It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

We have had a crazy busy, crazy fun December celebrating Christmas! What a glorious season of joy and hope as we celebrate our Lord's birth. My prayer this whole season has been that I would not loose focus on what I was celebrating. I can not say that I was always successful and didn't let the shopping, baking, cooking, wrapping, etc. get in the way, but I can say that my reflection time has been some of the most sincere and meaningful than I can remember. I pray that you all have have very Merry Christmas and take time in the next few days to really reflect on what this season means to you.

Bible Study Dinner & Gift Exchange

The Men

The Ladies
(modeling off my recent creations...I learned to sew this year, so I decided to use those new found skills to make some Christmas gifts...thanks mom for being a great teacher!)

Audrey trying to figure out what gift was for her!

PWC Christmas Party

at Neiman Marcus Downtown Sam and I sitting in Santa's Chair

(Every year Neiman does an amazing job decorating..this years Santa's theme was space. Behind us is the spaceship tree.)

The Tree (our young adult group at church)

Progressive Christmas DinnerMicheal, Sam, Trent and our faithful leader Bert

The men sporting some new mustaches!

Lady Gaga???

(This is what I ended up with at the White Elephant gift exchange, plus a whoopee cushion and Flarp.)

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:9-12

Remembering our Blessings

Tomorrow will mark the second anniversary of our precious Lilly passing. Its so hard to believe that two years have already passed. The Lord has been so faithful to us all and I believe He has truly been gloried over the past years. This little girl changed my life during her short time here and now time in heaven then I could ever express. I ask that you please pray for her parents, Richard and Jennifer, tomorrow as they celebrate Lilly's life and remember all that she taught them. Please pray for peace and for a wonderful day of focusing on the amazing family that the Lord has blessed them with today.

Song of Solomon 2:2
"As the lily among thorns,
so is my darling
among the daughters."

Christmas + Friends = BLESSED

This past weekend we had our small group over for a Christmas dinner. We had such a wonderful night of eating, laughing, and sharing together. Sam and I have been so blessed with amazing people in our lives here in Dallas. The Lord put these exact five couples (one not pictured) in our lives because he knew exactly what we needed. We are all so much alike and have shared so much over the past years. I love hanging out and growing in the Lord weekly with each of these people. I also love being able to pray over them and knowing that I am always prayed over.

The Ladies

(Emily, Amber, Mandy, Amy, Diana, and Audrey)

The Men

(Michael, Tim, Brandon, Sam, Trent)

How cute/weird is it that they all showed up in different colored

v-neck sweaters with white collared shirts underneath....hummmm
The Hadley's

The Maenius'

The Montoya's

US

The Snelling's

Audrey playing with the dancing Santa hat and LOVING it!!!

We ate A LOT of food!!!

Played some games...

(Michael attempting to draw a donkey!!!)

Opened some presents!!!

And shared some memories!!!

Love you guys!

(This all sounds like a Hallmark card...hahaha!!!)

Back to "Normal" Life

The test is over and "normal" life (whatever that is) is back! I am so relieved to be done with my test. I feel like a huge weight/gorilla has finally been lifted off my back. The only bad part is that I don't find out the results for a few months! I guess until then I will just try not to worry about the outcome!

During my craziness of preparing for my test I did not have much time to keep up with my blog. Sam's cousin and wife are expecting a baby right around Christmas, so I helped make some fun goodies for her shower. I was unfortunately unable to attend the shower due to needing to study, but I thought I would still share the few things that I made. We were going for a pink and black theme so I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with pink buttercream icing and red-velvet cake balls. I had planned on making so much more, but time just did not permit!! I also tried something new that I learned from another blogger - chocolate transfer sheets. It was a lot easier than I expected and I think they turned out pretty cute. So the little circles on the cupcakes are chocolate that I imprinted with that design. It was pretty fun, but the only hard part was that my fingers kept melting the chocolate!!! Anyways, enjoy some pictures.

Speaking of babies and the grace of God (well I guess we weren't talking about God really), Sam and I are so excited because we are going to be Uncle Sam and Aunt Mandy! That's right, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting and we could not be more excited and thankful. The Lord is so gracious and has guided them through these past months since Lilly's passing. He is now showing them that He truly is the Lord over their lives and that even through the pain, there is still hope and joy for the future. So please keep both of them, along with baby Thomas in your prayers throughout these next months.

I hope everyone has a great Turkey Day and doesn't eat too much!!! We are so excited to go home and see our family. It has been way too long!!!

Absent

I think those NYC posts not only most likely wore out my readers, but the writer too! At least I know that our families read it, so I guess it was worth it! (I wouldn't blame you if you did not read all of the posts!) I wish that was my reason for being a bit absent lately on the blogging. Actually for about fours weeks now I have been once again studying for my CFP exam (Certified Financial Planner). This test is kind of my "thorn in my side", but I am trying it again. Yes, I say again. This will be my fourth time to take this darn test - four time's a charm right! Its very humbling to admit that this is the fourth time since 2005 that I have taken this test, but no need in hiding right. Each time I start about 2-3 months out and study for about 3-5 hours a day! Ouch that hurts! Its really not too bad, because I honestly do enjoy what I am studying. I also try to split up those hours each day by studying in the morning, during lunch, and then again at night. I try to take a break on Saturdays afternoons, but other than that each day pretty much consists of eating, sleeping, working out, and studying. Sounds fun right? Not so much! Anyways, I would ask that if you could remember me in your prayers until the end of November I would appreciate it. I am not real sure why I have been so close to passing in my past tests and haven't, but the Lord has His reasons and I am just trying to learn the lesson (many of which I already have). So I would ask that if it comes to mind please pray for discipline in my studying, that I would be able to retain all the information, and that I would do my best on the test. From there it is in the Lord's hands!
So if I am slow on posting, just know its because I am studying and not just being a bad blogger!

Human-beings not human-doings

"It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day"

Author Matthew Henry

Living with an eternal perspective has always been a challenge for me. It's what my heart truly desires, but my earthly flesh is constantly pulling me the other way. I start my day out praying to the Lord to use me, to live in me, and to guide me to do His works that day. Then the second something goes crazy at work I am back to living in my flesh. We are seriously at war here.

This has always been something heavy on my heart, but I was woken up even more the day my niece, Lilly, passed away. I was reminded AGAIN that this is not our home - we are only buy aliens and strangers - we are not promised anything or any day here on earth. I was reminded that our time here on earth is just merly preparation for the greatness that lies ahead. Our time here will determine our judgement one day and will determine our eternal lives; this knowledge in it self should determine the character of our present lives every single day. Our time here is SO short and is only our "testing period". That's HUGE!!! So why aren't we living that way every single day??? I continually ask myself that. It reminds me of tv shows when there is an angel and a devil on each shoulder; which way will we follow???

This week in our Crown Financial class (ask me about it if you want more info, it is something that I am VERY passionate about, but you probably don't want me to pull out my "soap box"!) and it was our last class, and how appropriate - it was on living for eternity. Yes, the focus might have been on money, but living for eternity is about our whole lives, our whole beings. There were a lot of great quotes that I wish I could have come up with myself, but that is just not the way my mind works. They are such easy sentences to read, yet so hard to live. I just felt a tug on my heart though that no matter how simple they are that I need to continually be reminded of what they truly mean and that I needed to share them also. So here are just a few....

"Once our life on earth is over, we will never have another chance to move the hand of God through prayer, to share Christ with one who does not know the Savior, to give money to further God's kingdom, or to share with the needy."

"We must never become too much at home in this world or we will become ineffective in serving the cause of the kingdom we are here to represent." - "Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear" 1 Peter 1:17

"When our eyes are too focused on the visible, they will be drawn away from the invisible." - "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

Then just 3 days later my mom called me as she was leaving her class at church and was telling me about a great article that they focused on that evening on Rick Warren (author of the book A Purpose Driven Life). She ended up sending it to me and I just had time to sit down and read it today. As I was reading, I knew the Lord again was speaking directly to me about my life here on earth - what is my focus/perspective?? I am dying to share the whole article, but I'll just share some and then give you the link to go read more (its not too long): (link: http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/17175.htm)

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond:

In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity.

We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--

but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions

of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.
God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one,

or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than

He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

So again like I said, this is all just preparation. Am I allowing God to use my circumstances to prepare me? Am I praising Him when the good times come AND when the bad times come? Am I allowing Him to change and move me through all my circumstances? Rick goes on to say some more great things about the good times and the bad.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always

something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is

always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into

self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."
But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to

get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

Honestly this is something that I have really not had to face before. Of course I have had tough times...a hard test, working things out with a friend, relationships, finding a job, my dad getting prostate cancer, deaths in the family. Sam brought this to my attention when I was struggling recently - Yes, I saw the Lord's hands in each of these times, but had I really been tested in my faith in Him? The answer was no, until 2 months ago. Now that time has passed, I look back and think, did I turn to the Lord and allow Him to teach me and mold me during that hard time, did I show Him that although this is the worst thing I had faced on earth that I still relied on Him, did I open my eyes to Him when I had nothing else to give me answers, did I have an eternal perspective?

I can now take a step back and say, even in the worst of situations - Lord, I know you better - Lord, you have opened my eyes and I can now see clearer - Lord, I see you in Richard and Jennifer's lives and the amazing way you are guiding them - Lord, you are truly building us all into new people - Lord, YOU and only you brought good.

So that's where I am at. That is my struggle. To ALWAYS see the Lord and His will. To ALWAYS love him first as he commands and then others (what else really matters?). To ALWAYS have an eternal perspective. It is hard, and sometimes frightening to think about, but the Lord comforts us with His scriptures:

"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished." - 1 Chronicles 28:2

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - John 14:2

"Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." - Revelation 2:1

My personal favorite: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better ...God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.

He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

PRAYERS NEEDED:

I would also like to take the time to mention that we got news from my bother and sister-in-law yesterday that their friends from their adult class at church, The Marlowe's, lost their 2 month old baby - Jacob - on Sunday morning in his sleep. I was honestly shocked to hear that this had happened again and to someone in their lives. Please keep this family in your prays to get through this time and to trust in the Lord. Due to the fact that baby Jacob was born pre-mature, they also have a lot of medical bills that they have recently been faced with, so please also pray for that. You can go to Richard and Jennifer's blog to read more: http://richandjenn.blogspot.com/ and also to the Marlowe Family blog to send them an encouraging message: http://marloweclan.blogspot.com/.

I would also like to ask that you would keep Richard and Jennifer in your prayers as I am sure this has opened back up many of the feelings they had to experience. I also ask for prayers that the Lord would use them to help the Marlowe's through this time b/c they are one of the only people who can truly say they know what they are going through. This is such a horrible thing and again something that we will never understand, but we do know that through prayer and through the Lord that this family too to get through this.

Beautiful Blue Eyes

It has been 10 days today since Lilly went to be with our Lord up in Heaven, and it has taken me this long to really put my thoughts together and write something. I still have so many thoughts to piece together, so many questions, so many happy memories that I just can't express, but I try to allow the Lord to guide me and comfort me. At first I was so angry with him; I just couldn't understand how this could happen to his faithful followers; I couldn't understand why this would happen to parents that loved their little girl more than words; I couldn't understand how such a precious, happy, healthy baby girl could just be taken away in seconds. But in all that the Lord understood, He cried (and still cries) with us, He mourns for this broken world and longs to save us from it, He gives us peace and comfort that only He can give, and He brings His people to us to show His love in the smallest ways. HE IS FAITHFUL, HE DID NOT DO THIS TO US, HE DID NOT TAKE LILLY AWAY FROM HER PARENTS, but HE WILL GET US THROUGH THIS.

Lilly was a precious daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend to us all. She was always so full of life. Sam and I loved her more than we ever thought was possible. Without having known the love of having our own children, she was the closest thing we knew to that deep love. She overtook me in away that I had never felt before. From the first time I saw her, I loved her and would have done anything for her. I longed to see her all the time and cherished each moment that I got to spend with her - holding her, watching her, loving her. And although we are sad and morn her loss , we know that she is being taken care of by our Heavenly Father. I can now look back and remember those happy times with her and be comforted.

We will cherish each memory we have of our precious Lilly with us every day. Right now I still feel so sadden in my thoughts of her, but just thinking of the way she would smile at me brings such Joy. The Lord's hands are in this and with us all and it is so evident, but I ask that you would each continue to fervently pray for Lilly's parents, Richard and Jennifer, whom we love so much; Lilly's loving grandparents, Mike and Carol & Alan and Kathy; and for all the rest of the family as we go about each day. Pray for healing of our hearts, pray for peace, pray for joy, pray for understanding that only the Lord can give.

I also want to thank each person that has reached out to Richard and Jennifer and the rest of the family. The Lord has truly used you to bring comfort to us all. Whether it was through food, cards, text messages, blog messages, phone calls, emails, flowers, or just a tender hug your love for us was felt. It brings me to tears to see how much love is out there. We live in an evil and fallen world, but the Lord has shown us through each of you that there is still love and hope.

I feel my words are still so jumbled and that I haven't said half of what I wanted to say or in the way that I hoped it would come out, I hope you can feel and know my heart. The Lord is teaching me things through all of this each day, and I am just trying to be a faithful follower and lean on Him. If you get nothing else out of this, I ask that you would concentrate on the paragraph of praying b/c we need others to intercede for us in prayer to the Lord at this time.

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the borkenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delievers him from them all." Psalm 34:17-19

Last I am happy to say that today is also a very special day - Sam's birthday! Although it is kinda hard and bitter sweet to celebrate in the season that we are going through, this is still such a special day! I love you so very much and I pray that the Lord bless you today on your Birthday!

Facets of God

Another one of my greatest passions is reading. I am constantly reading...usually its more than one, even two, books at a time, but I love to read. I haven't really shared much on here what I am reading or things that I learn from my reading, but as I was reading "The Life You've Always Wanted" by John Ortberg today at lunch I read this quote from C.S. Lewis and just had to share it:

"Each person is created to see a different facet of God's beauty - something no one else can see in quite the same way - and then to bless all worshipers through all eternity with an aspect of God they could not otherwise see."

Wow, that is beautifully put! God speaks, touches, loves each of us in a different way and He calls us to share that with others. Seems like a pretty daunting task, but how amazing that He entrusts us with that.

Anyways, just a little food for thought that I thought I would share!

Side note: I highly enjoy John Ortberg's books - life changing. This one we are actually reading together with our young married couple’s class at church, but I have read some of his other books and was greatly impacted.

Enjoy!