Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!

Yesterday was a really fun day. It started off not so good due to our windows being open and our neighbor mowing his yard way too early in the morning. But my wonderful husband decided to take me out for breakfast which was a really nice treat. Josh has been cooped up in the house all week so he also wanted to get out and do something yesterday. Sometimes I feel like a dull person because I have a hard time coming up with stuff to do. So, our original plan was basically another road trip (just get in the car and drive). While running some errands in town first we remembered a couple things that we could do that we haven't done yet and a plan was formed.

Our first stop was at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Rescue. This place is not very far from our house and prior to going there all I knew about it was that they had big cats there. This place was absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to see big animals up close. All of the animals are in cages but the really neat thing is that you can get like 6 feet from the cages. I've been to a zoo before but in a zoo the big animals are always in these big glass exhibits so you can't get close to them. This place was so different. The other neat thing was that all of the animals here were rescued animals. I can't believe that sometimes private individuals try to raise/keep these wild animals. Here are some amazing pictures of the animals here:



Black Leopard



White Bengal Tiger named Zeus



This is another picture of Zeus. He was amazing and sooo big too. He didn't really cooperate so much with the picture taking but you should have seen his eyes...



African Lion named Willy. I could not believe how big he was and how close I got to get to him.



Willy again. He was amazing. At one point he rolled over, stretched and laid on his back. He's just a big, big, cat.



Harley is a black bear. Again, I was amazed at how close I was to a real, big bear.



There were a lot of tigers and I don't remember all of their names or how to tell them apart but the markings on them were beautiful.



Another tiger... One piece of advice that was given to us is that if the tiger raises it's tail you need to move quickly to the side instead of backing straight up. The reason for this is that some of the tigers like to spray and in fact, Josh's brother has been sprayed before when he came to this place. Luckily we didn't have any problems with that during our visit.







Another black leopard whose name I think was Vada. She was scratching her head on a post...



This was a caracal (I hadn't heard of them before) and boy do they have some crazy ears.



A leopard. His spots were sure pretty.

I was pretty blown away by this place and I'm looking forward to going back. When I go back I'll have to make sure it's closer to 5:00 pm which is supper time. At that time you are much more likely to see more cats and to hear them roar which I think would be neat. If you know me then you know that I love cats. I loved looking at the big cats and I'm even more thankful that God made little cats that I can pet and enjoy...

After this we went to War Eagle Mill which was also nice. It was a cute little place that has a really big craft fair in the fall which I will probably go back to. The craft fair supposedly has over 180,000 people come annually to it. This place also had a lot of ducks which Josh and I fed. The ducks made me a little nervous as one mean one kept hissing and they just didn't seem that friendly to me. They sure did look funny though. Here are a few pictures of the ducks and the mill:





Josh feeding a goose. This goose and his buddy were not nice in my opinion...



Crazy hairdo duck...



All the ducks looked so different.



Pretty duck...



The mill and the river beside it.




That's the end of my pictures and even though it seems like I posted a lot there are many I didn't. I had a wonderful day seeing new things and spending time with Josh.

Adventures of Josh and Jenny

Yesterday my wonderful husband took me to Branson, MO for the day and I have to say I had a blast! The wonderful trip started with an amazing lunch at Fuddruckers. We were driving and happened to see a sign so we stopped. I have to say this was a wonderful surprise because we've been looking for one in NW Arkansas but haven't been able to find one. This place has absolutely amazing hamburgers. My husband successfully ate the 1 pound hamburger..... :-)

After lunch we went to Bass Pro shop. I had never been to one and my first impression was that wow, the parking lot is huge and the parking lot was absolutely full!! This shop and parking lot though is apparently smaller than most Bass Pro Shops according to Josh. It had it's own restaurant though and boat dock. When you went into the store there was a neat display of stuffed wild animals, a waterfall and flying ducks. Most of the store contained things that I don't normally shop for but it was still neat. I ended up getting a new pair of hiking boots (my last pair my parents bought for me when I was 13).

Next on the agenda was going to play miniature golf. This is something I have looked forward to doing for awhile with Josh. We did this together the first time we met in person and it was really fun. The place we went this time was an inside place and didn't have a lot of variety on their holes but it was still fun to play with Josh. He beat me on both courses we played.

We were then going to go to this Amish store and look around but they were closed. That was a bit of a bummer because I was sort of looking forward to that. So, instead we continued to drive around and we happened to see this place were you could get a helicopter ride. When I was in 7th grade I made two silly life goals. One was to ride in a helicopter and the other was to ride a camel. Well, now I can say I've ridden a helicopter. It was a little expensive for what they said was a 7 minute ride (seemed much shorter) but it was still worth it. It was a very small helicopter and once we were up in the air I thought to myself, this was stupid because we didn't even ask the pilot how long he has been flying (he looked a little young to me). I also was a little nervous because the wind seemed a little strong at times especially when we were facing a certain direction and it seemed to cause the helicopter to jerk some. There was no door where the pilot was sitting and I was sitting behind him. Josh I don't think was nervous at all (I didn't really expect to be because usually I love wild rides and heights). Here are some pictures of our ride:







A picture of the control panel of the helicopter.



This is a picture of the helicopter we rode in. If you look closely you will notice that the pilot is texting on his phone...

I had a wonderful day and fun time with my husband. I love Branson and fun touristy towns like that. It was nice that there wasn't a lot of traffic and the temperature was nice. I'm looking forward to going back sometime with Josh... :-)

Painting Escapades

Well, we finally got around to painting the kitchen. The entire house will eventually be repainted but we are doing one room at a time. We have already painted the master bathroom but unless you knew what the color was before you really wouldn't think it was much different. Once I get the decorating all done I'll let you see what the finished product is but that might take a little while.

I was nervous about picking paint colors out at the beginning of this project and when thinking about an entire house it seemed a little overwhelming. One color that I've always thought would look nice especially in a kitchen is yellow because it's so cheery. Well, during many of my conversations with Josh about decorating and painting he told me several times he HATES yellow. So that was a little bit of a bummer at the time. When I went to Lowe's to pick out the paint I decided to get a yellow color to see what his thoughts were on the color. It turns out that Josh didn't mind that color and says he doesn't consider that color a real yellow color. That made me happy and it turns out we both like the new color in the kitchen.

My wonderful husband helped me paint which was great because the kitchen was really not very fun to paint. There were too many small places and things that had to be taped off. Yesterday was frustrating because when we pulled the tape off in several spots the paint came with it or the varnish on the wood trim came up. That though will be a problem to fix on another day. For now I'm going to focus on the fact that I love the color. One wall in the living room got painted along with the kitchen as the living room will eventually be the same color. Here are some before and after pictures:

Before:







After:



The color of the ceiling is the same color the walls used to be so you can see the big difference. I think it brightens up the place a little...





I was a little bummed because one of my favorite pictures ever broke when I tried to put it back on the wall by the dining room table. Several years ago my mom and me went out and bought/put together the frame for this picture (poster) and I guess it had just had enough of being moved around and broke. I'm kinda bummed about that.



(A picture of a helper who was at times trying to help too much while we were painting).

Road Trip

So Josh and I decided to get out of the house this past weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather. We decided to go to Mt. Magazine State Park and to check it out. We got there and unfortunately were somewhat disappointed because it really doesn't compare to Petit Jean State Park. So, after driving around the park for a little bit we decided to go on a road trip to the Kiamichi Mountains in Oklahoma and those were amazingly beautiful. Here are a few pictures from our trip.



This was a neat looking tree we found at the state park.



Pretty flowers - I love Spring.



Pretty mountains!!







We watched a beautiful sunset at an appropriately named spot (Sunset Point Vista). It was a beautiful sight to see. What was really crazy is we got there and waited for maybe 20 minutes while the sun was going down. Once the sun actually got to the horizon it was amazing how fast it actually disappeared. If you had turned around for just a couple minutes you would have missed it because it was so fast.





This is the view from an amazing picnic spot that we found. Unfortunately we were not hungry at the time we found this spot.



Pretty flowers that my husband picked for me. He sure is a sweet guy! I'm a blessed girl to have him as my husband.



This is me and my amazing husband at the beautiful picnic spot we found. I sure do love this guy. He said the most amazing thing to me at this spot that I will treasure forever.

Faith Sees the Savior

I was doing a devotional today and the book I've been using is one of Max Lucado's devotionals. He is amazing with his words and the pictures he paints with them. Below is an excerpt from the devotional that perfectly describes the struggle I've had at times with certain things and it describes what I've tried to write before in my blog. I just thought it was a great picture so now I will share it with you:

I stand a few feet from a mirror and see the face of a man who failed,... who failed his Maker. Again. I promised I wouldn't but I did. I was quiet when I should have been bold. I took a seat when I should have taken a stand.

If this were the first time, it would be different. But it isn't. How many times can one fall and expect to be caught?

Your eyes look in the mirror and see a sinner, a failure, a promise-breaker. But by faith you look in the mirror and see a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace on your finger and the kiss of your Father on your face...

Your eyes see your faults. Your faith sees your Savior.
Your eyes see your guilt. Your faith sees his blood.

(From the book When God Whispers Your Name)

Thank you God for the grace, mercy and forgiveness you have shown me.

Faithfulness

Okay, so I seem to be getting worse about updating my blog on a somewhat regular basis. Sorry! I've been married just over 1 month now and still sometimes have trouble believing that I'm actually married. I wouldn't change it for anything though. I love Josh and I'm so thankful that God blessed me with him in my life.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about faithfulness. I'm amazed at God's faithfulness and sometimes my lack of faithfulness. I am not proud of this because it's not really what I want but there are days that I get busy doing other things and I don't talk to God the entire day (let alone spend time in His Word). I'll tell you I really can feel a difference on those days like I'm really missing something. Sometimes I get frustrated because I really do want a daily, personal relationship with God (I need it in my life) but I sometimes let other things get in the way. The thing that really amazes me though is that each time I finally start to include God in my life He is right there waiting on me. He never gives up on me and says, "I'm tired of her not consistently putting me first in her life." He is always right there to pick up our relationship right where I left it. On a human level, if I had a friend or family member treat me this way I don't think I would like it. I am so, so, so thankful for God's faithfulness. Honestly if I could have one goal for this year it would be that at the end of it I could say that I was more consistently faithful to God.

God has been taking care of me in so many ways and that is also something that amazes me because I really don't feel like I deserve it (mostly due to my lack of faithfulness at times). The week prior to getting married I had talked to a local community mental health center in the area and they basically said, call us back after the honeymoon and we have a job for you. So, after the honeymoon I called and to my surprise the lady I had talked to had been laid off and they were no longer hiring for the position I applied for. Okay, to me that really seems like God closing that door. Then I contacted this Christian counseling company in NW Arkansas and the owner basically says that he doesn't actually have any openings but he might in the near future. So, I go and talk to him and he actually hires me that day. I think this is neat because Christian counseling is always an area that I have wanted to be in. I thank God for opening this door for me. It's also a little intimidating because it is so different from what I've been doing for the last 3 years. I think it will be a good opportunity for God to use me and to teach me how to do Christian counseling. I feel a little out of my element so again that means I'll have to rely more on God to help me than on my own abilities (which is a good thing anyway). It's been a slow start with this counseling though because I only work when I have clients and so far I haven't had any. I know that God will provide though and I've decided to also look for another part time job to help with the income situation. Based on how God has worked in my life in the past I am confident that He will open up a job situation that He wants me to be in. He is faithful to always take care of me.



I'm thankful for God's faithfulness to always bring Spring and the changing of the seasons. My favorite seasons are Spring (because I love the flowers) and Fall (because I love the changing of the leaves). I'm excited to think about what this Spring might hold for me and the fun times I will get to have with my husband. This picture was taken from a park we took a walk in. One thing that will be happening this Spring is that the inside of my house will be painted (I know that sounds like a lot of fun -- the painting part more so than the preparing to paint part). I'll keep you posted on that. :-)