Going Global

As I've previously mentioned, our church is hosting a Global Impact Celebration this week. For those of you who have never been involved in one, it's basically a gathering of missionaries (both local & international) and local agencies who serve the people of our area. I am/was in charge of helping get all of the booths set up and making sure that everyone had what they needed. All of the booths were set up yesterday afternoon and last night we had our Opening Celebration. Let me just tell you, the first night went very well. We had a good crowd from our own church and the missionaries & agencies are all just fantastic. I love learning about them, their lives, and how they are living for Jesus and spreading his word.
This week is also a time for us to refocus on how important it is for us to spread the word of Christ locally, but also to be willing to travel to remote locations and tell those about God's love. I know that God is going to do some amazing things this week and will move the hearts of many people to go on short term missions projects and hopefully even some who might join ministry full time. I have never been one to have a calling to any sort of full-time missions...however, I love to join in on the details of bringing this event to Northbridge and to experience serving others in our area. Serving others is needed everywhere, in our hometowns, in our states, in our country and even to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

On another quick religious note, has anyone read the book "The Shack?" I am currently reading it and what a powerful book, it's definitely a quick read but will open your mind to so many things you might not have ever thought about when it comes to God, his love for us, and how truly screwed up we as humans are. Humans are so quick to put God in a box and to create our own visions of who he is and how he sees good and evil. When those are really just self-serving ideas to make life easier and more comfortable for us. Tonight we are having dinner with our small group and a missionary family from Senegal, West Africa. I am super excited to learn more about them and what God has been doing through them and in their lives as they serve in such a different culture.

Birthdays, Shopping, Football & Loads of FUN!

Well as previously mentioned, this weekend did not disappoint in being jam packed with fun activities. A great time was had by all, but we were certainly ready to relax for a couple of hours once we finally got home last night.

Friday night we headed to our nephew's 3rd Birthday party, it was certainly chaotic as all childrens' parties are. Hunter was very excited for his party as it was themed after the movie "Cars" which he loves. We made the mistake of allowing him to pick out the first present he could open and unfortunately it was a group of 3 Hot Wheels cars based on the movie. Well, all the rest of the presents might as well have been canned vegetables because he wanted nothing to do with them and he was not going to open another present. We tried everything, we had cake & ice cream and tried to convince him that Uncle Nicky & Aunt L would be very sad if he didnt' open his presents. In the end we all ended up opening the presents for him (just so we could all see what he had gotten). He couldn't care less that other people were opening up his presents. Note to self & rest of the family: at Christmas he gets to open the "fun" toys last. ;o)

Hunter modeling his gift from Uncle Nicky & Aunt L--a St. Louis Cardinals jacket just like Pujols!He also found it more entertaining to play in the bag and hop around then he did opening presents. Man, we could have saved a lot of money!

Uncle Nicky with Baby Jackson and Hunter (that's his version of saying "Cheese!"). Nick also tried to teach him how to show people how old he was. I'm not sure if he completely caught in but he sure worked hard at it.

Saturday we left around 10:00 and headed to St. Louis with my parents & my brother and his wife. We hit 2 malls and I managed to find some great deals. A pair of jeans at Nordstrom's for $25.00 that I absolutely love and some adorable polka dot tees at Anthropologie that were in the clearance room! Yeah for Anthropologie sales! I love that store but it seems so expensive at times. We also had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory--can I just say heaven? We had calamari and nachos as an appetizer, my mom and I shared an amazing pasta dish with bowtie pasta and a roasted garlic cream sauce, and Hubby & I shared a piece of their 30th Anniversary cheesecake: Creamy cheesecake layered with rich, moist chocolate cake & topped with chocolate icing and whipped cream. Very health, I know. ;o) We finished off the night by heading to the new casino in downtonw STL. Hubby & I had $40 to spend--we lost $20 on the slot machines but then he made about $50 on the Roulette Wheel. So, we ended up $10 ahead. Not bad for an hour's worth of entertainment.

Sunday we headed to the Edward Jones Dome for the St. Louis Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys. It had been a long time since I had been to a NFL game and they are so much fun. We were there as Dallas fans and we were certainly not in the minority. It was crazy how many Cowboys fans there were at a St. Louis Rams game. The Cowboys lost and it was a crappy, sloppy game, but we had a good time anyway. It's always a bonus when grown men get into a fight and end up getting escorted out. ;o) As you can see below, everyone but Millie & I participated in the throwing competition. My mom was the first to give it a try. There really wasn't a big prize, just a free Arby's t-shirt, but I got some good pics anyways.

Mom & Dad giving it a try! Good technique Mom!



Hubby on the left and my little brother on the right!

We headed home immediately after the game and I've never been more happy to make it to our house. We encountered a major detour due to a fatality crash and then due to the sun and some not very smart people, we were almost in a very serious accident. Kudos to my mom for seeing the problem and to my dad for having some amazing driving skills. I'm so glad God had his angels travelling with us.


Nick & I inside the dome. We had really good seats and certainly enjoyed ourselves!

I'll probably be fairly absent from the blogging world this week---we have our first GIC (Global Impact Conference) at our church and that is going to take up Tuesday-Sunday. I've very excited, but I'm on the committee heading it up so it will certainly be a very busy week! Hopefully I'll be able to post here and there, but until then--have a great week!

Fun Halloween Packages!

I'm going to start this post off by saying that Hubby & I are the luckiest people on earth. We both have fantastic sets of parents and to top that off we both get along incredibly well with the in-laws. It truly is like having another set of parents. My parents live close by and I work for my dad so I get to spend time with them all the time. My mom is my best friend (next to my Hubby) & I love the fact that we are so close and so much alike. Hubby's parents live in Michigan so we certainly dont' get to see them as much as we'd like. However, when we do get to see them we have a great time and enjoy them so much! They are planning to move back here once Hubby's dad retires so we're certainly looking forward to that. Because of this, my parents have certainly taken Hubby in and treat him as if he's their own. Like I've said in previous posts, my parents mean the world to me and I could never ask for anything more! But, how God has blessed us with fantastic in-laws. Trust me, I know other situations are not nearly as great as ours.

So...on to the point of this post. Since my in-laws live in Michigan they have always made certain that we don't forget that they care about us or love us. My MIL spends more in shipping each month than I want to know...she sends packages to all 3 kids and their families. Hubby & I receive fewer packages but only because we don't have any kids for her to spoil! ;o) This week we got our annual Halloween package & we're not just talking about a plain cardboard box with our address. I present to you exhibit's A & B:

Fully decorated with stickers, Trick or Treat ribbon, wrapped in a black plastic table cloth, and a fantastic ghost outline!This is what our packages always look like...completely decked out for whatever holiday or purpose they are being sent. I don't know about you, but I love receiving gifts in the mail! It can be something so simple, but I love it! This package contained a milkshake mixer for Hubby that he had been asking for since our wedding registry and then a cute set of orange Halloween prep bowls for cooking (or setting candy out on the counter).

I only hope the rest of you are able to have relationships with your in-laws like Hubby & I have with ours! Thanks Mom & Dad, & David & Susan for loving us so much and welcoming us both into your families! It certainly does not go unnoticed!

Hard at Work

Well, I hate to admit it but I have been failing miserably at this blogging thing...maybe it's the fact that I've been incredibly busy the past few days, or maybe it's that work has been crazy busy and I haven't had any time to waste while sitting at my office computer, or maybe it's the fact that dear Hubby has to use the computer during the evenings for CPA prep work and thus I am unable to blog even when at home. Regardless of the reason...or maybe excuse, I've kind of fallen off the wagon the past few days. Please know I've been reading all of your blogs as best I can and I love keeping up with all of them, I just don't seem to have time to comment. I realize I'm new at this; however, perfectionist is my middle name. ;o)


Life has been busy, but fairly uneventful in the past few days. I had to sit through 6 hours of continuing education yesterday on the "Best Practices of E & O." Can we all so BOORRRINNNGGG???? Oh well, at least I was out of the office for the day.


We do have a fairly exciting weekend coming up. Hubby's mom is finally going to be in town to see the baby. We are celebrating Big Brother Hunter's 3rd birthday on Friday night and I always enjoy good birthday cake. My mom & dad, my brother & sister-in-law, and me and hubby are headed to STL on Saturday for some shopping and to catch the St. Louis Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys game. My brother is a diehard Cowboys fan, and it kind of spreads over to the rest of us. I'm super excited to hang out with all 6 of us, we haven't all been together in quite some time. Not due to distance, just due to schedules.

Where has the time gone???

Tonight as Nick & I were eating dinner, it occurred to me what day it was: October 11. When Nick & I were dating, we actually semi-celebrated 2 anniversaries. The day we were set up by our friends, and the day we officially became a couple. ;o) Well, October 11 was the day that we were set up by our friends and so it has been exactly 5 years since we have been together. So, I thought this might be a good time to explain how we met. However, our story actually starts long before October 11. Bear with me, this could get a little long and keep in mind this is how Nick says things happened (I swear I do not remember this early event).

One of my favorite engagement pictures

It all started in the fall of 2001...my freshman year in college. One of my roommates went to high school with Nick and was dating one of his good friends. Nick went to school in Bolivar, MO (to play golf)...about 30 minutes away from where I was in Springfield. However, his parents had just moved to Michigan and he didn't really know too many people at all in Bolivar. So, several weeknights and weekends he would drive down to Springfield to spend time with people he knew. I knew almost no one at college either so we all ended up hanging out in the same dorm room. Well, I have a very sarcastic personality and after seeing Nick in Spfd several times I supposedly said "Why are you always down here? Don't you have any friends?" This was taken as being very rude and Nick went back to Bolivar that night and told his roommate "You know that cute girl I told you about, well she's very rude." We saw each other, but didn't ever really talk again.

In Destin, FL with my family

Fast forward about 2 years to our junior year of college--I'm still very good friends with that same group of people, but I was out of town at Fall Getaway for Campus Crusade for Christ--the organization I had become very involved in. We had no cell phone reception at all. When I get back into town I have a message from one of my good friends (he was very intoxicated as it was his 21st birthday party) that had something to do with the fact that they had figured out who the perfect guy would be for me. After several phone calls and explanations, they set up dinner and a night of bowling just so Nick & I can spend some time getting to know one another. However, one small problem...the same night I find out I have to be at this ceremony for a Christian group I am joining. So...I head to dinner and eat with all my friends (I'm seated directly across from Nick), I head out for about 2 hours to this ceremony and I promise I'll meet them later at the bowling alley. By the time I get to the bowling alley, the game is almost over and I spend the rest of the time just mingling with Nick and the rest of my friends. Afterwards, we are about to go home when I ask Nick if he wants to come back to my apartment to talk. Looking back, this was incredibly irresponsible since I didn't know Nick at all--however, God must have had his hand in it because we ended up talking until 4 a.m. when he finally left to go back to Bolivar. I think he only left because he had to catch a bus at 6 a.m. to play in a golf practice round. Have I mentioned Nick is a golf fanatic and played in college? Anyways, we hit it off incredibly well and have been inseparable ever since. We have certainly had our ups and downs, but there was never a doubt in my mind that this was the man I was to be with forever. The thoughts of being without him weren't scary because they weren't an option to me. He was mine and I was his and that was all there was to it.

In St. Louis at a Cardinals game

We have both changed so much from the people we were 5 years ago--definitely for the better & I know I fall more in love with him each and every day. I had prayed for a sky-dropper (a wonderful man who practically fell out of the sky) and God certainly answered my prayer. In ways that I could never have imagined, God made all of my wildest dreams come true.

5 hours till the weekend...

So I'm not sure about anyone else, but what a week it's been! You can look back over my last couple of posts and realize that this week has been anything but uneventful. Monday started with the vasovagal episode, Tuesday I destroyed our companies mailing list, Wednesday involved starting the process of recreating the mailing list, Thursday was fine except we were very shorthanded at work and made the afternoon much more stressful! Ahhh!!!


So needless to say, I'm so ready for the weekend--even if nothing special is planned. Today has been fairly calm and has actually involved a huge answer to prayer. My father-in-law found out medication, diet, and exercise are all that's going to be necessary!!! Can I just say "Praise Jesus!" Hopefully they'll both be on the road soon to come meet their newest grandbaby!


We do have plans to head down to Branson. The 417 Idea Home is finally finished and is located in the same subdivision where Nick's parents plan to retire once they move back to good ole' Missouri. The setting is beautiful and on a golf course and the home involves most of the best contractors in the area. So, we're planning on taking a tour of the home and then heading to Branson Landing for a nice dinner. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Married over 11,000 days

"Can you believe you've been married to me over 11,00 days?" My dad asked my mom this question today as they discussed their past 32 years of being husband and wife.

Today is my parents 32nd wedding anniversary. They were married on October 9, 1976 when my mom was 18 and my dad was 20. They are seriously the most amazing parents a girl could ask for. God has blessed me so much with such amazing role models for my own marriage and I can only hope that Nick & I can love as each other as much as they do after 32 years, 2 kids, and endless ups and downs. They have always followed after God and have instilled in us to trust in him for everything--no matter how small or how big. Congrats Mom & Dad! I love you and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 11,000 days!

My mom and dad at our wedding in May 2007