Sanctus Real - Lead Me

I love this song. Heck I just love this band. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Shop with a purpose

Its that time again....when we run around from store to store shopping for everyone on our list. If you are like me you end up WAY over spending in your pursuit of that "perfect gift." Well this Christmas I challenge you to cut down on that spending...or at the very least shop with a purpose. Below are some of my favorite ways to shop with a purpose. I hope you will check out each of them and buy from them instead this holiday season.

The first store I'm going to lead you to is Mi Esperanza. It is a store that I personally shop at multiple times a year. "Mi Esperanza means “My Hope” and began in 2002 with a vision to provide assistance for women in the villages surrounding Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Providing micro-business loans and skills training to women living in extreme poverty does this. Many of the women are single mothers who are supporting their families without any type of assistance or opportunity to change their life circumstances. Their lives are about survival and trying to meet the most basic of needs of life; food, clean water, education, healthcare and shelter. Through Mi Esperanza, women are finding a new sense of hope, self-empowerment and stability. Mi Esperanza brings HOPE to women, young and old, by giving them educational and financial tools that enable them to change their lives and the future of their children." You will LOVE anything you buy from Mi Esperanza and the money you spend will go a long way to help this ministry continue doing the wonderful things they do.

The next "store" I want you to look at is called Water4Christmas. This site is full of an assortment of goodies that you will love. All proceeds go directly to building fresh water wells in Liberia, West Africa. Last year this organization raised enough money to build two wells in Liberia, Africa simply through the goods sold on their site. Help us in beating that goal this year. I was a personal fan of their notecards and journals. There are people all over the world literally dying of thirst....all while we have the convenience of turning on a faucet and getting running water. So this Christmas please join me in shopping so that others can have water. Go check it out!

Please, please, please join me in shopping at these stores or other stores like it this year. It will make your shopping seem so much more purposeful and justified! :)

Happy Sunday

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me

will never walk in darkness, but will

have the light of life.”

- John 8:12

Friends

For the past 6 or 7 years much of what I've done in life has revolved around our little group of friends. Kris, Coz, Michael, Addy, Colby, and I have spent many nights watching movies, going out to eat, having camp outs, going fishing, going mudding, or just hanging out together at one of our houses. I have more memories with these 5 people than I can count. I'm so blessed by each of their friendship. This past summer Michael added to our group by marrying Nikki. Their John Deer themed wedding was the perfect reflection of them. The wedding was outside in the middle of an open field. The entire day was an amazing testimony to their love for God and their love for each other. It all still seems a bit surreal to me when we go out and there are 7 of us instead of our usual 6. We've spent so many years just being the 6 of us that it is going to take some time to get used to. However, I couldn't be happier for Michael and Nikki.

The Story of Jonah as Told by The Cutest Little Girl

My friend Anna sent me the link to this video yesterday and I just fell in love with it. This little girl is adorable and hilarious! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Lion King

Last night, Jessie (the lady we live with) took us out for a Christmas surprise. We got all dressed up and ate dinner at a really fun little restaurant called Crackers. They actually bring you a little fire pit to your table so you can make smores! After dinner we went to see the Lion King on broadway. The show was amazing! I've seen the movie the Lion King a hundred times and yet I sat captivated the entire show. I could easily get into going to the broadway more often! :)

L

Cold Tangerines

Colby recently gave me the book Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist to read. She had just finished it and couldn't quit raving about it. Well if you know anything about me you know that I love to read. I generally have at least 2 books going at any given time and about 100 more on my shelf that I've bought to read "next." So when Colby handed me this pretty orange book and recommended I read it I could have quite honestly told her I'd get to it after the other 99 that I still had to read. However, for whatever reason I grabbed it and threw it in my bag before leaving for Thanksgiving. I spent almost every night curled up in my bed pouring over the pages of this book. The author, Shauna, is more raw and open than any other author I think I've ever read. She writes about her deepest and darkest moments of life. She gives detailed descriptions of her failures and short comings. And she allows you, the reader, to truly just be honest with who you are because she is being so honest too. It really is quite remarkable. I find myself wanting to sit down with her at a coffee shop somewhere. I can imagine sitting across from her at a table in Starbucks and just chatting like we are old friends....because after reading her book I feel like I know her and I feel like I owe her the same level of honesty she has offered to me. The following quote is from one of my favorite chapters of her book...

"Secrectly, I do absolutely lean on my own understanding. I do it so that I don't feel so out of control and blind to the world, so that I can have a plan and manage my life and not feel like something's coming around the corner that I can't predict and don't have insurance for. I believe in my own ability to figure out my life, and top-secretly I don't want it to be all misty and mysterious. I don't want to say that the future is in God's hands and could go any way He chooses. That sounds terrifying to me. I want guarantees. I want the future in my hands. I want to know what's coming, know what to expect, put away money for it, buy insurance for it, and receive an e mail confirmation."

And here I thought I was the only Christian who felt this way. How often do we each rely on our own understanding? I know I do on a daily basis. God is constantly tapping me on the shoulder saying "remember me? Yea I'm the one who spoke you into existence and if it's all the same to you I'll take over now." So why is it easy for me to speak the words but so much harder for me to convince my head/heart to believe them? I know that life is better when I hand the reins over to God but yet the mere thought of that causes me anxiety. BUT I'm committing to being better at that. Committing to let God lead...even if it means walking blindly through this phase of life.

Oh and if I didn't mention it I really LOVE the book Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist and I think you all should go out and get a copy of her book. I'd loan you mine but I have written all throughout it.....its THAT good! :)