Another weekend down south

This past weekend we spent in Texas visiting with Dan's family!  Beth has recently gotten accepted in the Masters Program at Miami University and will be moving to Ohio soon, so we wanted to check out the new place where she works (another big cat sancurary).  Don't worry, I didn't take quite as many pictures as last time, and really it was for various reasons.

1. All the animals were double caged  so trying to take pictures through two cages was much more difficult than I anticipated.

2. The first cage we walked up to a tiger started growling at us and then not even a second later jumped out of its cage and let out the loudest roar ever, causing people to page Beth to make sure everything was ok.  I was terrified and thankful my water didn't break.

3. Combine 85 degree weather with a pregnant lady wearing maternity jeans (I refuse to buy more maternity clothes for the warm weather!) and I was getting a little toasty.  So pictures were minimal compared to 150 I took last time.  However we managed to take a few :)

We also took the trip to Texas because a couple weeks ago we found out some more news regarding Dan's mom.  If you could also continue to keep Dan's mom in your prayers we would so appreciate it.  I know I mentioned a couple months ago that she was going through radiation, and they recently found more cancer in her liver and she is starting chemo in the next week.  Please not only pray that she would be healed but also that they would experience God's comfort during this time.  We love them so much and it was so great to be able to talk and spend time with them since we don't get to see them very often living so far away :)

Here's a little view of our weekend:

They have little memorials set up for the ones that passed away :) So sweet.

We learned this lesson the hard way

Beth was special and could go inside :)

Their poor ears were bitten up because of all the flies.  Beth was trying to get them off.

Have a lovely weekend :)

Rachael's Baby Shower

Remember last week when I mentioned Rachael's baby shower?  Well, our friend Jess who was taking pictures uploaded and looked over all the pictures she took and shared them with us!  Here are a few!  They turned out SO good! 

When Rachael first arrived

Mingling with guests

A picture of the whole room

Scrapbook table

All the onesies all decorated!

Me explaining the onesie craft.. and you can see my HUGE stomach lol

Making the onesies

Bible study shot

Rachael had the cutest expressions!

She got so much cute stuff!

Happy Easter

We're down in Texas celebrating Easter and spending time with Dan's family :)  I hope you had a wonderful Easter with your family and were able to remember and celebrate Christ's resurrection.  We were able to attend The Village Church again, which is a church we visited when we were down here in the summer.  While we missed our own church, it was nice to have another place to worship while we were gone.

Until I get back, here are some fun links from around the web.

Aren't these cookies and Easter table set up adorable? 

These maternity clothes are oh so adorable (and can be worn when you're not pregnant as well).  If I had an extra $400 laying around I may purchase that baby blue gown :)

Great article on how to stay "Christian" in seminary.  Although I'm *almost* done it was still a good reminder.

I'm looking for more healthy recipes.  I might as well start with a healthy cookie recipe, right?

Also loved her thoughts regarding mom's reading their Bible.

This was a really sweet story regarding happiness.

My Savior, My God

Today is the much anticipated Good Friday. I believe for the past two years every Good Friday I share on my blog how my perspective of Easter weekend has changed.  The focus is less on the candy and more on the death and resurrection of Christ.  Our church has always had such powerful Good Friday services showcasing the death of Christ, making Easter Sunday, Jesus' resurrection, that much more meaningful.

Since I have Good Friday off, it has become a pattern of mine to sleep in, wake up slowly, and then prepare my heart to read Isiah 53 and the crucifixion story.

"He was despised and rejected by mankind" ... "we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted"... "he was pierced for our transgressions" ... "he was oppressed and afflicted"... "yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer" ...

It's hard to take in those words.  My Savior, my God silent as he was led to the cross, his execution.  They misjudged and misunderstood him as they hurled insults at him and taunted him, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the Chosen One.... save yourself..."  The crowds didn't realize that by allowing them to kill him, Jesus was saving them.  He was voluntarily taking on the sins of the world, knowing how it would all go down.  "No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." (John 10)

Something this year that I read regarding Good Friday caught my attention:

"He offered himself as a mirror they could see themselves in, and they were so appalled by what they saw that they smashed it. They smashed him, every way they could..... He is the light of the world. In his presence, people either fall down to worship him or do everything they can to extinguish his light.... Today, while he dies, do not turn away. Make yourself look in the mirror. Today no one gets away without being shamed by his beauty. Today no one flees without being laid bare by his light."

In his presence our sin is revealed.  In his light we see ourselves for who we really are: people who desperately need a savior, full of pride, selfishness, deceit, etc.  However, admitting that our sin is so bad that God needed his Son to die a brutal death to save us is a heavy pill to swallow.  Yet once we admit it and accept what His death means for us, we are finally free.  Free from trying to prove ourselves or make ourselves appear better than who we are because we have admitted that we don't have it all together and that we need Christ.

My prayer today is that I will remember who I was before Christ.  That I would be reminded of why Christ had to die and once again ponder the radical love that is needed to die a death in such a way and for such a people.

I liked this

❝Our relationship with Jesus is messy, intimate, and beautiful all at the same time. Often He takes us on these dangerous adventures just to strip everything else away but Himself. From there, He’ll show us that He is writing a bigger and far more beautiful story than we could have ever imagined.

— Paige Armstrong (via)

I liked this.  Sometimes I wonder what God is doing in our lives and where He is taking us. And this quote reminded me 2 things:
1.  God is working right now.  What He's doing in our lives is meaningful and purposeful even if it doesn't appear that way. 
2. God has something amazing planned for our future.  Not necessarily amazing like "get rich and retire early amazing."  But amazing like "I am going to use you in big ways because you are my ambassador on earth amazing."  

I just need to trust the path we have been on thus far; be patient with the unknown in the present; and be flexible with the plans I tend to hold onto so tightly for our future.

Easy, right? Don't worry.. I'm working on it :)

32 Weeks!!

I cannot believe we are at 32 weeks!  ahh.  I am so terrified and so excited all at once!!  Our neighbors (apartment neighbors) just had a baby a week ago and we always hear their baby crying.  I think it's adorable right now and I excitedly exclaim everytime I hear it cry "Do you hear that Dan!?  That will be us soon!!"  I know I am totally crazy to get excited by a baby crying, and I am sure it won't excite me when our baby cries, but for right now it is fun :)  Dan continues to think I'm a crazy pregant lady... but he loves me anyway.

Here are some things I have been experiencing lately:

• I love looking down and seeing my lopsided stomach- I can totally tell when baby girl or boy is sitting on one side of my stomach because it pushes that side out more!
• I love eating leftover Hershey's kiss' from Rachael's baby shower and feeling the kicks afterwards.  This baby likes sugar- and that's ok with me.
• I love it when Dan asks how the baby is doing and leans down and talks to him/ her.  He's going to be such a good dad :)
• I have officially taken off my engagement ring in hopes that my wedding band will last until 40 weeks... fingers and feet are starting to swell. Good times.
• We have begun the countdown of Saturdays that Dan and I have left to sleep in until the baby gets here.. we are savoring every. single. one.

Here are our 32 week pics!

We got so many cute Miami thigns from our friends this past weekend!

Baby Shower Preview

This past weekend we celebrated Rachael's baby girl that is on the way! Her baby is due on June 2- only a couple days after ours!  It has been so nice to have someone to talk to about the pregnancy these past couple months and we couldn't be more thrilled to meet their little one :)

Becca hosted the shower and did a great job coming up with the "Sugar and Spice" theme and organizing all the details that come with hosting a shower!  I told her I would love to help with the planning in any way and so she asked me to head up the "decorating a monthly onesie" game which turned out to be a great idea.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found many helpful blogs that gave step by step instructions on what you would need for that activity.   And, since Rachael has many creative friends, the onesies turned out SO good!

Jess was the photographer for the shower and I am excited to share with you the pictures that she took when she gets them up! I am sure she will have some shots of all of the onesies that were decorated!  In the meantime, here are some other shots that I managed to get in between stuffing my face with spinach dip and candy :)  

Sara managed the craft table since she is by far the craftiest of all of us!

Me, Rach, and Becca

Jess, Sara, Rach, me, and Becca- all the ladies in our small group (Minus Danielle- she had to leave early!)

I will post more pictures as soon as I can!

The Goodness of God

I recently was convicted about my disbelief in God's goodness.  Don't get me wrong, I have always thought God was good.  God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life.  I would say that's a pretty good thing (please note my understatement here) ... that's an amazing thing.  However, recently it has come to my attention that I'm not living my life in such a way that shows I truly believe in God's goodness.  Specifically, I don't think my prayer life shows it.

In my one Bible study we are reading through the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is urging his disciples to be persistent in prayer- no spiritual progress is made apart from God's grace.  But, what he says next really hit me.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Again in Isaiah 49:15 it says:

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"

God is SO good to us.  He wants to give His children good things, He doesn't forget us, and He wants us to persistently come to Him in prayer.  D.A. Carson says that,"we frame our requests in accordance with what we know of the character of the one whom we are addressing... we can enjoy the assurance that (our) father will not give (us) something which greater experience and wisdom assesses is not in (our) best interest."

Because of this truth I can continually ask God for something, trusting that if it doesn't happen, God, who has infinitely more wisdom than me, has assessed the situation and deemed it not necessary for me.  And I can trust His response to my request is good because I know that He wants to give good gifts to me because I am His child. 

I've realized that my prayer life is revealing that I'm not thoroughly convinced of God's goodness and the love He has for me.  I think that's why my prayer life can become so dry; I tend to approach God assuming that my request won't be answered because there is some sort of trail or lesson I need to learn.  And yes, at times, God show us His goodness by saying no, just like a parent needs to say "no" to their child for their own good.  However, God also delights in showing us goodness by gladly saying "yes" to our requests and watching us, His children, thank Him for the blessings He undeservedly gives.  I can't miss that part about God's character.  Piper says it so well:

"God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn’t do good to His children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and He never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going bad that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means He is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving Him."- John Piper

Such a simple truth, yet so profoud in its implications.

Staying Calm

When we have a busy week, I tend to like looking at things similiar to the ones below.  They remind me to breath, slow down, and trust God.  It's kind of amazing how a photograph can do that for you isn't it?

I hope if your week is busy, they can do the same for you :)

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"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15: 58