Coffee Master

this is a late but very necessary congratulations to my brother David for becoming a Coffee Master at Starbucks.

For those who are unaware of this prestigious position, only those with enough hours of training and specific knowledge of coffee are given this title. And the black apron signifies his power. Congrats! All you fort collinsians can get your coffee from Mr. Teten at the college and laurel bucks.

(He is holding Casi Cielo, this yum coffee bean from Guatemala is his coffee of choice, we recently got it and it is delicious.)

Love you Starbucks, but not as much as we love David (and wifey Pamela)

my valentine

John truly made me feel like a natural woman this valentines day. I woke up on thursday to a tray being served to my nightstand with blueberry pancakes with freshly ground strawberry preserves. There was a plate full of fresh strawberries, blueberries, bananas and pineapple. And of course a full cup of coffee. What a wonderful beginning to a day with my honey.
I hope all of you married, dating or single friends and fam had a day filled with love. Sometimes Valentines day can be either sad or dissapointing because of all the hype. But for all of God's children, we have the Ultimate Valentine who pursues us daily with his unfailing love. No need to be dissapointed, because He does not dissapoint. You are deeply loved.

Spring Conference

We are back and slightly rested from our busy but fun weekend. Everything went so so well. We brought 28 students to our gathering. And everything from the speaker to the discussions to the free time was sweet. Each night ended around 2am and we started early at 7 in the morning. So we still feel like there is a day of napping to do.
this is the first night. John and I are on stage holding up flags from each campus to get everyone excited and obnoxious. In Florida there is no shortage of school spirit so our job was easy.

we also had 80s night. SO FUN. Here we are listing the top 5 you know you grew up in the 80s if . . . statements. Which was followed by having a couple of students sing the fresh prince of bel air song and the clapping rendition of miss mary mack mack mack . . . .

here are some of our girls dressed to impress at 80s night. gotta love teased hair and hot colors. We look like we just came from jazzercise.

These precious gems are in my bible study. This semester we meet at 10pm on tuesday nights. It is the only time everyone has open to meet. But they love the Word and each other enough to sacrifice boyfriend phone time and sleep.

My husband, doing what he does best, anything! He schooled some fools on the court, I am not surprised but very turned on by his athletic skills.

these men are mostly from UF as well. they had the opportunity to play paintball sat afternoon and here they are before going into battle

our speaker: Drew Frasier (weeks before the conference)

John: "Yeah man, its sweet, we can paintball on saturday afternoon"

Drew: "Good I am gonna mess some kids up"

Before and after messing some kids up, Drew lead us into a great discussion of how big our God is, and how easily we stuff him into a box. He also challenged us with claiming the promises that scripture has for us, and he dared us to move closer to Jesus. He threw down hard and it was amazing to see God transform people. Praise Jehovah.

La Croix Dreamin

john and I are about to head into a long and anticipated weekend with our students along with Nav students and staff from across the state. we are very exicted to be bringing three times as many students we did last year. this just confirms what we know to be true: that students at UF are hungry for relationship with their Lord and with each other. john and I are the emcees for this conference, so if you think about it, pray for us that we are not attempting painful humor but that we can provide a bit of laughter and excitement for the weekend ahead . . .

we have done so much already these past 4 weeks. we have enjoyed going to our very first gymnastics meets, playing tennis with our new racquets, planning our spring break trip to New Orleans and our summer in Branson, Missouri.

John spoke at the college meeting for our church. he was asked to speak alongside the pastor on the relationship between the church and the parachurch. he is SO good in front of people, most especially in front of college students. I enjoyed it so much, and can not get enough of hearing him teach.

finally, this semester if it pleases the Lord, will be my final one before a most anticipated graduation from CSU. it could not come any sooner. at the end of this semester, I will have completeted 36 credits from a distance, using online classes and transfer credits. Wowser. it is silly for me to put so much effort in to having something to hang on my wall, it will be the most expensive piece of artwork we will ever invest in. I should start looking for a frame to fit.

funny sidenote, people in Florida, or maybe just Gainesville, are crazy about this drink called la croix, it is like a flavored carbonated water, and John has jumped on the seltzer wagon. grocery stores cannot keep these babies stocked. I am not a fan and will stick to my favored diet coke. well . . . good day!

to some up the good news, I got a hair cut that I will not attempt to get ever again, and I purchased a cute little number of a handbag, it has been a while since I perused the aisles of purse glory. it makes me think of summer, yet summer is so far away, January is not the best time to gear up for summer, but here I am.

Favorite Christmas Gifts Part Primo

my husband and wonderful parents-in-lawThe gift of 23: My Birthday

Gift of brothers who's stashes made your skin crawl if they looked at you too long.
Gift of awkward pictures and those willing to take them.

Gift of one fun couple

The gift of one cute sister who schools everything she touches, except for me right?

Gift of Grandma to share the joys of puffy warmth in bitter cold

in this picture there is one delicious gift of a stuffed poblano pepper in my belly.

Favorite Christmas Gifts Part Duex

A gift from Brandon: A day on the slopes looking at a gem of creation: the Rocky Moutains
A gift of siblings: enjoying our familiness over sushi and edamame (thanks April)

A gift of beautiful women


A gift of a great Papa

A gift of the sweetest bro ever!

there were so many more great gifts, yet like i said, I took few pictures! So these are the moments I captured.

Thanks to everyone for those special gifts.

Back in the sunshine

We are back in Florida, and even better news: Lindsey is here with us for a week. We took a quick stop at the beach before heading to swamp land.

We had such a good time in Colorado. I finally started using my camera the last week and so I am excited to share some pictures with everyone from our snow-laden adventures. Until then we will be enjoying our visitor, our students and the 70 degree weather. Looking forward to it.

tired in gainesville

John and I have been running nonstop the past week or so. I guess I have not been running, I actually have been sitting A LOT. Our couch has been my office, classroom and library for a year and half. And there are days that go by that I just sit and sit and sit and write and write and write.
That is how this week has been. With two major projects and a whoppin cumulative chem test in front of me, my eyes are tired and my brain is no longer producing anything intelligent.
I made 27 mini loaves of pumpkin bread for other studying tummies around me, but then realized that I am a studying tummy, who is making my bread?
The only good thing is that instead of gaining marriage weight, it seems that all my hours of sedentary typing away and pumpkin-loafing has left me smaller than when I walked to class and had to move myself around campus. Maybe I have lost all muscle mass I once owned, it was so little. Or maybe I have sweat off pounds by sitting motionless in the Florida heat. Either way, I am ready to let my couch be a couch and my bed be my bed. Goodnight.

China!

You guessed it . . . we are moving there! Wait I mean I bought some! Can you believe it, I own me some China. Using/owning china is less of a deal out West, and I really haven't had a seed of wanting China until I passed by this beauty set at a THRIFT STORE. I bought a 48 piece set for a whoppin 30 bones. And it is all I could have dreamed it to be if I had been dreaming about it!

I like to call the design . . . twirly

Now I just need an occassion to use it, or really a place to store it would be a good place to start. Maybe I need to go hunt a thrift store china cabinet?

Here is just a taste of the wonderful set that I got! Thank You Lord for providing in wonderful ways. And it truly was more than I imagined.

Womens Retreat

Some of you know that since August, I have been dreaming, praying, and stressing about the Florida Regional Women's Retreat that I was the Director of. The retreat was this past weekend and it went so well. God blessed us with safety, a great speaker, precious girls, sweet tshirts and an uplifting time. 65 girls from all over Florida joined us here in Gainesville for friday night and saturday day. We enjoyed hearing from a godly woman Debbie Friley who shared what it meant and looked like to be set free by knowing the Truth. My favorite part was tea time, in which girls got to dress up and drink tea with each other while getting to talk with older women. Ahh it was so good.

Here are some of the pics. These women are from my campus, UF.
And this is a our big group. The faces are so little, but look how joyous everyone looks. You can tell they were all just at a sweet retreat.

Thanks to those who prayed for this little retreat. And for those who had to deal with my frazzeledness during the planning. My husband is glad to have clean clothes and food in the house now that I have had time to grocery shop and clean our underwear! Ha.

My computer works and more!

Hey Team, guess what? My computer has come back from the land of frustration. It happens that there is a fine gentleman in our ministry who is computer savvy enough to save my paperweight. What a guy. And not only did he fix it, he gave me cool new programs like the one I used to make this little collage from our trip last weekend to Hilton Head. I am on cloud 9 with my new snazy computer. Christmas has come early in my soul! Thanks Jason, John and I cannot thank you enough. More pics to come.

never mind . . .

amid my frustration over my clothes I ran across this youtube video from a guy visiting his compassion child.


makes me forget about my clothes . . .


The crazy reality that I am learning about more and more from some of my classes is the fact that slavery still exists in large amounts. 80% of slaves are women and 50% are children. Watching this video caused me to be so thankful for compassion among the various orgs that seek to bring hope and a future to these precious people.
I guess anyone who has not considered it could consider sponsoring a child now. John and I have been sponsoring a boy named Biplob from Bangladesh and who even knows if it has bettered his chances from not being sold into slavery by someone who needs to make some more money.
I have been reading Not For Sale and I am hardly far into it but I have been devastated by the reality and prominence of slavery today. Please join me in allowing God to soften our hearts toward His precious ones. I am pouting for a good reason now.

Are You Kidding Me?

So it is Tuesday night and I am mourning the loss of my clothes. Tonight I decided to do some laundry which I have not done at night before due to the fact I have to walk to our shady laundry room . . . and as I was walking in to pick up my clothes from the dryer I noticed that half of my clothes were gone!
Some loon has taken some, but not all of our things from the dryer. Who knows why someone would take underwear, older towels and my beloved wear-under-everything tank tops? I have a big pout on my face. Give me back my clothes!

Bro is looking so good

This is the second time that I was not able to see my brother go off to homecoming. But just like last year he was looking smokin. His date (and now gf) Taryn was looking beautiful as well. It looks like they are a cute couple for sure.

Oh my siblings, I miss you, come back to me, I mean I will come back to you! You are looking so good, I wish I was there.

My mom and Brandon's date. Two beautiful women!

Time at the Beach

Sorry for the single picture friends. But I realized that I did not take many great blog-worthy photos. But I would love to tell you how fantastic our weekend was. The weather ended up perfect, we had so much time to have fun and enjoy each other, and also John got to share a message twice with everyone. I loved it. This is just a pic of us girls. We had two of these apartment-style homes (one for the ladies and one for the boys) It was so so so great. Thanks for praying for these great students. We feel so priveleged that God lets us be a small part of the masterpiece He is currently working on in them.

beach bound

we are on our way to panama city beach tomorrow with some students. would you join us in praying for our safety, and our time together and with our Maker. we are so excited.

I am being decieved.

in the midst of the crazy life that we all of a sudden lead in florida, I really have to force myself to let truths that I am learning in bible study sink in. my mind is so fast paced . . . but in studying 1 John, I am forced to slow down.

A simple thought is invading my life. It is easy for me to think that I am sinless, or even to avoid dealing with sin that I know is very real. But 1 John says that I am "decieved" if I claim to be sinless. But even more, it states that sin can cloud my relationship with God. And since claiming the Beloved as mine and accepting freedom from the power of sin, I have neglected the continued reality of sin when it comes to the intimacy I experience with Christ. I was breathless when I realized that when I try to turn from sin, it is only so that I dont look bad, I dont want to have that on my track record. It has little to do with wanting to be closer to the Almighty. Instead of running away from sin because it means being even closer to the heartbeat of God, I run away to be more fashionable, sin doesn't look good on me. Its not my color. Sin has become unfashionable to me so I discard it, but not for the beauty of the Lord. It seems my heart needs a makeover, and the new fashion statement: dust. Can I get close enough to Jesus to be covered in His dust? All I know is that my heart longs to be near Him.

Babies!

The cat is all the way out of the bag, I love to share great news, and there are so many great newses to share. My brother and sister-in-law, Jens and Kristi have been baking a little danish one since summertime . . .and brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Joy are also happily brewing a babe these days too. What exciting news!

It seems to please the Lord to have two great women walking through such a time together as sisters. We are praying for these growing families, for the mommas, pappas, and the wee bairns too.

just words

john and i have been experiencing major computer mayhem. my computer at the moment is a large paperweight and nothing more. And his is not able to send or recieve any info that needs a USB port. so that means no pictures. because the old ones are locked in the paperweight while the new ones cannot be retrieved from our camera. but I have always relied way too much on pictuers, so until we figure something out, I will have to actually write something meaningful and worth reading. I am looking forward to it.

Beach Day

we took some students to the beach on labor day and enjoyed the cloudy skies, wind blowing sand into our mouths, droplets of rain, and a great time with each other. And we stopped at rita's, and incredible custard and icee shop. love it. thanks brittnet and sam for taking pics!

this lovely women with me is Sam, a freshman from Jacksonville. She has been hanging out with us and I cannot wait to get to know this lady better.

we were scrambling to take the pic and pack up because it had started to rain. but what a fun crew.