Thinking of Vincent

So since Vincent has moved to Logan, I hear songs on the radio and they make me think of him. Well this song is no different, but I think it describes us perfectly. And here is what is funny...
Starting out in Logan, we have nothing really. It's a fresh start, the way we want it. And how did he get there? In an old beat up car, lol.

And how does this song start out?
*Started out with nothing but a
Beat up car and a new beginning
And inside everything seemed out of reach*



"Rose"
By: BuckCherry

Started out with nothing but a
Beat up car and a new beginning
And inside everything seemed out of reach

Saw you there and you filled my eyes
Sent shivers up and down my spine
I knew right then that you were meant for me
Oh yeah

I drive all night
Thought about those days
When the life I loved started slipping away
Stayed on track and I don't look back
It took so long just to get it started

Give me what I want
It's all about love and not about money
I don't want to stop
I'll never give up it's sweeter than honey

I can't be here by myself
'Cause to me there's no one else
You're as pretty as a rose
I can't live without you

Back out on the road today
The semi trucks and the nights on stage
I got so many good time memories

Left a lot friends behind
And still I kept this dream alive
To live the life I feel inside of me
Oh Yeah

I drive all night
Thought about those days
When the life I loved started slipping away
Stayed on track and I don't look back
It took so long just to get it started

Give me what I want
It's all about love and not about money
I don't want to stop
I'll never give up it's sweeter than honey

I can't be here by myself
'Cause to me there's no one else
You're as pretty as a rose
I can't live without you

I can't stop thinking about you
I can't stop thinking about you

I drive all night
Thought about those daysjavascript:void(0)
When the life I loved started slipping away
Stayed on track and I don't look back
It took so long just to get it started

Give me what I want
It's all about love and not about money
I don't want to stop
I'll never give up it's sweeter than honey

I can't be here by myself
'Cause to me there's no one else
You're as pretty as a rose
I can't live without you

Date Night: "Making Valentine’s Day Shine" - by LDS Living

I get mail from LDS Living, and today it included something about making Valentine's Day Special. You know though, we don't need one day to show our love and gratitude to that special person, we have 365 days a year to do that. So takes some of these ideas and try using them throughout the year.
Date Night: "Making Valentine’s Day Shine" - by LDS Living

While special events make Valentine’s Day lovely to begin with, details make the day shine. Here are a few simple things to make Valentine’s extra special all day long.

* Write love notes and place them throughout the house. As soon as possible, write notes of love or gratitude and put them in places that aren’t obvious, but that your sweetheart will eventually see as he or she goes through their day. If you can’t think of multiple things, use one of the silly (but sweet) Valentine’s cards from your child’s store-bought box and leave it for your spouse; it’s sure to warm the heart and get a little laugh.

* Be a gentleman, and be a lady. Men: Remember to open car doors, theatre doors, restaurant doors, or any other doors you come across (except the lady’s room door) for your wife. Furthermore, make sure to pull out her chair when she sits down for dinner, if the waiter isn’t trained to do so. And ladies: once you’re in the car, reach over and open the door for your husband; hold open other doors for him as he walks through. It’s a little way for you to show kindness to him.

* Give an unexpected rose. Arrange for a single rose to be at your table for dinner, if you’re dining out. If not, find another way to give your wife a rose during the evening—whether it’s at the home dinner table or it’s placed by her sink before bed. Consider a special color: Red=Love, White=Purity, Yellow=Happiness, Orange=Desire, Pink=Gratitude.

* Hold hands. This small expression of love can be obliterated as the years go by. So, when the two of you are walking from place to place during the day, remember to hold hands with one another. At dinner, move drinks and plates out of the way so you have a clear space to reach across the table and clasp hands.

* Make the ambiance romantic at home. Follow through with the ideas you’ve had to play music, light candles, and arrange the room for a special evening. Doing things that show planning are especially meaningful for both men and women; it means that you’ve thought about him or her when you were apart, and you worked harder to make time together extra special.

And so that Valentine’s Day isn’t just one of a few days you go out of your way to show love, try incorporating one or two of these suggestions on a monthly basis.

The Lord Will Provide

"And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine." D&C 104:15

This is a promise the Lord has made to us, that he will provide us. This is something that I was reminded of just today, along with a few other things. I hope you don't mind if I share a story with you.

The last few days I have been stressing out about money. With Vince in Logan and jobless still (I am trusting in the Lord to handle that)we are dependent on my lowly paycheck. So because of this, money has been tight and we really have to watch our spending. Well due to some unforeseen issues last week we are out of money, and I don't get paid till end of the week. So when I sat down to think about this I realized I wouldn't have money to get back and forth to work, pay for a title transfer or plates for the van. This also meant that I would need to borrow money from my parents, which I don't want to do. And then to top it all off, Friday the dogs decided that they wanted more to eat and helped themselves to the dog food, leaving maybe a 2 1/2 day supply. So again I would have to go to my parents and ask for money for dog food. Knowing that this would bring up discussions as to when Vince is going to get a job, that he must not be looking good enough, etc. I wanted to avoid that.

Today my father asked me if I would be riding with them to (his) church. I told them no that I wanted to drive myself, this was because I wanted to be able to go to my own church. After they left I pondered to myself if I had made the right decision, knowing that I had less than 1/2 a tank of gas and all the driving this would involve. Something came to mind as I played some video games this morning, our change jar. I knew there wasn't much money there, but it was better than nothing. So I got ready to go to church and grabbed my change jar and walked out the door. I stopped by Kroger to use the 'coinstar' to cash in my change. When it was done I had a whopping $15.00. "Alright, I will use this $10.00 for gas, and then the $5.00 to buy some canned food for the dogs". So I pulled up the pump and I did just that, I put in exactly $10.00 which put me a little over 1/2 a tank and off I went. After my father's church let out around noon it was time to head to Fairfield, but I had some time to kill because services don't start till 2pm.

Well I headed to our house to get some things done, and got there and walked in the door I looked right over at one of those plastic drawers that we use for our clothes. I figured I could use it either at my parent's house or at school, but I better take a look inside. When I opened it up I noticed the cash drawer from when we had the store. Now, I figured that there wouldn't be nothing but change in there because Vince would have taken it all, but change is better than nothing. When I lifted the lid I saw a check sitting there, some 20's and a 10. So I grabbed the paper money and check and put it in my wallet. Then I grabbed our change jar and filled it up. I went to the bank and deposited the money and cashed in the changed, when it was all said and done I had close to $400.00. This money makes up for what we had lost, plus it allowed me to buy dog / cat food and mail Vincent a care package.

When I got to Sacrament Service I noticed a theme with the talks. It boiled down to Gratitude and Remember the source of our Blessings. Which was a reminder of where this money had come from. And then as I got ready to leave I stopped to talk to Sis. Meadows. She asked me how we were doing, and I told her about the money issues. Her response was, "The Lord will provide," little did she know that he already had.
It wasn't until the drive home that I started putting these things together and really realized that the Lord kept his promise to provide in our times of need. It's funny that sometimes we don't even realize that the Lord was the one that helped us out, even with small things. Matthew 6:8 says, "Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." I am truly grateful to know that I have a Heavenly Father that knows what I need even before I ask him, and that he will even provide those needful things before I ask.

Matthew 6:31 - 33
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

So what I guess I am trying to say is..The Lord knows what you have need of, sometimes we don't even need to ask. But we should always be grateful for what he provides for us in our times of need.

Dating and so much more.......

With so many of our friends getting engaged and married it got me thinking about the whole dating /relationship idea, here is what I came up with....

"A New Relationship"

One of the best things about new relationships are the dates. The idea of going out with this guy or girl you are like "totally crushing on" is exciting. And as our relationships progress, so do our dates.We find out what the other person likes and we plan accordingly. We use dating to get to know these people, this guy or girl that we like. We even may start thinking that, "hey I can see myself spending the rest of my life with so and so." And if it doesn't work out you may still get a great friend out of the deal. I would say at the 3 month mark is when you realize if this relationship may be getting serious or just a friendly fling(and I don't mean that you have to be doing anything rated NC-17 or X, just out having a good time).

"Getting Serious"

As I said, for me it's the 3 month mark, by then you have been dating for 12 weeks. I would assume that you have had at least 12 + dates, so you should have a pretty good idea of what the person is like. Getting serious doesn't mean getting engaged or married so don't freak, but it does mean that you are willing to make more of a commitment to one another. This could mean that you start sharing more private details with each other, you open up more. It could also mean that one of two things 1) You two start splitting off from your friends and group dates and do things together, just the two of you or, 2) You start inviting your friends to hang out with you and your girl or guy. Which ever it is, you start letting them more into your world. You may even start bringing them over for family get togethers!

Now we have another anniversary coming, another benchmark...the SIX MONTH ANNIVERSARY!
Man time does fly when you are having fun. Most guys don't pay attention to these silly anniversaries, but I can promise the girls do. So you have made it 6 months, 24 weeks, or roughly 186 days. Congratulations, now what? You can tell by now if there is a connection a real spark between the two of you. It's not just some case of puppy love or a summer fling, it's something real. Sometimes, relationships don't make it past this point, and it can be really tough. As I have said you have started opening up to this person, and now it's over. Now we are headed full steam to the one year mark! To me these are the months that really define your relationship. You know how back in the beginning you thought for a moment that, "maybe I could be with this person forever", those thoughts start coming back and in full force. We start imagining what our life would be like with this person, where we would want to live, how many kids we would want, those kinds of things. Between six to twelve months we start wondering how do you pop the question, should we ask them to marry us, will they say yes, or will they say no. Do they feel the same way that I do? Listen, get over yourself! We have all been there or we will all be there. Stop stressing, if it's meant to be then it will be.


This is the end of part one... join in next time for part two...