Dropping the ball

I feel like I sort of dropped the ball this Christmas. I preach it to myself and others every year-- "Jesus is the reason for the season." I didn't feel like it'd be a struggle for me as I get older. I'm no longer counting down the days to open my presents or comparing whether my sister and I got the same amount. After some research and some tough questions from friends who do not celebrate Christmas, Jack and I even decided to do away with all of our Santa memorabilia. Surely with not getting caught up in gifts and Santa Claus, I'd done away with the distractions from Christ this Christmas... Right?

Wrong.

A new challenge presented itself. Every newlywed must go through it. It's the most wonderful time of the year, yet it can also be the most stressful thanks to an ever-growing family now that we are married. Don't get me wrong, both of our families have been great in understanding our new situation of living farther away and still figuring out how to do holidays as a married couple. They've been quick to express that they have no expectations for us to meet, and we couldn't be more thankful for that. The problem was me. My horrible attitude. How can I be a 23-year-old who is still just as selfish as the same 7-year-old who counted numbers of presents? I let all the driving, all the packing and unpacking, all the laundry, and all the hustling around just get to me. I completely lost sight of why we celebrate. I wasn't focused on Jesus at all. I was too concerned with MY feelings, MY hardships, and ME, ME, ME. The worst part is that I took it out on my family. I wasn't prepared for all that this Christmas would bring, and I didn't look at my current situation with a Christ-like attitude.

I've known it all along, but how quickly I forget that HE is there to get me through anything. It could've been as simple as praying away my stresses, diving into His word a little bit deeper, even asking my brothers and sisters in Christ for encouragement and prayer. But I decided I could get through my stressful situation (the holidays) on my own.

Wrong again.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! He taught me so much at our church service here in Conway on Christmas morning. He revealed the ugly selfishness that had been in my heart throughout the holiday season and brought me back to the basics of Christmas. Who cares if we have to drive a little extra now? What difference does it make if I have to get up a little early to pack or do an extra load of laundry? Jesus gave up his life-- HIS LIFE-- by coming here to us on that miraculous first Christmas day. Can't I give up my own self-centered feelings to reflect on His goodness?

I dropped the ball, but thankfully, my Savior picked it up for me and got it rolling again. Not just this season, but EVERYTHING is about celebrating Him and what He's done for us. The hustle and bustle of holidays or of life itself should not rid us of experiencing His joy and praising Him daily.

Now, as we await another ball drop (Hello, 2012!), I don't want to lose sight of my Father and Best Friend. It's not a New Year's resolution, it's a life revelation. I'm finally ready and willing to put aside myself and focus on my Lord in ALL areas of my life. I'll drop the ball again, but He'll be standing right there to pick it up for me. And with His help, I'll be more open to let Him do it right away this time.

Merry Christmas!

Time for an update...

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm SO thrilled to say that I now have semester #1 of grad school under my belt! I can't begin to express what a weight has been lifted off of me as I get to relax this holiday break. No more worrying about finding enough time to study or reading textbooks until my eyes burn (at least not for another month). The weirdest part about my break, though, is that Jacky doesn't get a break like I do anymore. Hello, real world. While I have a month off of school and work, he only gets a total of four days. Not enough!! I miss him, but I'm so proud of him. Seeing him during his lunch breaks makes my day (and hopefully his) so much brighter! With all this free time, I've been cooking and baking, catching up on laundry and other housework, and cleaning out my second home--my car! I think I'm also going to go buy the Hunger Games series to read over the break. I've heard only wonderful things about it, and the movie looks awesome. Any thoughts???

Jack and I have been learning a lot about dealing with holidays as a married couple. Last weekend we split time between his family in Marshall and my family in Bentonville. We loved seeing everyone and made some wonderful memories! However, we've learned that we don't want to split one weekend between families anymore, if possible. It would be much more relaxing to just spend an entire weekend in one place instead of spending 6+ hours on the road. This weekend will be even crazier: we'll be in Bentonville the 23rd and 24th, come home to Conway to wake up here together Christmas morning, then off to Marshall for the 25th and 26th. It'll be fun, and we can't wait for more precious moments together and with family... but we (hopefully) won't be doing holidays like this again. :) We're very grateful, though, to be able to live close enough to both families to see them often. We know that we are very, very blessed!

One more exciting thing we're looking forward to this winter break is the COTTON BOWL! Go Hogs! Our tickets came in today, and we can't wait! We have family and friends in Dallas, so we'll be making a fun weekend trip out of going to the game. And hopefully I can get some good Dallas shopping out of it!

Jack Tyler, Maggie, and I wish you all 

a safe, fun, and blessed holiday season!

Christmas socks and more

My sweet friend Katie knows the way to my heart: she surprised me with Christmas socks tonight!
Aren't they adorable?! My mom gets me a pair or two nearly every year, so I have quite the collection...but I'm still thrilled every time I get some!

After this little surprise, I went to Starbucks, and they had Christmas music playing! My heart was so happy. I have no idea where the time has gone or how Christmas is just over a month away, but I'm so excited!

If only grad school wouldn't get in the way........

I had quite the breakdown last week, feeling completely overwhelmed with my school load. To top it off, I came down with a severe sinus and ear infection. While I did enjoy a couple extra days of sleep, being sick just put me back even further with my school work. However, the Lord really lifted my stresses and worries off of my shoulders. Instead of feeling completely behind in my school work, God provided both time and energy for me to complete the things I needed to. I also received lots of encouraging words from sweet classmates, friends and family, and I know I had a lot of people praying for me. That made all the difference in the world! School hasn't gotten easier, and it won't, but the power of prayer is REAL. Having people praying for me to be able to handle all that is coming my way blesses me more than they could know. God is sovereign. He gives me His strength to handle those things that I cannot do on my own. But, I have to ask for His help. Isn't it funny how often we forget our need for Him? Life would be so much easier if I ALWAYS went to Him first with my worries. He's placed me in grad school because He knows, with His help, I can handle it. Right now, this is His plan for me. So, I will work at school as if I am working for the Lord. I will trust Him completely. I won't listen to Satan's lies that I can't do it or that I'm a failure. This is much easier said than done, but--once again--through prayer I can find the strength to be a faithful follower of my Savior.

Now, I just hope to have some extra time in between studying and completing projects to decorate for Christmas! This is our first Christmas as a married couple (yay!!!), and we don't even have a tree yet! Yikes! :)

Can't get enough of crafts!

Last week I got to go crafting with my mom in NWA. I absolutely love the craft fairs, and I was off work a couple days, so I was so excited to get to go! Here's one of my favorite buys:

I saw this on Pinterest a while back and was thrilled to find it at the craft fair!
Can't wait to decorate for Christmas!

My mom got me this! It looks yellow, but it's lime green to match our home.
She's giving it to us as a Christmas gift, so I'll have to wait awhile to hang it up! :)

I've also been working on my own crafts at home. It is such a great stress reliever for me when school gets tough. Without exercising and craft-making, grad school might just make me go crazy!

This is a crayon vase I made for one of my friends who recently got a teaching job.
It was so fun and easy to make!

Here's a small canvas I'm working on for Christmas time. I'm really into lime green and red for the holidays.
I haven't decided what to write on it yet- maybe a Bible verse or just a a simple "Merry Christmas"

Picture frame + hand-sewn rosettes + burlap + dry erase marker on the glass
My favorite part about this is that you can change the words anytime you want! I made this as a birthday gift for one of my friends, and I think I'll be making one for myself sometime soon!

Mmmm

To celebrate the start of fall, I made a delicious pumpkin dessert last week that I'd like to share. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of it. And perhaps even more sadly, it's already all gone. I have to admit that I ate it for at least two meals last week. It was just THAT good.

I found the recipe here and tweaked just a couple things. It was full of flavor, had the perfect texture, and was a big hit with my hubby. Best of all, it was really easy!

So, here it is:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease bottom of 9 x 13″ pan.  Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, 1 cup of pecans, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour mixture into greased pan.  Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture and top with remaining pecans.  Drizzle melted butter over pecans. (The original recipe called for a full cup of butter, which would probably make it even better. I just couldn't bring myself to put that much on top of the cake. :))  Bake 50-55 minutes.

October

As October begins, we happily welcome fall into our home.

Happy fall, family and friends! Enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

It's a girl's best friend and her worst enemy. It's her hair. Isn't it silly how having a great hair day instantly puts us in a good mood in the mornings? After nearly 4 years of growing my hair out (I got frequent trims, just no big cuts), I decided it was time for a major change. I promised myself I wouldn't be that bride who gets married and then chops off her hair. At least I waited 4 months... right?...

Here are my locks in all their [not-so-much] glory:

And here's my new 'do!

So long, hour-long hair drying and straightening days! 

My hair sure has been through a lot over the years... 

DARK.

Highlighted.

Highlighted too much.

Short.

Long.

Having hair to change and play with is one of my favorite parts of being a girl! And it's fun to keep 'em guessin'. :)

Why Fall is My Favorite

A couple days ago, my wonderful husband came home from work with these beauties in hand.

He knows ho much I LOVE fall and decided I needed some "fall flowers." The colors are beautiful!

Here are the top 5 reasons why fall is my favorite:

5. Pumpkin spice latte. I’ll drink the occasional cup of joe, but I could live without it. But when it comes to Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, I seriously have to limit myself! It is just. so. good.

4. The smells. There really isn’t a scent of fall that I don’t like. From apple cider to pumpkin or cinnamon candles to campfires and hay bales—they all just have a way of making me feel good inside! I can’t wait to pull out my fall candles and do some fall baking to fill our home with these wonderful smells.

3. The leaves. There is just something about the beautiful way they change colors that has always left me speechless. Nature shouts of how majestic our Lord is, and I feel one of the best times for me to truly see that is when I stop and look at the gorgeous colors of fall. As a bonus, those pretty leaves make for great pictures! :)

2. The weather. I always say my favorite weather is when I can wear jeans and long sleeve T-shirt and be perfectly comfortable. I can slowly but surely feel that weather coming its way!

Yesterday the temperatures were (finally) dropping a bit, so I decided to plan a little picnic for dinner for Jack, Maggie, and myself. I made some pizza sandwiches, packed up some apple slices with homemade fruit dip, grabbed a blanket, and we headed outside to enjoy the weather. We played catch with each other and tug-of-war with Mags. We couldn’t get enough of the outdoors, so then we took Maggie on a long walk on a trail near our home. It was so much fun, and I’m excited for more nights like last night!

1. Football! Even though I’m not a sporty girl, this really should be no surprise. Sitting in the stands at a Razorback football games is one of my all-time favorite places to be. I also love lazy nights in with Jack watching games on T.V. (or the computer).

Needless to say, I'm anxiously counting down these next several days until fall is officially here!

My week was...

1. the first week of grad school. I'm well on my way to be an SLP! My nose will be stuck in these books for the rest of the semester. I've already put in hours of reading and studying and it's just the first week! I'm pretty excited about it, though. Hope I keep feeling this enthused!

2. date nights with the hubby! Last week Jack and I were just adjusting to this new busy life of ours as we're both working. This week we made a point to take advantage of our precious time together, and I loved it! Tonight we had Chinese take-out while watching Friends!

3. falling in love with my GA position and the sweet kids I work with! The Child Study Center is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to be. I got placed with a WONDERFUL teacher every day, so I get to be with the same 4-year-olds all the time. There are 11 boys and 4 girls, so our days get pretty hectic sometimes! But they never stop being fun. :)

4. my first time at a UCA game! I didn't think I'd find myself in those stands so quickly, but it was a fun time. My dad drove down to the game, so I was thrilled to get to see him! The new field is a little crazy, but really didn't look too bad from the stands.

5. gearing up for REAL football! :) Hellooo Razorbacks!! We can't wait to get to Fayetteville tomorrow for the first game of the season! Go Hogs!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him..." Romans 8:28

Much has changed since my last post. I am happy to say that Jack and I are now EMPLOYED dog owners.

Let's start with the jobs.  It has been a roller-coaster of emotions as we have waited for the perfect civil engineering job for Jack, but I have never seen someone so fully reliant on Christ in their waiting as he has been. He praised God for closing doors to certain jobs, and prayed without ceasing for that one door to open. And, of course, in the Lord's perfect timing it did! Jack is now an engineer for the street department of the City of Conway. Today was his first day, and he is already enjoying it. It does my heart good to see him come home at the end of the day excited about his work.
Today was my first day of work as well. I got a GA position at the UCA Child Study Center, where I will be an assistant to the teachers of 3 and 4 year old classrooms. The kids don't start coming until next week, and I can't wait to meet them! As for now, we are just setting up the classrooms, and I'm getting to know the women I will be working with. They are all so fun! I'm excited to see what all this semester brings.

Now let's talk dog. Last week we adopted a 6 year old yorkie named Maggie. We are already in love with her!

She is so much fun! We find ourselves just staring at her and laughing all the time. (How could you not stare at such a cute little face?) 

That's what's been going on with the Branscum's lately! We sure do have lots to be thankful for!

Wedding Weekend!

This weekend, Jack and I drove up to Bella Vista for his younger brother's wedding. It was such a fun celebration, and we couldn't be happier for Evan and Ashley. They are perfect for each other. And, as Jack comes from a family of all boys, I was thrilled to welcome another girl into the family!

Jack and I spent a lot of time this weekend reflecting on what we've learned about marriage over the past couple months...and Jack was quick to share it with Evan. :)

1. Never stop laughing.
Laugh with each other. A lot. And most importantly, laugh at yourself. Don't take things too seriously.
2. Be true to your spouse and to yourself.
If you feel a fight coming on, think about what's really bothering you. Usually it's not the other person at all, but we tend to take out our frustrations on those we love the most. If you're on the receiving end, always look for the best in your spouse.
3. Remember you are on each other's team.
This one goes along with #2. You and your spouse are not out to get each other. Remember to support and always want the best for one another.
4. Always forgive.
There's nothing for which Christ hasn't forgiven us, and He will never grow weary of doing so. Neither should we. Forgive until you no longer can, and then forgive some more.
5. Keep pursuing each other.
Husbands: ask your wives out on dates and surprise her with flowers. Wives: keep dressing up for your husbands, even if you're just staying in for the night. Always keep flirting.

We still have much to learn in our journey through marriage, but we're having lots of fun along the way.

We wish nothing but the best for you, Evan and Ashley! We are so proud of y'all!

There's a first time for everything.

Well, this is my first blog post ever. As I sat down to write this entry, I realized how much my life has been filled with "firsts" lately.  In the past year, I was given three special titles for the first time: fiancee, college graduate, and most exciting of all, WIFE! On May 21st, I got to marry my best friend, Jack Tyler, and life with him couldn't be better!

Shortly before our wedding, Jack, two of my best friends, and I traveled to the Big Apple for my first time in NYC. I fell in love with the city! Right after the wedding, Jack and I journeyed to Maui for our honeymoon and first trip to Hawaii. It was the most fun, most relaxing trip we've ever had. We are already looking at the calendar--and our savings--to plan a trip to go back!

Upon the return to our home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Jack and I prepared for a move to Conway--my first move away from NWA. We came down here so I could attend Grad School for Speech-Path at UCA. So far we love it! It was my first time to be living more than 30 minutes away from my family, and my heart hurt to leave them, but the Lord has provided in big ways here in Conway! Of course my number one comfort is Jack. There's no way I could venture to a new place without that amazing man right by my side! Then, within 24 hours of living here, we had already found a church family. We now attend Second Baptist Church and have gotten to know some amazing people in the few short weeks we've been there. We feel so blessed by all you who have reached out to us and made us feel at home. Leaving a nanny job and several baby-sitting clients in Fayetteville was hard as well, but I have already found a handful of new clients here and fallen in love with some pretty cool kiddos!


Jack is in the process of looking for a job with his degree in Civil Engineering, and he has already found some exciting leads. We know that the Lord will provide for us in this, just as he has in everything else. We continue to look to Him for guidance. If you are a praying person, prayers for his job would be greatly appreciated!