things that make me happy.

• Peru! I get to go to Peru over Christmas break (like I get a real Christmas break…) for work! It’s going to be awesome. If any of of you are college students reading this and you are thinking, “Man, I wish I could go to Peru over Christmas break and live on the river in a tent, talk about Jesus to people who have never heard the Gospel, and hike up mountains and into jungles.” SIGN UP! You can raise money and think about that later! Go! www.goandsend.org
• Date night! Brandon and I are having a date night tonight. I miss him–we’ve both been so busy–and I’m leaving tomorrow for the weekend. So, date night is definitely over due!
• Speaking of leaving tomorrow…LADIES RETREAT with Midtown women! I’m so pumped! Garden City here we come…
• Colored Pencils and Crayons. I am in sew mood this week. I made these sweet little things for family gifts. Didn’t get to take a picture of mine, but here’s one like it:

 

Happy Thursday!

 

mi hermano.

Yesterday I didn’t have to work so I made the drive to Eastside to watch my baby brother play football. (Okay, okay… he’s a 9th grader, but still a baby to me!) He is the quarterback and he’s so awesome. They won. 50-0. Ridiculous. Andrew had a touchdown, like 2-3 runs in for 2 point conversions & 3 touchdown passes. It was so fun to watch and yell and cheer.

If you ever want to see another side to me, go with me to my brother’s games. I am a totally different chica, trust me. I turn into protective, don’t-say-anything-about-my-brother, crazy (seriously), loud sister. It’s kind of funny. Brandon sits in silence, as usual, and just watches. I yell, scream, cheer, and get ticked if someone says anything unpleasant. My mom was making fun of me about it becase last night, someone on the other team screamed, “Kill the quarterback! Get him! Get him!” and I didn’t say anything, but was so ticked on the inside. Mom could tell. A friend of my mom’s told me that one time she went up to a parent from the other team and asked if “he wanted to take this outside?” because he was yelling at her kid in the hockey rink. Oh, what my family has to look forward to… I may be in jail once or twice when I have kids.

My brothers are precious to me. I drove home last night by myself, thanking God for them. I cried as soon as I left my mom because I was so sad that I am missing getting to watch Andy grow up like I did Alex. But, I am thankful to only be two hours away and can make day trips to watch him kick butt in football!

Here’s Andrew… #11 in the green.

happy weekend!

 

oh, christmas tree…oh, christmas tree.

I am already thinking about Christmas. This year, Brandon and I are going to put on a little Christmas lunch for our families at our house. I’m so excited. I just can’t wait until December 13th!

So, I’ve been thinking about what I am going to give people and what I am goign to receive, of course, from my parents. (This might be a selfish post…sorry.) My mom starts asking for a Christmas list as soon as it gets a little colder and I start thinking of stuff. It’s kind of like when September hits, my mind goes to Christmas mode and I know what I want for Christmas by the end of the month. (Except for those “last minute” buys by my mom on the day after Thanksgiving while we shop til we drop.) Just last night I was straightening up the living room and I sat down to think about where the tree is going to look the best in our new (but tiny) living room. It has to be on the front side of the house so that we can see it lit up at night from the front. But, then, I thought… we could have one big tree in our “sitting room” (aka room with two chairs and an old record player) and then have one on the front porch. Why am I thinking/writing about this in September?? Oh, the holidays…

Here are a few things on my wish list already.

new iPod cause mine stays alive for 3 minutes total.

 

raincoat because i tried sewing one and that just isn’t happening.

 

black shutters for the casa. (probably mine and Brandon’s present to each other! romantic…!)

& last but not least:

to take the place of the front porch christmas tree, we must get a front porch swing.

 

 

i am broken for this.

“My new mom is really great she takes me to play baseball and soccer and she stays with me at the practices and games. She even put me in a baseball training school so that I could learn how to play baseball. I am getting to be really good in baseball. It is great to be adopted it’s like I am a regular kid now.“   -Giovanny

“All of a sudden I was awakened in the middle of the night by people wearing black clothing with badges. I didn’t know what was happening. It was happening so quickly. Something great was about to happen to my brother and me. I was full of sorrow. My brother and I were crying. We were hurt, and we were full of pain. Only God knew what was to become of my brother and me. The police finally took Ant and me to the police station. There, the police let us sleep in the back of the car until it was morning. The next day Ant and I were taken to a big house to live until our social worker came to take us to a new family. The house was really big and beautiful. The house was better than the people who lived there. The temporary house was horrible. There was a lady who ran it. She was very rude and mean. Whenever it was nighttime, I lay awake while Ant was fast asleep. I was crying so much it really hurt, and I was full of sorrow and pain. Sometimes I would even sit at the edge of my bed and call out my mother’s name frantically. I missed those days when I was with my mom. We had great times together. Three weeks after Ant and I were taken to that house, our social worker came to take us to a new home, not too far from the other house. There John and Terri Moore took us into their house and they began to love us. Soon, we loved them, too. But we had problems. A relative of mine was trying to take custody. She finally lost and Ant and I were adopted. When I was adopted I was so happy. We had a great day. That’s how my favorite Bible verse came to be James 1:27. It says, ‘Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.’ This verse helps remind me that God looks after His children.”  -Christopher M.

 

Want to find out more? Go here , here or here.

I encourage you to do this…go to this page (click on Select to See our Waiting Children) and pray for every kid that is in SC waiting to be adopted just through the state. There are 182 cases, but some cases have up to 5-6 children in that one case. Pray for those kids and ask God to tell you how you can help.

let’s review.

• Great weekend at Anderson.
• Brandon spoke at BCM Thursday night and things at BCM are so awesome! They have this “coffee shop”-style hangout afterwards and it’s just great.
• Someone accepted Jesus Thursday night because they “wanted to be a part of that family.” (THIS is incredible.)
• My husband is an absolutely wonderful speaker, teacher, writer… but he’s also the best at listening, doing, loving, learning and serving.
• Stayed up til 4 something in the morning with Lauren and Emily. It was fun, but I was dying at about 7 pm on Friday. (I’m so old!)
• Talked about “Unraveling Missional Living”. Our little group had fun.
• Had text messages the next day from a group that had some food and wanted to go take it to homeless people. Um, awesome.
• Walked around AU and remembered, reflected, and whined about how great college is and how stinky working is compared to it.
• Stayed with Mema Friday night-it’s the perfect place to stay.
• Hung out with family Saturday then headed to Columbia.
• Bran and I decided to eat good on the way home and stopped for some salmon @ Outback.
• Little Miss Sunshine Saturday night with B. It was weird, but I still liked it. That little girl has to be one of the cutest kids ever.
• Sunday chilling and then church.
• adoption? fostercare? Jesus is saying something like, “duh.”

and, now, on to another week…

 

one more thing. this makes me so happy. especially the part with Luis pushing an elderly lady really fast up and down a hall. i love my church.

back to our ol’ stomping grounds…

Oh, anderson. Where life was simple and i thought it was complex.

Brandon and I are heading back to AC. (it’s really AU now, but forever will be AC to me.) Bran’s speaking at BCM tonight and I’m going to do a missions table for work. I’m so excited. We have plans to eat at Skin’s for dinner and use a whole bottle of hot sauce. Then tomorrow, we are meeting Dr. Neal at The Bagel Shop. I’m going to visit some friends, try to make Brandon let me surprise my brother at Erskine late tonight, and maybe swing by the old lakehouse for memories.

Quote of the day: “The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.” -Elisabeth Elliot

peace.

forever & ever.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.                           Ephesians 3.20-21

 

 

Asking God to end world hunger, but not feeding anybody… well, that’s dumb.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. -Mother Theresa