Slouch Boot Revolution: My silly thoughts.

Ok, so I'm seeing Uggs and slouch boots everywhere! At first I hated them especially the Uggs when they first came out like 2 years ago. "Ugg-ly!" is all I could say. Slouch boots reminded me too waaay too much of the 80's. Then.... they began to grow on me. ALOT!!!! Uggs and all. And I'll admit I caved and bought an awesome pair of black leather slouch boots today (Did I mention they are awesome?!). And I'm really hoping I'm cool enough to pull them off...not so sure yet.

I got home and started to think about WHY & WHEN this shoe suddenly started to make a comeback...


Then, it hit me:

Beginning of the slouch boot revolution.

Who woulda thought?!
Thanks Napoleon!

in the news.

i gave drive-thru flu shots at my hospital's local minor care center today and got my picture in the paper.

that's me with the ponytail.

grace.

God doesn't view me based on

my actions

my ministry

my knowledge

my goodness

my righteousness

my sin

my flesh

my failures

my trying

my zeal

my success

but

His promise

Christ's life

Christ's death

Christ's righteousness

Christ's obedience

for His glory

because He is faithful to His name.

one of those days.

a snickers blizzard kinda day. maybe even a large one. with extra snickers.

appropriate.

"I'm not gonna spank you for that..I'd prob'ly do it myself!"

i found this to be pretty funny. john piper speaks on using the internet to find a spouse:

Withheld

Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness...if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach -James 1:2,5

This morning as I read a bit of James I started to think back on the "trials of various kinds" I've encountered in my life. I was amazed thinking back and realized how much the Lord has done not only to grow my faith, but to bless me through them. Especially the ones where I prayed for something I never received or received from the Lord but not quite in the way I had asked.

Oh, the wisdom and sovereignty of God! How often he has "withheld" things from me for my good! Who could count the number of times God has protected me from my own will and desires!

For starters, and also by far the biggest blessing of my life, He did not let me marry my high school sweetheart. He ended that relationship and gave me a new one: with His Son Jesus Christ. He took my idol away but in return, He gave me all things! What a trade!

Nursing school was probably the hardest 2 & a half years of my life. I prayed hard for peace about being a nurse and being in nursing school. I didn't get that peace the whole time I was in school. He made it very clear that that is where I was supposed to be, but He never gave me peace to know that I would actually finish. But because of my silly fears, I leaned hard on Him. My fear of my next clinical and my future job humbled me and drove me to the cross where I found peace for my soul in learning to put Christ before all other things in my life. I ended up making it through nursing school with good grades. As soon as I got my job in Labor & Delivery I had a major peace about being a nurse. With the best job ever.

I went to nursing school largely because I wanted to be a missionary and do medical work in some other country where people needed medical care . "Send me, Lord, ANYWHERE but here." I planned on leaving the country the semester after I became an RN. I just figured the Lord would be able to sanctify me better if I gave up all the luxuries of being an American with air-conditioning. I began praying about where God would have me go outside the US, and He said, "You're staying here."

And He immediately went to work on my biggest fear in life besides nursing school: marriage. He withheld what I thought would be the ultimate sanctification route (ie living in the bush of Africa or in the jungle in Cambodia) and instead was kind enough to have a gentler plan for me- by dissipating my fears of marriage by giving me a biblical understanding of it then giving me a godly man to marry! Ryan-He is my most wonderful earthly blessing the Lord has given me! Maybe marriage its a slower process than suffering, but I am learning that God does things His way and that is that.

God may have "withheld" a few things from me so far in my lifetime, but I'm sure glad He did (not that He owed me anything to begin with). What a wonderful, loving, and wise God! "His rod and staff they comfort me!" I don't know if God will answer my prayers for the future in the way that I think it should go, but I am learning something:

All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and His testimonies. -Psalm 25:10

He doesn't always give us what we want, but He always gives us what is best.

And I'm trying real hard to keep Garth Brooks' "Unanswered Prayers" outta my head! haha.

Vote!

A couple of months after I got married I found these super-cute wedding charms for a bride's bouquet on Etsy. I drooled over them, wishing I'd found them just a little sooner!

The seller has entered them in a contest at Martha Stewart Weddings, and we can help her by voting for our favorites.

Here's a link to the seller's blog where she gives instructions (and 20% off of any purchase from her store) Cherry Creek Designs.

Here's a link to her store. She has lots of handmade personalized sterling silver charms!
cherrycreek.etsy.com





































Hmm...Maybe I'll order myself some and wear them on a necklace!

this is where i'm going.

next week! God willing, northern california.
yosemite.
san francisco.

suddenly, the theme song from Full house is filling my mind...

What ever happend to predictability?
The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V
You miss your old familar friends, but they're
waiting just around the bend.

ok, enough of that.








we will be going to a giants game on july 3, fireworks included! and who in all of major league baseball will they be playing while we are in S.F?

The ASTROS! and i'm so going as an astros fan.

this what i'm about to read.

I can't wait to read it.



Especially after seeing THIS.



Read Carolyn's blog HERE.

common sense for preggos.

1. if you have gestational diabetes, don't ask your nurse if you can eat powdered donuts for breakfast while you're in labor. seriously.

2. get a car seat for the infant and bring it with you to the hospital. you just might need it if you are planning on taking the child home with you.

3. if you think or know you're pregnant, SEE A DOCTOR. please don't wait until it's been 36 weeks since the child was made.

4. think you're water is broke? NOW is a good time to go to the hospital.

5. don't skip meals. you may not be hungry, but the kid inside you is. and would probably like something to drink. a coke for breakfast should not be the only thing you've ingested all day.

God's purpose.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. -Romans 8:28-29

God is concerned with His purpose - to make His people holy like His Son and thus glorify Himself. He is sovereign over all things and He will do whatever it takes large or small, exciting or life-devastating, exalting or humbling to do so.

There are times when it costs us everything in this world but surely it is a great mercy in comparison to "the glory that is to be revealed to us" in the life to come. If we are His, no matter how terrible our situations may get, we can be assured that He is doing it all for our good.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? -Matthew 16:26

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

-God Moves in a Mysterious Way, William Cowper

check me out on the boundless blog!

i love the boundless line blog, and they put me on it!
see me HERE.

The real "missing link"

Is it just me or is it really abasing for evolutionists to desire so strongly to find that we humans are decended from monkeys? Seems a bit humiliating to me. These people are doing all they can to find the "missing link" between man and monkeys. And they think they have.

Come on, folks. Let's have a little higher view of ourselves.

We are made in the image of God Almighty, the Lord of Hosts, YHWH - the ETERNAL GOD. I think this is a much more honorable thought for the human race, not to mention its biblical truth.

The real missing link is between God and man, not man and monkey. We sinned in the garden of Eden, separated ourselves from God and were cursed. The missing link is Righteousness.

What or Who is it? Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 5:8-11

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

1 John 4:9-10

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Seems a bit of a stretch to me that the world could even be 47 million years old. Whatev.

i only cried a little...

...when i saw our empty apartment and proceeded to turn in the keys to the first place ryan & i made a home together.

things i will miss:
~free cookies and coffee
~the girls who worked in the apt office
~the smell of freshly cut wood (our apartment was new)
~living less than a mile from chik-fil-a (but i'm gaining a jason's deli!)
~hearing the patio door slam to know that ryan is home from work

things i will not miss:
~dowlen & old dowlen intersection
~being unable to turn left onto dowlen from the kroger shopping center or heb
~the neighbor who always shook the apartment with the bass on his car
~our tiny closet & small kitchen drawers
~the yard guy who always mowed super early on my day off

john piper addresses president obamo on abortion.

www.desiringgod.org

home

we're in the process of making our new house our home. when we get internet at the new place, i'll put up some pictures!

shout out to the boundless blog.

For a few years now, I've been reading TheBoundless Line blog. It's been a great resource for spiritual encouragement & faith, being single, dating & courtship, and marriage & family.
I poured over its courtship and dating resources around the time Ryan and I became an item. I owe a lot to Boundless for helping teach me my role as a woman being pursued by a godly man.

The blog is written by Focus on the Family and targets young adults in the single years between leaving home for college or a career and starting their own families. But its more than that really. They have a lot to say about abortion, politics, college, faith, entertainment, sex, children, ect.

Although I'm no longer in my "single years," I still find it helpful. Today's featured webzine article on being a servant in the Kingdom of God is great: The Glory of Little Things. Read it if you have time. Or check out the blog. You just might get hooked.

Here's the main page: www.boundless.org

ungodly taxes.

The Jews' dues: 10% tithe
My taxes: roughly 20%

I'm thankful for the freedoms our country affords me, but it does not seem right or godly that I am paying the government double what God mandated the nation of Israel to pay to Him.

That's all I have to say about April 15th.

spice it up

this is what i made today.

• duncan hines spice cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick of butter
• cream cheese icing
  

make dough out of first 3 ingredients.
bake at 350 for 11 min.
let cool.
ice cookings.
enjoy.

deborah 13

Saw this on Josh Harris's blog.



This is part of a BBC documentary. There are several other videos of Deborah to make up the whole on youtube.

Read more:
the rebelution blog
deborah's blog

Newness...

March 25, 2009

Our friends Kendall & Brian had their baby! Here's a picture of the hospital doorhanger I made for them!



We also put an offer on this house for sale, and the offer was accepted! God willing, we'll close on April 30!

Read This Book!

Lately I've been a bit discouraged in my spiritual life, falling into the (untrue) thinking that I have not performed well enough for the Lord and He must be getting irritated at me, especially for my sins of omission. Of course He is not, He deals with me based on the finished work of Christ but I tend to slide into this thinking wrongly without realizing it, and it makes for some kind of misery!
So on Sunday, after listening to a wonderful sermon by my pastor on grace (which is really every Sunday) I realized how deeply my false thinking was affecting my relationship with the Lord. I scanned our book table at church and read the back of Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges:

Funny how the exceeding riches of God's grace seem to run out the moment we're saved. From then on, we tend to base our relationship with Him on our performance rather than on His grace. Of course, God continues to deal with us on the basis of His grace, whether or not we understand it. It's just that when we don't, we forgo the abundant freedoms that come from not having to measure up.

Exactly what I needed. Funny how we so easily "forget" the gospel of grace. I try to remind myself of it daily but it's nice to have someone else 'preach' it for you. This book has done just that! I highly recommend it. Sometimes I think my problem is that God's grace, kindness and mercy is so amazing that it's hard to believe that it is really true! Anyway, snag a copy of this good book! I'm positive it is one I will read and re-read for years to come. Click on the picture of the book for a link!

Worse than I think I am...

Some words from C.H. Spurgeon:

"If you feel you are desperately bad, remember you are worse than you think you are. Your case is in itself desperate, hopeless, damnable! If you feel that you are lost, you do not feel too strongly, you are in the true light where God will meet with you. The Lord will not consent to parley with you on the ground that you are not much of a sinner, and that after all your sin is not a great evil. No, he will meet you where the truth is and nowhere else; when you confess that you are unworthy of his pity, you are owning the truth, and when you feel guilty, you feel what is really fact; on this footing of truth, sad truth though it be, the Lord will meet with you through the atoning blood. It is in your vileness that sovereign grace o'er sin abounding will come to you and cleanse you, and therefore the sooner you come to the honest truth the better for you, for the sootier will you obtain joy and peace through believing in Christ..."

Tagged!

So this is me on September 6, 2008 on my wedding day getting all beautified to become Ryan's wife. Our wedding was a dream! I was calm and relaxed and could hardly wait until 2 o'clock. I am so blessed that the Lord has called me to be Ryan's wife. He is such a sweet reminder of what a great Savior we have!

How to respond when tagged:

Here are the directions:
1. Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos.
2. Select your 4th picture (no exceptions)!
3. Post the picture with an explanation and link it back to your tagger.
4. Tag 4 people (or as many as you want) to do the same!!ged:

Here are the directions:
1. Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos.
2. Select your 4th picture (no exceptions)!
3. Post the picture with an explanation and link it back to your tagger.
4. Tag 4 people (or as many as you want) to do the same!!

• Lauryn
• Trent
• ummm can't think of anyone else who hasn't done this! Tag yourself!
  

Amazing Grace: The History & Theology of Calvinism

Some friends of ours from church graciously allowed us to borrow this dvd on the history of reformed theology. It's amazing to me how the theology of our Christian forefathers has nearly slipped out of the foundation of mainstream churches in America today.

The first part deals with history of the debates between Augustine and Pelagius through the semi-pelagian controversy, Martin Luther and his debate with Desiderius Erasmus, then ends with the the 5 points of Arminianism and the response from the Synod of Dort.

The second part compares Arminianism to the Word of God and how the 5 points of Calvinism came about to respond.

The third part is about evangelism, God's sovereignty, man's depravity, and God's amazing grace in saving sinners.

The speakers are some of the great theologians and speakers of our time:

Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. D. James Kennedy, Dr. George Grant, Dr. Stephen Mansfield, Dr. Thomas Ascol, Dr. Thomas Nettles, Dr. Roger Schultz, Pastor Walt Chantry, Dr. Joe Morecraft, Dr. Ken Talbot, Pastor Walter Bowie and Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr....not to mention from Martin Luther, Augustine, and the 'Prince of Preachers' Charles H. Spurgeon who are heavily quoted.

It's a documentary that would be beneficial for any believer. It gets down to the core of the gospel of Christ and helped to give us a fresh taste of how amazing grace really is.

You know you're a nurse when....

...you think your husband is your patient in the middle of the night...
-----------------------------------

sometime around 2:30am:

Me: unintelligible mumbling

Ryan (groggy): "What'd you say?"

Me: "What's your pain level?"

Ryan (a little confused and half asleep): "Well, I'm pretty sure it's a zero...[long pause]..I don't think you need to be working while you are sleeping."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am required to ask my patients a zillion times a day to rate their pain "on a scale from 1 to 10...ten being the worst pain you could ever imagine..."

So, what's your pain level?