(((shhhh)))

silence
be still
listen
how often to we engage ourselves in these?
"be still and know that I am God".
"In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there."
this is something that is clearly important in the Bible and in the life of Jesus himself. in our american culture, this seems to be a highly valued, yet rarely experienced concept. what I mean by that, is that you see commercials for spas, and cruises, etc. but everyone that I know seems to be running around all the time, stressed out... simply getting from point A to point B, and doing it well. we've perfected the arts of being busy and multi-tasking. technology is supposed to simplify our lives, isn't it? i think it's achieved quite the opposite. think back even 15 years... what did we do all day and all night? well, if we weren't in school, we were running around outside or playing by ourselves, or w/ our neighbor friend. in the evenings, we would eat dinner and maybe watch tv, hang w/ the fam, do homework. it seems like in today's world, people jam pack their lives with everything they possibly can. and they keep track of it all in their phone. :)
is this wrong?
is this just the natural progression of our culture?
I want to challenge those who read this (and myself), especially as we are entering into the busiest time of the year, to dedicate yourself to alone time on a regular basis. even more importantly, dedicate yourself to alone time with God. i believe we greatly underestimate the power of prayer and solitude and sitting with God. it just might save your sanity this holiday season.

give thanks

as i near the fabulous holiday of thanksgiving, it makes me think about everything that has happened. it makes me remember... as a good friend of mine said today, "your ability to be thankful is directly linked to your ability to remember." I love that. how can we give thanks for anything without first remembering what has happened? What has gotten me to where I am? What has made me who i am today? there are the obvious things (i think most of us can say things like family, food, and homes) to be thankful for, but God has given us so much more. so what are we truly thankful for? for me... i'm thankful for my husbands' never-ending patience with me; i'm thankful that God knows what he's doing and that I don't--I learn more everyday to depend on Him; i'm thankful for freedom--freedom to believe in and live out the Truth.

I could on and on. I must say, though, that I AM thankful for my family... as cliche as it is. if you know my family, then you should agree! I have the best one. we love to laugh together, and sing together (we really should take it on the road!), and do life together. And I have 4 of the best nephews ever!

So what are you thankful for? In what ways has God blessed you? It could be something that was hard to go thru... it could be an exciting moment... it could be a particular person...

The Married Life... year 2

So, last year I wrote about what I learned my 1st year of marriage. well, another year has come and gone, and I truly believe that you just KEEP learning more every year. I've learned more about my hubby, about myself, and about life in general. We've had more ups and downs this year, as you can see below in my previous post. we've moved a couple times since this time last year. Moises has gone from 3rd shift, to 2nd, which is aweful. I honestly don't see him at all Monday-Friday... Saturday is the 1st day of the week I see him. Yeah, it sucks. but we'll survive! I've learned that he just might never learn how to get his clothes into the hamper :) I have 4 nephews instead of 3... my sis Sarah had another boy last september. he's so cute! all my nephews are getting so big... so I've concluded that I love the married life. I love Moises more and more, and I love being his wife. he's just so darn cute... :)

busy busy busy

it always seems like everything happens at once! I feel like I've been going non-stop for the past 2 months! jenny and I went to our good friend Andrew's wedding in Colorado in September and then so much has happened since then. in October, Moises and I went thru the loss of a 2nd miscarriage... not very many people know that, so that may surprise you if you're reading this. I'm sorry we may not have told you, but we hadn't told anyone that we were pregnant, so why spread the bad news if the good news was never known?? and then just last week some other good friends of ours, Alex and Lori Schwindt, moved from Rockford to Kansas City :( We miss them very much! They were a very important part of our life and the ministry of our church... we love you guys! and now we're busy helping to transition the church thru the interim period while it looks for a new worship arts pastor... so much going on! so there ya go...
peace...