It's been such a long time...

It's been a while, but I haven't really had much to write about. All I've been doing is school. Really. But now I'm finished for a couple weeks, so maybe something exciting will happen:) Well, what do ya know...something exciting is happening! We're going to Birmingham!!! Yay Yay Yay! We're going for a whole week! It'll be so good to see friends and family. Well, I'll leave you with two things. A list from Desiring God that I would love to just hang up in my home because it is such a good reminder. And some pictures from our phones that is just a glimpse into our boring lives. hah! Enjoy!

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Jesus is not naive in how he deals with our anxiety. He knows what he is doing. It seems simple, but it's actually grace. So we should trust him, and believe it, and preach it to our souls. 

1. Life is more than food and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25).
2. God feeds the birds and you are more valuable than they are (Matthew 6:26).
3. It's pointless. It adds not one hour to your life (Matthew 6:27).
4. If God clothes ephemeral grass, he will clothe eternal you (Matthew 6:28-30).
5. Unbelievers are anxious about stuff. And you are not an unbelieve r(Matthew 6:32a).
6. Your father (!) knows that you need all these things you're anxious about (Matthew 6:32b).
7. When you seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, what you need is added to you.
8. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Tomorrow's trouble stays there (Matthew 6:34).

(Read the whole post here)

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This has been my life for the past...summer.

 Free Tea Day! I missed it, but Jared got some:)

 My sweet little C. She sure does keep me busy whenever I keep her, 

but she always manages to turn around and win my heart again!

This is our Friday night:) 

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, a glass of milk, and a movie:)

Soooo Good!

Have a good weekend!!

6 Months!

It's hard to believe it's already been 6 months! It has been the best 6 months too! I'm so thankful for Jared and the love he has for me, for people, and for his God. It has been so much fun learning to live together, and just getting to enjoy one another, whether we're taking a spontaneous trip to Atlanta, or sitting on the couch watching Lost episodes. I grow so much more in love with him every day. I am so looking forward to our life together, each day. 

Our 6 months was actually on July 1, so this is a little late but oh well. We were gifted a gift certificate to Natalia's, so we decided to use it to celebrate our 6 months of marriage:) It was fun! We dressed up and ate nice food; then we came home and put on our pajamas and sat on the couch! (I made him take pictures first though)

(our apartment has awful lighting, and I haven't figured it all out on this camera)

That's it! Have a good weekend! It's storming here all weekend. I guess we'll be trying to stay dry, and using our new rain jackets, finally!

Cupcakes...

Well, I deemed tonight's adventure to be blog-worthy. I've recently been on a new food/recipe kick. I find much happiness from making good food. So far, it has been fairly successful. UNTIL, tonight. Tonight, I took a stab at some baking. So far, in my married life, my baking successes have been slim, but I do like to bake. I saw these cupcakes at A Beautiful Mess (she has lots of pretty things to write about!). I thought they sounded yummy, but I'm not a huge raspberry person. So I decided to do strawberry instead. I had most of the ingredients minus this and that. So tonight, the adventure began(dun dun dun). And, surprisingly, it went well. Everything tasted good, and looked good up until I told Jared he could finally have one......no one told me I have to spray cupcake liners!!!!....they are all stuck:( So....These strawberry-creme filled cupcakes fall apart when you try to eat them. What a bummer! Oh well, at least I know they taste good. I don't really know what to do with them now. I can't really give them away...maybe some good friends will indulge in the delicious messiness. Oh well, one good thing is I got to use my cake decorator contraption:) It was fun. Well, here are the pretty, deceitful cupcakes.

This is them with the creme-filling, before the icing. 

 And, this is the finished product!

And, this is the best part.....

So sad, but yummy...

Sweet Fellowship with the Father

I have found that it takes a firm commitment to make daily devotions consistent. However, I have often felt guilty if this time isn't as long as I think it should be or if I don't cover all the disciplines I think are important. It has taken years for me to realize that God doesn't love me because I have a quiet time--He just loves me! This knowledge alone has increased my desire to be with Him.

How important it is to come to our quiet time, not with the fear that God will punish us if we miss, but eager to meet Him--to learn, to grow and to find sweet fellowship with a Father who loves us far more than we could ever imagine. 

-Sandy Smith from A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

(via The Macs)

Week at a Glance + Beach Time!

Well last week flew by! I wanted to get a post in with pictures this weekend but it didn't happen. School is starting to keep me a bit busy. The beach was so much fun! We met Jared's family down there and spent the weekend with them. It was short, but we had a wonderful time! Anyway, here are some pictures from last week along with our beach pictures. Some of them are from instagr.am.

Slip n' Slide!!! So much fun:)

 We went on our walk, and it proceeded to rain on our way back...

 I made these delicious cookies...Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies!! Yes:)  I will definitely be making these again.

And now for some beach pictures...

On our 6 hour drive to Destin...we woke up REALLY early....

Our awesome broken tv in our hotel room...wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't taken 30 min to not be able to find our reservation. Oh the joys of traveling...

 They played in the waves the whole time...

(Nathan-Jared's brother, Jared, Don-Jared's dad, and Caleb-Jared's brother)

Jared's parents. I think this is such a great picture!

Well, that's it! I'm still trying to get into the habit of taking more pictures. It's taking time. I may or may not be back this week... I've got a few tests coming up!!

Fun things:)

Well, this has ended up being a decently busy week. Two tests, and I have a paper due next Monday...PLUS we're going to the beach!!! I'm so excited, even though it is only for like a day. I'll take it though. Well, here are some fun things I've come across recently...

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I think these backpacks are perfect. I wish I had a reason to get one:)

I love this website. I got my last purse here, and I think it's about that time again. I want this one!

Oh if only Anthropologie wasn't so pretty. This dress makes me smile.

I want to make this.

Aren't these so fun!

(www.cutestfood.com)

This store has the best prints. I want this one.

I like these.

I want to make this.

 (diyideas.com)

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Well, we're making the big trip to the beach here soon! I can't wait!!

Thoughts...

I had a whole other post picked out to write for today until I read this. It really hit home so I decided to share. This an aspect of saving grace that I don't think about so often. I think this affected me especially because of what I love to do. I love to think, and discover, and create. So often, I forget that it is my Savior who makes all of that possible. 

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(via Desiring God blog)


Jesus, Help Us Think
Throughout the history of ideas there have been sprouts of thought that claim the mind to have a naturally transcendent capacity, dwarfing the commonality of our other faculties, never leading us astray.

This is not so, though its persuasion is terribly subtle. Thinking can be easy and regular such that we often drift from one project to the next, presuming we'll gather all the data and start down the right path every time.

We think a lot, but we don't always think rightly. The effects of sin taint our ability to reason as much as our ability to choose — yes, we are that broken.

John Webster writes,

Like all other aspects of human life, reason is a field of God's sanctifying work. Reason, too — along with conscience, the will and the affections — must be reconciled to the holy God if it is to do its work well (Holiness, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], 10).

We're going to think today and unless we remember that our thinking is fallen we're going to operate in some mode that functions as if it doesn't really need the blood and victory of Jesus, naively entrenching ourselves in the mire of self-sufficiency.

So let us pause for a moment — stop and think — and let us be overwhelmed that our thinking has never produced one good thing in and of ourselves. . . . (see, even that thought about our thinking is not from us). "What have we thought right that we have not received? If then we received it, how can we boast as if we did not receive it and go on thinking like we're not desperate for grace?"

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I have to  remember that every good thought or idea is not because of anything I do, it is only possible through Jesus Christ.