Semi Weekend Recap

In my update on Friday, I told of my plans for the weekend, so I won't bore you with re-typing all of that. We did tons of celebrating on Friday with great friends. Then, on Saturday, we headed to Raleigh for Grant's graduation, then back to Durham for dinner at Kanki.

On our way home from dinner, a crazy storm was coming up. You could see the lightning coming from the clouds in huge streaks, and the wind was blowing. When we got home, our power was out, and the storm hit us full force. The wind was crazy, and it poured rain. I'm so glad we made it home before the storm hit, so we could get the dogs inside. So, I lit candles all over the house because it was getting dark. And, what better way to pass the time in the dark than to take a nap before heading out to celebrate some more at Rob and Sarah's house Saturday evening. We went over there for a few hours Saturday before calling it a night.


Sunday, Marc and I were running the powepoint at church. It was also Baby Dedication Day. Brock, Wendy, and Allie dedicated Ava. In case you're not familiar with a baby dedication, here's what it's about at Crosslink: The parents promise before the church to raise the baby in a Godly home, in a Christian setting, and teaching them of Jesus. The church then promises to lift up the babies and the families in prayer, that they will be equipped to raise their children the way God wants them. So, here are some (very bad) pictures of everyone on stage for the baby dedication during the early service:

Brock and Wendy are on the far right - it was a bit dark.

Lunch at my aunt's was great! I love being with my family! =.) I h0pe your Mother's Day was wonderful! =.)

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”- Ephesians 4:32

Financial Peace University

So excited! Tomorrow, our Life Group will be celebrating our Graduation from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We're all bringing food, and we'll be piggin' out on some yummy pizza! We will be bringing a dessert, and I've been dying to try this:

Butter Pecan cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Icing

Doesn't that just sound delicious?!?

So, I'll be cooking tonight, and responding to some of my snail mail blogger friends (and some of my real life friends, as well)!

Have a geat day!

Weekend Recap

Oh, my goodness...it was such a wonderful weekend! The weather was gorgeous, and it was great to be outside in the sunshine!

Friday night, we went out with 2 other couples to our favorite local pub, The Wooden Nickel. We enjoyed a great dinner, and then just hung out for a bit before heading home kind of early, for us anyways.

On Saturday, I went to a baby shower for a friend who used to work with me. She's having a little boy, and she is just so cute! I'm really envious of cute pregnant women, because I imagine I'm not going to be one of them! =.) She actually might be going a little early, and have a new little one this week! I wish her the best, she deserves it! =.)

After the baby shower, Marc and I went over to our friend's house, and hung out with the dogs by the pond all afternoon. Paisley and Ace had a blast with Mason. Ace even went swimming for a little bit - I really think it's the first time he's ever voluntarily gotten wet! Paisley, on the other hand, is just a little water baby. She LOVES the water! She went out in the boat with Marc, and then jumped in, from the boat, to swim back to shore. You can see her in the boat, and then the splash from when she jumped in! Grant, Katie, Marc, and I enjoyed the best pizza ever for dinner, then we headed home early, again. Paisley and Ace really enjoyed their evening, and were completely exhausted when we got home. I really think they were still tired Sunday morning! =.)

Marc & Paisley in the boat

The splash at the front of the boat is where jumped in

I love this picture of Ace!

Mason, Paisley's boyfriend

Paisley, the pup

Marc and Ace

Sunday was great! Crosslink celebrated 3 years yesterday! It was an awesome service with a guest paster, the pastor from our "mother" church. Then we enjoyed dinner on the grounds. I just love our church, and our church family! I'm so blessed to be a part of this church, and I can't wait to see what else God will be doing through the church, and the people in the church.

After church, Marc and some of the guys spent the afternoon on their 4-wheelers. I got some good pictures of them before it started drizzling. Such daredevils!

This is Brock, doing a heel clicker

Marc

Marc's on the left, Brock's in the center

Marc, again

Marc's in the front, and Brock's closing in on him

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, as well!


"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3

Pictures!! =.)

Marc in the Mountains Spring of 2008

Jackson, my Mama's horse last week

My view every day on the way home

Another view from my car window

A little background - Marc and I took our niece Karleigh to our church's Easter Egg Hunt last weekend. This was her 3rd hunt this year, so she was quite the veteran at this. As soon as we walked up, Karleigh saw the eggs that were "hidden," and was ready to GO. We had to distract her for about an hour, because it just wasn't time for the hunt yet!

She had played a bean bag toss game, and she was pickin' her prize!

As you can see from her basket on the ground, the girl racked up. She had a ball opening all of her eggs to get her goodies out!

We had SUCH a fun time babysitting Karleigh on Saturday! Thanks, Matt and Tammy, for letting us borrow your precious little one! =.)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

Easter

At today's church service, Pastor Ken said something that really made me think. It was something along these lines...

Yes, the cross is very important to us, as Christians. It is a symbol of all of the pain Jesus Christ suffered upon taking all of our sin as he was nailed to the cross. So, if you have jewelry, that's what that jewelry - that cross - is supposed to remind you of as you wear it.

However - many people died on a cross, two others with Jesus. That is not the best part of Jesus' life! The best part is this: while he died on a Friday, he rose from the dead on Sunday! For had Jesus not risen, we would not have HOPE in an everlasting life!

How awesome is that?!? I know that these are things that some people just know, and I'm amont those people. But sometimes, you hear something in a different way, and it just opens your eyes and your heart to God's word.

So, on this Easter, be thankful for the cross, but rest in the HOPE that was given to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On a side note - Pastor Ken set a goal of having 500 people attend the services today, and guess what?!?! We had over 630 people come to church today! I just pray that everyone took something away from today's service, and I hope that they have a renewed HOPE in their lives for what they heard today. Praise God for all He does! =.)


"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (Amen!!)

Happy Anniversary!

On Wednesday, March 25th, Marc and I celebrated 3 years of marriage. Yay! So, Happy Anniversary, Marc! I love you! We've had a busy week, and Marc's actually out of town for the weekend, so we celebrated our anniversary with dinner out on Tuesday.

We went to Rockfish Seafood Grill @ The Streets of Southpoint (thanks for the coupon, Tiffany!). We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine, great dinner, and the most scrumptious slice of Key Lime Pie. Yummy!

Rockfish Seafood Grill

Love of my Life...

Self Portrait

***

Wednesday, we hosted our Life Group at our house. Dave Ramsey is just awesome. He makes things sound so simple! And I understand that the concepts are, indeed, simple, but he just says them in a way that everyone can comprehend! Love Financial Peace!

***

So, on Thursday morning, I woke to a little discomfort on my right side of my mouth. Not a big deal, I figured it would go away. I swished with some Listerine and also some salt water throughout the day. No big deal, except that it kept getting more uncomfortable as the day progressed. I called to ensure I could see my awesome doctor before the weekend, and got an appointment for today at 12:00.

Well, when I woke up this morning, the 'slight' swelling that definitely increased to extremely swollen, and extremely uncomfortable. Still haven't felt any pain, but it's just been a bother. Well, the infection finally started draining around 10 a.m., so the swelling went down significantly. It was so swollen when I woke up this morning, that it was pulling the right side of my mouth down. Pretty bad, even for me. This picture is me right before I went in to see the doctor. If you look at the left side of my face at my jaw line, you can see the swelling. Normally, my face is symmetrical, so you can see that it's not exactly normal. Dr. V drained and flushed the incision, which is where the infection is, and placed a pack in, like he did on the other side. He is just so nice! He really feels bad that I'm having so much trouble! It's pretty typical for me, though, so I'm not too surprised! My face is closer to normal, now, but I'll spare you the photos!

I hope you've had a wonderful day! I'm off to bed to finish watching the Duke/Villanova game! =.)


"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." ~ Philippians 1:9-11

Weekend guests

This weekend, we are going to be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Marc's grandparents (let's call 'em Ma and Pa J). We're going out to eat on Friday night with his dad's family - everyone we see at Christmas. It's about 20 people.

And Marc's dad and stepmom are staying with us this weekend. It should be fun! =.) We'll play spades, and maybe a few other card games, maybe we'll get Apples to Apples to play, too. On Sunday, Ma and Pa J's church is going to be honoring them with some sort of ceremony. I don't mind going, at all, nor does Marc, but we just really love Crosslink! I hope that doesn't make us church snobs! I also have a feeling that this will be a really traditional church, so that plays into a bit, as well. Anywho...should be a great weekend! We haven't seen Lyman and Melinda in a long time...maybe since Christmas?!? Too long!

Also, if you're in the area, and would love a contemporary church to stop in and check out, please take a look at Crosslink. Pastor Ken is awesome - you'll definitely walk away with something to think about and a challenge for the week. We're in the middle of a series on Vision, and God's Vision for our lives, for Crosslink, etc. Love it! =.)


And speaking of anniversaries...ours is coming up! March 25th marks 3 years of marriage for Marc and me! It's crazy how 3 years has gone by so quickly, yet seems like we've been together forever, all at the same time! I do have to say, though, that we've been dating since 2000, so maybe that has a part in the feeling like forever side of it! Have a wonderful day!


“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”- Galations 5:22-23

Easter is coming...

We're getting closer to Easter, and as we do, I'm getting more and more excited. I haven't been this excited and energetic about God since I was in college.

Side note - I was in a sorority - Sigma Alpha Omega. It's a christian sorority, started at NC State, and it's grown in NC. It might be outside of NC by now, but I don't know. Check out the website for the chapter at Appalachian State here.

But oh my goodness, I am so excited to be at Crosslink Community Church. Pastor Ken is just such an amazing speaker, and he just makes you want to go out each week and do something for God. I absolutely LOVE it! =.)

So, if you're in the Mebane area, and are interested in finding a great church that really wants each person to grow in Christ, please, please, PLEASE leave me a comment, or go to the link above and I think there are directions there. Our Easter service is gonna be awesome, so you should definitely come out if you can! =.)

Have a great day!


"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." ~Romans 6:6

Weekend Recap

Marc and I went on a marriage retreat this past weekend with about 20 other couples from our church. We had the best time! We spent most of the time laughing, and it was so much fun! We got to know some of the other couples from the church, and it was just really nice.

We drove up on Friday evening, and checked in to our hotel. We get to our room, and we have these goodie baskets waiting for us. There were 2 wine glasses, some Apple Cider, chocolates, and a candle. Then we headed down to a conference room, and we played get to know you games while we snacked. We stayed after our scheduled events were over and just talked with some of the other couples.

Then, we woke up Saturday morning and headed over to Cracker Barrel for a yummy breakfast. Our sessions started around 9, and we went through lunch. We had a break and went to Target (I LOVE that place), then we back for our afternoon session. That ended at 6, then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner, then came home. Our speaker, Mark, talked about the roles of the wife and the husband, and how we're supposed to be with each other, and God's role in the marriage. Mark also talked about communication and how men and women communicate differently. He used a lot of scripture, and Marc and I both learned a lot. The whole weekend was like being in a room full of high-schoolers. It was great and so funny! =.) We were home for Saturday night, then went to church Sunday morning.

I forgot my camera, and don't have any pictures, but I'll try to get some from Ed, our official photographer of the weekend.

Anyways - take advantage of all that your church offers to keep your marriage strong. It's worth it!


"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

My Favorite Addiction

Okay. Most everyone who knows me knows that this is my biggest addiction:


This one is empty because it was my breakfast this morning. =.) I absolutely LOVE a Mountain Dew. My favorite is from a can. They just taste better. Those who are addicts like me, you know what I'm talking about. =.)

In November, our pastor at Crosslink Community Church, Pastor Ken, as I'll call him, challenged everyone to fast for 40 days. The purpose of the fast:

1. Pray for the people in your wallet (the 3 people you have written down in your wallet that you've listed as needing prayer that God will come into their lives and convict them, and that Jesus will find them wherever they are).


2. Pray for the DreamBIG initiative that's going on (We're currently meeting in the auditorium of a middle school because the church is only 2, almost 3, years old, and we don't have a physical building to call our church, yet. DreamBIG is our fund to begin searching for land to build on).

So, any time we thought about what we were fasting, it was supposed to be a reminder to pray for the two items above, as well as anything else you felt needed prayer.

Marc and I were talking after this service about what we were going to fast, and I told him I'd fast chocolate. That would be hard for me, but not impossible. I love chocolate, so it would be a sacrifice for me. He said that if I really wanted to fast, then I should give up Mt. Dew for 40 days. Let me tell you, I thought he was crazy, because I didn't really think I could do it. But I thought about it and I prayed about it, and I decided that if I were going to do this, and really give up something that I consider a daily part of my life, then Mt. Dew would be the thing that would be the biggest sacrifice for me. So, I did.

I made a countdown in my planner from 40 all the way to Mt. Dew Day! And that day, was on Saturday, December 6th. On Saturday morning, I woke up - we had a 2 liter Mt. Dew in the fridge, but it had been open for over a week, and to be honest, I did not want my first sip of Mt. Dew in 40 days to be that of a flat 2 liter. That would have just been a disappointment. I needed gas, so I drove to Andy's after getting my fake tree out of Mama & Daddy's storage building at their house, and purchased 2 refreshingly cold cans of Mountain Dew. I waited until I got back home, popped the top of that much awaited for drink, turned it up, and had my first sip in 40 days.

And ya know what, it didn't taste nearly as great as it was supposed to! I don't know if my taste buds have changed, but every swallow of Mt. Dew since Saturday - they just haven't tasted the way I expected. Don't get me wrong...it was good...but not as good as I wanted it to be. =.) So, I do believe that my newest 'addiction' in the world of soft drinks is: Sprite. At least it's caffeine free. =.)

"For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does." Psalm 33:4

Snow!!!

I am so excited! IT SNOWED! I was so happy to wake up, look out the bedroom window, and see beautiful, white snow all around! I haven't seen snow like this since Boone...and it's no Boone snow, let me tell you, but it's still snow! =.) I love it! =.)
I'm not so sure the dogs are thrilled about it, though. I felt so bad leaving them out this morning! Ace just keep looking at me from the carport as if to say, "What? You're leaving? But I want to go back inside!!" Paisley...she was a little more adventuresome. She was at least running around in it when we let them out first thing. This is the first snow they've seen on the ground. I kind of hope it does a bigger snow, just so we can see them play in it! =.)

Paisley didn't want to get her feet wet - she was just sitting in the driveway, looking for deer, I suppose.

Ace was even worse...he decided that he wasn't leaving the carport. I went to put out a blanket for them to lay on, and I guess he thought I was going to let him back inside, but he just sat on the blanket, looking at the door.

On a more solemn note, Marc's mom was going into surgery today to have her galbladder removed. She'd been having some abdominal pain, and went to the doctor. She has some galstones, and she was supposed to have surgery at 10:45 this morning. Shelia was really anxious about the procedure because she hadn't ever been under anesthesia before, but she did really well. I just talked to Marc, and as soon as she does her list of 'stuff', she'll get to go home. So Matt and Marc are waiting around the hospital. Hopefully she'll get through that list this afternoon, and not have to spend the night. So, please pray she does fine from here on out.

So, in June, Marc and I transferred our membership to a new church. I am so excited about Crosslink Community Church! Pastor Ken is awesome. You can tell that God just uses him and works through him constantly. So, tomorrow morning, the church is having a huge yard sale to raise money to upfit a new building that we'll be moving into. The church is only a few years old, so we don't have a "church" building. We've been meeing at a middle school in Efland for about 2 years now, and it's time that we get our own place. It'll be nice to have a place to go to ALL the time. I'm really excited to see how God is going to use this new space for His plans. So, while you're sleeping in tomorrow, I'll be helping Mama unload her dining room table at 7 a.m. in 24 degree weather. =.) This is the link to Crosslink's website, just in case you're interested. =.)

I really hope I'll be able to get some sewing done tomorrow, too. I'd love to make some Christmas presents! I think I'm gonna do some Christmas wrapping tonight, too. We usually put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving - another tradition - and I hate to see a tree with no presents underneath. So, I've got a few presents, already, so I need to get them wrapped. I've also gotta get some birthday presents. Just on my mom's side of the family, we have 6 birthdays in December, from the first day to the last. I've got some, know what I'm getting for others, but completely clueless on some. I'm so bad at buying presents for boys. For the girls - those are a piece of cake. But for little boys, unless it's a Hot Wheels, I'm lost. I need to make my list so I'll know what to get next Friday. I can't WAIT for Friday.

Okay...enough rambling...I'll leave you with this:

"[Thanksgiving] I always thank God for you because his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way - in all your speaking and in all your knowledge."
1 Corinthians 1:4-5