Just So You Know...

Ladies, if you haven't checked out "Just So You Know," I would highly encourage you to do this! This is a weekly webshow that our senior pastor's wife, Joan Evrist, and a good friend of hers, Carol Maxwell, as well as one of my closest friends, Janelle Kellums, do every Friday. The website also has all kinds of fun tips and great deals for online shopping! :-) Each webshow is about 10 minutes long, and DEFINITELY worth checking out each week.

Check it out by clicking HERE.

Make sure you check out all the links at the top, including the "Get Maxwellized" link to see the latest Carol Maxwell makeover. (Carol is a style guru who has worked in the music industry with all sorts of stars- she's great!) Also check out the "Tips of the Week." They are awesome beauty and do-it-yourself tips that every woman can relate to!

I liked Erin's post, so I am copying her with a few things I'm liking these days...some just recently, and some for a while!

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

I've been listening to NPR for a while, and it can sometimes be a little bit on the liberal side, but I enjoy the news many mornings while driving to work, and I love, love, love the classical music!

MY UGGS

I absolutely adore my Uggs. I got the white ones for Christmas this year and I picked up the brown ones a few weeks ago. They are one of my favorite things about winter and one reason I am actually dreading the end of winter. (although the warm weather will be nice) They are just so comfy and warm!

LOOSE LEAF TEA

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows I love my tea, so I couldn't very well leave it out, now could I?

THE BIBLE (AND MY JOURNAL)

God has spoken so clearly and powerfully to me through His Word countless times, and especially these past couple of weeks, it has been amazing to experience what He has been revealing to me through His Word!

OUR GAS FIREPLACE

This is another reason why I will be sad for winter to be over. My favorite time of the day is in the morning when I wake up, get my coffee or tea and go turn on the fire to do my reading. I LOVE it!

READING

Though I haven't been a huge fan of most of the books my professor's assigned, I do love all the reading I am getting to do for my Adolescent Lit class. I love reading and it's been a long time since I've done much "extra" reading, and even though it's classwork, it's been fun to stir up that passion again. :-)

THE OLYMPICS

They end on Sunday night, and Jordan and I have, for the past 6 years, loved watching the summer and winter olympics together when possible. It just amazes me what people are able to do, and I love watching sports of any kind. It is amazing how many different sports/athletic events there are out there, and how hard people have worked. It's an amazing thing.

Ok- so now your turn? What about you?

A little change...

Since I had a little extra time today, I took a bit and played around with my blog layout. Not quite as polished as some, but I did it myself. (Go HTML editing) :-) I added a few elements, so check out some of our "new" stuff over to the right.

Be blessed!

Weekend Update

First weekend without football...boo! That's always a little bit sad to me, but it turned out to be a good one anyway. Here's how the basic rundown went:

Friday: after I got off work, I was seriously in the mood for hot chocolate. I decided to make some when I got home, but, a funny thing happened. I got home and as I pulled out the unsweetened cocoa box, I saw a recipe on the back for delicious chocolate cake. So, what did I do? I made an entire chocolate cake, just so I could eat one, little piece. I wish I could blame it on being pregnant, but, oh well. I told Jordan those were the pitfalls of loving to bake. Most people wouldn't go through the "trouble" of baking, I love it and think it's pretty easy, so I make an entire cake!! WHAT?! (It was good though) We stayed home Friday night and watched a little of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and did some reading.

Saturday: we woke up bright and early...like 4:50am bright and early...and headed to meet up with the rest of the Ultimate Frisbee team and drove to Chattanooga, TN for an all day frisbee tournament. I, of course, was not playing, but very much enjoyed cheering on our team who finished out the day 3-1! They did great and I was very proud of them! We got home a little after 9 o'clock that evening.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had an incredible service in the morning and a wonderful training for our Word groups afterwards. Once Jordan and I got home, we threw around some ideas, watched a little Olympics, read a little bit, rested and generally did nothing :-) until we finally decided to rent a movie and make dinner at home. I made chicken marsala, green beans and asiago potatoes and might I say, it was yummy!

We have taken it very easy today. Surprise...schools are closed again for snow! I LOVE the snow, but I am getting a little sick of not working. That's what happens when you love your job! I am so thankful for that. But, I certainly can't complain, since we slept in this morning, made whole-wheat pancakes, and I'm getting ready to do some reading and then work on a paper for my class.

All in all, a wonderful, fun filled and relaxing weekend.

If you're interested, check facebook videos under our name and check out the video that one of the boys put together of the tournament. Pretty funny stuff. :-)

Be blessed!

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!

In some ways, this is a difficult post to write, but in many ways, it isn't. As many of you who read this already know, we found out last Friday night that our in vitro cycle was unsuccessful, and much to our disappointment, we are not expecting a baby.

And then as many of you probably do NOT know, also, Friday was my last day teaching at Page Middle. Kind of a long story, but to make it short, I had been asked by the principal to stay through the end of the year, and she had told me that the powers that be were fine with me, a not-yet-fully-licensed teacher, being there. Well, that was not so. A few weeks ago, they put their foot down and forced her to hire another teacher. So as of tomorrow, I will go back to substituting.

So, a lot of change and disappointment in the past couple of days. I could stop there. But you see, I can't...because I serve a God who is so much bigger than our circumstances and sadness. He is so much greater than the sorrow of today, and He brings us the great joys of tomorrow, time and time again.

As Jordan and I sat together on Friday night, not saying much, not really crying, and really just listening to Lord, God met us, as He has before in these past couple of years as we've faced the some of the most difficult things we could imagine. He has filled us with great expectancy for what's ahead, great hope for the future, and great excitement for tomorrow AND today, knowing that with God all things are possible and He will continue to lead us on this great adventure.

I am always reminded of a journal entry I made about 2 and a half years ago during some time with the Lord. I was thinking of all of my "heros" in life: both those I know and those I admire, and I was realizing that the reasons I admired them were not for their successes or amazing talents, rather it was their great faith and determination in the midst of some of the most horrible circumstances: death, poverty, famine, destruction, pain, betrayal, persecution, etc. And I wrote right then and there: "God, if I need to go through the fire in order for my life to be an overwhelming example of Your faithfulness and promise, I am willing to do it. I want to have an amazing testimony for You, so I am willing to go through the tests."

Have I regretted writing that?

Not for a moment!

Sure, the pain is real, sometimes so thick you can grab it and squeeze it. But, in the midst of the deepest pain, I've experienced God in ways I just really can't describe: He is so real, His voice so clear, and His words so life-giving.

I encourage you: no matter what you are facing or what life looks like or you think it will look like for you, do not fear stepping into the unknown because of the potential pain it could cause. God brings about situations we cannot imagine if we truly will trust Him.

He asked us Friday, "Do you believe me." Because we know He is faithful, we were immediately able to answer with confidence, "Yes Lord, we believe." We know not what it looks like at this time, and we are still diligently seeking Him for some clear direction for the next steps, but we are confident in the end result and what the finish line looks like.

So go for it, with all that you have!

(If you would like, click HERE to read my journal entry from Saturday, Feb. 6, the morning after we found out)