Books, Cheerios, S'mores, and Ellie

Happy Tuesday evening! I took some random pictures tonight that I am going to try and share with you. Michael came home from school today with the rest of his books for this semester. I took a picture of all of the books that he has to read in these next few months. I'm sure he'll appreciate your prayers for brain power as you see this stack....


After stacking all of the books up, Michael decided to eat some Cheerios before dinner was ready. Apparently, Ellie really likes Cheerios. Who knew? All the pictures I tried taking of her eating a Cheerio didn't turn out because you couldn't tell what she was eating. So at the risk of having to clean up cat throw up Cheerios, here is just a cute picture of her instead. :)


Finally, who says you have to have a fireplace to make a s'more? Here is a picture of my yummy s'more, made in a combination of the oven and the microwave. If you're never microwaved a marshmallow before, try it. They puff up really well!!!


On this Tuesday evening, take a moment to notice the little things that are easy to overlook. Sweet dreams!

Checkin' In

Greetings blog family! I'm really tired as I sit here typing this. Monday evenings are always sleepy times, trying to recover from working all day after the weekend. I am quite excited about getting in my bed warmed by my electric blanket!

Michael and I played at church yesterday. We were supposed to be at rehearsal at 7:15, so when I got up to get in the shower, it was still dark outside. After showering and getting dressed, I looked out the window to discover that it had snowed overnight and was absolutely beautiful! It was such an awesome surprise! The plows weren't out yet, so we slid our way to church, and the entire worship team ended up being late to rehearsal. It snowed most of the morning, and it was so glorious. There is something so peaceful and restful about the snow - I love this part of God's precipitation plan. I am still not tired of the snow! It makes the cold weather worth it. Although, I am excited about warm weather coming back someday! :)

Anyway, here is a picture of snow on the rocks with the ocean in the background. It's nighttime, but hopefully you can see still see it. Hope you guys have a great week!

Ramblings

Good morning, everyone! I am sitting at my desk at work and am so far the only one in the office, so I thought I'd write a quick entry on my blog. I've been a total slacker lately and not putting up as many entries, but I hope that you will keep reading it, and I'll try to get better about updating it! There are many fun things coming up that will provide for some great entries...

Fun thing number 1: I turn 30 two weeks from today!! Who can believe that?! I was thinking the other day about the fact that I am in my last few days of my 20's forever. Turning 30 doesn't bother me, but it's weird to think that I'm moving into a new decade of life. When I turned 20, I was in college, dreaming about what the upcoming years of my life might look like. Now as I approach the end of my 20's, I've learned to not try to figure out what life might look like! :)

My mom is coming up for my birthday, which will be a fun weekend. Hopefully Nikki is going to get to come for a visit the weekend after that. And then at the first of March, I am coming home for a joint 30th birthday party with Nikki. I hope to see many of you there! More details to follow soon....

I suppose I should get to work. I hope that you all have a great day, and I will post again soon! I haven't forgotten about putting pictures up from Christmas either, but Blogger has been really slow lately. I'll keep trying! Happy Thursday!

Cream Puffs

I really like to cook - I find it to be a very creative exercise. Today I decided to try a new recipe and make some cream puffs. So while the Patriots were winning their way into the Superbowl, I made cream puffs. I made some with chocolate filling and some with vanilla. Here is a picture of my creation! Aren't they cute?? And they even tasted yummy! I hope that everyone has a great week! More blogs to come soon!

Beware Of Black Ice!

Hi everyone! First of all, thank you so much for the many kind and encouraging comments you left on my previous blog. I am more thankful than you know for all of you that God has brought into my life over the years and that I have the privilege of sharing life with so many awesome people. I love all of you so very much!

Secondly, for those of you who live in Georgia, congrats on your snow experience yesterday!! :) It is funny how in living here in the north for a brief time, I totally understand why northern people make fun of us in the south when we freak out about a little snow. However, I know that any snow is cool down there, so I hope you enjoyed it!

And now a funny little story for you before I head off to bed.... It has stayed cold enough here that the snow sticks around. There's probably about 5 inches or so on the ground, with more scheduled to fall tonight. In parking lots and such, as people walk on it, drive on it, etc. it gets packed down and gets really hard and slippery. So you have to be pretty careful when walking because it would be easy to slip and fall. In fact, I've slipped several times before, but I've never actually fallen.

Michael and I had a meeting tonight, so we were walking to our cars, and I wanted to take the trash to the dumpster. I had my purse, my calendar, my keys, and the trash all in my hands. I was carefully picking my way across the white snow/ice so I wouldn't fall, and in the process of watching out for the white stuff, I totally missed the black ice right in front of me. And for the record - I have NEVER experienced black ice that slippery!! Before I knew what was happening, my feet shot out from under me straight up in the air (picture Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and missing!), and I landed on my elbow and backside. All the things that had been in my hands were spread all over the place. Michael heard a big crash and thought maybe I had thrown my keys in the dumpster or something, so he looks over to see me sprawled out on the ground with all my stuff everywhere...... He did check to make sure I was okay before laughing hysterically, which was kind. I probably won't be able to move tomorrow and even with a coat, turtleneck and sweater, I still skinned my elbow....but it was hilarious! Hope this gives you a nice mental picture to chuckle about!

Moral of the story for today.....ALWAYS beware of black ice! And one of my favorite quotes to end the day: "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused." :) Have a great weekend!

White As Snow

Two years ago on this day, I walked down the aisle as a bride, dressed totally in white. It was an awesome day in many respects, but I think the thing that made it the most special for me was truly feeling like a bride. I've grown up in church, always hearing about how as believers we are the "bride of Christ". You can understand the parallel to a certain extent, but when you actually experience it yourself - when you are the bride, walking towards the groom - you gain an even deeper understanding of the privilege it is to be Christ's bride. On my wedding day, my identity in every way - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually - was as the bride, and the cherished peace I experienced from God that day is something I will never forget. That is why, on what would have been my second anniversary, I can look back without regret and without shame, knowing that while the story wasn't written the way I would have liked, my identity hasn't changed. I am and always will be the bride of Christ....and no matter what might happen while I walk this earth, that will be my identity for eternity.


Two years ago, I was dressed in white. This morning when I got up, the world was dressed in white. God gave me an incredible gift of gorgeous and glorious snow today. I went in to work (northern people are crazy psycho and go to work no matter what!!!), but my drive in to work was awesome. Not many people were out, it was pouring snow, the roads were covered in snow, everything surrounding me was covered in snow. It was a peaceful, quiet drive and one where I felt surrounded by God's love. As I was driving, I was contemplating another phrase I've grown up hearing - "your sins will be white as snow". Again, new meaning is given to those words when you see a world blanketed in snow. I have never seen more beautiful sights than I have these last couple of months with some of these snowfalls.... Seeing everything covered in pure white snow, clean and more beautiful than you can imagine....and knowing that is how God sees me...

So on this day that for me is a moment to stop and remember, I find myself thankful. I am thankful that God loved us so much He sent His Son to die in our place so that our sin might be made as white as snow. I'm thankful that God created snow so that His creation is a visible reminder of His covenant with us. And I'm thankful that because of that provision, I am His bride and always will be - and that nothing on this earth can change that or take it away.

Despite pausing to reflect, I am filled with joyful hope in this moment, and for the moments to come. As the lyrics to a David Crowder song say, "After night comes the light, dawn is here.... It's a new day, everything will change, things will never be the same, we will never be the same..." Thanks be to God, for a new day is here! Have a great week!

The Family

When I was home for Christmas, we took a bunch of family pictures. I'll be posting some of them soon. I set the timer on my camera some, and we took some fun shots. In this picture, I was trying to get Kit the cat into it so it would be a full family picture (minus my cat Ellie who was still in Boston). As you can see, Kit was not cooperating. But the rest of the family looks fantastic!


Today was absolutely beautiful here in Boston - right around 60 degrees and a great promise of the spring and summer to come -- something to remember when the cold weather hits again. I am really enjoying the seasons here. You get a full appreciation for each one....

I am going to bed now, but I hope that everyone enjoys their Wednesday!

I Love Antibiotics!

Greetings, dear friends! I am writing to you on this Sunday evening, finally starting to feel a little human again. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I had a horrible cold as Christmas approached. I started feeling better and then started feeling much worse. I finally got an antibiotic yesterday for what has become an upper respiratory/sinus infection thing. Praise God for teaching someone how to invent antibiotics! I was so sick of being sick, and now that I am starting to feel even the tiniest bit better, I am very thankful!

A couple of misc. things that some of you have asked me about. First - my car. I sort of forgot to mention the update on my car after sharing the story of how it died on the road. It turns out, there was a wire in my trunk that controls all of the accessory parts of a car that had come loose. Once they plugged it back in, everything worked fine. So the next time my car dies on the side of the road for no apparent reason, I'll look in my trunk first. :) I also named my car Henry. I thought that a quite distinguished New Englandy kind of name, as well as the name of the REAL home run king!

Michael and I have been back in Boston for about a week now. The weather when we first got back was kind of terrible. The low was in the 2 degree range, with windchills below zero. I have never been in weather that cold in my life. It was unbelievable! It's been pretty nice the last several days, with temps nearing 40. I'll tell you what - when you experience a high of 12, 40 feels incredible!

I'll try to post some pictures from my time at home soon. Blogger is being really slow today and I can't get any to post. Hope you guys have a fantastic week!