Merry Christmas!

May you find time this Christmas week to spend time with God. He loves you more than you can imagine... so much so that He sent His one and only Son.

'Advanced Blogger' Messed Me UP!

This blog almost got shut down. For months, I've been quiet, because I couldn't figure out how to work the new blogger templates. What happened to simple blogger? Only a couple of buttons ... no funky layout or advance layout? I want the old days back where my blog wasn't so huge. Is this operator error or did anyone else's blog just sort of expand in all directions?

If you notice any odd and out of place pictures and text, just forgive me. Yes, I know it looks weird, but I'm STILL trying to figure this thing out. And if this post actually gets posted, then another one might be coming soon.

Oh how I've missed the blogging world. Not my blog, but others' blogs. Others that seem to go with the flow and can do change well.

Life Lately

Yet another month has passed since the last post. Ridiculous.

So here's what's happened over the past month...

Baby Samuel Dean was born! Although he is now 3 weeks old and doesn't look much like this anymore....

he is absolutely precious. What a great baby he is! Leah had a smooth delivery --- prayers were answered!

Then we kicked off Crave University with our students at Frazer. We had some cheerleaders and dancers in their outfits, banners were made and university music blaring to kick off the new format. Instead of Sunday school, they have 'Crave U' where the kids get to decide what classes they want to take. Pretty cool!

And then we took about 50 of our students to En Fuego. En Fuego: hot, outdoor Christian Woodstock. Seriously, it wasn't that bad. Especially when you get to sit under a tent all day and crack-up the people you work with!

Chair bags. Good for covering chairs...and makes for a convenient phone booth.

And this is what most students' feet looked like before we got on the bus...

Nasty.

This has certainly NOT been everything we've been up to. Just ones I actually have pictures of. We've got a few weddings coming up, and tonight, we're going to see Whitney in a play. Oh yeah, the actress of the family is having a local debut.

Until the next time ... and hopefully before October gets here.

2 Dresses, 1 Veil

When we found my wedding dress and veil, the only thing Whitney and I agreed on "style wise" was... the veil. We both adored the cathedral lace veil. So we convincingly told mom that she could get a good bang for her buck, because we would both wear it! At the time, we didn't think Whitney would get married 14 months after me, but she did. And she wore the beautiful veil that I had worn. It was a neat thing to have in common, to say the least.

But the veil got even more bang for the buck when we were "bridal models" for Lisa Marie recently. Lisa Marie got what she needed: models for a photography class. And Whitney and I got what we wanted: pictures of us, in our very different wedding gowns, with the veil. These are just two of the pictures. Haven't seen the rest yet. I believe these are actually two of the students pictures, but needless to say, this captures us perfectly.

Hilarious. And EXACTLY what I had envisioned.

Whitney's Wedding Pictures ... Ahhh!

Between Whitney and I, Lisa Marie (Whit's wedding photographer) probably wants to block us from her Facebook and email. But it's just because we haven't been able to contain ourselves since the wedding... so anxious to see the pictures! And then her email came today saying half of the pictures are up, and boy were we excited! After spending about an hour with Whit tonight looking at the 500 plus pictures, I'm glad I'm not deciding what's going in the wedding book and what has to be cut!

Here are just a few of my faves. (These are watermarked, though. But you can still tell how pretty they are!)

Could this next picture be any more precious?

I just look at this and smile. You are just a fun, beautiful- in- every-way sister, Whitney!

And the newlywed couple .... Ahhhh....

Can't wait for Whitney to post all of them - or at least her faves.

Photo credit Lisa Marie Photography.

Matthew 20:28

Matthew 20:28 is pretty powerful. It says, "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Unlike any other king, Jesus wasn't interested in having people serve Him. He wanted to serve. He wanted to be with people and personally show love to them. You see, Jesus was on a mission to SEEK and to SAVE what was lost (Luke 19). People who had no clue who Jesus was. People who didn't understand the kind of love Jesus is. He wanted to be with them.

In the student ministry, we're calling this year the "Year of Missions." We want to serve. And the really cool thing I love about it is that you don't have to do a big foreign mission trip (absolutely nothing, nothing wrong with that!!) to make known the name of Jesus. My first outreach with CRAVE (our student ministry) was in an inner-city neighborhood right in our backyard. It's amazing what can happen when you just love someone.

blog slacker.... and my reason for it

So the last time I posted was in June. The last post was from Leah's baby shower, and now that baby should be here any day! But I have to tell you I have been bursting at the seams to post. I just haven't had time! The first two weeks of July were so busy and jam packed, that I didn't have the time to EVEN sign into my account to see what my friends have been doing. I've certainly been out the blog-loop for the past month and a half.

And my reason for it .... I changed jobs. June 30th I left my public affairs job and walked into a completely different job. A completely different "field." Something that had you told me even a year ago I would be doing full time, I probably would have thought no way possible. At noon June 30th, I left the homeland security office and at 1:00pm, I started with our church, Frazer Memorial United Methodist, as the Girls Minister. I can hear some of you laughing now ... minister, what?! Yeah, don't get hung up on that. If you share the Gospel and the love of Christ with others, you're a minister too. :)

I will tell you that it wasn't a hurried decision and that God has an incredible way of piecing events together. Girls ministry (6-12th grade) is a big piece of my heart. I love seeing girls deepen the relationship with Christ and grow into Godly young women. To say I'm doing what my heart screams out would be an understatement. I love God and I love kids (ahem, students, sorry.). Also, the people I work with are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and always good for a laugh! I work with a Brian, another Bryan, one Jon, a Mama Daisy and a sweet Mary. Pictures of the office are soon to come! You'll crack up at them. But wow -- what challenges are ahead! Only with God will they be successful!

So that my friends is where we've been lately. John and I are learning how to adjust our schedules and how to be even MORE patient with each other. Please pray for us. :)

I'll share some pictures on the next post. And maybe soon I'll have some recent pictures Whitney and I had in our bridal gowns. Oh wow is all I can say. But for now, I'm out. John's waiting on the computer.

Whoever claims to live in him must walked as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6