this has gotta be the good life

I just spent {almost} every waking hour with my staff team this week. We prayed. Planned tons. laughed til we cried. Ate cow stomach{well some of us}. We recounted all that God has done in us and in the ministry this semester. We praised God for what He is doing and building here in Tidewater.

We spent our times in the Word this week focused on Advent. The one particular devotional that struck me was about humility. weakness. Here is an excerpt from, "Come Lord Jesus Come" by Will Walker mixed with pics from our Christmas party last night.

God seems to nearly always use the weak, unassuming and humble to
bring His kingdom of peace. Abraham was an old man in the land of Ur.
David was a young boy in the pasture. Gideon was short-handed against
a great army. This is the story of the whole nation of Israel: “It was not
because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord
set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples”
(Deut. 7:7)

The fact that the angels announced the peace of the Messiah to the shepherds
instead of kings and priests is incredibly reassuring. God has made,
and will make, peace with the humble — those who are not dependent
upon themselves for righteousness or moral acceptance. It is those who
understand their lowly position before the Wonderful Counselor and
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace and come to
worship him, who will be saved.

Jesus taught this to his disciples (Luke 9:46-48; Luke 22:24-30). Paul and
the other apostles taught it as well (1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Philippians
2:1-11; 1 Peter 3:12-19; James 2:1-13). The connection between humility
and peace is at the center of the gospel message.
In response to the criticism that Christianity is just a crutch for the
emotionally or psychological needy, John Piper counters that it is not
only a crutch — it is an entire ICU. We were once dead in our sins and
trespasses (Eph. 2:1), naturally God’s enemies (Romans 5:10), and in need
of a saving God to bring us to life (Eph. 2:4-10). Those who do not think
they are sick will never get well (Matthew 9:12-13).
The season of Advent brings us peace because God has reconciled us to
himself through His Son. We experience this peace when we recognize
our humble state before the unassuming manger of the saving, loving and
good King Jesus. Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped, made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).
I'm thankful that God uses the weak...that he would use this band of 11 to share about Him here in Tidewater. We are so thankful for that gift from the Lord. I'm always struck by that one line in that popular worship song, "you use the weak to lead the strong." May everything I do be about raising up Christ.

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. John 3:30

one week

I can not believe that in --one--week it is Thanksgiving. I realized this fact this morning when I was talking with my friend Wendy in my kitchen. I said, "Wait, is Thanksgiving really next Thursday??" This whole time I thought it was like 3 weeks away folks. ONE WEEK.

BUT-as the day went on I kept thinking of how much there really is to be thankful for:

*Tim Tebow as QB. Haven't missed a Broncos game since he took his start. Another win tonight, friends.
*A bestie that sends you the cutest handmade wreath in the mail to jumpstart Christmas. Thank you Katy- i loveeeeeee it. It's perfect.
*Seeing some dear friends marry their loves this fall.
*Thursday morning walks with Wendy! refreshing.
*Studying the book of James with Brian.
*Prayer time with Stacey each week. love.
*every student at the Wed nite ODU CRU meeting. seriously, love them. family.
*Starbucks Americano, 2 pumps of caramel. yessss.
*Nita- dear friend, prayer warrior & mentor. so thankful for the constant wisdom.
*Norfolk- i love almost allll of it(minus the weekly street flooding and the 17 minute commute to Target!)
*a husband that is just. the. best. Gift from God.
*phone calls with my Dad- he always puts my dog Sugar on the phone so I can talk to her. it's hilarious.
AND SOOO MUCH MORE.

What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the High God! Psalm 92:1

Heather & Ramsey

Yesterday was so special. A day I will treasure for a very long time. My dear dear friend Heather got married to her love. They smiled{beamed, really} the whole day. It was beautiful.







11.5.11 perfect day!! love you heather!!!

celebrating love.

Not too long ago I had a little shower to celebrate Amy & Heather--two dear friends that are marrying their loves this fall.{Amy just got married yesterday!-woo}. It was a sweet & simple night with lots of laughing as we showered them with honeymoon gifts:)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night:

xoxo.

June to August, part 2

I want to talk to you about two things in this post: good food and the grand canyon.

One thing we made sure was part of our trip was good food{not expensive, just good}. We mapped out all our food stops even before we left. Tripadvisor and Urbanspoon gave us all the info we needed. We ate the best little hipster pizza place{The Tomato Head} in Knoxville. I still dream about that veggie pizza. We ate the absolute most amazing fried chicken in a place in Memphis{Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken}. It was down an alley and looked abandoned until you opened the door and the place was bustling. It was standing room only. for chicken. amazing. We also had breakfast the next morning in Memphis at this supppppper cute spot called Cockadoos. The atmosphere was so precious-it was like having coffee in the home section of Anthropologie. delightful. Then we had our much anticipated burger stop in Texas. Blue Sky Burgers. The people weren't too nice but the burger was great.

We also packed PB&J's and carrot sticks as to not eat out every single meal.

Then there was our stop at the Grand Canyon. I didn't really know what to expect. I'd heard great things-but I really wasn't prepared for how stunning it was. When you are there and you look out into the canyon for the first time-it really does take your breathaway. I couldn't get enough. And, I'm not what you would call outdoorsy.

If God uses rocks to show His glory to the world then how much more does he want to show His glory through you and me. That's what I kept thinking about that day at the Grand Canyon.

{God created the heavens and earth. God saw that it was good. God made us. God saw that it was very good. Genesis 1}

June to August, part 1

Under the mantra, "you only live once" Brian and I set out on a journey that started on the East Coast, paused on the West Coast to see friends we love, arrived for 6 weeks in Colorado, and then returned to home sweet home. The following are pictures from our trip. We won't drive coast to coast again BUT we are so happy we did it once.

Sometime around June 6 we hopped in the car, prayed that God would direct us, keep us, use us and the summer began.

Our first stop was unplanned. We saw signs for the Billy Graham Training Center and immediately pulled off the road. We love Billy Graham. I have every book book that his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, had ever written. We were greeted by very warm people that suggested since our time was limited to head up to the chapel to see the museum. Within minutes we were kneeling in prayer with the lady(a volunteer) and the gentlemen(visitor like us) pictured top right{below}. We soon found out that he was a missionary and director of Operation Christmas child in a country in South America. He shared amazing stories with us. He also prayed for us in his awesome acccent. The room we were in was Ruth Bell Graham's prayer room. I was so inspired. Scripture was painted everywhere. She would kneel and pray in that exact room for the world.

{love this quote-O, God do more than we can even dream.}




CMA Fest was happening on our day in Nashville. It was craziness. 105 degrees. The city was swarming with tour buses and screaming country music fans. Every famous country singer was in Nashville that day plus Justin Bieber, Scotty McCreery, & Lauren Alaina. I was in "star" watching mode the whole day. Didn't see Bieber but did see the Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith.

We stopped here on our way out of nashville for biscuits & jam. Sooo glad we did. i hope to get "part 2" up soon. xoxo.

about a best friend.

Two weeks ago Brian and I packed up the Civic and headed to California to surprise my Bestie. The plan had been in the works for months but she had no idea. The roadtrip out was crazy and so fun{more on that in a later post}.

{Waiting for Katy to arrive!}


We spent 6 days together! It was so refreshing. We laughed the whole week.











After California, Bri and I drove to Colorado- we will be in Colorado til the end of July. We are taking Bible classes and learning a ton! What a sweet season of being in the Word.

S & A

In August 2009-right when we moved to Norfolk- we met Abby and Steve. And, ever since that Saturday afternoon in August we have been so blessed by their invested and sincere friendship. And, it turned out that their home was just a 10 minute walk away from ours. They are the kind of people that would do anything and go anywhere for you. They have taught me a lot about friendship.
For about a year now we have had consistent and crazy nerts nights! Always a highlight in my week{even though I lose every single time-and we've played hundreds of times}. But the best thing about "nerts night" is always the stories that we share between each round. Almost always when someone yells "NERTS!" (meaning that round was over) someone else would launch into a story, or a highlight from the week, or something that was making them bummed. We've talked about:

how long is too long to keep chicken in the freezer
babies
ice cream
country music
Trader Joes
American Idol, duh.
MVPs
RBIs
even UTIs
sewing garlands
iphones
5ks
losing people we love
uncooked calzones
the Hope College "pull"
dogs and dog parks
answered prayers
unanswered prayers
trips to Spain
cruises
broken bones
seal team 6
deployment
hot yoga

We just said our goodbyes. They are moving to North Carolina. A 10 minute walk turns into a 3 hour drive.

Abby & Steve were easily and are easily one of the best gifts the Lord gave us in Norfolk. We are forever blessed.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17


We love you guys!