This was in my Bible study today. I am doing a study of Mark (written by John MacArthur).

"The Canadian scientist G. B. Hardy once said, 'When I look at religion, I have two questions. One: Has anybody ever conquered death? and two: If they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death? I checked the tomb of Buddha, & it was occupied. I checked the tomb of Confucius & it was occupied. I came to the tomb of Jesus & it was empty. And I said, 'There is one who conquered death.' And I asked the second question, 'Did He make a way for me to do it?' I opened the Bible & discovered that He said, 'Because I live ye shall live also.'"

I was tagged...

...by Becky to go to my pictures, click on the fourth album, then the fourth picture, post & explain it. So here ya go!



& I'm not even in it! ha. This is Josh & his bff Zac at the Nationals vs. Braves game back in September from our trip to visit Zac in DC. What a fun trip! So fun we are going back this fall as well!

So, I'm supposed to tag four people, but there is only one person that checks my blog consistently that also blogs (that I know of), that has not yet been tagged... WHITNEY!

productive saturday

The junk room looks so much better! All that's left is Josh's big pile of hunting stuff, old school stuff, etc. that he needs to go through. Then our junk room will need a new name - Toby's room? Does a cat get a whole room? Green room? I'll need to paint over that lime green one day.

Public Service Announcement: if any of you people need office supplies, check with us before you head to the store! We may have what you need! We have tons of stuff leftover from college, tons as in, we will probably never go through all of it, even in the lifetime of our children's children's children... you get it.

I made a good crock-pot lasagna the other day, courtesy of Betty Crocker. Here is the recipe. Tip: it doesn't make for amazing leftovers, so perhaps make it when you will be having people over - it serves 6-8.

Our freezer is now full of deer meat & sausage, fish, & some turkey. We have had breakfast tacos for dinner with the deer sausage, & I'm making my stoup for dinner next week. Have any good sausage recipes? Please share!

We are going out for my first birthday dinner tonight with Brad & Haley (& Grayson of course). I get a free meal at a local restaurant since it is almost my birthday so we're going tonight. My next birthday dinner will be the real one with Josh, then the last one a week later with my parents - a joint birthday dinner for me & my dad. I love birthdays that last at least a week!

Paint & prayer

I finished painting the bathroom walls! Finally. It's only a slight victory tho, because I still have to go paint all of the cabinets white (they are an antiqued yellow - yuck). Not to mention eventually painting the baseboards again (that will be a whole-house project). & I would like to buy iron towel racks to replace the white ones. So, there is still much work to be done to make that bathroom look good.

This weekend we have NO plans (which is really rare!) so we are going to be working around the house, specifically in the junk room, raking leaves, & Josh will be working on his bench in the garage so we can hopefully get the garage looking nice again. Maybe we'll be super productive!

I would love some prayers for my knees. They had seemed much better in the past few months, but in the past couple of weeks they have started hurting again. Yesterday I was having to limp because one of my knees hurt so bad. It's pretty frustrating. Instead of spending time & money finding a doctor that can only MAYBE help, I am praying that The Ultimate Physician will heal my knees! I am begging really. I would love to run without pain again one day.... that is my hope.

God has been doing a lot lately, & maybe I'll be able to actually write it all out one day. I'm not sure I could put it all into words right now. I am thankful that He is growing us big time.

my brain is full!

I woke up today with a heavy dose of motivation. Probably too heavy, as it makes me want to ignore all other duties & responsibilities in order to do what I am motivated to do - ORGANIZE OUR HOUSE!!!

Our house is usually pretty clean & presentable. But my office could use some work, our junk room is driving me nuts, we need a big bookshelf for our room & somewhere to put all our games that are piled in our living room... etc. So I almost cannot stop my mind from thinking of under-the-bed storage, color coordinated fabric boxes, & selling things on Craigslist.

I have this issue where when I get something in my mind, REALLY in there, I cannot stop until it is accomplished. If only I had the time! I'm sure if I stopped doing church work, laundry, & cooking, the world would survive... right??

feelin good

Today I feel like a Domestic Diva! Oh yes. Not only did I sweep AND mop, but I made ELEVEN phone calls for work, without my heart rate going up or saving some calls for later! Can you believe it? I have also done 3 loads of laundry (& folded said laundry), made the guest bed, & sent several work emails. ALL after my usual workout & spending time with Jesus. I love being productive!

I am going to go reward myself with a diet vanilla Coke & the Ellen show!

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

I got this recipe off the Rachael Ray show, but it is actually Jessica Simpson's recipe. I was pleasantly surprised at how much it really tasted like chicken & dumplings! Super yummy. Here is the recipe, with modifications of course.

3 rolls of crescent rolls
1 small rotisserie chicken, skin discarded & meat removed
Cream of Chicken soup
Cream of Mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth
pepper

-Pull apart crescent rolls. In each crescent roll, place a small handful of chicken, then roll up the crescent roll & pinch the edges together to create a dumpling. Cut excess crescents into strips.
-Line a greased 9x13 pan with dumplings (I ended up with 18 dumplings).
-Mix soups & broth together along with pepper (to taste) & pour evenly over dumplings.
-Place strips of crescent rolls in crisscross pattern on top.
-Bake at 400 for 22 minutes (the original recipe said 30 but mine was ready before that) until crescents are brown & edges are bubbly.

The heart of birthmoms

As you probably know Josh & I plan on adopting & we are so excited about it. God gave us that desire when we were engaged & it has only strengthened since! I love reading the blogs of people who have adopted, especially through the agency we're going to go through. Read this story.

http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2009/01/our-hero.html

a toasty solution

I have been buying (for about a year now) a yogurt (can't remember the name) that has granola that you add in, because I like the crunch in my yogurt. But the granola adds 80 calories so it basically doubles the amount of calories for the yogurt. So, since I had a coupon for Yoplait, I thought I'd try something new. I bought flavored Yoplait Light, then took some oats (like the kind you use to make oatmeal cookies) & toasted them in a skillet for a few minutes until brown & crunchy & cooled & bagged them. I just added them to my yogurt, & not only do they add some crunch, but a yummy toasty flavor as well! For very few calories!

I am looking forward to a good weekend! Poor Josh has been working all week when he comes home in the evening because of a deadline, so he will finally get to rest after today. We are going on a date tomorrow night (yay!) including Bride Wars if I can talk him into it :-) then hanging out Saturday, along with dinner with friends Saturday night.

Oh, & can I mention the beautiful weather today??? It was 80 degrees outside!! In January!! (Not that this is rare in Texas!) I don't mind, I love that perfect weather!

painting is a dummy

I have decided that I do not enjoy painting. I am currently painting the bathroom, & I have already painted the living room, kitchen, & our bedroom. The bathroom is the worse by far. Lots of corners, crevices, & in a small(er) unventilated room. Not to mention painting behind the toilet. I thought I was going to finish today, but I ran out of paint & I don't feel like leaving the house. So... I live to paint another day.

I have a headache anyways so that is a good excuse, right?

It turns out we have finally been hooked into watching The Biggest Loser. It's true. We had never watched it until late November, & we just started out watching the eliminations because how fun can it be to watch people work out, right? But we watched the premiere last night & we are hooked. It is AMAZING the transformations these people go through. So emotional! I think it's great that they learn how to take care of themselves by exercising & eating well (God wants us to take care of our bodies!). Their lives are changed!

I booked our cruise yesterday, & I just can't wait! It is going to be so much fun! Any of you who have been on cruises before have any tips?

Okay, I have to go finish reading (or at least attempt to get a little further) in the book we are reading for book club... when I finish it (assuming I do!) I'll write a review.

Your Purpose

First and foremost, God created you to know Him and to have an intimate relationship with Him. In fact, God says that if a man is going to boast about anything in life, "boast about this: that he understands and knows me" (Jer. 9:24). Mankind's relationship with God was lost in the Garden when Adam and Eve sinned. Jesus' death on the cross, however, allows us to restore this relationship with God and to have an intimate fellowship with Him. The apostle Paul came to understand this when he said, "I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself" (Phil. 3:10, THE MESSAGE).

Establishing this relationship with God is vital to understanding your purpose. If you don't have this relationship with God, you will seek to fulfill your purpose out of wrong motives; such as fear, insecurity, pride, money, relationships, guilt, or unresolved anger. God's desire is for you to be motivated out of love for Him and to desire to worship Him in all that you do. As you develop your relationship with God, He will begin to reveal His purpose for your life. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord" (Jer. 29:11).

(Prime Time with God email devotional)

It's 2009!

Time for tax & weight loss commercials!

Last night we rang in the new year with friends... & we actually made it to midnight, can you believe it? Party animals indeed! So naturally this morning we slept in till about 10:45. Had some coffee & breakfast, then we watched a movie, then Sage & I went for a jog while Josh watched football. Sage is a good running buddy, she keeps up with me (even goes faster than me if slow down), & looks up & smiles every couple minutes.

I have a question I ponder today. What do most people do on New Years day? My family always had a late breakfast then for dinner had ham & black eyed peas. Does not everyone do this? I asked a couple people what they were having for New Years dinner & they just looked at me. Hmm. Well, this is our New Years tradition.. be lazy, eat ham & black eyed peas.

I personally think 2009 is going to be a good year. Not necessarily for the whole world (as in, all this economic & political stuff), but for us. 2008 was a good growing year. We had a lot to learn in terms of our marriage, & we grew a lot. I don't think that will stop, but I don't think it will be as extreme or even noticeable in 2009, if that makes sense.

We have decided a few things regarding 2009. I wouldn't call them "resolutions" because that word has a stigma attached. Here are our decisions.

-Take advantage of opportunities. Take weekend trips to see out of town friends, spend time with people we are close with, serve in a couple of the ministries our church does outside of Sunday morning.

-HOWEVER: don't be busy every weekend. Start saying "no" to things if we don't really want to do it. Enjoy doing things around the house on Saturdays.

-Have fun. We are planning on going on a cruise in a few months, we are going to Italy with my family this summer, then planning on going to DC again in the fall. We have worked really hard to save as much money as possible, & we are going to use some of it to travel this year (altho our plane tickets to DC are free, so really, we won't spend much money at all, mainly just on the cruise... we are cheap!).

Okay so maybe not quite as many decisions as I thought. But, I am excited about this year. My prayer right now is that the Lord will prepare us for whatever He has for us. As new opportunities & relationships arise, we want to be prepared & have our hearts in the right place so God can move through us.

I pray that God will prepare you for what He has for you this year!