Weddings and Fall

Since the last post, life has been crazy busy. School, more weddings, church stuff, etc. Robert, one of Eric's best friend,  got married last weekend in Richmond. It was such a fun weekend, all of our greatest friends in one place!



Four of my great friends (LtoR: Anna, Becca, Ashley, Caroline) with Robert and his new bride, Jessica.

I had the blessing of singing in the wedding and Eric was a groomsman. Half of Eric's groomsman were also a part of Roberts wedding as well! There are four guys who are some of Eric's (and now my) greatest friends and have all been in each other's weddings (for those who are married): Todd, Austin, Robert, and Luke...

At Luke and Caroline's rehearsal dinner: Eric, Robert, Todd, Austin

Our great friends! LtoR: Ashley, Austin, Anna, Becca, Me, Eric, Robert, Todd

Eric and Austin

Austin, Luke, Robert, Steven, Eric

Robert, Eric, Todd, Austin

Anyways, you get the point. I am so thankful for these guy's who have been in Eric's life since high school or early college years. We both love y'all so much! Can't wait for more weddings to come :)


So now about the weather. Can I just say that this cooler weather is putting me in a great mood. I love the seasons, and everytime summer turns to fall, fall to winter, winter to spring, and spring to summer, I ALWAYS get so excited. I love what the new season brings. Just as I get tired of one season, the next one starts. There is nothing quite as good as fall fashion. And I'm not just saying that because it's the season we are entering. I believe that during the winter and summer. This is why.

I love SKINNY JEANS and BOOTS.
I love JEANS always (I have a jean fedish) 
I love SCARVES
I love CARDIGANS
I love my PATAGONIA
I love PUMPKIN SPICE CANDLES
I love BAKING in the fall
I love FOOTBALL SEASON
I love LAYERS
I love THANKSGIVING
I love RUNNING in cooler weather
I love PRETTY LEAVES

I know, I know, a little carried away right? I mean it is only September!

Anyways, it has been awhile since the last post. So a little update on life is necessary.

School has got me super busy and super behind on laundry and cleaning. My running has been behind, with the last two weeks only running 3 times a week! OOPS! I did a little better this week. Brittany and I ran 4 on Tuesday, then I ran 5 on Thursday and 4 on Friday. This sunday is suppose to be an 8 miler.

I have been focusing on my pace with the shorter runs. I just got new running shoes and it makes a WORLD of difference! Everytime I get new shoes, my feet go numb for the first few runs...not good?? The 5 miler on Thursday was SLOW and NUMB. My feet were so numb I thought they were going to have to be amputated....a normal person probably would've have stopped. It probably would've been the smarter thing to do. But I painfully and stubbornly kept going, even if that meant never running again. Okay, a little dramatic. But seriously, that run beasted me.

The Friday run was MUCH better and I ran my best time, which increased by 3 minutes from my previous PR (from this round of training)! Great runs make me really excited to go to Savannah for the half marathon. It makes it even better that I get to go with three great friends, Marie, Jen and Brittany! Running and road trips are so much better with people you love. I'm sad Eric can't go...but neither can Ben, so it looks like me and Brit are sticking together!

Wish me luck for that 8 miler tomorrow!

Zealous for Good

Sorry for my lack of posts lately...I went to the beach with my family and now I have started back school! Anyways, as I have been thinking about starting a new school year the Lord has definitely reminded me of a few things. Last night, while laying in bed, I pulled out my handy dandy iphone and clicked on the Bible App (Oh technology!). I guess the last time I used the Bible App (which isn't very often, I like to actually hold the real thing), it opened to 1 Peter 3.

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts

honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense

to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with

gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered

those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it

is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

(1 Peter 3: 13-17)

After reading this, it left me asking myself a few questions:

-Am I zealous for what is good? Really, am I? The dictionary defines zealous as devoted (it has been tranlated from Greek). Am I devoted for what is good? Do my motives promote good and the wellbeing of others? The Gospel is good, am I zealous for the Gospel to known?

-Do I know what I would say if someone asked me the reason for my hope? Do I live my life as if I have hope? If not, why would anyone even ask me about something that they haven't seen? The Gospel demands a response in our hearts, we are either living in joy of knowing the Gospel, or we have forgotten the Gospel. Knowing Christ can only produce hope and joy, so if we are not living in a way that would draw someone to ask us about why we hope, then we have forgotten Jesus- the very essence of our Joy.

Although there is so much to unfold in this particular scripture, Christ put these few questions on my heart. Especially as the new school year begins, I become weary, exhausted, and almost lazy in my pursuit of Jesus. When I become lazy in my pursuit, I forget why I hope. My prayer is that we cannot make it through the day without remembering the Gospel.

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

Last night, I discovered a Paula Deen recipe that is really, really, really good. Click here if you want the recipe from Paula, but I will also show you the recipe...it is EASY!!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons butter
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into wedges

-2 teaspoons salt

-2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Preheat: 400

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Directions:

1. Cut potato lengthwise into wedges

2. Over medium high heat, melt butter. Remove pot from heat, stir in cinnamon.

 

 

3. Add the potato wedges to the butter and cinnamon and toss to combine. You can do this however you like, but I just put a few wedges in at a time. You can you a larger saucepan and mix all together.

 



4. Spread wedges evenly onto a cookie sheet. *Optional (I did this)- Drizzle leftover butter/cinnamon mix over the cookie sheet of wedges. Then, season with salt and pepper.

 

5. You are ready to pop this goodness into the oven! Simple and easy.

 

I baked Ranch Style Chicken from Pioneer Woman to go with it. This chicken is delicious, I mean it has bacon AND cheese on it. Click here for the recipe. I know, I know. Not the most healthy meal, but it was quite tasty. Don't worry though, we had broccoli too.

The Discipline of Difficulty

"An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different. 'He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High...the evil befall thee' -no plague can come nigh the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, there certainly will be troubles to meet, but Jesus says do not be surprised when they come. 'In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, there is nothing for you to fear." Men who before they were saved would scorn to talk about troubles, often become 'fushionless' after being born again because they have a wrong idea of a Christian.

God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and tak the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment. If you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but spend yourself spiritually, and you get more strength. God never gives strength for tomorrow, or the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. The temptation is to face difficulties from a common-sense standpoint. The Christian is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God."

-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

This morning, I read the above excerpt and was very encouraged. Why is it we, as Believers, become anxious about cirumstances (some that haven't even occurred!), choose not to spend time reading Scripture, or choose to believe life should be easier? Has Christ not overcome the world? Has he not given us the Spirit of Truth, which glorifies Christ and delcares to us what is His? If we, as Believers, have been given everything that Christ is, through the Spirit of Truth, this should completely and wholly fill the very depths of our souls, leaving us longing for nothing more than Him.

I mean, think about it. What does Christ have? Righteousness-there is no need for us to bury ourselves in guilt. Love- we need to no longer live controlled by our bitterness, jealousy, or hatred. Peace- no more anxiety because His peace can live within us. Faithfulness- He will never leave us and pursues us always. Hope- we can rejoice that our hope is in a perfect person rather than imperfect relationships. Consistency- we live in a place filled with inconsistent relationships, jobs, futures, but we can trust that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Relationship with God- we no longer are lonely and can have a full relationship with God.

Christ has all this and more. If we are living in truth, then we have a fulfilled life that cleanses us from the despairs of a world ruled by darkness. The first part of John 16:13 says, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth..." We live by two ways: truth or lies. We either act upon the Truth that has been given to us by God, Himself, or we act upon lies that we have mistaken as truth. It is so easy to believe lies about ourselves, other people, and even about God- We have got to be able to decipher a lie from truth, and the only way to do so is by knowing God- because God is Truth.

How does someone learn to see the difference between counterfeit money and the real thing? Does he study counterfeit money and compare it to the real thing? No. He only studies the real thing. He learns how it looks and feels. He memorizes it, that way, when he comes across conterfeit, he can easily spot the deceit.In order to learn the difference between truth and lies, we have to study truth. We need to know truth, so we can recognize deceit.

We aren't promised a perfect world, a perfect life, perfect relationships, or a perfect job...otherwise Jesus wouldn't have needed to come. As believers we aren't immune from trials, but by God's perfect grace, He has given us everything we need to make it in this world. "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).

Crazy Busy

The last month has been crazy, so I put blogging on hold for a little while. I think this is the first whole week I have actually been home...and without Eric. Sad. Eric took the 11th graders from church to a Mission project in Charlotte for the week. Don't worry, I haven't been lonely at all, I have kept myself busy. BUT let me start at the beginning and tell you where we have been and what our lives have been up to (Go ahead and buckle up, this is going to be a long ride)

The month started with a quick trip to Wrightsville beach to hang out with this girl.

Emily is awesome. We laid out for a few hours and talked, then I headed a couple of miles down the road to spend time with one of my best friends, Ashley, and her family.

While I was down, Ashley rented a paddle board. One word. OBSESSED. I love it. I definitely want to do it again. I was so peaceful and relaxing, just me and the water.

I spent the night with her, then headed back to Raleigh. As deceiving as it sounds, I'm not out of a suitcase yet. I unpacked beach stuff, to pack up wedding stuff. The next day, I headed to greensboro to be in my friend, Rachel's wedding. We all hung out with her on Thursday night- dinner and movie at her house.

On Friday, we had the bridesmaid luncheon, let me just pause for a second and  say, the luncheon was at a family friend of Rachel's, and I felt as though I was at an Anthropologie photo shoot. It was not only beautiful, but very vintage and classic. YUM.

The wedding on Saturday was FUN. Rachel and Chad are both such fun people, so I knew this wedding was going to be a blast. Rachel looked stunning, like a queen. The dresses were two different styles of green, all of the colors looked great together.

And presenting, Chad and Rachel Lynam...

So the wedding was a BLAST...complete with a flash mob by yours truly (and of course 25+ people, including my hubs)

We went back to Raleigh on Sunday and celebrated our 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY on Monday (July 11). I can't believe it has been 2 years! Eric surprised me with dinner at the Angus Barn.

He insisted on blindfolding me so I wouldn't figure out the surprise...

We had so much food and so much fun!

A couple of days later, we once again headed out to the beach for family vaca with the Hovis'. Prince William let us borrow his and Kate's luxury condo on beaches of SC. Okay, so I'm kidding, but I might as well be serious...because it was NICE. So nice in fact, I couldn't take pictures. It would have broken the lense. Sorry.

We got back to Raleigh on Saturday, and I left again on Monday, to go to the beach to help out my favorite family, the HAGES. If you were at our wedding, you may remember the Hages by our blonde, curly headed flower girl.

Of course, she is a big girl now...almost 6!

Got home on Thursday and left Friday for another wedding of a great friend. I had double duty in her wedding, bridesmaid/singer. It was a BLAST. Katie looked so beautiful, and Haskell looked great too. A groomsman, brother of Haskell, even passed out during the vows. I mean he fell with a THUD.  It caught everyone by surprise...but not the ER doctor Groomsman who fled to his side, took his pulse, yet stopped short of mouth to mouth as he came to. He sat down for the rest of the ceremony while chugging his water. Whew, that was a close one.

Me with the Bride pre-ceremony

Still there?? Good! Because I'm pretty much finished. The wedding was this past weekend and now I am finally home...for the next two weeks! This week, Eric isn't here, but I have been finding things to do, mostly which I realized have consisted of this girl.

Thank you Brittany for keeping me company with runs, dinners, movies, talks, and coffee shops.

That's all for now folks, hope you made it!

Blessings

We left Monday for Impact bright and early. Abby, Tucker, and Trevor spent the night with Eric and I, and we all woke up at 4:30am Monday morning to head to Providence. We returned Saturday afternoon from Impact very, VERY tired. We had so much fun and the Lord did great things. The theme was Coram Deo, meaning, In the Presence of God. We talked about everything from resisting temptation, surrendering to Christ, and the dangers of hypocrisy. I completely forgot to take my camera, which is so like me. So you will not get to see any pictures...sorry 'bout that. The Lord did big things this week and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to go, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am, however, definitely glad to be back. Here are some things that I missed while we were gone:

Showering barefoot. Of course camp bathrooms nasty. It is nice to come to home home and shower without putting on shoes, afterall, showers are to get you clean right?

No fear of roaches. I don't know how many cockroaches were killed in our cabin. Praise the Lord Eric and I have never had to share a house with roaches. I don't think I have ever seen one in our house...yet.

Sharing a bed. I'm happy to have my sleeping partner back :)

Shampoo in the shower. I like having my shampoo and soap already waiting for me in the shower, ya know, instead of taking it with you when you want to shower. At home, it's already there.

Good coffee. No explanation needed

Clean feet. I am a snob when it comes to cleaniness in my bedsheets. I don't like having dirty feet at bedtime, but when you are at camp, it is pretty much inevitable.

Although I am glad to be back in my own bed, what is camp without all of these things? A resort, not camp. Here are many things that I will miss from camp:

The dump. No I don't not mean going #2. The band leader, Chris White, led us in a little chant called "the dump." It. was. awesome. I'm thinking about introducing it to my high school students...not sure how that will go.

Hands lifted high. It was an absolute joy to see hundreds of middle school and high school students lifting their hands, praising the Lord. If all I got to see at camp was this, it was well worth it.

Relationships. I LOVED getting to build relationships with the students at camp. Eric and I had such a sweet family group of rising 11th graders, and I grew to love them so much! I also loved spending time with the rising 12th graders that Eric and I currently teach in Sunday School.

Of course there are so many more things that I loved about camp, I could spend all day talking/typing it all. I am so blessed that I got to go.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Psalm 67:1-3

Impact

Eric and I leave on Monday for Impact. Impact is the summer camp our church puts on for the middle and high schoolers at Camp Bob Cooper. For many campers, this is the highlight of their summer, and Eric and I are counselors this year.

Please, please be praying all next week for a few things:

• The hearts of the campers to be sensitive to God's truths
• For lives to be changed and for hearts to be turned to Jesus
• Opportunities for counselors and campers to have "heart" conversations
• The speaker, Troy Temple
• No injuries!
• The seminar leaders
• God would grant wisdom to the seminar leaders, counselors, and speaker to know how to answer certain questions and handle certain situations

Thanks for praying!