My New Guy

Bryan and I did go out on Friday, but my focus was mainly on this guy, Steven! He is so cute!!! We ended up meeting his family at Buffalo Wild Wings in Moore, ate some great boneless wings, and we all went back to our house to visit and play. My "date" and I shared cheesecake with raspberry sauce. :-) The Whitmores are new to our Sunday School class and we are really enjoying getting to know them. Their children are very polite and adorable!!!

Bryan and I had 1 million errands to run on Saturday. We saved our date night for Saturday. We went out yet again (can you say "exceeded the eating out budget for February") and then saw this movie recommended by another friend. It was action packed and made me very anxious. I turned my head on part of it and even cried at the beginning and the end!!!

We had our first Sunday with our Sunday School class meeting at 8:30 and then Worship at 9:45. We were home by 11:30!! It was strange, but nice to be home and have a nap time and extended Sunday afternoon!!!

I hope you had a great weekend!

I Love Take Out

Thanks to this place......

Bryan and I had.....

for dinner!!

It was $6.99 enchilada night and free queso. Bryan has taken two days off work to work on his project for his Masters. It was nice to have him home in the evening but I also wanted to be quick to eat so he could get back at it.

I spent the evening cleaning the house and doing laundry. I love to have the house cleaned by the end of Thursday night so it is clean for the weekend and I can just veg out. I don't like to spend my weekend cleaning.

Then I read for one more hour at the church. I did it all by myself this time. It was fun! I read Micah 4 - Zechariah 9. Read it sometime! There are some great verses in these books!!!

I've been promised a date tonight!! Yippee!!! I can't wait!!

A Sunday for the History Books

This past Sunday was a remarkable day for our church, Emmaus Baptist Church.

We opened and dedicated the new Worship Center!

(This picture was taken last night. I missed getting the stained-glass window that is just through the triangle. It is so pretty).

I'm not even sure why I'm trying to blog about it because there are so many things to say and some of it is just indescribable to me.

I was proud of our church and the leadership within our church. On Saturday evening we had a one hour prayer service. The purpose: to cover the church in prayer, to dedicate the building to God, to pray for the services on Sunday, and to make sure we realize God's church is not contained just in this building. We don't want our focus to be a pretty new building. The focus must be on worshiping, serving, and honoring God. We want our foundation for this new building to be GOD and PRAYER and HIS WORD.

This is our pastor (on the far right) and his wife (on the far left) along with the pastor & his wife from a church in Malta.

Bryan and I before service started Sunday.

I promise he isn't mad. He is really trying to keep his eyes open. We had already taken a picture that had to be deleted because his eyes were closed!! :) Bryan had told me my top looked like the top half of a dress from the 1800s!!! But then he told me he himself had no sense of fashion!!!

Bryan with our very good friend, Joe Don.

We love this family! They are such genuine people. Joe Don's little boy Jackson says I'm his girl and Bryan is his guy!

Bryan served on the building committee that worked with the architects, engineers, and general contractor. They spent several hours and several meetings throughout the past year planning and discussing the Worship Center. At the end of the service, the pastor on behalf of the church gave each one of the committee members a plaque. It was very meaningful to me to have Bryan serve in this capacity because my Poppy (who is in heaven now) helped to build the first church he and my Granny served in for many years! Poppy actually poured concrete and laid bricks! Bryan didn't do that!! :)

Can you spot Bryan? He's the handsome man in the suit!!!

This video is somewhat out of focus but I wanted to play it for you. I thought this was such an appropriate song to open the new Worship Center with. The words were so fitting. I hope you can understand them. Plus, it gives you a quick look at our fantastic choir and half of our sanctuary. The choir was singing as people were walking in and talking; thus the background noise.

This was the first Sunday in several years our entire church was together in one preaching service and it was wonderful!!

Our church is also reading the Bible out loud cover to cover. Each person/couple signs up for one hour increments, signs where they stopped, and then the Bible is going into our time capsule to be opened in 50 years! I loved this idea. It demonstrates our foundation is God and His word and it shows the importance and value of God's word in our church and our lives. On Tuesday Bryan and I read the last chapters of Ezra and then all of Nehemiah. I tried so hard to get to Esther since I am doing the study but it just didn't happened. I did think it was great we read Nehemiah since Bryan is an engineer and we read on the rebuilding of the wall. We also read where they had the dedication service and revival. This was so appropriate for our church today!! I'm reading again tonight and cannot wait to see where I read. I hope it is the New Testament!!

I'm so sorry I haven't got to your blogs this week! I am going to really try to catch up over the next few days. Please don't give up on me!!

Valentines Weekend 2009

Had I not looked on the calendar, watched TV, or had Bryan not made me a Valentines card, I'm not sure I would have even realized it was Valentines Day. We were so busy this weekend and literally had one commitment right after another.

We discovered on Thursday night our beagle, Lilly Belle, had tried to dig under the fence and get out. In the process she had a pretty ugly cut on her side. Originally we didn't think it was that deep and it looked like it was healing. However, when we looked closer on Friday night, it looked worse. We felt awful! We are terrible doggy parents! I promise we won't be this way with our own children. We debated taking her to an emergency clinic on Friday night but decided not to since we didn't know the vets that well. Instead, we got up early Saturday morning and went to our "family" vet.

Disclaimer to my appearance in these pictures: It was EARLY Saturday morning and I didn't want to get all prettied up and get dog all over me.

Lilly Belle & I at the Vet

It seemed to take a long time for the vet to come. Lilly was getting a little tired and anxious...."Is there anyone out there?" She was keeping watch!


The vet was able to put about 5 staples in Lilly's side but could not stitched up the rest due to the age of the cut!!!! We felt about an inch tall!!! She has an open wound now that has to heal on its own. We give her an antibiotic in the am and the pm. She is getting a lot of love! Bryan took some time out to play a game of cards with her!!


On Saturday morning, we also squeezed in attending Katie's last basketball game and visiting with my cousin in Kuwait over the web cam. Whitney invited us over to her house and we got to see and talk with him! Technology is great!!! In this picture you can just barely see Eric on Whitney's computer screen. Then we headed to Pauls Valley to pick up our beef from the meat processor. This was an experience Bryan and I will never forget. We are certified "Backwoods Hicks" now and I think we are proud of it!! Why? We asked for a tour!!! We were both so fascinated to see inside a meat processing place!!!

I have to tell you I did take a picture of the room where they "hang the meat to age" and I wanted so badly to post it on here but I didn't want to gross you out and I want you to still think I'm somewhat sophisticated!

I took this picture and Bryan told me I should call it "The Path of Death."

This is the shoot the bulls and cows walk down to get into the room where they are killed! The man even pulled up this huge knife thing to show us what they use to "bleed" them. I thought to myself..."This man could kill us, put us in the freezer, and no one would know!!!"

There were quite some funny aspects to our experience. The processor was located right next to a cemetery on Bethlehem Road!!! And I thought it odd our beef (at least we hope it is beef) came in boxes marked "shelled pecans."

Bryan and I talked like hicks all the way back to OKC!! We nearly ordered our drinks from Sonic talking with a huge accent, only because that's how the processors were talking!! Hilarious!! This whole experience gave us enough energy to make it through the rest of the day.

On Saturday night, we had a class V-day party at Brooklyn and Jorge's house. Each couple was asked to bring their wedding pictures. It was so fun to see every one's and look at the styles. Several of us had changed! Can you tell which one was ours? :)

We played the Married Game for our entertainment and Amy was the moderator since her husband, Todd, had to work. Isn't her daughter beautiful!!!!
We picked two of the most quiet ladies in our class! It was so much fun and we saw a whole different side of them. I'm a little worried they may try to pay Brooklyn and I back since we made up the questions and insisted they play along.

The Whitmores and The Smiths

They were all such good sports. Hilarious!! Do you remember the Newlywed game? Robert Smith did a great job acting like the contestants did.
It was a family Valentines Day party! Even the kidos had a great time!
There was a lot of love in the place!

Steven, Ava, and Jackson spending some time in the toy box!

I hope every one had a great weekend! And, I hope I do not loose some of you due to my new love of a meat processor place!! :)

Girls Night Out

This has nothing to do with Ladies' Night out, but I had to post this picture of Bryan and our nephew Jesse (although he is my cousin's son, I'm called Aunt Julie so we just in turn call him our nephew). Jesse, his sister, and his mom came over on Tuesday to eat taco salad and watch American Idol with us. Pryor to them coming over, Bryan had made the statement he hoped they didn't think he was too snobby because he had to spend some time in the office working on his project and wouldn't be out with us. HOWEVER, once Jesse arrived and Bryan had ate, Bryan held him the entire night!! I had to fight off some jealousy!! Bryan doesn't give up his time easily these days, even for me, but this little man is WRAPPED AROUND BRYAN'S FINGERS! Bryan loves this boy and his sister too. It is so neat to see and hear the love Bryan has for them.

Thursday was our first Ladies Night Out since December. We were really missing each other. Erin, once again, opened her home to all of us. It was a great night. We had baked potato soup, chicken soup, some marvelous queso, chocolate covered strawberries, and brownies. I'm sure I'm forgetting something!!
This is Brooklyn, Heather, and Vicki! I love these ladies! We were all in the same Sunday School class. Now, Vicki is attending a church closer to her home. We miss her!!
Our youngest member was sweet, little Avery. She is pictured in the photo above with her mommy Katie. I loved how Katie was caressing Avery's face!

We borrowed Erin's boys dry erase board and played a little pictionary! It was fun and we had a TON of laughs!

Erin drawing "bowling". We called this the aerial view!

Candi drawing "Napoleon Dynamite"
Have a wonderful weekend! Bryan and I have a full one ahead of us!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Saturday & Sunday

I got to spend the entire day Saturday, every minute of it, with my husband!!!! I was so excited. He has been so busy with school so I do not see much of him and even though he is at home, he is in the "office cave" and I try not to distract him. It was a great day!!!

We woke up and met some friends at the gun range. I shot my 22 and I have to say, I think I did well. I managed to at least stay on the target.

We ended up seeing 3 other men from our church! Then, we ate lunch at Red Robin, got sick over the price for one hamburger, and once again saw another family from our church.


In the afternoon, we went to the YMCA to watch Katie's basketball game.


Katie is a great basketball player for her age. Bryan and I both feel she will be a great defensive player. She did a great job keeping her hands up and staying with her girl.


At the Y we saw 2 men from church; one whom we saw at the gun range. And we also saw several of our youth from church who were there on a scavenger hunt. It just seemed like everywhere we went Saturday we saw people from church.

On Saturday night my parents invited us over for dinner and Bryan installed/connected their ice maker. It was a great meal and we enjoyed spending some quality time with my parents. We got home at a decent hour and laid around.

I was just really blessed to have this kind of Saturday. I was really missing my husband and I'm very thankful for the day I had with him.

Bryan and I had Extended Session (nursery) at Church this Sunday. We only had 5 in our class. At one point, I looked over and Bryan had allowed the girls to climb into the toy box!!We had 4 girls (one set of twins, Thank goodness for name labels!!) and 1 boy. I have to say I was lovin' the little boy. His curly hair just melted my heart and he was just so sweet!! We wore these kidos out! I'm curious how many fell asleep on the way home. I taught them to race; which may not have been the safest activity. But they loved it and were actually counting off.

The weekend is over and now the work week has started! Boo!!

Happenings

Some of this happened during the brief hiatus but I wanted to share it anyway.

January 2009 Ice Storm

I took this from inside my car. Don't be alarmed. I had stopped and wasn't driving! We had some ice and sleet; mainly sleet. It looks like snow, doesn't it. I really think it was the sleet that complicated the driving conditions because it became so packed down. I was chauffeur for Bryan Monday and Tuesday. I drove him to work and picked him up; all without an accident. My Honda Civic drives a lot better than his pickup. I felt like my car was the "the little black car that could." I'm so proud of her! I went to the office everyday during these conditions. Bryan stayed home only one day, the last day, because he was sick. We are proud we made it into work!







I registered for this event which is coming to Oklahoma City December 4th & 5th. Deeper Still: The Event with Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore. You should come and stay in OKC. It would make a great opportunity to meet some of you. Can you imagine the depth of teaching we would hear from these 3 women of God!!!! It is general admission (the ticket was $83) which makes me nervous. I don't do well with general admin as some of my friends can attest too. I like to have an assigned seat!! I will probably get to the event center 1.5-2 hours before the doors actually open. I did that a few years ago when Beth was in OKC and I was number 7 in line at 3:30 and the doors didn't open until 5:30 I think!!

Bryan has been working on his project to submit for his Master's Degree in Engineering from OU. On Wednesday (1/28) I peaked into the office to see this:

He had moved our big overstuffed chair we have in our office up to the desk (which was mine from high school) because our ancient office chair hurt his back. He had papers strung on the ottoman and on the metal office chair. His project involves rivers, flood waters, graphs, and crazy formulas that look like a foreign language to me. It is very time consuming for him. Since the weather was bad and he was feeling under the weather himself, he stayed home on Wednesday and worked the entire day on his project. He tells me he is making great progress but feels pretty much he will have no life the entire month of February. I have to keep myself entertained so I do not distract him. It is hard stuff for me!! :)



Our cat, Lucy, was assisting him with the harder stuff!! I didn't mention this to Bryan but I had just cleaned/picked up the office the day before. I'm afraid our office will look like this until May!!

I had my eyebrows waxed and I thought the lady was going to rub skin off my face!! I'm serious. I'm surprised my forehead wasn't red for days!! This isn't me in the picture. I never look this good when I go in. In fact, the lady even had the nerve to ask if I wanted my lip done!!! I wanted to say I know I may have a mustache but you my friend are not touching my lip. I probably wouldn't have been able to talk for weeks if she had!!!!

Bryan's mom came up to go with me to Tulsa and we took her to PF Chang's for her birthday since we neglected her in December!! I have begun calling Bryan the "One Eyed Bandit!!!" URRRRR!!!!Now we just have to catch my dad because we missed his birthday too in January. We are awful children!!!

This past Sunday (this was after the hiatus but I wanted to share anyway) we went to lunch with our Sunday School class. This is sweet Jake!! He is so cute! You can't see it well in this picture but his hair sticks up every which way. I love him!!

Today we celebrated my boss's 65th birthday at the office!!!

I bought John "1776" and a gift certificate to Denny's since he missed the free breakfast earlier this week.

I'm hoping Bryan comes out of the office this weekend for just a tiny bit!

Have a great weekend!

Revelation Song

Oh, if you so could have been in the church service with me yesterday!!! I know some of you have emailed me and said you were praying for me yesterday. Although it is an anniversary Bryan and I do not like to remember, God was so great to us Sunday in church and again on Sunday evening. I'm telling you, during the song service, I nearly jumped out of my pew! Which is quite unlike this Baptist girl!!!

Our praise team sang this song before the sermon. Take a moment to listen to it. I had not heard it before. It is called "Revelation Song" by Kari Jobe. Or, if I had heard it, unfortunately I had forgotten about it.



Isn't that a great worship song!!! Then, it was followed by our preacher taking his text from Colossians 1:15-22 and the title was "The Fullness of the Godhead."

Colossians 1:15-22 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
The Centrality of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation;
16 because by Him everything was created,
in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have first place in everything.
19 For God was pleased [to have] all His fullness dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself
by making peace through the blood of His cross —
whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And you were once alienated and hostile in mind because of your evil actions. 22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him

Bro. Mike said quite a few statements that stuck with me:

(1) In the world and even in our own church to some degree there is a virus of practicality. And this virus must be done away with. (I thought that was one of the most powerful statements he made.)

(2) The Supremacy of Jesus.....the focus is Himself not about us. It's His action. The fullness is IN Christ, not around or under Him, but IN Him.

(3) He also gave a great definition of reconcile. It is the restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement. And of course, our reconciliation comes to us through Christ's death on the cross.

THEN, we had the Lord's Supper and Bryan served in that. I loved seeing my handsome husband serving in such an important ordinance. My Poppy used to do it too while he was alive.
THEN, our Response hymn was "Have Thine Own Way" which is one of my favorites.
THEN, that evening I watched the Beth Moore video of our Esther Study. I'll wait and post more on that later.
THEN, my Monday night Bible study class is FINALLY meeting tonight to watch Session 1 of Esther because we canceled last week due to weather. Last night, I watched Session 2 so I'm a little ahead of the group I lead. I hope I do not get confused.

I'm telling you....I feel so full with God's presence right now. I'm so grateful He is filling me up!! I need HIM above all else!!