Celebrating Semester ONE!

It has been a great semester of trusting God to start campus ministries in the Tidewater area! We are SO thankful for all God did. Here are a few highlights!



When we work, we work. When we pray, God works." -Hudson Taylor(Spent 51 years sharing Christ in China)

new mornings.

I wanted to chat for a little bit about why my blog is called, "Each Morning is New." It really just goes straight back to Lamentations 3:22-24,
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

Or

God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
(Message version)

Where would we be without this LOVE and without this MERCY? It's there for us every morning which is basically saying every day that there is a day- God is for you, God loves you. There hasn't been a day yet that didn't come with a morning. There hasn't been a day yet that God wasn't for us and wanting to be involved in our day-to-day lives. That's comforting.

Also, I love that each new day really holds a new story. Like yesterday when I woke up I knew generally the plan for the day but I didn't know that I would get to spend part of my night on the phone with a dear friend in NYC or that later that night I would get to hear from a friend that's in East Asia, or that while I was at Sam's Club I would get to talk to an elderly man about life while we were both in the *long* pharmacy line, or that my husband was going to take me out to a fun dinner!

So, the blog title reminds me of these simple yet profound truths. And, it makes me want to make the most of each day that He gives me. It's my hearts desire to start off each morning with a simple prayer--"God, today is a new day from you. Help me to make the most of these hours you've given me today. Help me see people the way you see them and love them the way you love them. I don't want to get caught up doing things that don't matter." I've found that when I do that the day is more full & rich & purposeful. Without question.

things i love, lately....

*Have you heard of Francis Chan? He is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA. He also wrote Crazy Love and Forgotten God. The second one I just finished reading- it was excellent. excellent. For the past 2 months I have taken Francis with me on my morning walks(via the ipod of course). His sermons are all straight Bible teaching and have really spurred me on. He also talks a lot about how living for yourself will get you no where. Put a couple Francis Chan talks on your IPOD- it will encourage your heart to live more boldly for Christ.

*Today is Oct 31st and it's 82 degrees. i love that.

*I love reunions:


I got to spend the evening of my birthday with some very special women. I was so thankful. That same evening I got to spend time with my favorite Japanese couple and their baby:

*Retreating with our staff team. We spent 2 cloudy days at a lake house but it was SO much fun:













*1 Peter Chapter One. So much good stuff just in one chapter. I love it.

*Saturday mornings to read blogs with a latte. Since I love paper products I love this blog: http://parcelpost.wordpress.com/ among many others.

Dog Days of October.

So, about 3 weeks ago I was scanning through a local Va Beach newspaper while waiting for a friend to arrive for our coffee date. To my surprise I saw a small ad that said, "DACHSHUND BEAUTY PAGEANT OCTOBER 17th on 24th ST VA BEACH." WHAT? REALLY? As you can imagine this was amazing news to me. So, I immediately circled the day on the calendar and began the count down.

I just love dachshunds.

Brian and I arrived about an hour before the pageant started(I wasn't sure what to expect so I just wanted to make sure I could get as close to these pups as possible!) When we arrived there were probably 4 dachshunds already there(with their owners, you know). Over the next 40 or so minutes 20 other dachshunds strolled in(most of them wearing cute little outfits). I was in absolute heaven. There was one point that all the cuteness got so intense that I shed a tear.

Here is a glimpse into this blessed day:






















Here are the the pageant judges:


Each dog and owner had to come onto the stage and share the dogs name and show any special tricks that the dog could do:






Here's the dogs waiting to hear who will be the winner!


And, here are the winners: 1st place is the far left. She was fancy! She could jump hoops and twirl!

Needless to say- it was a great afternoon. Oh and about half way through this event Brian leans over to me and says, "did you notice that that we are the only ones here that actually just came to watch- everyone else has a dog involved in this thing!?" ha. good times. just supporting the community events, you know.

Monday was SEW fun.

While I was out in Fort Collins, CO this summer I bought a sewing machine at a flea market for $19 with HIGH hopes that I would learn: A. How to use the machine & B. how to make fun pillows/anything else. So, last night was the culmination of this dream(with a little help).

Below is the sewing machine that I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to use. I even watched random YouTube videos people made on how to use a sewing machine. When that didn't work Kristin and Matt went to work on it.



thinking...



Then they got it to work! Praises!


With a little more help from Kristin I was on my way to making my first pillow!







Yay for pillows! I'm going to use these to add a little color to our bedroom! And, it was so inexpensive to make!

Morgantown, WV

I need to tell you a story about the goodness of the Lord. It all started yesterday morning- Brian and I(and our friend and co-worker Matt) were driving home(which is now Norfolk, VA)from a fun wedding weekend in Pittsburgh! On our way home we were going to swing through Morgantown WV to pick up our other friend and coworker Kristin. We knew we had a good 8 hour drive ahead of us so we couldn't stay very long in Morgantown- which broke our hearts. Before I go any further in this story let me just tell you why Morgantown is so important to Brian and me:
*it was the 1st place I ever did full time ministry.
*it's where Brian went to college!
*it's where Brian and I met & fell in love and then lived our 1st 2 years of marriage!
*it's where I started to like football(Let's go Mountaineers!)
*It's where my heart grew for the nations.
*it's where I met some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life! Who knew that I would meet so many girls that I would grow to love so much and consider sisters!
*It's where I saw SO many answers to my prayers.
*AND so much more.

So, as you can imagine returning to Morgantown for the 1st time after living there for 6 years could be a little emotional. As Brian and I passed by the "Welcome to West Virginia" sign on the highway we got a little teary. We just LOVE LOVE LOVE Morgantown because of all that God did there. SO driving into Morgantown knowing we couldn't stay for days and catch up with everyone or at least see people we care about was a hard thing for us! To make a long story short we scheduled to meet with 3friends at Chickfila at 11:30am. It was awesome catching up with them- it was even better to just being with them! We left Chickfila at about 12:15- we started to say our "goodbyes" in the parking lot when people I just LOVEEEE started coming from every which a way in the parking lot. It was as if it was scheduled but it wasn't. Over the next 15 minutes I got to see close 15 people that I care about so much. And, God knew it. And, so in His kindness they all just happened to show up for lunch at Chickfila. The timing was out of control amazing. Here is a picture of just some of the people I got to see:

Grandma and Asher

This is my Grandma! She was such a sweet sweet part of my life. On August 9th she passed away. She lived a strong 94 years though! These pictures below were taken last year on her 93rd birthday. Some of my favorite moments growing up involved grandma- I loved when I got to spend the night at her house. We would always stay up "late" watching Star Search(remember that?) and Lawrence Welk(ha!). It was always a good time with her! And, whenever I would tell her that I loved her, she would always respond with, "I love you more!" and we would go back and forth with the I love you more thing. I never won! She always wanted to be the last one to say it. She was so cute. I thank God for the time that I had with her.






Her funeral was on the following Wednesday after she died. It was a special time of gathering and remembering but also was just a sad morning as we missed grandma so much. Her best friend, Anna Marie, came to the funeral. I hadn't seen her in years. She was 94 years old too. She was adorable and told me about how this was the 1st time she had left her house in years but wanted to be here for the funeral. Her mind was definitely going(along with her body-she was frail and needed assistance walking) but she said that she could never forget the great friendship they had. Some things just stay with you no matter how old you get.


Later that evening after things had quieted down and everyone had left our house(we had a little lunch after the funeral) I got a text. The text said that my friend Carrie had had her baby earlier that morning! So my Dad, Brian and I rushed over the the hospital to see this new baby boy, Asher Bishop! He was adorable!

The turn of events that day reminded me clearly of one of my favorite songs, Every Season by Nichole Nordeman. This line kept going through my mind, "Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter..." It was just that kind of day-that morning we were walking into a funeral service to mourn the loss of someone so special to us and later that evening(to our surprise) we were walking into a hospital to celebrate new life.

i love bri.

Today is Brian's Birthday! He is SUCH a gift to me everyday! I love living life alongside him. He is a constant reminder that God is so kind and that God is so good.

Since it's his special day(and right now he is on the phone with his mom and dad) let me just share a few things that I really love about him:

*He always jumps at the opportunity to serve someone. Even today he looked out our window and saw a guy out that had a flat tire...before I even knew what was happening he was hunting for tools for the guy. (the guy is now back on the road safe and sound).

*everytime I bring up a need or worry he immediately will start to pray about it for me. Isn't that kind?

*He always has a song stuck in his head and he is always singing it. (usually with the wrong words, but he doesn't know that.) The current song that he can't get out of his head is Poker Face by Lady Ga Ga.

*because I love dogs so much he ALWAYS points them out to me when he spots one. During your typical day he will say, "Look there's a dog Brooke!" at least 7 times.

*He is a RISK Taker!

*He keeps me up to date on what's happening in the news. I now know things about sports that I never dreamed I would know. For example, Did you know that Tarvaris Jackson(who plays for the Vikings) was diagnosed with only a mild sprain of his medial collateral ligament. It was welcome news after the scary sequence in Saturday's practice when defensive tackle Letroy Guion got tangled in the line and rolled on the ground into the oft-injured quarterback. I'm learning a lot!:)

*He gets giddy to spend time in the Bible each morning. He sets a great example for me.

*He loves rap! Esp. Lecrae! One week ago today we saw Lecrae- it was such a happy moment for him.

*He loves to play cards with me. Right now we are having a SKIP-BO competition. The first to 1500 points wins. We've been playing since mid June. I have 1118 points and he has 1342 points! There's still hope for me.

I'd write more reasons but we are off to dinner(Texas Roadhouse- his fav! and a movie- he loveeeees movies)

HAPPPPPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!

Spurred on...

There's something special about being in Colorado every other summer with our job. I love rubbing shoulders with FUN people that LOVE Jesus and want everyone to know about Him. We meet in a HUGE gym. I think there are close to 3500 of us in there. I love looking around the room-- here are some of the people I see:



This is Josh and Liz! They are getting married in November. They are wonderful together. In January they will move to New Zealand and share life and Christ with college students there. inspiring.



This is Jayson and Carrie. They were our dear roommates this summer. They moved to DC a couple years ago to live among the people there and share the love of Christ.



This is Maria and Jason(and their baby Hannah). They rule. They want every student in Pittsburgh to know and treasure Christ. I'm constantly encouraged by them.



This is Mike & Jessie. They just got married in April. Jessie was such a sweet surprise in my summer. We had several coffee/Jamba dates. Her heart is awesome. Their passion is to reach cadets! Isn't that great. In the next few months they will head to Virginia Tech to build relationships with the cadets there.




This is John and Sandy. They have a huge heart for Asian Americans students to know Christ- They live near Penn State and live life with the students there. They are a delight. Sandy inspires me in so many ways!



This is Corey. Sadly his wife Christina and daughter Cora couldn't be out here for conference. Brian and I are always always encouraged by him. They both LOVEEEE people with such a genuine and sincere love. We always feel cared for and prayed for by them. WE praise God for them always. They have given their lives to share Christ with WVU students. WVU is one lucky place:) (side note: Corey asked us to take this picture of him to send to Christina for their anniversary-which was yesterday. Along with this picture he sent(overnight)a plate of Christina's favorite Noodles dish on dry ice.) HOW CUTE!

I could go on and on and on about all the people that have really spurred me on this summer. I love the people I work alongside.

Sunday Summer Tarts with Carrie!

Tonight Carrie and I made these amazing tarts! They are very easy to make and are so pretty!


Here is the recipe:

All American Summer Tarts

Ingredients:
1 recipe basic pie dough
4 c. chopped ripe strawberries
1 c. fresh ripe blackberries
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp lime zest
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp butter
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
-In large bowl, combine strawberries, blackberries, sugar, lime zest,
orange juice.
-Toss to combine and set aside.
-Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
-Roll each piece into 7-8 inch circles.
-Place each circle onto a lined baking sheet.
-Place 1/6 of berry mixture into center of dough.
-Fold up sides of dough around filling.
-Repeat with remaining dough rounds and filling.
-Cut butter into very small pieces and place three small pieces on top
of each tart’s filling.
-Brush sides of pastry with beaten egg and place baking sheets into oven.
-Bake until sides are golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 30 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool completely.
-If making ahead, store in airtight container up to 24 hours in advance.
-Serve with scoop of ice cream.

Serves 6

Note: We added peaches and blueberries plus orange zest.

Here are a couple more pics of the process:)