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Girls Beach Trip

Where to begin? I think I've completely lost the ability to blog. I just got back from a beach vacation and I can't seem to put two words together about it.

I have school on the brain and I just can't seem to find the desire to blog. I've even been questioning rather or not to continue blogging. I'm trying to remember why I ever started blogging? I know it is to preserve the memories that Andrew and I make as husband and wife. I enjoy going back and reading through what we were doing this time last year.

Anyways...Last week I had the opportunity to go to Destin, FL with two of my sweet friends. Funny as it may be, I was a little nervous about the trip. This was the first vacation I've ever taken without the husband or my family. I went to church camp once with a friend. I was miserable. I'm such a homebody who gets homesick so easily.

I said goodbye to the husband and we were off.

We had a blast on the beach all week. We spent our days lazing around soaking up the sun and our nights either hanging out at the condo or getting dressed up to go out to dinner. Shopping was of course on our list of activities as well.

Doing the cha cha slide at Joe's Crab Shack

Dinner @ Hog's Breath

Amanda & I on the beach

Soaking up the Sun

Dinner @ Hard Rock



I think my favorite thing about the trip was parasailing. I've always wanted to do this so I was thrilled when Amanda asked if we'd be interested. We went Tuesday morning and I must say it was nothing like I expected. The boat is going fairly fast so I just assumed that it would feel like you were going fast in the air. It doesn't. it's like you are just floating up there. It is pretty peaceful and relaxing. I really enjoyed it. And on the way out to wear we parasailed, I saw a dolphin. First one ever. Only wish I had my camera.

All geared up

After landing

On the last two nights we went down to the beach to take some pics. Here are my favs from those two nights.

Tuesday Tunes: Spirit of the Lord

Wordless Wednesday

From the Closet of Babes

My sister-in-law, Jill, posted this picture of my niece on facebook the other day.


The caption read, "Amelia got quiet - went to check on her - she was in her closet reading her Bible. Haha! I hope she's still doing this when she's 16."

First of all....Is my niece not the most precious thing in the world?!! God has blessed me with 7 precious nieces and 5 wonderful nephews.

But anyways...this picture of Amelia got me to thinking about my own quiet time with God.

My mind first went to 1 Timothy where it says, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

This 19 month old little girl is setting an example and she doesn't even know it. Like her Mom, I pray she is still setting that same example when she is 16.

The more I thought about this picture, the more I wondered if anyone noticed that I spent time with God.

Amelia got quiet and like the mom of any 19th month old that quietness led Jill to go and check on Amelia. Someone noticed that Amelia was spending time in God's word.

Does anyone notice when I spend time with God's word. I don't expect anyone to check my closets and find me sitting in my underwear with my Bible. (Side note...I don't have my quiet time in my underwear...well I wear underwear, but not just my underwear. HA!)

I believe that when you spend time with the Lord and in His word, the Holy Spirit grabs a hold of you and you start to exhibit the fruits of the spirit. These fruits are love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, and faithfulness. These are not things you can do own your own. They come from the Holy Spirit. They are things that I notice in other people so I'm sure that people notice them about me when they are present. I notice them in myself when they are present.

When you are spending time with God consistently, your life should look different from the world. As Christians our lives should look different. People should notice that difference.

For me, having a daily quiet time is a challenge. It is something that I fail at regularly. It's hard not to give up after missing even just one day. Sometimes I find myself reading God's word every day, but that's it...I'm just reading. I don't meditate or apply what I've read. That isn't what God wants from us. We aren't asked to read the Bible just so we can check it off a long list of things we need to accomplish in the day.

I really struggle with giving God the first of my time and not what is left over at the end of the day. Even when I have that time left over at the end of the day, it's not my best quality time. I'm tired and I've already gone through a full day with little , sometimes no communication with God.

I know that getting up a little earlier in the morning and giving God my first in my time is a discipline. Not doing it is lazy and God is not a fan of laziness.

Does anyone else struggle in this area? Those of you who are disciplined in this area, do you have any advice? I have people in my life who seem to have this all figured out. I envy those people. I wonder how they do it.

I think know that I need an accountability partner, something that I believe to be biblical. Someone to ask me each day what God revealed to me in my quiet time. Right now I don't have that person. There are people that I trust and would love to have that relationship with, but I feel like it would be a burden to them. Keeping a journal has helped. It's been a way for me to hold myself accountable to what God has revelaed to me and how He works in my life.

This is my goal for the summer. I want to be more disciplined in my quiet time.

Miscellany Monday: Number Style

I'm sitting working on an assignment for the 2011/2012 school year. A little ahead of myself? Probably. :) I just a new school year...a fresh start. A chance to improve myself as a teacher. Very few things make me giddier (is that a word?).

So anyway... the assignment is a short paragraph where they tell me about themselves in numbers. I figured it's an easy way for me to get to know my students at the beginning of the year. I did a search to see if I could find any similar assignments. I need a little inspiration to ramp it up to a 7th grade level. During my search I came across a blog post that gave me an idea for a blog post of my own.

So here we go.

{ONE} I have ONE God! He is the ONE true God. My desire to serve Him and live whole heartedly for Him has been growing lately. It's an area of my life I would appreciate you prayers in. Being willing to obey no matter what can be a little scary.

{TWO} I love my TWO furbabies. I never thought I could love TWO dogs as much as I do these TWO. They are sweet and cuddly and wild and crazy. Life just wouldn't be the same without them.


{THREE} THREE of us are going to Destin later this month. It's a girl's trip. I can't wait to be on the beach with my girlfriends, laughing and sharing and shopping!


{FOUR} I have been to Zumba FOUR times. I LOVE IT! It truly is fun exercise. I think everyone should try it.

{FIVE} As of Wednesday I will have completed my FIFTH year of teaching. How crazy is that! My first group of students just graduated last month. It doesn't seem possible. I can't even begin to fathom teaching my student's children some day. WILD!!


{SIX} We have lived in our house for SIX years. I remember when we bought this house. The husband said he only wanted to be here for a couple of years. SIX years later... We are ready to move. Hopefully within the next year our house will be on the market and we will be OUT OF HERE!!


{SEVEN} I have been married to the husband for a little more than SEVEN years! I am blessed beyond measure to be his wife. Though we may butt heads from time to time, I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone. He is my best friend!


{EIGHT} I was born in the EIGHTH month of the year. I like having my birthday in August. Good month to be born in.


{NINE} I have spent well over NINE minutes trying to come up with something for the number NINE. And still nothing! Stinkin' number NINE!

{TEN} TEN months from now a coworker and I are taking a group of 7th and 8th graders to Washington D.C. for four days. Are we crazy? Maybe, but they are super excited. I'm really looking forward to it. They are already making plans for room arrangements and plane seats. Don't you love their priorities?

Beautiful

For the past several weeks, we have been in a series at church called Beautiful. We have talked about how God can take our lives, no matter what our circumstances are, and make something beautiful out of it. All we have to do is be willing to be obedient servants.

Our pastors used the story of Jonah to show how God is capable of using even our disobedience to make something beautiful. God told Jonah to go to Ninevah. Instead of be an obedient servant, Jonah fled from the Lord and went in the complete opposite direction of Ninevah. This disobedience led to a storm in the middle of the ocean and Jonah being swallowed by a large fish. Doesn't sound beautiful?

God used that storm to show the other men on the ship that He was in fact the one true God.

Now that's beautiful!

A couple of weeks ago we had a guest speaker. Christopher Coleman came to share with FBC how God has used his life to make something beautiful. Christopher was pronounced dead at birth. The doctors covered his body and basically sat him to the side while they concentrated on delivering his twin sister. Fifteen minutes later the doctors heard a cry come from the covered baby they had proclaimed dead. Though he went 15 minutes without oxygen, Christopher Coleman was indeed alive. Because of the length of time he went without oxygen, the doctors informed his parents that he would never be more than a vegetable. They told his parents to put him in an institute and forget about him.

His parents chose to take that sweet baby home and love him just the way he was.

I laughed and I cried through Christopher's story. More importantly God spoke to me through his story. There were two things that really stuck out to me though.

1. God told him he had a message that only Christopher could deliver. I think this is true for all of us. God has a message that only I can share with His people.

2. You can't completely serve God and stay in your wheelchair. Chris wasn't talking about a physical wheelchair. He was talking about that thing in your life that holds you back. It could be pride, fear, an addiction, or any number of things. Get out of your wheelchair and serve God with everything you have.


I really enjoyed Christopher message's. I encourage you to check out his message. I think you will be deeply touched. If you have the time click here to listen to Christopher's story. I wanted to post the video here, but couldn't figure out to do it from our church's website. Christopher is a little hard to understand at times, especially in the beginning, but stick with it. It gets easier.