Gooduns

I've read a few FANTASTIC blogs here in the last few days (I believe E calls them "gems") and I just couldn't help but pass them along to you. I hope you take a few moments to check them out!

Your Calling isn't Meant to be Easy 
Such encouraging words here. And lets not lose sight of the fact that sometimes our "calling" isn't serving in a church or living among the aboriginals. One of my dearest friends is confident that the Lord has called her to raise her daughters to be Godly women - a noble, challenging, and life-long journey.

"When we do great things in the name of God, we can be sure that while His ways will always be the best, they definitely won’t be the easiest."

Reminds me of the great C.S. Lewis, "'Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion' 'Ooh' said Susan. 'I'd thought he was a man. Is he -quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.' ... 'Safe?' said Mr Beaver... 'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't save. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you.'" (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)

Just A Nurse by my ridiculously awesome little sister
I can relate to this blog on about 1,000 different levels. It's a great little candid telling of the inner workings of a nurse's brain.

"Nurses are intelligent. We may not have had as much schooling as other professionals, but I remember studying harder than I ever had before and not everyone makes the cut. By the time a doctor completes school and is ready to start practicing, even as a resident, a nurse the same age has had several years of experience in the field, dealing with complex problems on a daily basis. We have developed keen assessment skills and a killer gut instinct to go along with it. We often take part in courses to specialize in our chosen field, spending countless more hours becoming experts at what we do."

Amen Sister. 

When Church Hurts by Whitney @ Elm Street Life
Oh, my heart. This whole post just made sense all the way to my toes.

"But whether or not the other person is in the wrong, we are held responsible when we refuse to forgive... to heal... to seek reconciliation and show mercy. We miss out on so much of how Jesus taught us to live together and love one another, as ugly and judgmental and hateful as we all can be.

The change had to start with me, and had to start with my own understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ. The fact that even when I was His enemy, He loved me enough to die for me, just astounds me. And it's the only reason I can have any love for the person who hurts me."

Oh girl, this is so spot on.


What great blogs have you read recently??

I hope you enjoy!!!

ohmygosh Recap!

So life has flown by the last 2 weeks and sadly, the blog is now the last thing on my list of to-do's each day. Hence, no updates for like for-ev-er.

In so few words: God has been great to us recently. (Now you can just skip the rest of this post if you'd like!)

Two weekends ago, we took a group of students to the Student Life Conference up in north Houston/The Woodlands area. This was also the first time I've let Isaac spend the night with someone other than Jordan or myself! Since Meme and Pa live in south Houston, I dropped Isaac off on the way to the conference and he stayed with them overnight. Surprisingly, he and I both did really well with the whole set up. He was happy as a clam to spend time with his grandparents, and I wasn't consumed with worry being apart from him. It was a win-win, and a good set up for the next weekend.

It was really great for me to spend a weekend with our students again. And of course, it's always a treat for me to worship with great leaders like Bellarive and Brett Younker, and sit under the teaching of David Nasser. The fruit for me as a leader during these conference/camp type situations is getting to watch God work in the students' hearts. Watching them worship, seeing them learn and hunger for God's Word-- it's the ultimate encouragement. SO, this weekend was doubly uplifting for me.

Morning worship with Brett Younker

Then, in the middle of last week, Isaac and I drove to Austin to visit some sweet friends. It was a last minute kinda trip, but I am so incredibly thankful that we were able to go! My dearest friend recently moved from just a few hours away to a few states away and I miss her dearly! She and her husband and kiddos needed to come back to Texas for a few days, so we arranged a meet up at our shared friend Carey's house.

Spending time with these ladies was exactly what my heart needed. It was encouraging. It was uplifting. We laughed together. We cried together. I did my best to soak in every moment of quality girl time.... while fielding 6 kiddos! Ha! Carey has three sweet girls (check out her blog!), Catherine has a boy and a girl, and my Isaac rounded out the bunch at a grand total of 6 chirrins. It was wild and chaotic and fun all at the same time. By the end of our days together, I felt like I had been extended a heaping helping of grace. As Catherine put it, my love tank was full!

Twins!

Lastly, this past weekend, we took another group of students to Passion 2014, which was in Houston this year. It was another weekend for Isaac at Meme & Pa's house, although this time, I stayed the nights with them also and drove back/forth to the Toyota center with our group during the day. Just like Passions of the past, this year did not disappoint. It was especially great considering we didn't have to drive 16 hours to Atlanta -- 3 hours to Houston was a breeze! Only downside was the length... I'm used to a 4 day event, so 1 day plus 1 evening was just a teaser!

Despite the shortness of it all, I certainly wasn't disappointed. Worshipping with some of the greatest leaders and musicians and sitting under the teaching of some great men and women... it just continued to rejuvenate and recharge my spirit. Francis Chan is typically always my very favorite speaker and this year he did not disappoint. I look forward to listening to him again in the future when the podcasts are released. Oh, and we took some AWESOME college students/high school seniors! It's always a real treat to spend time with these guys and girls- they never fail to impress me with their maturity in Christ.

Oh, and in the middle of all that, was Valentine's day. And apparently, my wink,nudge post wasn't a total waste of my time/blog space... because my hubby treated me to TWO of the items I mentioned! A Stitch Fix gift card (my first Fix is scheduled for March 19 and I'm SO SO SO excited to see what I get!) and some fabulously lovely smelling new perfume!

Phew. After all that, I think I can speak for the entire family when I say that we are exhausted. Thankfully we've got a few weeks of downtime before the next big event. It's time to take a nap!

Valentines Day Gift Ideas *wink nudge*

Need some fun ideas for Valentine's day? Here are a few!

If your love loves clothes:

Consider a stitch fix gift card!

If your love loves makeup:

You can never go wrong with a Naked palette!

If your love loves smelling lovely:

My current favorite smell, Marc Jacobs Dot

If your love is a mom:

A sweet book perfect for a mom of any age

If your love loves running (or just exercise):

Bang Buster in a pretty floral print

If your love is a little:

A year's worth of memorize-worthy scriptures

Me? I'd gladly take one of each.

Julep #1

About a week ago, I bit the bullet and signed up for Julep. It's a subscription service, kinda like Birchbox, which sends out beauty products once per month. It's definite claim is nail polish, although there are cosmetics and face/nail treatments as well. I'd found a promo code somewhere (FREEBOX), was highly intrigued, and just so happened to have a fresh manicure.

Unfortunately, regular manicures at a nail salon just aren't in the budget. This is a real bummer, because I LOVE having a fresh manicure. I'll catch myself admiring my freshly done nails throughout the day and then I'll tell myself to paint my nails more often. So the fact that I was already loving my greige-colored manicure definitely played in Julep's favor that afternoon.

I'd heard and read up on Julep and about how fun-slash-great it was and decided to go determine my color profile. Even though I was matched as a "Classic with a Twist" after my style questionnaire, I was really digging the Boho Glam colors so I opted for that instead. The It Girl polishes were also super cute, but after digging through the polishes I already owned, I realized I had both of those colors! No wonder I liked them so much... Anyway, my Boho Glam box came with 2 colors and a cuticle pen. I also added a third color and the freedom polymer top coat.

Colors L to R: Michelle, Blakely, Aisha. The bottom is also Blakely. Not pictured is the cuticle pen or top coat.

Aside from learning that I am pitiful at painting my own nails, I also learned that I really liked the Julep polishes. I went with Aisha first, which is kind of a dark raspberry shade. For some reason, it photographed much more brown (see below), but it's actually a nice berry/purple shade. I was really surprised how much I liked it and got several compliments on it yesterday at work, which is always a great thing. It went on easily, despite my clumsiness, and was perfectly opaque in 2 thin coats. I started out with an OPI base coat and topped it with the Freedom Polymer top coat. Julep says the top coat will create a gel-like finish.

So, I put it to a real test.

A 12 hour shift. Complete with 2 vaginal deliveries. We're talking lots and lots of hand washing-slash-alcohol foam.

Please forgive my painted cuticles. L to R: Before work, after work, this morning.

(Side note: After spending a manicure-centric weekend with a group of high school girls, I learned the absolute importance of the "accent nail." Hence, the extra coat of OPI's Princesses Rule! on each ring finger. Final verdict? I kinda hate having one different nail. It feels like I have two different socks on, or like I'm wearing a brown belt with black shoes. Meh. No thanks.)

After a long work day, my nails looked surprisingly fantastic! A little bit of wear around the tips was all I noticed. Also, the top coat dried totally hard in about 20 minutes and left a shiny, smooth surface (my nails were pretty rough after peeling off the shellac polish that was on them). Unfortunately, I broke a nail this morning trying to get Isaac into the Ergo backpack-style. I guess now I have a good reason to remove the polish and try a new color!

It also just so happens that Kate from Small Things Blog is also talking about Julep today, so apparently we're on the same cosmetic wavelength. I consider that to be pretty good company. I should also tell you this isn't a sponsored post, just something I'd like to share!

Interested? Check out more here (or see the button in my sidebar). And use the FREEBOX or FREECOLOR promo (if it still works) to get your first order for free!

Girls Retreat "2013"

I was honored to spend this last weekend with a fantastic group of high school ladies. It was high on laughter, low on sleep. High on junk food, low on drama. I had an awesome time and I'm hoping that these sweet students did also. Originally, our retreat was scheduled for November, but after running into some major scheduling conflicts, I moved it to this past weekend. It turned out to be full of conflicts as well (there's just NO way to avoid all things for all students.), which is a bummer, but God can do amazing things in any setting or circumstance. Who am I to put Him in a box?

Our weekend was oriented around the book, Gods at War by Kyle Idleman. He's the guy who wrote the uber popular Not a Fan. In short, Gods at War is a fantastic book. I was encouraged to read it by a friend and within the first couple pages, I knew this was going to be a great read... AND great girls retreat material. It's the kind of book that is like a punch in the gut on each page, and yet, it's a really easy read. There are even some laugh out loud moments, which kept me coming back again and again. In going through the book to pull out questions and points for our weekend quiet times and small group sessions, I probably read it at least 4 times. Surprisingly, each subsequent read was more fruitful than the last.

Source

The book challenges the notion that idols and false gods are bronzed statues of people... and instead they look like everyday things -- even "good" things -- that we mistakenly allow to take over the throne of our hearts. Idleman states, "Idolatry isn't just an issue, it's the issue."

SO Good. Definitely a "must read."

Even though originally the retreat was an out-of-town kinda weekend (when it was scheduled in November), since we ended up having it in town, we were able to work in some local ministry on Saturday afternoon. We went to a local nursing home, delivered cookies to the staff, and painted the nails of the residents (even a couple of the men got manicures! ...clear polish, of course!). It was a sweet time of service for the girls and me.

The high point of the weekend (for me) was all waking up together and having a sunrise quiet time.

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I think it was everyone's favorite weekend moment. Something about watching the sunrise over the ocean while spending time in God's Word... perfection.

Music Monday

I've only got a few minutes to blog, so I thought I'd bop on in and quickly share a couple of suggestions to you my friends! I'm always looking for great music to listen to, and recently I've happened upon two "new to me" bands that I think are pretty great!

Source

All Sons & Daughters. Many thank yous to Kelly's Korner for suggesting this gem. I have LOVED this cd so far. AS&D is kind of like a Kari-Jobe-meets-Civil-Wars-ish kind of sound (Edit: Hurried mom brain making its appearance here... I definitely intended to describe the second band, The Head and the Heart as being Civil Warsish. Sorry for anyone who looked into All Sons & Daughters and was confused. It's still totally worth checking out). It's so great. A little on the folksy side, but with great vocals and some majorly fantastic lyrics. You may not have a pulse if you're not prostrate and tearful by the end of "Brokenness Aside." It just feels more like authentic worship. It's good all over from start to finish.

Source

The Head and the Heart. I read about this band in Relevant magazine and even though these guys aren't 'Christian' in nature, it's still a good little album. It's also a little folksy-slash-artsy, which is apparently what I'm most into these days. It kind of reminds me of older Gungor. My favorite song on this cd by far is "Gone," which just so happens to be the very last track. Some of the lyrics are a little on the strange side, but they're also devoid of coarse language, which I appreciate. This makes for some good, calming background music during Isaac's play times.


What new or "new to you" bands/music have you found recently?

What's on my side table? (hint: Books. and clutter.)

I ended up getting quite a few books for Christmas, which has jump started a fresh interest in reading. Does anyone else go through peaks and valleys when it comes to reading? It always seems like I read voraciously for a few weeks and then less excitedly until finally I'm trudging along and each page seems to take an eternity to flip. A few months later, I'll pick something back up and begin cycle again. It's been a while since I've been actively interested in reading. And a while = I can't remember the last book I read. Snuggle Puppy, Pat the Bunny, and Dr. Seuss obviously don't count.

Between Christmas, a Beth Moore free-for-all on Amazon, a few books that I've had laying dormant on my iPad (which was also laying dormant under my bed for what seems like a millennia), and some other books that I've acquired, I've got a lot of reading ahead of me. I've currently got them all piled up on my side table waiting to be cracked open... right next to Isaac's monitor, a glass vase/bottle thing, an empty picture frame, a picture frame with Isaac, and some dusty fake "flowers." The real clutter is on the lower shelves, which I've conveniently left outside the picture.

Here's what you'll currently find on my side table:
To Be Read:

1. Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
3. Divergent by Veronica Roth
4. Insurgent (same author)
5. Allegiant (same author) (and a Pampers reward sticker that has yet to be added to our growing account)
6. A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
7. A Billion Reasons Why by Kristen Billerbeck

On the iPad (to be read also)

1. Believing God by Beth Moore
2. Jesus: the One and Only by Beth Moore
3. When Godly People do Ungodly Things by Beth Moore
4. Praying God's Word by Beth Moore
5. The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler
6. What Did You Expect? by Paul David Tripp
7. Crazy People by Jennifer Crusie
8. Feathers From My Nest by Beth Moore (currently reading)

Finished!!!

1. Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson.  Dr. Dobson is a very loud voice in the parenting world, between all of his mega-successful books and Focus on the Family. I'd heard that this book is a "must read" for all moms of boys, and considering I know nothing about raising boys, I also considered it a "must read." In the end, I was a little disappointed. It started out strong, with lots of science behind the male brain and the role that testosterone plays on behavior and development. I enjoyed the chapters detailing the role that each parent plays in a boy's development, what mom and dad have to offer and what can happen when a parent is absent. Then the train kinda derails a little bit. Things start to get repetitive. And worst case scenarios start popping up everywhere. And instead of offering practical take-home advice about being a parent to a boy, Dr. Dobson continues to stress the need for 2 involved parents (again and again and again.... or else your child will be in prison for life), talks about how the education system fails boys, talks about how the media emasculates boys, and leaves the reader (or left me at least) feeling like there's no hope for boys these days. It became hard to finish. Final Grade: B-
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. In my dreams, Mindy Kaling is one of my BFFs. Kinda like Katy Perry. We'd all meet up for frozen yogurt and be awesome together. I didn't keep up with Kaling on The Office, but The Mindy Project is one of my favorites. I'd heard her book was hilarious, so I asked for it when Christmas rolled around. It's a super quick read, but it wasn't nearly as laugh out loud funny as I was hoping. In all, it's pretty much just an autobiography, which is just a leeeeeettle conceited (as are all autobiographies. Come on, people.) It reads very much how you would expect her to talk if she was sitting on the end of your bed recounting stories from her childhood and college. There is some coarse language thrown in here and there. All in all, it's cute, not all that clever and not nearly as funny as Kaling can be. Final Grade: B-

I'll update again as I knock out more books. I'm really looking forward to... well most all of them. I don't know how much longer I can keep my hands off of the Divergent trilogy, so they're next once I'm finished with my current book. Also, in the process of writing this, Isaac took over the keyboard for a few moments, leaving a wake of destruction in his path, including my fancy little signature. I don't know how he did it or how to bring it back, so lets all just pretend it's still down there, ok? Lastly (i promise this is the end), just ignore all of my inappropriate handlings of Proper names of books and TV shows. I don't remember if they're supposed to be in quotes or italicized. Forgive me, grammar lovers of the world.