A Story of Hope

I can not believe how much earlier Christmas comes every year! However, it is here. It has arrived.  I am feeling the extra pop in my step, I am hearing the holiday tunes in my ears, and I randomly have spurted out the words 'Merry Christmas' a few times to random strangers through out the Tri-Cities. It is so funny what Christmas can do to you. I think that it definitely can bring out the best in us, but also the worse.

As it is the holiday season, Brock and I have found ourselves traveling more than usual. We got to spend Thanksgiving week in Bend, Oregon with my mom's side of the family. It was the first time since Labor Day weekend that my immediate family had all been together.

I wish I had words to describe how special it is to me when we are all together. The amount of laughter, love, and chaos that goes on, is so priceless. I found myself soaking in every little second and breathing in a little deeper in those minutes because I want them to last longer and longer. The older I have gotten, the more I have realized how blessed I am to have grown up with such solid parents to lead us and such wise siblings to follow after. I am so in love with my family. :)

For a present for our Grandparents, we took pictures on their beautiful property.  

This past weekend, Brock let me go have a 'Girls' weekend' in Pullman. On Sunday, my little brother and I went to the church that I went to all through college. The pastor had such an amazing message that made me immediately reflect back on the meaning of my blog's title 'Nothing but Clay'.

My whole life I have grown up with the story of  'Jesus being born in a manger' being ingrained in my head. With my wild imagination, I pictured this beautiful barn, the cattle and other animals surrounding Mary and Joseph, and it being this beautiful experience. However, my imagination bubble was popped when I went to church this Sunday. For some reason, I had never truly studied what really happened that night. For one thing, I think it may be because I wanted it to be beautiful. Jesus deserves only the best. As the pastor showed pictures and examples of what the actual night of his birth may have looked like, tears began to fill my eyes. I wish I could go in to details of how uncomfortable, cold, and un-magical this night was for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. However, I will leave that up to you to research.

Especially during the Christmas season, I have found myself obsessing over things! Its sick. Or I find that I have higher expectations for things to go perfectly. It is something about Christmas, that we as Americans, assume that everything will be better. It is another time of the year where like to mend our cracks and holes (so no one will see them) in order not to ruin the holidays.

The real story of Christmas was a great reality check. There are too many times where we think that God is not here when things are not going the way we think things should go. However, if we look at the real Christmas story in its context, we will realize a few humbling facts.

Divine incarnation came next to cow pies, sheep manure, in a cold clammy dark dungeon.

 I now realize that God had to come this way. For example, if he would have been born as a king,  it would have made him inaccessible to anyone less than elite. BUT, since Jesus was born to us this way, it makes a world of a difference.

 In my translation, Jesus being born this way is him saying that:
'There is no one lower than me. There is no one so low that you can't find me.  There is no one so low that can't be redeemed, reconciled, or loved by me.'

This is the REAL beauty of the Christmas story. The way that it happens gives people like you and me access to God. It is so exciting to know that it doesn't matter what we have done, how damaging we have been to ourselves or others. Jesus came here for ME. That is good news. This is the real story of hope. A gift that is worth celebrating.

My Steering Wheel is Your Steering Wheel

Good morning! 


The weather is sure a lot different than the last time I blogged. I now am wearing flannel pajamas, wrapped in a blanket, and the ground is sparkling with frost. Winter is officially making its entrance in to the Tri Cities. I can not believe that it is already the end of October. Where does time go? Brock and I just realized that we have almost been married 5 months. What?! 


We have so been enjoying the married life. I guess the saying, "time flies when you are having fun", has a lot of truth to it! 


When Brock read my first post the one and only thing he had to say after reading it was, " You didn't say anything about Bentley!" SO, without further delay, I better introduce you to our kitty, son, baby, and terror Bentley Ingman (and yes he does have a couple extra fingers).

He could possibly be the most spoiled kitty I know. We have already had a night of staying up with him cause he was sick, put up posters from him running away for two days, and I even got the opportunity to participate in his neutering surgery with Grandpa Ingman. You could say we are a little attached. :) Yes. We are the couple that takes him on road trips with us.


I have been having such a blast with this new adventure I am on. It is so obvious that God's hand is at work in it because I have been doing so much growing. It has been so hard but so beautiful. It is so sweet to only  begin to understand what marriage means. I am so thankful for Brock, who has gone above and beyond my expectations of what I thought my husband would be like. We are having so much fun growing together in the good times and bad. 


With my free time (whenever that is), I have been enjoying learning to cook, organizing the house, and decorating! Do I sound like a housewife or what? Who knew it took so long to fill a house. Here are a couple pictures of my progress.

We still have a long ways to go, but we are having so much fun making it feel like a home. We ate our dinners on the floor the first three weeks, so we are feeling very thankful for furniture! :) I will keep the decorating status updated on here. 


Recently I was reading an article on a man who was driving down a highway and his steering wheel suddenly popped off. This left him completely as a victim to his car. As the article continued, he talked about how completely helpless he felt. Feeling so frustrated that there was literally nothing he could do, he had to  sit back and see where his ride was taking him. Although his car did end up crashing, he ended up with barely a scratch.


Lately, I can so relate to this man's feelings. God has made it so apparent in my life  that I MUST rely on him. 


At the end of Genesis, God chooses a small group of people to become his teaching nation and to be living examples. In order to shape them, God took these people to places that were beyond their control. Isolating Israel in the wilderness, they could only look to Him to be their source of life and to provide for their every need. 


Like Israel who had no control over their survival, I have had no control over my own life. The more I have tried to steer life in the direction I think it should go, the more God shows me that my steering wheel is meant to be His. However, I am so thankful that he does this. When I allow him to take control of my life, I am reminded of the sweet peace, satisfaction, and protection that he gives me. Unfortunately, there are things in my life that my hands like to cling on to. Little by little, God helps me pry open a finger one at a time until my hands are wide open, available for him to take and do whatever. 


Living in this new city and not knowing anyone has been so challenging in a lot of ways. I also am trying to learn  this new role of being a wife and owning a home. These last five months have been full of surprises, good and bad. I have seen how God has blessed my life in so many ways and also where he has forced me to learn and grow from hard times. 


It is completely obvious that God knows what he is doing. So, Jesus, my steering wheel is your steering wheel! Where are we going? :) 

First one.. here we go!

Hi Everyone!

I am completely new to this. I have never blogged before. However, I have completely fell in love with the idea of blogging. Let's hope that this idea is as beautiful in real life! I haven't quite decided what the purpose of this blog is. Mostly, to update and give insight on what is going on at the Ingman household. Due to the fact that I recently have gone through some serious life changes including: finishing college, getting married, owning my first home, and moving to a new city, I decided that some processing was also important. I am hopeful that this will also help me stay connected with all of my truly missed friends and family from Seattle to Boise, whom I feel so far away from.

READERS BEWARE: I may or may not edit my blogs. Please, in advance, forgive me of any grammatical and spelling errors you may see. :)

I can't believe how hard it was for me to decide on a name for this blog. I knew that I wanted it to be centered on God but also have to do with me and this life that I live. I once heard a talk on how people are like clay pots. We are meant to be molded, shaped, and sculpted in to who God intends us to be. However, so many times when we get a 'scratch' or 'crack' we try to paint over it or mend it before anyone sees it in fear that someone will judge us. We try to take our pots' shape in to our own hands. I began to think about how beautiful it would be if we didn't cover things up. If instead, we walked around exposed, REAL, and humbled by our errors and the mistakes we had made but had also learned from. What a different world that would be?


There is a verse that I always like to remind myself of: 
"O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand" Isaiah 64:8


When God gives us an analogy, I can't help but think that we should look at it more in depth. I wish that I knew more about pottery or had at least done it. However, during a quiet time while I was studying the book of Isaiah, I wrote a few words that came to mind about the relationship between the potter and the clay. In conclusion, I have found that God intends to hover over his creation, centering us, shaping us, restore us from collapse, and transform us in ways that we thought never possible. Thus, resulting in my title for this blog. I want to be 'nothing but clay' for the work of God's hands to have at me!


I am so excited to share this new adventure with whoever dares to read this.