RiDICulously cute!

Conditional Obedience

Deuteronomy 6:6-9,25 "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.....For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us."

I've found something in my life, and I've coined the phrase, "conditional obedience." Conditional means "subject to, or depending on a condition or conditions; not absolute; made or allowed on certain terms." Obedience means "dutiful or submissive compliance" The two words are kind of a paradox, but unfortunately, I've noticed it in my life lately.

I say I have a desire to be obedient to the Lord, but how often do my words truly match my actions? If our behavior is a true indication of what we believe, then I must take note of and analyze my behavior to get a true read on my beliefs.

I'm not saying I've been horribly disobedient and selfish, although maybe I have?! I guess it depends on the scale to which I am comparing myself. And aren't we called to hold ourselves up to the measuring stick of righteousness, which is Jesus Christ? I guess if that's my standard, I'm doing pretty poorly!

I'm also reading through the book of Luke, and what we see in Luke is a man in Jesus who was FULLY obedient, moving and saying ONLY what the Father God and the Holy Spirit led Him to. So, coming back to conditional obedience...

There are too many "feelings" in my life. Seriously- "I feel tired." "I feel sad." "I feel happy." "I feel depressed." "I feel upset." There are so many things that can happen throughout a day, that the way we align our thoughts must depend on more than conditions and emotions. The older I get, and the more life I experience, the more and more I realize this. I have heard children complain when they are disciplined for disobedience, "but I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that," or "you didn't say it like that." God tells us in His word basically that there are no excuses. It is our responsibility to know the scriptures and it is our duty, our command to follow them precisely.

What I love about this passage in Deuteronomy is that is says to me that God knew how many things were going to compete for our attention and brain-space. (Brain space is what I call the amount of information any one of us can store at a given time. For some it's more, for me it's less- haha!) In our culture, there are SO many things competing for our brain space. But that's why God tells us to make His commands a part of daily conversations. Talk about it in the morning and at night, with our children, our friends, our co-workers. Talk about them at Starbuck's, at Publix, at home or at the neighbor's house. Put them on notecards and carry them in your purse, your car, your pocket. He knows we can't read it or hear it once and retain it. In order to be obedient, we must know the commands.

So, what am I commiting to? First of all: to know the commands of the Lord! No excuses. I must read it, pray it, talk it, live it! And second of all: not to be dictated by my emotions or circumstances when it comes to obeying them. I am asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the areas of conditional obedience, and show me how to get rid of them, once and for all!

Sharing my Heart

There is a song that has been really ministering to me in the past week: "In Christ Alone," by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend. I LOVE singing this song- it's more than words, it's more than a worship song, it's truly an anthem for me, and a story of what God is doing in my life right now! So I decided to record it- VERY ROUGHLY- on Garage band last night. I apologize for the quality (and the rough "punch-in" haha), but I thought I'd share it with you. Sometimes singing is better than talking (or writing) for me. Here are the words:

Click HERE for the song.

In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love what depths of peace
When fears are stilled when strivings cease
My comforter my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the pow'r of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No pow'r of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand

Hopie- My dollbaby!

I realized I haven't posted any recent pictures of my favorite 6 month old....MISS Hopie Rhodes Herrenbruck. Erin sent me some the other day and this one is my new computer desktop!! I'm LOVIN' IT!

March Madness: Sweet Sixteen

March Madness update: 14 out of the Sweet Sixteen picked correctly! (Dylan, aren't you proud?) My second part of the Second round wasn't near as good as the first, but it didn't seem to matter TOO much for the Sweet Sixteen. The only two I didn't pick in the 16 were 12 seeded Arizona to push past Wake and Utah, and Xavier, although I considered it.

So- there ya have it!

March Madness: Round 1

March Madness

For some, that phrase invokes many emotions, feelings of excitement and passion, expectancy about how their team will do or what the major upsets will be this year! Not so much for me. But, since I consider myself a fairly serious sport's fan (at least for basketball, golf & tennis- for football, I'm definitely an AVID fan), I need to keep up with what's happening in all of the major sports, and last night, the first round of games began for 2009's NCAA Basketball Tournament.

This means a bracket is in order.

Jordan laughed at me a couple of nights ago when I was filling out my bracket. "You aren't even keeping up with basketball," he said. "I know," I acknowledged, "but you just HAVE to fill out a bracket."

And so I did, and found myself cheering for Michigan to hold onto that 2 point lead last night against Clemson in the final seconds of the game. Do I know ANYTHING about those teams this year? Nope- don't need to! I just picked Michigan to win and by golly- I wanted them to win! And win they did!

So all that said, I have added my bracket to the right (click for a larger view) And from the first round of games: I got all but 2 right! Today might not be so hot, but right now, I'm 14 out of 16!! Good luck with yours, and have a great weekend!!

I am thankful!

I was sitting and reading this morning, and thinking about how many things I have to be thankful for, and just within eyesight, I saw so many things- big and small that make me happy and that I am blessed to have! So, I am sharing a few with you:



I LOVE books, and I am so blessed to have so many right at my fingertips for re-reading or referencing! So wonderful!



Fresh flowers. $5 at Kroger, and they will last for over a week. Such a nice splash of color and beauty- I couldn't pass it up!



THESE flowers for .33 cents at Home Depot and with the weather getting warmer, it is planting time! I'm excited to start our floral landscaping this weekend and watch everything grow! What a beautiful picture!



I love my tea. Nuf said.



I am SO blessed to have my treadmill (Thank you, Honey!) That is so convenient and so nice to have....now to just get into a normal and regular routine of using it! :-)



And then last, but certainly NOT least, our new (used) washer & dryer!! YAY!! After being without a dryer for over three weeks now, laundry is super exciting to me!! HAHA. Praise the Lord for His provision for that!

So there's mine- what are you thankful for?!

Weekend & Frisbee in the rain...

Our God is so faithful!! I just have to say that! Despite trials and tribulations He brings great joy and enlarges our perspective. I am so thankful for what He's doing and thankful for the amazing people Jordan and I have in our lives. We had an excellent weekend. Friday night my honey and I got a date night- YAY!! Felt like it had been a while. We went up to Green Hills to CPK (Thanks Erin & Dan!) and split a Chipotle Ckn Pizza and a BBQ ckn Salad-MMM,MMM,MMM!!! We picked up a few things at Trader Joe's and then read for a quick bit before seeing "Slumdog Millionaire." It was a GREAT movie and I HIGHLY recommend it. One of the best we've seen in a long while!

Saturday was rainy and a little cold, but the IHS boys played frisbee despite the weather. Stacee came out and watched the game with me, and we had fun sitting on the sideline all bundled up with our umbrellas and our Starbucks. (We have it so tough, don't we!) After that Stacee and I spent a little time together and then I finished the chicken and dumplin's for the Clingers and that's when I got to see precious Rinah.

Sunday we had a wonderful, wonderful church service and then Kyle, Janelle, Jordan and I took their niece Taylor(4) and a girl from church, Addie (7) to see Beauty and the Beast at Brentwood High School! It was SO fun taking the little girls with us. They just had the time of their lives and LOVED it. Of course we had to spend time afterwards getting "autographs" from Belle, the Beast, Gaston and pretty much everyone else up there. So cute!! I took a couple of pictures, but alas, they are on Jordan's phone, so I can't post them.

But, you can enjoy a little snippet of the frisbee game on Saturday. This is a taste of what it was like!

Rinah Joy Picture

So Exciting! I got the privilege to see precious Rinah today, and HERE SHE IS!! So pretty and so precious, and I thought you would enjoy a little sneak peak. Mom & Baby are doing very well!! Praise the Lord.

Rinah Joy Clinger

BABY RINAH JOY IS HERE!!! YAY!!!

Poor Sarah, this has to be one of the worst labor stories I've heard in a long time, but she is such a trooper. Her water broke around 1:30am on Tuesday morning and she and husband Mike headed to the hospital. She then proceeded to be in (natural) labor for 19 hours. Yes, that is not a typo- 19!! She pushed for a FULL 3 hours before they finally decided to C-section her. They then proceeded to hook her up for the epidural which DIDN'T WORK! So, final result was Sarah being put under FULLY and she delivered via C-section that way.

I am SO proud of her, and hate that she had to go through that, but happy that Rinah and Mommy are happy and healthy. Rinah was 7'15oz and apparently looks just like Sarah!

They're pretty exhausted, so they're asking for only immediate family to come to the hospital, but I know we're all excited about getting to see the precious Clinger family soon!

Pearson Story

Okay- incredible, incredible things are happening!! I may have said something before on here about my friend Martha, but this is just too amazing to not post. Al & Martha have been married almost 10 years and have had a long long journey trying to have a baby, with many heartaches along the way. Late last summer, something happened that was completely incredible, and now we're seeing it fully coming about.

(I am majorly condensing this) So, in the spring of last year, Al & Martha experienced their second miscarriage. It was heartbreaking, but still I watched them walk through it with such faith and trust in the Lord- I was amazed!! Absolutely amazed!! Heb. 10:23 has been their "theme" verse the entire time! Click HERE to read it. They continued to trust in what they knew was a promise from God. In the late summer, at an event we had at church one Sunday evening, God led a couple they didn't even know to pray for them and the lady gave them a word that she believed that the number 10 was significant for them. (They celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this June) She also said she felt the Lord was saying that they were going to conceive and have a baby boy, and that his name was to be Jeremiah! WHOA! Al & Martha walked away from that encounter very encouraged, and after praying about what she had said, felt like God confirmed it to them as well. Martha shared this with some of us a few weeks later and we began to pray even more, our hope renewed!

They continued to trust the Lord, Martha even quit all her "charting" and anything she could do to try and control it, and right before Tgiving in November, they found out they were pregnant again. Read HERE for the story. It's been an absolutely amazing thing to watch. Martha's been pretty sick, but she actually loves every minute of it- knowing she has a growing healthy baby inside.

So yesterday, they had their 18 week ultrasound and they confirmed what we knew all along- There is a baby boy: Jeremiah inside of her!

PRAISE THE LORD! HE is SO good! Martha will deliver in early August, just weeks after she and Al celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary, and will begin to watch this promise grow beyond anything they could have imagined.

What are we willing to believe God for? He is more than able, more than willing to do incredible things in our lives, if we will just have faith!

Lakehouse Trip

We had a great weekend. We got to go back to the Lakehouse (I know we've been going there a lot!) But this time, we got to go with our friends, which was SO fun. We have some AMAZING friends, but unfortunately, because we are all in vocational ministry, our hang out time is significantly less than we might like. BUT, we are trying to change that. Anyway, we got a weekend away with us, the Owens, the Kellums's the Hughes, the newly-married Loera's and we greatly missed the Clingers....come on RINAH JOY!!!!

We ate, laughed, talked WAY too late, played games, watched a movie, went to the park, got ice cream, ate some more, prayed, shared our hearts and stayed up way too late. It was awesome and SO encouraging. I LOVE these people and I am SO thankful for friends in ministry. Many people say that ministry/leadership is a lonely place, but I don't agree. God has provided us with wonderful people over us and beside us, and this weekend was living proof of how great it can be. We're looking forward to our next time away together.

Daniel & Drew

Look at these precious little babies!!! This is Drew & Daniel Gill, born on 3/4/2009 at 10:26 & 10:29pm. Parents Jason & Allyson Gill are doing great and Allyson was such a trooper and had them both fully natural!! I am SO proud of her! The one in the top pic is the slightly younger, slightly smaller Daniel (5lbs. 5 1/2 oz) and the one I am holding is Drew (5 lbs. 11 oz) I got to spend time yesterday with them and can't wait to see them more. Jason & Allyson lives just down the street from us and I will get the pleasure of being with them a couple of nights per week for the next few weeks, just helping Allyson adjust to life with 3 kids under the age of 21 months. (Big Brother Reeves isn't quite 2 yet)

I am so proud of this couple, and so excited to welcome these precious little ones into the world!

Hopie goes swinging!

These pictures crack me up! Erin took Hopie swinging for the first time today (I SO wish I could have been there to see her) and at first she freaked out, and then, she loved it!!






















And then- in other big news- she's starting to sit up on her own now!! YAY Hopie!! I got to watch her via Google Video chat. It's just the funniest thing to see her sit up, and then just completely fall over! I guess we shouldn't laugh, but it is funny!

U-turn Shower

Great weekend! We are anxiously awaiting baby Rinah Joy Clinger any day now....Sarah's been having very spaced out contractions for a while now, so we'll see when Rinah decides to make her debut! Hopefully soon!

Another girl and I hosted a shower for Janelle this weekend- for the girls in the youth group and their moms. We had a great time- laughing, playing games, eating and watching Janelle open her gifts. So much fun. We have another one coming up this Sunday which I'm helping host as well. So, for the time being, enjoy some pictures of the festivities:

Snowy Surprise

Most people say they can't stand Tennessee weather. I love it! I mean, where else do you go to sleep on the last day of February and wake up with this on the first day of March?






So pretty! And I'm LOVIN' it!!!