Road Trip Take One

It has been a busy month for the Harpers but we are finally back home! But only for 3 wks : ) We left May 25th for 10 days of house hunting. We decided to drive Mike's car out to CA and leave it, so we made the most of the road trip by making a few stops! First stop: San Antonio. We spent the day there with Mikes dad and friends on his boat on Lake Travis. I have not been on a boat since I was about 13, I think. It was so much fun to be in the sun with family and friends enjoying each others company. The only thing I'm disappointed about is how scared I got while tubingI It was embarrassing. I use to be so brave but I think getting older is sucking away my bravery! So I vow to go tubing again and be courageous : ) Next time!




From there we drove out to New Mexico and saved some money by camping. It was a beauty that I'm not use to, with all the dry air, brown and gree n flat ground with a backdrop of mountains. We hiked up a little ways and watched the sunset. We went to bed pretty much right after that and fell asleep observing God's work with all the million stars that we rarely get to see in FL. It was breath taking.

We left early and made it to CA that afternoon. Of course, we had to stop in Yuma, AZ from some In n out! Fun fact: we stopped at that exact one right after we got engaged : ) We were blessed to be able to see so many amazing friends and family members during our time there but the most amazing thing was how God provided for us. We only had 4 days to find a place and we mistakingly thought it would be much easier. On Tuesday, we looked at just 3 places and only liked one. It was a bit discouraging. But we really loved the first place we saw. It fit all the criteria and seemed perfect. The only thing was that 8 other people had applied for it also. We prayed, had others pray and then prayed some more! By Friday, we still hadn't heard anything. So we called the lady and found out that she had chosen someone else. I was upset to say the least. Who else could be more qualified than us?! haha I wanted so badly to let my feelings take over and give up, cry, complain. I knew that wouldn't help though and decided instead to trust the Lord and the truth that I know. So I pulled myself together and we drove around town looking for any places that may have come up for rent that day. And we did! God worked it out where we were able to see it that day. We loved it, applied for it and felt at peace. Two other couples also applied the same time we did! The landlord said he wasn't going to make a decision until Monday. We were leaving the next day and were sitting at the airport when we got the call saying we got the place. And honestly, it's better than what we could've ever imagined. That was one of the first times I literally chose not to let my feelings control my actions but to instead chose truth. God was probably thinking, "It's about time!" Amen!

California Here We Come!

These past few weeks have been very busy for us so I have had little time to to blog. But tonight I am sneaking away for a bit and finally updating this bad boy! Mike got winged two weeks ago, on May 11th! The day we were so anxiously awaiting came and left so quickly. It was amazing though and worth every long day, short night and sacrifice. I am soooooooo proud of Mike and what he has accomplished all while seeking the Lord first, loving and leading me and pushing hard. We were blessed to celebrate with family and close friends. I have to admit, I was actually pretty emotional at times. I just couldn't believe that we were here at this point. Flight school and becoming a pilot was always something in the future but that weel it became a reality. And so is deploying now. But, the Lord helped me come to face my fears and worries and learn how to accept them while continually handing them to him. It's definitely more of a daily thing than a one time thing. Knowing we are moving to CA definitely helped lighten the mood! We are SO stoked to be out there will family and tons of friends, mentors and In and Out! Yay! Ok ok : )

After the first winging we got to repeat it again in Norfolk VA, instead only I came this time. But it was still fun to relive the moment! We also decided to be hipster like and buy an Ipad! It's so much fun! Now I can do my school work more often...not!

We took the train from Norfolk to DC for a little vacation and an early one year anniversary. We love DC! There is always so much to do and we took advantage of this by going to a jazz club, the air and space museum, free shows, and an amazing steak house. This all included a lot of walking and riding the metro. Which I love!

After all this traveling we left for home. But the fun continued! I got to host my first ever baby shower for an amazing friend/mentor of mine. It was such a blessing to be around so many Godly moms and their beautiful babies. It was also good practice for the far future : )

Phew! We had a lot going on and still do! We are officially moving to CA on June 26th, but will be leaving this Friday for 10 days of housing hunting leave. Stay tune for the road trip updates!

Coming soon!

It’s official now; Mike has a winging date, May 11th, 2012! He will then be an official an USMC helicopter pilot, which means we will be moving shortly after. Like two-three wks later! Unfortunately we won’t find out until a few days before he wings what he will be flying and where we will be stationed. We are still praying for CA but will truly be happy with whatever we get. Especially if that something happens to be HA! I have recently watched so many movies filmed there and desperately want to visit. Anyways, we can hardly believe that the end of training is so close and that we will soon have to say goodbye to all the wonderful friends we have been so blessed to know. So what do you do when you know you will be moving soon? Everything that you wanted to but always kept putting off! So we finally did things like play Frisbee golf, lie in our hammock in the park, drink some beers from the local brewery and eat at lots of our favorite places! I also made my self sit still and learn how to sew pillow covers for our couch pillows…and they turned out great! And we can’t forget the beach! We have been hitting the beach up often, well mainly me, but I am getting enough sun for the both of us : )

We have also been using this time to reflect back on our time here and discuss things we loved, things we didn’t and how we can do things differently at our next station. We have been blessed with living in a great house and a gorgeous neighborhood but we wish we would have taken more time to talk to our neighbors, to get to know them more, invite them over, invest in their lives. Most of them are a good 40+ years older than us but that shouldn’t matter. The Lord recently has placed on my heart a strong desire to make myself more available to the people close to me, not just friends, but neighbors as well. It’s not easy because I am perfectly content with keeping to myself and smiling kindly at strangers, but when I am being filled so much with Christ’s love, I find it hard to keep it from overflowing. Which is exactly what God wants! I can clearly look back in my past and think of countless times I kept the good news of Christ to myself and never shared. What a waste. Our prayer for the rest of our time here in FL and our next station is to make His name and love known. To be bold, loving and caring. To be transparent with our lives. After all, isn’t that what being a follower of Christ means and isn’t that what we called to do? We believe so.

Off to soak in the sun now!

Sunshine State

 Hello sunshine!! These past three weeks have been absolutely gorgeous and perfect for the beach. Unfortunately, I was stuck doing school work during most of that time until this past wknd when I was able to sneak away and steal some sunshine! Some of my closest girl friends here in Pensacola and I took a short trip over to Sandestin, stayed in the beautiful Hilton and took advantage of this weather. We had lots of fun, sun, food, drinks and laughs. It was a great break from school and an awesome opportunity to spend some great time with such Godly women.



I also was able to sneak in my first 10k on St. Patty's day. It was warm and foggy but I had a lot of fun pushing myself and knowing that my wonderful was cheering for me at the end. 

Our time here in FL is coming to an end soon as we will be moving within the next 2 months, so we have started a "bucket' list! One of the items listed was a trip to Krispy Kreme donuts, because I have never had one. So this morning, since I was to sunburnt to run, we decided to go get donuts instead! Makes perfect sense to me! We got half a dozen and they were soooooo yummy! We shared donuts and some time in the Word. It was a great start to our day. Now we both have more school work to do so this post is a short one. Enjoy the pics though and your week : )

Whirlwind!

 Sometimes I really dislike computers. Or mainly the fact that I still do not know how to really use one. I say this because I just typed up a very detailed post of the last few weeks to share with yall, but of course, I somehow deleted ALL of it. So, now you will get the shorter, more condensed version. Sorry!

Hmmm, lets see. I went to Cali for a week and got to spend some really fun time with my mother-in-law,dad, sister and good friends. I am blessed to have them all in my life. The picture to the left is of me and my lil sister, Heidi, who is basically a blonde version of me. Poor girl. Haha As much fun as it was out there, I was ready to get back to Mike. Unfortunately, my flight was cancelled in Dallas, so I stayed the night at the airport and made it back to FL the next day. We were lucky enough to have been apart of some really good friends of ours, Spencer and Nicole, wedding and got to attend all the fun festivities! The rehearsal dinner was Tennessee teamed and so much fun! The next day was the wedding and it literally rained the ENTIRE day, but it was still so beautiful. Mike played the pipes while Nicole walked down the aisle and I felt so proud of him!   

After the wedding, things continued to be busy with Mike flying everyday and me trying to not to die under all my school work! I am taking a math and Arabic 1 class, and while I have actually been really enjoying both, it is a lot of work and time. But it's not a bad deal at all. Mike is a great teacher!! Mike has also been gone on a cross country flight this week and might be gone even longer b/c of weather. So things are very crazy but I am setting my sites on the next break and trying my best to make the most of this time.


Yesterday some girlfriends and I took advantage of the warmer weather and went to the beach. First time since last summer! It was so nice to be outside on the sand again : ) The sunset was gorgeous! We followed the beach up with some wine, pizza and beer. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday. Now, if only Mike were here : )

                                                           Sooooo loud! But pretty.

Wedding Attire!

Weekend getaway!

As much fun as Pensacola is, I still love getting away! Over the holiday weekend Mike and I went up to Stoystown, PA, where we first met exactly 3 yrs ago. Every year they hold the annual Navigators Navy conference there, where many students from the Naval Academy and near by bases retreat too. Which is how Mike and I met! Thank you Lord! We spent 4 days up there and enjoyed every minute of it. Even the cold weather. God revealed Himself in big ways while we were there and two major things that stand out on my heart are:

1- God reminded me who I am in Him.
2- God reminded me of who He is.

Both really reached me deeply and I am praying constantly that the impact is everlasting. I could write sooooooo much about all the other awesome things that happened while we were there but I don't think its possible! We came back to FL feeling refreshed, encouraged and loved. God's people are so good and we can not wait for what He has in store for us next.

Stay tuned for pics from my upcoming trip to Cali! Take care yall : )

New Day

Thank God for new days. That is what I am most thankful for today. The gift of a new day and another chance to see my God work in my life. Getting married to my husband was by far one of the best things that I have ever been blessed to do but with marriage comes the humble reality of seeing how selfish I can be. I knew this before but it wasn't until I was so intimately connected to someone that I was able to see it differently. It is one thing to be self absorbed and face the consequences myself but its a heartbreaking thing to see your other have be affected as well. With that said, the Lord is gracious and loving, just like my husband, and both are leading me in a Godly life. I woke up this morning and the Lord put two verses on my heart: Phil 4:13 "I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength, " and Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I WILL answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." I have to admit that I have had these verses memorized for about a year now and this is the first time they actually meant something more to me than just being able to recite them. As "holy" as I like to think I am, I still need daily, hourly reminders that God is good and faithful. I hope one day in the near future I can encourage someone who may be going through a similar situation and be able to truthfully say "God is JOY!"

On a lighter note: I got to see my best friend Alex perform this past wknd!! It was so awesome! I felt like a proud mom and even cried some. I can be emotional sometimes. She did an amazing job and I am so happy for her. We also had a great time hanging out with old friends, family and mentors. We are so blessed! We leave for PA tomorrow afternoon. Hello snow and goodbye rain and humidity! Woo hoo!!

Its Almost the Weekend!

Yay for it almost being Friday! I love the wknds just like everyone else, especially since Mike almost always has them off. For right now anyways. We are taking advantage of that this wknd by going to Fort Walton Beach to visit 3 different sets of friends. My good friend and old roommate, Alex Salina's is performing with the Air Force's Tops in Blue program in FWB on Sat. night. I am BEYOND excited to see her. We both missed one another's weddings and its been over a year since we have last been able to talk in person. So sad. But it all makes this wknd so special! Shout out to Mrs. Alex!

On another note, my addiction to running is growing more and more and I gave into it again by signing up for a 10k on March 17th. I am so excited to have a new goal to hopefully meet. Since my last post and the boredom I was experiencing at the time, things have certainly turned around. I have been crafting, baking, running, learning and a ton of other things! I attached the pictures to show off my "work" haha : ) The sewing class I signed up for also starts this month, along with real school classes. My kind husband encouraged me to sign up for an Arabic class...and I gave in, secretly hoping that since he studied Arabic at the Academy, he will just do the work for me. We'll see! I'm taking that class along with an algebra class. My first thoughts were: this is gonna be CRAZY! But I started my math class on Monday, and I have actually been enjoying it. Now that's scary. Maybe my husbands love for learning may be wearing off on me? Nah. Enough about me though, Mike is still strolling through flight school. I guess strolling isn't the best word but I think you get what I mean. He has been flying everyday and at this rate should be done by late April/early March. Then we will see where the Lord takes us. California hopefully! When Mike isn't flying he is busy leading and loving me, spending time with God, and being crafty. He is currently making us a coffee table! Who knew he had a secret art skill? I sure didn't. I'll post pics of it when it is complete. We also are excited that we have found a new, cheap way to go on dates at least once a week! Instead of going out to dinner once a wk, we have been going to get either coffee or dessert. We also have been bringing games with us to play while we enjoy our treats. We are currently obsessed with Yahtzee and Blokus. It's both fun and inexpensive!

Over Presidents Day wknd we will be in Stoystown PA for a Nav retreat, the one we actually first meet at. Stay tune for pics and info from that!

Happy Birthday Padre, love you!

Just Another Day

Hello! I decided to finally go ahead and post a new update even though nothing that exciting has happened recently. The days when nothing great or terrible happen seem to be the most difficult for me to get through. Please don't get me wrong, I am very thankful when nothing terrible happens! But when boredom hits me, it hits me hard. You can only do so much of somethings, like: run, clean, cook, read, sleep, eat, etc. All of which I love! Now what? A new hobby maybe?! It needs to be cheap, nearly inexpensive and something easily accessible. I have no ideas so I'd love to hear some of your ideas! In the mean, I can think of some great things to do with this time: pray more for others and meditate and memorize scripture. For years  I can have told God that if I only had more time I would pursue these harder. Well, He granted me my wish! The time is here and now. I choose to except : )

And just for fun, here are some pics of my awesomely cute cat! She lives boredom to the FULLEST!