date night.

Just this past Friday Paul and I went to Brix & Stone Gastropub. This was our second time there and both times we've really enjoyed it. This time around, while trying to decide what to eat, I decided to "be like dad" and try something crazy. Wanna know what I had?

Chicken N' Waffles!

Unfortunately this dish did not come served the way I had anticipated and the chicken was just a little "juicy" for me...good thing the waffles were tasty! The meal consisted of fried chicken and waffles with strawberry butter and whiskey infused maple syrup. Needless to say, the joke of the night was that we went on a date for me to have waffles!

Paul had the Shepherd's Pie. We'd never tried Shepherd's Pie before...this one had lamb and beef. It was pretty good.

(Pictures compliments of my phone...not the greatest)

Coming and going

So, tomorrow my sister will be moving to Madrid, Spain for 5 years! That's a long time! My boys will be 8 and 5 when she moves back, if she moves back. :( Thankfully we live in an age of Internet!!! Skype, email, MagicJack, UPS, USPS, FedEx, Cell Phones, and BLOGS also make the list of things I'm so thankful for in making communication with a sister now that an ocean will separate us!

So, in honor and celebration of the great adventure she is about to partake in...I've resolved to start my blog back up and start posting more regularly. Yippee!

So, here's to you, Nikki! :)

(P.S. This pic was taken by Ryan on the sweet "new/old" camera that she gave him for Christmas)

"More" of the Holy Spirit

Does anyone recognize the name Beth Moore?

I know, silly question. She is a woman after God's heart and I am constantly encouraged when I hear her speak or read something she's written. I took a look at a devotional on her website from "The Beloved Disciple" and was, again, very encouraged.

She was talking about how often we feel the need for something like more patience or His perspective on things but really what we need is more of the Holy Spirit. Now she made it very clear that when we ask Jesus to rule over our lives the Holy Spirit moves in completely but how much we allow Him to have access to our lives to work is another story. What we need to pray next time we need more patience or His perspective is for more of the Holy Spirit because this is where it all begins.

Galatians 5:22-23 talk about all the characteristics we, as believers, should emulate and practice but what does it all revolve around? The Holy Spirit!

She makes the following statement about this "revelation"...
Child of God, don’t just absorb this truth! Get up and celebrate it! God gives His Spirit without measure! He has all that you need. Or more properly stated, He is that all you need. Our fulfillment and greatest joy are in the flooding of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. He is how we understand God’s Word and will for our lives!

Thorns and Revelations

A few years ago my dad gave us the devotional Thoughts From The Diary Of A Desperate Man by Walter A. Henrichsen.  I finally got it out and started reading it this last week.  I'd recommend it so far.  

Yesterday I read about Paul's thorns and revelations.  Seems that of late many of the people we love are hurting from physical pain, loss of a loved one, or something else.  These are people that love the Lord with all their hearts.  I often wonder why does this stuff happen to them and not me?  Or why does bad stuff happen, in general, to good people?  So, this devotional was specifically moving to me in that I know they all see the Lord more clearly and intimately having gone through what they are going through.  Henrichsen states, "Suffering often accompanies intimacy with God."  

He also talks about how with that intimacy sometimes comes extraordinary revelations but that first began with extraordinary suffering.  I don't believe, by any means, that he's saying this is a direct science or that it you will always have extreme intimacy with God during suffering.  God is not a god that can be put in a box.  He moves in unique and different ways.  But we do know that He is the same yesterday, today and forever! Hebrews13:8

So, I leave you with this thought...

"If you covet those encounters with God 

where He reveals Himself in special ways, 

are you willing to bear the cross 

that often accompanies them?"

FINALLY...our first house pics

For those of you that have been waiting, oh about 5 months now, for pictures of our house...well, here they are! There's a lot to still do but it gets a little extra touch here and there to make it feel more and more like home. Although, I have to say that it's felt like home since the very first day.

Welcome

Photo fun...

I just saw this on my friend Ashley's blog MoreThanDogChildren and thot it would be fun, plus I've really been wanting to get myself back into blogging. My last post was August 26th!!!

Here's 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!)

Oooohhh! Now isn't that cute?! Okay, so this was actually the 5th folder in my pictures but the 4th didn't have four pictures. So, here's the deal on this pic...used to be able to lay little man on the couch and he wouldn't move! Ha! Gone are those days! Anyway, this was just an average day back in July of 2007.

I'm not gonna tag either but you're welcome to play along.

Breathe

Sounds like a good idea, huh? Recently I won a new book from 24/7MOMS by Keri Wyatt Kent called "Breathe". It's a great book for any stage in motherhood for the one simple fact of helping all of us remember to slow down. I was encouraged that the little things I'm doing now (saying no to certain things, staying home all day some days, etc) are all helping lead me down the path of simplicity (or Sabbath Simplicity as she calls it) and, hopefully, not getting over committed in the future.

At one point in the book Kent talks about where we find our value and as a stay at home mom sometimes it's really hard not to commit to something just to show that we aren't "just staying home with the kids". She says, "It's as if we believe that our value comes from what we do...The only problem is, it's a lie! Our value comes not from what we do but from who we are. And we are beloved children of God."

So, I challenge you, as the new school year begins and your children are getting days/months/years older, to really look at your schedule and those letters asking you to do this or do that to just sit for a minute and ask Him what He would have you do or not do. You may find a little peace in this sometimes crazy, hectic world.