Psalm 118:1

Psalm 118:1 says, "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever."

It's not very often that we get public forums to thank the Lord as we are so often commanded and compelled to do, so today I'll use this blog to do so :) Then you have to respond with what you are thankful to the Lord for! :)

I am thankful to you, Father, for:

Redeeming me and for being a great Savior
Your patience with me and perseverance with me
Sending your Holy Spirit to guide and to teach me
Disciplining me and saving me from making more mistakes than I would have chosen
For redeeming my husband in a miraculous way and saving him for me :)
For giving me a great family
For providing so generously for me
For all the tools we have to grow - Bibles, books, study guides, friends, friends blogs, teachers, preachers, etc
For relaxation and for beauty
For a warm house with a great view
For friends and awesome memories
For meeting needs/desires through others - most recently for our plane tickets, for our awesome stand up freezer, the babies crib, maternity clothes, etc
That my mom loves our dog and is willing to take care of him while we're out of town
For a baby in my tummy!!!!! That's amazing
For making my dreams come true even better than I thought
For chocolate
For Christmas
For physical touch
For baby showers and bridal showers
Running vehicles
An eliptical machine
A husband who forgives quickly, is great at conversation, handsome, and fun
For game nights
For laughter
For days to work and days to sleep in
For our church and the family they have been
For food and water
For the ability to do good, to exercise self-control, and to love others
For my families health
For the ability to visit our families
Practical wisdom from others (regarding marriage, managing our home, recipes, pregnancy, raising children, etc)
Glory revealed in those around us

I could go on and on, but I'll stop there. What are you thankful for?

Treasures

This Christmas season we're in Texas enjoying our family (and while there is no snow like in the picture above, it is 30 degrees here this morning). Unfortunately when your traveling from house to house, awoken to the sounds of our nieces and nephews sweet little feet shuffling around, and surrounded by people you haven't seen in months, it makes slipping a way to a quiet place and communing with God more difficult than usual.

I can usually sense when I'm pretty disconnected thanks to the Holy Spirit's gracious work in my life, and yesterday I told Daryl I had to have an hour to myself for a quiet time before going anywhere else! We closed the door to our room and God gently and kindly revealed some areas of my heart that I should be aware of.

I was reading in Luke 12 where Jesus is telling his disicples not to worry about what they'll eat or wear because He'll take care of their needs, but, "Instead, seek his kingdom," and to "Fear not...for it is you Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destorys. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also" (Luke 12:31-34).

I was convicted because it seems this holiday season, even though I've had good intentions, I've allowed my heart to plant itself right in the midst of a bunch of good things, but certainly not the best thing. While enjoying our families, giving and receiving presents, and relaxing are certainly gifts God gives us to enjoy, enjoying them for themselves only without it connecting us more to our Maker isn't good. In fact, I enjoy them much less when I'm not connected to and loving Christ first.

So for the rest of our visit it is my aim to "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God," and to, "Set [my mind] on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For [I] have died, and [my] life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-2).

I pray the same for you. For it is in Him that we truly have life.

Merry Christmas.

The Dog Days of Winter!!!

While I'm sure not everyone will get a kick out of these pictures, I couldn't resist put them up today! We had a "snow day" today and it was the first time I've been able to play with Simon in the snow :) I think he had fun too...

Doesn't this one make you think of the fawn in Narnia????

Hope you have much fun this winter too! :)

the gods aren't angry

Perhaps not, but that doesn't mean "the God" isn't!

I personally have not heard Rob Bell's talk on this (he is currently doing a speaking tour entitled "the gods aren't angry" which you can learn more about at http://www.godsarentangrytour.com/ or http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/11/heresy_on_tour.html), so I'm not here to discuss what Rob Bell has said or has not said and whether or not I agree with it.

However, based on the blog at Christianity Today I was compelled to do some research on just what the Bible has to say about the anger of God.

I HAD A BLAST! That may sound bizarre but oh how I absolute delight in learning and discovering more about our awesome Father. Let me fill you in on some of what I found...

In Exodus 32:1-10 God had anger towards His people for making an idol and being so quick to turn from Him (He had just recently delivered them from the Egyptians).

In Exodus 32:6 and 1 Corinthians 13:5 we are told that God is slow to anger. So, He does get angry, but He's slow to it - and don't forget, He is also compassionate and abounding in love and faithfulness.

In Deuteronomy 29:16-29 The Lord warns the Israelites that He will be angry with them if they forsake Him and follow other gods. He also warned that He would allow destruction to befall them so other people would know that THE GOD was angry.

In 2 Kings 22:1-20 His anger burns against His people again for forsaking Him and building idols with their own hands.

Seeing a trend yet?

God gets angry when His people forsake Him and worship other gods (or create idols).

Thankfully according to Psalm 30:5 His anger only lasts a moment, but His favor (once we have it through Christ), FOREVER!

The New Testament continues to speak of God's anger, wrath, etc.

In 2 Thessalonians (see 1:7-10) and Romans (all over, but 13:4-5; 5:20; 7:7-13; 1:8) it is towards His enemies - those who don't know God, who have not obeyed His gospel.

We often don't like to think of God as getting angry because we think He gets angry as we humans do. Not true. It's always a righteous anger.

His anger, says J.I. Packer in the stellar book "Knowing God" (can you tell I highly recommend it?), always:

1. Administers justice (which is why God allowed destruction on those He was angry with!)
2. Is chosen by us (we provoke it and have been warned of it)
3. Is a reaction to our sin

What's the good news? In the words of the beloved JI, "If we are Christ's, through faith, then we are justified through his cross and the wrath will never touch us, neither here nor hereafter. Jesus 'delivers us from the wrath to come' (1 Thess 1:10 RSV).

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!

He is righteously angry with His enemies and is a jealous God who does not like us forsaking Him to follow after other gods. I am SO thankful He disciplines us, according to Hebrews, to keep us close to Him!

I am also so thankful for this study because it has caused me hate my sin more (though still not enough), to fear and pray to not forsake or disobey, and to be so, so, SOOOO thankful for the justification I have through Christ.

"Since we have now been justified by [Jesus], how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him." Romans 5:9

Holiday

I love, love, love vacation time :) In fact, this has been the first time Daryl and I have had "vacation" time (not just weekends which are great) off since we've been married. It has been a BLAST!

To start things off we had my grandparents and parents over for dinner. This was an extreme challenge for me as my grandmother has been a domestic guru - yes, guru, for years, and they eat foods Daryl and I don't typically cook.

Daryl is a pie connoisseur, so he did that. Want to see?

BEFORE

AFTER :) mmm

And I made my first stuffed roasted chicken. I would like to say everything went smoothly, but the chicken took about 45 minutes longer to cook than my recipe said. Oops. Thankfully everyone seemed to have a good time and after eating the pie, I don't think anyone minded the wait. Here we are, four generations (one is invisible to the eye, and if I were you, I would be thankful for that)...

Then on Friday Daryl and I packed up and headed to Columbus, Ohio to see the Newsboys in concert. I bought the tickets LONG, LONG ago because he mentioned at Kingsfest he would like to see them alone in concert and I wanted to get good seats at a place semi-close to us.

Packing was an adventure because shirts I had fit into just fine the week before now looked quite silly. I had a breakdown in our closet. Simon told Daryl and he had to come console me! (Lucky me - he encouraged me to go shopping!!!!! Hee hee)

Regarding our little mini-trip, he was super excited, and so was I! We had booked a hotel for the night because in the morning we were driving to my brother and sister-in-laws in Richmond to help them move to DC.

We really enjoyed the hotel, but unfortunately we arrived at the 7pm starting concert at 9:15pm because of a huge wreck that leaked some toxin all over I-70. By the time we got into the concert they had about 4 songs left. So much for our great seats :)

It was actually incredibly humorous and I didn't mind not being there very long. We actually skipped out right before the last song because the bass was SO intense I was a little worried about Baby Reynolds. Over protective already, I know, but you always hear those stories about how when things with weak hearts get really scared...well...you know.

Anyways, here's a picture of Daryl outside the hotel the following morning.



At least they had continental breakfast :)

Then it took like 8 hours to get to my brothers. GPS said we had "2 hours left" 3 different times that I checked in the span of 5 hours. That was interesting. Thankfully Cabellas was on the way and there were plenty of Sheetz. We stopped more often than usual :)

We had a BLAST with Jarod and Kadie and can I just say that when people have a moving company involved it is MUCH easier?

Jarod and Daryl took things down in the old house, fixed stuff up, etc.

Kadie and Lauren after a hard days work at Babies R Us, Motherhood Maternity, Coscos, and Firebirds. :) Daryl encouraged me to shop, remember?

Daryl and Lauren after helping clean up the old place. Unfortunately the new place kept us much more busy - unpacking, washing dishes, folding linens, directing movers, etc, so I didn't take any pictures. We left them with still quite a mess but both of their parents are in now, so I think they'll be just fine.

Daryl and I were delirious by the time we drove home! I'm sure we spent more than a day in the car total by the time we came home! We listened to more 80's music than I ever want to listen to again, laughed harder than we ever had before, and enjoyed John Piper sermon's as always (can I just say that the more I hang out with my husband the more I want to hang out with him? God is so good!).

Anyways, we came home and since then have been sleeping, eating, sleeping, watching football and old movies, sleeping, and decorating for Christmas...

Dad and Daryl carrying in our FIRST Christmas tree together and the first one Daryl's had since living at home!

Lauren - I wasn't sitting sideways, I just can't figure out how to turn this thing - decorating at 1am after having to run to Wal-Mart for more ornament hooks and a tree topper. We didn't find a tree topper we liked yet, but here's our tree so far (also sideways)....


Trying to get a family picture after Thanksgiving dinner with at my extended families....Daryl didn't quite make it in this one!


EVERYONE! Unfortunately it's blurry and Simon wouldn't look at the camera (he doesn't understand that he's supposed to be posing), but that's as good as it gets with a tripod!

Yesterday we spent the day registering at Babies R Us which was also HUGE FUN! We were pretty much clueless except from a few helpful tips from friends - btw, I love to see Titus 2 in action through my friends - they have given me such AWESOME practical advice and we are SO grateful!

Anyways, we literally went through one section of the store (there were 3) and decided we needed a break. We took our "faser" (which Daryl being a sci-fi fan loved that it was named) up to the counter and said, "can we go and come back in like an hour?" They said yes, we went to the mall food court and ate pizza, rested our feet, only to head back and up sitting in these awesome microfiber rockers they have there for like another hour discussing car seats. Who knew carrying a baby would be less complicated than shopping for it?

I think that's it.

Now that "vacation" is wrapping up, hopefully I'll blog more often.

Love and blessings to you all!!!!!!!! Hope you had a fantastic holiday!!!!

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17

It's a....

GIRL!!!!

We are so excited! It was so cool to watch her swim all around! They were having a hard time getting good pictures of everything they need - from it's belly, to it's lips, to all it's little limbs...

She was so cute! Unknown to her, for a while she would come into view and give us a big thumbs up! It was so fun! Then they rolled the device around on my tummy and we saw her feet - all five toes and everything, pressed up against the womb!

They had trouble capturing good shots of her to figure out whether she was a girl or boy at first, but when they finally got some I was quite pleased that the little thing appears to be modest all ready ;)

Anyways, we are at a total loss for a good name for her. Give us your ideas!

Love,
Lauren

Can you hear me now???

Supposedly, this is what are baby looks like right now as far as drawings go. This week it's little ears are formed and it can hear! Whattoexpect.com said it is actually even startled by loud noises like the dog barking, but that this will help it to sleep through loud noises later - bark on Simon!!!

Anyways, one site I was reading said that typically if you sing certain songs to your baby it will recognize them when it comes out and that the songs will calm them.

I've always been a little too analytical for anyone's good, but ever since I read that I've been wondering what songs I should pick to sing over and over. It's been a tough decision, and just tonight I decided on my first one.

I know the baby won't know the meaning of words for a while, but I want to infiltrate it's little head as soon as possible with meaningful things. Tonight as I was reading I realized I was humming the song, "Jesus Loves Me."

I kind of laughed because it's been so long since I've sang that song, and I'm also one for not liking things that have been really overused, but as I thought about it a little more seriously I realized that God's love is for sure one of the key truths we want our baby to grasp asap and that the song is simply and exceptionally true. If God illuminates that truth to our little one, how much better will it's life be?

Anyways, that's song 1. If you have any other good ideas, let me know.

And remember,

"Yes, Jesus loves [you]. Yes, Jesus loves [you]. Yes, Jesus loves [you]. The Bible tells [us] so."

Love, Lauren

sorry the pictures pretty graphic :)

Complete - to be filled; full; complete

Today in my time in the Word I was reading in John, primarily chapter 15.


My devotional said to "approach every phrase as if [I'd] never seen it before." I hate when they say that because it often makes me nervous. I take my Bible and focus real intently and act as though I've never read the phrase before. I often get into arguments with myself over whether or not this is being phony or a falsifying my past, and if not, am I really approaching it well enough? Will the author of my devotional find out?

Anyways, this time I just asked God through the Holy Spirit to make the words fresh to me (as I'm typing this I have moved my dog's head off of the keyboard four times. Finally Daryl moved his entire body to the other end of the couch only to have him just now snuggle back over and stick his neck on my chest and his nose right in my face, blowing his warm breath up my nose. I get no respect from him, but constant affection, no doubt).

I digress...

God answered my request and I was blown away by an obvious concept I so often ignore. Verse 11 says, "I have told you this" (this being to remain in Him, by remaining in His love by obeying His words - particularly loving one another), "so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

Complete joy. Joy that is complete. Full of joy.

God wants me to be full of joy.

This is not what most people generally believe and often even Christians. We simply forget or are ignorant. We spend our lives in search of "joy" and so often come up without it - or at least without very much or only fleeting moments of it because we try to obtain it apart from it's source.

We're sort of like people who attempt to plug a hairdryer into someone's nostrils. It may look like the hairdryer should fit in there, but aint no power gonna come out! (ps - I have never met any of those people)

In John Piper's book Sex and The Supremacy of Christ (which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone interested in understanding God more, sex more and/or our culture more) he writes,

"In C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, the devil Screwtape tries to explain to his nephew Wormwood what he finds most appalling and disingenuous about God: that God is really out to make people happy, and that even the austere parts of his program, the spiritual disciplines
are really ruses, clever deceptions to make them more happy. 'He's a hedonist at heart,' sniffs
Screwtape. 'All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade. Or only like
foam on the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure and more pleasure. He
makes no secret of it; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore...'" (48).

When will we grasp that through Christ it is in those disciplines, in moments of loving those who we certainly don't deem deserving of it, in obeying Christ's commands, in hanging out in His "ever-surging fountain" of love as Beth Moore puts it, we get joy - completely?

I get it some moments, and then other moments I drift out of awareness of God's love and desires for me. Then I return. Then I go...Cyclical really.

Oh how I pray and hope He will continue to remind us and teach us to remain (aka "to dwell" or more literally, "to live") in His love, and that we will take Him up on the offer.

That's it for tonight. Love, Lauren and Simon (as he was so faithfully involved), and the Girltalk.blogs from whom I stole the picture

Up and down, but mostly down

I haven't been very good at blogging lately and it seems quite a few things have been on the down and out since we found out we were pregnant - which we are still thrilled about, btw.

I thought at week 14, when the first trimester ended, that most people were completely relieved of morning sickness/all day sickness. I learned that while that may be true, I apparently don't fit into the "most people" category. Besides at night when I'm more emotional anyways, I don't really mind. I choose to believe God's just reminding me the little buggers safe and sound in there for now, and after what we went through in the beginning, I'm just thankful for every day Baby Reyonld's okay.

Besides being sick, I've also become incredibly tired the past few weeks. I don't say this all to complain, but because I've really found it difficult not to use pregnancy as an excuse to sleep in everyday, let the house be crazy messy, or go out to eat more. It was interesting to me that my friend Lorrie, who's blog you can link to from mine, just wrote about the hardest part being "getting up and going." I certainly agree!

While this week has been difficult for me because I have been irritated with myself for not being as good of a homemaker and employee as usual, I know that God is continuing to faithfully prod me a long - and I'm always thankful for his prodding because I NEED IT!

Over and over again this week He has pointed me to Proverbs 14:23, "All HARD work brings a profit..."

Every time I decide to do the dishes rather than sit on the couch and zone out, every time I decide to pray for someone rather than watch a movie, every time I pick up my pen to write a card instead of take a nap, every time I decide to cook dinner rather than ask Daryl if he can fend for himself, there is profit. Looking at "every" little decision in that way instead of trying to conquer the whole day before it's begun has been helpful! And understanding that seen or unseen there is profit, has been even more helpful!

For clarification's sake, relaxation and refreshment are a must, and something we highly enjoy in the Reynold home, as you will see. However, laziness is a no-no and that's what I'm harping on myself about; not the former :)

Some pics from our fun weekend after hearing that Jacob Allen was found alive and well...

With my pumpkin :) Aww...

Lauren surrounded by a bunch of food, free samples, and an "Almost Heaven" sign. Sounds about right.

Mom and Dad getting ready for grandchildren. I'm a little scared - Just kidding ;)

The petting zoo - my personal favorite since age 6. Before that I was afraid of goats and ganders.

"The Lama Whisperer."

A perfect ending.

Leader's Retreat

This past weekend Daryl and I got to join in on the fun of the student ministries leader's retreat in Deep Creek, MD (check out the awesome house we got to stay in). It's been a long time since I've attended something like that, but it was a little different for me this time. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't the one "necessarily" being fed, but one of the one's organizing, cooking, planning, etc.

While at times I wished I was one of the ones in on the cool stuff - devotionals, trainings, etc, looking back I am amazed at what God was doing in my own heart while I was on the outskirts. My quiet times and even outside readings that I stumbled on all weekend and the following week were regarding "abiding in Christ," from John 15.

Verses 5-8 say, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

So many times I start out connected to the vine and then at some point I disconnect. Much like the Galatians who Paul called foolish, I start out in the Spirit and then start trying to do things on my own (see Galatians 3:3).

This past weekend I was really excited about serving the volunteer leaders - THEY ROCK and I love them, and most of the time I maintained joy in doing so. But if I wasn't purposeful in keeping connected to God, sapping from His power, I would find myself getting irritated or stressed about making sure this or that was complete.

In verse 11 Jesus says not only are we to stay connected to bear fruit, but so we could have complete joy.

This week it is my aim to abide in Him in all things. I'm thankful for the Spirit's sweet reminders when I start to unplug and excited that He is eager for me to remain in Christ in all things.

The goodness of God

This week I did something very out of sync with my typical self and I got on to facebook. I know, I know, like I need any other distractions in life, but I must say that it has been an absolute blast to reconnect with old friends and here how they are doing.

I was blown away by God's goodness as profile after profile of some of my closest friends from college, from youth group, and ever just around here testified to God's grace in their lives and His continued work in them, as we can be confident of for those who are saved (Phil. 1:6).

After pondering the glory of God revealed through my friends, I came across this verse the other day, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Hebrews 8:10.

Again I was reminded that it is God who so graciously reveals Himself to the heart of man and that it is "God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." Phil. 2:13.

May I always remember that apart from Christ there is nothing good in me (John 15:5), but as I abide in Him, there will be much good in me (also John 15:5).

Thank Him for so graciously revealing Himself to the world and for His promise to change from glory to glory those who live through Him!

PS That's my dear friend Robyn who I surprisedly ran into at my friend Julie's wedding - we hadn't seen each other for four years and how awesome all the cool things we had to share about God's dealings in our lives!!!! How fun!

I'm a baby Reynolds...

Yep, that's our little raspberry (literally, it's only about that big)!

As of today we are 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant!

God has been so kind to us and we are thankful for all the prayers that have gone into this little one as we had a slight scare in the beginning. We of course would love for you all to continue to pray for Baby Reynolds, not just for a healthy (and painless - yeah right) birth, but for the baby to grow up and glorify God like crazy! And of course for us to be good parents and love and train it well.

I promise we weren't trying for babies when I wrote the post about changing perspectives on babies. God was really just working on my heart, I believe, and now that we're pregnant, I can't wait to have the baby! We are so ecstatic!

On a side note, I thought I had successfully snuck out of bed this morning without waking my husband, and I was so thrilled - it's terribly embarrassing to have to confess that the real reason you awoke was because you are RAVISHINGLY hungry even though we had a great dinner and ice cream from Dairy Cream Corner last night. Much to my misfortune, about 2 minutes ago he came down to check on me! Oh well! :)

Anyways, "Every good and perfect gifts is from above, coming down from the Father of he heavenly lights who does not change like the shifting shadows." James 1:17

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Jehovah Shalom...

...the Lord of peace is one of the names of our God, and a name that Daryl and I are recognizing of our God more and more these days.

While we have been facing some very perplexing and grievous trials, we are amazed at what we have learned about our awesome God.

Philippians 4:6-7 in the New Testament says this, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Though at current we are uncertain of certain things in our future, God, through Jesus Christ has been faithful to provide peace. Part of that peace comes from knowing a very precious truth about our Lord tucked away in 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

God really does care for me. And while circumstances may not be as we would choose and we suffer and grieve, God is with us, every ready to comfort, ever read to heal, and ever ready to love.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39.

Like trees that grow stronger by being tossed in the storms rather than grown in climate controlled greenhouses, it is our prayer that these trials will make us stronger, increasingly full of faith, and amazed by hope as we grow more and more aware of who our God is.

The Delight of Loving My Husband

That's actually a chapter title in the book "Feminine Appeal" by Carolyn Maheney.

I loved the chapter because it taught me so much and reminded me not only of the high calling to love my husband, but the great joy that there is in it.

In Titus 2 we are told that married women who believe in God through Christ should, "love" their husbands.

Interestingly enough, the word in the original Greek is phileo, and describes the love between two very close friends. Christians are called to agape love everyone - sacrifice, love unconditionally, etc, but Christian wives are called to go even further with their husbands - to enjoy them as a friend.

Some practical ways I've been encouraged to phileo love my husband, by God's grace:
Speak highly of him always
Laugh with him
Encourage him
Spend time with him
Spend time with him DOING THINGS HE LIKES (i.e. one of our new favorite past times is playing Burn Out Revenge on Xbox and I'm not half bad - the point of the game you see is to crash)
Be eager to serve him (dinner, picking up after myself/him)
Welcome him warmly (i.e. lots of hugs and kisses and joy) when he returns home

He hasn't made it difficult, and it is true - loving my husband brings me absolute delight.

I praise God for such a godly, unselfish, kind and wise husband, for "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17

Georgia turns four!!!

Not that I'm biased or anything, but I'm pretty sure that upon marriage to Daryl I inherited one of the cutest nieces ever :)



Georgia is only four years old but already she shows traces of a true woman. She loves ice cream...


















And yet she is tough and adventurous. Look at the little climber!




One of my favorite aspects about Georgia though is that she seems to like me :) Isn't it funny how we all want to be loved?

I still laugh when I think about how her father, Quincy had to drag her off of me on the dance floor at my wedding kicking and screaming. Granted she thought I was a true princess that day because of my dress and tiara (I wonder what will happen when she finds out the truth...), it still made me feel special.

More special still when the last time Daryl called the house she said, "Where's Lauren? Can I talk to Lauren?"

The truth is we all want to be desired. Being in relationship with Daryl has helped me see that as well. Sure he loves that I clean the house, make him dinner, etc, but what delights him the most is when I take pleasure in him.

I often wonder if this is because we were created in the image of God and it is His desire that we delight in Him.

Jesus Himself said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Matthew 22:37-38.

Anyways, here's to Georgia. I love her with all my heart and am so thrilled to have her as family.

Thanks for loving me!



The whole fam

Trading for pennies...

I'm don't typically divulge dirty little secrets on the Internet, but today I'm going to allow you the privy of seeing some of my more shameful side...

I remember being wangled into some very raw deals as a child. It did not take much coercion for me to buy into raw deals however, for as at a youngster I was very ignorant in regards to many things.

For example, when I was about 5 years old my brother and I decided to "trade" Halloween candy. He was so generous and offered me 3, yes 3, packs of Smarties for just 1, and only 1, of my miniature Snickers bars. "What a deal!" I thought to myself. "3 for 1! That's awesome."

It wasn't until I put the chalky pure sugar candy into my mouth and then later tasted the absolute deliciousness of a sweet and salty snickers bar with far better texture, that I realized I had been duped.

I had traded in something of infinite value for something of little to no value and worse yet, I thought I was getting the good end of the deal.

While I have grown wise enough to keep Snickers bars to myself, I am still unfortunately much more like Judas Iscariot than I would like to admit.

You see Judas turned Jesus Christ into the "cops-of-the-day" for a bag of coins. He possibly thought that they'd just beat Jesus a little and question Him a little, and then release Jesus, and life would be back to normal - except he'd be rich. But then Jesus was sentenced to death, and those beloved coins that were so alluring only days before suddenly became like chalky Smarties in his mouth - only much worse.

Matthew 27:3-5 depicts Judas' own revelation of being duped like this, "Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' They said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself.' And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself."

Judas realized his stupidity a little too late so he thought. I can relate. We so often trade in good things, things of so much worth, for destruction and ruin and end up with a load of regret and despair.

(Be warned: Here comes the dirty little secret)

So often I have traded in my love for God for my love of people's approval. So often I have traded in things like purity, modesty, self-control, kindness, submission, and forgiveness, to name only a handful, for things like broken relationships, lengthy and silly explanations, excuses, guilt, and regret. So often I have traded in time basking in God's grace and learning from Him for extra moments of sleep or a movie I won't remember three weeks later.

So often I have been left with so much worse than chalk in the mouth.

But oh, how we don't have to remain in regret and despair! How I wish Judas could have understood that, and how grateful I am that God has revealed this to us through His Word!

I cannot end this without a reminder of the glorious grace of God in Jesus Christ!

While Judas unfortunately didn't seem to understand Christ, we have been assured in His Word that He is perfect at forgiving and that He can impute righteousness to the unrighteous. In our moments of trading in Christ for coins, we can be assured that Jesus has already paid for our mistake and that we can quickly confess, turn from our sin and live for Him with glorious joy and freedom again.

It is "Christ Jesus, [that] God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30.

When you taste that chalky substance in your mouth, join with me in remembering that it is Christ alone that makes us righteous, and that He is quick to forgive and abounding in love to those who call upon His name!

Oh, and if you ever get the desire to buy me a candy bar, make it a Snickers :)

PANCAKE BREAKFAST FUNDRAISER IN MORGANTOWN!!!

CHRISTIAN HELP'S PANCAKE BREAKFAST FUNDRAISER
Saturday, August 11th
Applebees
7:30-10:00am

For only $5 you can enjoy a pancake breakfast made by someone else, and cleaned up by someone else, and help those who will be in financial need in Morgantown this year! If you would like a ticket, please contact myself or Christian Help.

Hope to see you there!

Putting it back in perspective...

There seems to be a context influx of noise in my life and sometimes, if I'm not careful, I start believing thoughts that aren't true.

Some of the non-truths I have unfortunately believed at some point or another in my lifetime are:

- Credit card information gets stored on hotel key cards
- Toe jam is really tiny little invisible worms that you can't see so wear socks to keep them from crawling up your legs
- You urine will be clear if you are getting enough water (uh - that means you're getting TOO much water)

One of the more recent non-truths I have bought into in my subconscious is that children are really just a lot of work and deciding to have them means deciding to end your so-called life :)

Now married, the idea of children isn't just something that "may occur in the very far away future," but something that could occur at any time if God should so choose. To be honest, that scared me to death.

While some fear is healthy, God is teaching me that my fear is not from Him at all and that I need to be careful not to take others opinions as more than what they are - opinions.

Psalm 127 says: "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!" (vv. 3-5).

Twice now God has brought that passage to me, and I believe to fulfill a specific purpose. My outlook on bearing and raising children had become dreadful, and honestly, sinful, and therefore, He wants to dispel it.

Carolyn Maheney conveyed truth to me this way in her book "Feminine Appeal":

"What words or images come to your mind when you think about your children?" (or for me, the possibility of them) "Are you inclined like I was to think: work,, responsibility, sacrifice, burden, more work?

Look at the words the psalmist used to describe children: heritage, fruit, reward, arrows. Then he followed with this exclamation: 'Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!'"

What a timely message for me. How faithful God is to renew our minds with truth, removing our doubts and replacing lies with truth.

Children do require work and sacrifice and responsibility but God says to gain life, we lay ours down. How I hope that in His perfect time He will give me this blessing, and that in the deepest core of me I will hold on to the truth that they surely are a reward that I do not deserve.

If you have children, may I encourage you to remember today that they indeed, though time, emotion and energy consuming, are primarily a reward and a blessing? Remember and tell them.

Lions, and tigers, and bears - Pt. 2

So yesterday Daryl and I spent the day at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We love going to the zoo!

I must confess I felt a little funny when we finally found a parking spot and were getting ready to go in and someone needing a spot asked, "Coming or going?" We of course had just arrived, and as they drove away I felt a little bad for taking a semi-close parking spot when we don't have any children or strollers to unload. Not bad enough to change spots, but bad. :)

Anyways, it was a blast - I am amazed by God's ability to create such awesome animals with so many neat little distinctions. I also was amazed by God's kindness - in this first picture you will note that the rare snow leopard is looking right at us. When we arrived, he was dead asleep with his back turned. (see right)










I asked God to please wake him up so we and the sweet little kids next to me yelling, "Wake up! Wake up!" could catch a glimpse of the animals grandeur and I would give Him all the glory!

Here's what happened...



I am so grateful for such a loving Father! Isn't He a wondrous Creator and generous Father?!!!!

Here are some of my other favorites...



How cute is that little guy?

One of my personal favorites - the massive and yet adorable polar bear. Have you ever seen the paws and that thing???? I'll show you - then think - REALLY BIG!


















Daryl's favs...














The hammerhead shark - aggressive and named after a tool. You can't get much more manly than that!

He also loved these wild African dogs. They aren't tamable, and their bark is much worse than their bite, which is a definite good thing since they are typically silent and when they do verbally communicate they sound like a squeaky toy going bad!



And the animal that won my heart the most this time, the sea otter.

















This little guy was so precious. He would dive and swim and stretch! I love how he's rubbing his face here!


How cute is he?! I think he also endeared me because he would come right up next to the glass where I had my face pressed against and let me wave at him. I'm sure he couldn't even see me, but it felt like we connected somehow! :)



Finally, the craziest animals in the whole park...



Lauren and Daryl

So, now that we've shared our favorite animals with you, what are your favorites?