Things that currently make me happy

Sunny, blue skies.  No rain. Friday. Weekend. Weddings.  I am very thankful for the little things today :)  Although I still have papers and TONS of reading to do by next week, I have given myself permission to take a break to enjoy this weekend. 

And yes, I totally watched the royal wedding this morning..... but definitely not live :)  There was no way I was waking up that early when I knew they would be replaying every single moment all day long.  While I can't say the ceremony was the most amazing one I've witnessed, I was excited to wake up, turn the TV on, and and totally be a girl by: seeing what dress she wore, how she did her hair, who was in attendance, etc.

She definitely looked stunning via

how crazy are their hats?! via

I love this picture because of a) the little girl on the bottom left b) they barely even kissed! c) it looks like they wanted to get it over with lol via

Here are some other things that are making me happy right now :) Have a great weekend!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Rachael here at Trinity, she introduced me to this site!  She puts up a new outfit every day!  And she's super stylish and classy.  Highly recommend visiting her site! via

Anything colorful- this dreary weather has been a let down - via

We're going to see my beautiful friend Ella get married this weekend :) picture via

 

Bangs.  I can't seem to get over how cute they are.  I'm thinking about bringing them back. via

I always forget to put  lip gloss on- but I LOVE this color- it inspires me to try to remember more often :) via

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh contentment

After a busy couple days of studying and writing papers (oh finals) I found myself becoming ... what's the word I'm looking for... grumpy... unsettled... discontent.  I feel like I came back from a high school youth group retreat and was on this great high of spending time in the Bible and being away from life for a while that going make to the mundane everyday tasks has been somewhat of a let down. 

And then yesterday before class started, I was doing a last minute check of my email and in my inbox was a new post from CJ Mahaney's blog that really spoke to me. 

It's nothing you haven't heard before.  It's not the latest discoveries on how to be fulfilled.

It's just the truth, plain and simple.  I never get tired of being reminded of the truth.  I hope it encourages you a little bit today :)

"A speedboat, job promotion, or beautiful, loving spouse who likes long walks on the beach can’t bring fullness of joy. Eternal pleasures can’t be purchased with a platinum credit card. Full, overflowing, eternal joy and pleasure are found only in the presence of God, and in the gospel we have access to his joyful presence....

If we’re not consistently spending time in the presence of God, we won’t be content.

Period."

A baby shower

I know I've mentioned before that I have a couple co workers with wives expecting babies this summer and this past Monday we celebrated Mike becoming a dad by having a shower for him and his wife, Jenna!  They are expecting a girl July 4th weekend and we are SO excited for them!!  Here are some fun pictures :)

My lovely co workers :)

So excited to meet the Mini Mahls in a couple months!! (they're expecting twins)

Yes there were truffles

love it

so excited to meet their little girl!

Hymns

Recently Dan and I have been listening to more hymns (Keith and Kristyn Getty *may* have had an influence on this :)  But, Carrie Underwood singing this song literally gave me chills.  Happy Monday!

Good Friday

"That God took sin and its effects on Himself is a unique contribution by Christian doctrine to the solution of the problem of evil.  It is remarkable that, while knowing that He Himself would become the major victim of the evil resulting from sin, God allowed sin to occur anyway."

-"Christian Theology"- Erickson

I love going to a church that makes a big deal about Good Friday- and when I say big deal, I totally mean it.  Understanding the full extent of Good Friday allows me to rejoice more on Easter- knowing how amazing it is that Jesus rose again despite what happened to Him today- Friday.  

The above quote is from a theology book I read for class.  So many times people ask why did God allow sin to enter the world?  I certainly can't answer that question and God never gives us His opinions on the matter.  But, what we do know is that He allowed it, knowing that Good Friday would come and Jesus would be the victim of the sin that entered this world. 

".. yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But, he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." - Isaiah 53

You have only to be silent

There is something about Tim Keller that I love.  I don't know if it's how he crouches over the pulpit awkwardly at times or when he's giving a sermon how he appears to be enjoying a casual conversation over coffee, but there is something about this guy that makes following Jesus seem so simple.  I love that.

He had so much to say I would be doing him a disservice by attempting to rewrite it all here, but there were a couple things that really stuck with me from his talk.

1. Silence.  When Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt they were complaining- a lot.  And they're lying about things they said earlier and trying to convince themselves that they would have rather been in Egypt doing all that backbreaking slave work.  So I guess that makes them delirious, too.  Anyway, amidst their crazy talk, Moses gives them this reminder:

 "fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today . . . the Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent."  Ex 14:13

For some reason Moses is saying something my mom would say: "I'm going to do something about it so just trust me, sit back, and be quiet!"  And that's totally why Moses was the leader- He knows how great their God is and what He is doing.  He doesn't get caught up in the circumstances of their situation.  He doesn't fall back into that rut of the "If only's" (If only we had stayed in Egypt- If only we wouldn't have followed you), he doesn't see fear and immediately think they are going to die.  As much as I want to identify with Moses, there are many times I am the Israelite.  Complaining.  Deceived.  Without hope.  Upset.  Not trusting.  Thank goodness for the next point.

2. Grace.  God is going to grant them access to cross the Red Sea.  Amidst their complaining and distrust, God is going to save them and do it in an amazing way to display His power.  They can do nothing but trust Him.  They're not participating, they're not holding up the water - God is the one doing the work.  That's what grace is all about- God delivering us from bondage and sin.  I love that when God shows us His grace- our only reaction is to accept it.  When His grace is displayed we see how amazing God is and how helpless we are and our only reaction is to trust Him.  

"Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses." Ex 14:31

What a wonderful ending.   (well, for now)

Keller talks a lot about bondage and makes a lot of other great parallels to the Gospel from the OT so if you're interested you can listen to it at the Gospel Coalition's site!

I LOVE this project!

I follow a couple "interior decorating blogs" and I have recently seen a lot of these framed chalkboards.  The second I saw them I knew I wanted to try to figure out how to make one of my own!  So, when we had a bare wall right staring at us as soon as you entered our apartment, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to put there!  And, what is even better, is that this project is SUPER easy. 

1. Buy a frame- I went to Hobby Lobby and they had tons to choose from!

2. Go to the art section of Hobby Lobby or any craft store and find anything that resembles a poster board material- they had all sorts of sizes and I found one that fit right into my frame!

3. Spray the poster board with chalk paint (I bought the kind in a spray can and just did it on our balcony with a plastic bag underneath).   Put on 2 coats.

4.  Wait till it dries and staple it in the frame. 

I'm a huge fan :) Here is how it looks on the leaning bookshelf (another thing I've been eyeing for a while- when Hobby Lobby has furniture for 50% off it can be a dangerous day for me :)

One of my favorite verses :)

I loved this basket! And, when we got 6 new Bibles at the Gospel Coalition- I knew exactly where we would put them for now :)

I really like the look of the letters, too! I've seen lots of people with them hanging on a wall so maybe I'll try that later!

Our apartment is finally starting to feel like home!

Rejoicing

Today on my lunch break I re-listened to Matt Chandler's talk during TGC this past week.  I think his talk hit me for a couple reasons.  First, he focused on the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. He's a pretty young guy and to be recognized amongst the "Christian world" as he has could be a great source of pride for most people- but I sensed none of that from him.  After being diagnosed with brain cancer a couple years ago, he has first hand experience in the reality of how quickly this life can be taken from us.  In fact, in his talk he mentioned how some of us will not be at this conference in 2 years and already last night, the night of the last day of the conference, a youth pastor who attended TGC was killed in a house fire.  So sad and sudden, yet something that could happen to any of us. 

That's why he emphasized rejoicing in Christ and what He's done for us on the cross- something that cannot be taken away, everything else that we rejoice in- kids, home, cars- can be.  One of his great one liners was "remembering rightly redeems our rejoicing."  Remember rightly what Christ has done is what should cause me to rejoice. 

He also talked about how we tend to think that we're awesome.  Let's face it- we all think we're awesome at times- especially when an event goes well or we get a raise or our ministry starts to increase in size.  When we start to praise ourselves Chandler discussed how we need to be corrected- and I love how he paraphrases what God could say to us: "I'm not (giving you that raise, increasing the size of your ministry, insert whatever you want here) because you're awesome.  I'm doing this because I'm awesome.  In fact, let me show you how awesome I am- I'm going to use you to accomplish my purposes.  I'm going to let you play a role in what I'm doing in this world."  That pretty much sums it up.  This is all about God and has nothing to do with me- I am ever so fortunate to play a part in His amazing plan here on earth.  I'm just excited to be along for the ride. 

The Gospel Coalition

via www.thegospelcoalition.org

This week has gone by so fast!  I mentioned earlier that we were privileged to attend the Gospel Coalition and I am so thankful that we did.  The only bummer is that Dan and I wish we had a week to process all the talks and workshops we listened to the past three days!  As I spend the weekend and next week looking over my notes, I will hope to share with you all that I learned.

Overall, we were very encouraged by the speakers and their passion for living out the gospel, not just in their churches, but their lives.  All the main speakers were great but some of my personal favorites were Matt Chandler and Mike Bullmore.  (I obviously liked Pastor James, we're just spoiled and get to listen to him all the time... and Keller was good.. and I always love Alistair.. yeah, I would listen to as many as you can lol)  I believe they put up some of the talks on line so I would highly encourage you to listen to some of them if you get a chance!  For now, I will share with you my basic observations from the conference!

• For some reason when Kristyn Getty quotes scripture it sounds much holier than when I read it
• Trinity got so many shout outs from the speakers- yay!
• Shaving your head (if you're a guy) is the cool thing to do if you're Reformed.  I thought I saw Tim Keller at least 20 times.
• I love that we got almost 15 free books between the two of us!
• Only in downtown Chicago would we be in stopped traffic at 10:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night- that wasn't too fun :/
• Pastors LOVE to quote hymns
• Trying to sneak into the "reserved seating" is not a good idea!

I'll post more substantial observations later :)

A Softball Weekend

In case you were wondering, Beth was safe :)

She caught me stalking her lol

It skimmed her belt right here!

They scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to get the win!

Great time in Ohio :)

Happy Weekend!

It's a very rainy Friday here in Chicago :/  Thank goodness we're heading to Ohio where it's supposed to be sunny and warm for my sister in law's softball game!  Dan and I realized we have close to 400 pages that we need to read for our Ethics class by May 3rd, so our time in the car will probably be spent doing that!  I hope you have fun plans for the weekend!

Here are some fun updates about what's been going on with us:

I have been loving the look of these chalkboards and this past week have been working on making one of my own!  I'll post a picture of it when I'm done!

picture via Miss Mustard Interiors

Two of my coworkers are going to be dads soon so we're planning baby shower's for them!!  I have been searching for ideas and have found some pretty amazing baby showers.  I hope they don't expect anything like this, but in a world where time and money wasn't an issue- I'd love to plan one like this:

pictures found via hostessblog.com

 Pastor Mark Driscoll spoke about marriage this past week at our church.  Not only did he have some good wisdom to share, he was pretty entertaining as well.  It was fun to see him in person because Dan and I have listened to a lot of his podcasts.  You can view it below, BUT I believe only through this Sunday!!

How to Safeguard Your Marriage - Pastor Mark Driscoll from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

And lastly, I've been listening to this song on YouTube:


Happy Friday :)

An Undeserving Gift

Almost everyone I know owns a flat screen.  The T.V. posted above, is our T.V.  Now, as a disclaimer, I am SO thankful that Dan's parents gave us this television.  I am pretty sure Dan used this in college, and now we've used it the past 3 years and I am so thankful to have a T.V.  But, after getting our security deposit back and a nice tax return, I started "pressuring" Dan to look into getting a new T.V.  As another disclaimer: we don't even have cable and I'm not a movie buff (unless its Denzel :) - I wanted a new one purely for aesthetic reasons.  Dan and I talked about it and he finally gave in.  I was SO excited and ready to go out and get one right away.  We went to Best Buy and found a couple deals, but after talking it over (and Dan talking to his friend Brian haha) we decided to hold off.  We were in no rush so we wanted to keep looking.

Fast forward to that night.  I start doing my quiet time and praying about contentment and our debt... and conviction sets in.  We have a PERFECTLY fine working television.  Yes you have to hit the remote a couple times to get it to work- and yes the power button is broken so you actually have to stand up (gasp) and walk to the television and hit the power button on the actual T.V. to turn it on, but other than that- it works.  Buying a T.V. is not aligned with our goal of paying off debt. So, I tell Dan my thoughts and he agrees that we should wait to purchase a television and put that money toward our loans.  I thought I'd be sad but I actually felt very content with our decision and was looking forward to paying off our loans quicker with our added "bonus" money.

Fast forward to the night after that (is that confusing? haha it was Monday night).  Our friend Cam calls me and says he has to drop something off.  I tell him he can come over whenever, and when he gets there Dan goes down to let him in.  I'm in the middle of eating my pasta when Dan tells me to "go outside."  I'm a little confused, but I get up, open our door, and there stands Cam, with this:

Yep, Cam gave us his 42 inch flat screen T.V.  How ridiculous is that?  He didn't even know about our T.V. dilemma!  He just knew we were some friends who didn't have a flat screen T.V, and since he didn't have room for it right now he just gave it to us.  Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was disbelief, but then this verse popped into my head: 

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matt 7:11

Not only am I in awe of Cam and his generosity (because he is SO generous for giving away his own T.V. to us) but I'm so in awe of how great our God is.  This was totally a want.  God promises to supply our needs, but a flat screen T.V. is not a need- it's a want.  I have to admit I sometimes get nervous about the thought of possibly going into ministry.  I picture us in 10 years with 5 kids (if Dan gets his way haha) and living in an expensive city (like Chicago lol) on a $30,000 salary and really struggling to get by.  I know- it's ridiculous to even THINK those things, but I do.  Yet, God over and over again reminds me that He is going to take care of us abundantly more than we can even imagine.  I'm still in awe as I write this.  Want to know the best part of this situation?  It's that every time I look at our television, I am not only reminded of a friend's amazing generosity, but by how much our God loves us and wants to give us good gifts.



:)

Getting through the weekend

By now you probably know I love to organize- and I realized this weekend that I can actually get so caught up in organizing and details that I sometimes forget to eat- which trust me- that is a BIG deal for those of you who know me :)  I am so thankful for the way God created Dan because he is the complete opposite- which definitely slows me down during times like this in our life!

But, moving into our new apartment has not been easy- it's almost like a jigsaw puzzle- trying to fit all of our things in new storage areas and trying to be creative when it comes to the space we have.  And after we FINALLY found the perfect place in our new apartment for all of our stuff- this morning as we were getting ready the rod and shelf that was holding our clothes and storage broke off the wall in our closet and all our stuff came falling on the floor..  *sigh* that's what I'll be working on tonight lol

But, at times like this I look around me and there is so much to do I don't know where to start so I just go- go- go without stopping to think about what is the most important thing for me to be doing with my time.  People can get neglected and more importantly my relationship with God can be neglected because I think that unpacking boxes and putting up decorations is more important than that.  Since God knew this, He had me in Luke 21:34 this past weekend which says:  

³⁴"But watch yourselves lest  your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.

Another translation says "anxieties of this life"- and this was exactly what I needed to hear: slow down and remember what is important.  Even when I'm moving, or studying for a test, or busy at work, or traveling, I need to be careful to evaluate what is weighing my heart down and more importantly - if my heart is weighed down because I'm placing "anxieties of this life" above God and what He places as important in my life.  This scripture is totally what I needed to start off the week :)

Life recently

I know it has been a while- but life has been crazy.  From getting back from vacation, to my mom visiting, to moving, to Sneak Preview- life has been pretty hectic in the Cinadr household!  We "moved" everything this past week but have SO much more to do before we're done!  After we get everything put away I'll post more pics of our new place! We're excited- it doesn't *quite* feel like home yet but I'm sure it will once we stop living in boxes :)

In other news we have officially signed up to run our next half marathon in June! ahh I am supposed to run 6 miles this week and am SO not in shape to do this.  We'll see how that goes! Also, we signed up to go to the gospel coalition in downtown Chicago!  We went two years ago and really enjoyed it.  My awesome boss got us a great deal and we both are able to take some time off from work- and that is NEXT Tuesday through Thursday- sooo we'll probably have another busy week coming up here soon.  This Friday we're going to head to Ohio to watch Dan's sister, Beth, and her softball team at Kent State.  It's not even the summer yet and we're already traveling!  So, it's been a little crazy around here, but once our apartment is in order I think everything will calm down a lot :)

I was telling my co worker, Ashley, how I really thought I would take so many "fun" pictures of us moving.  Ha, that cracks me up just thinking about it.  We were SO busy all day and I was so exhausted and sore I'm surprised I took ANY pictures.  So here are a couple quick shots I managed to take:

Our first bedroom :(

Our first kitchen :(

Our first apt :(

Unpacking at our new place...

In our new apt!! Dan getting the Internet hooked up lol

Our new clean and organized bedroom lol

Have a wonderful weekend!