the everyday.

[http://elitedaily.com/life/the-20-mistakes-you-dont-want-to-make-in-your-20s/]

This link has been posted all over facebook with varying tag lines from, "HELL YA!", to "Legit. So True!", "PREACH.", and my personal favorite "Finally, someone got it right". So, I finally caved and clicked the link. And by the time I finished reading the second one....

 I. was. baffled. 

I was speachless.

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Here are just a few of the "mistakes you dont want to make"...

"- Thinking that this is the right time to fall in love

While all of your friends might be doing it, don’t fall into the trap of a relationship. Sure it seems like the right thing to do, but your 20s are entirely too crucial for your personal growth for you to be focusing on fulfilling the wishes of another individual.

Not only does it make you complacent with where you are in life, but it makes you boring. When your business is at stake and your future is resting on your shoulders, the last thing you need is to be bogged down by an insecure lover rushing you home."

There has been nothing more fulfilling in my life than "fulfilling the wishes of another individual". There has been no greater push for personal growth than this marriage. And on top of that, I spent most all of my life being complacent and it has been through my relationship and now marriage with Jake that I have finally found something that is constantly changing me, growing me, and challenging me; making my life anything BUT boring. (Aside from my walk with the Lord.)

"- Getting comfortable like you actually deserve down time

Unless you’re chilling with Victoria’s Secret models in Monaco this weekend, you shouldn’t even be thinking about taking a break anytime soon."

I think we can all agree that down time IS VITAL. And anyone who tries to argue that is clearly mindless because who doesn't love a saturday of good food, friends, and some football?!

- Investing in relationships with the wrong values

Your love life is an investment — and the smarter the deals you execute, the savvier of an investor you become. Instead of navigating through an ambiguous investment in which you shower your lover with cash and prizes for existing, make sure he or she will demonstrate positive returns. Your love life should have a solid ROI.

Like, whaaaaaaaat? Only being in a relationship that has a "good ROI' for you? I'm sorry, but what happened to being in a relationship because, regardless of their faults - Lord knows we all have them- you love them. No one is perfect and no one ever will be. Looking for a relationship based off of what returns you will get is just pointless because everyone, no matter how great, is going to disappoint at sometime. And that is the beauty of love- that you love them anyways!

- Holding on to friends that waste your time and add no value to your life

You’ll be sucked down into the abyss right with them if you don’t cut the fat of the group. Family and friends could have been great to you as a child, but if they no longer hold the value and inspiration that is needed for you to thrive in life, then cut them loose.

What happened to being a friend? Being a friend means that in good times and bad, you are there for the other person. If my friends stopped hanging out with me when I stopped inspiring then, I WOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS! Being friends with someone is so much more than just what you can get for yourself! And while we are on that topic, so is being in a relationship. Neither one is meant for selfishness. The times that my relationship and my friendships have been most fulfilling has been when I was being selfless. 

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I have never posted on here about something that made me mad, but this just stuck a chord. If these are the values that my generation is agreeing to, then what will our kids be like? Heck, what will OUR lives be like in 5 years? If you live by these rules, I'd say you will probably be really rich, but terribly lonely and having no true friends. And frankly, I would absolutely hate my life if I didn't have my friends and if I didn't have Jake.

I don't live a very glamours life. I work retail, we live in an apartment, we budget to the penny, my husband teaches 11th grade and coaches football. Our date nights consist of the occasional [cooked at home] dinner and a movie, my shopping budget is $50 a month, and you know what? 

I am THE HAPPIEST that I have ever been in my entire life. 

Every part of me feels alive and fulfilled.

I am daily faced with the challenge of dying to self in order to love someone better. I am certain in who I am because I know who I am loved by (and that is not just limited to Jake). And I have the most incredible support group of friends surrounding me, that FYI, aren't "inspiring" me, but they sure as heck are loving me well. 

So, please, can we all stop with this ME obsession. Can we all look past ourselves and our wants and see someone else's. I hate to bust the myth, but you can still be successful even if you love some one, even if you have friends that need you, even if you enjoy a Saturday... I bet you will actually be MORE successful if you have those things. 

Lets all take some time to appreciate those things. The things that apparently our society sees as "boring" things that "bog you down", take time to marvel in them! Thats where true life is, in the everyday. And, I wouldn't trade my everyday for anything in the world. 

abc.

according to my iPhone

abc.

lies and longing.

i never wanted this blog to turn into a 'mommy blog' or a 'hey im married blog', but the whole point of this blog is for me to process through my heart and, well, i am married. so that's really the main thing i have to process through. 

i knew full well coming into this that jake could not and would not satisfy me. and i know that nothing on this earth will satisfy me. but thats the frustrating thing about having an inborn sin-nature. no matter how much i KNOW that, it is still a struggle! 

i've avoided blogging on here because i in NO way want to put a negative spin on being married and so i've had a hard time figuring out how to word things. so, let me start by saying that marrying jake has been the BEST thing that has ever happened to me. 

not to be cheesy, but i fall more in love with him every day. i love the routine that we have finally gotten in the swing of. i love waking up with him. i love sitting on the couch, snuggling with riggins and eating our breakfast. i love annoying the HECK out of him. i love cheering him on on Friday nights. i love listening to him pray for our little family. i love everything about being married to jake.  

and STILL, satan creeps into my heart. there is still this small hint of discontentment that over time will grow and grow until i break down. those thoughts of "you are only 23 years old and you go to high school football games every friday night? cool." or "you are standing here with laundry going and doing dishes on a wednesday night... you only live once abby. you should be enjoying life"... those kind of thoughts. the same thoughts that consumed Eve in the Garden. "Surely you will not ACTUALLY die...." 

satan has a way of so slyly creeping into my thought process. i wish with everything in me that i was better at fighting off those lies. but i am not. and so when i finally cave. when i finally break down with frustration of being so full of lies, i swear i can almost here the Lord saying, "be still and KNOW that I am God."

so what i have turned to so many times recently is this song. i go and sit on my porch and listen to it, or i blare it in the car.

it is amazing how worship can wash out satan so quickly. 

this morning was one of those. jake and i have been in one car for the past week and are for the rest of this week. on my way back from the school this morning, i listened to the song 3 times! and on the last one, sitting there at a red light, my hands were open along with my heart. finally. and tears just streamed down my face as i sang the truth that the Lord, and ONLY the Lord can revive my heart. the truth that all my desserts are turned to rivers of joy. and being reminded, yet again, that there is a longing in my heart that no husband, no house, no fashion blog, no "cool life", can fill. "there is still a longing, a longing in my heart..." And what a sweet reminder it is that "only You can satisfy, You are the well that never will run dry."

abc. 

QOTW.

abc.

according to my iPhone.

First, I got to go home! And that was so great...

while at home, I got to catch up with some of my favorites.... 

 then jake got me flowers... and that was REALLY great!

 then Riggins and I had some snuggle time... 

 then I had some girls over to watch the Emmy's....

 Then we had some more snuggle time with Riggins... 

 then we celebrated being married for 2 whole months!!! 

 then we found out that Baby Cunningham was a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Yay for Weldon!!]

then we had our first "night out on the town" where we paid tons of money for a TINY amount of food that tasted better than everything else in the world... and then I got fries.then we carved our first pumpkin! and Jake slit his finger and so our pumpkin was an odd reddish-orange... 

then we spent some time with friends shooting bows, hanging out, four-wheeling and more!

then, of course, more snuggle time with Riggins... 

then we dressed up Riggins and she loved it! :)

then Riggins mysteriously got herself stuck IN our guard gate.... that one took a while. 

then, more snuggling!

then I was privilaged to go as a leader to Sharp Top Cove and I am obsessed with the girls that I got to know! 

then, we went on a date to the Cumming Fair where we watched the rodeo, ate hot dogs, rode some rides and finished the night with Hot Now Krispy Kreme. It was a TREAT!

 I am so thankful to have all the blessings in my life that I do. Oh, and I love being married to Jake and snuggling with Riggins! 

abc. 

those friday night lights.

this past Friday was big in the Moorer household. really, it was big in the whole town. but all for very different reasons. and all very needed.

the school Jake coaches at had never beaten this school before. everyone was saying that our team, no matter how great their season was going, just played worse against this team. that it would be a miracle if we won. 

so i decked out in our school colors, and insecurely headed to the most overwhelming part of my week. finding where to sit. 

let me tell you, there are few things more intimidating in life than walking up to a football stadium full of complete strangers and trying to decide where to sit! LITERALLY TERRIFYING. 

thankfully, the other coaches wives saw me and waved me down, so that crisis was averted. 

the game began. everyone hopeful, but not expectant. 

i guess when you don't know people to talk to the whole time, you are much more attentive to details... at least that's how it seems to be for me. 

so i sat there, watching the game, watching the cheerleaders (duh), watching the student section, the funny kids in front of me... and watching the coaches wives. 

then the game got interesting. it was one of those games that i think every high school boy dreams of playing in. you know, the underdog with the whole town there, edge of your seat, back and forth kind of game. we would score, then they would score... 

by the 4th quarter, everyone was on their feet. and i mean, everyone. 

and as the clock was ticking down, i looked around and had a very surreal moment. 

i saw the head coaches wife standing there wanting to win this game so badly it was like there was no other purpose to life. another coaches wife was screaming so loud i SWEAR you could have heard her on the other side of town. the coaches wife next to me literally prayed the entire 4th quarter, hardly watching because she was so nervous. all of them wanting this win, seemingly as much as - if not more - than their husbands.

when the clock hit one minute and it was clear we were going to win, the whole stadium, lead by the head coaches wife, ran to the fence, waiting to storm the field.... and then it happened. 

we won.

and this was what happened....

[notice the far left... that's what it is about.]

Jake later found me, and i saw the same look on his face that I did our senior year of high school when we beat Vestavia in the pouring down rain. it was the look of fulfillment.

after all the coaches hard work and planning, the teams practices and film... they did it. they beat their rivals.

on the way home that night I couldn't stop smiling because what i had been praying for since we got here finally happened. 

i understood it all. 

that night, under those Friday night lights, i saw what [one of] my roles as Jake's wife is. and i saw an incredible example of how to carry it out. and beyond that, i saw why. i saw in Jake's eyes the joy that coaching brings him. i saw the fulfillment that he gets by seeing not only his hard work, but the whole teams hard work pay off. 

this past Friday, i feel in love with Jake's vision. 

i thought that i was already100% on board, but apparently i wasn't because i got MORE on board 3 nights ago.

i am so excited to start this unique journey that few people get to take part in... i am so excited to be a coaches wife. 

abc. 

on being a wife.

over the past month, i've been confronted with many questions about myself that needed to be answered. questions of character. and those are the hard ones! i was faced with things about myself that i didn't want to think we're really there... emotions that i didn't want to admit that i had and thoughts that i didn't want to have.

so i did what any good christian does and i pretended that they weren't there.

fortunately, God doesn't allow that to go on for too long and i was confronted with my sins...

being here has been hard. it hasn't been fun... it's not what i wanted, at all, and so without my knowing it, Satan had slowly creeped in.

without realizing it, i started to harbor resentment towards Jake because after all, HE is the one that brought us here- far away from any kind of job that i would want, from our families, from our friends, and from all the things that i wanted to be doing. i began resenting him and thinking - how selfish is he?! how is he to tell me where i can work? why would he drag me here when CLEARLY it's not a place i would chose to be.... blah blah blah...

and don't get me wrong, the whole time we've been here, i've been working HARD on making it home. i knew coming here that it was going to be hard, and i thought i came prepared. ready to initiate time with strangers, ready to put myself out there, ready to cook and clean, ready to do all of those things. so yes, i had prepared my self for the circumstances, but i had not equipped myself for the heart of the move.

i hadn't prepared myself to fight off Satans lies. i hadn't prepared myself to preach truth to my sub-conscience....

i remembered when i first transferred to Auburn and hated it because it wasn't where i wanted to be (sound familiar? ha..) and my sister told me, "there is nothing that God is doing in your life NOW that isn't preparing you for something in your life LATER" and, here i am. same story, different city.

i've had to really go back to the basics. and don't get me wrong, honestly it's still not better or really even that  much easier, but i am more equipped to fight these lies...

as i was thinking through things last night and this morning 3 things came to mind.

i am certain, i am confident, and i am called.

i am certain of not only Jake's decision in bringing our little family here, but i am certain of Gods will over our lives and over our marriage. i am certain that we are here for a specific purpose that the Lord is still in the process of carrying out. i am certain of Jake's love and provision for me. i am certain of all the prayers, thoughts, and conversations that lead us here. and i am certain that this is exactly where God has us for now.

i am confident in Jake's walk with the Lord and thus unbelievably confident in his ability to lead me. i am 100% confident in the Lords sovereignty over my life and over Jake's. i am confident that God will provide friends, community, a job that i love, and a heart of humility. i am confident that we are in the noonday sun!

and lastly, i have been called. i have been called by my Father to pick up my cross daily and surrender to Him. i have been called to unconditionally and sacrificially love and serve Jake. i have been called to follow- to die to myself and follow my husbands leadership. i have been called to seek the Lord with all that is in me. i have been called to the greatest calling- to walk faithfully with my Heavenly Father, trusting his every plan.

i see now, my sin. and i am thus reminded of Gods great love for me. that WHILE i am a sinner, Christ died for me. i can see Jake's love for me in the patience he shows, the grace he extends to me, and the time to process my thoughts that he gives me. i am reminded, yet again of Joy in the trials.

to close, there was a quote today at sunday school that I think directly applies to this all...

"marriage is a call to die to self... Christian marriage vows are the inception of a lifelong practice of death, of giving over not all you have, but all you are. Is this a grim gallows call? Not at all!! It is no more grim than dying to self and following Christ. In fact, those who lovingly die for their spouses are those who know the most joy, have the most fulfilling marriages, and experience the most love!"
- R. Kent Hugh's

abc.

social media kingdom builders.

a friend and i are in the beginning stages of starting a fashion blog and i am SO pumped about it!!! (more on that to come later) so in preparing for it, we have been going all over the internet looking/reading other blogs to see the good, the bad, and the ugly. so as i was rummaging through blogs tonight, i came across this very interesting blog... 

i think it is a rare thing to find a blog by a man and he not be... well.... a little feminine. sorry if that offends anyone, but there are just very few guys out there that blog. so when i came across this one i just lightly scanned across it because i just assumed that he must be gay if he was a blogger. again, i know that is being presumptuous, but whatever. as i was skimming a subtitle caught my attention: 

  " Kingdom Builders-Christians and Instagram"

as i started reading, i realized that not only was he straight, but he was also a christian. and a christian that likes to slightly make fun of the "super christians" out there... something i also tend to do. and this little excerpt was far too true and i couldn't pass up sharing it. because i swear that i have about 50 of these "kingdom-builders" on my instagram feed currently, and i'd be lying if i said i didn't sometimes fall under this category too.

"This is something that is hard for me to write because I am myself a Christian, so I don’t want to come off too harsh. But what I’ve seen on Instagram that’s the most aggravating are the “Instafamous” Christian users. They seriously have to be the most pretentious of them all. They all call themselves “Kingdom Builders.” Which, I think, is just really silly to begin with. It just sounds like they all belong to some science fiction club. I understand what the term means, but I don’t think it’s really necessary.

All Christians who use Instagram use it the same way for every picture they post. It’s either a picture of a person they know that is “awesome and doing big things for the kingdom.” Or, it’s a picture of a sky, mountain, or body of water with some deep bible verse. It’s the same thing every time. But what I don’t get is why they have to call themselves “Kingdom Builders.” I know a few of these “Kingdom Builders” in real life and they have to be the most narcissistic, arrogant people I have met in my life.

If they’re doing anything, it’s bringing the Kingdom down and giving it a bad name. To be a “Kingdom Builder,” I thought that had to be someone who went out and witnessed to those that didn’t believe or to not being judgmental to those that sin. Instead, I see these “Kingdom Builders” hanging out together in their special little clique of other “Kingdom Builder” friends, doing nothing to further grow the kingdom of God with the nonbelievers because they think they’re too good for that. They probably think posting somewhat decent looking photos with some bible verse is all they need to do and they will be good. Technically, yes, that is sharing with others their faith. But when they do nothing else, especially in real life, I would say it wasn’t in God’s vision to see his word carried out on a cell phone to the same 200 people living in the same city, doing nothing to fulfill his word. But keep trying! I’m sure you’ll get there some day."

[http://independentgentleman.wordpress.com]

i think we all need to be reminded that the Lord probably wants more than just our social media pages to declare that we love and walk with him. i thought this was such an accountability check... "But when they do nothing else, especially in real life, I would say it wasn’t in God’s vision to see his word carried out on a cell phone to the same 200 people living in the same city, doing nothing to fulfill his word..." 

im not saying that posting bible verse or challenging quotes is wrong, but if we aren't living in a way that demonstrates what we are projecting to the world, then aren't we only reinforcing the misconceived ideas that many non-belivers already have about christians?

abc. 

our little home.

i am in love with our home! it is perfect in every way. for a first apartment, it is exactly what we wanted... spacious, homey, pretty lookout from the porch.... i love it. 

one of jakes friends is crazy talented and built us our headboard! we love, i mean LOVE it.

this was my first "big girl" purchase... our couch. ikea, you're the greatest. 

its alot more clean now, but this is on the other side of the couch... we have had so much fun decorating it all! 

and for the view? 

and riggins hasn't seemed to hate it too much either... 

snugglez with her dad

all riggs friends! 

i mean really.... she leads such a rough life here in Georgia!

happy that i call this place my home!

abc.