I receive a mini daily devotional on my cell phone each day. It isn't meant to take the place of actually reading the bible, but it's so nice to get extra encouragement (or kick in the butt) each day. I get one every day, but they come at random times. Sometimes I'll get it at 4:30am so it's there when I wake up, and sometimes it doesn't come until lunchtime or later. Either way, it's awesome how many times the verse fits with exactly what I'm going through, or exactly what we're learning on Sundays/Wednesdays at church. Anyway, I loved today's so much that I thought I'd share it...
"Abba, Father," Jesus cried out. "everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." Mark 14:36
While praying, Jesus was aware of what doing the Father's will would cost him. He understood the suffering he was about to encounter, and he did not want to have to endure the horrible experience. But Jesus prayed, "Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." Anything worth having costs something. What does your commitment to God cost you? Be willing to pay the price to gain something worthwhile in the end. Be willing to let God's will be done, instead of your own selfish desires. His will and His plan is so much greater.
We've got some exciting news to be sharing in the next few weeks as far as fundraising goes. We're in the process of designing a t-shirt and hopefully we'll be able to share the design and start taking orders soon. They'll be available in royal blue and hot pink. We've also got a big event being planned. More information on all of that once a few additional details get finalized.
BUT the adoption puzzle fundraiser is going well! (For more information, click HERE) 41 pieces have now been sponsored and a total of $205 raised! Yay!
Shockingly, Max and Cooper haven't found their way over to our blog that often yet. But, here are a few funny videos that we shot today when we got home from church.
First, you have to know that we leave our garage door cracked for the dogs when we're not at home. We leave just enough of a gap for them to get under. They like to hang out in the garage and lay around on the cool concrete. Really, who can blame them when it's 100 degrees outside.
Anyway, when we come home they usually hear us from a mile away and are standing at the end of the driveway waiting on us. BUT, sometimes we can "sneak up" on them. When we do, we close the garage door on them. I know, I know. It sounds mean. It's not. They know we're right outside the door and are so excited to see us, so when we open the doors we see this...
Did you watch the bottom of the garage doors as it opened? If not, it's super short so watch it again. They're so excited that they won't even wait for the garage doors to go up. They have to wiggle/crawl out.
Okay, one more video because we were having so much fun. This is Kevin's new trick that he's been working with them on. He has a hot dog bun for each of them and they're supposed to wait until he says "release" to eat the bread. Max has it down. We're still working on Cooper...
Moe's has just become my new favorite place to eat for one simple reason... the drink machine! I hadn't eaten there in a while (I know, shocker) but Kevin and I decided to make a trip to Moe's on Friday night. We ordered, paid, went to our table and then went to get our drinks and salsa when we noticed that Moe's had upgraded... big time! THIS is the new drink machine.
And here's a close up of the touch screen where you choose your drink...
I'd heard that Firehouse on Pelham Rd had gotten one of these, but had never actually seen or used one. So to me, this was an awesome Friday surprise! I'm so easily amused. So, here's the deal. It's apparently called the Coca-Cola Freestyle. Yeah, it has it's own name. This machine has over 100 different drinks to choose from. Say you want Coke Zero. You touch that option, and then you have the option of Cherry Coke Zero, Raspberry Coke Zero, Orange Coke Zero, and a couple more I can't remember. And, you have at least that many options with every drink.
The exciting thing is the number of diet drink options. For all you diet drink people out there, you know that when you go out to eat you usually have one option- Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, and if you're lucky they might have Coke Zero. Now there's Sprite Zero, Pibb Zero, Coke Zero, Minute Maid Lite, Powerade Zero, etc with all of the different cherry/raspberry/grape/lime/etc options.
Okay, I'm through rambling about a drink machine. Pathetic, I know. BUT, it really made my day. :) Happy weekend everyone!
I took a day off from work on Wednesday to head to Atlanta with Kevin and the youth. We met at the church at 7:45 in the morning (too early!) and then were on our way to ATL to watch the Braves play. It was already overcast and they were calling for rain, but we were hoping for good weather. We stopped at Chickfila for breakfast in Commerce and then made the rest of the drive to Atlanta. We got seats behind home plate, all the way at the top. These were the BEST seats ever because we got to feel the breeze blowing through. Here are a few pictures from the day...
View from our seats.
One of Kevin & Me
Best part of the day! :)
We had fun watching the Braves play and got to see Dan Uggla & Brian McCann each hit 2 run home runs. They were up 5-1 so we left at the top of the 9th to try to beat the crowd. We were also trying to get ahead of the HUGE storm that was headed towards us....
Let's just say it caught up with us! We ended up driving in heavy rain all the way home. But, we're thankful that the rain held out on us and we got to watch the entire game with pretty great weather. And now, back to work tomorrow!
I promised that I'd post some pictures of the nursery so far. Well, here they are. Of course we couldn't do anything too girly or too boyish because we just don't know what to plan for. We wanted to do the basics for now- paint & furniture. Once we're matched, I'm sure there will be lots of pink or blue to add to the room. :) We actually bought the crib before our homestudy was even completed because there was a GREAT deal at Target. The rest of the room stuff came from Craigslist, Target & Walmart. It's definitely not finished, but it's a good start!
"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen."
Kevin and I have been getting the nursery ready, because we have no idea when we might get "the call". We might have zero notice, so we (I) at least wanted to have furniture and painting ready. The rest can come later. I'll post pictures later this week of what we've done so far. My mom gave me a small dresser that she thought we could use in the closet for additional storage. Hanging baby clothes don't really come down very far, so it was a great idea. Here are the before pictures...
The dresser is the perfect size for the closet, but was definitely the wrong color. So I went to Lowes, bought a quart of paint and then hit up Hobby Lobby for new drawer pulls (they were 60% off- yay!). Here are the results...
Here is a close up of the drawer pulls. They match the room color (which you can see in the background of the above pictures).
And now a quick adoption puzzle fundraiser update... At this point 30 puzzle pieces have been sponsored, for a total of $150 raised. Here's a picture of the puzzle in progress. It's definitely getting bigger!
And last, Happy Father's Day to my Dad, and all of the other father's out there. I hope you had a special day and that your children are as grateful and thankful for you as I am for my Dad. I love you!
