FOTO FRIDAY

i call this one Fresh flowers make the coffee table.

Unfortunately, these beautiful flowers have already died and i'll be throwing them out tonight.

Maybe i can find some more to fill my vase this weekend.

Have a fun weekend kids!

Practicing the Presence - a question for you

picture found here

A few years ago, i was given an extra copy of Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God. i didn't read it all the way through at the time, but this semester i read it in one of my classes.

It's an amazing book. And i encourage everyone to read it. (Here's a link to download it for free).

Brother Lawrence, a monk who spent most of his life working in the kitchen of the monastery, sought to have continual communion with God, no matter where he was. God was not relegated to set prayer times. God was in everything. One of Brother Lawrence's most famous prayers is...

Lord of all pots and pans and things...
Make me a saint by getting meals 
And washing up the plates!

Brother Lawrence thought believers could and should establish a sense of God's presence by continually being in conversation with Him. In one of his letters (the 10th letter in the book), he writes...


Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on God, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why, then, must God be neglected? Do not, then, forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession...

i love Brother Lawrence's call to be continually in God's presence. It fits perfectly into my attempts to see God in it all. Yet i must confess at times it is more easier said than done.

So here's my question to you...
how do you practice the presence of God?

An alarm on your phone/watch reminding you to pray?
Practice the Divine Hours?
Use a visual technique of remembering God when you see a certain color or item?

i'd love to hear how different people attempt to see God in it all throughout the day.
Leave a comment below  to join in the conversation.

Dating My Husband - Valentine's Day edition

My sister posted a picture of a beautiful rose bouquet on her facebook, and then commented, "Roses, TWO boxes of chocolates, dinner and The Hunger Games series. Hooray, Valentine's Day!" To which my other sister and i responded with "i remember the dating days."


It's true, Valentine's Day looks slightly different once there is a Mrs. in front of your name. But that doesn't mean it's less romantic. Over our annual Valentine's Day dinner at Red Lobster i told J, "i'm so glad we're married now on Valentine's day." And here are 3 reasons i feel this way.

1. When J and i were dating and we would go out to dinner, i was always really cautious about what i ate. i would think about how much things cost (since J paid for the majority of our dates and almost 2 years of dating can add up quickly). i would think about how i really wanted to eat another roll, or maybe order dessert, but i didn't want to pig out on food. i would think about where we were going after dinner and how that effected my menu choice. Thoughts like, "Will this upset my stomach later? If it does, will we be in a place where a restroom is close. What if this meal makes me gassy and bloated and the rest of the night i'm uncomfortable and awkward?" Maybe i'm the only one who acted this way, but i wanted to keep whatever good impression J had of me in place as long as possible.

Now that we're married, i eat whatever i want because we're both paying for it. And i don't have to worry about how a certain food may make me feel, because we've been together long enough and i feel comfortable saying, "Hey, my stomach feels uncomfortably full from all that seafood and cheddar biscuits i ate and i'd really like to go home, put on pajama pants and lay on the couch." It's not that i don't care anymore if J still has a good impression of me, which i hope he does! It's that we've moved past the "putting your best foot forward" phase of dating and are in the "comfortable in our own skins with each other" phase of marriage.


2. Married Valentine's Day doesn't have to look completely different from Dating Valentine's Day. No, i didn't get a bouquet of roses and two boxes of chocolate this year. i did get a bouquet of Gerber daisies for my birthday, though. Bless J's pour heart, i know it can't be easy having to do the whole wife's birthday thing, and then 10 days later turn around and do Valentine's Day. He even admitted that he was unsure of what to get me for Valentine's Day since he had already got me flowers. But then i came home and found this cute shirt hanging on our closet door.

We had gone into Old Navy to look for pants for him two weeks ago, and i had found this shirt i thought was really cute. Well, J went back and tried to find it. When he couldn't, he found a similar shirt he thought i would like. He even stated that he picked the red one because he knew he had already got me a navy and white stripped shirt in the past and that i didn't have a lot of red shirts. Now, i know some boyfriends may be that perceptive. But i know that J knows what clothes i like and what i own because we share a closet now and he hangs up a lot of my shirts (i have a bad habit of starting laundry and not finishing it). So a Married Valentine's Day, at least in my case, resulted in a very thoughtful gift from a husband who knows what i like.


3. No kissing goodnight at the front door. No driving home to separate houses. When the Valentine's "date" is over, i still get to spend time with my Valentine. And 3 3/4 years later, that's still my favorite part of being married.


So maybe Married Valentine's Day looks different than Dating Valentine's Day. But i wouldn't change it for the world.

Love Note to J, on Valentine's Day

J,

i'm so glad you asked me to be your forever Valentine.

Because you are cute, and artistic, and talented, and love God and you make me laugh.

And you love me so perfectly.

Happy Valentine's Day, Honey.

Just think, next year you'll have to get two girls Valentine's presents. :)

Celebrations

i haven't been able to write in a little while, mostly because of homework. But also because i have been so busy celebrating life.

Celebrating turning 30...

...with great friends, family and Mexican food.

Celebrating answered prayers...

...like my best friend's baby coming home from the NICU and being reunited with his family!

...and this guy being home!!

That's right...NAZ IS FREE!! His criminal case was dropped, and then his immigration case was dropped. And now he's back home in our city with his wife, Hope, where he should be.

Thank you for your prayers! To read more about Naz's story, go to his website.

i hope you all are finding reasons to celebrate life too.

It's a...

Well, it looks like the girls have it on the poll, and in real life, 

because we're having a GIRL!

Sorry for those of you who voted for a boy.

Better luck next time!

This little miss will make her debut in June!

Boy or Girl?

Today is the day we have our 20 week ultrasound.

We'll get to see this little one up close...

learn about his or her development...

and find out if it's a boy or girl!

Before we get back from the appointment, though, i thought i'd let my lovely readers weigh in.

So, whatdaya think?

You have a few hours to get your vote in before the big reveal! 

Check back later to see if you were right.

FOTO FRIDAY

If you've been reading this blog long, you may remember my family took a trip to Disney almost two years ago.

After the trip, i had this great idea of making a digital photo scrapbook to commemorate the trip.

i finally finished it and it came in the mail this week.

So instead of one photo for you all, here is a book's worth of memories. 

(hint: you can click the full screen option to see the book bigger)

fine print: this is not an ad for Shutterfly.
They only know me as the girl who took forever to finish her book.