Praying for April

Please be praying for this sweet family now. I don't know them very well, but Daniel's family does. D played soccer with Sam. His wife April has been battling cancer on and off for several years now. She is not expected to make it through today. They have 3 small children. My heart is breaking for them. Losing a loved one is never easy, but imagine a spouse... a parent... and trying to explain this to the kids...Please just continuously lift this family up as they need peace, wisdom, and so much more during this time.

Melissa posted this and I thought it was very fitting...

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Memphis Madness

I know its a bit late, but I had to comment on my first memphis madness experience. First of all, I now see why most events charge people to get in. Anything free is a nightmare! At least this was... we could barely walk to our seats, trash was everywhere, and then when we finally got to our seats (that some friends graciously saved for us!) people came and blocked our exit steps. So we were essentially trapped.

Then when we went to get food (and by we I mean me and one of our students that came with us) while the boys saved our seats. Again... what a nightmare. You had to wait forever in line, then when you finally got up there you were informed they were sold out of most things... yea we were so hungry we didn't care what they had. I do think I had the best hot dog of my life... but then again I was so hungry my taste buds may have been biased.

Now to the show... and yes, I mean show. Though it was crazy trying to park, getting to our seats, getting food... Drew Barham did not disappoint. Now his momma may have been utterly humiliated... but the crowd was pleased. You can't hear them, but the crowd was going crazzzzy!!!




If I ever decide to go again it will be for his introduction only... everything else was a little boring... except Gibson's donuts that sister talked us into afterwards... that def. made the favorites list of the night.

Try It Tuesday

Warm Bean Dip

Ingredients:

2 cans (16 Oz) Refried Beans

1 can rotel

1/2 envelope Taco Seasoning

4 cups Shredded Colby-jack Cheese (see notes)
2 cans of black beans

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 325F degrees.

-Drain excess juice from rotel

-In a medium bowl, combine refried beans, rotel, taco seasoning, 2 cups of cheese, and black beans.

-Spray an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
-Pour combined ingredients into dish and spread around evenly.

-Bake for 20-25 minutes until thoroughly heated through. Add remaining cheese on top of dip and bake for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

-Serve warm with your favorite tortilla chips (or fritos)

* I found this on pinterest and tweaked it a little bit. It was so good I think I ate half of it myself! I assure you though there were no weird side effects that are normally associated with beans. :)

A Few Things Friday

* I have been slowly increasing my running mileage. I'm not technically training for anything, but my running buddy is. Amanda is training for the St. Jude marathon... thats right... not the half... the full thing! So I've been running part of her runs with her. We run 4-5 miles a couple of days a week. When we finish that, I go get ready for work she keeps running. Obviously I can't run her long runs with her, but I plan to increase each week as she does. (even though she has to get 10 more miles in from my mere 6-7 miles with her)

*One of our students is in a home ec class and has had "the baby" all week. Every teenager should be made to take this class or at least have the baby for a week. I went to dinner with her before church and of course she had it at church. It really cries (loudly might I add), needs a diaper changed, to be burped, held, etc. The teacher can tell exactly whats been said to the baby or whats happened to it. For example, in class on Wednesday all the babies were crying except one. The girl (not our student) was proud of her quiet baby until the teacher checked it out. The teacher asked if her baby had fallen and the girl explained that it had fallen off the bed last night. The teacher said well I can tell b/c it has head trauma, a broken neck, and it died 3 hours ago. I mean this is crazy good stuff. Our student has made it clear now that she may not even want children after this experience. :) Now what would happen if every teenager was forced to do this? I think we'd have less teen pregnancies... they'd be scared for their lives!

Thank you for whoever created this idea. It was genius!

*We went to the Lecrae concert Friday night. It did not disappoint. If you like Lecrae then you need to check out: Canon, Trip Lee, and Andy Maneo

*While there, I found some friends.

*Bellevue softball is over and I'm sad to admit that we didn't win a single game all year. We got close and led some games but never could pull out the W. We did have a fun team though.... even if we weren't that good.

*I love cloudy, rainy days. I've never run on a rainy day though... until yesterday. 5:45a.m. It was just misting at first and then it began to come down harder. Not enough to make us stop, but enough to wish I had a hat. Then it stopped. I thought I'd be against running in the rain, but it was rather enjoyable. Now where was the rain during my running club when it was 150 degrees out?! That would have been nice. Now when it gets cold... you can forget it.

* On Monday nights I'm doing Beth Moore's Revelation study. Holy moly. It is good. Its intense for sure, but I'm learning so much. Revelation is a book I have stayed away from for so many years... intimidated I guess. Beth so clearly (and a little too quickly at times!) explains. As I sat there last Monday listening as she read, Revelation chapter 4...

"⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’^[b]

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

I literally got chills. What a powerful book. I'm ashamed to have not really dug into it until now. I'll talk more about it later though. Its worth a post of its own.

*Memphis Madness is tonight. I don't really like watching sports on TV but I love it live... especially Memphis basketball. I like it especially since we know this kid. Can't wait to see his moves tonight.

Fall Scent

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love for my house to not only look fallish with all my decorations, but I want it to smell like fall as well. If you want your house to smell like this...

then you need this...

Scentsy Pumpkin Roll Scent Bar




Mine is burning in my warmer next to me and it smells fantastic!