they would feel that I gave them the time and energy that they deserve. 

That I cared for them. 

That I loved them.

That their life has meaning and is important to me. 

This is what drives me everyday. 

This is what I am after. 

My greatest hope has always been that no matter how successful or big my business becomes, that I would never forget the process, the people, the relationships that I have formed along the way and that what comes first is always the individual PEOPLE I serve and my success comes second to that. 

Along with serving people in my business. Another opportunity has come about for us that I am beyond excited about in relation to our living situation and social life.

Andrew and I, along with him pursuing school have taken on a big commitment as a married couple. We are in the last stages of being placed in a specific & chosen apartment community (yes, we will be moving AGAIN) for us to serve in. 

Basically, we will be the "face" of the community there.... Pouring ourselves into the residents that live there and caring for them. We will plan events and basically love on each and every person that lives and/or works in the apartment community. My prayer is that God will bless our time devoting ourselves to this ministry and the people we will serve here as well. 

As I move forward into these two big roles of owning a business that is our main source of income and serving with my husband in an apartment community, I want to always remember of the blessings that got me here and the road that God put us on that led me here. I feel I have come to find refuge in my Savior and trust Him with the next steps moving forward, better than I have before(though still learning every day).

 Ruth 2:12 has become a theme verse for me. I know that the road will not be easy moving forward and that there will be challenges.... but I will trust in my God, that He will be my refuge and will be faithful, just as He always has been. 

. . .

I created the necklace in the beginning photos as a reminder to myself that God is my faithful refuge...and when you see me wearing it you will now know the depth of its meaning to me. I hope it will encourage you as well. 

Memory Lane

Memories. They carry us. They define us. They change us. 

Today marks 2 years of marriage. Just two. Though, a lot can happen in two years. For us, 2 years has included 4 moves, 1 move to a new state, a few vacations, a dog, a new car, and the list goes on. 

Marriage can be hard. It can be a joy. It's real. It's in your face. It's fun. It's exciting. It's a challenge. Some days you want to be selfish. Some days all you want to do is love on your spouse. And if you let it, it can help you grow and mature in ways you never thought possible. 

But today, I want to push aside all of that and bring you back to early days. The smiles and giggles. The butterflies in your stomach. The hopeful wishing "if this is it". The memories from the beginning of us. Along with the engagement and the wedding day.

Here is a little walk down Aly + Andrews memory lane.

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The puppy love stage. 

This darling photo above... fuzzy, dark and totally taken with a flip phone, is the first picture of us. 

I remember it so vividly. We went out for Chinese food with my family and had just arrived back to my house in my car. I asked for a picture. He agreed. 

I think I stared at it all. night. long.

August 1, 2009 was our very first "date". We both thought we were just going to a music festival together. All of Andrews friends were busy and I was a last resort. I guess I was a pretty good last resort!!

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To the left is the journal entry from that night. 

I love to document, in prayer form, what goes on in my day. It makes me feel like God and I are sitting down for coffee and He is completely uninformed about my day. Though He knows every detail... I love the friendship feel of it all. 

I remember writing...

 "I got to see a glimpse into the life of the kind of man I could have a future with." 

Little did I know... He would become my husband! 

Above is the Jones Soda bottle that I had at Panera Bread with my dinner from that first date. The night was so special, I ripped off a piece of the Panera Bread bag that our shortbread cookies had been in,

 wrote a note on it for memories sake and put it in the bottle. 

I love unraveling it and thinking back to how it was all "meant to be".

Above is one of the most beautiful letters I have ever received. This was sent to me in a postal priority mailing box with my favorite snacks and the movie "Life Is Beautiful". This was his way of "asking me out" as we began our relationship long distance. I, in Colorado, and him, in Virginia. 

Can you hear my squeals? Feel my stomach butterflies? My roommate Jill rejoiced with me as I hung up the phone now the GIRLFRIEND of Andrew Nickerson. 

Our relationship was so easy. He was my best friend and I was his. We would fall asleep on the phone together...waking up 8 hours later to find that we never hung up. He treated me like I was the best thing that ever happened to him. I was pursued. I was cherished. I was adored. 

No other man on this earth made me feel the way he did. 

On October 20th, 2010, Andrew asked me to marry him. You can read the proposal story HERE.

Tea light candles covered the stairs with music echoing from within the Old Stone Church. 

I gladly said YES!

We were only engaged for a short 5 1/2 months. Before we were married on April 3rd, 2011.

On April 1st, just two days before our wedding day. I woke up to snow covering the earth.

 It was a funny little April Fools Joke... 

It ended up melting, but the day before the wedding we went out and bought all the girls rain boots & scarfs, as the ground was still a bit wet. I love the added pop of color. 

Our friends were such great sports, as it was a bit chilly outside the day of our wedding.

Our wedding day was a beautiful day that I will never, ever, forget.

I heard a quote recently though, that I absolutely adore. 

"I want a marriage more beautiful than my wedding day"

And this is true. I want my marriage with Andrew to be even better than our wedding day. And I am committed to spending a lifetime perfecting this relationship. 

I am so in love with my husband. Through thick and thin, there is no one else that

I would rather do life with. 

Thanks for walking down memory lane & celebrating our 2nd Anniversary with us!

Coffee Before Talkie Giveaway

Time sure does fly and its been quite a while since I have last posted!! Andrew and I have been trying to figure out our next steps in life right now and when I think about blogging, all I want to do is write about my thoughts and feelings in relation to this. However, nothing is set in stone yet, and I dont want to share information and then have it change. So, I am waiting until we have everything finalized before sharing our next steps with life! :) I know, I'm leaving so much suspense here... but, its easier to just share it when it is all ready to happen!!!

 

Today I have partnered up with TAM STYLE to bring you a sweet little giveaway. It will end next Tuesday at 11:59PM so you will have plenty of time to enter and spread the word!! I am using the one and only Rafflecopter! Heres what are are giving away!!!

 

A Mug & Coffee Spoon with my sweet little coffee saying for those GRUMPS in the morning...

 

COFFEE BEFORE TALKIE!!!

This adorable little coffee mug has vinyl letters on the sides and pairs so well with my little spoon!

 





There you have it! Thanks for being such a great customer base to serve....

Now go get those enteries in!!! <3 p="p">

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3c1a861/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Honey, it's Date Night Smoothie!

 

I love what I do! I feel like I say it all the time! But, really... I feel so blessed to have a successful business that allows me to be home, create and be my own boss. This morning as my husband and I started to roll out of bed, he looked at me and said, "Why don't you reset your alarm and just go back to bed?" ...It did sound nice, although - even though I am sure I could take advantage of that luxury, I do have responsiblity to customers who are relying on me to get their orders out on time! So, I stumble out of bed, make our coffees and then get to work...which never really feels like work!

A typical day for me starts with getting up, making coffees and Andrews lunch (sometimes I am a bad wife and make him make it! HA!), then I jump on the computer, turn on some music (mostly worship or christian music) and get to checking emails and writing down my To-Do list for the day! Then its stamping, constantly checking messages to respond promptly to customers, and then the daily post office run! After I have completed what I have to do, I go for a run or swim!!

Wednesdays are special though. Why are they special? Well, IT'S DATE NIGHT!!! Andrew and I go to a restaurant not too far from where we are living called Thai Place. They have the BEST lemongrass chicken dish and crab rangoons that we have ever had. In fact, we order the SAME THING, every Wednesday! Yes, it's THAT good! :) On Wednesday, I normally try to eat light for lunch since we normally stuff ourselves silly with the yummy food!

Today I decided to make a smoothie. As I was making it, I thought it looked really neat with the different colors of fruit, so I took a picture. Then, I thought... "hmmm, if this is really good, I will want to remember it and maybe share the recipe!!" Now, dont hold me to it... but I personally thought it was REALLY GOOD! I put some honey in it and every so often I would get a little honey in the straw...MMmm!! <3

Add Fruit - 1 Mango, 1 Banana, and 3 Strawberries

Add about 1/2 cup of Milk, a splash or two of cream, a handful of ice, and drizzle some
honey over the top of everything to give it some natural sweetness!

I drizzled some honey along the sides of the cup before I poured in the smoothie so that
I could have some sips of honey drops in there too!!!

And I now present before you....

Now, I do not claim to be a food stylist by any means! I am sure some food stylist could have walked in and presented this smoothie to you in a much more eloquent way. However, it looked good to me and I drank every last drop!! :)

I felt this smoothie was a light and delightful way to have a lunch in preparation for date night tonight, therefore, this recipe will forever be named "Honey It's Date Night Smoothie".

You can tweek it anyway you wish. My husband is the smoothie maker in the family and his smoothies are TO DIE FOR! I do my best... and today, I felt that I had made one of my best. Let me know if you try this one out, if you like it, and how you may have made it better. Smoothies are one of my favorites, so feel free to share some good recipes with me if you have any!!

Thats all for now!!! <3 Thanks for reading!

Day 10: Jelly Beans + Giveaway

  

Our roadtrip is slowing down to more low key and relaxing days. Its a good way to end it as the beginning was filled with A TON of hiking and walking. Today we slept in and did a little shopping near sacramento, then we stopped to have lunch at Chipolte (one of Andrews favorites). After lunch, we headed over to the Jelly Belly Factory, which was our only real plan for the day! They didnt allow pictures in the factory, but we took a few in the lobby. It was fun to see how Jelly Belly's were made and where they started. Who knew there was such a process to them!

We each got ourselves some bags of jelly belly's filled with our favorites. Below is our bags...can you guess whose is whose???

It should'nt be too hard to tell!! :) And its kind of neat to see the difference between us!

Do you have a favorite flavor?? Let me know in the comments!! :)

We ended the night with some more shopping and then a low key meal at Chic-fil-a! Ohhh it was good!! I wish someone would open up one back home!

Tomorrow we head to Napa Valley to go on an Olive Oil tour and drive by all the vineyards! Tomorrow will be our last full day and our last night in California! I just can't believe that this wonderful trip is almost over...

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!!!! Yes, A GIVEAWAY! I am participating in a giveaway with The Posh Daisy! Its her birthday and she has put together a nice little giveaway to kick it off!! Happy Birthday to her and GOOD LUCK to you! Go check out her page and enter to win! There are a bunch of prizes from a bundle of different vendors, including ME! I am including a $20.00 shop credit with FREE SHIPPING!! WOO HOO!! Ready, Set, GO!! Click Here and Good Luck!!!

See you tomorrow for my last post of our vacation...I will be reopening the shop on June 1st!

Day 5 + 6: Yosemite National Park

There is so much to talk about and show you... I don't even know where to start! Andrew and I have been taking hundreds of pictures between the both of us! We are enjoying going through all our pictures at the end of the day and picking out the best ones to share! Between yesterday and today, it has taken quite a while. However, I think that the ones I will be posting will give a good overview. Andrew and I have both agreed that most of the view and scenes we have been blessed to see just can't be captured by cameras. I would reccommend this trip to anyone... its beautiful here.

The drive up was breath-taking. We finally arrived at our next destination where we would spend the night in a tent. Not the greatest night sleep for me... but I still had plenty of energy for our long day of hiking ahead! We had to put all of our food in the green bear box in the picture below and there were reminders EVERYWHERE to not leave food out!

Before we went on our hike.. we took a raft down the river. SO FUN!!

On our hike, we saw some deer... although, they are EVERYWHERE!! I got so close to them...

Then.... We saw a BEAR!!! and because I wanted a good picture... I got closer to it than I was
suppose to...good thing there were no park rangers around. ;)

We did a little bit more hiking up to Mirror Lake...

THEN! Andrew motivated me to trek up the 2.5 mile uphill hike to Vernal Falls. This hike consists of a very steep trail, that turns into a STEEP 600 staircase hike.... did I mention steep??!! Once you hit the stairs, it also starts to pour down mist from the Falls (really its like rain because you get completely soaked)!! Good thing Andrews camera is waterproof, as we got some awesome pictures...its hard to pick out the highlight pictures... there are SO many! I suppose I got my workout in for the next year or so!!! The first picture was me before he mentioned going up to the Falls... I was perfectly content with looking from afar... but in the end was THRILLED to have made it to the top!! It was amazing!!! AMAZING!!!??

Can you tell I was a little bit wet here? The rainbow was even more dazzling in real life!!

We made it to the top!!??? The pictures dont do the waterfall or the height of it justice!

And after a little break and some snacks, we started back down to the bottom.
This was the scariest part in my opinion!

Since we were already soaking wet, pictures for our fellow trekkers was in order! Its been so nice to have people around to take pictures of the both of us!

Andrew always has a good eye for the best shots! He took one of me and then told me where to stand to get the picture of him the same way! Such neat memories...

As you can see, the trip down the side of the waterfall was steep and very wet! Such an amazing experience though and I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

Thats an overview of our day 5 + 6! More to come for Day 7 as we have a little bit more time in Yosemite and then head to Murphy, CA to stay in the Victoria Inn.

Check back later for more! Don't forget you can follow my blog via google connect on the right, so you will never miss a post! :)

Day 1 : San Francisco

Just a quick little update! We made it safe and sound to San Francisco! Spent the entire first day walking around the city seeing just about everything we could and walking about 10 miles or more! By the end of the day... our feet were telling us...STOP! I also thought I was tough enough to walk around in sandals. NOT a smart idea!

We got ourselves some famous sourdough bread... in the shape of a turtle!

Waited in line for tha cable cars... a long time and made some new friends from Ohio! Shout out to you guys if you end up stopping by the blog! ;)

Sat by the sea and the golden gate bride for a while. SO PRETTY!

And walked through the Exploratoriam!! I felt like we were in another country! It was beautiful... just plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood! I was jealous to say the least.

Its been wonderful so far! Headed to Monterey/Carmel today! About 2 hours and 45 mintes of driving ahead of us and Andrew read about an off the beaten path Strawberry Picking area that we might stop by!

 Thats all for now! Keep checking in for more updates on our trip! Or - connect with google connect so you'll never miss a post, giveaway or update!!