Christmas Time is Almost Here!!!

The stores are packed, lines are long, kids are excited, traffic is almost unbearable and the milk is all gone– Slowly, softly and silently that first, white, fluffy flake falls to the ground. Then it sets in– Christmas is truly almost hear! Then anxiety sets in and fear strikes your heart as you realize you don’t have enough time or money left to get everything done. **Enter Satan** He wants to do everything he can to deter you from the real meaning of the season. Our sin takes over– we are blinded, agitated and annoyed because we are going to the store and fighting crowds to buy the turkey for the annual, family dinner that you are dreading because of the “one” family member that ____. (You fill in the blank) This year, we challenge you to approach the season in prayer as to how God would like you to celebrate the birth of our Savior– Jesus Christ.
Have a Blessed Christmas!

Our house in our first real snow...

Chapters and Faithfulness…

two things that have always been in my writings. I have always looked forward to seeing God’s plan for Luke and me since we have been together. With each new plan, I look at it as a new chapter in our life together. We have had several chapters since our marriage almost three years ago and in the four years that we have been together.

Never once will I say the road has been straight and nothing but pleasantries, however I will say that we have been very blessed in our journey.

Faith… –noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology . the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved. (source- dictionary.com)

Yep… something like that. Faith has been what Luke and I have been living through, taking steps and praying through them that God would show the next one to us. Through God’s faithfulness and promises, he has shown those next steps to us.
We are quickly approaching our one year anniversary of moving to Lynchburg and taking one of the largest steps of faith- thus far- in our relationship together. While there were nights of thinking: “What am I doing here? Where are we going? What do You have planned for us? Is this really the right decision? Are You walking with me through this Lord?” Those questions were answered through silence, through prayer, through other people we came into contact with. God is faithful in his commitment that he will always be there beside us.

I reflect on the nights that I called Larry crying with the door shut while Luke was studying in the other room. The comfort that surrounded me when speaking to him is indescribable. To the times of speaking to Denise and her giving her counsel to me while trying to find work and knowing that she knows God’s faithfulness. Then to the times of hanging out with Ben on the internet and lifting my sprits when they were down- sometimes just knowing that he was there to listen was more than I ever could have asked for. Going to the mailbox was and still is a time of excitement for the both of us, receiving cards and words of encouragement- they always seemed and still seem to come on the days of great trial. The entire experience of relocating has been filled with almost every emotion that I can feel.

Having the ability to see everything unfold and knowing that there is more to come, has helped build my faith and trust to great lengths. It has strengthened our marriage more than I ever thought it could have.

So a quick recap of the last year… we moved to Lynchburg to attend Liberty University- the place that I am now employed. Luke has accomplished 2.5 semesters, Moot Court and is ready to do more! I am starting back to school this fall. We have been searching for a house and after a long two months after putting a contract in on a house, doors have been opened and the contract was approved! We have started going through the mortgage process, started packing again and plan to be in our new place in August!

What a year- a great way to sum all of the above up. Thank you for joining Luke and me on our journey together and for all of your support during this time. We look forward to seeing what God has planned for us and we hope that you will remain in prayer with us during this time.

Here is to a new chapter… (pictures of the house to follow)

Truths and Ancient Ruins...

(Before I posted this blog, I took a moment to review my last blog where I was talking about snow and Luke's books for this semester. Today I look out the window and all I see is Green with temperatures of 80+ and Luke is finishing up this semester. It is amazing how things change in a few months.)

**As I have been thinking about busy I have been, I have realized how little I have been focusing on the important aspects of my life. Many times over, I am so exhausted from not sleeping well, the thoughts of spending time writing down some genuine thoughts overwhelmed me honestly. I have been wanting to write, however writer’s block has seemed to invade my mind and my spirit.

I recently received a prayer request from Guatemala, which lead to me reviewing pictures of our trip back in 2008 and pictures of the little girl we “adopted” shortly thereafter. Looking at those pictures blessed my soul and helped me to regain focus and my perspective on life.

It seems that I have simply been floating along in this journey and taking little time to enjoy being young and ever so blessed. When we first moved to Lynchburg, I was so focused on God’s plan and wanting and praying for nothing less. Now, I seem to have gotten comfortable and have failed to earnestly seek God’s face. I am so guilty of having a back pocket relationship- on my behalf- with my loving Father. This revelation has been presented to me during a bible study that I have taken part in over the past few months- Breaking Free by Beth Moore.

Recently the truths presented in this bible study have helped me realize areas of my life where I have been consumed with ancient ruins and such heavy baggage. Going through this process of reflection and meditation, I have realized where I have been held captive.

I sometimes feel that we fail to notice how alive satan is. I think we just place him as this imaginary thing that we place blame on occassionally. I believe that it is extremely important to realize that he is real and he is set out to draw us away from our Heavenly Father. He is set out to distract us, deter us and remove us from spritually positive events. I have recently been battling issues within my life that seem to have tried to pull me away and hold me captive to the point that I want to give in.

I believe that in those moments that is when I realize how ALIVE God is in my life. Also, during this time, I realize how unworthy I am of the Father's love and how little I turn to him during times that are going well.

One of the many truths that was presented to me during this study is how I have been held in the strong hold of negativity with my relationship with my parents. It seems that I have been consumed with negative feelings and thoughts towards our relationship that recently started taking a toll on other relationships. I have now challenged myself to think of positive thoughts when a negative thought enters my thoughts. Without my parents, I would have not developed some of my characteristics that I have. While I have longed for a relationship with them, I have now started breaking those chains that have held me in bondage for several years.

This past weekend, also helped me regain my focus on my marriage. My best friend got married this past weekend. Seeing them take this step in their lives made me reflect on when Luke and I got married. It is hard to believe that was over 2.5 years ago already- then at the same time, it seems like it is longer. It is hard to believe that we have already been able to experience some great opportunities together. Owning our first house together, to selling that house, to moving to Lynchburg and now as we consider new living opportunities.

We have been in much prayer about our future and have initiated the search to find a new place to call home. The condo that we have been staying at, is a nice place to rest, however, we both feel that it is time to move into another place of our own. We enjoyed remodeling and fixing up our old house and miss doing that. Needless to say, we would like to have another house to fix up together! We are being very diligent in looking for our future home and ask that you be in prayer with us during this time.

****PRAYER REQUESTS****

~Please continue to remember Ann Simpson as she continues to battle cancer and will be starting a new treatment soon.

~Please remember Jose, the son of the Pastor that we built a house for in Guatemala.

~A young lady from Statesville that recently has been diagnosed with Melanoma, Christina. Please keep her family in your prayers.

~Remember all of those who have lost their jobs, who are sick, homeless and those who are lost.

Catching Up to Speed...

So in my last post I talked about snow… Well we got some and got even more than I believe I would ever want again. After roughly 14 inches of snow at once, my snow tank was full and is still being filled as I still am finding remnants.

Time has been flying and I’m wondering what happened to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years… It feels like I blinked and it was here and gone. WOW! We have been blessed with the ability of going to Statesville to visit with friends and family during the season and have been so busy and on the go, the thoughts of writing a post made me sigh…. There is so much to tell and so little space to do so in, so I will start off with what has happened since the New Year.

We rang in the New Year in Statesville with Luke’s family and our friends- Ben and Lindsey while watching Winterfest on GOD TV. Having worked the night before at Winterfest, I enjoyed having the ability to control the level of the sound and the comfort of a comfy couch! (Some of you may not know what Winterfest is, but is actually a 2-day event that Liberty does every year and that has numerous bands and speakers. Winterfest of 2008/2009 was our first introduction to Lynchburg.)

I ate the time up between New Years and Monday since Luke was out of class. The time in December was so busy I don’t remember much time together. Needless to say I fell behind in house work, but Luke picked up my slack- Such a Wonderful husband.

I started training for my new position on Thursday and will finish up this Friday. I am so excited about this new opportunity and cannot wait to see the doors opened and the lives that I am able to touch by helping them out with coming to Liberty. I get so excited when I think about my job and working for LU. The main reason for seeking the job was for the educational benefit, however I am so overjoyed with how amazing it feels to work for an organization that shares the same beliefs as me! I know I say this all the time, but I just can’t stop giving God the glory and praise for opening this door for me.

Luke’s classes started Monday and he has been able to meet all of his professors now and feels that this semester will be a ton of fun. I tend to disagree with the amount of books he is facing. On the left was last semester and on the right is this semester. AMAZING!!

I am so happy that he is looking forward to it and so fortunate that he Bible Induction class was this semester instead of in the fall with Moot Court. I would have never seen him, if that was the case.

The New Year started off with a bang again this year. Last year, Ben went into the hospital almost all month and then this year Denise got to visit the ER followed by two nights in the hospital. She is now recovering from her gallbladder being extracted (after telling the doctors what the problem was. Long story and definitely not enough room.) We had gone down Saturday to surprise them and visit some friends and got back to Lynchburg at about 1:15 in the morning. Well at 7:45, we were back on the road headed back to Statesville to be with her at the hospital and then were back in Lynchburg at 10:00 that night. We were indeed tired and did not even want to think about getting up early Monday morning, but we accomplished that task.

Prayer Requests- Please be in prayer with us as we consider searching for a home here in Lynchburg.

Pray for Denise and the family as she recovers.

Please be in prayer for the victims and families of those experiencing a loss in Haiti.

Pray for our dear friend Ann Simpson as she is undergoing treatment for cancer.
Also, please be in prayer for Luke and me as we begin planning our trip to Guatemala again this year. Please pray that the doors will open for us to be able to go again.

Remember to pray for one another and also remember to pray extra hard for those that may be lost.