You are Holy

We studied Isaiah 6 this week in CBS- it is where Isaiah receives his call from God to be a prophet.  God used a vision of Himself to call Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:8 has always been special to me:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 

"Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us? 

And I said "Here I am, Send me."  

I have known since a young girl that God wanted to use me as a missionary.  Every time I have served on a short term trip I feel that calling confirmed.  But right now, God is telling us to wait.  It is not time for us to go yet.

We realize that we have a mission field around us right now and are praying for God to reveal ways he wants us to serve.  Stephen and I serve our children as one of the greatest witnesses they will ever have of Christ's amazing love.  There are many days that I feel like a total and complete failure at this- I lose my temper, lose my patience, somedays even lose my sanity :)  But praise God, that He is Holy, that He is bigger than anything I am.  He doesn't need me to reveal Himself.  So we are just walking each day, praying that "He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." Isaiah 2:3

This praise song by Christ for the Nations is AMAZING!  Every time I sing it I am humbled and awestruck at God's great majesty.  I pray that God will use it to speak to your heart today.  What an awesome God we serve.



Has God used any songs lately to speak to you?  If so, please share!

Tongue Twister Dinner

Tonight I tried a recipe I've been wanting to try for a long time.  I found it on Charlotte Mom Favorites blog.  It was delish- and the whole fam ate it (well I didn't mix LK's ingredients and she ate them separate).  It took me longer than 10 minutes because Trader Joe's dry ravioli needs to cook for 16-18 min. You can find the recipe for Pantry Pesto Pasta here!  I can't wait to try some of the other variations.

I mixed in cannellini beans, peas, monterey jack cheese and smoked sausage.

*I take terrible food pictures- so this doesn't do the dish justice.

I think next time I may try rotisserie chicken or add some steamed shrimp instead of the smoked sausage.

Life's Little Joys

"My Rapunzel Braid"

Swinging on the front porch

Time with my hubby

Sweet playgroup friends and a cat on the back porch

Crossed ankles at every meal

Eating breakfast with Snow White

Fall Fun

This past weekend was another perfect weather weekend.  We enjoyed the beautiful day and attended the Pineville Fall Festival.  Some of our precious Greenville friends were in town for a conference so they came too!

Amy and I attended Bible study together in Greenville (the same one I've mentioned previously).   Stephen and I babysat Maddie when she was Aubrey's age!   It is so amazing how the bond of Christ can keep you connected with people even if you don't see them regularly.  I'll admit- Facebook helps a lot with this too :)

Amy & Trathen

Lily Kate (a butterfly) & Maddie (a blue bird)

Trathen got a frog

We walked around and enjoyed the crafts, firetruck, live music and of course the playground.  The kids try out the bouncy slide before we headed home for lunch.

We're so blessed with some amazing friends- Thank you Quinns for taking time to visit with us!

Walk on the Wild Side

So many moments in my life I have to make an instantaneous decision: run and get the camera to capture it on video OR just enjoy the moment and capture the memory in my mind.  Most days I choose the latter.
Which is why Aubrey took took her first steps over a month ago and today, I was finally able to catch her with the video camera.

*She was carrying around a Pass It On note that I was using as a bookmark- not sure why she treasured this or chose to hold it on her neck.

Here she is for the world to see:

Better Homes & Gardens

On Monday, while Stephen and Shivani took their pediatric board exam, Paras and I decided to check out the Duke and Chapel Hill campuses.  It was my idea to go see the Sara P. Duke Gardens- and while they were pretty- I guess I had set my expectations too high :)

The Water Lilies

 Duke was on fall break so the campus was pretty quiet.

 We got creative at Chapel Hill.

The Arboretum- check out my new pink Toms!

Paras posing in front of a cool building

Though I am biased, because I am married to a die hard fan- we both thought Chapel Hill had the more inviting environment.  We ended our tour on Franklin Street- we had to get our spouses a sweet treat to celebrate their exams being over- I got Stephen a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcake.

It's a bird, It's a plane!

I've always been the type of person who sees a cute idea and says "I can do that."  Last week, I spent the greater part of my week making candy airplane favors for my dear friend's baby shower.  I was so happy with how they turned out and they were a big hit!  I borrowed the idea from this blog and adapted the color scheme.  I also decided to use hot glue instead of rubber bands.

I used a piece of gum for the wings, smarties for the base and lifesavers for the wheels. I covered the smarties and the gum with some cute scrapbook paper in order to tie in the color scheme.

The finished product

We can't wait for Baby Haney to arrive!

The baby shower was such a sweet time for us to celebrate with Katie this amazing miracle that God has blessed her with.  Here are the hostesses with Katie in the middle.

Melanie, Tricia, Katie, Betsy, Me, Ashley

I took my camera, but forgot to take any pictures...Thank you, Betsy for the picture!

Study Break

We have had some amazing weather this week.  It is not too hot and not too cold.  I love fall in North Carolina!

This weekend has been pretty chill because Stephen is prepping for the boards- he takes it Monday!

Friday afternoon we got to have Benjamin (our neighbor) over for a playdate.  Aubrey loved having him here.  She kept calling him Aubrey.

They were so sweet playing together

Good Friends

Lily Kate got to go to Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream with her grandparents!  She has been looking forward to it for weeks.  Here they are leaving for the show:

They called us on the way home.  Her favorite part was "Cinderella."  "All the princesses were there, I don't know all of their names."

Study Break

One of Stephen's best friends from med school was in town this weekend for a wedding.  We had to take a few minutes to visit with Adam and his girlfriend, Sarah.  We met them at the Arboretum for fro yo and got to catch up- Adam is doing his residency in Cincinnati. 

Adam & Sarah

Lily Kate viewing the fish through a hole in the deck

My handsome hunk 

Aubrey has to do everything big sister does

After church on Sunday, we watched the Panthers game with the Renfrows.  While the outcome wasn't what we had hoped, we still enjoyed the time together.  Lily Kate adores Unca & Rachie.

Silly girls- "pretending to sleep" in the kitchen
 

After the game, Stephen and I drove to Chapel Hill for his exam.  His parents rock and volunteered to keep the girls so I could go and support him.

I can't wait to have my husband back on Monday night.  He is so dedicated and has been reviewing for months, but we are both really looking forward to having this test behind us!

Wordless Week and a Half

I guess I have blogger's block...I just can't think of anything interesting to post lately.  Life has been busy, we've all had colds, Stephen is preparing for boards...it just seems hectic here lately.  So here is ALMOST wordless Wednesday:

Wordless Wednesday