It's A....????

My dear, sweet friend Lindsay is expecting.  She has incredible self-control!  She and her husband have known the gender of the baby for months but have kept it a secret from everyone.  This past weekend was the baby shower, in which they finally revealed the gender of the baby and the baby's name.  It was sooooo much fun...and had PINTEREST all over it!  What fun to see how people take the ideas found through Pinterest and put them into action.  It was so fun!  Here's a little peak...

 Each attendee was asked to vote by either wearing pink or blue.  When we arrived, we either got a 'stache' for a boy or 'lips' for a girl!

 All of the food and goodies had such cute little sayings with them!

 What a NEAT idea!  This was a fruit pizza bar...sugar cookies, cream cheese icing, and then your fruit(s) of choice!  So cute!

 This was "Chips & Lip Dip!"

 aka Pigs in a Blanket....but how cute!

 Team Blue!

 There was even pink and blue water bottles and yes...fun polka dotted paper straws! 

Guest of honor!

Before Lindsay opened her gifts she handed out stacks of envelopes to all the tables.  Everyone was to get an envelope.  Some of them were blue and some of them were pink.  It didn't matter though because they were all the same on the inside.  Her mom and Brandon's mom were given gift bags with their cards attached.  When Lindsay counted to 3 everyone was to open their cards which announced they are having a boy.  The two grandmas' cards had the name of the baby also listed, Eli Xavier!  It was so funny because her mother kept insisting she was having a girl, as she proudly wore her very pink shirt!  It was truly one of the cutest showers I have ever attended, with every minute detail attended to with precision and finesse! 

God is so good!  We met Lindsay and Brandon through our friends Kristin and Ryan.  We were all attending the same church but shortly after we met, Brandon and Lindsay had decided to leave that church and we followed suit soon after.  We found Living Hope and invited them to come try it out with us.  When Living Hope set up a small group ministry on Sunday evenings, Scott and I became facilitators and invited them to join our group.  They did and God grew a deep bond between us.  Many times it would just be the four of us and once the girls would get home from Awana we would settle in around the table for pizza or whatever I mustered up to feed all of us.  Towards the end our favorite was Trader Joe's Orange Chicken.  I am so thankful for the season of having Brandon and Lindsay in our lives on a weekly basis and miss them terribly.  However, I know God is working His purposes in each of our journeys.  They really wanted to get back closer to family and friends so they can live out the gospel and share the love of Christ with the people that mean so much to them.  I pray their families will one day "get it!" 

A Saint has Entered Glory

Dear friends,
I just learned that a gal from my graduating class at Mount Vernon Nazarene has gone on to meet her Maker.  This leaves a huge hole in the hearts of those still here as she was only 34 years old and was the mother of 3 precious kiddos and her husband.  Melissa was an incredibly beautiful girl, one of those girls that radiated beauty from the inside out.  My heart is breaking for the family and lives that have been touched by this amazing woman, full of grace and faith.  You can read more about her story at Dance in the Rain, a blog her sisters started to chronicle the journey, or listen to Melissa's testimony below.  I beg you to please send prayers out to this sweet family.

 

Thankful...

Today was a day I appreciated the sweet encouragement and peptalk from my dear friend who is light years ahead of me in her understanding of homeschooling, grace, and patience.  She is remarkable and truly a beautiful living testimony of what it means to love and follow Christ.  She has a calm and joyful element that is totally the light of Him which radiates through her smile and gentle words of encouragement and support.  It is not uncommon for me to find an email she has sent saying she has prayed for me that day, along with a prayer or Scripture included.  Today she patiently and gently kept me focused on what I am striving to achieve.  Thank you Lord for this sweet dear friend!

Speaking of other things I am thankful for...

• God's grace & sovereign plan
• my husband's continual patience with me when I cry because my heart is broken
• friendships that will last beyond the "here and now"
• my mom, who I still very much need and appreciate
• the simple and delicate flower arrangement cut and prepared by my mother-in-love sitting on the coffee table

Priceless People

When Scott worked for the state before Kate was born, actually we were still living in our first house, he met Mike.  Soon after that the two couples got together so the wives could meet and hang out.  I remember clearly that we drove to their house on Maul St. in Newark.  We all rode in their car to eat at Bravo at Easton.  We had to wait two hours to eat so we walked around, visiting Pottery Barn, Harry & David, Crate & Barrel, and Restoration Hardware.  We also visited a music store, Virgin Records maybe, and they bought an ABBA CD.  After dinner, which was totally scrumptious, we listened to ABBA all the way back to their house.  I can't remember if we stayed and played euchre or not but since then we have had many, many fabulous memories made with them.  I am sooooo glad that our friendship with Mike and Pat wasn't just for a season.  Our visits have been fewer and farther between, but they are as rich and wonderful as from the beginning.  Pat's family is Italian!  Could you tell?  She is amazing cook and we love to cook for one another.  She is a speech pathologist and can do all these amazing accents, which the girls absolutely adore.  Of course, she can also sing and play the piano.  WAY FUN!!  Mike loves the girls as though they were his very own nieces!!  He gets such a kick out of their antics.  These are precious and selfless friends who came to spend an entire day with us when we repainted our cabinets.  Mike is a designer.  We are doing some updating and projects on our home right now and he is just itching to get up here and help us paint.  I love it! 

Kate, Anna, and Pat were just a'singin' their hearts out.  Then Kate left to go on an adventure with Daddy and Mike to our treeline but Anna was soaking up the singing and playing from Pat.  LOVE IT!

My Friend, Kim

I hope I don't embarrass her by writing about her but I just have to.....
Kim is 100% total darlingness!  All 5 feet and maybe 3 inches of her! 
She is from Memphis, TN.  She and her husband Brent, along with 3 kiddos at the time, moved here to Ohio to help our pastoral team plant Living Hope.  Kim grew up in Memphis, loves Memphis, misses all of her friends and family in Memphis YET she obeyed the Lord's calling to Ohio.  There is snow in Ohio.  There is ice in Ohio.  She doesn't have family in Ohio.  Yet you know what?  Kim is ALWAYS, and I seriously mean A.L.W.A.Y.S., smiling.  ALWAYS.  I can't say it enough.  She amazes me.  Since landing in the freezing artic of the north, she has faithfully endured challenge, after challenge.  She found out she was pregnant (while this was not a challenge but a blessing, it was a surprise blessing!), her precious little babe needed heart surgery, her children have been sick a.lot, her honey travels, her honey has been sick, her daddy has been battling cancer back home in Memphis, and yet Kim always has a countenance that truly radiates the joy of the Lord.  I have been truly touched by her living testimony.  I felt compelled to write about her because tonight I was thinking about how she has helped me.  Kim, because she is always smiling, laughs!  She laughs!  I had the pleasure of spending a Sunday lunch with her and her family and they all laugh.  They don't take life too seriously regarding the things that most of us get hung up on.  When it could be a stressful situation like a crazy messy house because you were gone overnight and the honey handled all four kiddos so you could be away and an unexpected lunch date shows up after church on Sunday, she laughs.  When 10 kids are running all over the place and we are trying to get dinner fed to all of them, she laughs.  When kids make mistakes that would cause some adults to have a meltdown, she laughs.  Tonight, I found myself laughing....like Kim....and I thanked the Lord for her.  This week she has been texting me to check on my girls.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt when she said she was praying for me, she was.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt when she said she could bring me anything I need, she would.  Kim is amazing!  I thank the Lord that He called Kim and Brent to Marysville, OH and I thank them for obeying. 

PS:  I want to be sure to make clear I had other very dear friends call and text me this week concerned about the girls and equally willing to help me at a moment's notice, as well as praying for us.  I am so unbelievably blessed and thankful for my friends!

What a truly remarkable friend!

Jocelyn and I met in Biology class our freshman year, first semester at Mount Vernon.  We started out just studying together but it grew into one of the most beautiful friendships.  {Thank you Lord!}  I know I say this all the time, but truly Jocelyn and her friendship means the absolute world to me.  Because I went to a very, very small high school (yeah, I mean small - 32 kids in my graduating class), you were either in or out.  Because of several reasons but one being my faith, I was definitely on the out.  High school was a very painful experience in terms of friends.  Once I got to college though I was amazed with all the possibilities of friendship.  Jocelyn taught me so much about being a true, honest, real friend and challenged me in my faith.  There was no room for status quo in our friendship our in journey towards a deeper relationship with Christ.  What is so incredible is that this is true for today as well.  We have certainly had our bumps and bruises along the way because life is just like that.  However, my favorite time when I get with Joc is to sit and talk about real things, our real feelings, our real thoughts knowing there is only love, friendship, & Christ's presence in the room.  Because of my friendship with her, I have learned how to truly be a friend to others.

Jocelyn is one of the most amazing women I know!

These pictures are of her with her children and then our children together.

She and her husband, Peter, had two boys then felt called to adopt from Guatemala.  Once they moved back to the Chicago area they signed up and were trained to become foster parents.  Because of Peter's ability to speak fluent Spanish, they were approved to foster hispanic children.  It has been a journey, a fabulous one of God's goodness and faithfulness even though at times it has been full of pain & sorrow, to which they are now adopting both of their foster children!  The time we were able to spend together was incredible!

YUMM-O SUPREMO!!

Today I went with one of my best girlies to the Cheesecake Factory.  I had a giftcard and well, when Scott is off work the last thing he really wants to do is drive 45 minutes to go eat and be in a crowd.  So, I have learned to just do my thing with a friend.  He really doesn't mind at all.  Anyhow, I asked my foodie friend Jacque who hardly ever gets the luxury of eating out if she wanted to go.  We decided right off we would share whatever it was we ordered since we both love food and trying new things.  She ordered the Herb Crusted Salmon with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus.  I ordered the Chicken Piccata (chicken breasts in a lemon, mushroom, and caper sauce served with angel hair pasta).  Both dishes were out of this world amazing!!  We devoured every last bite, including the bread.  Who cares about calories and fat grams?  When the server asked if we were going to order cheesecake we were like ABSOLUTELY!   We ordered the Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake (two layers of red velvet cake, cheesecake, and cream cheese frosting with white chocolate shavings) and Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake (coconut, chocolate, macaroon crust).  We were seriously in food and cheesecake heaven on earth.  Interestingly enough, I actually didn't feel like I had overeaten.  I certainly had, especially in terms of calories, but I didn't have that sickly, bloated feeling you get after eating waaaayyyy too much food.  Jacque's and I time together was such a blessing!  It has been sooooo much fun developing a friendship with her.  I could go on and on and on.  I just love her!  She is such an amazingly beautiful woman who loves her Father & family. 

Just for kicks, we took pictures of our food.  I wanted to get a picture of us but kept forgetting to ask someone to take our picture.  Oh well...

On one last note, I have googled Chicken Piccata recipes.  I am soooooo going to try this ASAP!!

Reconnected

This year has been a year of reconnections, many thanks to Facebook!  This is my friend Wes and his beautiful family, Rachel (wife) and Ella (daughter).  Wes and I grew up going to Beulah (church camp) together.  Once we were older I tagged along with his youth group to bigger church functions.  Great memories that include fun, fellowship, and faith! 

Priceless

These precious girls are the daughters of our dear friend Josue Teme from Mali, West Africa.  Josue has an incredible story of redemption and now serves his Savior as a Bible translator and linguist.  He and our friend Timothee have been finalizing the translation of the Bible into the Dogon language.  They both have visited the states in the last few years raising funds.  Each Bible costs $6.00.  At the last count they had raised over $40,000.  Isn't God amazing!?  If you would like to donate please let me know and I will get you in touch with the right people.  Anyhow, each time Josue visits we send back goodies for his girls.  They are decked out in some of Kate and Anna's hand-me-downs.  Josue mentioned on his last trip that his oldest loves to proclaim to her Kinder friends that her shoes came from "America!"  I can't wait to meet those babes some day and give them a big hug!  Regardless, please pray for Josue, Timothee and their families as they continue to be obedient to God's calling on their life.

More Good News!

My best friend from college called me last night!  Her and her family are coming to OHIO and are going to be able to see us!!  I am so stinking excited!!  :)

MLK Day

We went to visit one of my good girlies on MLK day. All of us from college are teachers and get together usually on MLK day. Debbie's house is filled with fun, both for winter and summer, so we usually end up there. We literally ate ALL DAY LONG!

Amazing Alex

Two years ago I was blessed by the amazing and victorious story of Alex Malarkey. Every time I have the privilege of spending time with Alex and his family I walk away incredibly awestruck by God's amazing grace!! It only takes about 5 minutes to realize that Alex Malarkey is a MIRACLE and God has big things in store for him. After watching the "Alex Movie" that the family gave to me during my first visit, my girls began praying for Alex just about every single night. One time they started praying that Alex would have good dreams. When I shared this with his family, his father just about doubled over with disbelief. Alex had recently been struggling with some very bizarre dreams. I cannot begin to fully represent in this one post the depth in Alex's spirit. He is witty, smart, and determined. He will tell you himself that he doesn't have a disability...he has a differability!

As you might be able to tell, there are hardly words for what I feel in my heart for Alex and his family. His mother is one of the most humble, God seeking, and Jesus loving women I know. Her days are full of what many would not have the patience or endurance to do, yet she does it with a deep love and compassion for the good of her children. She is one of my heros! She has taught me so much about faith, digging deeper, and even more so about the challenges families face when they have children with spinal cord injuries. The challenges seem insurmountable because of the buracracy, red tape, lack of knowledge, and apathy. However, even when discouraged, she is always looking up!! One of the songs that became her cornerstone was "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. My girls go ballistic when they hear it on the radio calling it "Alex's Song." This song has touched me to the core of my being as well because it reminds me that I need to listen to the "voice of truth" in the midst of a world full of lies, straight from the pit of hell. We need to claim the victory! This is what Beth Malarkey strives to do every day!!

Again, I feel so privileged that God has crossed our paths. I urge you to please learn about Alex and his family by clicking on his website. I then also urge you to commit to praying for this family and Alex's healing.

PS ~ Click here to hear Alex's wonderful singing voice!