Ten Things Thursday

10. DNOW
This past weekend was DNOW. Brent Crowe and Darren Whitehead were the speakers and Rush of Fools led worship. I have always loved DNOW! And still its an event that we look so forward to.

The theme of the weekend was Chasing Elephants: Wrestling with the Gray Areas of Life. Great topic. Brent and Darren are both amazing speakers. My only concern was that their messages didn't flow together. Our kids had more questions than answers. The last message did cover questions to ask yourself when dealing with these gray areas... but there were 16 of them. I thought D's version is better... now he didn't make them up, but its what he teaches our kids...

1.Does this hinder my walk with Christ?
2. Would this make a weaker Christian stumble?
3. Will this damage my testimony to an unbeliever?

I'm not saying that the conference wasn't good because it was and lives were changed. We had 4 students make decisions for Christ. Brent and Darren are very gifted speakers and do a great job of getting points across...I just thought they could have done a better job of making sure their messages flowed.

9. Vacation
I need one! Our 5 year anniversary is this May so for the past couple of years I've been convincing him that he needs to take me somewhere to celebrate. Now the question is when and where!

8. Radical
This Sunday we're starting our discipleship class back up. We're going to be going through David Platt's book, Radical. I'm in chapter 2 and its awesome. Very convicting! I can def. see why its a controversial book. I'm excited b/c I think it will be great for our kids (and us!) to get out of our bubbles and see that the Americanized Christianity is not what we were meant for! We are called to live... not the Americanized version of the gospel, but life altering, sacrificial surrender to Christ.

7. Scentsy
I just ordered the scent Blueberry Cheesecake for my warmers. Now I will be craving blueberry muffins all the time b/c thats what it smells like! Because of my scentsy show I was able to get D a warmer for his office which he picked out this....

And I was also able to get this....

for my classroom. The first morning I had it turned on with Central Park Pralines in it my kids walked in and said, "It stinks like oatmeal in here!"

6. Youth Room
We are in the process of making some big changes in our youth ministry... well locations anyway. When we started 2 years ago, the youth was meeting in the gym on Wednesday nights. D decided we needed a place to call our own so we re-did a room downstairs in our gym building that we affectionately call The Basement... (well thats what we call it... the older people call it the youth room) We still hang out in the gym on Wednesdays for a little bit, but then we go to The Basement for the teaching time. We use this room for Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings and discipleship training. Well, we are now busting at the seams and need more room. The fire marshal would have a cow if he saw how many people we were cramming in there. So.... we are in the process of getting something else approved and started. The new plan would not only meet our current needs, but would allow for substantial growth as well.

5. God's True Woman/Spiritual Mothering
As you can tell, I love to read! I am doing a bible study on Tuesday nights and we're going through God's True Woman. The funny thing is that once a month we have small groups that we call our Titus 2 groups... we're going through a different book, Spiritual Mothering. However.... these 2 books are 1 in the same. They are so similar I can't ever remember which book I read what in. The message is the same: Freedom for women wasn't/isn't found in the feminist movement, but in total surrender to Jesus Christ. Both books are worth reading! I highly recommend them!

4. Stevi B's
This weekend we went to one of my favorite pizza places. My favorite pizza of all time has to be their Loaded Baked Potato Pizza . My mouth is watering just thinking about the (cough) 3 perfect slices I had.

3. Chickfila
While we're on the topic of food.... Chickfila's brownie. I have never been a huge Chickfila fan. GASP. I know I'm not American. But this brownie... I would take it over a chicken sandwich any day! I mean can we make anything more heavenly. Yep thats right... this weekend I had greasy pizza... 3 slices of it... and this fabulous brownie topped with rich, creamy icing and walnuts. Now my weigh in update tomorrow may not be so wonderful but you better believe I enjoyed every bit of my pizza and brownie!

2. WW
So... I was reading a friend's blog who recently started back with ww. Do you know how much weight she lost her first week? 13.2 lbs!!!!!! Her first week. Thats what I've lost total these past 2 months! She lost that on 1 stinkin' week! How in the world?!!!! I would have to not eat for 3 weeks to lose that.... and you know I love food too much for that strategy!

1. D
I know I've said it before...ok probably several times before, but you're going to hear it again. I am married to the greatest man on earth. I am so thankful for a husband who boldly and unashamedly proclaims God's word. He has a way of teaching and preaching that is effortless...or appears that way. He lives what he preaches. And he challenges this girl more than he'll ever know.