Something's in the water...

Life has changed so quickly in the last year. Marriages, multiple movings and job switches by friends and family have become a normalcy. I realized this balance was changing again when I started to receive baby shower invites as opposed to wedding invitations. Another change God has sent to bless us and others with.

The funny thing is, it seems not not only be friends and family state wide who are expecting, but mostly in our area. In our church alone, there have been 12 pregnancies announcements/births in the last 6 months! Mike and I keep getting the eye from others as to imply 'When is your announcment coming? Have you drank the water?' To that, we laugh and say, 'Not yet. We filter ours'. :)

I know that I am not ready to have a child. I have many things about myself that I know need to be addressed - continuing to expand my business, working on our relationship as a couple, etc. Many may say 'You never are ready', but I want to make sure that Mike and I are both spiritually, mentally and financially on the same page before this happens. Will all of these be accomplished when God decides its the right time for us? Probably not on the financial end (we're working on it! :) but I know that its all in God's hands and he will never give us more than we can handle together. His blessings are infinate and always come at the right time.

Preach to everyone. When necessary, use words.

I listen to Joyce Meyer almost every day on my way to and from work plus while doing my errands. Not only does she point out what most people are doing right in their Christian walk, she also slaps me upside the head when I need it. And did I need it this week!



I have a tendancy to think of all the good things I've done for the day when I am doing my daily readings at night - MK client questions, helping clients in the store, cooking supper, etc. But the latest CD to pointed out the most important thing Christians can do when they are preaching to others about their faith - live it. I've heard this in church over and over again, but for some reason it really sunk in. Am I giving my best to everything and everyone everyday? Am I just talking the talk or am I also walking the walk? I don't want to live a secular life Monday-Saturday then transform into Sister Christian (sorry for the pun) on Sundays. This is something that I will be working on.



What I struggle most with is sharing my faith with others. I have never been comfortable with sharing my views on anything in a one-on-one setting. Groups are a different story, especially if we all have similar goals. But I have found that the best way to reflect and share my faith with others is to live it. The quote from Joyce's CD that made this evident was the title of this post. It made me realize that it really is up to me to share but preaching to others with words isn't always the best way to do it. What a relief!



But now I have to put it into action everyday. It seems so easy, but have found many times its going to be a challenge. Yet, God wouldn't give me a challenge if I couldn't handle it.

Back to Basics

So the fact that Mike or I haven't blogged in a year kind of speaks volumes on how busy we have been. I hate using the word 'busy' because anyone can make themselves 'busy', but our lives have been jam-packed and in a good way. There have been a lot of changes since last year. Let me update you!

• We got married and just celebrated our first anniversary a month ago.
• We have had a challenging but fun first year of marriage. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
• I decided not to pursue my master's just for the fact that I didn't know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Instead, I made the decision to become a Mary Kay consultant. (Will explain this more in next blog)
• Mike is now starting his 4th year of teaching. So hard to believe that it has come so quickly! He will be starting his Master's degree sometime this winter.

Also, I have decided to do this blog on my own. Mike has so much to do between teaching, coaching CDE (Career Development Event) teams, OAAE (Ohio Association of Agricultural Educators) treasurer, and his weekly bowling games with buddies (this is key to handling the stress!) that a blog is the last thing on his mind. Though I don't have a lot of spare time myself, this blog is important to me to share with others the importance of agricultural education, my adventures as a beauty consultant (yes, it is a REAL job!) and share my faith with others. It may seem like a hodge podge of items for one blog, but I know it will help me reflect on this wonderful life God has given me.

My first post since re-starting the blog will be short. Besides being a MK consultant, I also work at a local fine jewelry store part time. My employers (and friends) are wonderful people and I really love 'playing' with the latest in jewelry trends. I work there tomorrow plus have quite a few MK phone calls to make after work. These long weekends really mess schedules up, but it was worth it! Will post more later this week. Carson (our dauschund-boston terrier mix) is telling me its time for bed.

only SIX more days to go

Hi there internet. Let me introduce myself; I am Mike, the other writer in this blog. Although the more attractive and smarter one (Alison) will write more frequently, I would like to think that my posts will be more thought provoking. That being said I have been sitting at this computer for three hours scanning pictures and putting them into windows movie maker for our running slide show during the reception and this thought came to my mind:

If you needed to send styrofoam packing peanuts through UPS or FedEx, what would they pack it with?

This perplexes me. Do they have the audacity to put styrofoam packing peanuts in-between styrofoam packing peanuts? Once there, how would the receiver sign for the package knowing that there is unwanted packing peanuts intermingled with the wanted packing peanuts? Put yourself in the shoes of the packing peanut for a minute. (dont act like you've never done this before) One one hand, you have the wanted packing peanuts, (henceforth to be known as (WPP). The WPP are why we are sending the package in the first place. We could have sent priceless artwork, but instead we chose to send WPP. Heck someone has to, or else how would the manufacturer of packing peanuts in general stay in business? It's a good life, being the wpp. It's like a vacation, you are traveling to a chosen destination in what seems to be a windowless cardboard van. But on the other hand, you have the unwanted packing peanuts, (UWPP) whose sole purpose is to ensure the safety of the wpp. Like packing peanut secret service, the UWPP serve protect and defend the WPP and would lay down their lives (or get dissolved in saliva...which is fun to do by the way) for them. They do their job. God Bless the Unwanted Packing Peanut.

So today internet I implore you; have love for the packing peanut, no matter it's purpose in life.

Only 7 days to go...

First post for the blog - YEA!! My name is Alison Gentry. My future husband, Mike, and myself are starting a new life together in just 7 short days. Scary isn't the term I would use to describe this, but surreal is. It seems like just 9 short months ago, Mike asked me to be his wife and we were excitedly anticipating our wedding day. It didn't seem like it would ever come!

Now that we're down to the final few days, it seems like we have so much to do in so little time. Programs to print (which I am currently working on!), favors to package, decorating, and so many other things. Why does it seem like there are a ton of small details and all of them have to be done in the last days before hand! Anyway, we feel very blessed to have so many people helping us get them all done - God is very, very good to us! :)

Let's recap what we've been doing up to this point:

-Moved out of my apartment in Carey at the end of June
-Move into Mike and I's new house
-Painted the new house (YUCK!!)
-Bought a Tempurpedic mattress - its SO worth the investment!
-Moved Mike out of his apartment
-Finalized all the details with the Pastor, reception hall, cake lady and many others
-Went to Country Concert for a few days (Hey, we DESERVED a vacation!)

This weekend is Mike and I's bachelor and bachelorette parties along with hanging with our families individually for the last time as single people. We're looking forward to seeing everyone next Friday and hope you are anticipating a great time!

In the future, we are going to try to update this blog together, but I have a feeling I may be writing more than he will be. Let's see if I can get him in the spirit of blogging!