Ben is awesome. Yesterday I found out about a very fancy flower show over at macy's in downtown. I showed my amazing husband and he took me there last night. It was magical. I look forward to showing you the pictures! These are a few from my phone that i took during the walk downtown from our church. I like the big skyscrapers and feel like a tourist even though I've lived there for a good 4 almost 5 years now. The last picture is a little silly and i look kind of like a zombie, but she's my favorite. Mary Tyler Moore. I love you.

I love my husband even more.

We get to begin our trip tonight down to Illinois tonight. I love roadtrips..

 

Theres a lot of love going on in this little blog.

until then have a awesome thursday.

Well lookie here...

I greet you with a giant picture of my head.

Today we calculated our whole rest of the year financially to figure out what we could afford for apartments. One thing I always find awesome is that no matter our situation, God provides above and beyond our need. We believe strongly in the bible verse:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Malachi 3:10

My dad tells a story about how when he was faced with financial crisis, his mom asked him if he was tithing. He replied he could not afford it, my grandma replied " You can't afford not to." While alot of people disagree, I've gotten the opportunity to really practice this concept through my life and I have seen God provide in miraculous ways. Its one of the only places where God tells us to test him. And i think for good reason.I'm not a big 'prosperity Gospel' Advocate. But i am a strong proponent that God rewards faithfulness even in the small things.

We've just seen God work in so many ways. We have functioning bodies, that have fairly low-maintenence. Food in our fridge, a safe place to rest, parents who are believers and who have poured a great deal of blessing on both of us. A lot of awesome influences and eachother. I find myself begining to think about our blessings and becoming overwhelmed at how good he is. Yes, we find stinky mice in our closet every once in a while, and yes, this life can be a struggle...but when you consider all Christ has done, most importantly dying for us, the fact he provides for me on this earth while already guarenteeing my salvation and prescense with him for eternity. Well, golly, He sure is good.

If he does decide to begin to take away, i know we'll struggle. But I have faith that even through that those trials Christ will show us more and more of his provisions and awesomeness (I'll remmeber that I said this for when those trials come!)

We really do have a good God. I hope you are experiencing Him.



in addition to that awesomeness I got the beautiful BEAUTIFUL dress i ordered for CHEAP online. It's a prom dress for under 50 but its sleek and awesome and lovely and perfect for AGM. I have to get it a wee bit altered (due to my shortness) but i'm pumped. You'll see pictures in oh...2 and half months.
It's so pretty its worth it.

and to top it all off. What makes me the most happy young lady in all of the land is seeing this picture of my great-great grandpa and grandma via my aunt:

And my great-great-grandma's name was Ruby. This is enough to make a girl glad till her cheeks hurt! (yes, we will now have to have yet another child. Lucky Grandparents! )

Well, you are loved dear readers. I hope your tuesday is as wonderful as it could be and your finding joys in the little things.

This Place We call Home...

The snow is still here but its melting slowly. Unfortunately its predicted it'll snow again come Friday. Luckily, we'll be down in Indiana while all that's happening. :) I'm looking forward to some awesome things coming up:

Grandpa Sprague's Getting married this weekend!

We get to see our *Potential* new place Next Week and

We get to go see some of our dear friends playing in a Band,

Spring Retreat,

The Civil Wars Concert (only my favorite band, in the entire galaxy),

Momma Sprague's B-day

Women's Softball

Going Down to Texas!

Running a 5K with Ben (yes you heard that right!)

and more...

We're so blessed!

P.S. I got a new phone and got to spend so much sweet good time with my  momma, pictures of those to come!

P.S.S. this morning we found a jumongo Mouse in our mouse trap, we never even set the trap.... We feel like it was a good decision to turn our notice yesterday....We're pretty sure we should go into extermination business in that we've already killed over 10.

 Eek.

P.S.S.S. Today's my first run of the Spring! Say hello to my hot spandex pants and my even hotter owned-since-high-school tie-dye shirt. Hello old friends.

if i was 70 and i wrote myself a letter, this is what i would say to myself

If I was a young gal, younger than now, I think this is what I would like to know for today...

Brittany,

I gotta tell you, your life turns out awesome.

You’ll someday meet a man who has a beard. He’ll end up being your soul mate(whatever that really means, he is definitely it.)He’ll celebrate you, and cherish who you are. He’ll work hard to support you, and you’ll be able to even buy a pretty dress now and then. And when you put it on, he’ll tell you you look beautiful. He’ll actually be a better boyfriend after you get married then he was before! Just wait, you’ll see. He’ll bring you flowers to surprise you and say all sorts of sweet things. Not like movie stars. Even Better, because the statements are real and unrehearsed and so genuine you can feel it.  Remember that and be sure to say thank you.

He talks about traveling a lot. And you’ll love it. You guys will plan your adventures, and save your pennies to go on them. It takes a while, but it makes it sweet when the reward does come. He’ll make all those dreams and lists you keep marking down actually happen. Yes, he’ll even help you dye your hair all those silly colors (which will turn out to be quite the event.) He’ll make you laugh in  the deep way where you feel beautiful and understood and perfect in this world at this moment. And when you look around, you’ll be amazed at what can happen in a tiny magical apartment with green walls while eating fruit popscicles.

I’ll be honest though. He’s not perfect. But you’ll never meet a man who tries harder. That’s an honest statement, not some silly one. He works so hard just so you can enjoy life together. Please, learn this now: It’s not fair to compare him. Please don’t. It’s not worth it. If you were to change ‘this’, you’d have to exchange ‘that’. And honestly, if you lost 'that' during the change it would be a devastating pity ( PLUS, 'this' really isn't valuable, not compared to 'that'.)  I hope you see it when you’re young and don’t’ take 20 years of griping to learn this (for his sake and your own.) I hope you don’t live your whole life like the other girls who measure their husbands successes by imaginary poles and ‘what ifs’. I hope you look at this man-this brilliant, incredible man-squarely and see him in the image God made him. If you do, the only proper response will be this: REJOICE! Who are you that God would arrange for you a man that would spend his life glorifying God and adoring you? Realize it when you’re young. Don’t spend your life regretting; Spend it rejoicing. You really are blessed far more than you could have ever hoped for. Please don't forget to say thankyou.

Also, sweet Brittany, stop fretting about everything and learn that Jesus really does answer things. You’ll have multiple times (millions really) in your life when you think “What ever will I do?” Just to find the most perfect answer after just 5 minutes of prayer and the Word. Sadly it generally will take you 3-4 days of fretting to finally resolve to go to Him. Learn to do this sooner, it will save you time and sanity and will allow your husband to not be so confused as to why you're so grumpy.. Plus, You also look silly when you scowl.
 

Know this: You will look back on this very ordinary day and miss it.


P.S. Be Quiet. You really do talk too much. Your husband isn’t one to waste his words like pennies (unlike one silly girl we know). They’re ten dollar bills and he spends them on listening ears…become a good investment. He certainly is.

P.S.S. You will always have freckles, they're just bigger at 70 and we call them something else.

See you at the Party.

Love,

Your good lookin self (at least your husband still thinks so)

Number 2394 why i love m husband

Early in the morning, when the alarm goes off,, we hit the snooze 3-4  times before getting out of bed, Ben then  always gives me 4 more minutes after he's gotten up. This is another awesome reason why I love my husband! He doesn't even complain that i make him late or that I haven't made a real meal all week, and thus we've been eating out like we're famous people.


Also, Ben's sexy gray hairs (he's had them since middle school) Make him look distinquished. People think i'm older than my measley 21 when I'm with him, even though we're just wee babes. Here's to pretending to be famous and distinguished and having more styrofoam take out in our fridge than real food.

p.s. sorry for not taking pictures in a gazillion days. we get oh so busy. and it keeps snowing. These things keep us tucked away in our magical little apartment watching 3rd Rock from the Sun and Veronica Mars. Excuses, excuses.

Luckily we're going home this weekend to celebrate the awesomeness that is my Momma! for her birthday! Hooray!

Things that make life better

I'm learning some very important things about life. These are the things that in my opinion, make life awesome.

1. TOMS Shoes. Yes They made it to number one. They make me feel hip and giving all at the same time. And the fact that i match every high-schooler at the caribou makes me laugh. At least i don't have diamonds all over my pants...
2. Red lipstick and red nailpolish is just classy.
3. A Nalgene that has lasted longer than most of my friendships and is covered with the stickers of awesomeness. Although i'm refusing to admit that little black thing at the bottom is mold (ew) and i have no idea to find out and clean it, I am convinced that this nalgene will last me forever, and we will thus see many great sights, i might even bring it when i birth my first child.
4. Deciding all our childrens names, so many infact, that we're going to have  more kids to fit all of them in. Or, just have children with 4 middle names.
5. Quiet days at the office where everyone leaves because of scary snow and i'm the only one left. Why yes, I am awesome. And yes, i am scared to leave the building. (This is the one situation, when wearing my toms was not a good idea this morning....oops)
6. Bible study. Because there you find the coolest friends in the world.
7. Husbands that are awkward dancers, but dance anyways. Yes, that's you John Benjamin. Extra points for not telling me i'm even more awkward then you (yes, i know its true)
8. The decision to buy only skirts for the rest of my life. Because they are a)flattering and beautiful b) so magnifecently classy and c) make me feel incredibly happy.
9. New apartments and dreaming of having a (GASP) Washer and dryer in our apartment. Oh, how wonderful would this be.....
10. Deciding that working out is lame. and should not be done without a primary purpose of socialization..
11. My magical bamboo which grows even faster when i deprive it of light.
12. Having a husband who a)tells me the truth b) takes care of me when i feel sick and c) tells me i'm pretty even when i really could take a shower (Why no, i can't remember when i showered last...) and telling me he can't remember when he showered last either (which is every-other day.) Thanks for loving me, despite my lacking in hygiene.
13. The hot red dye i'm going to dye my hair as soon as Spring begins. and homemade fruit pops. because they're delicious.

The end.

P.S. reading this list makes me giddy.

i love popscicles made of fruit that taste like they were made in mexico

 We had such an awesome weekend. My amazing parents came up (why i have no pictures of them, i do not know....) and went ice skating too! My husband is amazing on ice and he even let me pretend to be a figure skater with him. I'm pretty sure everyone that was staring was staring at our pure technique and awesomeness. Just look at this guy:

 Beautiful really.

Its actually quite a big building. I definately almost ran into little crushing higschoolers a few times, but it was worth it.

After We went ice skating at the Depot we went to old spaghetti factory with a bunch of our friends. I love old spaghetti factory (it was my first time!)

  and then i took a picture of this attractive man for no reason, and decided marrying him is more exciting than graduating college, but I wasn't allowed to marry this gorgeous stallion until after I graduated. Thus, kids, go graduate from college.

 

 After all that excitement, we got to show my sweet parents our church! I was so proud sittin up there with them. I actually started giggling out of giddiness.

And my mom said she loved the stain windows. So i took a few pictures, and was excited at the prettiness of these two.

See how exciting this weekend was?
Hope yours was wonderful too.

It's been kinda quiet....

We've been having quite the busy week (despite the time wasting blog post:P) So much so that we haven't even sat down on our computers all too much. My parents are visiting us this weekend, I get to see my best friend, and we're going ice skating with our friends. I'm excited to show you pictures on Sunday/Monday, but after that we'll be gone for another week (we're taking a break from blogging, and electronics overall to enjoy this nice weather we're having. So, until our next post, and then the next week. Hope you all stay very well and enjoy the coming of spring!

Love,
Brittany

Should I be Proud? Top 10 Best Time Wasters

My Beloved Friends, 

Due to my undying love for you, and my mother teaching me to share, I give you what I have found to be the top 10 best time wasters. Play, Enjoy, Laugh and hopefully be productive with the time you're not playing these games. 

I'm not gonna lie, finding these via How about Orange, is making me pretty happy right now. To see even more, just click on the link and you'll realize her awesomeness.

And now I give you the Ultimate Time Wasters:

#1 Help I'm Bored

 If you want a good ol time of giggles and delight. Here's the place to go. Seriously, You will laugh. And with each click, laugh a little bit more.

#2 Odosketch

The Brushes are awesome. and it made me feel like quite the artist. I think you'll feel the same

#3 What A Lovely Name

Having a baby? Even if your not check out this sight. It's a fun website for Baby Names and it is fun to see all the different ones you can get. 

#4 Generatus

If you want to have the most witty facebook status in the world or the most awkward, here's an awesome place to find it.

Or if you just want to laugh, you can check it out too.

#5 Raindrops

For the Music Crew, I give you Rain Drops

 ooooo.

#6 Nom Nom Nom

Pretty much the most amazing game on the planet. You pull the tail and try to get all the Iams cat food and bonus points for the yarn balls.

#7 Wordle

Wordle makes collages of words, which is very fun for imporant things like scripture, vows, or peoples names. It also just looks cool. 

I dare you students to submit your paper just like this. :D

#8 Official bureau of communication

Basically Mad Libs, but much more official.

#9 Big Red Button

You will,  Laugh you will cry, and you will then realize you've wasted a lot of time.

#10 Sandbox!

Just for pretties.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Thankful Sunday

Reading about the Tsunami and the nuclear emergencies that Japan is experiencing right now definitely weights heavy on our hearts. Ben and I have a place in our hearts specifically for Japan, and if we were ever to become missionaries, we think there would be a good chance we'd be called there. It makes us all the more thankful for what we have and yet all the more urgent to be willing to go and meet needs in whatever way we can.

God really has been working on me more and more to be thankful. I talked a while ago about the 21 day challenge. Boy have i been lacking. In fact, I almost feel like by me trying not to speak negative, its almost like a diet with no chocolate. The more i think of how I can't have chocolate, the more I want it.

There is a book Ben was reading to me the other day about Cults/other religions ( I swear this is going somewhere) It's a nice big theological book describing all that isn't Christianity. The author gives an example that when individuals that are working to identify Money Fraud go to training, the spend hours upon hours doing one thing. The look at what real money looks like. They study it so much and so indepth, then when it comes to fake money, It's obvious. Rather than identifying all the fakes, they just focus on the truth.

I think that's the key to living a life of thankfulness. Rather than focusing on all the things going wrong, and how I am now 'not allowed' to  discuss them, I can focus on Christ and his awesome blessings. The minute I begin to do this. I'm OVERWHELMED by his goodness.  It's been quite the convicting lesson. One that has had me apologizing to Ben for my ungrateful heart, and surrendering to our awesome God.


On that note, while thinking about just how blessed God really has made us, I started taking a few snapshots of our humble abode. There is a lot of love in this place.

Down in the basement of our apartment building, near the garbage cans I found a wooden table. It had some character, so I decided to pull it upstairs (even though it smelled a little.) Ben just laughed. I just recently bought some white spray paint and decided to go to town on it. I'm quite pleased with the results. It now is my new bedside table.

 

She's pretty isn't she?

Here are a few other snapshots of our home:

Things I'm thankful for:

1. Our Home and all the little pieces that show us God's Grace.

2. Sunlight in the morning and the warmer weather. Reminding us that spring is coming.

3. The Popsicle containers we found for 1.50 and the fruit we bought for them.

4. The new TOMS My husband bought me for our 9 months/my birthday

5. The way Ben tells me I'm his S.O.B....Standard of Beauty. And what that means.

6. Dances in the kitchen.

7. Honesty, and feeling the Grace that follows.

8. Jesus, and the gentle way He convicts and shows what he requires.

9. The encouragement we get from Going to church. And the reassurance that marriage is hard, and yes-that's normal.

10. Knowing that where I'm at, is right where God wants me to be.

11. Seeing the potential in smelly garbage, and knowing Jesus died for me paying the ultimate price, even before I was made clean.

12. Seeing this guys face

 

And giving him one of these:

W000t!

Over and Out

Brittany

Some circus pictures

 

As promised (yes, a little late) Here are some of the pictures from the circus. We did have quite a bit of fun. I love spending time with my family and feeling the laughter. Isn't my mom so pretty? I sure think so.

Ayden was explaining to his mom when he went home that we went to the circus and then the Pet (PETA) people were unhappy and were waving signs about the elephants. I think its neat how observant he is. It definitely gave us something to talk about.

We're definately excited for this weekend. I'll be working on Saturday, but we're plannin a sweet coffee date, and ben plays worship. I plan on knitting and going through my closet and clearing out things I haven't work for a year and go through my spring clothes!

P.S. If any of you college ladies  would like some clothes size 6 -8, let me know. I've been getting rid of a lot of cute, but just not worn enough clothes. If you're not in college and might want to look through it too, just email me (brittany.sprague1@gmail.com) and let me know. I'll be sending them off to charities on Wednesday, so that gives you some time to email me  if you want to go through a few freebies.

Past & Present

 After reading Rachel's  sweet post about past/present, I started reminiscing myself. This is a fun little post and I encourage all you other bloggers out there to try it. It's fun to see little snapshots of my life. Enjoy.


Past

* I had a half moon birthmark on the middle of my forehead growing up. It's not as obvious now, but I thought I was special because it was so unique.

* I was a ventriloquist when I was a wee tike. I had the monkey puppets and sang songs for Jesus.  I gained popularity in this awesome skill so much that I performed for my whole school (about one hundred) and also for the Kindergarten/2nd Grade graduation. There were about 250 people there. I've been fighting my stardom ever since :P

* My sister once told me that I was adopted. And then she said "If you don't believe me, ask mom to show you any baby pictures or your birth certificate" I did, and my mom said " Oh, hunny, I don't know where those are.."  (In her defense, she had no idea my sister had told me this) I then had a sneaking suspicion that indeed I was adopted. I believed this until about 12 when I had to get an ID for a missions trips and my mother found my birth certificate.. My sister has since forgotten we ever had this conversation.

* My 8th Grade English teacher was the most influential teacher I have ever had. It wasn't until my senior year of college that I had someone as influential or that impressed me as much.

* My mom and I called our hugs "dancing hugs." We'd dance around the room together and make up imaginary tunes. I love those sweet memories.

*My sister would let me sleep in her bed with her and watch cheesy chick flicks through the night growing up. We would get in trouble because were being too loud. I felt like i belonged so well as long as I was hanging out with her.

*I love my memories of Corpus Cristi, TX and camping out on the beach with our retro-awesome van. My parents, while paying tuition bills and selling their jewelry to pay for groceries,  made time to make the sweetest memories with us. Finding crabs with the flashlight, singing songs on road trips, swimming in the gulf. So sweet.

* One time, my boyfriend of high school and I bought some McDonald's and were hanging out in a parking lot. We got pulled over by a cop and she told us we were looking suspicious. I felt very dangerous. Mean McFry. 

*I punched a boy in the face for making fun of Jesus my freshman year of high school.  Great way to show the love of Christ, eh? I promise I don't do that anymore.

* My Freshman year of college, I got asked out by a boy i thought was sooo cute. He was a skater and looked pretty cool to me. We went on our first date and he announced "just so you know, i smoke pot every weekend and drink pretty much daily." I asked him if he was joking. He said no. First Date:Fail. 

Present:

* I have one of the most awesome, bi-cultural families ever. Our family reunions are insane. We have family from all over, and bilingual. Half the time Spanish is rattling off with my family. Soon we'll even have a Canadian in the bunch. Represent!

*I'm sometimes oblivious to peoples comfort levels. I ask in depth questions, especially when I first meet them. I've heard about 5-6 people tell me jokingly " So the other day I busted out a Brittany Question..." I've decided to not change, and to take these statements as a compliment. they really are genius questions.

* I love seeing marriages go well. They warm my belly and my heart. I see the confidence of the children and grandchildren and I think catching glimpses of good healthy marriages demonstrates the awesomeness of Christ and what he wants for us in his relationship with us.My mom and dad have one of them. My dad will watch my mom walking from the house to the car and make comments like " girls, I hope you've married someone who loves you as much as I love your mom." My mom does the same thing "Brittany, your dad really is my best friend. He's such a good man." 

* I have an awesome skill of doing different silly voices. I seriously would rock at animation or cartoons. I'm pumped to get to bust these voices out with my wee children. They will be amazed with my skills,my husband certainly is.

* I dream of sweet babies, family cookouts, laughter and inviting people we don't yet know to join in on the awesomeness.

*In 4 days I will  have gone an entire month of not buying any clothes (apart from socks.) Yes I am very impressed with myself.

* I have and will always be a small town girl. Even living in the big city I crave the sweet surroundings of fields and back country roads and knowing the woman at the library, gas station, bank. I reminisce about my summers canoeing with my sweet friends and driving along and pulling over to run through fields and run through sprinklers at 2:00 AM. I hope someday my children will get the same sweet memories and have such incredible friends to share her life with. 

*I write letters to people and save them on my computer. I've written to the mail man, my cherished old friends, and family and even a few people that make me work hard at keeping a positive attitude. Someday I'm either A) going to send them or B) have someone publish it and it'll be a biography on my life through all the people that were in it. I think its genius. 

*My Hobbies go as follows: Adventure, Photo-taking, Outside Exploring, Thrifting, Giggling with my hilarious husband, Knitting, Scrap booking, violining/guitaring,and miscellaneous schenanigans

* I have had a handful of people in my life that have seen me as something extraordinary. The way they make and have made me feel about life and about the endless possibilities that I could accomplish has given me so much excitement. I hope that I'll spend the rest of my days on others and making them see how remarkable they are.

*I'm excited to go meet Jesus face-to-face. And I'm excited to group hug everyone that has fought the good-fight and has finally made it home.

Finding joy

God is good. I've found that during the harder weeks this is something I have to repeat to myself more repeatedly. It's been a rough week. Since Friday last week it has really been quite the struggle for Ben and I.  It seems that from all sides we've been having to defend our decisions, are belief in Christianity, and our future plans. The beauty of it all is that while it is a struggle to come up with the responses in the moment, It convinces us more and more of our position on Christ, on our future and the certaintly of God being involved each moment.

Something We've found to be a cool way of being thankful amidst difficulties is to list the specific things we can give Thanks for ! So, for Good ol Thankful Thursday, I give you 10 things that really do make my and Mr Ben's life awesome.

1. Unity. God is giving us situations to really support each other and pray over one another. It gives this awesome sense of unity in knowing that through life struggles, I have a companion to walk through it

2.Chocolate and Strawberries. Chocolate+Strawberries= delicious +memories of summer = excitement for summer = good happy feelings

3. Baths. Its an awesome time to be honest with Jesus

4. A working body. While we've been feeling a bit ill, its awesome to have working legs, arms, eyes, noses, brains. Just the fact that our bodies are functioning is such a blessing.

isn't this awesome?

5. Hearing about the awesome adventures my girlfriends like Ms. Emily, Amy and several others are on or going on. It brings joy to my heart!

6. Ben and his excitement. He makes life awesome

7. Being real. I love the awesomeness that forms in our bible study and with my beautiful girlfriends.

 

8. Bruce the Bat Fish, because he's like our child, just far easier to maintain. Look at the home we will someday have for him.

9. The awesome thing of getting to go home..like home home..like momma bear home.

10. this picture:

and the fact I get to see a baby this weekend.

11. Finding adorable blogs in swedish of pretty redheaded girls named elsa billgren

over and out.