Okay friends, the fashion blog has officially commenced! Here's the link:

http://www.juliellesears.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

So, with MUCH excitement and anticipation, we have THREE exciting announcements! Maybe they are equal, and maybe they are not. And maybe the third announcement has nothing to do with Ben.

We are NOT pregnant. :) I knew you were thinking that.

How should I order these? Chronologically, of course. 

Number one: By the loving and attentive hands of God, I have been given the opportunity to work with children who are victims of the sex industry. Seriously, all glory to Jesus for His passion for redemption and reconciliation. Without Him, my life would be entirely broken. About four years ago, God began to put prostitutes, strippers, and women who are victims of sex trafficking on my heart and mind pretty often. Now, years later, all of that dreaming has come to fruition. My heart is overwhelmed and deeply excited about what is to come. Isn’t God so good for giving us the desires of our hearts? The fact that I had to wait several years for this opportunity makes me realize how huge God is, and how higher His thoughts are than mine. His timing is truly beautiful. 

Numero deux: After a lot of prayer and waiting, Ben walked through an open door to apply to work for the Houston Police Department in addition to his job with the Reserves! Thus far, the interview process is going so well, and it’s looking very likely that he will be hired! This possible job is right up his alley, and we are excited to see what it could lead to! So, really, this is a quasi-announcement. I tricked you. 

Number Three: I am finally caving in and starting a fashion blog. Hooray! I know you’re as excited as I am. Seriously, I’ve been wanting to do this for some time now, and after some encouragement, I’m just going to start. Fashion interests me more than most things. It hasn’t always been this way...maybe it’s living in a large city? Or being married to a cowboy? Either way, I’ve started to really enjoy the challenge of creating outfits and helping others do so on a low budget. Now, let me balance this out. I’m not fashionable everyday, and I find great joy in The T-shirt. This is why I’m only going to post twice a week. 

Now, this is where you come in, my fashion forward readers. What questions do you have about clothes? What fashion-related things would you be interested in reading about?

That’s it! We are deeply excited about what God has made possible. And I’m completely excited to start sharing outfits with the internet community. And I’m sure Ben is, too. 

The Joys of Christmas

Well, hello! Time has flown by, and I find myself (again) falling way behind on updating the blog! Life has simply been crazy, and it continues to roll on! Can I get an amen? The new year, and semester, has begun. I feel slightly (possibly more than slightly) overwhelmed, but in a good way. I read somewhere that we truly grow in crisis, much more than we grow in comfortable seasons. Not that I'm "in crisis", but you know what I mean.

The Christmas break was truly sweet. It was a joy to be with my family in Fayetteville for much of the time, as well as to see dear family and friends in several cities. God has blessed, blessed, blessed us with precious people. (As a side note- I love people, and new friends. It's so beautiful to be sharpened by all kinds of people throughout life. And that's that.). So, to illustrate our break to you faithful followers, I will share the super condensed version.

First- Ben got home from Fort Rucker! There really isn't a better treat than that. We are beginning to see that this season of our lives means a lot of time apart for Ben's job. This is a hard reality- but there's much to be learned from it. I'll be writing more on that later. :)

Then- We drove to  Fayetteville, AR- one of the greatest places on earth. Being an Arkansas girl, it's always good for my soul to go back. We stopped in Little Rock to see one of my closest friends, Leslie Reynolds! She is one of the most fun people in the world. Everyone needs a friend like this girl. After laughing a lot with her, Ben and I headed to Northwest Arkansas. Because we are still in the beginning of our marriage (1 year down, holler!), I find a lot of joy in seeing Ben around my family. It's so fun to watch them connect and learn about each other. He learns a lot about me, and I get to fall more in love with him as he's so great with my family. It's a win-win situation.
                                          
                                                    Here are some pictures from that trip:

I know, you're probably thinking "wow, they really like red plaid." I will explain.

A) We do, because it's awesome. 

B) I promise I changed shirts over the break.

C) The family went to see Asleep at the Wheel- and if you know anything about them, you will know that it's totally appropriate and even necessary to match your whole family in country-wear when attending a concert.  

Fayetteville was great. It was so sweet to get to spend time with my family, which is not so often these day- as we live so far apart! Also, Ben and I got to hang out with my brother David, and his awesome wife, Fran. They are so great together! I love how our family has grown and how God has brought Ben and Fran to be a part of it! They are both so fun and life-giving. 

After Arkansas, we got to visit one of my favorite families ever: The Sanders. This family has been so influential in my life- and we hadn't seen them in a couple of years! They were here from Indonesia, and God was so kind to allow our paths to cross! It was such a joy for me to see Gab and JJ, and for Ben to see Jarod, as well! I'm kicking myself, because I totally forgot to take a picture. Oh well, next time!

Once we got home, we got to see Ben's wonderful family. I love them. His brother Joe and sister-in-law Rachael moved back to the States from Istanbul last week! We're really excited to spend time with them and their precious kids a lot now!

Finally (sorry this is so not condensed), WE GOT A PUPPY! About a week ago, we welcomed to our family little Gus. He's a toy poodle. Bahahahaha. Ben can handle it because he's so manly. Bless his heart- Ben is a cowboy living in a loft in downtown Houston, with a slight girly girl and a toy poodle. God does have a sense of humor. :) Ben handles this new lifestyle so well. (To defend myself, I'm not THAT girly, and Ben got a shotgun for Christmas.) Maybe someday we will live out in the boonies and have wild steers as pets. One day Ben, one day. 

                                                             Here is baby Gus. 

What a hoot it is to have a puppy. This is totally like training for parenthood. Who knew a puppy was so needy? So far we have laughed a lot at how much work he is. But he's SO funny, and will be a great little companion once he gets a little bigger and is potty trained. And anti-barking trained.

Okay! That was the biggest blog post ever, thanks for reading! Feel free to comment if you want!

Love, 

The Sears

Well Hello! It's been so long since I've written last. Life gets so busy around Christmas time! After almost 7 long weeks, Ben left Alabama to come home this morning!! But, his truck broke down about 2 hours out, so his journey will be lengthened quite a bit.

Lame.

I bet he'll get in late tonight, though! In plenty of time for our anniversary on Sunday :) It's been a fun several weeks, full of wonderful friends and LOTS of craft projects to stay busy. But it's time for that boy to get home.

Since it's exam week number 2 here at U of H, the campus is mostly empty, and things are really relaxed at work! This has been a great blessing to me and my coworkers! It's been a good time to recuperate from the busyness, and begin processing what God has done, and what He continues to do. I'm grateful for breaks for that reason. Life is so crazy, it's good to stop and process every now and then. I'll give you a recap of what Ben and I have been up to in the last semester :)

Since earning his wings at Flight School, Ben has worked for his unit for the past several months. I'm so proud of him-- he is really hard worker, and very driven. I love that man! I've been helping at the BSM at U of H, working with students to put on different events to engage students who aren't followers of Jesus. In addition, I've gotten to meet with about a dozen precious young women regularly with the goal of discipling them/walking with them as they pursue God. This is by far my favorite part of this job. I really love each of these girls, and God has certainly used them to mold me and to draw me to Himself.
What else is new? We found a church a couple of months ago! I can't tell you how much our Sunday school class has meant to me as Ben and I have been apart. We feel really blessed to know such fun people, and we can't wait to get to know them more!

Until next time!
Julielle (and Ben)

It was SO GOOD to spend last week with Ben! We are excited for his course to be over in a few weeks! Christmas is soon, and I really can’t wait. I love fall and winter, and all that comes with those seasons. 

So, since we just spent time in the deep south of Alabama (arguably one of the best locations in the United States), it’s only fair to share with you one of the greatest highlights of our time together. 

Enter: McClelland’s Critters Zoo

One of our favorite things to do in life is to discover really random and entertaining places. It’s only normal to expect some southern greatness while in Enterprise, AL. This was no exception. 

When looking for something to do, Ben remembered a zoo that was highly recommended by our good friend Dillon Nutt.  It. Was. Awesome.  Thanks for liking cool and hilarious things, Dillon!

This wonderland is owned and operated by Aussies. How could it not be awesome? The fun couple who runs the zoo (which is in their yard) started it 17 years ago to help handicapped kids experience animals. Eventually they opened it up to the general public to help with expenses. This place is so fun, and hilarious. The next time you’re in  Banks, AL, check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Here are some gems from our experience.

                                                         First, my personal favorites:  eye contact with the animals...

                                                                                 The tiger didn't like eye contact.

                                                                                  The angry cow: priceless!

                                   This is the zoo owner, feeding a marshmallow to the black bear. With his mouth.

                                             And my personal favorite: I was fighting back the tears, can you tell?

                                                                                                  What a stud. :)

                                                                                          That's all for now!
                                                                                          Julielle and Ben :) 

Airport

Here I sit at the airport, headed to visit Ben! I can’t believe it’s already been 3 weeks apart, and we only have 4 more to go. God has proved Himself faithful over and over again, as He always does. It’s always a joy to me when I get to look back on life and see how God has used something to prepare me for something else, or how He’s continued some work He has started in me. In these past weeks, I have realized how very much God used Ben and my dating relationship to prepare us for our marriage. Because we were always long distance, always waiting until the next road trip or flight, this whole season of being apart is much easier. Thank the Lord!! 

Working at the University of Houston continues to be a rich learning experience. It’s so awesome that God does so much beautiful work in His children, and He longs for us to be a part of it- to walk alongside Him as He transforms people. I must say the most rich part of my job is getting to disciple several precious young women. I can’t wait to share stories from this on the blog. More later :)

-Julielle

From 10.30.11

Today was a sweet one. I feel that even in my selfishness and craving for time to do what I want, God spoke gently to me. I am being taught a lot (and slowly learning) about the value of time. I’m learning that the joy, growth and sustainability of love has much to do with time spent devoted to a relationship. This obviously applies to human relationships, so it makes sense that it would apply to the Maker of community, too! :) I love how God created us to be relational. Too often I focus my energy on human relationships, and put time devoted to God on the back burner. He is gently drawing me back to Himself, and reminding me of that. I want to spend this week making time to be with Him. 

This week, I’m taking time off to spend with Ben, as he is about to leave for a seven week training course. The time away from my job has been refreshing and restful! I miss the beautiful young women that I get to meet with weekly, but I’m excited to hear what God does in them while I’m gone. In my absence, I want to spend time daily making room to commune with God and be changed by Him. This has been a struggle for me as I want to be with Ben. Oh, how much I have yet to learn :) 

God is so loving in how He cares for us. Today we were driving and I saw a young boy (around 6 years old) who was seemingly paralyzed in some of the lower half of his body. He was dragging himself on a walker to his mother’s car. Once he got to the van, his mother picked him up in her arms and sat him to his seat. It moved my heart so much. This child had a huge physical disability, and his mother cared for him deeply. It struck me the tremendous opposition (specifically social) that awaits this precious child. It was so beautiful to see his mother sweep him into her arms. God does the very same with us. I want so much to fathom the beautiful picture of God knowing our disabilities, sins, insecurities, and brokenness, but choosing to carry us until the day that He fully heals us. He is the mighty Father. I pray that I will never forget that image. How beautiful our Lord is!

On a more trivial note- I’m weighing my commitment to Facebook! I feel like God has shown me some things that arise within me that Facebook provides the environment for. Two things in particular have stuck out to me. I’ll share these things because I feel like realizing them has given me some clarity- so please know that I don’t feel like these are universal issues. Facebook is a really fun resource. 

1. I love looking at people’s pictures and learning about their lives. While this is harmless, and a big part of Facebook, I find that it can produce a false sense of intimacy and closeness to people. 
2. More importantly, I’ve noticed that I can love and think on aspects of other people’s lives and ignore the beauty of my own. It has been so sweet to spend today letting the Lord remind me of the wonders in my life, my marriage, my home, etc., instead of fixating on other people’s lives. 

So- those are a couple of reasons why I’m going to spend much less time on Facebook- even though I love it! 

Until next time :)

Julielle