"The moment you buy into the idea you're above anyone else is the moment you need to be slapped in the face."

Natalie Portman

quick hello..

great day of shopping & eating with the in laws.

we went to the mall in gurnee and it is amazing! the banana republic outlet store rocked my face off... i found a total of 3 shirts, 1 pair of jeans, & a pair of tights. we had mexican for lunch, pizza for dinner (with some delicious coke, i might add), and alicia's birthday cake for dessert. more shopping tomorrow after breakfast casserole & smoothies.

i think we narrowed down where the little cable for my camera is... we believe we left it at tim's parents... so i'll have it when we go back next weekend... it'll pretty much be too late but i look forward to sharing some cute pictures of the doggies in sumo wrestler hats. yep. that's right. sumo. wrestler. hats.

much love your way... and the happiest of new years!

we've been busy..

So I definitely wanted to post pictures from the adventure amber & I had last sunday but alas, I cannot seem to find my camera bag, which holds the cord connecting the camera to the computer. Therefore, we are picture-less until I find that bag!

Things have kept us busy in the Spanburg household this week. Tim accepted a position at a Starbucks here in town and started yesterday. He had to go out uniform hunting on Monday and came home with Shape-Ups. I think I am the only one that is finding this funny. They're super cute on him. :) Tim has also been fighting off a cold for the past couple days and last night it pretty much hit him full on. He didn't get much sleep, which is unfortunate because after we go to bed tonight when I get home from work, we will have to turn around and get up around 3:30. We will both be opening and as soon as 1:30 rolls around, we are headed home for Christmas. Although Tim is bummed he doesn't feel so well, I know he is ecstatic to see his sister, Alicia, and spend time with the rest of his family. (Alicia now lives in Japan and pretty much only gets to come home around Christmas.) So say a prayer for Tim and his cold... I hope he feels better come Christmas Eve!

Today on the agenda...

one more Christmas gift needs to be found

one more gift to wrap

packing

shower

work

The packing always puts me out. I'm a terrible packer!

I hope I can get everything accomplished before Go Time.

One last thing.... Tim & I celebrated our Christmas last night. We sipped egg nog out of wine glasses and gave each other our gifts a little early. (When we lived in Indy, the little "early" tradition was on Christmas Eve...) Here's what I got Tim this year:

It's an aromatherapy set that can be used hot or cold. He loved it!!

And for my gift, Tim picked out a Trinity Evangelical Divinity School hoodie and some Pear Luna tea from Teavana.

I can't wait to try it... I've wanted to try this tea for sooo long!!

luke 4

so as christians we know that we should be reading our Bible daily.

the Word of God is powerful and deep down we know it.

but every once in awhile as I am studying,

I happen upon something that blows my mind

today was one of those days....

remember when Satan is tempting Jesus in the dessert?

(40 days, no food, etc.)

this is from the application section of my Bible for Luke 4:

"By quoting Scripture back to Satan, Jesus demonstrates the centrality of God's word in defeating Satan's attacks and temptations."

very powerful for me and where i'm at.

i have a daily struggle i'm working through

and i know to fight it i have to stay in God's Word

this only confirmed & reminded me of what God's Spirit can do to our hearts

when we are committed and maintaining our relationship with Him

(prayer, study, worship, supplication)

aren't you thankful for this relationship we are allowed to have?

it is beyond powerful.

and nowhere near deserving.

haha

what is this picture??!

as always, from breakingdawnmovie.org

so i've written four blogs today?

too much time on my hands, i guess.

what i ate #1

today i am very proud of myself.

here's what i consumed:

morning coffee with cream & sugar (of course)

oatmeal with kashi cereal mixed in
hard boiled egg
banana

reduced fat turkey-bacon sandwich
apple

lots o water

earl grey tea with some soy milk
veggie panini

greek yogurt with honey

what a healthy day it's been!
i feel great

and i'm pretty sure today will offset the oreo truffles amber & i will be making tomorrow.
i'll have some pictures for ya.
it's gonna be some fun girlie time!

update!

my last few presents were purchased within 20 minutes...

and i was at a mall.

it pays to go earlier in the day.

and it's awesome to live 15 minutes away from a mall,

as opposed to 45 minutes to an hour

(hello, jamestown).

i really had a good time buying for other people...

but i then sort of got caught up in the fact that i can't buy for everybody i know

and then caught up on the fact that i feel like i'm not getting my family enough.

boo to consumerism

but yay to having 2.5 more hours until i have to be at work

which means i'm wrappin' me some presents!!

this saturday morning joy....

is brought to you by the following

and of course this little snuggler

now i'm off to finish some christmas shopping!

if successful, i will be finished today!

p.s. while looking for a good coffee image, i happened upon this:

haha

awesome.

green apron cards.

i've been mulling over some thoughts as of late.

the end of our time at oasis/old union is approaching

and i wonder how devastating it will actually be.

i find myself worrying about who will step up to lead these kids.

i hope the Holy Spirit inspires

these kids need more adults to look up to

some of them have come from broken families,

many of them families who don't value faith so much.

then i wonder who i'm really worrying about

i think that deep down i know that God will protect the hearts of these kids

that even if they don't stay and find somewhere else to go, He will continue to work in them.

i think that really,

i worry that i am going to have an empty spot in my heart for everyone i will miss at church

i mean, i know i will.

there are people in my life in the past who have broken me a bit.

friendships that ended without anger or a fight,

endings with no clear reason or spoken understanding.

i'll admit it's possible i contributed...

it's just strange that there are people i used to be so close to

people who participated in my wedding...

that i no longer talk to or see.

and although facebook will help me to keep up with some people in the church

(and hopefully we'll have visits from and to a few couples we love...)

there are others i really won't get to see much anymore.

it's making me a bit sad :(

specifically today, i realize that even if i lack the relationships with people i used to

that doesn't erase who they were to me and the time that we shared

it doesn't erase the friendship.

it's impossible to keep the same people in your life forever and ever

but it is possible to remember the good, remember the growth

be thankful for God allowing them to be a part of your life :)

so with that being rambled, i had to share something with you.

a good friend of mine who i used to work with in Lebanon brings a smile to my face regularly. let me start this all by saying that at each store, partners have an area of "pockets" that usually have names on them. they are ways to communicate and for me, places to put my drinks when i'm at work :) we also have little cards called "green apron cards" that we are encouraged to use as ways of saying "thank you" or "good job" or whatever the heck we want. there are 5 "green apron" behaviors... Considerate, Knowledgable, Involved, Genuine, Welcoming. I have pretty much kept every card I ever received and brought them along to my new store so that I could have a piece of my Lebanon store with me here in Lake Forest. now while I won't list every card I received (although some of them melt me, the little notes from fellow partners were more encouraging than you might realize) I'll list here the "love notes" I received from one "Edward Cullen" while working in Lebanon.

Two words.

You, me.

Love.

My Love,

You don't know how long I've waited for you... your kiss is the reason for my existence. Forever, eternally yours, Edward

Misty...

You're beautiful. I could watch you move and the form of your body for eternity.

Beauty you are.

My Love,

The world is a waste without your life.

Yours, Edward

now i know you all are rolling your eyes at how weird this is, these little notes cracked me up and always made my day... you do that sometimes when you can bring a smile to someone's face. this person also left me these notes:

Your winks and laugh is nice.

The bathrooms were super nice! You're cute and I like your teeth.

Thanks for leaving the store pretty for me! Love you.

to YOU, if you still read this blog.

i miss and love you.

thanks for being in my life when you were.

i think of you often.

♥

rawr.

so i definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

first of all i had a dream that made me wake up angry.

in fact, i laid in bed long after i had woken up because i was so angry.

i had a dream my husband had two wives.

the woman in question had christina hendrick's body type

even had red hair like her too.

i hated her.

and i think it's okay to hate your husband's second wife in your dream.

then....

i was supposed to have a blood test done today

couldn't go yesterday because a light left on all night caused my car to die

i was warned by my doctor's office that the lab isn't organized

and regularly doesn't get orders that are sent over

well i called this morning and of course they didn't have it

(and they were rude)

so i have to wait until the doctors office opens to personally go get my order

but it will be too late for me to go for the test because i'll have been fasting way too long

so now i have to wait until tomorrow morning.

and husband leaves tomorrow morning for indiana.

BOO.

one nice thing is that i have sunday off and will get to see amber.

that will be really nice.

another nice thing is next week is christmas...

and i scored a thursday morning open, friday, saturday, and sunday off.

so blessed!

no more complaining.

i'll go do something productive.

eeeee!

i have been waiting for this movie for a long time!

such a great book!

also...

so how about since i feel like an idiot for posting a People article

i follow that up with a truly incredible one:

Stem Cell Transplant Cures HIV In 'Berlin Patient'

The Huffington Post | Carly Schwartz First Posted: 12-14-10 01:04 PM | Updated: 12-14-10 03:37 PM

WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?

Amazing
Inspiring
Funny
Scary
Hot
Crazy
Important
Weird

Read More: Aids, Aids Cure, AIDs Epidemic, Berlin Patient, Cure For Aids, Cure For Hiv, Hiv, HIV Cure, Hiv Cure 2010, Hiv Cured, HIV Man Cured, Hiv Positive Man Cured, Hiv Stem Cell, HIV/AIDS, Man Cured Of Aids,Man Curred HIV, Health News

36,623

283,608views

307digg

Get Health Alerts

• Email
• Comments 2,568

On the heels of World AIDS Day comes a stunning medical breakthrough: Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure.

Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journalBlood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."

Brown's case paves a path for constructing a permanent cure for HIV through genetically-engineered stem cells.

Last week, Time named another AIDS-related discovery to its list of the Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2010. Recent studies show that healthy individuals who take antiretrovirals, medicine commonly prescribed for treating HIV, can reduce their risk of contracting the disease by up to 73 percent.

While these developments by no means prove a cure for the virus has been found, they can certainly provide hope for the more than 33 million people living with HIV worldwide. Alongside such findings, global efforts to combat the epidemic have accelerated as of late, with new initiatives emerging in the Philippines and South Africa this week.