O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Mimi and Papa kept Walt while Noah and I enjoy a date night. He had a blast watching soccer games and eating ice cream! Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

I have never watched The Passion of the Christ , but within the first paragraph Nancy Guthrie has me convicted of my reasoning for not seeing it.  It is real.  The blood, suffering, and death of Christ are real from the past, and these things should not be ignored.  This movie definitely is not a requirement for heaven, but through discerning eyes, it can better our understanding. I must say this every chapter, but I am convicted.  I acknowledge what Christ has done for me by dying and God by giving up his son, but it is hard to think of the details of such a gruesome death.  My thinking is completely wrong because I stop on the death of it all.  Through this chapter I learned not to stop there, and I pray that God will continue to allow my life to reflect it.  By such a shameful death, I can find hope and guidance for my life.  A Christian hope describes a definite hope that we have.  It isn't a possibility as in "I hope you ...

The following people won a Tim Keller book!  Congratulations!  Be sure to email me within a week telling me where to mail it! julie.joyingod@gmail.com Sara Amy The Burgess Family Kathryn Andie Ruthie Nicole Sean

After reading Timothy Keller's last book, I sent an email to his ministry requesting some to give away to my readers! I am so excited that they arrived today! There are 8 books to be given away at random (using random.org) through the comments left below. You can have your name entered in three ways: Entry 1 - Have a confirmed subscription to the blog. Click HERE to subscribe, and be sure to confirm through the email that will be sent to you. Entry 2 - Post the link to this giveaway on your Facebook account (at the end of this post you will see a very little FB emblem that you click on to do this the easy way). Entry 3 - Put our button on your site or blog. ONCE YOU DO ANY (OR ALL!) OF THE ABOVE , PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW FOR EACH ONE SO I WILL KNOW HOW MANY TIMES TO ENTER YOU FOR THE DRAWING OF THE BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! Winners will be announced on Memorial Day!

This past Sunday, Noah, Walt, and I enjoyed a very relaxing day of being together after a stressful week of Noah finishing up classes. It was time very much needed, and words cannot express the enjoyment that I got from having my two favorite men together. You are not going to believe this...but.... I took a nap in the afternoon. It was an hour-long nap of me completely resting while Noah played with Walt. When I went downstairs, Noah was definitely tired out from keeping up with Walt, and that is the stage that he is in now. He is always on the move wanting to experience it all, and yet, I think that he obeys pretty well. He is definitely NOT perfect, but he is already learning what my eyebrow raise signifies before I open my mouth. And the words that he is saying! I forget how big he is growing! Before I realize it, he has learned another word, and it always surprises me! Today we were playing on the floor, and I pulled him over my back by his arms where he dangled with his ...

After hearing the song "Blessings", I was definitely interested in hearing the other songs that Laura Story had written for her new album. I have not been disappointed. She has not strayed from the worship music that she is known for, and so, this is not the type of music that will leave you unchanged (She wrote the song, "Indescribable", sung by Chris Tomlin.) . For me, all but one of the songs gave me a time to praise God while driving in the car. The track, "Prodigal Song", is a good song, but I don't consider it a typical worship song. Walt praised God on many of the songs by dancing in his car seat!

It is that time of year that things are just busy. In preparation of a semester's end, Noah has been extremely busy, so we are all exhausted and ready for rest. Last night, both Walt and I had a very low key evening while Noah helped with the senior banquet. I cooked a pizza in the oven, but I ended up burning my arm which caused me to drop the pizza all in the oven! I scraped it off to prevent further cooking, but no further clean up was done. It had just been a long day, so I sent a warning text to Noah about the huge mess, and that I would clean up in the morning. Walt and I were asleep before Noah came home, so it was morning when I opened the oven to show Noah the mess, it was no longer there. Noah said the oven fairy must have come. :) I definitely have the sweetest husband ever! I was able to bake some of my yummy muffins without the huge pizza smell. Then, Noah was off again to help with a the seniors again at their graduation. He should be completely finished ...

Tim Keller's book, King's Cross , takes us through the life of Jesus by the accounts written in the book of Mark. One of my favorite things about Tim Keller's style of writing is that he explains passages in a way that an ordinary person can understand, but at the same time I think he takes too many liberties with the Bible's wording. If you read the book knowing that they are Keller's words and not God's words in many cases, a lot can be gained by reading the book. It is divided into two parts with "The King" describing who Jesus is and "The Cross" explaining what he did and why he did it. "The gospel isn't advice: It's the good news that you don't need to earn your way to God; Jesus has already done it for you." (Keller, pg 20) At the end of each chapter when he was nailing his point, I truly became aware of my sinfulness. Yuck! I am not perfect nor is God asking me to be, but he is calling me to run to the one who is...

We ate lunch with Papa on his birthday, and afterwards they had a good, musical time together! Walt has grown up so fast! Now-a-days when we go to the grocery he gets to beep along in the car attached to the buggy! He definitely has a much more enjoyable experience shopping while he is in the car! Nothing says summer like a piece of Watermelon! Walt is enjoying getting to taste all sorts of new fruits during this season! You can see the mischief in his eyes! He has just crawled up to the big table. Noah and I knew at this point that it was definitely time for Walt to have his own little table. He tested it out with a box of raisins in hand.

2 Peter 1:3-5 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, Page one of this chapter was convicting because I began to think of how often I complain to God about what he has not given me or what he seems to have kept from me without considering the greatest gift that he has even bestowed upon us all, Jesus. Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Through Jesus' life and death we do not have to pay the death for all sins against God because Jesus has taken ou...

We had an amazing weekend full of fun! It began on Friday morning with breakfast with friends and Walt playing in the dirt, and then, after a good nap, we went to see Walt's cousin's end of the year musical. Walt acted at home in the school playing on the lighted floor. Walt is waiting for the performance to begin in his own chair. Emma is the first one you see, and as she walked out her name was called. As soon as Walt spotted her, he yelled her name out too. She blushed a bit because it embarrassed her. She does love her Walt though. As soon as Emma got to the stage, Walt attempted to wiggle down so that he could run to her. His Mimi was able to keep him content through the music until the end when he could finally see Emma face-to-face.

Walt is getting into full summer mode with a slip-n-slide! He had fun running in the sprinklers, and with the help of a friend he felt comfortable to play with the big kids.

Our sweet, little neighbor, Lilly, has been wanting us to have a cook-out again, and of course, so did we! Noah built a fire in our fire pit, filled the pools with water, and the fun began! All of the kids enjoyed roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and I definitely ate my share of smores! I have found berry and caramel marshmallows, which are extremely tasty with a piece of dark chocolate on it! If you can't build a fire, you can build the smore on a cookie sheet, and then, cook in them in the oven on broil for just a few seconds. It will be worth the few seconds to make!

Walt did an awesome job hunting Easter eggs this year! With a little help from his Mimi and Papa, Walt found many eggs! I love family pics!! Walt and his Mimi Sweet Cousins I am not sure but this could be considered cheating, but who is going to accuse Grandmom? Look at that egg!! Walt's basket was getting heavy, so I emptied it into a plastic bag. I think he had to check it out to make sure I wasn't stealing any! I will always love this sweet picture of Walt and his Papa. Sweating after a long day of egg hunting, Walt is all smiles.

This Mother's Day my men treated me sweetly. I woke up to blueberry pancakes, presents, and cards! My little man gave me chocolates and a singing balloon, which he carries around the house meanwhile dancing to the music. Then, my main man, Noah, gave the most amazing surprise EVER! A KINDLE!!! He had been saving up for about as long as I have wanted one, which is a long time! I love to read, so this gift was perfect for me! So the reason why I haven't written about this incredible day is because I have been playing with my new toy! Noah preached in another town, so he was gone during the day, and during that time Walt and I were able to celebrate my mom by going to church with her and having lunch. Then, Noah topped off the day with making me dinner and picking out a kindle case together!

The Rabbit Hole was recently released, and since that week I have considered reviewing it. This was something that I had to do alone. Before Noah left we went to the grocery store together, which was the first time in a VERY long time that we have been able to go together. One of our favorite things to do as newlyweds was to go grocery shopping together. While there shopping Noah was renting a movie on red box for me, and it was at that moment we decided that I would watch it tonight. I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that it wasn't focused in on the death of the child. I don't think my heart could have handled that tonight. The theme of the movie was that everyone deals with grief differently, and in The Rabbit Hole you see a few versions of what could happen. I didn't think that the movie was entertaining in a sense that it is a "must see" movie, but it was so well done that I would recommend it to everyone. Even if you are the closest friend of...

I enjoy so much the time that Noah and I get to have friends over for dinner, and tonight was one of those nights! We joined together people who met for the first time over a new (and delicious!) recipe! And because its that time of year... a strawberry pie for dessert! Noah doesn't like berries of any kind, so I always shy away from there, but since so many people were coming over I got to make a yummy strawberry pie! I love strawberries!! Here is the Tex-Mex recipe that I made: what you need 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast s, cut into 1-inch-wide strips (I used 1 and 1/2) 2 Tbsp. (1/2 of 1-1/4-oz. pkg.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix 2 Tbsp. flour 1 each green and red pepper , cut into 1-inch-wide strips 1 cup frozen corn I added a can of rinsed black beans and a can of diced tomatoes! 1-1/2 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa 1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese make it TOSS chicken with taco seasoning a...

Thank you so much to all of you who supported us in our walk to have more healthy babies! This is our 4th year to raise money for the March of Dimes, and we are so thankful to the many of you who have join us financially and those who have walked with us.