Road trip!!

This past weekend Jin and I traveled back to Aggieland for one last visit before we move to Colorado! It was so much fun! Our main agenda was FOOD...we wanted to eat at all of our favorite places that we can't get anywhere else.

First stop: Beef fajitas at Ninfas (I didn't even get a picture of it because we were so busy eating!!)

Next stop...$4 movie (can't beat it!!) We saw "The Lincoln Lawyer" it was really good!

Then we went to Mugwalls to talk and read a little bit.

But we ended up just playing on our IPhones :)

Then we headed over to my good friend Haley's to get ready for salsa lessons at the Village Cafe! I wish I had taken a video of this. It was so much fun! 

The next day we finished our food frenzy with our all time favorite College Station places...Jin's and Blue Baker. 

Yes, he is.

Then we headed over to the George Bush Library for a little "picnic" before we headed home. It was a great weekend and I leave you with this little treat. 

fearfully and wonderfully made

For the past several months I have been volunteering a crisis pregnancy resource center, working with women to educate them and provide support during a really scary time. I absolutely love it and a highlight for me has been working with clients on a consistent basis. Sarah (I changed her name...) is one of those clients. I met her on one of my first nights at the clinic, she came in for an appointment to confirm her pregnancy and get help. One of the other volunteers and I took her into the counseling room and started talking to her about her situation. Sarah came to the United States from Kenya to go to college in 2010 was hoping to go back after she finished, until she found out she was pregnant. We were able to talk to Sarah about her options and she signed up for an education program that the center offers to learn about pregnancy and parenting and earn baby clothes and other items at the same time. For the next several weeks, I helped Sarah through the education program. We watched videos together about nutrition, fetal development, and the delivery process. But one day Sarah just stopped coming. The volunteers and I tried to call her but her number had been disconnected. I was disappointed and though I would probably never see her again.

But just a few weeks ago I received a note that Sarah had called one of our other volunteers. We reconnected with her and found out that she had just had a healthy baby girl! This past Saturday I was able to visit Sarah at her apartment and meet her little girl. It was so fun to see the baby and be reminded of just how amazing life really is. I sat with Sarah for several weeks while this little baby was growing inside of her and to be able to hold this baby was so fun!

For you created my inmost being; 

   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

   your works are wonderful, 

   I know that full well. 

 My frame was not hidden from you 

   when I was made in the secret place, 

   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

 Your eyes saw my unformed body; 

   all the days ordained for me were written in your book 

   before one of them came to be. 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! 

   How vast is the sum of them! 

 Were I to count them, 

   they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Psalm 139: 13-18

25 years ago...

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary to my parents! 

25 years ago in a Oklahoma City, OK they became Mr. and Mrs. 

Thank you for providing such an amazing example of love and marriage to your children!

Before the throne of God above

So lately I have been listening to this Shane and Shane station on Pandora while I'm getting ready in the mornings. I have fallen in LOVE with their newest CD "Pages". Its actually not that new, (2007), but its new to me! So if you haven't listened to it, I encourage you to check it out! This is a pretty well known song but I just LOVE the lyrics.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,
Risen Son of God!

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

86 days

DAYS TILL...

1. The days of the long distance relationship are over
2. My name will begin and end with E
3. I will be moving away from 2 Twin Bridge again, this time for-eva
4. The person sharing my bathroom will NOT be stealing my clothes 
5. I'm getting MARRIED!

Nope, I'm not counting down or anything...

Another reason why I can't wait to move to Denver!

Denver Seminary!

Yesterday I found out that I have been accepted to Denver Seminary for a Master of Arts in Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health! Hopefully, I will be starting school next spring. 

Why do we minister?

Motivation for ministry does not come from the ministry, the motivation for ministry comes from the unveiling of the glory of Jesus Christ.

--from an email I got at work. 

This is totally something I have been thinking about lately! Then I saw this on someone's email signature and I just had to post it. 

Sometimes when God becomes your "job" it becomes a routine and you forget that ministry is first and foremost for the glory of God. And not for your own personal glory. This idea hit me over the head when I was in Guatemala and I have been thinking about it ever since. I was very convicted of doing ministry for my own personal satisfaction and fulfillment (to feel good about myself), rather than to serve the Lord. Have any of you ever struggled with this? Anyone? How does this even happen?

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.Who can understand it?

I guess we just start to find identity and in good works and what we are DOING (who we think we ARE) instead of what Christ has DONE and who He IS. What an empty pursuit. That is just not the Gospel! 

Romans 5:8 "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinner's, Christ died for us." 

Somehow I forget that God's glory is my sole purpose in life, whether in full-time Christian work or not! It is when I see His glory that my heart is turned toward ministry. Lord, please continually remind me of this truth. It is freedom! 

This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just like it :) I took it on our last night in Antigua.