IN THE HEDGES

Books I Read in 2011

2012-01-02T22:38:00.002-06:00

1. Christ Formed in You – By Brian Hedges

2. Choosing to See – By Mary Beth Chapman

3. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – By Eric Metaxas

4. The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy – By Vicki Iovine

5. Pregnancy Sucks – By Joanne Kimes

6. The 360 Degree Leader – By John C. Maxwell

7. The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth – By Henci Goer

8. Radical - By David Platt

9. Shepherding a Child’s Heart – By Tedd Tripp – 210 pgs.

10. Secrets of the Baby Whisperer – By Tracy Hogg

11. Patton, Montgomery, Rommel: Masters of War – By Terry Brighton

12. Sacred Parenting – By Gary Thomas

13. Rightful Place – By Amy Hale Auker

14. C.T. Studd: Cricketer & Pioneer – By Norman Grubb

For the past few years, I've had the goal of reading at least a book a month - which I exceeded this year! Yay!!!

I especially enjoyed reading books written by friends: Christ Formed in You, by my brother-in-law, and Rightful Place, by Amy Hale Auker. What a pleasure it was to read from loved ones! Other highlights would be Dietrich Bonhoeffer's biography and Radical by David Platt. Give them a read!

Keepsake Baby Clothes

2011-12-13T17:27:00.001-06:00

Andy's dad has sent me some boxes of fabric recently and mixed in was a box labeled "keepsake baby clothes". This was in it and you better believe that Maggie Rose will be sporting it when she is a little bigger!

Skinnamarink

2011-11-16T21:40:00.002-06:00

I have found myself singing this song to my little baby. Honestly, I hadn't thought of the song in years (maybe decades), but somewhere from the recesses of my memory it just came out.

I looked it up on You Tube to see if I was singing it right. What I found was much creepier than I remembered. I guess my mind had blocked out all the creepiness for a good reason...

If you're brave, check out the video: http://youtu.be/EEEsX69iIxY .

11 Snapshots on 11-11-11

2011-11-11T12:14:00.005-06:00

*Note: These were not taken today, but are just 11 random snapshots of Maggie Rose that I think are sweet!

You know you're a parent when...

2011-11-01T11:58:00.002-05:00

5 Weeks in Pictures

2011-10-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow our sweet Maggie Rose will be 6 weeks old. She is growing so fast! Her birth weight was 6 lbs. 13 oz., and this Wednesday she weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz.!

I just uploaded pictures this week, so these are late in coming, but here are the first 5 weeks:

10 Things I Have a New Appreciation for Post-Pregnancy

2011-09-15T20:55:00.004-05:00

Tying my shoes.
Picking things up off the floor.
Walking through small spaces.
Not having to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Sleeping on my stomach.
Sleeping on my back.
Being able to see my feet when standing up.
Breathing.
Not hearing constant comments about my size.
My ankles.

Handmade with Love

2011-06-18T10:21:00.005-05:00

Today I'm officially 29 weeks pregnant. Crazy! The little hedgehog is wiggling, twirling, and kickboxing. Here is a sneak preview of the baby bedding my mother and I have been working on.

Persecution

2011-05-03T21:35:00.005-05:00

I tell people all the time about the people across the world who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus. It's a concept I have a difficult time grasping living in America, where freedom of religion is seen as a virtue. I tell people to pray for the persecuted church, to give to those who are persecuted, to subscribe to Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.com).

But, for some reason, when I received a copy of this magazine in the mail I found myself turning it face down so I wouldn't have to see this while I was eating. The face of a woman who was badly burned for her faith in Jesus just didn't quite sit well with my cereal.

Maybe I don't care as much as I think.

Letters from Grandma

2011-04-19T12:52:00.002-05:00

This past week my Grandmother (my dad's mom) passed away. We celebrated her life this past Saturday, exactly 13 years after my dad passed away. Now, together with all those who have believed in Jesus, they are enjoying Jesus face to face for all eternity. Below is a tribute to my Grandma that I wrote that was read at her funeral.

Letters from Grandma

As long as I can remember, I have been receiving letters from my Grandma. It was always a special treat to get a handwritten letter from her, which were full of everything from updates of everyday life, to strong opinions (which we all know she had many of), and intensely personal thoughts and feelings which are sometimes difficult to verbalize but seem to flow when written with ink and paper. I would return these letters, sharing all of the same things, sometimes clumsily as only a child can do, but slowly learning the long lost art of letter writing. The letters would flow back and forth between us, as we became special pen pals. As the rest of the world shifted from the age of the post office to email, my correspondence with loved ones shifted to quick and simple emails. Still, the well thought out, intentional letters between Grandma and I continued to flow as she remained my last remaining pen pal in a world of technology.

Now there remains boxes full of these letters, precious reminders of the love contained in each one. I will deeply miss these letters, and most of all I will miss my Grandma - the person of love and great character behind them.

Time Flies

2010-12-11T00:47:00.003-06:00

As a kid, I always rolled my eyes when I heard adults talking about how time flies. But seriously... We're nearly halfway through 2010. (I guess that makes me old since I am now the one saying it). This has been an unusual, crazy, but great year for us. Because it's been so unusual and crazy, I have completely dropped my blog.

My goal is that I will be able to post some snapshots of our year on here before 2011 hits, and maybe get back into the habit of blogging this next year.

Books I Read in 2009

2010-01-06T21:29:00.002-06:00

My very doable reading goal in 2009 was to read at least one book a month - and I succeeded! Here's what I read:

Brave New World
This Momentary Marriage
J. Hudson Taylor: A Man in Christ
Strengths Finder 2.0
Peace Like a River
Golden Boats from Burma
Margin
Screwtape Letters
The Scarlet Letter
The Missionary Call
The Chosen
Texas Life Accident and Health Insurance
Five Views on Law and Gospel

Redundant?

2009-12-11T18:46:00.000-06:00

The Texas Pledge

2009-12-06T13:40:00.000-06:00

Texans have a reputation that undoubtedly precedes us everywhere we go. "Everything is bigger and better in Texas," is what we brag. We pride ourselves in being the second largest state - second only to Alaska, which doesn't really count, right? It is the only state where the state flag is flown as high as the United States flag. And it's the only state where you'll see the shape of the state tattooed on arms, painted on the side of buildings, and made into chip bowls. People who come to Texas always comment on this, along with the Texas bragging that accompanies.

For such a prideful state, we sure do have a sucky pledge though:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Seriously, Texans? Couldn't we have come up with something a little more original?

My Favorite New* Ornament

2009-12-05T16:30:00.003-06:00

*New = bought after Christmas on clearance last year, but the 1st time on my tree.

Reduction Destruction

2009-12-03T19:01:00.002-06:00

In case any of you are interested, my good friends Dustin & Heidi joined Andy & I in creating a blog where you can follow all of our deals. The blog is called Reduction Destruction and we're using it to share the money saving techniques that we have incorporated into our every day lives that help us save more, give more, and spend less. We'll be posting deals and tips especially for those in the Lubbock area, but you'll still learn a lot even if you're not from here.

Please add us to your Google reader, follow our blog, and leave us comments and emails with your ideas or deals!

Am I the Only One?

2009-11-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Am I the only one who thinks that the words "family", "fun", and "bath" shouldn't be used in the same sentence? Much less in the name of a business?

Finds

2009-11-17T22:12:00.003-06:00

Andy and I have begun to make a habit out of thiftstore shopping, garage selling, and frequenting local estate sales. Here are a few of our favorite finds...

A new pair of boots, just my size, for $6 at Goodwill:

A beautiful painting at an estate sale, $10. It needs a frame, but I don't have a clue what kind of a frame. Any ideas?

Pearl snap shirts for my husband, around $5 each. When we find these in his size, we snatch them up because you never know when you'll find them. We actually found more than are in this picture - he was in pearl snap heaven!!!

Uninspired

2009-10-20T18:37:00.002-05:00

I suppose I've been uninspired with blogging lately. Or perhaps I've just been entirely too busy to post. I'm going to try and start some updating again soon!

I just started a new position in the Fraud department at the bank, so maybe I'll have some interesting thoughts to share on that...

3 Years

2009-10-12T15:25:00.002-05:00

“Marriage is not mainly about staying in love. It’s about covenant keeping. And the main reason it is about covenant keeping is that God designed the relationship between a husband and his wife to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. This is the deepest meaning of marriage. And that is why ultimately the roles of headship and submission are so important. If our marriages are going to tell the truth about Christ and his church, we cannot be indifferent to the meaning of headship and submission. And let it not go without saying that God’s purpose for the church—and for the Christian wife who represents it—is her everlasting holy joy. Christ died for them to bring that about. "

- John Piper -

Seeing as how our anniversary was on August 26th, this is almost 2 months late. But, nevertheless, I have to mention that we had a blast on our anniversary trip to Couples Sans Souci in Negril, Jamaica. And I love my husband! What a sweet picture of Christ and his bride, the Church.

The Charlie Goodnight Show

2009-09-19T18:12:00.004-05:00

Last month, the Ranching Heritage Center here in Lubbock had their annual fundraiser. For the fundraiser they had a dinner provided by Cagle's steakhouse, along with a presentation of our dear friend Andy Wilkinson's production on Charlie Goodnight. My Andy has long been a fan on Wilkinson's Charlie Goodnight album that was produced in the 90's, so it was quite an honor for him to be a part of this show that hasn't been done in 10 years.

Here are a few pics from the fun evening!

Be still my heart!

2009-08-20T22:18:00.007-05:00

This is my niece. I'm very worried that when I have kids they won't be even a fraction as cute as she is.

Seriously, look how cute she is...

The Bob Dylan Show

2009-08-12T21:20:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we went to see The Bob Dylan Show right here in Lubbock, TX. If you know Andy even just a little bit, you'll know what a Bob Dylan fanatic he is. I (somewhat) jokingly say that he knows more about Bob Dylan than he does about me.

This show was the 3rd time we've seen Dylan live, and this time we took Andy's little sister Anna with us. Being the Bob Dylan fanatic that he is, Andy managed to get us excellent center stage 4th row seats. And being the little sneak that I am, I managed to smuggle my camera into the arena and snag a few shots during the concert.

Contrary to popular opinion in Lubbock, we loved Dylan! The show was opened by a fantastic hillbilly band called The Wiyos, followed by good 'ole Willie Nelson, then followed by a too long (in our opinion) set of John Mellencamp, and ended with a smokin' set of Bob Dylan.

Sadly enough, Lubbockites couldn't stand Dylan and left in droves during his set. I suppose this isn't particularly surprising, honestly...

For any of you who care, Andy provided me with the set list for the evening:

Maggie's Farm
Lay, Lady, Lay
Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
Honest With Me
Blind Willie McTell
High Water
Workingman's Blues #2
Highway 61 Revisited
Love Sick
Thunder on the Mountain
Not Fade Away
Like a Rolling Stone
All Along the Watchtower

Like Uncle, Like Nephew

2009-08-08T15:34:00.002-05:00

Isn't it just mind boggling how the most bizarre things are hereditary? For example...
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Take 1:

Take 2:

Take 3:

And finally, take 4 (after a very shrill "Aaaannndrewwww, COOPERATE!!!):
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

Take 1:

Take 2:
Take 3:
And finally, take 4 (after bribing him that I'd race him to the park if he'd smile normal):

New Mexico Wildflowers

2009-08-07T23:15:00.003-05:00

During our friendcation, there were so many wildflowers that were breathtaking I thought they deserved their own post. God is so creative!

And just because they were precious, here's some birdies:

Riudoso Friendcation

2009-08-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

July proved me a terrible blogger. However, my pictures proved me a very fun person. We did lots of fun things in July, so many that I just didn't have time to post about much. One of my favorites was a "friendcation" we took with our favorite new friends Dustin and Heidi. We randomly decided to take a vacation on Monday and were gone on Friday.

And in one weekend we: visited and sledded down the hills of the White Sands National Park, took our picture with the world's largest pistachio, lost miserably to Andy at Monopoly, went hiking in the forests of Ruidoso, wasted two dollars at the penny slots, saw our first horse race, took tons and tons of pictures, and stopped by the UFO Museum in Roswell. Needless to say, we had a fast, furious, and fabulous weekend!

Happy 4th Everyone!

2009-07-04T13:43:00.000-05:00

I'm going to see the "Texas" play in Palo Duro Canyon with some family.

Don't blow each other up with fireworks!

New Kicks

2009-07-02T21:56:00.001-05:00

I don't think that anyone will argue that the feeling of getting a new pair of kicks is purely delightful! Seriously.

You can only imagine how elated my sweet husband was when my mom gave him money for a new pair of custom made cowboy boots as a graduation gift and he finally got them! And add that to the fact that he has wanted custom made boots for his entire life.

I do admit, I'm quite envious. I'd love some new kicks like this. For now, my high top camo converse tennis shoes will have to do!

Camera Date with Heidi

2009-06-30T22:13:00.005-05:00

This is Heidi. She just got the same camera I have for her birthday, so we promptly scheduled a camera date at Texas Tech University. Doesn't she look official photgropherish?

Our husbands dutifully sat at one of the benches on campus while we took advantage of the great light and architecture. Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

I didn't edit these sunset shots at all! They remind me of Romans 1:19-20:
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

Dreams

2009-06-26T10:01:00.003-05:00

This is the house I lived in from 7th grade until my mom sold it the end of my freshman year of college. It's a beautiful house - peaceful and serene. The back windows overlook an empty lot, railroad tracks, and an open field of cattle. (This picture is somewhat misleading because when I lived in this house there was no fence or pool. My dad was an engineer - way to practical and cheap to have a pool.) I loved this house.

It was also the last house that I lived in with my full family - my mom, dad, brother, sister, and I.

For some reason, this house haunts my dreams. Every six months or so I will have a dream that this house plays a prominent role in. They aren't bad, sad, or significant dreams, but they include this house. In fact, I had a dream I was in this house just a few weeks ago. Strange, huh?

Does anyone else have reoccuring dreams or dreams that regularly have something like this in it, or is it just me?

I love these guys.

2009-06-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

I graduated high school from Brazosport Christian School (go eagles!) in 2001, with 20 people. 20 wonderful people, who grew to be almost like family to me. Pictured about is 1/4 of my graduating class, plus some multiplications. A few weeks ago I made a quick trip home. It was good to my soul.

These friends put up with me for several years, had fun with me, skipped class with me, prayed for me, went to my dad's funeral, and became like family to me.

Like I said, it was good to my soul.

By the way - you know you are from West Texas when you make a trip to South Texas and say, "Wow, even the bar ditches look good here!" (Andy)

Augustine's Confessions

2009-06-15T22:47:00.003-05:00

It's been several years since I've read through Augustine's Confessions, but when Andy and I were cleaning through our living room last week we stumbled across a book called "Prayers From the Confessions" and have been reading a few every night. He thinks it's terribly boring when I post quotes on my blogs, but this was just so great that I wanted to post it. If you find quotes boring, I'm sorry! This one is well worth the read.

You owe us nothing, yet you pay our debts

"You are most high, O God, excellent, most powerful,
omnipotent, supremely merciful and supremely just,
most hidden yet intimately present,
infinitely beautiful and infinitely strong,
steadfast yet elusive,
unchanging yourself though you control
the change in all things,
never new, never old, renewing all things
yet wearing down the proud though they know it not;
ever active, ever at rest,
gathering while knowing no need,
supporting and filling and guarding,
creating and nurturing and perfecting,
seeking although you lack nothing.
You love without frenzy,
you are jealous yet secure,
you regret without sadness,
you grow angry yet remain tranquil,
you alter your works but never your plan;
you take back what you find
although you never lost it;
you are never in need
yet you rejoice in your gains,
never avaricious yet you demand profits.
You allow us to pay you more than you demand,
and so you become our debtor,
yet which of us possesses anything
that does not already belong to you?
You owe us nothing,yet you pay your debts;
you write off our debts to you,
yet you lose nothing thereby."

The 2009 Love What You Have Challenge

2009-06-10T20:49:00.007-05:00

You are cordially invited to join me in the 2009 Love What You Have Challenge (I made that up). Here's what the challenge is: work on caring for and using and keeping up things that you have, thus being content instead of wanting new things. I realize that I often find myself wanting to buy new things, instead of appreciating what I have. So, I've given myself this challenge.

Here's what Andy and I have done so far:

Painted our living room.
Changed all the electrical outlets in the living room from almond colored to white.
Cleaned and organized the shelves, hutch, closet, and bookshelves in the living room.
Organized and deleted files on our computer.
Installed Office 2007 on our computer (for only $9.95 thru my work).
Cleaned and organized our pantry.

Here are a few things I've already noticed:

I was wanting to buy a scarf to drape on my mantle and I had one that works nicely that I didn't even realize that I owned in my entry way closet.
I also found attachments to my shop vac that I didn't know existed.
We own several duplicate books. I'm pretty sure our church would love to have them in the church library.
We own books that we didn't know we own that we now are wanting to read.
I have lots of crap that I don't need or want that I've already thrown in the garage for a garage sale in the future.
Drawers are the worst/most rewarding things to organize.
We need to eat random foods in our pantry. I didn't realize just how much there is.
I love the feel of a freshly painted room. It makes it seem all brand new.
White outlets really do make things look updated.

I have big aspirations to paint, organize, and go through all the rooms in my house. We'll see if it happens...

In the meantime, I cordially invite you to join me in my made-up challenge. I'd love to hear your results!!! I'll try to keep you updated on mine.

San Antonio Wedding

2009-06-09T21:50:00.005-05:00

The last weekend of May my cousin got married in Bulverde, TX, just outside of San Antonio.

A wedding reception in an unairconditioned old dance hall the end of May in San Antonio
=
Extremely Hot

You can't tell by the pictures, but it was pretty dadgum hot. Here's a few pictures for you all to enjoy!

Can you guess who all I'm related to? (Hint: Only one of the people in the pictures above is not related to me.)

Campo, CO

2009-06-06T09:34:00.002-05:00

Where on earth is Campo? Don't worry, I asked too. It's on the border of Colorado, about a 4 1/4 hr. drive from Lubbock.

Andy and his music accomplice, Andy Wilkinson, had a show in Campo towards the end of March for the grand opening of Ray's BBQ. Right before the show, it turned icy cold. Ray's is an open air bbq joint, which made it quite cold even with space heaters. Here are some pictures from the show and from the thriving metropolis of Campo, CO.

(Sidenote: If I was to own a camper, I would want one exactly like this one.)

If you're ever passing through Campo, CO, I highly recommend stopping at Ray's. Excellent bbq, atmosphere, and chipolte strawberry shortcake.

P.S. - March was a long time ago. Better late than never.

Such a High Priest

2009-06-02T17:29:00.000-05:00

"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

Hebrews 7:25

I'm going to be honest...

When I read this verse recently, I sighed. Sometimes I feel like such a mess, full of sin, and so far from looking like Jesus did, that I feel like salvation (in the sanctification sense) is an impossibility. I mean, just this week I feel like I spent more time sinning than glorifying God. I don't mean the obvious blantant sins, but the ones that are so subtle and dangerous. Like pride, selfishness, arrogance. The kinds that wrap around your heart and you don't even realize that they're there until you spew venom at someone in customer service on the phone, just because you can't see them face to face.

But, sanctification is not an impossibility. Thankfully I have Jesus. Jesus who came to earth and lived through perfectly all the nasty things that I fail at. He perfectly loved people who were hated him, was never rude or short when he was exhausted, loved his enemies, never loved fame or money, made himself nothing, glorified God in everything even death, cared for the poor and needy, was kind to rich snotheads... and the list goes on and on. He was perfect. And he became the high priest to all who will believe in him.

Why does this matter?

Because he is the high priest to all who will believe in Him, that means that all who will believe in Him will be made right before God. When God sees me, he sees Jesus, my high priest, and all of his righteousness counts for me even though I suck. And I have Jesus, who is at the right hand of God pulling for me, interceding for me. And everything that Jesus does he finishes. Including my salvation, which right now is in the "already-not-yet" phase.

Thank you Jesus for being my high priest and for interceding for me!

Bathroom trauma is real. Have a plan.

2009-05-21T14:53:00.003-05:00

If you were going to the bathroom and went to open the bathroom door and realized the door was stuck, what would you do?
Options:

Akwardly crawl out from under the bathroom door, wallowing in bathroom floor germs, and making the person in the stall next to you wonder what on earth is going on.
Call someone for help, also akwardly making the person in the stall next to you wonder what is happening.
Text someone for help, hoping they will get your text message and respond in a timely manner.
Tell the person using the bathroom in the stall next to you that you don't know that you're stuck in the stall and can't get out.

What would YOU do? Bathroom trauma is real. Have a plan.

Some options:

Implement the buddy system. Have someone who knows when you're going to the bathroom and if you don't return in 5 minutes, send them in after you. Or bring them along, just in case. (The time frame can be adjusted to 10 minutes if you're doing some serious business.)
Carry a screwdriver with you at all times. People may laugh at you now, but they won't be laughing when you rescue them. From the bathroom.
Always have your phone on you, in case you need to dial an emergency number if you get locked up.
Keep steady conversations going with people who are using the bathroom in the stalls next to you. You might need them to be your friend.

Any other options would be much appreciated by me after today.

NYC - Day 4 - Pete Seeger Concert

2009-05-19T09:48:00.001-05:00

We had intended to do more exploring in NYC, but unfortunately two of the days we were there it was pretty rainy, which slowed us down quite a bit. So our plans for a picnic in Central Park this past Sunday were completely shut down. Therefore, the highlight of Sunday was Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert, which is more of a highlight than we could have even asked for in one day. It was phenomenal!

The lineup for the concert was mindboggling. Seriously. Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Taj Mahal, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Billy Bragg, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, Steve Earle, Richie Havens, Roger McGuinn (The Birds), Bela Fleck, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), and many more. I mean, I would have been tickled pink just to see any one of these musicians in a concert by themselves, much less to see them all in one place and performing with each other! It was almost more than I could handle.

The highlights of the concert?

Maybe Joan Baez singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (which I have recently been learning how to play by listening to her version).

Or Pete Seeger leading everyone in the audience to a sing-a-long Pete Seeger style to "We Shall Overcome" (to which Andy leaned over and whispered in my ear, "They're singing about the gospel, and they don't even know it.").

Or Billy Bragg leading everyone in "Union Maid" - and hearing thousands of people robustly singing, "Oh you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union, sticking to the union, sticking to the union," just the way you would image a union song being sung.

Or Dave Matthew's version of the old folk song "Rye Whiskey", which was stuck in my head for the next few days after the concert.

Or Kris Kristofferson, Ramblin Jack, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, and others singing "Maggie's Farm", while contemplating the fact that Pete Seeger himself said he wanted to cut the cords with an axe when Dylan went electric playing this very song at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. And here on stage is this variety of musicians and sounds, both accoustic and electric...

These are just some of the highlights. There are many, many more that I could mention. In fact, with a 4 1/2 hour concert with all of these top calliber musicians on stage, I couldn't give the concert justice. You'll just have to watch it yourself this summer when PBS airs it on national television. But if you happen to be interested right now, here's the set list from the concert.

I do think seeing 90 year old Pete Seeger was the highlight of the show! And after watching a few interviews with him before the show, I have even more respect for him. He said the greatest accomplishment he's had in his life is staying married to the same wonderful woman. He still criticizes the commercialization of music, down to this very show. The proceeds of the concert all went to Clearwater to help clean the Hudson River, not to his own gain. He still wears simple clothes and a baseball cap, and looks humbled by recognition.

NYC - Day 3 - Part 3

2009-05-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

In our short time in Woodstock, we were able to do just a tad of exploring the town. Come to find out, the Woodstock festival that we all know of was actually not held in the town of Woodstock, NY, but actually 60 miles away. Am I the only one who feels lied to about this? Nevertheless, the town was just what I would have imagined it to be - earthy, hippie, music loving, and a tad commercial from all the hype.

Don't you think if you were going to protest war that picking any place other than Woodstock might be productive? I'm just sayin, I think that maybe Woodstock in general might be anti-war. Just a guess.

Goodbye Woodstock! And thank you Nikki for driving in NYC. This picture is proof to show your mother that you really did drive in NYC, and we all lived to tell about it!

NYC - Day 3 - Part 2

2009-05-13T21:39:00.012-05:00

Our friend Billy Faier was himself visting Woodstock from his home in Marathon, TX, when we stopped in. He was staying with an old friend, Betty Ballentine. Betty is now about 90 years old, and come to find out, a very well known publisher of science fiction books. She and her husband formed Ballentine books, the publisher of the first authorized version of Lord of the Rings, endorsed by J.R.R. Tolkein himself. Betty was very kind and even fixed us a spur of the moment lunch.

We enjoyed her beautiful home. Here are a few pictures.

Of course Andy and Billy were able to squeeze in some great music!

Nikki as we all know and love her (laughing).

The yard ornaments were so picturesque, considering Betty's publishing history.

Thanks Betty for allowing us to crash your home!

NYC - Day 3 - Part 1

2009-05-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe breaking things down to Day 3 and Part 1 is a bit ridiculous, but I can't help it!

This past Saturday we rented a car in NYC (which by the way is quite an adventure in itself), and drove to Woodstock, NY, to visit a good friend of ours, Billy Faier, who just so happened to be visiting Woodstock himself.

Billy lived in Woodstock from the 70's all the way through the 90's (give or take because I can't remember the years, but it was a long time). He bought up some land from a man who just wanted beer money for dirt cheap (no pun intended) and began designing and building his own house. About 5 or so years ago, Billy sold his house to a really cool family. While we were in Woodstock, Billy gave them a call to see if they would let us stop by to see their house. It was pretty much the coolest house ever!

Chris and Andy played some tunes on this tiny little out-of-tune guitar, and fun and freshly baked bread was had by all.

NYC - Day 2

2009-05-08T17:15:00.009-05:00

Because Andy is so involved in the modern day folk music scene, we particularly enjoyed seeing Greenwich Village during our last visit to NYC. We wanted to make it back to explore the area one more time. Here are some pics for your enjoyment:

Andy at the White Horse Tavern, where beat poet Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, and Bob Dylan performed in his early years.

Nikki, pretending to be a musician at The Music Inn - an ecclectic music store that collects instruments from all over the world, and old records.

For those of you who follow the news, you will find this advertisement for a sale in a local boutique humorous.

Andy and I by the Hudson River, and by a cool door.

Me, posing with my new guitar strap that we bought at a guitar shop in Greenwich Village. It is handmade by Jodi Head. If you click on this link, you can see mine (Style #15) and Andy's (Style #13). I found it ironic that the style of these straps is called "Hootenanny".

NYC - Day 1

2009-05-08T16:55:00.004-05:00

We arrived in NYC amid swine flu fears. Our dear friend, Chris Sand (aka "The Rappin' Cowboy"), was waiting for us at the airport. You can rest assured that swine flu jokes abounded. I was particularly amused when I saw this at a drugstore:
Seriously, do you really think that latex gloves are going to keep you from contracting the swine flu if it's as big of a pandemic as the media is making it out to be?

When we met up with Nikki we were all thrilled to grab a burger at Five Guys. Their slogan "Worth the Pilgrimage" is true.

If you want an explanation on this, please ask Chris...
Thursday evening, we went to see a new Broadway play called "God of Carnage". There are only 4 actors (including Jeff Daniels from "Dumb and Dumber") in the entire play, which takes place on one set. I highly recommend it!By the end of the play, the pristine living room set was not so pristine any more.

The Ginormous Apple

2009-05-07T19:43:00.003-05:00

After a last minute/late hour/unexpected drive in a rental car from the DFW airport Monday night (or Tuesday morning), Andy and I finally made it back home at 5am from New York City. And after our bags sat in the airport all day Tuesday when they were supposed to be delivered to our house, we finally got them back. Ourselves. By driving to the airport and picking them up ourselves.

Darn Northwest Airlines. I don't recommend them.

But I digress...

Our vacation to NYC was a blast! I've been mulling over how to summarize it on my blog for my few fellow bloggers who are interested, but I just can't seem to sum it up in one small post. So, I've decided to summarize it in a series of posts about specific activities.

Stay tuned.

New Zoom Lens

2009-05-06T12:40:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my wonderful coworkers, I got a massive gift card for my birthday and was able to purchase a new zoom lens for my camera! Happy birthday to me. I think the thing I like about the zoom is that you're able to take pictures of people without them noticing that you're taking pictures of them. And I love people pictures! Here's a few random pics I've taken with my new lens.

Here's little Keadryn (Jordan took this one).

And Sayla. Don't you love the tongue?

This is Joel, enjoying the slide.

Which do you like better of Kelsey? Color or sepia?

Here's a few in sepia that I thought were fun - Salem and Whitney.

I know this is racy, but it was a random painted sign in the Depot District and ended up being a really cool picture! (No, it's not anyone I know.)

P.S. - Andy and I just got back from a wonderful vacation in NYC. As soon as I have a chance, I'll post about it.

The Greatest Show on Earth

2009-04-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

Andy and I had a little date last week to the Ringling Bros. circus here in town. It was a blast!!! Here's a few pics of the evening, complete with nutritional circus food. You don't have to be a child to be in awe of the circus!

Cuteness Defined

2009-04-22T21:48:00.000-05:00

This past week Andy and I had a little party/pizza picnic at the park with his brother Jason and family. The kids had a wonderful time on the slide, and I enjoyed snapping pictures of their sweet smiles. Aren't they adorable?

Jason took some great pics and I took some with his camera. You can check out more of these on his blog...

Abortion Survivor - Gianna Jessen

2009-04-19T19:43:00.002-05:00

Normally I don't post links to videos (except my husband's poetry). However, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to watch this powerfully testimony of an abortion survivor:

Oh Hail!!!

2009-04-18T20:33:00.004-05:00

Don't you just love using the words hail and dam in normal conversation? It cracks me up every time.

This past Thursday, we had a horrific hail storm in Lubbock. It hit around 4:40pm, and at 5pm it slowed down enough for me to jump in my car and drive home from work. I was afraid that our skylights would be busted out. Thankfully, there was no visible damage, even to my car. I would say the hail was larger than golf ball size. Here's a picture as proof.

My Thoughts 11 Years Later

2009-04-16T17:26:00.004-05:00

Last year on the 10 year anniversary of my dad's death, I posted about the incredible goodness of God surrounding his death. Today marks the 11 year anniversary of his passing, and I'm reminded of the sweetness of heaven and the call to run with perseverance.

"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

My dad falls in the "great cloud of witnesses" mentioned here - he put his faith and trust in Jesus, just like those mentioned in Hebrews 11. I'm reminded again today of the beauty and glory of heaven when things will be restored and made right, and we will at last get rid of the "sin which clings so closely." With each ache I experience in life, heaven seems all the more beautiful.

In the meantime, I'm going to run!

A Sweet Reminder of Christ on Easter

2009-04-12T17:33:00.003-05:00

I posted a few months ago about our church moving into a real, grownup church building. One thing I mentioned was the unusual baptisms we had prior to having a baptistry - a swimming pool, a portable hot tub, and an almost kiddie pool. I figured these unusual settings were over once we had a baptistry.

I was wrong.

Today at 4pm, our pastor baptized a brother and sister in our hot tub in our backyard.

Why? Because of security issues. In country they are from in Central Asia it is illegal to be a Christian. They have a friend who was recently murdered for being a Christian and wanted a smaller, more intimate setting.

Pray with me that they would follow hard after the Lord, and if they go back to their home country they would bring the gospel where it is illegal and that many who have never heard the name of Jesus would come to faith through their testimony.

I Need Your Help

2009-04-01T17:41:00.006-05:00

For a little while now I have been contemplating doing something different with my hair.

Here are the options:

1. A cute haircut (I don't want to take much length off).

Pros: Undamaged hair, cheaper.
Cons: My hair is fine and thin and straight and tends to look stringy.

2. A perm.

Pros: Something different, it gives tons of body to my hair, can wear straight or curly.
Cons: It's a beast when I grow it out, damages hair, costs money.

3. A fun color - preferably red.

Pros: Also something different, lots of fun.
Cons: Washes out fast, more maintenance to upkeep as it grows out, costs money.

Just to give you all an idea of what I look like with a perm and with red in my hair, here are some old pics. The first two are of a perm (one with the hair down, the other with it pulled back), and the last one is with the red.

So, I need your help. If you are a lurker now is the time when I need you to comment and to be brutally honest. What should I do? What do you like best?

Live the Dream in Silverton, TX

2009-03-23T12:25:00.011-05:00

Apparently the welcome sign outside of Silverton, TX, population 770 used to read "Live the Dream". Unfortunately they tore this sign down some time ago.

One of my friends was born and raised in the thriving metropolis of Silverton, TX. She was hanging out at our house a week or two ago and casually mentioned her plans to go on a hike to a waterfall on some private property in Silverton. I invited myself, and then invited my cohort Whitney, who works with me at the Institution (the bank). So, this past weekend, Andy, myself, and the Cohort joined some folks in Silverton, TX, to make the hike to Linguish Falls. It was breathtaking.

Kevin from Seattle joined us. He was incredibly amused with the whole Silverton experience, being from cultured Seattle. We were amused with him. Particularly such questions as, "Do you have to have a permit to hunt hogs on someone's land?" We were also amused with his admission that he was somewhat intimidated by the cows. Here is a picture of him charging the cows in the pasture we drove through to get to our hike. He wanted to pet some cows.
Here's the cohort, Whitney:
This is my friend Jenny, from Silverton, who is responsible for the hike:
This is Jenny's dad - aka the Trail Guide (notice Jenny's appearance in the background). We had to squeeze through that hole:
We also had to weasle through this opening. Here's Andy, Whitney, and Jenny's brother Tanner at the bottom:
You don't see too many of these alive, now do you?

Little Jodi had the shortest legs of all of us, so we were wondering how she'd make it through here. Doesn't she look cute though?Here's myself, and another breathtaking picture of the rock formations. At least half of our hike was in between rock formations like this, what they call, "The Narrows".
This is a small detour we took to "Devil's Kitchen". You can kind of see where we climbed to get up here.
This is also considered "the Narrows":
Finally, at Linguish Falls:

Again, here's Seattle Kevin chillin above the waterfall:Isn't Andy cute? He was hanging out by the waterfall:
And here's our wonderful guide again:
Here's Jenny's little brother Tanner, with his dog Red. Yes, Red made the hike with us too, which was actually quite impressive. A pretty cool dog, I have to say!
And all the ladies hiking back:
The last 15 minutes of the hike was uphill on a steep incline of cleche road. I thought my lung was going to pop, and that's not an exagerration. I felt better about myself when I heard Whitney confess the same thing.

When we got back to the Young household, Jenny's parents were cooking up a storm for us hungry hikers. While they were cooking, we went on a Silverton tour. It didn't take very long. Here is the historic jailhouse. I'm supposed to be pretending to be thrown in jail. Andy decided he would yank my hair, but he's laughing so it's not very believable. Actually, I think everyone is laughing. It mostly just looks weird...
Seattle Kevin wanted a West Texas rock star band picture. This was our best attempt...
Jodi and Jenny think there was a bug on the ground they were both staring at. Jenny is actually sitting on something, but looks akwardly like she's hanging mid-air. It's a pretty terrible rock star attempt.

And last but certainly not least is a picture of the whole gang:What a fun group! Who knew that Silverton, TX, is where to live the dream?

March 24th

2009-03-22T21:43:00.006-05:00

People who were born on March 24th:

Peyton Manning, the NFL star
Harry Houdini, the escape artist
Gorgeous George, American professional wrestler
Tommy Hilfiger, the clothes designer
Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer
Steve McQueen, famous actor
Lawrence Furlinghetti, beat poet
My sweet husband

Other random facts about March 24th:

It was the day that Elvis Presley was officially inducted into the US Army.
It is World Tuberculosis Day.

Fun facts to know and tell about Andy's birthday:

He shares a birthday week with both of his brothers. He shares the birthday month with both of his brothers, his dad, me, my sister-in-law, and a niece. This makes March busy.
Because he shares birthdays with both of his brothers, he never had his own birthday party until he was a grown man.
One of his favorite presents was a green John Deere tractor on his 3rd birthday.
As long as he can remember, his parents have given him $25 for his birthday. His comment on this is, "$25 was worth a lot more as a 5 year old child than it is as a 29 year old man." This year the stakes were raised to $50.
Andy was named after a country western song "Me and Little Andy". That's it's own post...
On his 29th birthday (today), he is having a concert with Andy Wilkinson and some friends at La Diosa in downtown Lubbock

I love you, sweet husband!!!

Legal Online Stalking

2009-03-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

If Facebook or MySpace was set to where every time you looked at someone else's profile or viewed their pictures, a message was sent to that person simply stating that their page had been viewed by you, would you be less likely to view their profile or pictures?

Why or why not?

Chris "Sandman" Sand, the Rappin' Cowboy

2009-03-18T20:18:00.005-05:00

During Andy's show in Alpine (the last weekend of February), he randomly met a guy by the name Chris Sand, who dubs himself the "Rappin' Cowboy". I suppose he has rights to call himself that, since there are no other rapping cowboys, at least none that I know of. We had just seen Chris perform a month or so before this in Elko, NV, and really enjoyed his show. So, Chris caught up with us for our yearly hangout at Billy Faier's house in Marathon, TX, after the Alpine show. Being somewhat of a troubadour, Chris said he may just catch up with us in Lubbock, if his travels led him our way. This past weekend, Chris came and did a little house show in our living room for about 15 of our friends.

Andy and Andy played a few songs to bring in the evening.

Then Chris took over, with his own stuff - a combination of rap, cowboy music and poetry, and his ridiculously funny humor.
Notice the campfire he brought with him. It was just what our living room lacked.
Chris sells vintage pillowcases and t-shirts with his logo screenprinted on them. They're pretty cool! Notice the merch table also duals as our dining table.
Here are a few of our friends in attendance:
(Sidenote: This is why I love Salem and Whitney.)We closed out the evening with a little jam session, where Miss Ashley Howell graced us with her beautiful voice.

The concert was excellent! If you haven't, check out Chris' website www.rappincowboy.com . I have to say "Persian Den of Sin" is probably my favorite!

"Old Age Begins at 27, Study Finds"

2009-03-16T21:30:00.004-05:00

This is the headline from a Fox News article I read today. Apparently, I now only have less than one year left of youthfulness.

Oh well, at least I had fun at my 26th Chuck E Cheese birthday party. Here's a few pics:

(Note: In this last picture, my friend Kenneth hit the Skee Ball jackpot and won 250 tickets!!! Everyone donated their tickets to me since it was my birthday, resulting in a Chuck E Cheese teddy bear.)

I felt so blessed on my birthday with tons of messages, phone calls, and unexpected gifts! Thanks to everyone for making me feel so special!

Rattlesnake Roundup

2009-03-14T22:31:00.008-05:00

"Welcome to Sweetwater, where we have the ugliest rattlesnakes and the prettiest women in Texas!"

This is the slogan for the annual Rattlesnake Roundup in Texas. Now that I've attended I feel like I'm much more of an authentic transported West Texan.
Here's a few closeups of the rattlers.
Apparently, Sweetwater has a beauty pageant for "Miss Snake Charmer". This is Miss Snake Charmer 2009, who I suppose inspired me...

This is the "Milk Pit" where they were milking the rattlesnakes to use their venom for medicinal and research purposes. These guys are gutsy. I guess they also inspired me...
This is the outcome of my inspiration - probably one of the gutsiest/stupidest things I've ever done. Seriously, what possessed me? I suppose I just thought Miss Snake Charmer looked so cute and cool holding that snake. Me, well I look terribly uncomfortable, as you can see - not cute and cool. I tried.

This is a snake's head that has just been chopped off. What a bizarre thing to watch. The crazy thing is, when a rattlesnake gets chopped in two, each segment of it's segregated body still moves. See the tongue?
A bucket of snake heads. Need I explain?
Here is the skinning station. Notice how cute these girls are that are skinning snakes. Only in West Texas.
This is where the inspiration stopped. Isn't this wild? I just can't get over it...
You know you are in West Texas when you see this in someone's yard.
I'm not real sure what this was all about. Any ideas? Andy and our new friend, Chris "Sandman" Sand, the Rappin' Cowboy (more to come on him) took a forlorn picture with the poor little fellow/lady. Chris did a better job looking forlorn.
I guess Chris was overtaken with the fellow/lady and proceeded to make the moves on him/her/it. To each his own.

These guys were my company to my first authentic Rattlesnake Roundup experience. I feel fulfilled in a weird sort of way.

March 12th

2009-03-12T17:35:00.002-05:00

People who were born on March 12th:

Mitt Romney, 2008 Presidential candidate
Jack Kerouac, American beat poet
Jesse Fuller, writer of the song "San Francisco Bay Blues"
Ron Jeremy (don't ask if you don't know)
James Taylor, really, really great musician
Me

Random Events in History from March 12th:

1914 - Julia Lennon, John Lennon's mother is born (d. 1958)
1894 - In Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.
1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests.

Fun facts to know and tell about my birthday:

It has always been on Spring Break (except in college).
In college when it was not on Spring Break, I skipped class so that I could say I never had to go to school on my birthday.
On my 11th birthday I begged my parents into letting me get my ears pierced for the first time, only to find out that I can't wear earrings because my ears get infected from them (except for my cartilage).
I never had a sip of alcohol (with the exception of spiked ketchup) before my 21st birthday. I had a margarita to celebrate that, but didn't enjoy it at the time.
My 26th birthday (today) will be celebrated at Chuck E Cheese's.

True Rest

2009-03-10T21:44:00.000-05:00

"Who spoke of rest? There is rest above.
No rest on earth for me. On, onto do
My Father's business. He, who sent me here,
Appointed me my time on earth to bide,
And set me all my work to do for Him,
He will supply me with sufficient grace -
Grace to be doing, to be suffering,
Not to be resting. There is rest above."

- J. Hudson Taylor

God's Work and Money

2009-03-08T23:14:00.003-05:00

"But in many cases what God wants is not a money contribution, but personal consecration to His service abroad or the giving up of a son or a daughter - more precious than silver or gold - to His service. I think a collection tends to leave the impression that the all-important thing is money, whereas no amount of money can convert a single soul. What is needed is that men and women filled with the Holy Ghost should give themselves to the work. There'll never be a shortage of funds for the support of such people."

- Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor was notorious for refusing donations at his speaking events. He felt very passionate that people did not need to be swayed by an emotional appeal, but needed to be compelled by the Holy Spirit to give. People often thought he was crazy for this, but time after time God proved Himself faithful to supply the finances for His work.

I'm praying this week that the Lord would bring up such people who are passionate about making his glory known in all the earth!

Please join me in prayer for our good friends Drew & Jordan and Chase & Brittany as they visit the Middle East this week and next week with the view in mind of long-term work in the area where there are currently no known believers. Check out their websites for more specifics.

Convicting Quote from Hudson Taylor

2009-03-06T23:20:00.005-06:00

"Can the Christians of England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes are perishing - perishing for lack of knowledge - for lack of that knowledge which England possesses so richly, which has made England what England is, and made us what we are? What does the Master teach us? Is it not that if one sheep out of a hundred be lost, we are to leave the ninety and nine and seek that one? But here the proportions are almost reversed, and we stay at home with the one sheep, and take no heed to the ninety and nine perishing ones! Christian brethren, think of the imperative command of our great Captain and Leader, 'Go, go ye, into all the world, and preach the gospel to ever creature;' think of the millions upon millions of poor be-nighted China to whom no loving follower of the self-reouncing One has 'brought good tidings of good', of 'published salvation'..."

From "J. Hudson Taylor: A Man in Christ"

I just finished reading Hudson Taylor's biography, which I very highly recommend. I'll try and share some quotes like these that challenged me. While you read the quotes, please remember to pray for our friends Logan and Daryl-Ann, who are in the process of heading out to Asia to share the gospel with people who have never heard it. You can follow their journey here.

Welcome to the Tribe

2009-03-02T20:22:00.002-06:00

Ok guys... one last post right now about Andy's music. I can't help it, I'm just a proud little wife.

Last month my sweet husband and our good friend Andy Wilkinson officially finished their first album together, titled "Welcome to the Tribe." I think it sounds and looks super cool!

Check out a detailed review of the album here.

Andy on Display at an Art Museum

2009-02-24T21:12:00.005-06:00

Here is a picture from the display at the Nevada Museum of Art display showcasing the video "Grass" that I linked below. And on that giant screen is my sweet husband. :) The display looks really cool - you can see rest of the pictures of the exhibit here. I'm pretty sad I can't see it in person!!!

If you haven't watched the video, check it out here. It is well worth your time!

Grass

2009-02-23T19:47:00.005-06:00

For those of you who are interested:

Andy was recently honored to be a part of a video project the Nevada Museum of Art was doing for an exhibit during the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Elko, NV, where Andy performed a few weeks ago. The video is of Andy and two other reciters (Joel Nelson and Jerry Brooks) reciting the introduction to a long poem called "Grass". The introduction is entitled "Anthem", and was written by a cowboy poet friend of Andy's named Buck Ramsey who passed away a few years ago. The video was filmed in Alpine, TX, and Nevada, and begins with Buck Ramsey's voice from a recording from 1993.

It happens to be one of my favorite poems. I think if you appreciate artistically done videography that you will enjoy it.

You can watch it online here.

Let us know what you think!

Elko

2009-02-22T13:46:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I was able to travel with Andy to one of his favorite cowboy gigs in Elko, NV. This is the largest gathering of it's kind with 10,000+ people. It was a lot of fun!!! Here are some pictures from the trip:

Because of ice and a crashed FedEx plane, we (Andy, Andy Wilkinson, and I) were delayed 13 hrs in Lubbock, of which we spent at least 6 in the airport. We were quite excited to arrive in Elko nearly 24 hrs later.
This is the Western Folklife Center in Elko, NV, where the gathering is held.
This is inside the Western Folklife Center - a real live, western bar. It seriously looked like it was out of the movies.
Here is the Stockman's Hotel & Casino, where a lot of goings on occur during the gathering. We however, did not stay here (unfortunately).
This is The Gillette Brothers (Pip Gillette and Guy Gillette), Andy, and Andy Wilkinson backstage.
Here are some friends we made: Andy Wilkinson, Phyllis & Guy Logsdon, and Andy. Guy is the world's premiere expert on Woody Guthrie, for all you Woody fans.
Inside the Western Folklife Center were several exhibits, including this quilt commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Elko gathering. It is composed of some of the brands of different artists who have been coming to the gathering over the years.
Even though Andy doesn't have a ranch, he has a brand. (Who would have known?) He was honored to be recognized on this quilt.
Andy is being interviewed about how he stumbled into performing at cowboy gatherings.
This is from one of Andy's performances that was in the format of a Q&A interview with songs.
Aren't these little ranch girls cute? They were so authentic, I just couldn't help but snap their picture.
This is Andy & Andy with a cowboy poet named Waddie Mitchell.
This is Andy with a good friend of his named Randy Rieman. Randy always reminds us to love Jesus!
And finally, this is Andy, Andy, and I enjoying a nice show by Mike Beck and his band at the Stray Dog.

Tagged

2009-01-26T17:27:00.007-06:00

My dear friend Lauren tagged me!

Here are the rules:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer. **
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.
No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.) Have fun!!

May I have a drumroll please?

Here it is:
This is my sweet friend, Jordan. This picture was taken towards the end of August 2008, and I'm pretty sure she was 9 months pregnant at the time. But doesn't she look cute??? She looks like she has a basketball stuffed in her shirt. I hope I look this cute when I'm pregnant!

And here's a sweet picture I took of baby Sayla who I love so much! (I know, I'm not supposed to post 2 pictures, but I couldn't resist!!!)

Now, here's who I'm going to tag:
1. Jordan
2. Kristen
3. Anna
4. Jason & Shannon

Without Steeples or Stained Glass

2009-01-18T17:12:00.004-06:00

Since the birth of our church almost exactly one year ago, we have been meeting on Sunday mornings at the Lubbock Civic Center. This was not by choice - we could not find a building in the right location that was both cheap enough and large enough to meet our needs. We all prayed and begged the Lord to provide us with something that would fit our needs, and nothing seemed to open up. Finally, about a month and a half ago, a building opened up and everything fell into place. Two weeks from today we will hold our first church service in this new building.

As Andy and I were greeted at the Civic Center this morning as we pulled into the parking lot with a large yellow banner that said "Liquidation Sale", we reminisced on some of the bizarre events that have been running at the same time as our church services. Here are just a few: a bridal fair, the cowboy symposium (complete with live animals and booths of cowboy merchandise to buy on the way into church), a car show (not old cars, but new tricked out cars with blue lights and deafening stereos), and, my personal favorite, a dog show (accompanied by all breeds of prissy dogs and nervous dog owners in the "church" parking lot). You better believe it that I made my way into the dog show after church that Sunday morning.

Andy plays in the Lubbock Cowboy Symposium every year. During this year's cowboy symposium, our good friend Kristen came in town to visit with her two little boys. Davis, her four year old loved it. We spent all Saturday there, and the next morning when we returned to the Civic Center for church, he turned to his mom a little confused and asked, "Isn't this where the cowboys were yesterday? What IS this building?" Kristen's answer: "Well, it's kind of an everything building." This caused little Davis to realize you don't have to have a steeple and stained glass to have church.

It seems like every Sunday we have giggled about the many random events held simultaneously with our church services, and anticipated the next bizarre event that we would walk through on our way to our next church service. On top of the odd events we see on Sunday mornings on the way into church, add our ghetto baptistery we've had for the last year. We've had baptisms in the most unusual fashion - usually a blue kiddie pool like the ones you remember buying from Wal-Mart as a child, and even in a swimming pool in a backyard. Watching a six foot tall man get baptized in a one foot deep kiddie pool was extremely akward, albeit beautiful.

Although I will forever get laughs out of the poodles I saw the dog show in our "church" parking lot at the Civic Center, I must admit that the whole process of having church at a place like the Civic Center, buildingless, has been extremely endearing to me. It is something that has reinforced in a special way a concept that I always knew: the Church is not a building.

So as a church, we are entering into a new era. We now own a building, though it's quirkiness would cause some to argue that it is not that much of a step up from our previous building situation. It is a classic church building, complete with burgundy carpet, children's rooms, and a real live baptistry. But the principle still remains: the Church is not a building, nor do you need a particular building to have church. It is a living, breathing organism set up by Christ and redeemed by his blood. It is a powerful thing, not tied down to a specific location, vastly different than organizations familiar to our culture like the Lion's Club, the YMCA, or the Red Cross. It was established by God himself, and will stand the test of time. When Jesus established his church, he described it this way, "Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Haides will not overcome it" (Matt. 16:18). I saw that baptism is a sweet picture of redemption, no matter if it's in a kiddie pool or a swimming pool. I saw the church growing and active, regardless of whether we met at the Lubbock Civic Center or at the Holiday Inn. I saw that the Church is alive, growing, and powerful - just as Jesus said it would be two thousand years ago. And I have had the priviledge of being a part of this.

While I'm very excited about the ammenities of having a church building, I have to admit that the switch will be bittersweet. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be reminded once again that the Church is God's, and is not constrained to any particular location. I'm also looking forward to the new things I will learn or be reinforced by this ghetto building we'll be meeting in shortly. Any ideas of what it will be? There has to be something to be learned from mismatching carpet in every room of the church....

A Special Thank You (A Guest Post from Andy)

2009-01-13T15:08:00.002-06:00

So, I don’t usually post on the blog but I did want to make a special post today. I was about to start writing thank you notes for graduation gifts and I just wanted to say a special thank you to my wife for helping me through school.

Many folks have encouraged me to go to school over the years, but she was the first person to actually help me look into different schools, get enrolled, take placement tests and figure out what classes I needed to take first. She also helped me pick out a degree plan and from day one as been my adviser, making sure I was taking only classes that I needed.

All through the last four years, she has helped me study for tests; edit papers, and constantly encouraged me whenever I felt like quitting or taking a break for a while. She has always said that we are in school together and she was always willing to help me study for a test or help me write a paper whenever neither one of us had time for it.

Furthermore, for the first two and a half years of our marriage she has endured me being in class two or three nights a week and she has always had hot meals waiting for me, and shopping and house work finished so that we could hang out. And, she has never once complained about it.

I am certain that I would never have started much less finished school without her help and encouragement.

Thank you babe!

28 is the Year to Graduate, 2009 is the Prime Time

2009-01-13T13:26:00.004-06:00

Let me clarify... 28 is the year to graduate if you start school when you're 24! I'm so proud of my little husband. When he started school 4 years ago, it seemed like an almost unobtainable task to actually finish. He went to school full time and worked full time almost without a break for 4 years and now he's done! Not only that, but he graduated Summa Cum Laude, with highest honors. And on top of all of that, he had the highest GPA of everyone that he graduated with!

To celebrate, my mom had a lunch at her house following the ceremony for family. We had a wonderful time!

Then on Saturday evening, our good friends Drew & Jordan grilled out delicious chicken and sausage and we had a celebration.

Congratulations, my love! You are awesome!!!

Is it just me?

2009-01-09T12:55:00.002-06:00

On my way to work I saw a bumper sticker that said:

If you take God out of America,
it will cease to be America.

Is it just me or does this statement seem to make America somehow synonymous with God?

Home Improvements

2009-01-06T17:50:00.005-06:00

For quite some time now, I have been itching for a new kitchen sink. As you can see, our old sink was disgusting. It's quite possible that it is the original from 1984.

So, Andy and I decided to tackle a home project: learn how to remove a sink and install a new one. It wasn't sheer determination on our part, it was largely due to the fact that our crummy little disposal quit on us for good. It has intermittently quit since I bought the house, but this time it was for good.

With the help of google, Ron Hazelton's how-to video, and the maintenance man's advice from my bank, this weekend we successfully removed our sink and installed a new one. (We also ran into a kink with our plumbing which we had to get help with, but the rest we did on our own!!!)Lest you think too highly of my clean sink, here are the dirty dishes I removed for the sake of this pretty picture (note that there were 15 times this many just last night).And here is Old Faithful, God rest her soul.

Bringing in 2009

2009-01-06T17:29:00.013-06:00

Happy New Year!!! We brought the new year in well, as you can see by the fun pictures :)

Andy and I sat down on New Year's Day at Dion's Pizza with our journals and set goals for 2009. We did this last year and it has proved to be very beneficial in helping us re-orient and prioritize. Hopefully it will be a family tradition!

From our reflections here are some things we are thankful for that went down in 2008:

Helping plant our church, Redeemer Church, which has been a tremendous blessing to be a part of.
Seeing another Perspectives class finish this past fall.
Having one new niece on my side of the family and a new niece and nephew on Andy's side!
Finishing year two of marriage and still being in love with each other.
Starting a new position at work (me).
Beginning a new record (Andy).
Finishing college (Andy).
Being a part of our tremendous small group.
Caring for and being cared for by lots of great friends.
Learning how to save gobs of money by couponing.

Here are just a few goals for us in 2009 (I'll spare you the long list):

Host another Perspectives class, along with a concurrent children's class.
Become more consistent in our prayer and Bible reading, individually and as a couple.
Increase our savings and our giving.
Make healthier choices (walking more, eating more fruits and veggies, eating smaller portions).
As a couple treating each other with our best and most kind attitudes, instead of treating each other with less kindness and respect than we would others.

I am thankful for God's tremendous provision for us this last year, and my prayer is that this year would give us a fuller understanding of his grace!

Christmas 2008 Overview

2008-12-31T17:41:00.018-06:00

Merry be-lated Christmas!!! I hope everyone had a splendid holiday! As my three blog followers may have noticed, I have been somewhat absent this month, but for good reason. As usual, it has been a hectic holiday season, so rather than give the play-by-play updates, I'm going to give you a little overview. We'll start with my tree (shown above). Isn't it pretty? The gold, green, and real peacock feathers are this years addition, along with the green sparkly leaves.Here's our mantle. There are simply three stockings because the hangers spell "Joy". Don't get any ideas.

One of my coworkers and I baked these beautiful homeade cinnamon rolls so that we would have (cheap) good tidings to give everyone in our office. They were delicious!
Classic. These are the finalists from the Redeemer Youth Christmas party ugly sweater contest. Beautiful pose. (David, on the right, won.)This is what your mantle looks like at Christmas when you have a lot of kids. And when I say a lot, I mean at least 12. Plus spouses and grandchildren. The Tardy's had a Christmas party for our small group and an apartment complex at their house.

Aren't these cool? I made one too. This is also from the small group Christmas party.
A couple in our small group are getting married in a few weeks and we threw them a wedding shower at our house. It was lots of fun, as you can see.
And my second (or third) cousin-in-law, Cary, made this beautiful ham for the shower. I was impressed.
We had a Christmas Eve meal with my mom's parents and some of my mom's side of the family. This is Mimi and Papa, whom I adore.
This is my mom, her sister, and their cousin. They giggle like little schoolgirls when they get together.
We then proceeded to have a 5:30pm Christmas Eve dinner at Andy's grandparents following our 2:30pm lunch at my mom's. Here's some of the ladies from his side of the family: his mom, me, my sister-in-law Anna, and my sister-in-law Shannon.We spent Christmas day with Andy's brother Jason, shown above. It was fun and festive, as is apparent to all from the juggling...

And the instrument playing by my husband...
And I even got to play dress-up with my niece, Hannah.

These are simply little snippets from the month. It was a busy month, but lots of fun!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

2008-12-24T20:50:00.002-06:00

Andy brought to my attention today the beautiful lyrics to this traditional Christmas tune that I have never noticed before. Here's a few of my favorite stanzas:

"And in despair I bowed my head
'There is no peace on earth,' I said,
'For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men.'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep"
'God is not dead, nor doth he sleep'
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, goodwill to men.'"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote this as a poem shortly after his wife had been burned alive and in the midst of the tragedy of the Civil War. The first Christmas after his wife was gone, he wrote in his journal, "How inexpressibly sad are the holidays." With the ringing of the Christmas bells, he was once again reminded that, "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."

May God comfort those who are "inexpressibly sad" this Christmas and remind them that he is ever watching over his children. And may he grant us the grace to remember this in times of suffering.

Merry Christmas!!!

Fall '08 Perspectives

2008-12-08T22:33:00.003-06:00

For those of you who have been praying for our Perspectives class, I would like to say thank you SO much! Tonight was our last night and it was a wonderful class. I really believe that we will see a large chunk of these students go overseas to bring the gospel to those who have never heard it. Continue to pray for these students, that the Lord would give them perseverance in this vision.

She's pretty much amazing.

2008-12-02T20:15:00.003-06:00

This, dear friends, is my niece (my brother and sister-in-law's baby). She is about 3 months old now and she's wonderful. The sad thing is, my brother and his family just moved back to Temple which means they are now 5 1/2 hours away. Before they left, I reminded Addie that I am her favorite auntie and that I love her so, so, so, so, so much.

She's beautiful.

Other Random NYC Pics

2008-11-30T19:47:00.003-06:00

Here's a few more pics from NYC for you all to enjoy.

At the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Michael Jackson midget man doing the "Thriller" dance at the subway at Union Station. Amazing.

Andy, Nikki, and I at Phantom of the Opera.

With the lego Star Wars guys at FAO Schwartz. (Brian, you need to show this one to Stephen.)

And the last two are obvious - at the Statue of Liberty and the David Letterman Show.

Fun Times in Greenwich Village.

2008-11-25T22:06:00.002-06:00

As you can see, I'm slowing posting our NYC pictures. Since Andy is a folk music fanatic, we decided to spend a day in Greenwich Village in search of all the old folk hot spots. Here's the highlights...

I love Central Park.

2008-11-20T20:39:00.007-06:00

It's been awhile...

2008-11-20T20:37:00.001-06:00

I don't know if I have anyone that follows my blog regularly. Well, I take that back. I did notice a month or two ago that Google added a new feature on blogspot where you can become someone's "follower" or something like that. Sad thing is, I have only have one follower.

So, to Jordan: I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been terribly busy and haven't had a chance to. I hope you won't abandon me.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some fun stuff here in the next week or so.

The Late Show with David Letterman

2008-10-31T12:20:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow Andy and I are headed to New York City, Lord willing. We booked our plane tickets a few weeks ago and have been looking into lots of fun things to do while we're there. One thing we thought would be fun was to go to one of the late shows. Our first pick was to see Conan, but they didn't have any tickets for him and we didn't want to go try to get standby tickets the day of. So, that leaves David Letterman.

Here's how it works: you submit an online request for tickets. If they have any available, they will call you close to the time you're wanting tickets and let you know. You then have to call a number and answer a random trivia question to get the tickets.

The only problem with this scenario is that Andy and I pretty much never turn our TV on, so we know little to nothing about the David Letterman show, making it difficult to answer any trivia question.

Here's Andy's email to me about how it all went down. It cracked me up so I thought I'd share it with you:

"She asked me how often we watched the show and I said MAYBE once a week. I had been watching clips online today, so I figured that was ok, right?? She asked who watched it most and I said we probably watched it the same. I think she was going to give me the option of having you answer the question. Anyways she said I could have no outside help and the question was, 'what color is Alan Kalter's hair?' I had no idea and I was trying to find it on Wikipedia and she told me it was a bright unusual color. I finally googled his name and clicked images, and it was orange and I got the tickets."

So, Wednesday at 4:30PM, we're going to be sitting in on the taping of the David Letterman show. Assuming my research proves me right, Tom Brokaw, Vera Farmiga, and Brad Paisley will be on the show. Andy is planning on wearing his cowboy hat so that we might be spottable on the show. And I will probably be bundled up because they supposedly keep the studio at 58 degrees!

You'll have to tune in and see if you can spot us!

Christopher Columbus, I love you.

2008-10-19T22:48:00.008-05:00

Normally there aren't perks to working at a bank. Contrary to popular opinion, banks in 2008 stay open past 4pm. And I only get two weeks of paid vacation a year. But, one perk to working at a bank is Columbus Day - the holiday that no one else celebrates. In celebration this year Andy and I and our good friends Ben & Beth took a fun road trip to Alpine, TX.

We enjoyed the art galleries in Marfa:
We had fun dinners:
Andy played at a little bar in Alpine called Harry Tinaja's with our wonderful friend and amazing banjo player, Billy Faier:
We hiked at Big Bend National Park:

And we hung out at Billy Faier's place, enjoying some wonderful true blue folk music. I need to add that Beth and I made dinner on the spur of the moment (literally) with the few random ingredients we could find on hand at Billy's place. It was quite the adventure.
Check out the light box that Billy made in the 70's. Apparently he made a whole traveling display's worth of these. Isn't it awesome?

By the way... If you are a Dave Van Ronk fan, you need to know that Billy Faier taught him the song "Mr. Noah".

Why you should ask your friends how their marriages are going...

2008-10-19T22:43:00.002-05:00

Judson on Short Term Missions

2008-10-08T13:42:00.003-05:00

“How can we, who are devoted for life, cordially take to our hearts one who is a mere hireling?…I have seen the beginning, middle, and end of several limited term missionaries. They are all good for nothing. Though brilliant in an English pulpit, they are incompetent to any real missionary work. They come out for a few years, with the view of acquiring a stock of credit on which they may vegetate the rest of their days, in congenial climate of their native land…The motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, out to be ‘Devoted for life.’”

- From Adoniram Judson's biography, "To the Golden Shore"

More lessons learned from working at a bank.

2008-10-01T21:15:00.003-05:00

Lesson 1: The middle of a bank drive thru lane is probably not the best place to sit down and smoke a cigarette.

Lesson 2: If someone from the bank asks you to go some place other than the drive thru, asking if you can finish smoking your cigarette may not be the best response.

Lesson 3: If you have previously done the aforementioned things, wandering through the drive thru and sticking your head in various car windows could be a bad idea. You just might get arrested.

Faces

2008-09-29T12:31:00.015-05:00

This weekend we had a cookout at the Tardy's house (the house where we have our small group). For the kiddos, there was a giant inflatable slide in the yard. There is an apartment complex down the street from our small group; this summer there was a backyard Bible club for the kids from the apartment complex, and they have continued coming to the children's small group that is in conjunction with our small group until recently. I was able to get some fun face shots of the beautiful children this Saturday. First of all, here's Andy: the official Redeemer Church Griller. Well, it hasn't been made unofficial yet, but every stinkin' time our church has grilled out (literally), Andy has somehow ended up grilling. It's probably because he's so good at it! This is Betsy Tardy. Someday I want to be half as cool as she is. The Tardy's are near and dear to my heart. They eminate love for Jesus, and they're extra cool because of they have 12 children. And they're not weird. And 3 of the 12 are adopted. And 2 of the 12 have down syndrome. And 1 of the 2 with down syndrome was adopted. I love all of them (well I love the 9 kids I've met and the parents and the dog, and I'd probably love the others if I met them). Seriously, every time I'm around Betsy Tardy I'm encouraged to love Jesus more.This is Jolie Tardy.

And Emily Tardy (check out her pose - it's awesome).
And Kaci Tardy.
And Caleb Tardy. And Sophie Tardy. Ok, now here are some of the kiddos from the apartment complex and from our church. Look at those beautiful faces!!! And this little guy's name is Zee. He told me he didn't want to go down the slide alone but if I went down with him, he'd go. Needless to say, he loved it!
This is my namesake: Jolissa. When I was in first or second grade I wanted my name to be Jolissa. Now Andy and I have decided that if we biologically have black children (which is genetically possible), that if it's a girl she will be named Jolissa, and if it's a boy, he'll be T'Andrew.
And here is Heather, our children's coordinator at Redeemer. This is a real live shot of Heather as you would normally see her: with babies in her arms.

I just love how faces are all so different and beautiful!

Christianity in Somalia

2008-09-25T13:26:00.004-05:00

Monday night in Perspectives I heard a mind-boggling statistic:

The average life expectancy of someone who has just become a Christian in Somalia is 45 days.

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

2008-09-23T11:49:00.009-05:00

"There is a reason why he is not known as Concise Jack Elliott."

That is my favorite line from the review of the Ramblin' Jack Elliott concert we went to in Ft. Worth this past weekend.

"Short on songs but long on stories."

That's the truth too! During the entire second half of the show, Jack only played four songs. And throughout the show there were long, elaborate introductions to songs or even short snippets of songs, but Jack would get distracted during the introduction and then introduce another song or tell another story. Despite his rambling (or maybe I should say because of them), we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

When I say "we" enjoyed the concert, I am talking of myself, Andy, our good friend Kenneth who rode with us for the concert, and our friend Bob who we met in Ft. Worth.

Throughout the evening, I was able to get some cool pictures. The McDavid studio where the concert was held.

Ramblin' Jack's guitar, complete with the nine year old set list taped on it, which he by no means followed, but would randomly look at during the night as if to get a good idea for a song to play.

But since Ramblin' Jack hates photography during his concerts, I couldn't take any pictures during the show. I probably had four different people working the concert ask me not to take pictures during the concert. So, I figured I could just snap a few pictures of us with him after the show. When the show was over, we waited and visited with Jack for a minute or two while his road manager was nudging him to leave and get some rest. We left and I never got the pictures I really wanted - a picture of us with Ramblin' Jack, the folk legend.

But then... We got a call last night from our good friend Andy Wilkinson. "Jack is on his way to Lubbock right now. Want to come over and hang out with us?" Sure thing! We wrapped up Perspectives and headed over to the Wilkinsons, and from about 10:30pm to 12:30 am we once again soaked up Ramblin' Jack's ramblings. But this time it was over a kitchen table.

What did I learn? Mostly things about sailing, bronc riding, and cowboys. But my favorite fact of the night was this: Dave Van Ronk says if a venue charges you more than 15% for cd sales, you just shouldn't bring your cds to sell at all.

And, I finally got the pictures I wanted all along.

A Question I'm Asking

2008-09-14T18:08:00.003-05:00

"He banished forever those dreams of literary and political ambition in which he had formerly indulged, and simply asked himself, How shall I so order my future being as best to please God?"

- From "To the Golden Shore", Adoniram Judson's biography

Sweet Friends

2008-09-13T18:46:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, my good friend Kristen and her boys Davis and Ronin came to visit us. Andy was playing at the Cowboy Symposium, so Davis got his first cowboy hat which he was very proud of.

Here he is with his very tough face:

And here is little Ronin:

I have to say, I think military wives are far under appreciated. Probably all military is, for that matter. But what Kristen is doing at home by holding down the fort and taking care of the boys is extremely hard work. I seriously don't know how she does it - and she never has a bad attitude! When you say prayers, say some for Kristen and some for Kevin as he is finishing his last months in Iraq.

Answered Prayer #2

2008-09-06T19:45:00.004-05:00

When I asked Drew what he and Jordan would be doing this weekend if Jordan didn't have the baby by then, his answer was "Jumping on a trampoline."

Seriously, I didn't know it was possible for doctors to change a baby's due date 9 months into the pregnancy, but Jordan and little Sayla have proved that it is indeed possible. We have been praying and anxiously awaiting Sayla's arrival for quite some time now. I love Keadryn (Drew and Jordan's 14 month old) so much and I swore I didn't think it was possible to have a baby as pretty as her, but this week I have been doubly proved wrong by both the arrival of her little sister and the arrival of my niece.

Yesterday Sayla Grace Remke was finally born - 6 lbs. 9 oz. She is absolutely beautiful. These pictures don't do her justice. My good friend Kristen and her boys went to the hospital last night with me to see the Remkes. Her son Davis was enthralled by Sayla, and after we left he kept saying, "She was soooo pretty!"

Here are a few pictures of her...

An Answered Prayer

2008-09-03T19:25:00.007-05:00

Several months ago, I asked all of you to keep my brother and his wife in prayer. She was around 5ish months pregnant and began having contractions. Up until a few weeks ago she was kept on bed rest. Every day the doctors were concerned that little Addie would arrive. So week by week we kept tabs on how she was developing and prayed fervently that the baby would be healthy.

Today, at 12pm, Adelynn Grace Sommers was born. 7 lbs. 11 oz., and 20 1/2 inches long, complete with 5 fingers, 5 toes, and little fat rolls on her legs. I'm already pretty crazy about her. Praise the Lord!!!

Gretta looked exhausted and nauseous, but completely in love, and Jon looked terrified and excited all at the same time.

Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy.

What if...

2008-08-30T23:09:00.010-05:00

What if you had a daughter and the guy she wanted to marry asked for your permission to marry her by saying this:

"I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"

- Adoniram Judson, 1810

What would you say?

Two Wonderful Years

2008-08-28T17:25:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago Andy and I traveled to Mexico to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. However, we weren't in Mexico on our actual anniversary. Our anniversary fell on Tuesday August 26th. If you're a faithful In the Hedges blog reader, you'll recognize this as the day after our Perspectives class started. And if you know anything about Perspectives, it's a massive undertaking, particularly during the first week of the first class. Seeing as how we both didn't get to bed until about 1 am on Tuesday morning, we were both pretty wiped out on our anniversary! Despite this, we had a really sweet anniversary (both in Mexico and the actual day), and I am more in love with my husband now than I ever heave been (and I was pretty in love when we got married)!

Here are just a few things I love about being married and love about my husband:

Every night is like having a slumber party with my best friend.
Being able to have friends or even strangers over to our house for meals or to stay with us.
Friendship. Andy is my best friend in the whole world and my confidant. He gives wonderful and wise advice, listens well, and lets me cry on his shoulder when I'm upset.
Encouragement. Spiritually, personally, professionally.
Having challenging conversations that cause us both to think and re-think through things.
Doing home projects together and even doing things like cleaning house together. Basically just being together.
Partnership in ministry. I don't have to do things alone. I have a prayer partner and a ministry partner to serve the Lord with.
Laughter. Andy makes me laugh so hard sometimes I can hardly stand it!
And overall, all of this combined points me towards Jesus! Andy's love towards me is a reminder to me of how sweet the love of Christ is for his bride, the Church.

Here are a few pictures from our wedding. I'm pretty sure we're already looking older!!!

“When God engaged to create man and woman and to ordain the union of marriage, he didn’t roll dice or draw straws or flip a coin. He patterned marriage very purposefully after the relationship between his Son and the Church, which he planned from eternity. And therefore marriage is a mystery – it contains and conceals a meaning far greater than what we see on the outside. What God has joined together in marriage is to be a reflection of the union between the Son of God and his bride, the Church.”

-John Piper

From Lubbock to the Nations

2008-08-27T20:10:00.005-05:00

Monday night was the first night of the Fall 2008 Perspectives class here in Lubbock. After many months of prayer and hard work, everything culminated in one crazy night. Despite the craziness of it all, things went really well! We had around 70 people who came and around 40 people who signed up. Todd Ahrend from the Traveling Team spoke on "The Living God is a Missionary God." I don't know about anyone else, but it was refreshing and exciting to hear all over again God's redemptive plan. It's not a new thing - it's woven throughout Scripture, and stretches from creation throughout the history of the Church, and is still going on today. I have been grafted in as his child because of this.

Perspectives is something that overwhelms me every time I put a class together. What we are doing is serious. People's life plans and dreams and being changed. I am praying that Lubbock would become a sending force of people to the nations. That people across the world who have never heard the name of Jesus would come to know him through people from Lubbock because of Perspectives. Would you join me in praying such a bold prayer?

A Sibling Photo Session

2008-08-22T23:31:00.006-05:00

This last one is what we were going for all along. I had to bribe Andy for a regular smile though. You folks with children understand this scenario all too well. I don't have kids yet, but my husband is teaching me well for what to expect when we do.