New Blog Announcement!

Holy moly. The past two days have been insane!

So……if you haven’t heard already……the new blog is up! I announced it on Facebook Tuesday night and sent out a bunch of invitations to some of my friends for them to go like the new Facebook page and check out my first post, but the blog was not actually “ready” until yesterday evening because I was still playing with internet code and all that wonderful stuff.

I actually didn’t mean to launch the site for public view until I actually finished playing with code (so sorry if you’ve visited a few times and have seen fifty different versions of the same site), but then a few things happened:

1.       I realized there was no way I could see how the website looked on multiple computers unless I went ahead and published it.

2.      I already had a post written and ready to go.

3.      I accidentally hit “launch” and published it before it was ready. Oops.

I must say, that was probably one of the most complicated things I’ve ever done. I am no technological expert (see #3 above), so learning how to write Internet code in order to fix certain aspects of the new site was like learning how to read Chinese. Only except the Chinese use actual WORDS when they speak and not symbols like { > : {   ….that kind of looks like a frowny face. Totally unintentional.

Anyways, the new blog is called Faith, Marriage & Family. The main goal of the blog is to encourage women in all the major aspects of life: our walk with the Lord, our marriages, and our families. Not married? That’s totally cool. I’ll be talking just as much about living a godly life as I will about marriage. Don’t have kids? That’s cool too, because I don’t either (yet). So until I do I’ll just cover topics like what to do when you have a “trouble-maker” in the family, or should you lend family money or what to do when you have bad in-laws (note: my in-laws are awesome!). Not a woman? That’s still cool. Feel free to check it out because I’m sure many of my posts will be helpful to you guys as well. And if not, you can still hang out here. Life with the Casterlines is not going anywhere.  :)

Like I mentioned before in this post, I plan to post here three times a week in addition to running the new blog. It’s just that this new blog will share a lot less personal details (such as my last name in the title) and will be a little more focused. You still get to enjoy my ADD here though. Congratulations.  O.o

Seriously, thank you to everyone who has already supported me. The response to the new blog announcement was amazing and very encouraging. So many of you have encouraged me over the past year and two months as I’ve started writing and it means so much to me. I love you guys!

So, without further ado, please check out the new blog by clicking here. And if you haven’t already, click on over to Facebook and like the new page by clicking here.  :)  :)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!" ~2 Corinthians 5:17

A Story of His Faithfulness

Sometimes God does things that take us by surprise. We may not have been asking Him to move in a certain part of our lives, but then He suddenly does. This happened with us last August when we found ourselves moving in a much bigger and nicer house, even though we hadn’t even been looking for one (if you missed that saga of life events, you can read about it here and here.)

I had not announced this on the blog or anything, but Roman has to get braces. Without going into detail, he had some issues with his teeth that we had always thought were no big deal, only to find out that it is a very big deal and needs to be corrected as soon as possible. Next Thursday he’ll go in to have a tooth pulled and then get the braces put on. We’re both excited, but a little nervous too.

I knew he would need the braces last year, so when open season for health insurance rolled around last December, I did an in-depth analysis to try and find a new dental insurance plan that would cover orthodontics for patients over the age of 18 years old. There weren’t any, which meant that we would have to foot the $4,800 bill on our own. Yippee! You can imagine how much more thrilled I was when I got slapped with a furlough letter just a few weeks before his appointment.

But we were going to be okay. I moved some things around in the budget, Roman’s been making good money at work lately, and I knew that God was going to take care of us no matter what. I honestly don’t think I prayed one time for God to provide money towards the braces (to my fault), although I have been praying about this upcoming furlough. Sometimes He just likes to take care of things, even when we don’t specifically ask Him to, just to show us He loves us and He’s got this thing under control.

Roman is also under his mom’s health/dental/vision insurance since he is under 25 years old. After sending in the information to the orthodontist just to see if they would pay for anything, we got back a shocking response: they would pay $2,000 towards the braces! $2,000!!!!!

This was a miracle that we truly were not looking for, but we are incredibly grateful. Our monthly payments will drop from the original $159 a month to only $88 a month. In the middle of an 11-week furlough, this is a really big deal for us!

God’s Word tells us to share His wonderful works with those around us, so I knew that this was something that had to be shared with all of you. Isn’t He wonderful? I love how He works on our behalf when we are completely unaware of it. I love how He surprises us with unexpected blessings that have such huge impacts on our daily lives. We serve a mighty God!

What has He done for you lately? Feel free to share in the comments!  :)

“Praise be to the Lord, for He showed me the wonders of His love when I was in a city under siege. In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from Your sight!’ Yet You heard my cry for mercy when I called to You for help. Love the Lord, all His faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to Him, but the proud He pays back in full. Be strong, and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”  ~Psalm 31:21-24

23 Things I Love About My Husband

Two days ago, we celebrated Roman’s 23^rd birthday. Wahoo!! There were brownies, steaks, and a huge ice cream cake. (Note: I ate some of everything and it was glorious. Which means this week I get to work extra-hard at the gym!) So in honor of my awesome husband, I thought I would dedicate this post to him, with 23 Things I Love About My Husband:

1.       He has a servant’s heart, always willing to help others around him

2.      He loves Jesus and seeks after Him

3.      He is a hard worker in everything he does

4.      He is honest and loyal

5.      He is a faithful husband

6.      He is an amazing drummer—I love hearing him play!

7.      He looks after me and defends me when necessary

8.      He does not gossip about others or tear others down

9.      I may be a bit biased, but I’m married to one sexy man!!

10.   He’s great with kids

11.    He successfully grew a garden this year, saving us lots of money on veggies!

12.   He takes good care of himself and strives to make healthy choices

13.   He is an optimist….a great balance to my pessimist way of thinking

14.   He knows how to cook!

15.   He can make me laugh no matter how bad a day I’ve had

16.   He supports me in everything that I do

17.   He is extremely intelligent

18.   He mows the grass. (Yes and amen)

19.   He’s always willing to help me out around the house

20.  He loves me for me and says I’m beautiful

21.   He can fix my phone. And my laptop. And the TV. He’s a good fixer-upper-of-stuff

22.  He puts up with my OCD ways  ;)

23.  He’s my husband!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. I’m so proud of you, Roman, and the man that you have become. I can’t wait to spend many more birthdays with you as we walk through life’s journey together. I love you!!!

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;"  ~Psalm 1:1

Warning: My Dog Might Pee On You

I always take Duke running with me. For the most part, he is a good running partner and listens extremely well. So well, that I hardly ever put him on a leash. This way, he’s not forced to stay under my feet, and he can run in a zigzag pattern down the road without pulling my arm off.

When it’s just me and him though, he is really protective of me. We have to walk through the back of my neighbor’s yard to get to the little neighborhood next door. Recently, the neighbors just got a Chihuahua. A really yappy Chihuahua that thinks he’s some hot stuff. Duke does not appreciate this little thing yapping at me, so he does the best thing he can think of to tell the little guy to back off: he marks his spot on everything.

He learned this from a country dog that belonged to our good friends (may he rest in peace). Don’t worry Mater, your spirit lives on every time we cross through our neighbor’s yard.

Duke will always squat like a girl to pee, except when he decides it’s time to get territorial. Then he hikes his leg like a man.

Oh wait, except he never actually pees. He’ll just go around the yard hiking his leg over everything while staring at Mr. Tiny Yappy Dog. “Take that, mister. I just waved my leg over your flower. And your blade of grass. And your owner’s golf cart. And your bush. And your tree. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW, HUH? HUH??”

Ahem.

I feel so protected. NOT. Although I much prefer Duke pretending to be territorial than him actually being territorial. Because if he ate my neighbor’s dog, they probably wouldn’t appreciate it very much.

So to my neighbors: don’t worry. You’re flower garden is not going to die. Neither is your grass. Or your tree. Because my dog isn’t really peeing over all your stuff, he’s just pretending. Oh, and bring your dog inside. He’s annoying for such a tiny thing. Also, I don’t like Chihuahuas.  

“Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.” ~Proverbs 15:17

When Life Gives You Lemons.....

Some things are simply out of our control.

I am a federal employee, which means starting next week I will be furloughed one day a week for eleven weeks. I will lose over $500 out of my monthly income. This is completely out of my control.

Roman and I are planning a day trip to the beach this Friday since both of us are off work. I just looked up the weather, however, and there is a 70% chance of rain. We will have to watch the weather over the next couple of days and make a decision to drive down there or stay at home. The weather is completely out of my control.

I’ve been battling a weak immune system and a couple other health issues. It has been a stressful and trying time, but I have made some progress. For the most part though, these issues are out of my control.

Encountering situations in life that are 100% uncontrollable can be a frustrating and stressful experience. We try to contain the situation. We worry about what’s going to happen next. We lose sleep over how we can make it through in the easiest way possible. Granted, sometimes planning is necessary, but a lot of times we stress ourselves out over something that we can’t change in the first place. I’m learning to live by a new motto:

Pray about the things you can’t control, and focus your attention on the things you can.

I can’t stop a national furlough of federal employees, but I can be smart with my money in order to make sure I have enough money to pay the bills.

I can’t stop it from raining on Friday, but I can choose to have a great day whether it’s at home or at the beach.

I can’t completely fix my health issues, but I can practice healthy living habits to make sure I’m in the best shape possible.

When you add prayer to this little recipe, you will learn to find peace in these uncontrollable situations:

Jesus, please provide for us as we go through this financial storm. Give us wisdom and self-control over our finances through this furlough, and then help us to better prepare for the days to come.

Jesus, we ask for a restful and fun day this Friday as we spend time together. Whether it’s at the beach or at home, help us to have a peaceful and safe day.

Jesus, heal my body. Make me stronger and help me to make the right choices so that I can treat with respect what You’ve given me.

What difficult situations are you facing today? Are you worrying over things that you can’t change? Let me encourage you to try something different: pray about the things you can’t change, and focus your attention on the things you can.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  ~Matthew 6:25-27

Run-tastic

Two nights ago I dreamed that Christina Aguilera was chasing me across Alaska with a gun. She was trying really hard to kill me. I raced through snow and department stores and woods in an effort to get away. She eventually caught me, but then someone caught her attention long enough for me to get away. The last thing I remember before waking up was running into the woods hoping she had not noticed which way I went, because I was getting pretty tired.

Yesterday marked eight weeks since my knee surgery. Although I have not been running from Christina Aguilera, I have been running—for the first time in over a year I am able to exercise and go about my daily life with no pain. I really can’t express how wonderful that is.  

People have many different ways of relieving stress: some paint or draw, some play music, some bake yummy treats for their friends. I would always run. If I ever had a bad day at school, I would wait for the final bell to ring, change into my running clothes, and take out all of my frustration on the track. But with my knee injury at the end of my senior year in high school, it’s been a long time since I’ve truly been able to do that. Sure, I was able to handle jogging every now and then. For a long time I was able to tolerate the pain enough to run about every three weeks. After further damage was done last summer though, I haven’t run more than a few steps (while playing with my dog) in almost a year. Just sitting still was painful enough, and it became impossible for me to even add in speed-walking. I think the hardest part about it all was not the pain, but just the fact that I couldn’t pursue that outlet anymore. Exercise has always been such a huge part of me, and not being able to do it (while gaining fifteen pounds) got to be quite a discouragement. 

I’d like to give a huge shout out to all of my doctors (not that they read this) for helping to make me better. My surgeon, my physical therapists, and all of the nurses who assisted with my operation/recovery were able to give back a huge part of who I am. More than anything though, I’d like to thank my Lord…after all, He is the true Healer in all of this. I was released from physical therapy after only four weeks—which is quite the miracle. I have had zero complications and zero pain since starting back to my exercise routine three weeks ago. I’ve already gained back almost all of my muscle mass in my legs (now to lose the jiggly stuff in my thighs haha) and I can already run a mile and a half without stopping. I know without a doubt that God had a hand in my recovery because this has just been so easy. I joke with Roman and my parents that if I had known all of this would be as easy as it has been, I would have had the surgery five years ago (although it wasn’t torn five years ago, so they wouldn’t have operated in the first place, but you know what I mean.)

For all of the concerned citizens out there: don’t worry. I’m not doing too much too fast. I’m staying away from running on hard surfaces…right now I’m only doing the treadmill so it’s less impact. And rather than just running, I’m also spending an equal amount of time in the gym lifting weights so that ALL of my leg muscles are getting stronger. My doctor expressed that this was key for my knee to continue in good health, and my lack of gym-time is probably what caused my injury in the first place.

One thing is certain, and that is I am very happy to be back in the game. I’m already sleeping better, I’m feeling better, and I’m making sure that I’m treating my body right. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and asked about me over the past eight weeks! God has certainly answered our prayers in a big way!

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  ~James 5:14-15

Pardon My Absence.....

Oh, hi there. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, I haven't written a whole bunch this month, and I'm sorry about that! But I do have a good reason--I'm currently working on a new blog! Wahoo!!

I can't tell you what the name of the new blog will be, because I haven't narrowed it down just yet. But I can tell you this:

1) Life with the Casterlines is not going anywhere. I'm still going to be writing my three posts a week here.

2) The new blog will mainly focus on marriage from a Biblical perspective.

3) I'm super excited!!

You might ask, what are my reasons for this new blog? Well, I'll tell you.

One thing I've noticed from all of my online reading is that there are so many people hurting in their marriages. OR, there are a lot of people who are searching for resources on how to make their marriage better. If you look at divorce rates, you can definitely see that people need some help with their marriages. Our nation's high divorce rate isn't just in the secular world either, it's just as bad (if not worse) in the church! There is a lot of "noise" on the Internet telling us things like "porn is okay" and "living with your girlfriend is okay", and I think more Christians coming forward with an Internet presence showing the Godly way of marriage is desperately needed. Plus, I've always loved being able to comfort people and offer advice. Roman says that one of my best character traits is my compassion towards others who are hurting and in need. In short, I feel like this is something God has called me to do. He has shown me a need for it, and I have a passion to help be part of the solution...however small that part may be.

Okay, so why not just do all of that from this blog? Why go through the trouble of setting up a new blog? The answer to that is twofold.

First, I have a hard time keeping my mind focused sometimes. On this blog, you can find anything from pictures of our latest vacation to talks on marriage to strange pictures from Thursday Throwbacks. And I really like it that way. I like keeping things different and changing things up now and then. (Hopefully, you like it too.) I also have a ton of family members who don't live around here who read this blog, so I like being able to share some of these more personal details with them. But if I'm going to call myself a "marriage blogger" and actually advertise myself as such, then my blog needs to stay true to what I call it. Having a separate blog allows me to do more fun (and sometimes random) stuff here, while having a "pure marriage" blog as well.

Second, if all goes according to plan, then the new blog will also help me earn an income so that once Roman and I have kids, I can stay at home. And to be honest, I don't like the idea of a hopefully-one-day-huge blog that earns me money having our last name in it. If our last name was "Smith", then okay. But our last name is "Casterline" and I've already mentioned on here before that we live in South Georgia. Casterline is not very common, so it wouldn't be hard for someone to figure out where we live. I'm cautious like that. Not to mention, Casterline is not easy to say or spell for many people and I would like my income-earning blog to have a shorter, catchier name that's easy for people to remember.

Alright, I think that's enough details for now. I've been taking a free blogging class this month and the last session is tonight. I'm really hopeful that in the next couple weeks I will have all of the design complete and a name picked out so that I can share everything with you guys. And I really hope that you all will help me in spreading the word about the new blog. It's going to have a completely separate Facebook and all of that, so be on the look-out for an invite to like the new page. I've got some seriously awesome readers! Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far and offered words of encouragement, I really cannot express how much it means to me. I love you guys!!!  :)  :)  :)

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." ~1 Corinthians 10:31