The end of 2010!

Wow, I can hardly believe that the year is almost over. It has definitely gone by fast. What a great year it has been too! Since Thanksgiving, I've finished up my first semester of grad school. Now that grades have officially posted, I can say that it was a great semester! I earned the grades I hoped for. I also met some wonderful people in my classes. Next semester begins mid-January but until then I'm going to rest and spend as much time as I can with my family.

The same week the semester ended, we left for Durango, Colorado on a ski trip! Can I just say it was SO much fun?! A few other families went with us and we had two "extras" in our car. Those "extras" were our friend Jeff and one of my best friend's daughter Alyssa, who have both become our adopted family! We laughed more during those 5 days that we had laughed all year. I can't wait to do that again. It snowed more than 30" while we were there and the ski conditions were wonderful! We had fresh powder every day, which made it super easy for Alyssa to learn. For a beginner, she did awesome. We decided that by the third day of skiing she didn't need a level classification...she was just "Level: Mountain"!

We also had a wonderful Christmas in Shamrock with my family. It was short and sweet but we got to see everyone while we were there! Now that we are home, there is so much to do to get ready for the new year.

I wish you all a safe and fun New Years! 

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful in so many ways! This was our first year to celebrate Thanksgiving at our home. I was amazed when I realized this...we've been married 9 years and it's our first Thanksgiving at home...wow! We live several hours away from all of our family and with the stresses of graduate school we just couldn't make it out of town this year. So, we spent the day with some of our friends who have really become our family! It was an awesome day. We ate a cajun fried turkey, watched some football, played with all the kids, and played some board games too. It's an experience I hope to enjoy again soon. :)

The yummy Cajun fried turkey from Razoos!

Can you believe Jeremy actually looked at the camera?!

Randy was SO excited to try the turkey. :)

After the day was over we were all in bed by 10pm because us gals took off to Ft. Worth for some Black Friday shopping! I had never done that before and was quite nervous that I wouldn't be able to stay awake. Well, I survived and surprisingly was able to stay awake for almost 12 hours of shopping! I scored some awesome deals too! That may have just become a yearly tradition. :) 

Suffering for Doing Good

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:15-17

I totally stole this set of scripture from another blog I read this morning. It just spoke to me, in a completely different way than the blog I was reading. So, I went and read 1 Peter 3: 8-17. Just what I needed to hear today. The title for this set of scriptures is "suffering for doing good". As Christians, we will all suffer at some point in our lives, whether it be losing a loved one, having a difficult employer, or hardships with family and friends. This passage was comforting to me today because it reminded me of how God wants me to act toward others. And it also reminds me to always be prepared to speak the truth! So, whatever your suffering is today know that by not repaying evil with evil, you will certainly inherit a blessing from God!

God's Amazing Plan: Part Two

So, part two is here! The big exciting news is only a few paragraphs away. :) I wonder what most of you thought the big news was...I wonder how many of you will have been right?!? I will say it has absolutely nothing to do with another baby. Yes, I have gained a little weight lately but that is from a "cookie complex"...yes, a topic for another day. So, what is this big news? Let me go back a little bit.

A few months after Carson was born I really struggled with what God had planned for my life. I was a stay at home mom for the first time in my life and I had NO idea what to do. I wanted to go back to work really bad, but God kept closing the doors. I knew God wanted me at home but I was fighting Him. When I finally realized it would do no good to fight, I took up the stay at home mom role and actually enjoyed it! During that time I prayed for God to reveal his bigger plan to me because I knew staying at home was not my life long call. So, the doors began to open and I enrolled in graduate school and began that adventure this past August. Just before classes began in August, I felt God calling me into ministry. Now, let me clarify...I have NO idea what being called into ministry looked like (and still do not know what that means for me long term). I didn't share that with anyone because I thought how crazy it sounded....me? called into ministry? I'm not fit to be a pastor. My friends will think I'm crazy! What kind of ministry? Where? How? So, so, so many questions. Most of which I still do not have an answer for. I know getting my graduate degree will help me with whatever God has planned but I honestly have no idea where He will take me and my family. It's actually really exciting!

Fast forward to early September... I woke up one morning and told Jeremy that I felt led to go on a mission trip to Africa. I think my husband thought I was crazy. He just said "yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe you can go in a few years". A few weeks ago at our church's 5 year anniversary service, we learned that a couple was leading a team and going to Africa THIS coming summer. We met that particular couple at family bible camp last summer and I contacted them the next week for more information. Have you figured it out yet?!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying

"who shall I send? And who will go for us?"

and I said "here I am! Send me!"

Isaiah 6:8

The BIG news...
I'm going to Kitwe, Zambia in Africa this summer on a mission trip with our church! I could not be more excited. I have prayed about it, had close friends and family pray about it, and have the blessing of my family. God's timing is amazing, truly amazing. Now, I have no idea where the money to go will come from and I'm really nervous about flying and going without Jeremy BUT I know this is God's plan. It's amazing to look back over the last year and see that God has placed the right people in my life at just the right times and I'm SO thankful for all of those doors he closed for me.

I hope that each of you reading my blog will begin to pray for me and the rest of the team going to Africa. I ask you to pray that over the next 7 months we will become adequately prepared for the work we will be doing, that the money for the trip be provided, and that each one of us would grow in our faith beyond what we ever imagined. I am looking forward to sharing this journey with each of you! Are you excited yet?

This is a picture from the mission trip to Zambia that our leaders went on this past April!

God's Amazing Plan: Part one

Wow, it's been a while since my last blog post so I've got a lot of catching up to do! Well, I'm only 6 weeks out from being finished with my first semester of graduate school. It has been a wonderful experience so far. I've been challenged and frustrated but am learning SO much more than I ever imagined and I've made some great friends too! On the family side of things, Austin and Carson are growing up really fast. Austin is doing great in first grade and is reading so well. Carson is talking and learning new words every day and is only 3 months from being 2 years old. Where has the last 21 months gone? Can you believe they are this big?!

So, I know most of you are reading my blog to find out the BIG exciting news and I promise I'll get there...in part two! I started this blog back in August and have mostly written about God's call in my life. I have been searching and praying for over a year that I would clearly know God's call in my life and boy does prayer work! I'll be sharing some about that in part two!

1 Corinthians 1:9
...for God is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord

Two weeks in

I'm two weeks into graduate school and I don't even know where to begin. I'll start by reminding you that I was very sick at orientation and declared a "do over" first day. Well, on that "do over" day I forgot my lunch AND had no cash on me. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal except that I had no idea where anything was on campus and by the time I found the restaurants, picked out my food, and ate half of it standing in line. I went to pay with my credit card and they inform me ALL the credit card machines are down over all the campus!! Really?! Just my lucky day. So, back to square one...finding lunch. I stopped by my car on the way across campus to get a map and see something on my windshield. Yep, you guessed it...a parking ticket. Really?! Yes, apparently you are unable to pull through a parking spot. So, I moved my car, removed the ticket and proceeded to my not so favorite place to eat... McDonald's! After my classes were over for the day I felt very overwhelmed. The amount of work is unbelievable and I was questioning whether or not I would be able to step up to the challenge. After organizing all the due dates and breaking things down by week, I realized it's all very manageable. THAT was all in week one...Now for week two!

Week Two:

I didn't officially call yesterday a second "do over" but in my mind I was planning on everything going much better. Aside from getting stuck in horrible traffic because of the nasty weather and wrecks, things went great! I even made some friends who ate dinner with me at my new favorite place....McDonald's! My classes were all very interesting and exciting. We are already talking about real life, applicable stuff which is so much different than undergraduate school. I have had to deal with some of my personal biases and assumptions, which has not been easy and I'm challenged to look at issues differently. I enjoy that very much. I'll end with this story and something that is heavy on my heart...everyone in my class participated in a warm up activity in my last night. It was done in complete silence. The teacher gave two options every time and you had to move to one side of the room based on your choice. It started off light and fun and then became more serious and deep. For example, Did you eat breakfast this morning/Did you not, Do you have a tattoo/do you not, have you ever been arrested/have you not, do you have a gay, lesbian, bisexual family member/do you not, are you religious/spiritual or are you not, are you Christian/are you not, Do you believe in heaven and hell/do you not...getting the picture? In a class of about 30 students, 8 of them do NOT believe in heaven and hell and about 10 are not Christians. Immediately my heart became heavy for them. It was all I could do to keep my emotions together. I'm not an emotional person but for some reason I just couldn't fathom that all those people didn't believe in Jesus Christ. You know the saying "Be careful of your actions because you may be the only Jesus people ever see"? Well, it's true people. It was at that moment that I realized my purpose in this world. Yes, it's to help people through social work, but it's also to show people Jesus through my actions. I'm not a cram Jesus down your throat kind of gal, but it is my personal hope that everyone would come to know and believe in Christ. As Beth Moore once said to her brother (who at the time was an unbeliever) "Think for a moment...If there really is no God then your choice to not believe is justified but brother IF my God is real and IF He is the only way to eternal life then not believing is surely death". See, I do believe God is the only way to eternal life and I will be praying for all of those people in my class diligently that their hearts would come to desire Christ, just like mine does.

Official Graduate Student

Wow, tomorrow is THE big day! The first day of graduate school. Last week was "technically" my first week but I didn't have any classes, just orientation. If you saw my post on Facebook, you know that I had a very rough day. I woke up to a very upset stomach, fever, and was achy all over. It must have been a virus because Jeremy woke up with it as well, only he was able to sleep and rest all day. So, I'm declaring tomorrow my first day. I'm getting a do-over! I have seen some of my requirements in my classes and it's going to be a lot of work, but surprisingly I'm not stressed about it...YET!! I know this is God's plan for my life and I know He'll get me through it (with a lot of hard work and dedication on my part). I thought I'd share what my daily devotion was this morning...maybe this is why I'm just not stressed.

Your Great Expectations

Delayed hope makes the heart sick.

Proverbs 13:12

Do you expect your future to be bright? Are you willing to dream king-sized dreams...and are you willing to work diligently to make those dreams happen? Hopefully so--after all, God promises that we can do "all things" through Him. Yet most of us, even the most devout among us, live far below our potential. We take half measures; we dream small dreams; we waste precious time and energy on the distractions of the world. But God has other plans for us.

Our Creator intends that we live faithfully, hopefully, courageously, and abundantly. He knows that we are capable of so much more; and He wants us to do the things we're capable of doing; and he wants us to being doing those things today!

Always stay connected to people and seek our things that bring you joy. Dream with abandon. Pray confidently.

By: Barbara Johnson

Those who are blessed by Him will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:22

The Call

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

I have been searching scripture for quite some time to find out what God's word says about the calling He has for my life. I came across this scripture and it really stuck out to me. For one, it says "the calling to which you have been called"! That means that God really HAS called me for a specific purpose. But the more important part, in my opinion, is the rest of that scripture...humility, gentleness, patience, and loving one another to keep the unity of the Spirit. Wow, what an order for us Christians. Not only should we be living out our daily lives with the purpose Christ gave us but we should be humble, gentle, patient, AND loving. I don't know about you but I know there are often days when I feel like I have a reason to be angry, impatient, upset, or hateful. According to Ephesians 4:1-3, we should not only NOT be that way, but we should be EAGER to behave in a way that others will see Christ in us so that His kingdom is glorified. I have been trying to figure out "the call" for my life over the last few years and it's finally coming together. Now, I know it will not all be easy and I don't have it all figured out but I do know that obeying God's call is important and He will bless my endeavors and give me wisdom to be successful. I will be starting graduate school in 42 days and I'm so excited!

Okay, so I may be the only person in the world who doesn't have a blog (until now that is)! I have decided to start blogging! I plan to blog about my family, my graduate school adventures, but most importantly my faith. I want this blog to be something I can use for God's glory and something that will help me dig deeper into my daily study and walk with Christ! Stay tuned for a blog coming soon...