My husband Jordan...

My husband Jordan…

Loves the Lord and desires a deeper relationship with Him as well as to gain knowledge in His word – he leads our marriage in this way.

Always loves me and treats me kindly and with patience, regardless of my attitude or behavior.

Is even tempered, and thoughtful with his words and actions.

Shows kindness to everyone around him.

Encourages me to do the right thing even when I don’t want to.

Is an intelligent learner and hard worker, who will be a great doctor someday soon.

Is humble in his own accomplishments.

Is great with kids and I know he will make a wonderful and gentle father to our kids someday.

Desires to please me and wants to see me happy.

Always sets aside time to spend with me.

With Love,

Your wife, Carrie

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend Jordan and I went on a little getaway just the two of us. It was our first vacation-like trip since our honeymoon two years ago! We have been so busy with life, work, school, and not to mention moving across country last year, that it's been difficult to get away just the two of us, even for a weekend. Granted, I have been on several trips with girlfriends to California, and home to Iowa for a wedding - all without Jordan! It was SO nice to take this trip up north in Arizona. It was also in celebration of Jordan passing both board exams and our anniversary last month.

We stayed in a small mountain town called Pine in a cabin at Pine Creek Cabins. I highly recommend these cabins! When you call or e-mail to make reservations, the owners are very nice and might even cut a deal, like they did for us. We stayed in the cabin called Juniper. It had a kitchen, living room, fireplace, queen bedroom with a jacuzzi! It was a lot nicer than I expected. We even had a back porch with chairs and a picnic table and grill. We arrived Friday evening around 7:30pm and went to one of their local restaurants called "THAT Brewery." I had a strawberry blonde beer and a spicy black bean burger. Jordan had the beer sampler and the fish special. I would definitely recommend this restaurant, but maybe not the other we ate at up the road in Strawberry on Saturday evening. Both restaurants had a very "small town" feel that was very relaxed and not too fancy!

Saturday morning we got up VERY early - 5am and headed 30 miles up the road to a gravel/dirt road that would take us another 15 miles (hour) to the Fossil Springs trails. Unfortunately, the shorter route, just a mere 3 miles from where we were staying has been closed since 2012. The reason we got up so early is because they close the road to Fossil Springs around 7/8am once 100 cars have past through.  It made for a long drive and somewhat of a long day, but we really enjoyed our time at the springs. There were multiple trails and creek access areas with very clear water and waterfalls to swim in. We even jumped off a cliff into one of the creek areas. Don't worry, it was one of the shorter jumps, compared to what other people were doing! We got back to our cabin around 3pm, got ice-cream, sat on the back porch, took a nap, and went to supper. We were so exhausted from the day that we were in bed by 9pm!

Sunday morning we enjoyed coffee and bagels and listened to an audio sermon on our church's website. It was nice to still listen to our pastor while out of town. His sermon's are amazing, and can be found online here: http://newlifescottsdale.org/new-life-community-church/members/sermons/. Afterwards, we packed up and left town. I had heard about a place called Tonto Natural Bridge that was only a few miles down the road and on our way home. It turned out to be one of the most amazing sights we had ever seen! It's believed to the world's largest natural travertine bridge - pictures do not do it justice. We hiked under the bridge and along the creek there for a few hours and took lots of pictures as always! It was a great unplanned surprise to the last day of our trip. On the way home we stopped for lunch in Payson and then saw the movie "The Giver" at the theater there. It was nice to save a few bucks by seeing a movie in a small town, rather than Tempe. It was a great movie - very thought provoking.

Even though it was just a weekend trip, we had a wonderful time and felt like we did a lot, saw a lot, and ate a lot! Jordan is a great vacation buddy, and I look forward to many more trips with him.

Greatest Gift

It certainly has been awhile since I've written anything. I feel wishy-washy about blogging. At times I think it's great to share my life with friends and family, yet I worry that people might not really care to read what I have to say. How's that for honesty?

However, I would really like to share something my husband did that warms my heart and makes me proud. In my last post, I mentioned my friend from work, Nastassia, who we have been bringing to church with us the past couple of months - well, recently on the way home from church we were talking with her about the Bible and what the word "gospel" means. We found out that she does not own a Bible and told her we would get her one. A couple weekends ago I was in Iowa for a friend's wedding. I was gone for five days and tried to call Jordan once each day. During one of our conversations I found out that Jordan went to Barnes and Noble and picked out a Bible for Nastassia. I was so surprised that he went and did that on his own! I had assumed the two of us would go pick one out together, or I would go look by myself sometime. I guess I really shouldn't have been so surprised. Jordan has always been so thoughtful and caring. The Bible he picked out for Nastassia is the English Standard Version, the version that our pastor/church uses. It's a really beautiful bible. I brought it to work last week and gave it to Nastassia. She was so shocked and kept saying, "wow! wow!" She thought we were just going to find her a used or donated bible, not get her a brand new one to be her very own. We really hope she keeps asking questions and that God would give us the words to draw her to a relationship with Christ. It is really neat to see God work in the lives around me, as well as my own life.

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3

Love Your Neighbor

Next to loving the Lord, one of God's greatest commandments is to love our neighbor. Sure, it's easy enough to love our friends, family and people that are easy to get along with. But what about the difficult people? I must admit, I struggle terribly with following this commandment. There's a girl at work who I've invited to church the past couple of Sunday's. She's an international student who is very friendly and talkative and I know she doesn't have that many friends here. Yes, my heart goes out to her that she doesn't have many friends here, but it took me over 10 months just to invite her to church! Why did I wait so long? If I'm telling the truth, it's because I knew she could talk my ear off, and that she doesn't have a car, so Jordan and I would have to pick her up. How terrible is that?! Yet the more I tell myself that God wants me to love her, the more I actually do love her! What bothered me before, no longer bothers me. In obeying God's command to love one another, He made it easier for me to love a difficult person. Who knows what God has planned next for my friend. I'm hoping He is using me to open her eyes to Christ's love. I pray that God will continue to show me the people around me who need love, and to help me love them, so that they might see Christ's love in me.

Perfectly fitting, my memory verse this week:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  --John 13:34-35

Friday, I love you

Who doesn't love a Friday? Every so often I gmail chat with my sister. Today, I wished her happy Friday and told her how much I love Fridays! She replied, "me too, but I love Saturday even more!" It's true, Saturday is the best day, because for most, there is no working involved. However, there is just something about that Friday feeling. Even though working is required, I know there is a full weekend ahead. It's the greatest feeling at 5pm, locking up the office and heading down the elevator or stairs. Freedom! I think it's the closest it gets to feeling like a college student again - finishing that last final, knowing you are free of any commitments for a while. Did I mention, I love Fridays?!

With all that said, I also like to think that Friday's and the weekend are a gift from God. I've been praying a lot, asking God for peace and help to get through the work-week. I struggle with feeling like my job isn't important enough, or rewarding enough. In all honesty, I see friends, and other women around me with the careers they have or the career goals they have, and I start to feel inadequate. Why don't I feel passionate about my job? Why didn't I choose a different career path? Well, the truth his, God laid it upon my heart to be a mom, and God willing, I can rest knowing, that my career and time of being a stay-at-home mom will come some day. In the meantime, He has provided me with a good job. We have health insurance and other benefits, which are important, and I am supporting my husband while he pursues his education and career as a doctor. While I struggle with working Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, I can rest easy knowing that Friday and the weekend is always on its way. God has provided rest.

A great reminder of what it means to have the Holy Spirit with me and how I should act and feel throughout the week is my easy memory verse I've been working on this past week:

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

Happy Friday!

Red Moon

Thought about writing today, and wondered why I don't write more often. I used to love writing! In school, I always preferred writing papers over studying and taking exams. I even won a small scholarship for college through a piece I wrote about my life story. Granted, it was a very small amount of money, but I still felt proud of my work and accomplishment. If I write today, it's mostly in e-mails, or my prayer journal. Which sadly, despite my last entry, I have not become more diligent with prayer journal and time in the bible. Yet God has been on my mind more and more since we started going to our new church and bible study. The importance of knowing Him and knowing more about Jesus and His word has become a priority. We talked about the red moon (solar eclipse) last night at bible study. Somehow the moon then appeared in my dreams last night. It was huge and alternated between moon color, and a red moon color. Our pastor told us that if the eclipse could have been seen in Israel, it would have been a sign of the tribulation beginning! I am so glad it did not appear red there! What is the story/details behind this? Well, I wish I wrote it down during bible study, or that I could remember. All I know is that our pastor is quite an intelligent man and knows his bible and his history!

Life has been pretty good to us here in Arizona. Jordan is wrapping up his third year of medical school and will start his fourth and final year this summer. This coming fourth year he plans all his own rotations. So he will go back to some that he did already, and schedule new ones that are Emergency Medicine rotations to give him us much experience in that area as possible. He has scheduled an ER rotation in Indianapolis for the month of October, and one here in Phoenix for the month of November. The other ones are still up in the air, but it will be a busy year! It will also be a year filled with challenges for me. It will be difficult to be at home by myself for the months and weeks that he is gone. I stay busy for the most part, but the worst is going to bed at night without him. I know we'll get through it all, and God has a plan at the end of everything. I need strength from God to keep supporting Jordan by staying positive and encouraging. Without God, life is meaningless. I am so glad He is in Jordan's life and mine.

God, my everything

I love God. He is my Creator, my Father, my Savior, my Friend, my Everything. "God + Nothing = Everything," as Pastor Luis says. Why then, do I struggle with spending focused time with God? Am I putting God in a box? I want to say I'm not, but I know I do. I tell myself, if you are going to spend time with God, you must do it in the morning before work. I'll read one chapter and maybe write a prayer in my prayer journal. Every morning before work turns into every other day, and then maybe once or twice a week. If I don't have anything going on in the evenings, which is rare, I enjoy spending my time in front of the TV, watching shows on Netflix, or my guilty pleasure, the Bachelor. What is wrong with me? I think I desire God, but do my actions show that I really do? How do I gain discipline with reading my Bible and talking to God? I need to set aside more time for God and His word. It needs to become routine in my life. I want to be more knowledgeable and carry the wisdom that my peers at Bible study seem to have. I want to please God so badly. He has given me life, and life to the full! He gave me an incredible husband; He placed us in a beautiful state to live; He continually provides me with work, no matter where I live; He planned the birth of my niece perfectly so that I could see her grow up during these young precious months and years while we live in Arizona; He gave us both wonderful families; He provided a church home with friends and ministry opportunities; He continually helps Jordan on his exams and in his rotations; We can do nothing without God. I give all credit to Him.

Lord, help me to focus on my relationship with you. Help me to set goals for myself in reading your word. Help me to be an encouraging wife to Jordan. Help me to lover others at all times. God, you are my everything, I trust you, I love you, I believe in You. 

"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

--Matthew 17:30 (ESV)

Six months and an Auntie?

It's incredible to me that Jordan and I have lived in Arizona for six months now! I must be honest and admit that I completely forgot about my "Tempe Sunshine" blog! I must also be honest in saying that I don't think anyone reads my blog, or will read it for that matter, but that's okay. The main reason I chose to start writing one, was more as a way to keep a journal and to document our time living in Arizona. I like to think of my life as an adventure. The day I married Jordan, I signed up for at least seven years of adventure, first stop Kirksville, Missouri, second stop Tempe, Arizona. While we enjoyed our time and friends in Kirksville, it has been amazing living in the desert where winter consists of 70's and constant sunshine. And oh, how the Lord has provided for us here. After a month of unemployment, tears, and prayer, God provided me a job at Arizona State University in the Department of Economics. I work as an Office Specialist Senior at the front desk. I get to greet faculty and students, and assist them with any administrative type needs they might have. While some weeks and days are busier than others that seem to tick by slowly, I am so thankful God placed me in this job. I don't even have to get on the freeways to drive to work. I simply drive down Scottsdale/Rural road through several stoplights and I'm there! Jordan's rotations have been going well. He has been busy, but not in the way I expected yet. I still get to see him most mornings and evenings. He hasn't decided on a specialty yet as he will have his ER rotation this spring. Hopefully he will like it and stick with that. His other interest is Radiology. The nice thing about Radiology is the normal M-F, 8 to 5 work schedule. Either way, I am incredibly proud of him. It's his 26th birthday today! Happy Birthday Jordan!

While we've enjoyed the warm weather and many beautiful hiking trips, the best part about living here is being only 30 minutes away from my sister, Nick and my niece Kate! Kate Nadalie Salava arrived October 17, 2013, and is such a beautiful and perfect baby! I am so blessed to be her aunt. When we were home over Christmas, Kate was baptized in the church Kelsi and I grew up in, and Jordan and I were her sponsors. Kelsi and Nick are natural parents with so much love to give their first child. God keeps pouring out his blessings to my family and I. We have much to be thankful for, including the new church we started going to just before Thanksgiving. It's called New Life Community Church. The people there welcomed us with open arms and we have never felt more loved by a church community.We are involved in Tuesday night Bible study, and I just started as a high school youth group leader on Wednesday night. We gained many new friends in a matter of days. God is working in our lives, AMEN!