Thankful Thursday!! (42)

"Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.  Such sins have no place among God's people.  Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes - these are not for you.  Instead, let there be thankfulness to God."  ~Ephesians 5:3,4

Today, I'm thankful for...
1.  These verses:  "The Sovereign Lord has given me His words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary.  Morning by morning, He wakens me and opens my understanding to His will... If you are walking in darkness without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God."  ~Isaiah 50:1,10  Amen!
2.  For two news stories with good endings for animals -- concerned drivers stopped traffic to rescue a terrified little pomeranian on the highway (not hurt at all, yay!!)... and then this trapped lion cub was saved by her mom who risked her own life to save her! :)  So great - love these pictures!

3.  Morning talks/walks around the neighborhood with Brittany! =)
4.  Chet, for his encouragement, LG leadership, and the daily Scripture emails!

5.  That Mindi's tumor is shrinking, and for her joy and faith in the middle of this!

6.  For Reagan, aka Ray-gedy Ann, my favorite dog in the world right now! :)

7.  For the Wallace family and all our memories with them (pics at Ty's wedding)!

Songs of the Week = Sideways by Citizen Cope (from Ghosttown)

Hear it here:  http://youtu.be/ezz-nazThiM
...and Home by Michael Buble - love it!
Hear it here: http://youtu.be/7-dyGA2VdCI
The uploads aren't working for some reason :(

MM ~ Halloween Party 2009

Today's memory is "Malori's Monster Mash," aka the Halloween party of 2009! =) 

There was talk of a huge joint lifegroups party, but we wanted a much smaller and less incredibly-detail-specific party than the elaborate one being planned by Bart, so Malori offered to host so that there would not be tension.  Rach came to Tulsa for this one, and some of my favorite LG friends came as well. =)  It was a lot of fun... and delightfully simple in the planning!

I dressed as a really bright hippie. :)

 Rach was a sparkling Little Red Riding Hood!

 Malori pulled a Jim Halpert style costume as a ceiling fan! :)

 We had several fun trick-or-treat-ers!  And candy... mmmm, candy... I miss it!

 Dry ice... I love this picture! :)  (And the fruity pebble rice krispie treats!)

 Chet in his fat man costume and Nathan as a killer trucker! lol

Liz and Kim Dean with Kim's Halloween cake!

 Probably my favorite pic from that night... Chet Lee trying to watch TV in his costume! =)

My group after our costume contest... we used toilet paper and foil and whatever other random supplies Malori had for us and made an awesomely strange warrior costume for Michael. :)  

Chet's mini-cheer-kick to show off Rachael, whom he named Sparkles the Princess Warrior! lol

And finally, a camera-timer group shot of everyone at the party!!

Hooray for fall and fun and friends and food and football!  =D

Thankful Thursday =) (41)

"Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw His unfailing love from me!"  ~Psalm 66:20

This Thursday, I'm thankful for...

1.  Finally having all 25 pleas scoped... a week to catch up has been awesome!
2.  That the no sweets or restaurants hasn't been too hard so far ...I've lost 11 pounds and am a little over halfway to my November goal! =)
3.  Jimmy Fallon, just because he really makes me laugh!!  (His latest skits are at www.jerseyfloor.com.)

4.  Malori and Laura, for effortless friendships!

5.  Psalms - always encouraging to me, and a great outlet for any emotion!
6.  Getting to sleep past 10am this morning and take tomorrow off! =)
7.  Clarity and peace on some things I've been overanalyzing/worrying about for too long!

Song of the Week = Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band  (still loving ZBB, kind of obsessed with their Colder Weather song!)

"I'm taking a mental picture of you now!"

Okay, so I missed it yesterday, but I want something lighter thrown in here, so this week's "memory" is our Vegas trip last year... great friends, great beach concert, great hotel, great memories... so much fun!!  For a more detailed account, see this post!

Jeff and Chet called last night, and left me a hilarious/awesome voicemail where Jeff sang the first few lines of this song: 

Aww, memories. =)

Thankful Thursday! (40)

“The LORD is my strength and my song; He has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise Him--my father's God, and I will exalt Him!” ~Exodus 15:2

Today, I'm thankful...
1.  For having the shortest jury trial ever this week, and now having some time to catch up!
2.  That I was cold -- actually cold -- on my way into work today... YAY FALL!!  "Well, nothin' seems as strange as when the leaves begin to change, or how we thought those days would never end!" :)
3.  For God making everyone so unique in our gifts and burdens (calling us to help in so many different areas).  LifeGroup was great last night!
4.  It's a boy!  Rach is having a boy, so I will soon have 3 adorable nephews. :)  Her due date is the 19th, so I'm voting for him to be born on my birthday! lol 

5.  For real friends who are serious about their walk with God, and who pray for and encourage me!!
6.  A lovely, refreshing weekend at Big Cedar.

7.  That Lion King is back in theaters in 3D this weekend... get excited! 
"Hakuna Matata!" =)

Songs of the Week = I Just Can't Wait to be King! from The Lion King movie AND Circle of Life from The Lion King on Broadway (just for you, Chet!)

MM ~ Big Cedar

This weekend, Malori and I joined Ruth and Charlotte and went to Big Cedar near Branson, Missouri.  It was a short but fantastic little trip! 
 

Highlights from this weekend:

• Malori came in on Thursday night and got to meet Brittany. We all stayed up talking till around 1:00. :)
• Friday morning, I got a massage at the Utica Square Ihloff and Malori had a facial... awesome start to the day!!
• We went shopping at Anthropologie, where she got some cute wine glasses and I got a fun fall scarf! :) 
• Met Natalie at her new house and had lunch with her at MiMi's Cafe.  
• Drove to Ruth's house in Owasso then rode with them to Big Cedar.
• Dinner at Elanita's Mexican Restaurant.
• Hot tub time Friday night - (memorable walk in the dark trying to find it)... it was oh, so relaxing and fun!  Then we came back to the room and watched Dan in Real Life. :)
• We had adjoining rooms, each with king size beds... (apparently I had a bad dream Saturday night and woke up panicked asking Malori if she was okay.  I remember her saying, "Yes. Are YOU okay?" lol)
• Ruth and Charlotte made us buscuits and a "Ziploc bag omlet" for breakfast... (I tried ham, peppers, onions, avacado, and cantaloupe -- go me!)
• Malori and Ruth had a lot in common on their personalities, books/movies taste, etc. ...and Charlotte and I have so much in common in our personalities... so getting to know them a little better was great!
• I did my daily Bible reading outside on our balcony, and I must say, it was really nice!  (Very few bugs spotted this weekend, which makes me a fan of Big Cedar!!)
• Malori got some writing time in on her book, and Ruth was SO excited to hear about that! =)
• We all took a leisurely walk around on Saturday morning (lots of good pictures and fun conversations).
• Gift shop... Malori bought an owl jar - the random things she chooses are so interesting to me, but yes, it was cute!
• Pool Time!!!  Swimming + laying out + reading + hot tub time = perfect Saturday!  (Aside from the sunburn that followed.)
• It rained around 5, so we were glad we'd spent several hours at the pool that afternoon!
• Homestyle dinner at The Farmhouse (I tried blackberry cobbler - yay new things!), then we went shopping and saw the water show at Branson Landing!
• Watched Ghost Town in our room that night... even funnier than I remembered. =)
• Sunday brunch buffet at the Worman House!  (Lots of good food on this trip.)
• Titanic Museum... we were each given the name of a passenger and in the end, you find out if they lived or died... Ruth and I had 1st class women, Malori 2nd, and Charlotte 3rd.  However, mine was the only woman who did not survive!  Didn't see that coming.  Her husband was a moron and fired the maid for interrupting them to warn them that the boat was sinking.  Awesome.
• Anyway, the museum was fantastic and made me even more ready for the 2012 re-release of the movie!
• Road trip home, with a final ice cream stop at the big McDonalds.
• All in all, a really fun weekend (...and VERY worth the $70 we spent on hotel and gas!!) =)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures...

Malori at the "Infinity Pool!"

 Ruth and Charlotte! :)

Where we spent Saturday afternoon...

On our Saturday morning walk...

 I love waterfalls! :)

Me and Malori and our fish bench. :)

 Pretty hibiscus flower!

Loved the view...

Our pic with the bear, before we noticed the "Please Do Not Touch" sign! lol

Not us, but maybe someday. lol

Charlotte, Ruth, and Malori

Malori at the Titanic Museum (sneaking a pic with my camera phone)

Replica of the Grand Staircase... awesome!

....."To making it count!"  *Cheers* ;)

September 11th, Ten Years Later

My Story:  On September 11, 2001, I was a senior at CHA.  I remember I was sitting in Mr. Clay's "Senior Hour" Bible Class when the news first began to spread... everyone thought there had been a terrible accident when a plane crashed into the first tower - several different versions of the story were floating around, and I assumed it was mainly exaggeration.  My third hour was spent as an office aide for Mrs. Young, so when I got there, we watched some of the news coverage together.  (By that time, the second plane had hit, and it was clear that it was no accident!)  

I remember watching the news coverage and getting chills thinking about it.  I also remember - because it happened that day - that Mark Richards, one of my favorite guys from Rachael's class, came into the office because he had just been punched in the face by a foreign exchange student who misunderstood his comment!!  (Quite the drama for CHA, and on any other day, would've been a huge deal and all anyone was talking about!)  Anyway, when Rach and I got home from school that day, we watched the news with Mom.  We watched as the Twin Towers collapsed, we watched as those who hate our nation celebrated - CELEBRATED, and we watched President Bush's speech. 

This is what I remember about that day ten years ago...

Innocent people died, families were changed forever, strong buildings were brought down to rubble... 

Ordinary people became heroes; the lines of good and evil, love and hate became far more clear.

The following picture was taken on my trip to NYC with Josh and Holly in 2006...

And the next three were during my trip to NY last December when Chet and I went by Ground Zero.

I have calligraphied the quote several times:  "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."  (-Edmund Burke)

It's true, and it could just as easily be phrased "that Christians do nothing."  Christian passivity and casual, apathetic living has allowed our nation to morally spiral downhill through the years.  God has said that if HIS PEOPLE will humble themselves and pray and seek His face, then He will hear us and heal our land!  We should remember the families who are hurting, yes, but we should also remember that there is evil in our world... the enemy (Satan) works to deceive people and use them for evil, which can be powerful and destructive, and the above pictures should be a clear reminder of that.  

As God's children, we are called to be the light!  Love and truth are more powerful than evil... greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!  If God is for us, who can stand against us?  Well, God will be FOR US when we (Christians) turn away from sin and seek Him above all... and we must never forget that!