How the days fly by...

It has been ages since I last blogged! I'm sorry for anyone who actually enjoys following my blog, but I've noticed that isn't many so oh well! :)

I started my real life, big kid job a little over a month ago and I absolutely LOVE IT! I never believed everyone when they said, "just wait until you have a real job, you'll hate it" "enjoy school while you can, the real world isn't any fun"...and I'm glad I never believed them because from my perspective they are WRONG! I know that it isn't always going to be peaches and cream and I know there will definitely be days where I would much rather be at home sleeping, but for the most part I'm so excited about my job! We are currently still in the training academy. This week is "sink or swim" week. I just happened to be put with a training officer that doesn't have a lot of appointments this week, which is nice, but not a true taste of what I will be facing! I still do not know what office I will be working out of but should know very soon. After this week we have a week of classes to prepare us for the State Exam! Then the following Monday we take our State Exam to HOPEFULLY become CERTIFIED Community Supervision Officers! I'm so ready to take on my own caseload! I know it will be a TON of work but I'm excited to have a place to be! I will miss my fellow trainees though!

Enough with work, moving on to those oh so awesome and wonderful WEDDING PLANS! Joshua and I decided to move the wedding from the Sanctuary at the church to the newly remodeled Chapel! It is SO gorgeous, having enough chairs may be an issue, but it is definitely one I'm ready to face simply to have my wedding in the Chapel! As far as that I don't really have many other plans set in stone. I can't decide if it is just things I don't need to plan that I haven't done yet or if I just have no clue what I'm doing! We are having our first Wedding Shower on our year anniversary! :) It will be in Kansas on that wonderful and great holiday, HALLOWEEN! I think there are a few other showers in the process of planning but I'm not 100% sure! :) I'm just SO excited we are getting SO much closer to the day I get to marry the most amazing man in the world! :)

As far as everything else life is pretty good. A lot of things have been going through my mind and I'm really just not sure how to put them in words yet. So many obsticles that I've never decided to face have been thrown in my face lately. I am feeling some things I never thought I'd feel. Or maybe even things I have felt just never noticed before. I am currently going to a Bible study and a Sunday school class at the church and they are both helping me understand some things I never thought I would but that doesn't exactly mean I'm doing great at following through with everything! I'm trying! I'm working really hard! But some stuff is very difficult! And I'm just praying for full peace through everything at this point!

Wrapping this up now, kinda ending in the end of nowhere! Oh well gotta go...just wanted to update everyone! :) Thanks for reading!

Unfaithful...

DISCLAIMER: Some of you may not like what you are about to read and I'm sorry that you may be offended but this blog isn't for you. It is mine, and it is for me to write what I want to write so thanks for stopping by but feel no need to leave a comment if it is just going to be rude or negative!

Now don't get me wrong yall, nothing about my current relationship makes me want to write this blog. I am very happy and very in love. I have just had this topic on my heart lately and needed to vent just a little.

It is extremely sad to me the number of people in this world who have chosen to be unfaithful to a significant other. I just can't seem to fathom why a person would tell someon they love them and sometimes even take it a step further and commit to that person in front of GOD and EVERYONE if they weren't going to remain faithful. I know that love and marriage is not easy people, TRUST ME I know, but that in no way, shape or form gives anyone the right to turn on a love one.

To the cheaters: Do you ever think about how your actions will affect the person you love/are committed to when they find out? (trust me they WILL find out) Do you ever think about the long term consequences of your choice(s)? And if you have a child or children with that person do you think about how those children will be affected!? oh and one more DO YOU THINK!? I guess that answer to that could be yes, you think no one will find out. Or you think "just this one time".

I guess one small motivation of this blog comes from a song I listened to on the way to work this morning. I may or may not know the songwriter/artist and so I may or may not know the whole story behind the song. Go give it a listen if you will...

I've actually had a few days where I just wanted to YELL at the person this song talks about. It infuriates me that someone could treat someone SO amazing SO HORRIBLE! But I know yelling at that person won't make me feel any better. And I also gotta say if that person didn't make the decision they made, I may not have the MOST AMAZING FIANCE IN THE WORLD!

I'm sorry I've gotten on this soap box today but the unfaithfulness of relationships seems to be running crazy lately! It is something that just makes me sad! I think I had more to write but I'm so scattered brained about this subject right now that I can't seem to put it all together!

This time...2 months and 8 days later...

So time absolutely gets away from me these days I'm not quite sure how! I thought I'd do a better job of keeping up, but ya that didn't work. So once more let's do a lil rewind and work up to now...

Finals came and went, ended the semester with two A's and a B, should have all three been A's but I was a bit of a slacker. Although graduation was on the way, I still had revisions to do on my paper so it wasn't like I had completely finished everything yet. On May 16th, I graduated with my MASTER'S! And although there were a few issues with tickets, my family and Joshua and some of his family, as well as Jamie all got to come to my graduation! It was so awesome! I was so happy to FINALLY be walking across that stage!

Not too many more exciting things happened in May, Joshua moved into a house with a couple of his friends and I moved into a different apartment with G and Tim, who are also ENGAGED! :) yay!

Before I knew it June was here and I still had revisions to do...blah blah. We went to Kansas mid June for Jamie's Bridal Shower and a bachelorette party! It was so good to see the girls and have a great time.

June 27th, exactly 8 months prior to our wedding, I GOT A DRESS! And picked out Bridesmaid dresses, and decided on a cake. And that is as far as I've gotten in wedding plans! My mommy, sister, Dacia and Trey came down from Kansas to help me pick it out! Jamie was there too and was so great helping me in and out of all the dresses so that my mom and sister could relax and see me in all the dresses. This was such an awesome experience. I had tried on a dress Friday before my "big" shopping day and I was sure that would be the one I wanted, then the "big" day came and the last dress I put on, was amazing! SO BEAUTIFUL! And my mommy teared up and I teared up and I JUST KNEW that was THE ONE! :)

Now somehow it is July and it is moving extremely fast as well! I'm sure you would all be overjoyed to hear that I have officially finished my paper! :) So I'm really really really done with school now! Joshua has been here and gone and here and gone for the past month or so and that has been difficult to get used to but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it! We are headed to Kansas at the end of this week for a lil celebration with family and friends for my Graduation and Josh and I's engagement, oh and we get fireworks too! :) This is pretty much all that has been going on besides some lil personal mountians I'm trying to climb and conquer! Anywho! Hope yall enjoyed being caught up to speed! :)

2 months and 4 days later...

Hello everyone! I know it has been ages since I've posted anything and I'm very sorry! Things definitely got way crazy busy but they are starting to settle now! So I will try to rewind yall through the past 2 months in my life hitting the high points...

February ended with Josh's surgery! Pins in the pinky and a digit widget! Teresa and I just sat in the waiting room discussing life. When he was done, he was still dead set on going to see NCA (his high school) play in the playoffs for basketball. So only hours after the surgery we are at a basketball game and he's acting like there is no pain in his pinky. NCA won so we went to the championship the next day, and they won again! NCA Champs! Joshua was so proud. Oh and I finally got to meet the whole Dardenne Family and yes they are amazing.
So March began and a new meaning to March Madness started in my life. This was the start of due dates, things I've known about the whole semester but eh, put off until the last second anyways! So I was doing all my homework and work and work and sleeping occasionally. And before I knew it we were halfway through March and it was time for Women of Faith with my mommy, sister, Melissa, Trey, and Gillian! We had a blast! Great times! Then it was back to Texas for a day or two and then off to Kansas for a trip to the White House (my mom's house that is) and some basketball. We went to Zach's and Amanda's and stayed there for a night, then it was to Hutch for the National Junior College Basketball Tournament. I think Josh was in heaven, lots and lots of basketball! Then before we knew it, it was time to head back Texas and little did I know at the time, I was about to become the HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD.
We had Josh's family reunion to attend on Saturday, and we headed back to Texas on Friday. We stopped in Arlington so I could play a lil softball, and then headed to Red Oak to stay with Memaw. Got up Saturday morning and all got ready to head to the church for the reunion. Now I would be lying if I said, I didn't have any clue that I might just become a fiance by the end of the day, but I really considered the end of the day to be at the conclusion of the family reunion. Anywho, the reunion continues on and I'm not gonna lie I'm waiting and worrying as to when it is gonna happen. And the reunion ends, and it didn't happen and I'm a brat so I was disappointed and made sure I let Joshua know! :) Oopsy!
So we all get back to Memaw's and I wasn't feeling well so I took some Medicine and laid down on the couch with my head on Josh's lap. I was almost asleep when Joshua asked me if I needed something to drink or any medicine, and like a brat I said no. He then proceeds with a big, UM, so I ask him if he would like me to move so he can get up. And he was like ya I'm gonna go get something to drink. So I let him up and start to fall back asleep. I don't know how long it had been but I hear Josh say "Hey babe, will you look at me please" and still being a brat I said "No" and he said "Please" so I rolled over and as I was rolling over I saw him getting down on his knee and opening the ring box! OMG, and then being the unemotional person I am I started crying, okay more like sobbing. He said something along the lines of I know this isn't how either of us would have planned it or thought it would go but I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you be my wife or will you marry me or something. I just grabbed him and hugged him forever, after a while I pulled back and I said, "you didn't let me answer" and he told me that he didn't need to, he knew the answer! :) Yay...so I'M ENGAGED....It happened in front of most of his family it was so awesome!
We left later than night and I then had to enter back into the real world :( but as a fiance :)
Well March continued on and soon ended. Now its April, well actually almost May. April started pretty calm and then went crazy, My Non-thesis was due, a 12 page paper, 8 four page reviews, 8 case briefs, another 12 page paper, some other papers, some questions, ya yall get the point, I was out of control busy. And then Joshua's dad got sick, and we headed down to a hospital in Beaumont, TX to see him. Not too long after we left Daddy Nix got to go home but still has lots of recovering to do.
Then Easter came and Josh loved every moment of it at the church ;) Easter afternoon Josh and I went to my favorite place in Texas, his parents house and just got to relax for a day! :)
Now its April 28 and I'm 1.5 weeks away from finals, 2.5 weeks away from graduation (hopefully), and one day less than 10 months away from my wedding day, so crazy how time flies!
Just thought I'd take a moment to fill everyone in on how things have been. Crazy busy but oh so exciting all at the same time! Hope all is well with yall and I will do my best to keep up from now on! :)

Random Act of Sensless Kindness...

Many of you have known me for quite sometime, so many of you know that I'm a Criminal Justice Major and currentlyl a Criminology Master Student. I got to class three times a week to hear about criminals, crimes, theories, juvenile delinquents, media and their affect on crime, etc. But it doesn't take me being a criminal justice student to really know how the world is today. How violent our world has become, how selfish, greedy, disrepectful. It becomes so easy to take a nasty and negative attitude with the criminals and think that our world does not have one simple good soul left in it. And I think I might have that attitude a lil too often... It is so hard to see the good when everywhere you turn seems bad. For example, my cousin, I happened to notice his status just the other day...someone has felt the need to take his XBOX 360...now I know this isn't really something he needs to survive...but it was a gift given to him, and now someone else feels the need to have it for whatever reason. My heart breaks for him, I know its not a necessity to his life but it was his. Another example, I had borrowed a bike from a friend, kept it on my patio the whole time I had it, the day she called me to come get it, it was there, we arranged a pick up time and she shows up, only to find the bike is GONE...Really!? Why!? It's just so saddening and frustrating when that stuff happens that it does eventually make it difficult to look at the good in the world....Which brings me to today's blog title....

I know I'm not the best at picking great music, but back in the day there was a country group called South Sixty Five, I know I wasn't their only fan because I did go to a concert of theirs and I was not the only person at the concert...so ya... anyways, as corney as they may have been and as corney as their songs may have been, there was always one song of theirs I LOVED to listen to... Yep you guessed it, it was titled, A Random Act of Senseless Kindness...I'm gonna post the lyrics...and then finish my story for why I was inspired to write this blog today...

I picked up the morning paper
The headlines were no surprise
A random act of senseless violence
Was committed again last night
It seems the whole world has gone crazy
And something needs to be done
So starting today, I'm gonna find a way
I'm gonna repay someone

With a random act of senseless kindness
Unexpected hand to help remind us
A little bit of love is the cure for hate
It's easy to give up but it's never too late
A single step in the right direction
Person to person making a connection
We can change the world that's become so violent
With a random act of senseless kindness

How I long to live the simple life
When neighbors were still friends
And the sidewalks leading downtown
Were safe to walk back then
The classrooms and the school yards
Were havens for our kids
Well, it's a long way back but we can get on track
Today's a good day to begin

With a random act of senseless kindness
Unexpected hand to help remind us
A little bit of love is the cure for hate
It's easy to give up but it's never too late
A single step in the right direction
Person to person making a connection
We can change the world that's become so violent
With a random act of senseless kindness

With a random act of senseless kindness
Unexpected hand to help remind us
A little bit of love is the cure for hate
It's easy to give up but it's never too late
A single step in the right direction
Person to person making a connection
We can change the world that's become so violent
With a random act of senseless kindness
A randon act of senseless kindness

Also as you all know I can bable on for hours but here is the most IMPORTANT part of my blog today. I get up this morning, late as usual but in no hurry to get ready. :) Finally when I'm ready to head to work, I decide I'm gonna go get some coffee at QT. I simply take my wallet in forgetting I spent all my cash last night, and forgetting I didn't put my debit card back in it. I get my coffee and go up to the register to pay. 1.20 something is my total, open the wallet, no cash, and not enough change to scrounge up to pay, so I go for my debit card, not there either, now I'm getting all paniced because I still don't remember what I've done with all my cash or my debit card. So I decide to be that lady, I pull out the checkbook. The clerk acts all grumpy because I'm gonna write a check for a dollar something, but at this point its take the check or take the coffee back. :) ...So I start to write the check, and then this guy comes over and says excuse me to the clerk, I automatically assume he's trying to rush me and the clerk so he can just get out of there like he's in a big hurry or something. But when I actually pay attention to what he's saying, I hear something completely unbelieveable! He was telling the clerk to add his drink to my total and they he'd just pay for both of them. I now am completely embarrassed for taking the negative attitude, and start thanking him.

The coffee was a dollar, and I reacted almost as though this guy had just won the lottery and offered me half. All I'm trying to say is that this guy was simply doing a random act of senseless kindness and it completely brightened my day. The world has become so selfish and greedy that you would think stuff like that doesn't happen anymore. But it does, maybe in very small quantities but it does. And that simply brightens my day...

4 more months....

Thus begins the start of the LAST four months of the grad school voyage! AMEN! I am so pumped that I will not have to think of homework ever again...or maybe at least not until I decide to go all smarty pants and get my PhD....but we will see.

I am now back to m-th mornings at the mortgage company, m-th afternoons at the GRA office at school and then m, w, th evenings in class! JOY JOY JOY! :) I am so ready to be RID of school! I know some of you think I won't like the real world...but guess what I already do the real world and school at the same time! So ya! :)

As far as classes go I have 9 hours again. Less of a reading load and teachers I like...I think...I don't really know one of them but he was a great help when I was planning on coming here so I think he should be fine!

The GRA office...assignment one given to me today. Pretty much I get to look at the last 5 years of job postings in some chronicle something for CRCJ jobs so that two of my professors can update an article done a few years back....I'M SO EXCITED! Sitting in the library 5 hours a day 4 days a week at the ads....FUN! :) I guess I can't complain too much, the job is paying for my school :) kinda....

And the mortgage company, I love it still...great money friendly faces...just some of the friendly faces have gotten a lil less friendly lately :) But all is well in the work world for me there. I get a lil frustrated at times but I'm working on my patience!

Oh and among all of this other work I still have to pick my committee, start my final paper, research for my final paper, finish my final paper, apply for graduation, help out with APS and graduate...This four months is gonna be AMAZING....and extremely challenging!

If you are struggling for something to pray for ever this semester...pray for my sanity and patience :) Thanks to all! Love yall! :)
-ACD

Words from the heart...

Well I'm obviously slacking a lil in this whole blog thing...and it's not that I haven't had time for blogs it is just that I haven't exactly been sure how to put everything I want to say. At then end of each year I usually list a few important things from each month in my journal just to look back and the year and remember the year. Sometimes they are things that can make me laugh for hours, sometimes they are things that can make me cry for hours, and sometimes they are just little things I like to remember. I have not yet made this list but I can for sure at least recall a few things that really stick out about this past year...

I had my first trip to the Rangers ballpark (along with many games to follow); I had my first trip to Six Flags over Texas :) (with another to follow, they were amazing and I was very spoiled by the fact there was no one there both times!); My niece and nephew count grew, with adding two of the most beautiful baby boys Case Truitt, and Zachary Treyvis; I made the wonderful never boring (jk) drive to and from Kansas 3 times over the summer, once to see Case, once to see Gillian and attend a wedding and once to do a reading for a wedding; My brother and sister count was also added to with Zach and Amanda's wedding in August, this one I got to fly for which in turn caused me to miss Baby Trey's birth; I got to go home for Homecoming and see my bricks and the girls; I also got to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!; I got to move into a way better apartment with an awesome roommate; My mommy came to visit again and we went to the women of faith conference; I learned more about myself in this past year than I ever thought I could learn in a lifetime; and last but certainly not least, I have been blessed with the MOST AMAZING, WONDERFUL, UNSELFISH, HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY, LOVEABLE, CARING, ADORABLE, AWESOME, PERFECT, LOVING, UNDERSTANDING, (well I could go on forever but I'll save yall the time for now) guy I could have possibly ever asked for, Joshua Aaron Nix.

I have never been as happy as I am with him in my life. He so kindly helps me to be a better person. He so kindly helps me to see where I've done wrong and so kindly helps me to make it right. He is the perfect compliment to my crazy, out of control, over emotional nature. When I sit and watch him play his guitar and listen to him sing, I am simply at peace. A peace that I never thought I would feel. A peace that I have prayed for so long. And I sit and just think of how thankful I am...Thankful for the craziness and bad that happened in the past, so that I can see the beauty of now...So I can be thankful of the times I spend with Josh. So I can appreciate that God was trying to teach me patience and understanding so that I could be prepared for what he was about to bless me with. And I am truly thankful that despite my anger and confusion and questions, God still sent me the angel he had been making for me this whole time. God still stuck true to his plan, despite my sometimes nastiness...

Right now I have run out of time to actually finish but I will write more later...Simply all I really needed and wanted this blog to say, was how thankful, happy and excited I am for what is to come in my life! :)