A celebrated birthday

Well this past week I turned 28 years old. Life is going by fast, seems like just yesterday I was 21! But it was a great day and I felt very loved and celebrated!

This is Will Hawk, our youth pastor and it was his birthday too! Will is tons of fun and we always have a good time at the office but on our birthday we acted a little bit more silly than usual...can you tell by the picture?




The cake on the left was the brownie cake that Karen Anne (Will's wife) made for us. It was so yummy and the cake on the right was what was left of the ice cream cake that Jennifer (our pastors wife) got us. Let's just say I ate enough calories between these two cakes to last me a week!
Robby and I on our way to eat at Carrabba's! It was so yummy!!! I had the Rigatoni Martino, next time you go, I recommend trying this!!

One of my favorite part's of the day was eating ice cream at Bruster's with our close friends. Thank you to The Herndons, The Pages, The Groce's and the Mobley's for coming to eat ice cream! (We missed the Cains :( but hope you guys had fun at the beach!!) And most importantly thank you for the spa gift certificate!! I can't wait to use it!

Love2all!!

The River

We have been hanging out at the River the past couple weekends with our wonderful friends Brittany and Taylor and Claire and Jamie. Here are some pictures...

lately...

For some reason, everything has been bothering me lately. I can't put my finger on it, but I have been experiencing all different emotions this week: sad, mad, happy, overwhelmed, frustrated, excited, discontent, annoyed! But usually I can just by-pass all these emotions and go with the flow; this week I can't. So here is what is helping me get through it:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." ~John 15:1-5

I could go on and on about how these 5 verses have held my heart this week, but the bottom line is my father is pruning me and I must trust him and abide in him!

The OT frequently uses the vineyard or vine as a symbol for Israel, God's covenant people, especially in two “vineyard songs” in Isaiah. However, Israel's failure to produce fruit resulted in divine judgment. Jesus, by contrast, is “the true vine,” and his followers abide in him and produce fruit.

What Jesus is saying here is that we as believers can not sit still, we must be pruned daily and that is what he is doing with my emotions this week...pruning them! I think it's pretty normal to feel all these different emotions but it's all in the way we handle them. I can't let my emotions control my decisions or abilities but rather I must trust in my God and act on truth...not react to emotions!

If you read this say a little pray for my "pruning" this week and that I would abide in HIM and not my emotions!

Final car payment

Robby and I paid off my car tonight!! I am so excited, we officially have no more car payments ever again! We paid both our car's off two years early and look forward to paying cash for the next one! We will never finance another car again!

IT's a great feeling not owning someone money, now we are almost debt free! Just a couple more thousand and we can join the small number of people in the world that have no debt! All thanks to our mentor, Mr. Dave Ramsey. If you don't know about him or his "Seven Steps for Financial Peace" then I encourage you to check out his web site, click here. We started his program 9 months ago and it has changed our lives! We are on our way to step #3 soon!

Happy Mother's Day

Today is a very special day for all the moms and moms to be. It's a day we celebrate their hard work, love and dedication. God designed moms to be the glue of the family - the substance that holds our families together. It's our God - ordained career laid out by the creator from the very beginning of time. There is no other job a women has more importantly than being a mom!

In the Bible, Titus and 1 Timothy talk about us being the "keepers at home" and I love that God has called us to prepare a house like His house, a home like His home - a beautiful picture and foretaste of what is yet to come. The biblical term used for "keep house" actually means "to govern or manage a house or the domestic affairs of a family." We get to be the master of the house, all that goes on is our domain!

I just read a book several months ago called "Youniquely Woman" Becoming who God designed You to Be; by Kay Arthur, Emilie Barnes and Donna Otto. It was so good and there was a whole chapter devoted to "parenting with a purpose". I pull this book out every so often and revert back to it. It is so good for moms, wives and women who want to live intentional and serve the Lord.

Thank you Lord that your design for women is to be the helper and keeper of our homes and the role model for our children. Thank you for the example of the Proverbs 31 women, may we aspire to be like her and please our king!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS!

Broadhurst Pollock Wedding

Last weekend we took a trip to Orlando, FL with our friends Will and Brittany for Lindsey Pollock and Blake Broadhurst's wedding. Lindsey and I were sorority sisters and Robby and Blake played football together at Troy. Robby was a groomsmen in the wedding and loved being there for Blake. It was a very adventurous weekend to say the least!The bride and groom cutting the cake...Lindsey was a beautiful bride!

A close-up of the cake...

Robby and I

Our friends Will and Brittany

A special treat of the weekend was getting to see our old friends from Troy, Demetrius and Amy Summerville. In this picture Amy is with their youngest child Journey. They also have the most adorable baby boy Jayden. Check out their blog here!

And the last special treat of the weekend was getting to go shopping with one of my heart friends Laura Susan (LSC)!!! We are in a small group together with our other heart friends Claire and Lauren. We call ourselves heart friends because we really do love, care and pray for each other. I could not make it through my week with out these girls, they have become my family in Columbus and I am so thankful for their friendship. Anyway I'll stop gushing over them and tell you that LSC was in Orlando for a pharmacy conference (she is a pharmacist) and since I was there too we decided to hit one of the major malls in Orlando! We had a blast in this big city and ate dinner at this fabulous Italian restaurant. I am so glad we got to spend some time together, away from our normal routines! Love ya LSC!!

Phil 3:13-14

These two verses are very important in my life right now, I thought I would share. Hope it speaks to you...

I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Jesus wants us to spend time in His word...reading the scriptures. Have you done this today? Do it! He loves you and wants you to draw near to Him!