A little thank you letter for someone with a HUGE heart

I want to dedicate a blog post to someone dear to my heart…Timothy Jacob. There is so much to say, I am sorry if this gets really wordy but he is that amazing of a person. I am so lucky.

Where to start with Tim….from the moment I met Tim, I knew there was something different about him. He was so kind and gentle and I fell in love with his personality/sense of humor very quickly.

The first text I have saved in my phone from Tim from September 2010 says “everyone has a story Amber! I want to hear yours.” Wow. That really got me thinking. He really wants to get to know who I am, he is a genuine guy and a sweetheart.  We became great friends very quickly and not too long after that we spent A LOT of time together and the rest is history….we met in September and we were dating by October. I knew he was something special when he made it a point to invite me to Church with him and Bible study at Hamline as well.  Sometimes it doesn’t take much time to realize when someone is “the one”. “You are the real deal Amber” is what Tim told me not too long into our relationship.

One of the main reasons I fell in love with Tim and why I love him so much is that I admire how he lives his life to bring glory to God. I think if you ask anyone who knows Tim, whether it be his roommates, teammates, classmates or family members, they will tell you that there is something different about him. He goes out of his way to help out anyone, no matter how busy he is. He is the most giving, unselfish person I have ever met. In fact, he makes it a priority to give. He is super reliable, trustworthy, and down to earth. He is a true leader and he cares so much about people. He taught me to never judge anyone because you never know what someone’s story is and who are we to judge anyone?

He has taught me so many things about life that I realized I wasn’t really living to the fullest before I met him. Tim taught me that life is so precious that we cannot take any day or even minute for granted. We need to be thankful always even when things are not going our way. We should recognize the gifts that God has given us and we should use them to become the best we can be. We should live our lives to glorify Jesus Christ. We should live like Jesus did and we should put others first. One piece of scripture that I really like and that makes me think of Tim is Galatians 5:22- “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” This is how Tim lives and how he has taught me how to live- as a loving, joyful person full of peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness and gentleness. If we allow the holy spirit to control our lives, this is the type of person we can be. 

Don’t get me wrong, we are all human, and Tim has also taught me that it is OK to mess up, we ALL fall short of God’s standards but that is OK. Tim has also taught me how important forgiveness is. If you can’t forgive someone, you are actually hurting yourself. We should forgive, because we have been forgiven for all of our sins when Jesus died on the cross for us.

Tim teaches me to always strive to be better, to never sell myself short, to have confidence and to trust in God’s plan. He has taught me that I matter and that I am important. He tells me that I am beautiful inside and out which I never believed before I met him. He has taught me to love without conditions and how important it is to build other people up and not bring anyone down. He taught me that in life there are no guarantees, we are not promised a tomorrow, and in an instant everything can be taken from us. Life is a precious thing.

Tim calls this my "soccer mom" outfit lol

Tim has such a great work ethic; success and perseverance are very important to him. He wants to do his best and be his best in everything he tries. He is a great athlete, employee, student, friend, brother, son and boyfriend.

Thank you Tim for your kindness. Thank you for your love and for your support and generosity. Thank you for teaching me how to find the best in everyone I meet and to look at each new day as an opportunity. Thank you for teaching me to believe in myself. Thank you for helping me grow in my faith and my relationship with God. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life. Thanks for being YOU and for loving me for who I am. J

Jesus Calling

I am going to start by sharing some pictures :)

The beautiful Sue Ellen and Kimmy!

Me, Kimmy (Ben's girlfriend) and Tim's parents 

My handsome date :)

My loving mother and boyfriend

Beautiful Bride Lara and her sisters!

Mason!

Driving range with T-man

Eating at Menchies with Scarlet!

Tim, Dan, Ben and their Gpa!

Babysitting my buddy Isaac :)

out for an evening stroll :)

Loving this book right now!

This daily devotional "Jesus Calling" is so amazing. Today's passage really stuck out to me so I am going to share it on my blog:

AUGUST 20
I am God who heals. I heal broken bodies, broken minds, broken hearts broken lives, and broken relationships. My very Presence has immense healing powers. You cannot live close to Me without experiencing some degree of healing. However, it is also true that you have not because you ask not. You receive the healing that flows naturally from My Presence, whether you seek it or not. But there is more--much more--available to those who ask.

The first step in receiving healing is to live ever so close to Me. The benefits of this practice are too numerous to list. As you grow more and more intimate with Me, I reveal My will to you more directly. When the time is right, I prompt you to ask for healing of some brokenness in you or in another person. The healing may be instantaneous, or it may be a process. That is up to Me. Your part is to trust Me fully and to thank Me for the restoration that has begun.

I rarely heal all the brokenness in a person's life. Even My servant Paul was told, "My grace is sufficient for you," when he sought healing for the thorn in his flesh. Nonetheless, much healing is available to those whose lives are intimately interwoven with Mine. Ask, and you will receive.

Psalm 103:3; James 4:2; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Matthew 7:7

Thanks for reading! God bless!

Xoxo,

Amber

Introducing Mason Tucker Olson

Here are some pictures and a video of our first couple of days with Mason our 6 week old puppy. He is a good boy but pretty much just sleeps a lot (except at night when we want to sleep). He kind of keeps us up at night and Tim and I switch off letting him out every 2 hours or so. We tried to have him sleep in a comfy dog bed inside his kennel in our room but he was whining and crying so I gave in and he sleeps with us. He will get better though he is still really really young. I cant wait until he wants to go on walks with me because I LOVE going on walks, especially in the fall! Right now he doesn't quite know what to do when we put a leash on him. 

We decided to name him Mason after we picked him up and we were driving home. We thought about Toby and Vinny and Bauer and others as well but Tim thought Mason would have a lot of meaning for us since we got him when we moved to Mason City. We don't know how long we will be living here but now we will always remember it :) Dog names are kind of hard to think of. We already have our human baby names picked out for our future kids :) haha yes I know we are a little weird but we can dream about the [near] future right ;) 

They were "playing" in our room and I found them both passed out :)

Tim eating the pickled eggs he made

carrying around his favorite toy

Friday's Letters

Dear summer, you are going by so fast. I LOVE fall…its my favorite season of all time but STILL the summer is flying by...slow down a little bit please :) 

Dear babe, thank you for all that you do for me. Thanks for working so hard and staying positive all the time. Thank you for encouraging, supporing and loving me. You are the best. This weekend is going to be a BLAST finally we have no mandatory plans we can just relax and have us time. We get to play softball, run together, grill out and have a bonfire yessss J I cant wait for our washer board game to get here so we can play in the yard every day! and p.s thanks for kicking my butt in ping-pong today...I will beat you next time don't worry

He makes popcorn on the stove EVERY night :) 

Dear Aubrey, happy 2^nd birthday. You are so stinkin cute I cant stand it, stop growing up so fast!

Dear Scarlet, YOU are ADORABLE. I just love you to pieces. I don’t get to see you often but when I do I enjoy every second of it. You babble nonstop, I wish I knew what you are saying. You are getting so big and I love love love you.

Dear future puppy, we cant wait to be your parents and spoil you, walk you, and snuggle with you

That is all for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

Xoxo,

Amber