Advent 2013

 

Last year, I posted about following an advent devotional guide from the Village Church. I wanted to spend purposeful time reflecting on the coming of Christ. I love this time of year, but my heart can be easily distracted by the busyness of the season. I was thankful for the daily reading through the month of December, and it definitely helped to keep my heart a little more focused. So now that the Christmas season is upon us again, I was on the hunt for another advent devotional.

 

Well, it's a good thing I'm married to a pastor! ;) This year, Mike will be releasing a daily advent devotional on our church's website. Each day's post will highlight one aspect of Jesus' beauty in anticipation of celebrating His coming to us. I have already had a sneak peak at some of his posts, and I'm excited to walk through this devotional each day!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." 

~Psalm 9:1-2

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." 

~Colossians 2:6-7

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things." 

~Psalm 107:1-3, 8-9

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." 

~Colossians 3:15-17

I pray you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with good food and the ones you love. God is good!

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Today you turn 32. And while I joke that you are an old man, you are my old man, and I am so incredibly thankful for you. I hope you know today how much you are loved and appreciated. I am incredibly blessed to be your wife!

 

 

I love that I get to live life with you. As crazy as our life is sometimes, I am thankful that I get to live it by your side. From the adventures of church planting to chasing out furry critters in our drafty old rent house, I wouldn't want to do any of it with anyone but you. And just think how uneventful and boring my life would be without you ;)

 

 

God knew what He was doing when He gave you to me, and I am constantly humbled by the fact that He did entrust me to love, honor, and serve you. Thank you for loving me, leading me, and always pointing me to Jesus. I love you very much and hope you have a blessed birthday.

 

Happy Birthday, My Love!

 

{Date Night Jar} :: Games at Starbucks

It has been awhile since I posted a Date Night Jar idea. I promise we have had date night since September :)

 

There are some repeats in the jar, and I happened to pick out all of the movie ones first haha. So we have done a few movies, both at home and in the theatre. But this past weekend, we had a Starbucks date. We packed up our games and spent the evening hanging out at Starbucks.

 

 

It was fun to do something a little different, but still have it be relatively inexpensive. Mike was sweet to share his birthday reward with me :) The weather had finally turned cold, so enjoying a hot cup of coffee was perfect!

High Five for Friday!

{one} We acquired a new-to-us desk from some friends, so we rearranged things to make the front room more of an office space for Mike. In the transition, Mike said he would be willing to part with the rug we had in that room: a dingy used-to-be-white rug with a former youth student's face on it. It was sentimental from his youth group days, but I was never a fan of this rug. I have complained fairly vocally made my opinion known about this rug since we got married, and he was finally willing to part with it. That's love :) We decided to move the blue rug in the living room {that does not match our new couch} into the office and get a new rug for the living room. I like it when things match.

{two} Yesterday was a humid 78 degrees. This morning, I woke up to a rainy 35 degrees. I think my warmer fall days are finally gone and the cooler weather is here to stay. I suppose it's time...especially since next week is Thanksgiving! :)

{three} Umm...so next week is Thanksgiving. I realize it's a little late this year, but I still feel like the holidays have snuck up on me. Things have just been so busy, and it seems like it was August like yesterday. While I am ready for the breaks and the time to enjoy the festivities, there is a part of me that is just not ready for the busyness of the season. But ready or not, it's arriving next week!  

{four} We continued our Faith & Culture series this month with the topic: "How would Jesus vote?" I really enjoy this event our church does every month as a way to engage publicly on varying topics. Mike does such a great job of guiding the discussion and helping us navigate some touch topics, while encouraging us to have a {biblical} answer for what we believe.

{five} I recently realized I had a few extra vacation days left this year; I had saved them thinking I might need them for doctor appointments, but thankfully I haven't needed them for that. The days don't rollover for us, so I knew I needed to try to use them up if I could! As I was planning out the remaining vacation days for this year, I realized that I only have 1 more week in 2013 where I work a full week! The rest of the weeks, I only have a 4-day work week. Not bad. Not bad at all :)

Happy Friday!