on toast and about our new season

Smile, everyone-it's Saturday! 

After a busy week, Aaron and I slept in, had a late breakfast, and are still lounging in our pajamas.

Days like this are a hot commodity around here, so we plan to enjoy it.

It was a great week despite being fast-paced. I loved being back at Journey. It's worked out perfectly for me to be working with Aaron again. His workload is increasing quite a bit because our student pastor and his family are leaving for Uganda in a few weeks. They are an amazing family and we are excited for them as they move across the world to fight for their adopted daughter. You can check out more of their story here.

Anyway, until a new student pastor is hired, Aaron will be the interim student pastor. That means, for the next few months or so, he will be leading volunteers working with birth-college.

We are excited for this opportunity, and have prepared ourselves as best we can for a very busy spring and summer.

Our time at home will be very precious, and it will mean cutting back on a lot of extra-curricular activities in the near future.

I am praying a lot of understanding and selflessness over myself.

I know that Aaron will be pulled in a lot of different directions, and I don't want him to feel pulled by me. At least, not in a bad way.

For him, I am praying for wisdom, endurance, strength, peace, guidance, and so much more. I know he will thrive in this season, but I know it will not be without difficulty.

We believe God will not give us more than we can handle and we are excited for this opportunity.

Off we go on another great adventure!

about a photographic end

I know it's only the third month of the year, but I have completed a resolution.

It wasn't a New Year's resolution, don't worry.

It was my resolution that I started in March 2012 to take one picture a day for a whole year.

Last week, on February 28, 2013, I took my last picture.

I can't believe I kept up with something like that for a whole year. I was pretty excited. Yesterday, I compiled them into a photo book that I ordered as a keepsake.

I debated whether to continue the #fmsphotoaday, but I decided to take a break for now. I still love taking pictures with my phone, and I am in a great habit of posting at least one photo a day anyway.

It might sound silly, but I really did learn a lot about iPhone photography and taking creative pictures over the past year. I love my iPhone camera. Just ask Aaron...he just rolls his eyes (lovingly) when I stop to take yet another random picture.

12 months of photo prompts. Also, the cover of my photo book.

about my new frenemy and rainbow pasta

Meet my newest frenemy:

It's my friend because it prints the things I need to print at work.

It's my enemy because it sure does give me a hard time printing those things when I've only known it for one day.

I'm sure Kyocera TASkalfa 3550ci and I will work out our differences in the end. 

My new job is great so far. I love being back at Journey and working with people that I love to hang out with.

Their is so much to do that the days fly by.

This week, we had our first ever Journey Kids Team Meeting on Monday morning. All five of us sat down together to talk about ministry and life.

We also had the fun messy task of coloring pasta.

Soaking in rubbing alcohol and food coloring

Drying

I sure do hope there's enough left over for me to make a friendship bracelet!

The best part of my job is that I get to play a small part in God's BIG story to reach kids and families in this city.

But right up there with that is working with my hot boss. I know people say relationships with people you work with don't usually work out, but I think I have a chance with him... ;)

about Esther

Yesterday morning I sat down with my bowl of cereal and propped my iPad up to read from God's Word. I'm on the last few days of a reading plan that I started last January. I have been reading through the Bible in chronological order, which has been very interesting.

Anyway, I opened YouVersion, which just had an update over the weekend, only to see the spinning wheel of death. YouVersion just stayed on it's welcome screen spinning and spinning until it finally closed.

I tried again.

Same thing.

I was a bit annoyed. Stupid YouVersion and their crappy update.

I tried to open it on my phone instead. I mean, the screen is a lot smaller, but at least it was something.

Well, that wouldn't work either. Oh, first world pains. The struggle.

I quickly checked my attitude before it got too bad and decided to pull out an actual Bible.

I do love reading from a paper version of the Bible even though most of the time these days I find the electronic version more handy.

I had no idea what was on the schedule for my reading plan that day so I instead turned to one of my favorite books in the Bible:  Esther.

Now, if you don't know the story of Esther, you should totally check it out. Esther is one of my heroes.

1. She is a princess. Well, she's actually a queen. But, if you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with princesses and claim to be one. So, I like to say she's a princess.
2. She loves her family. She risks her life for them.
3. She respects her husband.
4. She is brave and kind and wise.
5. Did I mention that she's a princess? I mean, that's just the coolest.

Esther becomes queen with the help of her cousin Mordecai. Everything is going well. Mordecai even uncovers a plot to kill the king. All is well, that is, until the king's right hand man, Haman, sees that Mordecai won't bow down to him. Haman doesn't like that very much. He finds out the Mordecai is a Jew and sweet talks the king into destroying the Jews.

Mordecai begs Esther to help save her people. She wants to, but she's not supposed to go see the king unless he asks her to come. She will die if she goes to see him unwanted unless by chance he grants her favor. Mordecai warns her that she can't escape destruction just because she's in the palace. After all, she might have become queen for a time just like this.

Esther bravely goes before the king and she does find favor in his eyes. He offers to give her anything she wants, so she invites the king and Haman to dinner. At dinner that night she still doesn't request anything more than that they come to dinner again the next night.

Haman is feeling pretty special that he and only he was invited by the queen to come to dinner with the king. That is until he goes out and sees Mordecai at the palace gate. Mordecai still won't bow down to him, and that puts him in a sour mood. He consults with his wife who suggests constructing some gallows to hang Mordecai. Haman hurries to tell the king his plan.

Meanwhile, the king can't sleep and has one of his servants read him the daily logs of palace going-ons. When the servant gets to the page that tells the story of Mordecai saving the king's life, the king asks what was done to honor Mordecai. The servant says that nothing was done for Mordecai, just as Haman walks in the room.

The king says that Haman is there just in time to help him think of way to honor the man who pleases the king. Haman, the proud man he is, thinks the king is going to honor him, so he tells him all of the wonderful things he wants the king to do for him. Oh his surprise when he finds out the king is actually planning to honor his archenemy, Mordecai. 

Haman is forced to parade Mordecai around the next day on the king's horses and wearing the king's robes. At least he has his dinner with the queen to look forward to, right?

Well, little does he know that Esther is ready to beg the king to save her life and the life of her people. She tells the king that an evil man has plotted to destroy them. The king is outraged at this and demands to know who would do such a thing.

Haman tries to back away, but it's too late. He is hanged on the very gallows he built for Mordecai and the Jews are saved.

Esther is a hero because she trusted God to protect her and did the right thing. And Mordecai was honored and ranked almost as high as the king.

I love it. I never want to miss an opportunity that God has called me to. My "time just like this."

on a three breakfast day

We are home!

No matter how fun vacation is, home is always the comfiest place to be. It was a sigh of contentment when we walked through the door this evening.

We woke up at 5:30am (6:30am EST) this morning to pack up the car and head home. We grabbed a bowl of cereal for breakfast from the hotel before hitting the road. It was snowing in Murfreesboro, but thankfully, the roads were fine. I took a little nap while Aaron drove for an hour. 

We met my grandparents at a McDonalds around 10:30am. It was right on that line-will they be serving breakfast or lunch?

Well, it was still breakfast. We both had a biscuit for our second breakfast of the day. We sat with my grandparents for a little while so they could catch us up on Penny's adventures. They assured us they had a great time with her, which was great to hear. We were so thankful that they watched her.

She was happy to see us, however, she was very unhappy to get in the car to drive some more.

Nonetheless, Aaron drove us the two hours to Asheville where we pulled off again to switch roles for awhile.

Penny had been panting and shaking and carrying on this whole time so far, but when I started driving she finally settled down next to Aaron for about an hour and a half.

The last two hours of the trip were the longest when we were all just ready to get out of the car.

Somehow, we made the drive in nine hours though. We saw all kinds of weather on our way through the two states...snow, sleet, rain, sun, clouds.

Like I said, we were all happy to get home.

Aaron took the rental car back while I unpacked the suitcases. When he got home, we surveyed the food situation. There was cereal, but no milk. There were eggs. There was bacon in the freezer.

Yep.

Breakfast number three.

Maybe we'll skip it tomorrow...

Happy March!

The end of February is always so sneaky.

Here we are, going along nicely, 26, 27, 28...

And then, bam. February says, I'm done.

You don't always realize how much you appreciate the 29, 30, and (sometimes) 31.

Anyway.

Today is March!

Happy March to you and yours, and here's some things I find exciting about March in 2013...

1. I officially start working again. I know I kind of started last week, but I feel like this coming week is really the start of it. The printer is all set up on my computer, meetings are scheduled, to-do lists are made, and we are setting off on another new phase of life. I love my husband. I love my church. I love organizing and scheduling. I love calendars. This job=lots of love. 
2. FX. I missed our FX in February due to my evil death sickness. This month, barring any other mishaps, I will be there for sure. And, I get to help lead worship, which is always a joy.
3. I'm getting my haircut. That might seem a little dull to make the list, and I'm not planning on anything drastic. But, nonetheless, I haven't had one in a few months and I'm excited for a trim. Haircuts always feel nice.
4. Jessica and John's wedding. My good friend Jessica is getting married this month! Weddings are fun, especially now that I'm married. It brings back all of the emotions from my own wedding day and reminds me of the promise I made. I love them. Also, I have the honor of singing in the ceremony. I'm a little nervous because I've never sung at a wedding before. But, I know it will be fun.
5. Spring and time change. I think I'm officially over winter. I could almost go for one more snow, but not really. I want the warm weather. And even though losing an hour of sleep at the time change stinks, the extra daylight is glorious. I can't wait until it's light out at 7pm.
6. Easter. Easter is such a precious time remembering the sacrifice of my Savior and the glorious news that He's surely alive!

I think that about wraps up March. Sorry you didn't make the list, St. Patrick's Day.