Why he is the one...

There is a song by Ben Folds called The Luckiest.  I think it fits perfectly.  I truly feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world.  Not only did I find the perfect man for me, but I know he is the one God picked as well.  Here are a few reasons why...  (p.s... this is kind of a gag post.  Sorry in advance :)

He loves me unconditionally.  When I decide to break out into an awkward dance or sing Mariah Carey at the top of my lungs...he laughs and says Oh babe.  Sometimes he sings along ;)  shhh.

He is the perfect balance.  He definitely has the tough, rugged, Marine side to him, but he also is compassionate and communicates well.  I'm so thankful he can separate work and home.

He is my hero.  His dedication to his country and his mission is something I've never known before.  He is so selfless.  I am learning so much from him.

He loves to be playful and has a witty sense of humor.  As much as I whine when he holds me in his farts or scares me when I walk into a room... I love that he is such a kid at heart.  He ALWAYS is making me laugh.  Usually to the point of tears.  :)

He is honest and loyal.  I know without a doubt that I can trust him.  That is one of the greatest gifts to me.  

He is Adventurous.  Spontaneous.  Dangerous.  There is something pretty sexy about that.

He shares almost all of the same interests as me.  I really wish he wouldn't complain so much when I want to watch The Devil Wears Prada... but I guess I should be thankful he is a good sport.  We love to play games, watch sports, spend time with our families, and hang out at cool local pubs.  

He is super supportive when it comes to being away from home.  He knows how close I am with my family and is always offering to let me go home at any time if I need to.  He also hugs me when I cry because I just miss them so much.

He lets me be me.  I know I'm anal sometimes and I like things certain ways.  I love holiday decorating and celebrating everything.  I like to bake and be creative.  I'm always wanting to start a new project.  He is pretty great at letting me do my thing.  He only reminds me to not get too crazy.  :)  

He is my safe haven.  I think if we can live through the Tunisian revolution together, we can survive anything.  Even though we weren't together through that scary period... just hearing his voice and reassuring words were all I needed.  He helped me through the most difficult time in my life.  This picture is from the first day we were allowed out!!

He is the most amazing protector and provider.  He is my superman.  I feel like he could take on the world and anyone who messed with me.  It's a pretty great feeling to have such a tough man by your side.  :)  I feel so safe in his arms.  I just love it.  

(yes this thing was trying to rent a room for the night...thank goodness Marshall was home)

He is going to be the most amazing daddy.  I think it was the first thing I fell in love with...  When we were in Burundi together and he came out to play with me and the street kids, he was a natural.  He jumped right in and started kicking the ball around with them, picking them up and swinging them.  Hugging them.  Being involved.  He cared.  Genuinely...  and it stole my heart.  

He loves Jesus and shares great conversations with me. 

He is very respectful.  Although he can be quite the smart ass and funny guy, he has utmost respect for so many people.  I admire how he handles relationships.  

He just makes me the happiest girl in the world.  From the beginning of our relationship, a song would play often that we fell in love with.  Its One More Day by Diamond Rio.  It has kind of been our theme song, because all we ever prayed for was One More Day together.  God has blessed us more than words can explain... and nothing will make me happier than spending the rest of my life with this man.  I can't wait to be Mrs. Jessica Blair and start a family together!!  

Take time today to tell someone how much they mean to you.  Each day is definitely a gift...cliche or not, its the truth.  Happy Hump Day!!  xoxoxo

My first day of work in...

I don't even know how long.  Being overseas with Marshall is one of the greatest blessings to me.  I get to spend everyday with the main man in my life.  With it is also a cost.  As a lot of you overseas spouses know, you kind of lose your sense of identity a little bit.  You no longer have your job, your car, your belongings, your friends, family, hang outs, comfort zones.... everything pretty much stays put in the U.S.

For me, I would give up anything to be with him and for him to not be deployed.  That's ridiculously scary territory and knowing what his job is... I'd prefer to keep him close to me.  So you adjust.  You make do.  You try to fit in and adapt... make new friends and try to read foreign food labels so you can cook dinner.  Don't get me wrong, we are extremely lucky to be able to experience other cultures and live in beautiful places.  Its amazing and I am definitely grateful for that aspect.  

But you still have your day to days.  Where you have to make yourself do something productive instead of just laying around watching Desperate Housewives online.  You really don't have that good friend to call and go to the mall with and to lunch.  And for me, its borderline impossible to get a job because of the work permit allowances in Malta.  As far as embassy jobs, a family member always out ranks me, so I'm dropped there as well.  

Thank goodness for my friend Heather who works for an event planning company and posted about needing part time help.  I went in for an interview and was accepted into their team.  It's an awesome company that hosts a wide variety of events for companies and businesses traveling to Malta.  Today I got called to work!  WOOO HOOOO!!  Not working in a few years definitely hinders your normal purchases and its been a huge sacrifice for me.  But I'm so glad to be doing something here and there.  

What we did today was hold a team building exercise down on the beach for a Swedish Company.  There were about 130 people (99% men), but very diverse nationalities.  We gave each team (13 total) 3 decent size pieces of cardboard, a bunch of plastic, two wooden oars, and tape... and they had to make a boat out of that.  Each team then had to have 1-2 people go in the boat and around a buoy and then back.  We gave them points on how fast they were, originality, and team logo design.  It was funny watching them try to figure out what to do.  It also was super windy and freezing out, so I give a lot of credit to those who got in the water.  

 (this is just a random picture I found online... I didnt take any today)

My job?  I had to help the rest of the team set everything up, help with questions during the event, and then tear down at the end and clean up.  It was soooo great to be around people and be social.  I loved it.  Not a bad day in the office at all.  I hope they call me again for more events.  I know winter is pretty slow, but hearing about all the fun stuff they do in the summer has me excited :)  Its great to feel like a person again!  Or to have purpose :)  

I'm also trying to get involved in the refugee camp here.  They are super picky about who they allow to volunteer which is weird to me, but I'm trying to get in.  I'd love to volunteer at least once a week and I know Marshall wants to go as well.  So I think that will help to.  

I hope you are having a great start to your week!!  Sending big hugs to all my friends overseas who might need one today!!!  xoxo

Tim Tebow.

I thought I would post some random facts about Tim Tebow because he is such a hot name right now.  Well more than just a hot name, but you know what i mean ;)  I think its stinkin amazing how this man proclaims his love for Jesus and his dedication to his faith.  I think its cool that he doesnt do things to draw attention for himself, but because he genuinely just wants to say thanks to the Lord or pray before a game.  He is who is he...and he isnt afraid to stand up for what he believes in.  He is passionate and humble.  Always giving praise to everyone else.  I think we could learn so much from watching how Tim lives his life.  He is definitely an inspiration to me!  

The hot quarterback was recently linked to Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, but quickly denied the rumor.

Tebow is single!

Deeply religious, Tim has made a personal, public declaration — he’s a virgin.

Tim spends a lot of his off-time at the hospital with sick kids.

Tim, a Heisman Trophy winner, doesn’t take himself too seriously. The 24-year-old’s funny outtakes can be seen on his DVD, “Everything in Between.”

The youngest of five children, Tebow was born in Makati City in the Philippines, to American parents who at the time were serving as Christian Baptist missionaries.

Doctors told Tim’s mother not to go through with the pregnancy due to life-threatening complications, but of course, she refused… and a talented athlete was born. 

Tebow was homeschooled by his mother, who worked to instill the family’s Christian beliefs. When the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, Tebow was allowed to play football for Nease High School, under a law that specifies homeschooled students may participate on the team of the local school in the school district in which they live.

As one of the most highly recruited quarterback prospects in the nation, Tebow received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida from 
2006 to 2009.

Tebow was awarded the Heisman Trophy in 2007.
 
In 2010, a new rule for the next NCAA football season, dubbed “The Tebow Rule” by media, banned messages on eye paint. Tebow frequently wore references to biblical verses on his eye black, which resulted in huge Google searches during or shortly after the game.

When Tim Tebow wore John 3:16 on his eye black to a certain game, over 92 million people looked that verse up on Google. That means over 92 million people heard the Gospel just because one man took a stand!!  

Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010, and on July 29, signed a five-year contract with the Broncos that had a base value of $11.25 million. In 
2011, he became the team’s starting quarterback.

With his unorthodox skillset, frequent expressions of religion, and ability to help his team win, Tebow has attracted unprecedented praise, criticism, and 
attention from the sports media and beyond.

After Sunday's game...  It also set a Twitter record. Presumably after the touchdown, although it doesn’t clarify, Twitter had a record 9,420 tweets per second about Tebow. That’s the highest ever for a sporting event. (If that’s for the entire game, that’s even more impressive.)

For perspective, that’s more tweets per second than for the Royal Wedding (3,966), the raid on the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed (5,106) and Steve Jobs’ death (6,049).

 Won’t you be his neighbor? Tebow was recently voted the best celebrity neighbor for 2012, with 11 percent of voters saying they'd like to see him pull up in the next driveway. Tebow edged some A-list names for the honors: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (10 percent), and Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux (9 percent of the vote).

I feel like the more I read about him, the more I love the guy.  What a stud!  I dont know if you read this or not, but one of Tim's favorite scriptures is John 3:16.  This past Sunday when they beat the Steelers in OT, Tim threw for 316 yards and averaged 31.6 yards per 10 completed passes.  If that isn't an awesome God testimony I don't know what is!!  I'm definitely rooting for the Broncos this year to win the Super Bowl!!

One more thing I love.  Check out this article...

Source: Uploaded by user via Jessica on Pinterest

Top 5's...

Top 5 Favorite Foods

5.  chocolate/peanut butter

4.  french fries

3.  pizza

2.  lasagna

1.  buffalo chicken

Top 5 Favorite Beverages

5. Apple Juice 

4.  Capt/Diet

3.  German beer

2.  Diet Dr. Pepper

1.  Diet Mt. Dew

Top 5 Favorite Bible Verses...(ok 7...I couldnt decide)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  -Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’   -Matthew 22:37-39

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.   -

Proverbs 3:5-6

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.   -1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.   -Philippians 4:4-9

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit   -Matthew 28:19

Top 5 Favorite Hollywood Celebrities

5.  Kiefer Sutherland (24) :)

4.  Carrie Underwood

3.  Matthew McConaughey

2.  Julia Roberts

1.  Reese Witherspoon

Top 5 Favorite Countries

5.  Germany/Italy

4.  Switzerland

3.  South Africa

2.  Thailand

1.  Good ol USA :)

Top 5 Favorite Movies

5.  Dear John

4.  Wedding Planner

3.  Dirty Dancing

2.  The Holiday

1.  Sweet Home Alabama

Top 5 Favorite Games

5.  Battleship

4.  Dummy Rummy

3.  Scrabble

2.  Phase 10

1. Sequence

Top 5 Favorite Lazy Days

5.  Pinterest

4.  Strolling through the mall with a friend

3.  Reading a book

2.  Cuddling to a movie

1.  Laying at the beach

I hope you all had a great weekend!!  XOXO

Life threatening...

Life changing...

Life during the revolution.

I think blogging about what really happened during the Tunisian Revolution came about because we had some friends here this week visiting from Tunis.  Spending time with them and talking about what it was like to live during such a world changing event brought back many memories.  I decided to share a few and some pictures I took the few times I left my home.

This is Ben Ali.  Former president of Tunisia and the face that every person in this country could recognize.  His billboards were standing everywhere.  

I'm sure you all know the story of the Tunisian Revolution.  If you don't, here is a very basic breakdown:

A man with a college degree in the south of the country could not find a job.  He opened a fruits and veggies stand on the side of the road.  The gov't came to him and told him he had to close it down because he didnt have a permit (which meant he would have to give a decent share to the president).  He got so fed up he lit himself on fire and died.  The frustration spread and they decided to start demonstrating.  They moved from the south up to Tunis where we lived.  Within days, the whole country was turned upside down.  People were rioting and demonstrating everywhere and starting to fight.

President fled the country and some of his family members got out.  Others were killed.  All their belongings that remained were burned and looted.  Businesses they owned, which was like half the country was destroyed and looted as well.

The military had to pull everyone together to guard the streets.  Many of the police officers were corrupt because they worked for the president.  Lots of conflict of interest.  There were snipers hired by the president to try and gain control back.  They were not successful.  The Tunisians were not tolerating it anymore and together they made a statement... they overthrew their president.  There was also over 1,000 prison inmates that were freed during all the chaos.  This led to more looting and theft aside from the main targets.

One of the things that happened often was destruction of property belonging to Ben Ali and his family.  This Hummer belonged to someone in his inner circle and these people were pushing it out of their neighborhood because they knew it would be destroyed.  They were rightfully afraid that in time it could damage their homes or vehicles that were next to it... so they pushed it into a field and away from where they lived.

The people had no mercy when it came to ruining things that belonged to to the family that stole from them for years.  

 It was very common to see cars burnt up all over.  

The military did an amazing job.  I wish I had all my pictures (from my hard drive) to post because often you would see flowers laying on the tanks from people saying thank you.  We all often took them meals as well because they worked around the clock.  Thank God they were there.

It's crazy that facebook is one of the main reasons they were able to successfully overthrow their president.  Organizing demonstrations, times, places, etc is what brought the mass numbers together effectively.  

They spray painted walls everywhere their gratitude and new freedom!

The billboard that previously displayed a portrait of Ben Ali.  They tore down his picture from every single one.

 One of my favorite outdoor cafes.  This is just a part of it that they destroyed and looted.  It was owned by Ben Ali's wife's family.  They broke all the glass windows and stole everything from the inside as well.

This is my sweet friend Emily who was my lifesaver during this time.  We couldnt really get together too much because you weren't allowed to leave your home, but the few times we did was so wonderful.  This picture was taken the first day that it was safe enough to leave your house.  We went to a cafe and had a drink and caught up.  On our way to this place, we were walking down a path.  We heard loud screaming and chanting and we both stopped quickly and looked at each other.  It was like a crap do we run or what do we do.  So we kept walking slowly and peeked around this corner.  It was a group of like 100 chinese students that were praying and facing the water.  It was something pretty comical but could have been bad.

My home of Sidi Bou Said.  This is also the town where the president lived.  So unfortunately for me...there was a lot of action happening here.  Many of the gunfire wars took place here and a lot of looting.  I had to leave my home and stayed with the Det Cmdr there and his family.  

We had a 4pm curfew.  If you were caught on the streets after that they were allowed to shoot you.  Marshall was restricted to the embassy compound.  It was awful being alone and not having him next to me. 

Scary story...

The one day I went to the marine house at like 11 am until 3:45 pm to see Marshall.  Another marine and his girlfriend were there also.  I didnt want to leave him but it was close to curfew and I knew we needed to get home.  The place where I was staying was a couple streets over from the embassy.  So the other marine, his girlfriend and myself started walking back.  I had boots with a half heel on and a big bag of stuff I had taken to the marine house earlier.  We came up to the first street we needed to cross and as I looked to my right, there was a mob of like 100 people running towards us, waving something, and screaming.  We all freaked out and started to run.  Well I have this huge bag and heels and definitely wasn't moving as fast as I wanted to.  The marine grabbed my bag and was like "Run fast!!"  So we start running but have a little ways to go.  I remember feeling like I was running as fast as I could, but wasn't going anywhere.  Like when you dream about trying to run away from someone but you don't move?  I really felt like that.  My body just wasn't working right.  I dont know if I was just too scared or what.  Anyways... we ended up making it and I collapsed inside.  I was exhausted (and out of shape).  

The same night...

That same night was the worst of them all.  It was the first time in my life that I think I was terribly fearful for my life.  Well every night you would hear gun shots, helicopters, fighting, etc.  Most of the time you could tell it wasn't too close.  Not comforting by any means, but not life threatening either.  This particular night, there was hot action outside our house.  We were near a bank that got robbed and a shooting war outside of it.  So as everyone was asleep in the house upstairs, I was on the computer downstairs where I could get signal and talk to Marshall.  It was about 11pm...the usual time for it to heat up outside.  But this time the shots were VERY loud...and VERY close.  I dont know anything about guns, but I did know that.  I also heard the helicopters hovering over the house.  Not flying in the sky like you hear, but close enough to land on our building.  Super loud.  And the spot lights kept shining through the windows as they were searching the area.  So I knew something was up.  I was on the verge of tears and telling Marshall...babe... I think a bullet is going to come through the window or someone is going to break down the door.  He was asking me what the sounds were like... "ping"  "pop"  "clash"  whatever else...  I'm thinking... I DUNNO!  A STINKIN GUN SHOT IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE!!  He was trying to detect the direction it was going.  He assured me nobody could get in the house (we had metal shutters down).  He said if I really thought the shots were close to get on the floor and lay down.  Which I did.  I didnt want to go upstairs because I wouldnt be able to talk to him and would have to just lay there and listen to it alone... and that sounded worse.  Thank God we made it safely through the night.  I never slept those few awful weeks until about 5am when it all calmed down.  

There are so many stories and memories from the revolution that I hope to share another time.  I can't believe its been one year since it started.  I can't thank God enough for keeping us safe.  I don't know if I'm exactly grateful to have experienced such an event, but I did learn so much during that time.  I think its crazy how you adapt so quickly into survival mode when you have to... and I'm reminded often when I think of those events to not take anything for granted.  You also never know what can happen... even in the safest of places!  It's good to be in prayer and close to God always... not just when you are in trouble!

Hope you had a great Saturday!  Lots of love...